Mission: Errand of the Argonauts

[Deleted]

"What the..." Luke started.

"Not the time!" Max interrupted. "RUN!"
seen spotted. The simple sight of the animal sent Kirk’s heart racing, his mind tried to stay calm and analysis the situation, develop a possible plan of defense. As the other two officers dashed off Kirk’s instincts took over and he felt his feet began to carry him away from the large beast as well.

As they ran Kirk heard the distinct sounds of an animal chasing down the corridor after them. The harder he ran the louder the sounds of the paw impacts on the corridor carpet became. Turning the corner the three men came to a dead end. Each man looked around spotting nothing that would help him fend off a beat of mythical proportions.

“What the hell are we going to do now?” Max said looking around.

“I got an idea,” Kirk said looking at the wall console behind them.

Turning around Kirk released his assimilation tendrils and planted them into the face of the wall console. Commander Dowding was starting to look nervous as the last time Kirk took charge it resulted in the death of two of their crewmembers.

“What are you doing Lieutenant?” Dowding asked a bit concerned.

“I am taping into the main computer so I can erect a containment field around out location.” Kirk said.

Dowding and Max looked at each other and nodded in agreement. After a few more seconds the three men could hear the sounds of the beast as it walked slowly down the corridor to their location.

“You know who puts in a dead in into a starship anyways?” Max asked trying to lighten the mood.

Kirk was still working on the containment field put managed to point with his left hand, “That wall is not really there. It appears to just be an illusion caused by the mental powers of these aliens,” Just as Kirk finished speaking a containment field erected itself in front of the group of men.

Turning the corner the beast swatted at the force field smashing its paws against the high every field. After a few blows the beast grew tired of injuring itself and walked back the way it came. Kirk took a deep breath and removed the tendrils from the wall console leaving the field intact just in case the beast came back while they continued to plan their next move.

[Deleted]

Kirk, Max and Luke rested for a while after the beast gave up with attempting to get through the forcefield.

"What the hell was that thing?!" Max exclaimed, looking decidedly dodgy.

Luke shuddered at the thought of its salivating mouth and odd shaped body. "And what the hell was it doing here?!"

"Er... Commander..." Kirk said, turning to Luke.

Luke didn't have to ask what the problem was, he couled hear it as well. "Jefferies tubes!" He yelled.

Kirk and Luke scrambled to get to the nearest hatch which was only a few metres away, they both climbed in and began to crawl through the dark, Luke flinching every now and again as he hit his head.

Soon they paused and listened, they could no longer here the growling.

"Everyone OK?" Luke asked.

<TAG Kirk>

"Max? Max..?"

Luke turned round and saw that no one was behind him. "MAX!!!" He yelled along the jefferies tube before Kirk stiffled his yell.

"Quiet." He hissed, in an authoratative, yet not disrespectful way.

"Where is he?" Whispered Luke.

[T'Brel Peers]

OCC: Okay I got Admiral's KezTrek's email about what she had planned for this mission and I would like to go with that for the most part. Of course we can add to it or take some parts away.

How could T'Brel be so careless, how could he put his fellow crewmates in danger. They could be doing horrible things to Commander Laika and if that was true T'Brel would never forgive himself.

After a couple of agonizing minutes of waitng, Commander Laika returned to them.

"I thought that you were being punished!" he exclaimed.

"No," she shook her head. "They only wanted you to think that." She turned toward Keztrek. "I've learned more about our captors, Admiral," she reported.

T'Brel quickly became interested and came in closer to hear what the Commander would say. T'Brel knew that he had never been as nervous as he had been know.

"The..." J'Leera started to say, but two guards came into the room once more and just grabbed KezTrek and T'Brel.

"What are you doing?" KezTrek asked of the guards.

"Illian has asked for you two," the guard responded. Both of the asked no more questions and allowed themselves to be led to Illian.

The trip to see Illian was a lot longer than T'Brel thought it would be. In fact he started to think that they were going in circles.

~We are going in circles~ Admiral KezTrek said to T'Brel.

~I have to agree, they are just wasting our time~T'Brel responded a bit bitterly. After about twenty minutes of walking around they came to a room that they hadn't seen before. As they walked in the guards stepped aside and let them enter alone.

"Welcome both of you," Illian said.

"Why have you summoned us?" KezTrek asked. Illian didn't answer her, he just started at T'Brel with a hate that riviled Klingon's hate for weakness. T'Brel at that moment noticed that there was other people in the room with them. Well they really weren't people, they were holograms of people.

"How dare you enter our sacred lands?" one of the holograms asked. T'Brel didn't say anything, he just kept looking ahead.

"Chancellor it does not matter, I have called them here to tell them our real plan," Illian said not waiting for anyone else to say anything. T'Brel and KezTrek both tensed up at Illian's words. What was there real plan.

