Mission 9: Secrets of Mars

[dukemccalister]

[limegreen] “Ensign Wolf?” Saryn queried, needing her to confirm. “Ensign Dawson, be prepared to start scanning as soon as we approach Mars. Keep an eye out for hostiles and be prepared to fire on them.” It was against his code of violence, but at this moment his tactical training had the upper hand. “Lieutenant McCalister, as ranking officer, I believe you are in command of this mission. I am but a civilian doctor.”[/limegreen]

“Aye, and correction on the rank that would be Lt. Commander, as well as understood when it comes to command, seeing as im the ranking officer here, ill be seeing what happens and what we do along the way, you can feel free to add your advisement along the way or help whenever you deem necessary.” Duke replied.

[yellow]<tag Saryn>[/yellow]

[limegreen]'We are all set, pods powered up and ready to go." Sharon said.

Sharon had a feeling this was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack but they had to try and do their best to find the Captain. The bay doors opened and they left the launch bay and headed out. Sharon had to keep an eye on traffic since they were at Mars, traffic would be high here.[/limegreen]

“Proceed on due course Ensign, we are to follow the last known trajectory of the captains, if we have a heat trail left by there shuttle pod, we may have something to catch on. With my scientific abilities ill be annotating just that.” Duke replied.

[yellow]<tag Wolf or Saryn>[/yellow]

Looking at the panel next to him, he quickly began to understand what these panels were and how they functioned and what each could do. Familiarizing himself with the scientific module, he looked inside the viewing scanner, and then began to look at the scans provided by the ship in flight.

“Interesting it seems they have left a trail off to a nearby cliff northwest of hear, maybe a few clicks, if you would make the proper adjustments Ensign, to heading 12, and proceed with three quarters impulse at a low elevation, we should be there momentarily.” Duke noted.

[yellow]<tag Wolf>[/yellow]

“Thank you, I’ll continue my scans while you proceed to the course heading, never know what might show up at this point, were at mars, and something might pop up. Got to keep on guard at all times.” McCalister suggested.

[Andrew Kirk]

The day had been a long one for the Captain of the Challenger. He had spent the better part of the day in front of a computer monitor trying to crack a very sophisticated computer code; one the tired Captain imagined was never intended to be cracked. On occasion the mysterious agent would peer into the darkened room to make sure Kirk was where he was supposed to be, and of course he was.

He knew his brain was much at this point and he couldn’t remember what time it was or how long he had been at this task. What he did know was that he was far too fired to continue trying to crack this computer code and he needed some much needed sleep.

“Agent?” Kirk called out thinking the room was being watched.

Nothing. Not even the slightest hint of life anywhere. Walking to the door Kirk pressed on the door release but nothing happened. He tried it again with the same results. Despite being tired he felt a sudden resurgence of energy as adrenaline started pumping through his veins. What’s going on? Kirk thought to himself.

The room began to smell shortly before his vision suddenly doubled. His head bobbed from one shoulder to the other as he stumbled back to the computer system before collapsing onto the red dusty dirt of the Martian cave.

Kirk tried to crawl but he found the more he crawled the further away from the work station he appeared to be. His heart was racing faster than it had ever done before and it was all he could do to keep himself calm under these usual circumstances.

“I’m dying.” Kirk said to himself as his mind suddenly thought about a number of exotic viruses or bacteria he could have contracted while in the cave system.

“You’re not dying.” Kirk heard the Agent’s voice in the distance. He did his best to move his head to the sound and when he did he saw the Agent standing in his environmental suit with he helmet securely on.

“What’s going on?” Kirk tried to say in his most commanding voice.

“Initiation.” The Agent replied. With that response a sudden floor of thick white looking gas filled the bottom of the cave floor displacing all oxygen. Kirk coughed and gasped for air while at the same time he fought with all his might to get to his feet. It all ended up being a futile endeavor as Kirk quickly gave into the effects of the gas and passed out.

[Deleted]

Saryn had taken one of the seats aft in the pod, one that would impair his view out the front window. "I will take the readings," he announced, "I have, after all, tactical experience."

He felt the pod being dropped from the ship and felt a brief weightlessness; a sensation he wasn't too fond of to begin with. The pod began it's course towards Mars and the Vulcan took whatever readings he could. "I have a masked trail from shuttlepod one," he reported, "it is faint but it is leading towards one of the taller habdomes."

~~ later ~~

The small team exited the pod and started to walk around. Saryn held up his PDA, scanning his surroundings. "I am not detecting anything that would lead to the conclusion that either Captain Kirk or Commander Logan have been here. Please note that there was also no response from Commander Wallace abour Challenger, he may very well have left at some point as well."

They reached a staircase, which led to an underground but manmade cavesystem. "It appears we have come upon an archaeological dig?" he queried, raising an eyebrow at his crewmates. "Suggestions, Commander McCalister?"

[dukemccalister]

[limegreen]Saryn had taken one of the seats aft in the pod, one that would impair his view out the front window. "I will take the readings," he announced, "I have, after all, tactical experience."

