Jamson looked at Casey while thinking over his suggestion. It was a great idea, but Jamson wanted to make sure he was making the right move.

"Excellent idea Derian. But...are sure it's going to work?" He looked at Derian and Derian replied with a look of 'I'm almost positive it should work'.

Jamson explained himself "I mean, there will be a lot of questions...like why 2 Admirals are coming to the facility in a Runabout. The head of the facility may also call Starfleet to check if this 'inspection' is real. And like you said...it requires a serious acting performance from both of you." he turned his look to Troy and then back at Derian expecting an answer.

"We must take those risks." Coe answered instead of Casey.

"Yes" Sterner nodded and agreed with Coe "In any way, We'll have to take some risks."

"Very well then. Coe start assembling everyone, I'll be outside." Jamson said with a serious expression on his face and left the room.

Jamson was standing outside, looking at the resort and the view around it. It was a beautiful place. The crew was about to do something that may end their careers in Starfleet. They were about to do something that even Captain Price wouldn't agree with.

"I never thought my career will end like that." Coe approached and joined him taking a look at the view as well.

"Don't count on it." Jamson answered.

A few minutes passed quietly and it was obvious that Coe and Jamson felt the same thing, they were throwing their careers to the trash. Breaking Federation laws, something that they were sworn against.

"Sir, I wanted to make sure you agree to the plan." Coe said.

Jamson smiled "You mean if I really wanna do it?"

Coe returned a smile "Yes."

Jamson looked at Coe "Hell, why not..." and both of them entered back to the building.

Noam Brosh aka
Captain Mike Johnson,Commanding Officer USS Crusader
Commander Michael Jamson,Executive Officer USS Galaxy
USS Crusader Web Site http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/7489/

{I still have control.}

[Yes, you do, but I will need at least a bit of my own control if security finds me...]

{You shall have it when the time comes, but do not try anything... courageous...}

Chiron sighed, and began meditating there in the dark closet, waiting to be found. About an hour after he began, he fell asleep, calm and serene for the first time since the debacle had began.

The Schizoid Man -Watch as I change my face before your very eyes...

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

The Tamarian slowly opened his eyes, and squinted at the bright light. As his eyes focused, he saw the Ensign that had checked the room behind them aiming his phaser at his head. 'Lt. Chiron?' He lowered his phaser slightly. 'Sir, are you all right?' 'Yes, I am...' Paran extended his hand to the Engineer, and he took it. 'Thank you.' 'Come with me, sir.' Paran said as he led Chiron down the hallway to Lt. Hutchcraft's office.

The Schizoid Man -Watch as I change my face before your very eyes...

Captain Price sat on his bunk in his quarters. Shoes off, feet up, resting his back against the headboard and a pillow while reading an old book.

As he turns the page, and continues reading, he hears the ship's alert status activate. The strip near his bed illuminates and pulsates a yellow color.

["Yellow Alert! Captain to the bridge!"] came booming over the comm channel in Lieutenant Shtik's voice. Lee put the book down and tapped his comm badge as he reached for his boots.

"Price to bridge. What's happening up there Lieutenant?"

*********

The bridge is a jumble of activity, as everyone scrambles to take their places. Not the normal USS Galaxy bridge crew, tensions run a little high as the churning and expanding nebula reaches out with it's gaseous fingers, trying to touch the Starship for an unknown purpose.

Lieutenant Mitchell peers into the sensor monitor at Science station one as he monitors the changes that are taking place within the nebula.

Lieutenant Harris adjusts his Ops station as he glances over to Ensign Helms as he sits next to him at the Conn. Ensign Reys adjusts the controls at the tactical arch, as Lieutenant Shtik, the ranking CO, answers the Captain's hail.

"Captain. The nebula is shifting and expanding. It is rapidly approaching the ship."

["I'm on my way Lieutenant. Raise shields and back us off to a safe distance."]

"Understood Captain." The channel closed and Lieutenant Shtik turned and looked at Ensign Reys.

"Raising shields sir." Reys answered as he activated the controls.

Shtik gave him a reassuring nod. Turning back forward, "Ensign Helms, back us away from the nebula at one quarter impulse."

"Aye sir." The Ensign responded as the ship began to back away from the gaseous anomaly.

Lieutenant Mitchell adjusted the science station's controls. "Sir, I am picking up scattered traces of protomatter. And this is most curious, it appears that the readings are increasing." Mitchell looks up at the main view screen. "It looks like the protomatter is somehow combining with the gases in the nebula and... mutating in some fashion sir. I can't explain it."