"We want her back," Illian said. T'Brel was confused at Illian's remark,but KezTrek just gave a look of fury and disgust.

"What what do they want?" T'Brel asked.

"Ummm, Lt. they want Earth, they want their old home planet back," Kez responded. At that moment the guards returned and took them to there room.

[Deleted]

"Everyone OK?" Luke asked.

“I think I am fine,” Kirk said looking over himself.

"Max? Max…"

Luke turned round and saw that no one was behind him. "MAX!!!" He yelled along the Jefferies tube before Kirk stifled his yell.

"Quiet." He hissed, in an authoritative, yet not disrespectful way.

"Where is he?" Whispered Luke.

“I thought he was right behind us.” Kirk said, “lets go back and check the corridor.”

Kirk headed back through the Jeffries tube with Commander Dowding close behind. On the return trip through the tube Kirk did not hear Dowding hitting his head on the cramped Jeffries tube. Crawling slowly they stopped at the hatch they had darted in to escape the beast that was chasing them. Kirk placed his ear up to the hatch and tried to listen for any sounds of struggle, but no sounds came from the corridor.

“I am going to open the hatch and take a peak around outside.” Kirk said trying not to sound nervous.

Opening the hatch the corridor came slowly into view. Kirk had expected to see blood splatter on the walls but the more he opened the hatch the less evidence of a fatal encounter he saw. Once the hatch was fully open Kirk spotted Max lying unconscious against the far wall. Commander Dowding was looking over Kirk’s shoulder and nearly tried to fly through Kirk to rescue his friend.

“Hold on,” Kirk whispered putt his forearm up to block Dowding, “It might be s trap.”

Just as Kirk finished speaking a loud animal like roar erupted through out the corridor. Grabbing the hatch Kirk began to pull it closed when a strong paw swiped its claws across the hatch sending sparks into the Jeffries tube. Kirk managed to seal the hatch but was forced to the ground by a power impact against the hatch from the powerful paws of the large beast.

“We need to get Max!” Dowding yelled.

“Sir, right now we can not do anything for him.”

Kirk watched as the hope and fire that was inside his first officer had died. Kirk was forced to realize there would be another battle and other chances to save the other crewmembers of the ship.

“We need to find the children and Commander Fitzpatrick.” Dowding said softy.

Kirk nodded and led the way down the Jeffries tube. While they were crawling Kirk remembered he left scans running in Astrometrics earlier, stopping in his tracks he began to change the way his ocular implant was viewing the scans still being received from the ship.

“Looks like we do not have to find a console after all,” Kirk said, “I found Commander Fitzpatrick.”

It appeared on the scans Kirk was looking at in the picture in picture image that the Chief Engineer as not far from their location. Stopping at a junction Kirk opened a hatch up to climb up the ladder to the next deck. The two officers climbed and crawled their way to a new location on the ship, opening up the small access hatch Kirk crawled out first followed closely by Commander Dowding. As they crawled out they spotted their missing engineer.

“Commander, are you alright?” Dowding said

<Tag Commander Fitzpatrick/Dowding>

[laika]

"They want Earth?" J'Leera said completely shocked after they told her what Illian had said when they got back. "How do they expect that to happen?"

"I don't know," Keztrek grumbled, "but I can tell it that it's not going to happen, that's for sure."

"Well, I thought that they were from Earth," J'Leera began. "It's all coming together now, but still doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean by that?" T'Brel looked over.

"I recognized the language that he was speaking from a book that I read a few months ago."

"From a book?" T'Brel asked. "An encyclopedia?"

"No, it was a novel that was supposed to be ficitious," she shook her head. "It was the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I don't know if any of you have ever read it, but it's a story about a place called Middle Earth where Elves lived."

Tag: T'Brel

"But anyway, it seems that we may have evidence that Tolkien's stories were true, or at least had some truth in them," J'Leera said.

[T'Brel Peers]

"No, it was a novel that was supposed to be ficitious," she shook her head. "It was the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. I don't know if any of you have ever read it, but it's a story about a place called Middle Earth where Elves lived."

"Its Lord of the Rings," T'Brel said cursing himself inwardly for not recognizing the language that they had been speaking. "It's also about wizards, hobbitts, dwarves, and the Dark lord, Sauron." The officers in the room were a bit surprised to know that T'Brel knew what they were talking about.

"But anyway, it seems that we may have evidence that Tolkien's stories were true, or at least had some truth in them," J'Leera said.

" I suppose so, but Illian's people actually have the technology to do it," T'Brel said realizing that if Illian really wanted to take Earth for themselves again they could cause the Federation some problems.