He felt the pod being dropped from the ship and felt a brief weightlessness; a sensation he wasn't too fond of to begin with. The pod began it's course towards Mars and the Vulcan took whatever readings he could. "I have a masked trail from shuttlepod one," he reported, "it is faint but it is leading towards one of the taller habdomes."[/limegreen]

“Interesting, Thank you for those readings Saryn, Ensign wolf place a course to the taller one of the habdomes, and don’t be slow on it, we must be vigiliant, in the search for captain kirk.” Duke replied.

“We may after all, find him there, with clues on what happened along the way.” Duke motioned.

After arriving on the the ground near the habdomes, the team got out, and Saryn began his scans of the surroundings. [limegreen]"I am not detecting anything that would lead to the conclusion that either Captain Kirk or Commander Logan have been here. Please note that there was also no response from Commander Wallace abour Challenger, he may very well have left at some point as well."[/limegreen]

“Well that is a observant point taken, and we should act on it, If you would mind doing a second scan maybe we might pick something up in the result of your analysis. Just to be sure, but we can go ahead and start looking.” Duke replied and walked with Saryn and wolf.

[limegreen]They reached a staircase, which led to an underground but manmade cavesystem. "It appears we have come upon an archaeological dig?" he queried, raising an eyebrow at his crewmates. "Suggestions, Commander McCalister?"[/limegreen]

“First id like to pull up any information we have from ship logs on this archeological dig before we proceed, if something were to come up further we just may have something. For now I would suggest we start a surrounding scan of the area before proceeding into the cave.” Duke motioned.

Walking around he grabbed his scanner and looking at all the markings and watching the readings as they flowed across his informative panel. It was of interest to find more Martian markings and nearby watermarks that had been on the planet some time long long ago. If there was any life they were dead, or left little evidence to bring fact to there being here. “Well we should start heading into the cave, this evidence should be enough of what we need before going in.”

Putting on his lightswitch along with the other crewmembers, they were now illuminated before a visible cave in a Martian stretch. Duke more enveloped in the cave dwellings began to pull out his PaDD and write a detailed analysis along the way.

[dukemccalister]

~~Before~~

Back at the Challenger, Duke had some things to get together and his quarters to muse with. He was interested in the daily business of the crew before the ship had its ship wide shut down before the captain and its executive officer had to make there way off the ship. In the mean time, the Lt. Commander found something laying on the bed it was noted that it was in a fashion or form of a box, along with it a PaDD, picking them both up, Duke began to read the information on the panel first.

“From Captain Kirk, Addressed to Lt. Commander Duke McCalister, as of this day and of this hour and year, Starfleet command has ordered me to give you the rank of Commander, for your duties onboard the challenger, I was very happy to accept there offer and I have left a box with your new rank. Congratulations Commander. End Transmission.”

Dropping the PaDD next to his bed he began to open the box slowly and look over his new rank. It was another silver bar. As he took of the empty rectangular silver bar, and replaced it with the new one, he now had three silver bars on the ride corner side of his collar. He looked it over it in the mirror and was smiling, then put the PaDD and old insignia away with his belongings.

~~After~~

“These caves are so massive what inside and what can we find seems to be the likely question anyone would ask right now.” Duke responded.

“I suggest we start moving into the cave, if the captain is inside maybe this might freshen up some light on the situation, we have to start looking off the ship and focusing on the priority. I want the captain found immediately.” Duke motioned.

Pulling out his scanner he began to survey the surrounding cave, the more martian dwellings appeared on scans and evidence of prior life of its distant past. Human life had been inexistent according to scans, and alien life was more prevalent.

“It seems the water trails alongside the cave might suggest some kind of lake formation or river. Maybe sustainable life that we could look more into.” the commander suggested.

“I would say we start pinpointing the scans on those water formations, to get a better look at what exactly came from life on this planet, and discovering the clue.” Duke replied.

[Deleted]

"Water does tend to run downwards," Saryn supplied logically, "thus if we follow the steps down, we should come upon a stream or creek, albeit subterraneous." He held out his flashlight and let it run along the rockface. "Typical Martian rockface," he continued, "but that is as far as my geographical knowledge goes."

The Vulcan glanced down at his PDA, doing a "360" as he held it up. "I am detecting life-signs," he reported, "mostly humans, but some are species my PDA does not recognise. One is definitely Vulcan." He raised an eyebrow at McCalister. "No, I am not reading ourselves," he answered before the science chief could retort on it.

Slowly, he moved towards the first step of the spiraling staircase, taking one glance into the wel-lit depth that'd take them several levels down. He took a few deep breaths then took the first step down, trying to control his anxiety and keeping his gaze fixed on the closest wall. "Commander, the damp air may become a problem for me. I have medication with me but my system will not tolerate a further increase in humidity. I thought I should let you know. Vulcans are not bred to survive in high humidity environments," he stated as he took another careful step down.

The stairs were slippery at best and it took careful co-ordination to follow the spiraling steps down. About twenty steps down they reached a plateau, where Saryn spotted an excavation. Kneeling, he examined the dig and spotted something offwhite beneath the sand. "Bones," he murmured, "someone was buried here and his or her grave has been excavated. But why?"