The Vulcan Lieutenant walked over to Mitchell's science station and looked at the readings. Shtik knew that this protomatter had some connection to the Genesis project a hundred years earlier, but all of that information was classified. Vulcans don't make decisions or draw conclusions based on emotions, hunches, or "gut feelings". However, Lieutenant Shtik was confident that the logical deduction of the situation was some how related to that long past Federation experiment.

"At the present rate, the Moudini nebula will continue to expand, and the protomatter accumulate until it reaches a critical mass threshold. When that happens, I believe we will not want to be anywhere near this phenomenon."

Lieutenant Mitchell nodded his agreement. "Do you have any idea what that threshold will be sir?"

Shtik let out an audible sigh. Vulcans don't frown... but that sigh would probably be classified as the human equivalent. "At this time I have insufficient information to predict that figure Lieutenant."

While the two science officers pondered over the current problem, Captain Price entered the bridge.

"Hi 'mates. What have you found out about the nebula?"

"It's growing Captain. And Lieutenant Mitchell has detected a buildup of protomatter inside the nebula."

Captain Price looked at Shtik. "Protomatter? Like that rock you were studying?"

"Yes Captain. After Lieutenant Mitchell and myself finished our observations of that 'rock', I took the liberty of transporting it out into deep space." Shtik furrowed his eyebrow. "Evidently, some of the particles found their way into the nebula."

"I see. So what is happening then? Is this rock simply reconstituting itself in the nebula?"

"I am not sure Captain, but it appears that it is more than that. It's as if the protomatter is somehow reforming, and changing into something else." Shtik looked directly at the Captain. "And it's growing Sir. There is already more protomatter present in the nebula than I originally beamed off the ship."

"I see." The Captain began. "We need more information on this protomatter. What it is, what it does, how it is connected to the Genesis project. Continue monitoring and studying the nebula Lieutenant. Keep the shields raised and the ship at a safe distance."

Turning to Ensign Helms, the Captain ordered, "Ensign, plot an emergency escape route away from the nebula at maximum warp speed. Just in case we need to get away quickly."

"Understood Captain." Sherman said as he swiveled back to his station and plotted the course.

"I will be in my ready room Lieutenant Shtik. I am going to contact Starfleet command and see what I can find out. It seems that right now... the USS Galaxy 'needs to know' more than ever about this Genesis project."

"Yes Captain, that would be a logical assumption."

"You have the Conn Lieutenant." Lee said as he turned and entered his ready room to contact Starfleet command.

His rest ended eight hours later. He got up, still in his uniform, and returned to Security. Security was certainly busy. Ensign Sanchez had taken up the duty of finding information about the turbolift death, while Ensign Paran had been searching for Lieutenant Chiron for a while. Ensign Sobra was also on his feet.

Only a few minutes into the Gamma Shift, and a fifth death had occured. A Transporter Chief had come to a rather messy end. Both Ensign Sobra and Lieutenant Hutchcraft got up on their feet, and made their way to the scene.

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

The previous deaths had all been pretty evil, ranging from the painful, to the disturbed, to the plain disgusting. This death could easily classify as the worst yet. Lt. Hutchcraft stared at the remains of the Transporter Chief for ages, dreading to think how this could happen.

"We don't think this one is a mere accident, sir. This one definetly looks like the work of a killer ..." came the voice of the Engineer who reported the accident.

Hutchcraft could hear the voice in the background. He was still staring at the bloody remains.

"Sir?" Ensign Sobra looked up at the Lieutenant.

"Uh, yeah ... when was the last time the transporters were used?" asked Andrew Hutchcraft. The Engineer looked over at the transporter logs ....

"We're not sure ... the transporter is completely locked out ..." proclaimed the engineer as he frustratingly tapped into the terminal.

Hutchcraft looked at Sobra... they were running out of time. Whether this was a virus or a killer roaming the station, they were running out of time.

A hail came....

[Ensign Sanchez to Lieutenant Hutchcraft]

Hutchcraft replied "What is it Heather?" Ensign Sobra moved towards the blood stained transporter bays.

[Lt.Shtik says he was on the turbolift with Ensign Leary just before the accident]

Hutchcraft breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, a lead "Ensign, request Lt.Shtiks presense in my office when he can make it"

[Aye Sir, Ensign Sanchez out]

Ensign Sobra continued to search the transporter pads for clues on the new incident. Hutchcraft, in the mean time, made his way to Security.

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

As the Lieutenant entered Security, so did the Bajoran Ensign with Lt Chiron. Lt Hutchcraft smiled. At least it was only five deaths.

Chiron was lead into Hutchcraft's office, alongside Ensign Paran. Questioning time ....

"Okay, Lt Chiron, tell me where you've ...." Hutchcraft was cut short. A Yellow-Alert had been signaled. A breath-less Ensign Sanchez walked into the room.