"They don't stand a chance," KezTrek said reading T'Brel's mind.

"What are you referring to Admiral?" Thirteen asked.

"It's just that Illian might have powerful technology, but the Federation will never give Earth up," KezTrek explained.

"Admiral what if they are willing to fight for it?" T'Brel asked and then the next second there was complete silence as each person in the room asked themselves the same question.

[blaster89]

Rye sat in the operations control chair inside the Aft Weapons Pod. He hadn’t eaten in hours, and between the scorpions, the rough capture, and the odd transporter beam, he wasn’t feeling all that great. Rye decided that he might as well do something useful, so he began to try and access the weapons control. Rye tapped in to the computer, and used a random generator to try codes. After about an hour and a half, it got lucky, and the computer locks were released. Rye wrote the 345-digit code into a PADD, and re-encrypted the computer. Rye decided to wait for Commander Dowding’s opinion on the matter. The ex-chief engineer was bored, so he fitted a torpedo with an isolytic cascade weapon, and loaded it into torpedo tube 5. Shortly after he had finished that, he heard a banging on the starboard access hatch. Rye opened it to reveal John Kirk.

”Man, am I glad to see you. What’s all happening. Why was I transported here?” Rye said.
Rye followed John back through the hatch, and met up with Commander Dowding. He outlined the access strategy he had, and waited for the commander’s opinion on the use of his power.
<TAG LUKE>

[laika]

"What if they're willing to fight?" J'Leera asked. "What if they're bluffing?"

T'Brel and Keztrek looked over at her as if she just asked a dumb question.

"Now, I know that I'm not telepathic like you guys, but isn't it possible, considering their advanced technology and their highly evolved physiology, that they aren't purposely fooling you?"

"It would be extremely difficult," T'Brel considered.

"We don't know much about these people," Keztrek acknowledged. "They could have mental abilities that we are not aware of."

"Perhaps, taken from what we know of the elves in Tolkien's works, we could appeal to their peaceful nature and work this out."

"Maybe, but they sure are vicious fighters when provoked," T'Brel pointed out. "They're extremely atheletic and would be difficult to beat."

"I know, which is why we need to learn as much as we can about them and see if they're the same as Tolkien's elves," J'Leera said.

Tag: T'Brel

[T'Brel Peers]

"I know, which is why we need to learn as much as we can about them and see if they're the same as Tolkien's elves," J'Leera said.

T'Brel never in his life would ever of thought that reading Lord of the Rings would of been so important, but here they were. T'Brel was almost positive now that Commander's J'Leera assestment that Illian's people were somehow related to Tolkien's elves.

"That will be a easier said than done," Kez said,"I'm almost positive that they won't let us leave and notify Starfleet."

"That is true, so that leaves to force," T'Brel said. As a Vulcan he would never of ever recommended viloence, but this was much bigger than his beliefs. If Earth fell the Federation would soon fall.

"Thats means we must escape from this ship," Thirteen said.

"Yes, but how," T'Brel said.

<Tag J'Leera>

[laika]

"I haven't noticed any means of escape from the room asside from the door," she said. "Escaping isn't going to be easy because they'll probably know that we're doing it. They may even know that we're considering the idea even now."

"What about taking the guards out?" T'Brel suggested. "Then perhaps we can transport back to the ship."

"Risky, very risky," Keztrek said. "For one thing, we don't know where their transporter rooms are...if they have any and secondly, we may not be able to disable the guards before they set off any alarms. Again, something we don't know."

J'Leera went over the door and pressed her ear against it. She could hear the shuffling steps of the guards outside. "There are two of them I think and I wouldn't doubt that they're carrying weapons."

"We need to think of another plan," T'Brel grumbled. "This obviously isn't going to work."

J'Leera came back over and sat down. "I seriously doubt that we'd be able to force our way out. Any ideas of what we could do?"

Tag: T'Brel

[Deleted]

Luke was both relieved and a little shocked to have found Rye so soon but he his mind was still plagued by the loss of Max. He couldn't concentrate. Three lives gone within the last hour, he was the FO, he was supposed to stop this sort of thing from happening...

Rye began to explain the strategy that he had been developing but in all fairness Luke was not listening at all.

"I'm sorry Rye." He said genuinely. "I can't seem to concentrate. Can you explain it again for me?"

<TAG Rye>

Luke nodded and was about to respond when he heard something clang in the distance.

"What the..." Rye started.

Kirk did something to his optical implant and then frowned. "It's three of those beasts. We need to get out of here now."

"Options?" Luke asked, opening the table to his fellow officers.