[dukemccalister]

[limegreen] "Water does tend to run downwards," Saryn supplied logically, "thus if we follow the steps down, we should come upon a stream or creek, albeit subterraneous." He held out his flashlight and let it run along the rockface. "Typical Martian rockface," he continued, "but that is as far as my geographical knowledge goes." [/limegreen]

“Interesting deduction Saryn, this water might provide more proof to the life question that scientists have been running them self’s over so many times, we can gather some samples and possibly run a test later after the captain has been found to conclude a analysis on the basis of your deduction.” Duke replied.

[limegreen] The Vulcan glanced down at his PDA, doing a "360" as he held it up. "I am detecting life-signs," he reported, "mostly humans, but some are species my PDA does not recognise. One is definitely Vulcan." He raised an eyebrow at McCalister. "No, I am not reading ourselves," he answered before the science chief could retort on it. [/limegreen]

“Ah life signs eh, but vulcan, what would they be doing on Mars, is the question I have, What if they happened to find the Captain or even the commander, and something interesting as you have indictated these species are not recognized, maybe the system is jammed or it hasn’t been uploaded with prior results, we must look into it further” Duke suggested.

[limegreen] Slowly, he moved towards the first step of the spiraling staircase, taking one glance into the wel-lit depth that'd take them several levels down. He took a few deep breaths then took the first step down, trying to control his anxiety and keeping his gaze fixed on the closest wall. "Commander, the damp air may become a problem for me. I have medication with me but my system will not tolerate a further increase in humidity. I thought I should let you know. Vulcans are not bred to survive in high humidity environments," he stated as he took another careful step down. [/limegreen]

“Make sure you do the required steps to take care of yourself and if it would be necessary we should exit the cave and look elsewhere, but if you have enough medicine then we can continue.” Duke suggested.

[limegreen] The stairs were slippery at best and it took careful co-ordination to follow the spiraling steps down. About twenty steps down they reached a plateau, where Saryn spotted an excavation. Kneeling, he examined the dig and spotted something offwhite beneath the sand. "Bones," he murmured, "someone was buried here and his or her grave has been excavated. But why?" [/limegreen]

“Maybe it was proof of life and someone didn’t want us to find it, you have a good point to bring up Saryn.” as commander mccalister looked at Saryn confused but pulled out his scanner in the hope something would pop up on scans.

[Deleted]

"If someone did not want us to find it," Saryn pointed out, "then they did a poor job of disguising their finds. No, while I believe we were not meant to find this, I also believe we arrived here unexpectedly. Whoever was searching this grave, departed post-haste."

The Vulcan knelt down and literally crawled around the find, carefully brushing dirt from the bones with a certain amount of reverence. There were brushes lying close-by and he reached for one of them, using it to brush away more dirt before holding up his PDA to them. "These are Human remains," he reported, "though I am unable to determine how old these bones are. I suggest we mark this place for further investigation and carry on to search for the captain."

Dusting his clothing off, Saryn rose back to his feet, though he stayed well away from the edge of the plateau, insofar that was possible as he had to come close to it to reach the stairway. "Commander, though I believe this is a poor time to mention it, I should tell you that I suffer from vertigo." He cast an anxious look down the spiraling stairway, which was still a good fifty meters long. "I do not like heights," he added, believing the Human might misunderstand.

[dukemccalister]

“If they left already then we have to know what who they are and maybe pick up some traces of what was left before they left. Maybe a tissue sample of the area, with the scanners we have might be able to pick up some kind of detail on the individuals that we are looking for.” Duke recalled.

“And if they departed already, they sure did a hell of a job of leaving samples behind for us to get at so that we could watch over the area, to get the upper hand in the situation, if it were me and I were the person wanting nothing to be covered up, I would try my best to try and dispose of the grave and its remains, but low and behold, we have a grave here, and one who wants us to find them, interesting as it sounds.” McCalisters mentioned then walked around the grave for a closer look to see what he may pick up.

“Human remains huh, must have been a scientific detail used to pick up on martain remains, and they were uneventful in there attempts, but we can continue on with the search for the captain.” Duke remarked.

“Then If you would like I shall stand behind you or you can stand behind me, so that you stay safer while we head down, I wouldn’t want you exposed to these harsh conditions and your health to be stricken by some vertigo as you call it, I shall try my best to see to it that you are well maintenanced.” Duke walked with the doctor in the motionless effects of walking down a spiraling stairway.

“I can tell you are not liking this one little bit, if I could ensure your health is better, I would give you some hypospray or medical attention but it would seem that I am prone to the affects of a science officer and not proficient in the ways of a medical assistant, so once we get down to lower ground you can tell me exactly what to do so that you feel better through your motion sickness.” duke replied.

As they both walked down, Duke watched the vulcan now experience a since of vertigo as he was walking down the stairway, but approached him, taking him under the arms, and putting him on the ground, watching as the effects subsided away.

“Saryn it would seem you had yourself a way of the vertigo as you call it down the stairway, I was lucky enough to catch you and put you down on the ground, and let you rest, if you are better, I would like to continue on.”

[Deleted]

"That will not be necessary Commander," Jack said appearing out of no where. He had narrowily escaped and it had taken him a few minutes to come up with a believable story," why are you here? These were not the cooridnates that you were provided to you."

(Saryn and Duke)

"I was alerted to your presence here by the authorities," Jack said," they noticed your uniform and contacted me."

