USS Galaxy Sim Log Stardate: 49707.13

Labyrinth

"The Labyrinth"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

Captain's Log Stardate 49707.12

The USS Galaxy has been ordered to Sigma II in response to a request for assistance by Doctor Marie Currie, a renown Archeologist. We are to assist Doctor Currie in setting up a permanent research facility on Sigma II near some mysterious city that Doctor Currie claims, "will change the way we think about our own history."

The Galaxy has entered the Sigma system and is preparing to enter orbit about the planet.

**********

Captain Price finished making his log entry, then pressed the button on the arm of the command chair, deactivating the recorder. Glancing up, Lee looked at Lieutenant Casey Ti Miran.

"Status Lieutenant Ti?" the Captain asked.

"Entering standard planetary orbit Captain." The newly wed Bajoran officer replied while tapping a few controls, then smiling at her husband, Deiran Casey, sitting at the right of her at Ops.

"Very good Lieutenant." Turning, Captain Price addressed the Tactical officer, "Lieutenant Blair, see if you can hail Doctor Currie's expedition."

Troy made a few adjustments to his station at the rear of the bridge. "Captain, I am having a hard time making contact with the surface of the planet... our signal is not being acknowledged."

Lee pivoted in his chair and looked back at Blair with a puzzling look. He was about to speak when Lieutenant Mitchell, the Galaxy's recently promoted Chief Science Officer, offered an explanation.

"Captain, sensors are detecting a high concentration of ionized Beryllium particles in the upper atmosphere. It may be what is preventing our signal from reaching the surface."

Lee nodded at the initiative Mitchell had demonstrated at scanning the planet. "Ionized Beryllium? Won't that impede the transporter systems as well 'mate?"

Lieutenant Mitchell nodded as Casey answered the Captains inquiry from the Ops station. "Yes sir, if there is enough ionized particles to bounce a comm signal, then the transporter carrier will also be deflected."

"Humm," Captain Price said as he put a hand to his chin, "Is there a way we could boost the signal to punch through?"

Lieutenant Mitchell was staring into the sensor visor at his station, adjusting the gain controls before he turned to answer Captain Price. "Actually, the ionization is limited to the upper most layers of the planet's atmosphere. If we were to assume a low planetary orbit, just within the upper atmosphere, I believe we could cut through most of the interference; Enough to enable our communications and transporter signals to get through."

Lee looked over to Miran at the Helm. "Is that possible Lieutenant? Entering that low an orbit with the Galaxy?"

"It would be difficult, and the ship would require periodic course corrections to prevent orbital decay caused by the planet's gravitational pull, but yes sir, I can do that."

Looking over at Ti's husband, Lieutenant Casey, the Captain asked, "Would the ship be okay Lieutenant? Could it handle the extra stress?"

"As long as we keep the main deflector array adjusted to act as a heat shield, and don't venture too deeply into the planet's atmosphere... Yes Captain. She can handle it all right." Deiran said with a confident smile that quickly dropped as he thought some more. "Of course if the Galaxy is orbiting the planet at that low of an altitude, our communications and transporter systems will have a greatly limited range sir. We'd only be able to get a signal to Doctor Currie's landing site when the Galaxy is directly over head."

Captain Price smiled as he watched the wheels spinning in Deiran's mind. "And how often would that be 'mate?"

Casey thought about it, but Miran answered before he had a chance to. "At that orbital altitude, the Galaxy will be making an orbit about once an hour... if that helps." She said with a glowing smile.

"Thanks Miran." Deiran smiled back. "In that case, I'd say the 'window' would be roughly 20 minutes each hour. The rest of the time the planet and atmospheric conditions will prevent our signals from getting through."

Captain Price nodded his agreement, satisfied with the answers his crew had given him. "Sounds like a plan. Let's do it 'mate. Bring the Galaxy into a low planetary orbit Lieutenant Ti, while Lieutenant Casey uses the deflector array to keep us nice and cool."

"Yes sir." both Deiran and Miran answered in unison, bringing a smile onto everyone's face on the Bridge.

Captain Price watched the main view screen as the giant Starship began descending towards the planet surface. When the ship began to break into the upper most layers of Sigma II's atmosphere, tiny flecks, reminiscent of fire flies, could be seen darting across the screen. A few buffets of turbulence shimmied the Starship as she penetrated the outer most layer of the planet's atmosphere, finally smoothing out as Lieutenant Ti leveled out the Galaxy's orbital trajectory at the agreed upon low orbital distance.

"We have acquired low planetary orbit Captain." Ti said with a touch of pride in her voice.

"Excellent work Lieutenant." The Captain congratulated.

"We should be approaching the transmission window in a few moments Captain." Lieutenant Casey informed.

"Very good Lieutenant. Mr. Blair, try to hail Doctor Currie when the Galaxy reaches the communications window."

"Aye Captain." Troy responded. Just a few seconds later, he smiled. "I have them Captain."

"On screen 'mate."

The view screen filled with the staticy image of Doctor Marie Currie. She was wearing a tan vest and short outfit over a woven, white working shirt that appeared to be quite soiled from her excavation efforts.