[blaster89]

Rye was shocked. He'd no idea that Max had been lost. Now was evidently not the time for questions.
"We need to get out of this section. Follow me!"
Rye rushed back into the aft weapons pod, and waited for Kirk and Luke to get in. Rye sealed the starboard tube door with a phaser he found in the emergency kit in the pod. Once the hatch was sealed, they rushed into the hatch that Luke had just opened. Rye allowed the others to go in first, so that he could seal the hatch with his phaser. As they entered the Port tube, Rye heard a loud crashing behind him. He let the other two officers continue, as he sealed their hatch. The sounds coming from the room beyond the hatch were getting louder, as the hiss of damaged electronics grew. Just as Rye was halfway through sealing the hatch, it was pierced by a claw. Rye tried firing his phaser at it, but it was no use. An arm reached through the jagged hatch, and grasped onto Rye's thoracic cavity, breaking several ribs, and puncturing his flesh. Rye let out a whail of pain, and was pulled through the jagged tritanium of the hatch. Luke and John watched, but could do nothing as the sound of the monster carried the stunned officer away. A trail of blood was all that was left for the two officers to see.

[Deleted]

OCC: Sorry I have not posted in awhile, I have been fighting a very bad writers block.

“COMMANDER!” Kirk yelled as the giant beast pulled Commander Fitzpatrick away.

Commander Dowding grabbed onto Kirk’s jacket and pulled him back through the hatch opening, sealing it with the controls on the console next to the hatch. Kirk sat down looking at the door, watching through his ocular implant as the beast drug Rye through the corridor.

“What the…?” Kirk whispered.

“What is it?” Dowding asked.

Kirk tapped the ocular implant a few times with his left pointer finger, “I have lost connection with the ships computer.” Kirk said with a worried look on his face.

“Does not matter,” Dowding said trying to sound strong, “We still have a job to do Lieutenant.”

Kirk nodded and pressed on following Commander Dowding as they made their way through the Jeffries tubes back onto one of the side corridors. Kirk looked up at one of the doors, it read; Armory. Kirk walked up the door but it did not open, the power seemed to be out in this section of the ship. Kirk braced himself as he took as much of a running start as he could smashing into the sliding doors, causing the doors to dent. Kirk put his hands on each side of the opening and with the help of Commander Dowding they were able to pry open the doors.

Stepping into the room Kirk and Dowding found several hand held phasers and enough compression rifles to arm a small marine unit. Kirk grabbed two phasers, handing one to Dowding, both men checked the settings and holstered them onto their belts. Kirk then unlocked a wall locker and pulled out a tricorder for himself while Dowding unlocked two compression rifles. Kirk placed the tricorder in the second holster he found, grabbing the rifle and checking the settings to make sure everything was set up correctly.

“I have a feeling I wont be able to use any consoles to hook up to if most of the power has been diverted away from main systems to just life support and the holodecks.” Kirk said.

“Understood,” Dowding said grabbing two shoulder bags and placing small Federation sticky grenades into, “Just in case.” Dowding said as he could feel Kirk’s gaze upon him.

“Alright Commander, you know this ship better than me, lead the way.” Kirk said.

<Tag Commander Dowding>

[Deleted]

Luke began to think. They were in Marine Amory 2.1, that meant that were approximately one deck away from a main computer core access terminal. However, if main power was offline, this was of little help.

Kirk waited patiently for Luke to think things through. He should have been making decisions faster than this but his mind was overwhelmed with everything that was happening. Ikar, Lamos, Max and Rye... All gone within the space of a few hours.

"We need to get to Deck 5." Luke decided. "There we can access the Emergency controls sub-processor. We may be able to restore some power, if not all."

<TAG Kirk>

"While we are moving I want you to keep a constant scan for lifesigns, friendly or otherwise."

<TAG Kirk>

Luke lead the way out of the Armory and walked accross the corridor where he accessed a manual overide on the Jefferies Tube hatch. Between the two of them, Kirk and Luke managed to pry the doors open. Luke climbed in first and made his way to the Turbolift shaft where they would begin their long climb to Deck 5.

[T'Brel Peers]

"I seriously doubt that we'd be able to force our way out. Any ideas of what we could do?" T'Brel aggreed with Commander Laika. There was now way that the four of them could get out of this ship and make it back to the Tigershark.

"Well then we need to think like Illian's people think," T'Brel said," if Tolkein's elves are based on these people they should have some of the ideologies."

"Well what do you two know about Tolkein's elves," Kez asked T'Brel and J'Leera.

"Well they live for a very long time, the only way they can die is if in battle of if thier hearts are broken," T'Brel said.

"They also have a respect for nature and use it for thier advantage," J'Leera added.

"Well this still doesn't help us does it," T'Brel said showing frustration.

"True but I did get the impression that these people do not have the same morality as Tolkein's elves," Kez said.

"How so?" T'Brel asked.