(Saryn and Duke)

Jack hated doing this to his fellow officer and friend, but he had to get them away from the dig site. It was impossible for them to have missed the human remains which was going to create some problems.

"We need to get out of here," Jack said remembering the warning that had been given to him. No one was supposed to know about the bones except the two agents already on Mars. Jack was one of those agents.

(Saryn and Duke)

[Deleted]

"That will not be necessary Commander," Jack said appearing out of nowhere. He had narrowily escaped and it had taken him a few minutes to come up with a believable story," why are you here? These were not the cooridnates that you were provided to you."

Saryn looked sideways, allowing McCalister to answer that particular question as he was the ranking officer in their small party. Once Duke had answered, Saryn met the communications chief's piercing gaze with an air of defiance. "We had not expected to encounter you here commander," he retorted coldly, "however we detected lifesigns and decided to follow them to the source."

"I was alerted to your presence here by the authorities," Jack said," they noticed your uniform and contacted me."

Again, Saryn allowed McCalister to reply first, also leaving room for their pilot to pipe up her own responses. The Vulcan didn't like the commander's tone of voice and found the entire situation suspect. His PDA certainly had not picked up on the human's lifesigns, and as such, Saryn wondered how he'd been able to hide them. However, for the moment he decided not to ask.

"We need to get out of here," Jack said remembering the warning that had been given to him. No one was supposed to know about the bones except the two agents already on Mars. Jack was one of those agents.

"I cannot in good conscience leave these remains here," Saryn finally retorted as he rose to his feet, dusting off his slacks in the process. "They have been excavated and I need to examine them. They appear to be Human, and the location is suspect to begin with. This does not appear to be a burial site, therefor I can only conclude that this person did not die of natural causes."

It was a long shot, but he needed to convince Logan that he had legal business to be here, as chief medical officer and at present, coroner. Crossing his arms over his chest, the Vulcan cast the Human senior officer another look of cold defiance. "Take Ensign Wolf and Lieutenant Commander McCallister if that pleases you, but I have work to do."

[dukemccalister]

“Why wouldn’t we be, were in search for the captain and all other personnel stretched far off from the ship, we just wanna make sure everyone is safe and alright and since the ship is shutdown at the moment, while the captain is gone doing his own thing, saryn and I thought we would go and find you and him.” Duke replied.

“Which authorities would you be talking about, I had no idea there was another presence on mars for that matter, on that the captain and other Starfleet personnel were far stretched as the eye could see. Tell me more about these authority figures. You also say they noticed our uniforms wow, that’s intrigued me more than anything who in there right mind would notice Starfleet uniform unless they were enemy of Starfleet or someone within Starfleet, that has got me wondering.” Duke motioned.

“Alright then, lead the way, so where exactly are you taking us, and what has been happening while we have been on the ship.” Duke replied.

“Im starting to get the feeling we are not alone, and something on this planet is not exactly friendly.” Duke motioned again then turning to Saryn talking lightly so Jack couldn’t hear “We need to get out of here, and find the captain, Im not to sure, about these authorities, it may have been just an assumption, but we need to keep an eye out for jack and watch him carefully.” Duke recalled.

“Commander Logan where is your landing ship, can you take us to it?” Duke replied wondering if that may lead to a possible solution to finding the captain.

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk’s vision slowly came back to him. Right above him was a single bright point of light and as he started to come back around he felt as if he was floating toward the light at the end of this strange black tunnel.

“Welcome back.”

Kirk instantly recognized the voice of the Agent and did his best to try and sit up, “Hold on a second.” The voice called out to him.

“What’s going on?” Kirk questioned as he felt two strong hands pull him up to his feet. His world continued to spin even after an injection of an unknown agent was sprayed into his neck.

“Just a SOP.”

“SOP?” Kirk asked knowing his words were still slurred.

“Standard Operating Procedure. We needed to make sure you passed the mental toughness that goes along with being an Agent.”

“We have a situation.” Kirk heard coming form somewhere in the background.

“What is it?” The Agent questioned.

“Three of the Challenger’s crew have located the bones.”

“Have they found the archeologists yet?”

“I don’t believe so.”

“Activate the other Agent, mission critical, take extreme efforts to ensure the safety of those bones. Nobody gets out of here alive with those bones. Understand?”

“Yes sir.”

Kirk heard footsteps on the gravel floor and soon that individual had stopped next to him, “We may need to use you sooner than we thought.”

<Tag ALL>

[Deleted]

Saryn waved the Humans off, kneeling beside the remains a second time, leaning in to take a closer look. Carefully, and with great reverence, he brushed aside more sand, exposing more bones. He fully expected to have to dig through tough layers of sand and possibly clay to expose them, but the sand brushed aside easily enough.

"This is odd," he murmured, the presence of his shipmates long forgotten. He fished around in his medical bag until he found the proper tools, then picked up one of the remains, holding it up to the scanner. "I would need to take these back to Challenger for carbon dating, but I would suspect these bones are Human in origin," he commented to himself, taking mental note of his own discoveries as he continued to talk to himself while examining the bone in his hands.