"Sir, Lt.Shtik may have a bit of trouble getting here... something is going on with the nebula..." she said catching her breath after running through the corridors.

"Thank you Ensign Sanchez. Ensign Paran, do you think you can question Lt.Chiron about where he has been?" he asked.

"Yes sir..." replied the Ensign

"Good. I shall return shortly" Lt Hutchcraft walked out of his office. To think that only a weeks ago he was getting fed up of the mundanity. Now everything was pouring in on him at twice the amount he wanted. He tapped his comm-badge...

"Captain, is everything alright?" he spoke with a slightly worried tone.

[Everything is under control, Lieutenant. Nothing the Science department can't handle]

"Okay, Captain. Just confirming. Lt.Hutchcraft out" Hutchcraft gave a sigh of relief. 'What a day' he thought to himself. He returned to his office, where Ensign Paran and Lieutenant Chiron had already started talking ....

Casey finished the last fake ID. He looked at it with a suspect eye. Looking for anything that would give it away. After this was all over he thought about calling his father and telling him how easy it was to replicate the passes for Tyrell. But, Casey knew he would never do that.

Everything checked out. The masks were perfect, the passes, ID’s and papers were as official as the originals he’d copied from and he thought of every excuse in the book and wrote all of them down. Everyone had to be on the same page.

Casey would have a rehearsed answer for every question Wilcox was going to throw at him. As Deiran sat and put everything in order, he checked with Miran to see if the Admiral uniforms were replicated yet.

"I’ve finished Troy’s and I’ve almost finished with the body suit. Yours should be finished in about ten minutes." Miran was working hard, she looked exhausted. Even when she was tired she looked gorgeous. He used all of the discipline he had to shrug Miran out of his mind while he attended to duty.

"Commander, I’m ready to brief everyone on the plan," Deiran said, as he looked up, his voice carrying across the room to the Commander. Jamson then assembled everyone except for Miran who was still getting the uniforms and body suits replicated to a perfect form.

"All of your plans were good ladies and gentleman, but, in the interest of safety

I’ve decided to implement Lt. Casey’s plan. Lieutenant, you have the floor," the Commander then walked to his seat and watched as a confident Deiran walked to the front and began his briefing.

"You have all studied the Tyrell Complex. You know how impossible it would be to break in with a small amount of casualties. But, my plan will allow us to enter the complex without Wilcox and Brenner suspecting a thing. In fact, if everything goes as planned they won’t know that the T-resin is missing until they do inventory at the end of the month."

A few people laughed as Casey tried to lighten things up a bit. And then he continued.

"I and Lt. Blair will be impersonating my father and his grandfather. We will be wearing these masks," he stopped and held the two masks up so everyone could see how stunningly lifelike and genuine they were. "We will be wearing Admirals uniforms and we will wear a device, I like to call the DNA replicator. I have downloaded Admiral Blair’s and Admiral Casey’s DNA to this small computer. When a blood test is taken, it will replicate our blood so it appears to have the DNA of the Admirals. It will last for two hours. So, we only have two hours to tour the complex, acquire the T-resin and get the heck out of there." Casey didn’t use the word "steal" on purpose. Casey began to pace as he continued.

"We will use the Yosemite to shuttle down to the planet. We will also use the other shuttle to generate the identification emission of the USS Pegasus-D. Which will act as the ship transporting Admirals Blair and Casey. Tyrell has a limited amount of orbital sensors and won’t know the difference. Shanika, you’ll pilot this shuttle, make sure you use the voice modifier as I’ve shown you so if Wilcox does check for the Pegasus, he will hear your voice and think that Captain O’Reilly is indeed in orbit. He will not ask the captain to come down to the planet. Do not establish video contact, tell Wilcox that the Engineering department is refitting the screen and the Science department is fixing the transmitting array. He won’t suspect anything, just sound convincing."

"Next, Lt. Sterner will be accompanying Lt. Blair and I to the planet, as will a team that he will assign in a few minutes. Once you’ve spoken with him, I’ll give you your ID’s. You are the personal guard of both admirals on this trip. Do not answer any other questions, do not be sociable, don’t even smile. You are on duty and the guards of an Admiral never look or act in any other way. This is imperative. A normal low-level Admiral wouldn’t even have an entourage, but a high-ranking Starfleet Command Admiral has one, whether they want one or not."

"We will land near the entrance. Miran," Casey stopped to see if she had finished. She had and she briskly walked into the room,"Yes?"