"Aren't elves supposed to be a pacifist people who only use force when they are threatend," Kez said. This got T'brel think of what the tree had told him in the grove. The fact that they had strayed off thier true path, that they were no longer like they used to be. The fact that only a few people believed in the old ways.

"We have to find someone who still follows thier old ways," T'Brel said as Illian walked in. Everyone quickly took defensive positions awaiting for anything to happen.

"Well, T'Brel lucky for you, you have found such a person," Illian said. This revalation surprised T'Brel and everyone else.

"Why would you help us?" T'Brel asked.

"Easy, I don't want my child to be born into a war that is not necessary," Illian started," my government is corrupt and they want more power."

<Tag J'Leera>

[Deleted]

"We need to get to Deck 5." Luke decided. "There we can access the Emergency controls sub-processor. We may be able to restore some power, if not all."

“I do not think that is a good idea sir,” Kirk said with a wink, “I think if we head all the way down to deflector control we might have a better chance of sending out at the very least a distress call. This way we can call in for help, they should send a fleet with in hours to come to our aide.”

Kirk had hoped Commander Dowding understood what he was trying to do. Kirk had noticed these alien beings had the ability to read minds if the person whom they were reading was not strong enough to block them out. It was natural that most humans do not posses the telepathic ability to block having their minds read, but a good defense is truly believing you are going to be doing one thing when in reality you lying and trying to do the complete opposite.

Kirk took two deep breaths and let his mind go blank, he thought about nothing, with all his conscious mind he tried only to think about his breathing, his heart rate, the rate at which his hair grows, how many times he blinks in a minute, anything to throw off a telepath if for some reason he could not keep his mind blank.

"While we are moving I want you to keep a constant scan for life signs, friendly or otherwise."

“Aye sir.” Kirk said almost robotically.

Dowding took a second look at his young Lieutenant checking his completion to make sure it was not turning to shades of gray. Luke led the way out of the Armory and walked across the corridor where he accessed a manual override on the Jefferies Tube hatch. Between the two of them, Kirk and Luke managed to pry the doors open. Luke climbed in first and made his way to the Turbo lift shaft where they would begin their long climb to Deck 5.

With in seconds of getting onto deck 5 Kirk felt it, the presence of another living thing trying to wonder around his mind. Kirk closed his eyes and tapped Commander Dowding three times on his left shoulder letting him know a telepath was scanning his mind. Grabbing onto Commander Dowding’s jacket both men kept up a decent pace as they walked through Jeffries tubes.

Kirk fought hard to keep his mind blank but the constant sounds in his mind broke him down after a few minutes forcing Kirk to repeat things in his head, anything that had nothing to do with what he was currently doing. Sliding down a slide as a kid while he continued to climb up the ship, running backwards on a baseball diamond, his first fight. It seemed like hours but finally the telepathic alien finally left, most likely dude to boredom.

“Glad that is over with.” Kirk said shaking his head in an attempt to get a rid of the heavy feeling telepaths always seem to leave.

<Tag Commander Dowding>

[Deleted]

"They are getting stronger."

"No concern of ours. Orlinis ordered us to proceed without hesitation, so we must."

"Orlinis is a fool and you know it."

"He can read your thoughts as well as you can read those of these humans Tresil, I would watch your tongue."

"It is not my tongue you should be watching, if this continues for much longer than my knife may be of more concern to you."

"Threaten me all you like Tesil, I will continue to fufil my orders until told otherwise. Now, let us return to the circle... The beasts need to be made more believable and we need to break through the barriers their minds are putting up, let us focus..."

****

Luke was tired, and as a result this little amount of exercise was really getting to him. He was beginning to sweat copious amounts and found himself praying that they would reach Deck 5 soon, however he soon realised that this kind of thought would give him away, he had to clear his mind.

"Glad that is over with." Kirk said shaking his head in an attempt to get a rid of the heavy feeling telepaths always seem to leave.

Luke sighed, the aliens were pushing harder and harder to get inside their minds. There was a point a few Decks down where Luke thought his head may have exploded, they were pushing so hard to get in.

"We're here." Luke said, opening a hatch and then gladly falling out onto the open Deck only seconds later to wish he was back in the shaft when a phaser beam shot past him.

"Stay there!" Luke yelled to Kirk who was still in the shaft. Luke himself crawled along the floor until he turned a corner, being shot at along the way. Whoever was firing was most definately a poor shot as each burst landed two to three feet away from Luke.

"It can't be the aliens..." Luke muttered to himself. "They wouldn't miss..."

He poked his head round the corner and saw three figures further along the corrider. They were in Starfleet uniforms.

"It must be the other 'team'." Luke yelled to Kirk who still remained in the shaft. "I'm going to try and talk to them."