He looked up from time to time, waiting to hear comments or objections from his shipmates and friends. The Vulcan found Logan's presence here curious and suspect at best but for now he would let it slide. He was more concerned about the captain's safety at the moment, since Kirk had been completely incommunicado for a long while. "Commander Logan, where is Captain Kirk," he asked after a long silence had fallen.

Saryn didn't even wait for the answer, but rose to his feet, the tibial bone still in his hands. "I need to get this to Challenger. Can we use the transporter in here, I really would not wish to walk up those stairs again." He suppressed a shudder at the mere thought of ascending the reasonably 'see-through' steps. Casting a somewhat anxious look towards the edge of the plateau, he looked back at McCalister. "Nor do I have a desire to descend any further, I am certain you understand."

[dukemccalister]

Looking back at Saryn, Commander McCalister was getting a feeling things weren’t playing out as they had originally planned on. They were going to find the captain and as it had turned out, when there shuttle was heading on its way to find the captain and commander logan, the agents and some individuals were more focused on the Starfleet crew than were on the challenger itself.

Putting the pieces together Duke was thinking about why there would be life here on mars, it was a desert wasteland, and no traces of water were to be found, it was almost like it was lifeless, and yet there was life and the life that was there had found the challenger crew, that only meant one thing to duke, they didn’t want to be noticed or they had something behind closed doors and the captain had been placed away, and it was there job to find him.

“Saryn a minute please” walking back to the corner while looking at logan in the corner about a few clicks out, “I believe that logan is not someone we should be trusting right now he only just came to us and told us this information and its not like he is helping in any way. I want to keep an eye on logan and also I want you to do a thorough scan on those bones if they are human and you are correct, maybe they were a prior excavation team and the people that had originally spotted us may have killed them or even shot them, and walked off, leaving them to die. I know its sound really really wrong on all levels but putting the blocks together we need to focus and sounds more logical than ever you know than better than I do, seeing as you are the vulcan here, and we have done the mind melds.”

“If you would I could have you transport to the ship to analyze these bones while I keep and eye on logan for the time being, if he gets to jumpy, I will notify you.” Duke motioned but looked hesistant in his reply.

Looking back at logan Duke wanted some more information “What do you know those authorities and how fast do you think they can get here, if we can do our scans, what is the time frame here, I want to be able to get things done before they get suspicious and start reacting.” duke motioned.

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk stood along side his ‘mentor’ agent and listened to the conversation taking place between Commander Logan and the rest of the Challenger’s senior staff members. As he stood in place listening to the officers go back in forth over the bones he heard one of the strong-armed type agents speaking softly behind him.

“Sir, the scientists have been taken care of but their computer system still remains active.”

“Captain I believe it’s about time that you quickly dispatched with your crew.” Kirk heard from behind him.

“And how do you supposed I do that?”

“Order them to leave.”

“That might appear a bit strange since it was I who ordered them here in the first place,” Kirk replied as he turned to face the other agents, “Challenger was tasked with the job of protecting the scientists, whom we haven’t found yet.”

“The scientists have been dealt with according to our strict regulations of secrecy. Regulations you were well informed about when you agreed to this assignment.”

“At all costs.” Kirk said, “I remember vividly.” Kirk turned back to the monitor to watch and listen to the continuing conversation. The longer they talked the more Kirk knew that the Challenger crew didn’t trusts Commander Logan, “I’ve got an idea.” Kirk said walking out of the hidden communications room.

“I want to be able to get things done before they get suspicious and start reacting.” duke motioned.

“There isn’t a need for that kind of talk Commander McCalister.” Kirk said as he stepped from the shadows.

“Captain?” McCalister said out of a gut reaction.

The Challenger’s captain walked quickly by Jack’s side, he knew he had to explain the situation in a way that the crew would understand, while at the same time try and not give away any top secret information.

“What is going on here Captain?” Saryn asked in his signature direct manner.

“All your questions will be answered as soon as possible, but I’ve yet had my debriefing with the Admiral and once I do I can disclose my report to you. We have a situation however, the Chief Science Officer of the Martian Expeditionary Team and his crew have gone mission, that includes a group totaling approximately seven to nine people. We have to find those missing people and get them back to Earth. Duke, I would like you and Ensign Wolf to go with Commander Logan. I’ll stay here with Saryn to secure those fossils.”

<Tag all>

[Deleted]

"I am inclined to disagree with that terminology until I have processed my tests captain," Saryn cut in, raising both eyebrows as indication of surprise. But he was also suspicious now. "Captain, walk with me?" he continued, "please?"

He nodded towards McCalister to go with Logan for now, at least lead them a way a few paces so he could have a private conversation with the captain. Still holding on to the tibial bone he had picked up, he held it out to Kirk, for him to examine. "I am reasonably certain these are human remains," he explained, "however I am curious as to why the excavation site looks so disturbed. For these bones to be ancient, they would be buried deeper into the soil and be more lodged in. I could easily dig them out, with little trouble on my part."

The Vulcan noted the Human's look of surprise, but didn't think much of it at first. When he didn't respond however, Saryn's suspicion grew. "Captain, what is going on here? Why were we called her at first, and now ushered away? What is here that we are not allowed to discover?"