"You will establish a comm with Wilcox, speak with him only. Once you have him on the comm-link. I will then tell him that I’m Admiral Casey and that Admiral Blair is here with me and we have come for a surprise inspection. This is a regular occurrence for this officer. Tyrell has at least 3 every year. It keeps them on their toes. Once I’ve talked with him, and we’ve been cleared to land, we will land near the entrance." Casey was beginning to see how fun this was going to be. He hadn’t done Shakespeare in a year, so he was out of practice, but he was always a good actor.

"We will walk two by two, with Troy and I in front. Miran you’ll stay with the shuttle. That is standard procedure. One guard will also stay behind, and Lt. Sterner you may assign that officer at your discretion."

"Once inside the complex we will tour the facility. If Wilcox asks or wants to check with Starfleet, I will threaten a court-martial for questioning the orders of Starfleet Command and the orders of an Admiral. According to his psyche profile he’ll back down. If he doesn’t we will allow him to make contact with Starfleet. Commander, if you could help Shanika intercept the transmission we will then play a video in time to Wilcox’s questions. I’ve made a video, spliced it together and dubbed a few words. I’ve looked at it over a hundred times and it should be sufficient. The video is high quality and should not break down or sound strange. The procedure should work like this, intercept Wilcox’s transmission immediately, wait for a minute or so and then play the video. The video is believable and Wilcox won’t suspect a thing. This will only be used as a last resort, I doubt he’ll question my insistent demands."

Casey said "insistent demands" with the voice he planned to use for his father, it sounded exactly like Admiral Casey.

"Blair and I have gone over what we will say, the questions we will ask Wilcox and it should be smooth. When we tour the processing facility, we will distract Wilcox and anyone else who will be with us. Probably, Brenner and a few security officers. While we are doing this, one person will sneak away and take 2 kilograms of Trilithium resin. It will be all over the facility, get it where you can as quickly as you can—and stay out of sight. This person, who will be assigned this task by Lt. Sterner, will be holding a tritanium suitcase that is unable to be scanned in any way. Put the T-resin in the case and hurry back to the group without being seen by any of them. They won’t suspect a thing. Once we have finished touring the processing facility, three guards will return to the Yosemite, this will allow us to get the T-resin to the shuttle while we remain with Wilcox. We will spend another fifteen to twenty minutes talking with Wilcox and Brenner and leave the complex. It is imperative that we all act as professional as possible."

Casey liked the idea, he was happy he thought of it. He was confident in it and showed that confidence to everyone else. They looked confident as he stared into their eyes, trying to gauge their morale.

"That’s the plan. I’ve nicknamed this little piece of fun Operation Ronni, so we know why we’re doing this and as we’re on the mission, remember if we fail we fail Ronni and she loses her life. I don’t want that to happen. You are Starfleet officers, you are trained for this. I implore you to do your job as capably as I know you can." Deiran stopped, the name worked, fire appeared in everyone’s eyes as the heart of a hero entered each one of them. Casey could see they would not let Ronni down.

"Ensign Helms, maintain a distance of two hundred kilometers from the nebula." Shtik said.

"Two hundred kilometers, sir?" Helms said from the conn station, "The captain did say we needed to remain a safe distance away."

"If I am correct, that will be a safe distance for the time being. We also don't want to seem too remote for the time being. However, remain ready to initiate the emergancy escape the captain requested as well if the situation changes."

"Why would being too remote be a problem, sir?" Ensign Reys said from the tactical station.

"Hopefully that will be explained soon, Ensign." Shtik said staring again at the screen. He probably should have told the captain about his identification of the brainwaves, but there was no logical reason for this and he refused to react illogically when the ship was in jeapordy. If it was necessary for the ship to leave the nebula to its self destruction, than that was the logical course. But if there was a way...

"Almost done?" Deiran walked into the room and interrupted her melancholy thoughts.

"Just about. I have finished Troy's and I have almost finished the body suit. Your uniform should be finished in about ten minutes." Deiran smiled at her and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Then he turned and left the room to finish the mission planning.

She finished true to her word ten minutes later. She walked in just as Deiran said her name.

"Miran, you'll stay with the shuttle. That is standard procedure. One guard will also stay behind," Deiran went on with his plans. When he was through outlining what he called "Operation: Ronni" Miran asked her question. She thought of something he didn't address.

"Lt. Sterner, sir. May I request that Ensign K'arta remain with me? I trust her if something goes wrong at my end. Deiran," she turned to face him. "how are going to cover the shuttle to let it masquerade as a shuttle from the Pegasus and not the Galaxy?

Deiran gave her a look that said it was one thing he overlooked in all his elaborate plannings.

"Deiran, how are you going to cover the shuttle to let it masquerade as a shuttle from the Pegasus and not the Galaxy?" Miran asked, her face appearing almost angelic as she spoke.