He rounded the corner and held up his arms. "I am not armed." He said. "Luke, there's nothing here."

In answer to that gesture a phaser shot flew past his head, this time a lot closer. He dropped to the ground and once again crawled to a safe place. Kirk had joined him by this time.

"I think they must be seeing something else." Luke said. "Maybe the aliens are planting something in their minds." He added.

<TAG Kirk>

"Well, either way, they are firing at us and preventing us from reaching our desired aim. I think we're going to have to take them out, with no harm done to them of course. What do you see as the best way of going about this Lt?" He asked Kirk.

<TAG Kirk>

[Deleted]

"I think they must be seeing something else." Luke said. "Maybe the aliens are planting something in their minds." He added.

“I think your right Commander.” Kirk said keeping himself low from any possible fire.

"Well, either way, they are firing at us and preventing us from reaching our desired aim. I think we're going to have to take them out, with no harm done to them of course. What do you see as the best way of going about this Lt?" He asked Kirk.

“We have a few options, phasers, compression rifles and those small grenades,” Kirk said pulling the bag around from his back, “We could set them on a low charge and use them as a sort of flash bang energy weapon. It should stun everybody down there.”

“Sounds like a good idea Lieutenant.” Dowding simply replied.

Kirk grabbed into the satchel bag pulling out two of the smaller Marine grenades. He slowly pushed a sequence of codes into the back of the grenade, changing the explosion yield of the device to a level suitable for stun.

“Alright Commander you take this one,” Kirk said handing Dowding the small device, “Try and aim your for the right side of their location, I will aim for the left.”

“On the count of three.” Luke said taking a deep breath.

“One,”

“Two,”

“THREE!”

Kirk and Dowding stood as fast as they could, armed the grenades and throw them down around the corner of the corridor to their targets locations. Both men dropped instantly back down to the ground and waited for the series of explosions before moving in with their compression rifles. With in seconds of their attack two small explosions rang out through the corridor accompanied with a large bright white flash and enough of a concussion blast to put anybody on the ground.

“Lets move,” Kirk said getting back to his feet first, “Weapons on stun.”

Kirk slowly rounded the corner and saw all but two people lying unconscious on the deck floor. The two female security officers left were huddled together like scared children, crying and holding out their phasers ready to attack whatever came their way. As Kirk drew closer the two female officers hands began to shake more and their crying became louder. Dowding came around the corner and looked over Kirk’s shoulder at the scene that lay before them. There was a loud cry as Dowding around Kirk and began to walk toward the officers. Kirk could see it plane as day, these two women were afraid of their lives.

Watching from their position on the ground Sara held onto Tiffany watching as the great dark black beast walked past the dark gray beast standing just around the corner. The dark black beast walked slowly on all fours drooling and growling as he drew closer.

“Commander I think we should just stun them and get it over with.” Kirk said as he started in toward Dowding.

“Agreed,” Dowding simply replied, “You have left I have right.

Kirk stood next to Dowding and aimed their compression rifles with care as to not fit the two scared officers in their faces.

The two great beasts jumped onto their back hind legs and growling and snarling as they swatted their arms about. Sara dropped her phaser and grabbed onto her friend scared out of her mind. She closed her eyes and waited for it to end.

“Now.” Dowding said giving the order to fire.

Two shots rang out in the hallway; both officers now were lying on the ground next to their fellow fallen crewmates. Kirk pulled out his tricorder and scanned for life signs, counting the bodies on the ground he matched the number of life signs to the number of officers on the ground in front of his tricorder. He nodded in Dowding’s direction and led the way into the room containing the Emergency Sub Processor controls.

Stepping into the next room Kirk found himself standing in a jungle, no computers in site.

“What do you make of this?” Kirk asked.

<Tag Commander Dowding>

[laika]

"Your government's corrupt?" T'Brel asked. "Well, I can certainly understand wanting to get away from that."

Illian nodded. "Indeed. One would think that centuries of experience would give one wisdom, but it is not always so. Many of us have strayed from our original ways like the 'tree' said," he paused and looked around at their suprised expressions. "Yes, I know all that," he continued. "But you must remember that not all Elves are peaceful people. Some of us can be very arrogant, conviced of thier own superiority and ability, like the Noldorian Elves and Feanor."

J'Leera nodded understanding what he was saying.

"Who's Feanor?" Keztrek asked her.

"Feanor was the son of the Noldor king in the Silmarillion," she explained. "He was very intelligent and because of it, became very arrogant. His best known work were the Silmarils, three jewels made from the light of the two trees Telperion and Laurelin in Valinor. After the trees had been destroyed by Morgoth, Feanor and his sons vowed to avenge this act, bringing about a war that lasted many centuries."