There was a brief hardening in Kirk's expression, but however fleeting, the Vulcan's keen senses had picked up on it and he was instantly on guard. His demeanor changed, going from inquisitive to overly formal and cautions, his hand dropping slowly to where his phase pistol was attached to his uniform. "Captain?" he queried, watching the captain's stance change too.

Saryn took a small step closer, bringing himself face to face with the Human. "We stumbled on a conspiracy, did we not?" he concluded, unsure of whether they were correct. When Kirk suddenly moved, Saryn was fortunate to be the quicker man. He grabbed Kirk by the shoulder and pressed down at just the right spot at the junction where neck and clavicle met. Captain Kirk slumped in his arms and slowly the Vulcan lowered him to the ground.

"Captain Kirk is unwell," he called back to the landing party. "Commander Logan, I require your assistance, I am in no condition to carry the captain." That was no immediate lie, he needed his attention focused if he were to master his fear of heights for the moment, or he had no way of ever getting back to the surface.

As Logan approached, Saryn leveled his pistol at the communications chief. "You will keep your hands where I can see them," he demanded coldly, "you will note my weapon is set to heavy stun." He diverted his attention ever so briefly. "Commander McCalister, kindly arrange transport to Challenger, I have remains to examine. Commander Logan shall remain here for now, to watch over Captain Kirk."

Without warning, Saryn pulled the trigger and the commander slumped down into the sand. "We are in trouble," he stated matter-of-factly, glancing back at both unconscious senior officers. "They are in on this, whatever it is. We must leave, at once."

[Deleted]

Sharon was not crazy about the stairs but she carefully made her way with the others down the slippery steps. Sharon slipped and the Ensign caught her arm and righted her. She nodded a quiet thank you to the ensign.

They found a landing, Sharon noticed that the Dr looked likes he was not liking this one bit, he had mentioned the vertigo, then he found the bones and thought it would be a good idea to take them back to the ship when Commander Logan showed. He was trying to get them to go somewhere else, this whole thing started smelling fishy to her. Then she heard the doctor talk to the Captain then told everyone the Captain was ill, then for no reason shot the commander.

"Doctor, may I suggest we get out of here before they come for us." Sharon stated.

Saryn glanced up the long spiraling stairway. "Continue," he answered, "however I shall wait for transport. I cannot go back this way."

"Doctor, I cannot leave you here, would my help get you back up the stairs , even blindfolding you?" She asked.

I do not know," Saryn answered thoughtfully. "It would be worth a try. You may proceed."

Sharon slipped out of her jacket and tore part of it to make a blindfold. "It might help if you bend to-wards me, you are roughly a foot taller then me."

Apprehensively, though visibly quite calm, Saryn leaned slightly forward to allow her to apply the blindfold. "I would require a lead," he said slowly, "I may get hurt if I attempt this ascend on my own. I do not wish to injure myself."

Sharon tied the blindfold around his eyes. "I can handle that, just slide your arm in mine, and we will do this together. You will do just fine. "Sharon said in a calm quiet voice.

The Vulcan obliged, though it went against everything he was ever taught regarding touching Humans. Fortunately she only touched his tunic and not his skin, which he appreciated. "Thank you ensign. Please, lead the way." He didn't like being without sensory input, but it was better than fear.

They moved to the stairs and slowly worked their way up, Sharon watched carefully, she was scared but she did not want him to know that. They made their way back to the top, Sharon disengaged from him and took off his blindfold.

[Deleted]

The Vulcan blinked against the sudden light that assaulted his eyes, feeling strangely disoriented. "Thank you ensign," he said gratefully, "that was good thinking on your part. However illogical this fear is, I still suffer it. I do suggest we depart as swiftly as possible. Captain Kirk was only nervepinched, and Commander Logan was merely stunned."

He looked up at McCalister, who nodded in response. "Let's get the hell out of here," he agreed, "before they send their cronies after us."

Making sure the bones were safely settled in his bag, Saryn climbed back into the shuttlepod, taking his seat well away from the window. Several long minutes later, and feeling somewhat guilty about having had to deceive his captain, the Vulcan walked back into his sickbay. He had barely set the bones onto a table with the gravest reverence when he was nearly knocked over.

"Numike!" he said, uttering an exhasperated sigh, "how many more times do I need to tell you not to do that when I am at work. For all you know I am just handling a very dangerous specimen and your action could kill us both."

Still holding her arms wrapped around his waist in a hug, the vampire girl looked up at her adopted father. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I just missed you."

Patting the top of her head, Saryn indulged in a small smile. "Go back to my office and attend to your studies," he told her, "I shall join you later. Right now, I have work to do." As the girl obliged, the Vulcan turned back to his bones, picking up a scanner to make a more detailed analysis.

He held his breath as, an hour later, he waited for the results to be displayed on his computer. "These bones are fourteenhundred years old," he breathed, "but how..." Carbon dating just confirmed that the bones were ancient, but he still had his doubts. "Middle aged male, human," he read aloud, "died of natural causes." Yet, Saryn had the distinct feeling something was very wrong and he felt an odd chill creep down his back.

"Commander McCalister..." he called, pressing the companel on the wall. No response, not even a computer query gave any indication Mccalister was still aboard.