Deiran just stood there for a minute. He hated when he forgot something. Deiran thought of something but needed time to figure the details out. He looked at Miran and replied, "Thank you," he wanted to say honey, but thought that might be inappropriate at the moment, "Lieutenant Ti. I’m sorry, I have the plan right here." He lied through his teeth. He never wanted to be caught unprepared, Miran knew this. But, Deiran recovered quickly. He shuffled through his PADD, pretending to look for that part of the plan, when in reality he was trying to figure something out. "AH! Got it!" he thought to himself.

"Oh, here it is. We’ll replicate decals for the outside of the shuttle. Then I’ll reprogram the Yosemite to emit the same ID emission as the Pegasus, just a slightly different code so it appears as a shuttle from the Pegasus, but still emits its own ID. We’ll keep the name Yosemite for good luck."

Deiran wanted to sigh in relief at how quickly he’d come up with a solution to Miran’s question. But, didn’t want to give away the fact that he just thought of it. Women-- always thinking of details! Details that could save their lives and careers.

"Good come back" Troy whispered.

"Whatever do you mean?" Deiran asked with a look of sarcasm on his face.

"You know what I mean, I would have done the same thing. In all this planning we managed to overlook the little things."

"Ok you got me, but don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to keep you know." Deiran replied with a smile.

"Your secret is safe with me" Troy smiled.

"Alright then. Oh uh did you want something?" Deiran asked.

"Yes, I think we should rehearse together for a while, so we look more convincing together as a team."

"Good idea."

*** Later ***

After another long rehearsal session, Troy and Deiran emerged looking and acting more like theirs relatives. Everyone was beginning to prepare for the mission, and all the items needed had been replicated. Troy was looking over his Admiral uniform and identification papers when something hit him. Something that, like the shuttle, was overlooked. Troy quickly sprang to his feet and pulled Deiran off to the side.

"I just thought of something. Have you thought about the possibility that they may ask us to do a voice print match or a retina scan? Or maybe even both. To the people of the complex we may sound and look convincing , but the computer will know otherwise."

Lieutenant JG Troy Blair Tactical Officer, USS Galaxy

Joerg listened closely to the well constructed plan of Lieutenant Casey. He really had some creativity, but if that's all what they needed to free Ronni?

As the Lieutenant spoke of their plan to get into the complex and steal some of the, as he called it, T-resin, Joerg was thinking who of his team would be best to accomplish the job. After Casey has ended his plan, Lieutenant Ti approached him.

"Lt. Sterner, sir. May I request that Ensign K'arta remain with me? I trust her if something goes wrong at my end." she said.

"Yes, she'll be in this operation along with Ensign Mohler and Enquist. But one thing at a time." Joerg said while turning to the others.

"Once our team lands on the planet, Ensign K'arta and Lieutenant Ti will stay at the shuttle. The rest of the team will proceed as Lieutenant Casey already told us." Joerg tried to point out the important points for security.

"Once inside the complex, it'll be Ensign Paran's objective to find two kilograms of the T-resin and put it into the container he'll be carrying. Once we have the stuff, we'll out of there as soon as possible."

"But meanwhile, Lieutenant Quall will be in charge of security here and gather the rest of the team to find some hints or clues that might lead us to the spy, the device, or even to Lord Mudd himself. If ther e are no more questions, let's move and hope that everyone will be back in one piece." Joerg concluded his speech with a hint of a joke.

Lieutenant Joerg Sterner Chief of Security - USS Galaxy NCC-70637

".... and then I looked and another one appeared with a badge that said 500!"

Ronni laughed out loud. "500 Stelas? You must have been furious."

"More in shock then anything. Then Kirk left me there."

"With 500 Stelas nagging at you, it must have driven you crazy!" Ronni beaconed Harry to continue.

"At first it did, but eventually I got used to it. " Harry sipped his wine before continuing. "Eventually I learned enough about Robotics to reprogram them. They were willing to teach me everything I wanted to learn, and more.

After a while of enjoying myself, I realized that I was getting old. I may have been a king of sorts, but a dead king is still dead. I decided to take Jenna #43's advice and have my personality transferred to an android body. Of course in 'life' I has a mostly handsome man, but when I made my android body, I decided, 'hey! I might as well be the best looking thing around. So that's what I did. Yes, I know it's a bit of vanity, but it's my life.

Well it soon got very boring. These androids are great to look at, but after a while, their lack of personality tends to get to you. As an android myself, I can no longer enjoy certain human . . . pleasures. Food and drink mean nothing. Intimacy means nothing to the androids, it only confuses them. I made a beacon hoping to b

e rescued, but nobody came. After about 100 years, it also turned out that we were low on power. My first step was to dismantle all of the Stellas, but those power supplies were worn and not on full power anyway. We also no longer had the means to create the power supplies. We were doomed.