"Doctor Currie, this is Captain Lee Price from the Federation Starship USS Galaxy."

["Pleased to meet you Captain. I'm Doctor Marie Currie. We have been expecting a Starship for some time now. Your presence is more than welcome Captain."]

Lee smiled slightly. "I understand that you've made quite a discovery recently here on Sigma II Doctor. Starfleet Command wouldn't give me any details. I must admit, you definitely have peaked my curiosity."

["Yes Captain. It is quite exciting really."] Doctor Currie said with the pure tones of someone totally enthralled with their work. The excitement was beaming from her voice as she continued on. ["We have discovered an ancient city, ruins of a civilization that predates anything discovered on Earth."]

Captain Price nodded in acknowledgment of the find, but his expression couldn't help but look puzzled. Others had found cities that predated earth before, what made this one so special? He thought.

"Fascinating Doctor. Can you tell me any more about this city?"

Marie smiled. ["I can fill you in when you and your people beam down Captain. It's a long story that's best explained in person."]

"Very well Doctor. Because of the ionization in the atmosphere, we have had to take the ship into a low planetary orbit in order to get through the interference. That will only give us a transmission window of about twenty minutes every hour in which we can communicate or transport anyone down."

["I understand Captain. The erratic weather patterns in the lower atmosphere also make landing a shuttle craft next to impossible. We crashed ours in the attempt."] Marie smiles matter of factly.

Lieutenant Ti, upon hearing this looks over to Deiran. She has that look in her eye that says "I bet *I* could do it!" Deiran just smiles and touches her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"The only reason I mention it Doctor, is it will mean we will have to transport our people and supplies down in increments. We will get them down there as quickly as the window will allow us, but it may take some time."

["Captain, you are talking to a Archeologist. Time is one thing we of all people appreciate above all else."] Marie was quite beautiful for an older woman, particularly when she smiled so widely.

"Glad you understand Doctor. I will be sending down the first of my people shortly."

["We will be ready to greet them Captain."]

"Very good. I'll see you later Doctor. Have a G'day. Captain Price Out."

The channel closed and once again the view screen filled with the spectacular view of the planet surface below. From this low planetary orbit, the continents, clouds, oceans, everything could easily be seen in great detail. It was quite a breath taking sight being this close to a giant planet, several times larger than Earth.

"Commander Coe." The Captain said looking at his First Officer.

"Yes Captain."

"Commander, I want you to assemble an away team to be the first to beam down and greet Doctor Currie and her people. We need to find out what sort of permanent research facilities she needs constructed and what materials and personnel will be needed for later transports."

"I understand sir. I have a few people in mind already."

"There may also be some of our Science personnel that may be interested in assisting Doctor Currie's Archeological excavation efforts 'mate."

"I'll keep that in mind as well sir." JT said with a smile.

"Great. Then Do it 'mate. Assemble your team and report to the transporter room to beam down." Lee sat back down in the command chair as he finished speaking.

"Yes sir." Commander Coe replied as he tapped a couple of entries onto his PADD then glanced around the Bridge thinking of officers he might want to take along.

"Lost And Found"
by Ensign Soushonn Arcas and Lt. (jg) K'arta

* * * After the medieval fair and a subsequent 8-hour shift * * *

"Thank you, shipman." spoke a very relieved Soushonn Arcas to a junior petty officer. He'd found it necessary to ask someone else to ask the computer for Lieuteant K'arta's location after himself trying for a very tempered duration... Apparently, the computer had somehow become 'unused' to his vocal pattern...

"If it weren't for you, I'd be suffering voice recognition failure psychosis." he continued, smiling.

The officer smiled and offered "You're welcome" before turning and heading for engineering. At last he could sign off and get some R & R.

* * *

Ensign Arcas peeped in the SickBay entrance for the third time... He still hadn't seen Lieutenant K'arta. He absolutely didn't want to go back in because he could almost sense the kind of lecture he would get if he were to show his face back in there... He had been ordered to check back once every three hours and it had now been nearly ten hours since he left sickbay the first time... And he had yet to check in...

"Come on, Lieutenant, walk out the door and find me so I don't have to..."

"Ensign!" came a voice from behind him. Lt. (jg) K'arta had a time trying to find him. She'd checked sickbay not long after his injury, but they wouldn't allow her to see him, claiming he was heavily sedated. She'd also checked the security office periodically, but no one there had seen him either.

Soushonn turned and stood at attention, his body as rigid as if someone had just dropped an ice cube down the back of his uniform... Even having sat beside B'Elonna Torres in "Sneezy's" class at the academy, he was still unused to seeing a Klingon in a StarFleet uniform. He discarded the prejudicial nature of his long-buried past as much as he could and was suddenly overcome with an odd urge to showboat his work ethic.

"Lieutenant K'arta! Ensign Soushonn Arcas, Last OOD, Beta Shift, submitting status report and log for your inspection!" he drilled out, military-like. K'arta suppressed a smile at his snap to attention and announcement.

"At ease, Ensign, shift's almost over, no need to strain yourself." K'arta was in a great mood. She'd recently met Miran's adopted family and had been showing them around the ship.