Illian nodded. "And some of us have yet to learn the lessons of Feanor. You see, after we left, we were again blessed with peace and through this peace many assumed to former arrogance of the Noldor."

"Do these groups still exist?" J'Leera asked. "The Noldor, the Sindarin and the Teleri?"

"How is it that you know so much of our people?" he asked.

"There are books about them," she answered, "written by a man named J.R.R. Tolkien. The best known ones are the Silmarillion..."

"The history of the Silmarils," Illian added.

"And the "Lord of the Rings," T'Brel added. "That is the one I know."

"The Lord of the Rings?" Illian asked. "Which rings do you refer to? Are they the rings of power?"

Tag: T'Brel

[T'Brel Peers]

"The Lord of the Rings?" Illian asked. "Which rings do you refer to? Are they the rings of power?"

"Are you referring to the Ring of Power, the one created by the Dark Lord Sauron?" T'Brel asked. It surprised T'Brel when he saw the color of Illian's face fade away.

"Yes that one," Illian said.

"According to the books the ring was destroyed by the two hobbits and brought peace to middle earth," T'Brel added.

"Yes I have heard of the hobbits, they were a very note worthy race," Illian said.

"Were?" Keztrek asked.

"Yes, as far as we know they were all killed centuries ages ago," Illian said.

"Tell me, in your history was the Ring of Power destroyed?" T'Brel asked. It seemed that Illian didn't want to answer that question, in fact it seemed that he already said to much.

"Illian you cannot back out now, you know what your people want to do is wrong," Keztrek said.

"Yes of course," Illian said," to answer your question the answer is no the ring was never destroyed. In fact all the rings created are still in exists today."

"You have some of them don't you," Keztrek said.

"Yes I do have them," Illian said as he made five rings appear."These are the three elvish rings and these two are dwarf rings." Everyone was in awe as they saw the rings of myth, to be honest it was more J'Leera and T'Brel, but Keztrek and Thirteen could sense the power that emanated from the rings.

"They think the Ring of Power is on Earth don't they?" T'Brel asked.

<Tag J'Leera>

[laika]

"They think the Ring of Power is on Earth don't they?" T'Brel asked.

J'Leera's mouth dropped and she looked up at Illian for confirmation. He nodded. "Are you serious?" she asked in astonishment.

"Yes," Illian replied relectantly.

"I don't understand, what are these rings?" Keztrek cut in.

"Three rings for the Elven kings under the sky," J'Leera began. "Seven for the dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, one for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, in the land of Mordor where the shadows are..."

"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, in the land of Mordor where the shadows are," T'Brel finished.

It was Illian's turn to be astonished. "How is it that this Tolkien knew so much? We had believed that such knowledge had been lost."

"That's not important right now," J'Leera shook her head. "If this is all true, can you imagine what might happen if the One Ring is found?"

"So, this Dark Lord..." Keztrek began.

"Sauron," J'Leera told her.

"This Sauron created rings of power in order to control everyone through his one ring?"

J'Leera and T'Brel both nodded.

They turned back to the rings. They looked so beautiful sitting there. "J'Leera pointed at the blueish one. "Nenya?" Illian nodded. "Galadriel's ring.." she breathed. She pointed at another. "Vilya? Elrond's ring?" Illian again nodded. "And so this one is Narya, Gandalf's ring."

She continued to gaze at them. They were so beautiful that she reached out and to pick Nenya up. Illian quickly snatched her hand. "Don't, they are still connected to the One Ring."

"This is all quite astonishing and to be frank, a little hard to believe," J'Leera shook her head. "How can this be real and if is, what happened?"

Tag: T'Brel

[T'Brel Peers]

It took T'Brel a bit longer to recognize the rings that were before him and once J'Leera said the name Nenya it all came back to him. For some strange reason T'Brel was attracked to Vilya, the ring of Sapphire, the ring of air that belonged to the great elf, Elrond. T'Brel felt as if the ring was calling to him.

"Don't, they are still connected to the One Ring." Those words brought T'Brel back to reality. It was a beautiful ring and to be honest T'Brel wanted to have it. His former host were very amazed at the beauty of the ring, but his Vulcan side told him that if he did, it could lead to ruin, it could lead to finding the ring.

There was still something that was bothering him, and that was the three other Dwarf rings. T'Brel knew that the four of the rings had been consumed by dragons and the other three were in Sauron's control. It seemed that Illian was still reading T'Brel's mind and answered his question.

"My forefather found these three rings long ago in the belly of the old dragons," Illian said.

"This is all quite astonishing and to be frank, a little hard to believe," J'Leera shook her head. "How can this be real and if is, what happened?"

"There is only one way to find out," T'Brel said.

"How is that?" Kez asked.