"Ensign Wolf, this is Saryn. Meet me in the shuttlebay tomorrow morning. I need to get back down there, it is important." Switching off his computer, he went to fetch his daughter then went home. "You may tend to your leasures," he told her, "I am going to bed. Wake me if someone needs my services."

"Yes father," she answered dutifully, though raised an eyebrow. He never went to bed before she did, and this was the first time he hadn't drilled her on her homework. The girl sensed something was wrong as well, but she was too young to begin to understand.

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk managed to come to and found that he was lying in the rust colored dirt that Mars is best known for. Lying besides him was Commander Logan. Jack was on his back, with his arms and legs spread out. It would have looked comical to an outsider, but to Kirk it wasn’t a laughing matter. Jack simply was lying where he had fallen, and by the looks of it he had been shot at a moderate distance by a phase pistol.

Instincts and training took over as Kirk began to pull Jack by his armpits back to the Agent’s back computer room. When the two officers finally made it to the clean computer room Kirk had found it abandoned. Paper work, PDA’s and even weapons sat in no particular order. The room had the look of a hasty withdrawal all over it.

Moving quickly Kirk picked up a medical kit and pulled a needle and spray from the pelican container and filled it up with magic spray that always seemed to bring a patient out of their coma. He was by no means a medic, but he had observed Doctor Saryn many times in Sickbay, as well as in the field and knew that he had the magic potion in his hands. With one quick spray and a few seconds for the medication to kick in Jack’s eyes began to flutter.

“Did you catch the number of the bus that hit me?” Jack asked.

“Looks like a phase pistol. Moderate stun.” Kirk answered his friend.

“Feels like it too.”

“Can you walk?” Kirk said holding out his hand to pull Jack to his feet.

“Does a monkey like bananas?” Jack joked as he grabbed onto Kirk’s hand and was pulled firmly to his feet. Jack walked in a circle to orient himself before he spoke again, “I think Saryn shot me.”

“I can believe that,” Kirk said as he nearly repeated Jack’s path, step for step, “He grabbed my neck and shoulder and the next thing I know I’m damn near face down in red dirt.”

“Why would he do something like that?” Jack asked as he tried to get back his senses.

“Don’t know,” Kirk said but his word trailed off. It suddenly had struck the former Chief Engineer like a ton of bricks, “Saryn’s in on it!”

“In on what? You mean the bones? C’mon.”

“No hear me out,” Kirk said moving closer to his good friend, “I was sent here and told that these fossils some scientists had found were ancient in nature and possibly pre-dated man on Earth.”

“I’ve heard that too.”

“Okay, well Saryn could be working against the Agents to expose this information. He could be trying to destroy Starfleet with it.”

“How?”

“Think about it, our entire society is based upon the notion that some God like being created man in his image. All religions on Earth believe it, or something close to that. If this information gets out it could cause chaos from with in.” Kirk’s mind was racing, his speech was getting quicker until finally all the pieces fell into place for him, “He’s working for the Romulans. Yeah, hell, have we ever seen a Romulan? No! We don’t even know what they look like, Saryn could be a Romulan. We have to get back to the ship and stop him before he does something with those fossils.”

<Tag ALL>

[Deleted]

Bright and early next morning, Saryn walked into sickbay, Numike at his side. The girl would sit in his office and tend to her studies, while he worked and tended to patients.

He had intended to work on the bones they had discovered but they became a lower priority when Ensign Gregor Ivanov from science limped in, his left leg a bleeding mess. "Doc, are you in?" the ensign called, "I had an accident in the cargobay."

Saryn pulled on a pair of gloves as he directed the young man to a bed. Using a pair of sterilised scissors, he cut away the ensign's pant leg, then continued to examine the injury. "How did you injure yourself?" he queried as he dabbed the wound with a desinfectant. "This may sting," he warned.

Ivanov hissed in pain. "I had to stack a pile of crates to get at the samples that I had ordered. Someone thought to pull a prank and hide them, so when I found them they were hidden somewhere up high. The stack fell over and I cut myself on one of the metal crates."

"I see," the Vulcan said, raising an eyebrow. "I will apply sutures and bandages but I need you to take better care of yourself. You may not indulge in any sports for the next two weeks, nor go climbing any crates. Understood?"

Once the patient was gone, Saryn returned to his lab, put on a clean pair of gloves and picked up one of the bones. Carbon dating had concluded that the bones were indeed approximately five hundred twenty years old, but they were not indiginous to Mars. They were too close to the surface for that and dug out too easily. Furthermore, the onset of stonification indicated that they had been buried in a different sort of sand for at least five hundred years.

Setting down the bone with great reverence, Saryn picked up a second bone and examined it. With a small brush, he dusted it off and set the sand sample in his detector. He frowned in confusion, though the read-out confirmed his suspicion. "Saryn to bridge, we may have a problem," he called, hoping someone would hear. "I may need to go back to that dig and explore further. Please advise."

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk’s fired up attitude about the possibility of Saryn being a Romulan working from with in Starfleet to cripple the fledgling space agency was brief at best. Both Kirk and Jack had searched the entire planet and to their surprise the shuttles they had each brought to the Red Planet were now missing. Beyond that all signs of life had fled with the missing shuttles.