Then, one day, somebody answered our distress beacon. It was these little rat-lings, the Ferengi. We struck a bargain with them and set out to find a source of power. The androids provide protection and 'oom-lachs' to the Ferengis and they give us transportation."

Ronni stared, fascinated. "So how did you discover the Trilithium resin and that it could be used for power?"

"Well, as you know, when I was marooned on the planet, the Federation was still using only dilithium. Since Dilithium resin could be used, we extrapolated that we could use the Trilithium resin. We obtained a small amount and it works. We just now need enough for everyone." Harry said.

"Why didn't you just as the Federation for assistance?" she said.

"Because, we don't believe they would have helped us, and we don't want to be beholden to anyone. I don't want to see my friends here dismantled for the pleasure of some scientists." he said adamantly.

Ronni understood. Her curiosity of wanting to study them now was almost overwhelming. "Lord Mudd, Harry. Let me help make the power packs. I have expertise in this field. When my friends return with the resin then we can repair everyone." she said. "Let me study some of them and get to work. I believe that we can guarantee that everything will go well."

Harry patted his mouth and put the napkin on the table. He stood up and walked around to Ronni's side of the table. He gently took her hand and helped her to stand. "My dear lady, that can wait. Tonight, I would like to continue talking with you and enjoying the company of a beautiful, intelligent, and thoughtful person. We can work together tomorrow."

Together they walked down the corridor to his quarters.

Deiran looked at Troy as if he’d just been slapped in the face.

"Of course I have Troy. I had to write a program for the voice print matching system." Casey pulled out two small silicon pieces, no smaller than a button. "These transmitters are designed to mimic our voice when we get near a voice print matching system. You wear them next to your neck, underneath your collar."

Deiran placed his on his neck and gave Troy the other as he continued talking to his friend, "When you talk into the V.P.M.S., the transmitter fools it, thinking that our voices are the real voices of the Admirals."

"Ingenious, my friend, where did you find this?" Troy was astonished at how well Deiran could fool people and manipulate computers and programs with ease.

"Actually, it’s a secret Starfleet program that I found 2 years ago when I was at the academy. It’s the backdoor program that Starfleet had written when they initially put the V.P.M.S. into production. I just updated the programming and inserted a few commands of my own. With this I could talk into a V.P.M.S and tell it I’m Jean-Luc Picard and it wouldn’t think twice about it."

"What about the retina scan?" Troy asked, waiting to hear Deiran’s response.

"Unfortunately, Starfleet doesn’t have a back door for that one. But, I do have a way of telling the computer to ignore it’s own data. We look into the retscan and I push a button on a tiny microchip I’ve inserted underneath my thumb; push it with my index finger and by using the same transmitting frequency it tells the computer who we are and displays what I’ve programmed it to display on the retscan monitor. It will scan us as Troy Blair and Deiran Casey, but it will tell the security detail we’re Admiral William Blair and Admiral Thomas Casey." Casey paused for a few seconds. "It’ll erase our scans a half an hour later. The computer will forget we were there."

They had been walking as they talked, Troy stopped, looked at Casey and said, "I always thought there was no way you could get around Starfleet security protocol and procedure. How do you do it?" Casey smiled at Troy’s amazement.

"Never accept the inevitable, always look for the backdoor to any system, and a really good book entitled, 'Positive Thinking For Positive People.'" Troy and Deiran laughed together as they continued walking down the hall to the Fire Room.

Casey said one more thing to Troy, a serious and intense look on his face, "Starfleet programmers are a pain in the rear, but they never thought about guarding against Casey tenacity."

Captain Price tapped the controls as he sat at his desk in his ready room just off of the main bridge. He punched up the codes to contact Starfleet Command. Priority Captain's channel.

The screen flickered and Admiral Rowell's face appeared.

"Captain Lee Price. I must say you look as though command is treating you well."

Lee grinned slightly. He was never one to exchange pleasantries just for conversation's sake, though it seemed to be a requirement for anyone in the Admiralty. "Aye Admiral, quite well, though I think my hair has gotten whiter since I assumed command."

Rowell laughed. "Don't worry about that Captain. At least you still have hair! Now then, what can I do for you Lee, and why the priority communication?"

The smile on the Captain's face faded as he focused on the matter at hand. "Admiral I need to find out everything I can about an old scientific project the Federation conducted named 'Genesis'. I've queried the Federation's databanks, but most of the data is classified."

"I see..." The Admiral said as he placed a finger on the side of his cheek. "May I ask what you need this information for?"