"The three elvish rings are the rings of power, they control fire, water, and air," T'Brel said.

"We do not know if these rings still hold their power," Illian said.

"Why not?" Kez asked.

"Because before now we have not dared look for the One Ring," Illian said.

"They want to use them don't they,"T'Brel said referring to his leaders.

"Yes they do and they know that I have them," Illian said.

<Tag J'Leera>

[laika]

J'Leera paused in deep thought. Suddenly she shuddered.

"What's wrong?" T'Brel asked.

"If the rings are real, then Sauron is also real...I can't believe that I'm saying this," she shook her head. "He could be just biding his time for the ring to appear and return to power. If he is what Tolkien's stories say, then we are in deep trouble."

"Our technology is much more advance though, did they not use swords?" Keztrek pointed out.

"They did, but Sauron has probably advanced also." She turned to Illian. "What are you going to do with the elven rings?"

"Me?" he asked. "I am uncertain, but I do know that my superiors wanted you three to test the rings. We dared not use them because of their power..."

"So, you wanted to test them on a weaker species?" J'Leera finished.

"More or less," he said. "It would be much harder for the One Ring to detect your presence than one of us, so that's why you three were picked."

J'Leera turned back to T'Brel. "What do you think about this? Does this sound right?"

Tag: T'Brel

[T'Brel Peers]

J'Leera turned back to T'Brel. "What do you think about this? Does this sound right?"

At first it sounded absurd to T'Brel. Yes Illian's people might be a lot more advance, but even so T'Brel thought that wearing them would do something. Then again they were going to be used anyways.

"I have my reservations, but I think we got to try," T'Brel said," we have the advantage in that we know what these rings are supposed to do."

"How do you know that?" KezTrek said.

"The Three Rings of Power control fire, water, and air," T'Brel responded," and they were said to give their wearer wisdom without measure."

"So what are you saying?" Illian said starting to get a bit restless. T'Brel turned to J'Leera and then to KezTrek. He knew that J'Leera knew exactly what would be happening if they did this, but the Admiral did not. She might be more suggestive than J'Leera or himself.

~Admiral do you want to do this?~ T'Brel asked hoping that Illian would respect both of them and not intrude in their mind. KezTrek didn't respond automatically, she was skeptical and couldn't believe everything that they were saying.

~Admiral what is your decesion?~ T'Brel said again hoping that it would get an answer.

"Lets do it," KezTrek said.

"Are you sure, Admiral?" J'Leera said.

"Yes," KezTrek responded and stepped forward.

"Well then take the rings," Illian said. J'Leera took Nenya, the ring of water. KezTrek took Narya, the ring of fire, and T'Brel took the Vilya, the ring of air.

<Tag J'Leera>

[Deleted]

Luke blinked rapidly. Was this psychological stress that was doing this to him?
His question was soon answered when Kirk made it obvious he was seeing the same thing.

"What do you make of this?" Kirk asked.

"It's another mind game. They know we're getting stronger and getting close to completing our goal. This is not here." He said touching the foliage.

"Looks so real..." Kirk said.

"It looks, smells, feels like a real jungle environment, but I can assure you it is not. That means the computers we need are still here. We just need to find them." Luke replied.

Kirk nodded in response.

"Is everything ok Lt?" Luke asked.

<TAG Kirk>

However Luke interupted him halfway through by raising his arm and pointing accross the 'jungle'.

There is something moving over there. He mouthed.

Kirk looked in that general direction and Luke assumed that he was using his optical implant to check it out.

Vulcan he mouthed. However Luke did not understand and shook his head. Vulcan He tried again. Luke still did not quite get it. Kirk sighed and moved his hands up to his ears and pulled on the top of them.

Romulan?! Luke mouthed worriedly. Kirk shook his head.

Vulcan He mouthed yet again.

Oh... Luke mouthed, feeling very foolish indeed. Luke signalled for Kirk to go one way and that he would go the other. If this Vulcan was a part of the Tiger Shark crew then he could be seeing what the aliens wanted him to see, just as they were.

The two officers slowly skirted round the Vulcan remaining hidden.

"I know you are there Commander Dowding. I am Lieutenant Sovals, and I can help you."

Luke frowned, this could be a trick but then again... He decided to leave the cover of the foliage and head towareds the Vulcan Lieutenant.

"How do you think you can help?" Luke asked, getting closer to the Vulcan.

"I can see through the illusions these creatures plant in our minds." He said simply.

Luke was a little taken aback. This could quite easily be a ploy by the aliens, however, someone that could see through the illusions would be very handy.

"Lieutenant Kirk, come over here please." Luke said.

Kirk, who had remained hidden like he had been trained, walked over to the other two.

"I can train you to see through the illusions as well." Sovals said.

<TAG Kirk>