“Now what?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know, I’m thinking.” Kirk said as he paced, his brow covered in perspiration, “Is it hot in here?”

“Not really,” Jack replied, “Maybe you should take it ease.”

“I can’t. We need to find a way off this planet and get back to Challenger, Saryn has to be stopped.”

“I agree that this all looks very suspect but we have bigger problems than if Saryn is a Romulan.”

“Like what?” Kirk fired back.

“Getting off Mars for starters. If you don’t happen to remember we both took unscheduled flights to Mars, and I don’t know about you, but nobody knows I’m here except for Saryn, Commander McCalister, and Ensign Wolf.”

“We have to stop Saryn.” Kirk interrupted as if he hadn’t even been listening to his long time friend.

“What’s the matter with you?” Jack questioned as he got to his feet.

“We have to keep this secret safe at all costs.”

“I think you’d better have a seat Andy.”

“No!” Kirk erupted in a trance like rage, striking Jack and sending him down to the red Martian ground before running off to complete his mission. His mind raced with paranoid possibilities, but he pressed on without a second thought to his actions. The only thing that mattered was the mission and he was going to complete his mission, one way or another.

[Deleted]

"Andy stop! You cannot do this alone!" Jack yelled after his best friend. Jack now knew that Andy was the other agent involved in this mission. Jack wasn't sure how much Andy knew and he highly doubted Saryn's involvement in a Romulan conspiracy. Hoping that he would be able to catch up to his friend, Jack sprinted out of the cave.

~Commander Logan, you must stop Captain Kirk. His current state of mind is endangering the mission~

"What the hell did you do to me?" Jack asked not willing to slow down.

~We are closely monitoring the situation Commander. You have your orders~

"Damn you!" Jack screamed as he saw Andy now only a quarter mile away. The only good thing about this situation was the fact that Jack was more physically fit than Andy. When this situation was resolved he would make sure to mention it.

"We have to stop them Jack, I got to stop them!" Andy said realizing that Jack was seconds away from tackleing him to the ground.

"Stop Andy, we have to talk about this," Jack said knowing that his words were fallling on deaf ears. With a burst of energy Jack lept off the ground and tackled Andy to the dusty red ground," Andy shut up and listen!"

"There is no way that Saryn is working for the Romulans, we have been through to much. He would never betray us like that," Jack said meaning every word. Even though Saryn was Vulcan, he had shown some emotion in the past towards them.

"This mission will not tear us apart," Jack said talking to his agent more than Andy," I'm the other operative Andy. If you were to fail I was to finish the mission. We have to take control of the situation. Saryn and the others will have to be stopped from discovering the truth, but we will do it our way. We have to protect them now as well. We cannot let the organization kill our crew!"

(Andy)

PS: More is to come

[Deleted]

Sharon had returned to the bridge and found it quiet except for a few officers, noone sat in the Captains chair, so she took a seat in it, noone said anything, since the highest ranking officer was a petty officer. She was looking over a Pda when the comm buzzed.

"Saryn to bridge, we may have a problem," he called, hoping someone would hear. "I may need to go back to that dig and explore further. Please advise."

"Doctor this is Ensign Wolf, since I will be meeting you in the shuttlebay in the morning we can do more exploring then, unless you feel we need to go now?" Sharon asked.

Sharon listened to the Doctor, then moved on to the pda she had been handed, it was a basic ship information, letting her know that all systems were working at peak efficiency, She signed the Pda and handed it back.

Sharon was relieved, and was glad for some rest, she tapped the comm.

"Ensign Wolf to Dpctopr Saryn, would you meet me in the messhall, I would like to talk to you please." Sharon said.

She soon left the bridge and headed to the messhall and entered there wasn't anyone there, so she got a tray and picked up her dinner, tea, and a roll, she went to a table and took a seat waiting on the Doctor to join her.

[Deleted]

"Urgency is of the utmost importance," the Vulcan doctor replied. "I would prefer to go as soon as you can get a shuttlepod authorised to leave." He paused, looking over his data again. "Radiometric analysis shows that the bones we found are quite old, but do not originate from Mars. They were buried there quite recently."

While continuing his research, Saryn had managed to extract a few samples of marrow from one of the damaged bones and had brought it to his lab for DNA analysis. The result was even more damaging than the find itself.

The Vulcan was startled from his thoughts when Wolf paged him again. "I shall be there in ten minutes," he promised, then returned to his results. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques had shown that the bones were indeed of Human origin. The quality of the DNA extracted was poor due to conditions to which the bones were presumably exposed, but his results were quite clear.

Other analysis, mainly the soil which was present on the bones, which he identified through thermoluminescence as Earth soil. However his finds were inconclusive and he needed more data. One find was never conclusive, thus his need to go back and search for more bones.

Transferring his data to a secured file, thoroughly encrypted and stored away equally securely, he also transferred a copy to his PDA. Storing the bones in one of the vaults in sickbay, Saryn headed out the door, towards the mess hall.

"You wished to speak with me?" he asked stoically, as he sat down opposite of the young helmswoman. He watched as she consumed her dinner, declining her offer to join her; he wasn't hungry but quite keen on getting down planet instead.