"Certainly Admiral. One of my officers came upon a strange rock. Upon inspection, it was learned that it was composed of pure protomatter. Searching the database linked that unstable substance to some 'Genesis Project' conducted a hundred years earlier."

"Yes, well I am afraid that is not grounds enough for me to..."

"Admiral there is more." Lee stated as he cut off Rowell mid sentence. "Once we determined the rock was made of protomatter, a highly unstable substance, my Lieutenant transported it off of the ship for safeties sake. Some how particles of the protomatter found their way into the Moudini nebula we were currently charting. Now the protomatter is mutating and growing with the nebula. My Science officer says it is only a matter of time before the growing buildup of protomatter becomes extreamely unstable and explodes unless we can figure out a way to stop it."

After a long thoughtful look at Captain Price, Admiral Rowell asked, "Are there any inhabited planets or asteroids near this nebula Captain?"

Lee nodded. "Yes sir, it is close to a planet in the Byrake system, a neighbor of the Draxor system. A large explosion would be devastating to that colony sir."

"Very well, let me see what I can do. Standby." The Admiral tapped a few controls and the Captain's view screen went black. After several moments, the screen snapped back on. Admiral Rowell was standing there, and behind him was another Admiral, but Captain Price couldn't make out who it was.

"I am sending you a coded transmission Lee. It contains some information about the 'Genesis project'. Anything beyond this is classified and can not be released. Hopefully, it will be enough."

"Thank you Admiral, you've been most helpful."

"And Captain.. this is classified information. Please treat it as such. Admiral Rowell out."

The 'End Transmission' logo appeared as Captain Price retracted the chip with the downloaded and encoded information on it. Standing, he exited his ready room and walked onto the bridge.

Captain Price walked straight over to science station one where Lieutenant Mitchell was sitting, and motioned to Lieutenant Shtik to come over from the command chair as well. Slotting the chip, Captain punched in his Captain's decryption codes and the information flashed onto the view screen. Lieutenant Mitchell began skimming through it, reading parts out loud.

"Project Genesis,... a terraforming process,... massive explosion reducing matter to sub-atomic particles then reforming them according to a preprogrammed matrix,... Director of project - Doctor Carol Marcus,... Phase 1 on the Regula asteroid,... Accidental discharge in 2285 in the Mutara nebula formed the 'Genesis planet',... destroyed less than a year later because of instabilities caused by the protomatter used in the Genesis device,..."

While Mitchell babbled on quietly to himself, Captain Price looked over to Shtik. "I know it's not much 'mate, but it's all we have got right now. Everything else Starfleet has is classified. This is too, but it is all they would offer to release to us."

Shtik nodded. "I understand Captain. We will look through the data and see if there is anything we can use to determine what is happening."

"Sounds good Lieutenant. We need to see if we can prevent what happened to the Mutara nebula from happening here. There is a colony near by that would be devastated if not totally destroyed by the kind of explosion this protomatter seems capable of making."

"Agreed. Captain. Let us work on it and see if we can come up with a solution."

Lee grinned at his Science officer. "Sounds fair enough to me 'mate."

Captain Price then took a few steps back to his command chair where he sat down while staring at the expanding Moudini nebula in the main view screen.

In the morning, Ronni returned to her quarters and changed into an overall that she replicated. The Ferengi guard had yelled at her for wasting power and resources 'Females shouldn't be wearing clothes, it's obscene.' he had said. When he was about to start on the second chorus of this, she reached over and grabbed his left lobe. With her strength, all it took was a quick twist to leave him on the floor squealing like one of her brother's pigs.

She entered the lab where the damaged Alice unit was. She took one of the inert power supplies from the stack that the androids had made for her. After running several analysis of the unit, she found out that the shielding on the pack would be inadequate for the Trilithium Resin.

Using the PADD she had brought from the Galaxy, she drew up some plans for the new battery pack. The connections were of a different style than she was used to, but very sound. She then added the specs of what she needed into the lab's replicator and made a prototype of the battery.

When she looked at the chronometer, she realized that she had been working in the lab for 8 hours straight without a break. She also realized that the deadline for her comrades was coming to an end. She spun around when she heard someone clear their throat.

Harry stood there wearing deep red velvet pants, a puffy sleeved deep red silk shirt, a gold embroidered red silk vest, and a long flowing silk cape. "You are amazing." he said softly. "I have been watching you move around the lab. It's almost a dance for you. Is the battery pack ready?"

"Yes. I would like to test it, but I don't have any Trilithium Resin, and the dilithium wouldn't be strong enough in here. I'm sorry." she said.

"Don't apologize. It doesn't become a lady." he said as he walked up to her. "Come eat. Your friends should be done soon and I want to return you in good health."

But starships rarely HAD such accidents...accidents caused the deaths of ships.

Jacqueline had never been able to sleep under stress--indeed, could anyone? Finals at the academy had actually kept her awake for three days straight. Her first ICU patient had caused such tension in her that she hadn't dared sleep that first night. Stress had become less evident in situations like this over the years, but now she wondered...

...who was next...?

"Did you see or hear anything when DuMont and Tailor were killed?" 'No, I believe I had been sedated or the like... I slept, and heard nothing.'

Having spoken to Doctor Rousseau earlier, Ensign Paran accepted the Tamarian's explaination. 'Makes sense' he thought as he asked his next question and he keyed in Chiron's answer on his Padd.

"Why did you leave SickBay?" 'When I woke up, I thought that whoever had killed the medical personnel may come for me, so I fled.'

Paran glanced at Chiron over his Padd. It was unusual for a Starfleet officer to openly admit fear, but Chiron was a Tamarian, so perhaps they were more open and honest with their feelings than their human counterparts. The ensign made a note of his answer before continuing on.

"Why did you dump your combadge?" 'I thought whoever knew enough to kill someone like that with a force field could very likely use the ship's sensors to track me.'

Paran leaned back in his chair. This was getting him nowhere. A moment earlier he was impressed with this man's honesty, but now,... the Ensign looked at him with a suspicious eye.

"Chiron, why were you in the closet?" 'I decided that after I discarded my badge that I should remain in one place, to avoid accidentally running into the killer.'

Paran lowered his Padd and stared right at Chiron in a look of disbelief. 'Hiding in the closet'? he thought. 'Not a Starfleet officer. Not Chiron. Something is not right here...' The Ensign tapped a couple more quick notes to himself, then asked, "One more question... Do you know any more about the other deaths on the ship?"

Chiron's face contorted into a look of sheer amazement. 'There were other deaths???'

Chanor sighed, and rose from his seat. "Thank you, sir." the tone of disbelief crept through the Ensigns lips as he said it. "You may leave."

'If it's all the same, Ensign, I would like to stay in one of the Brig cells, I would feel safer.'

The Ensign Paran gave him an odd look, then said "OK, if you want. I'll check on you later, I'm going to go talk to the Captain."

Paran exited the room, and instantly Chiron's body was wracked with searing pain.

{You will not do that. Hmm... Very Clever, Tamarian, trying to incarcerate yourself to keep me from working. My final plan is ready. Let's go.}

Chiron stood fast, but then felt as if he was being jerked toward the door. He left Security, and proceeded down the hallway to Deck 4 toward the Main Shuttlebay. Chiron focused, and discovered that the entity was planning to go to the Nebula...

{Now that you know that, You must know that this is not just a nebula. This is our... repository... if you will, where we store all of our energy. The protomatter allowed us to stabilize it and become even more powerful. We will soon expand to conquer all of your weakling civilizations. Faster to the shuttlecraft... we haven't much time! Your body will harbor all of our energy. It will never die, but first you must surrender you concious fully and abandon all hope of recovery. That will not happen. You will have more power than any being, mortal or otherwise, has ever experienced in your dimension. But first, you must get to the nebula!}

The Schizoid Man -We all have our favorite masks to wear...

They were all gathered in the fir room and Lt. jg Casey was going through his plans.

"He has everyone's attention", Christopher thought. "And he loves it." Christopher then noticed the way Lt. Ti Miran was looking at him. Like she was totally sure her Lt Casey was going to save the day. "And he loves that, too." But", he had to admit to himself, "his plans are very good."

Then Lt Sterner announced who of the security officers was going to be on the team. Ensigns K'arta, Enquist and Mohler.

"What did I think? That Lt. Sterner would have selected me for the mission? I was given an assignment already and I've failed!" The Cadet was disappointed and he doubted that he was able to hide the that. "Why would he want to bring a young unexperienced Cadet along on an important mission like this, anyway?"

Lt. Sterner might have noticed the disappointed look on Cadet Campbell's face, because when he continued he glanced at Christopher.

"But meanwhile, Lieutenant Quall will be in charge of security here and gather the rest of the team to find some hints or clues that might lead us to the spy, the device, or even to Lord Mudd himself. If there are no more questions, let's move and hope that everyone will be back in one piece." Joerg concluded his speech with a hint of a joke.

The look Lt. Sterner gave his young officer told Christopher that looking for hints or clues also was important.

The Cadet blushed and looked down at his feet. "Had it really been that obvious I wanted to be on the team?"

"Are you ready to go?" Lt. Casey's voice brought Shanika back to reality.

"The equipment is all on board and in operating condition. Yes, I believe we are ready."