He assumed a more slackened stance, his hands clasped together behind his back after handing her his work. K'arta hadn't given him 'the look'... That infamous look that scans you from head to toe, summing you up and ultimately rejecting you as being "too frail" or accounting you as a "worthy challenge."... This had been the case with every other Klingon woman he had ever met, and every time he had ever received this blatantly invasive look, he'd felt irritated... But K'arta hadn't summarized him in a glance... Her deep green eyes had simply met his own, regarded his own visage until she had turned her attention to the report. Already he liked her.

K'arta had looked the newest security officer over during the midievil fair and watched him fight. She'd been quite impressed with his abilities there, and now with reading his report she was even more impressed. Everything he'd written was concise and correct.

She began to head down the corridor, reading the contents of the padd's first 'page' and he walked alongside her. He wondered a little if she found his reports as top-notch as he always tried to make them... He had been an excellent language student at the academy, picking up on grammar and punctuation enough that his papers from the Sovereign Class Development Project were later considered the standard official documents.

He was insecure about making logs that sounded too informal but he hated rigid-sounding reports even more... He hoped that she might have even enjoyed reading them...

"Soushonn, you think too much" he criticized himself silently.

"Excellent report, Ensign. In the future if you can't find me, go ahead and leave your report in the security office. Lt. Mohler can review it or I'll get it the next time I'm there." she informed him.

As the turbolift doors opened, he cleared his throat and smiled slightly...

"Thank you, Lieutenant... I'd like it very much if you would call me Soushonn." Arcas' words caused an amost audible sigh of relief to escape from K'arta. All the stiff formality was starting to annoy her.

"Deck 11. All right, but only since the shift is over and if you'll call me K'arta off duty." she said smiling.

"Deck 7." Soushonn nodded in agreement with the Klingon.

He felt self-conscious somewhat as their gazes held one another and with a subtle nervousness threw a scanning glance around the turbolift interior. He didn't want her to think he'd never looked anyone in the eyes before or something... He didn't want to seem to be staring... But her eyes seemed to bring forth something deep within him... Perhaps something from his past.

The pair struck up a conversation about the Galaxy's corridor layout and Soushonn found himself agreeing with everything K'arta was saying.

K'arta struggled to fill in the uncomfortable silence that would have sprung up should she have stopped talking. She spoke of the basic layout of the ship and other small talk. Soushonn remained silent throughout her rambling. During her talk, she wondered what was going through his head. If it was the same sort of confusion that she was experiencing. How to respond to someone you've just met who could become a best friend, a lover, or a bitter enemy?

Nevertheless, he didn't want to overstep that unspoken comfort boundary that exists between two newly-met persons so he purposely made the effort of 'conducting and orchestra' with his eyes as he spoke, regarding her at the introduction and completion of each new idea and for the most part nodding and blinking as he was being spoken to.

He hated the unwritten rules of social conduct and etiquette, but he followed them to a T. He was familiar with the concept of the 'Modular Sentient', a psychological analogy that in its context basically explains every sentient personality as being composed of many small fractions of the whole. The 'Modular Sentient' was for Soushonn, an explanation of why some friendships will never grow and why some will never fade...

The turbolift reached Lieutenant K'arta's deck. As she began to step off the lift Soushonn spoke again.

"Lieutenant... If you'd not mind, I'd be very pleased to have you over for dinner sometime. It's basically my way of making friends... I'm an aspiring cook, you see."

"I'd be delighted, Soushonn. I have a wedding to deal with first, but I'd like to have dinner with you." for a moment, K'arta wondered why she'd replied affirmitavly, but then decided that she really had nothing to lose.

"I really hope that doesn't sound forward, I assure you I'm a complete gentleman. There's just no better way to get to know someone than to share a good meal and some intellectual yet purely rhetorical chatter after all."

"I agree. I'll get back to you soon with a good time." K'arta said suppressing laughter at his obviously nervous retort and excuse for the dinner. The turbolift doors slid shut as K'arta smiled at him and headed for the holodecks to work on her gift for Miran.

"Friends, Families and Wedding Bells"
by Lt. (jg) K'arta

K'arta arrived in the holodeck and quickly began working on her present. She first made a copy of the program her father had given her and began adding things to it. First she incorporated the wild west show she and Miran had used to surprise Deiran. An arena and stands were backed by a small stable that housed the horses. The addition was arranged a little down a dirt road from the original barn. To that barn she added a beautiful black Friesan stallion who was trained to drive. She added his harness to the tack room and a cart and sleigh stood ready outside the barn. Miran could change the environment to go sleigh riding if she desired. In one of the fenced pastures, K'arta began programming a colorful herd of mares and foals. The twenty horses were a mixture of Arabians, Paints, Appaloosas, Quarter Horses, Morgans and Saddlebreds. There were bays, grays, chestnuts, blacks, buckskins, palominos and pintos. K'arta was sure to include the instruction that the mares were ridable and the foals trainable as they 'grew'. A subroutine was planted in the program to age the foals one month each time the program was used. Satisfied with the results, K'arta saved the program and removed the disc containing it from the arch.

She headed back to her quarters to try to decide what type of dress she wanted. She found a message from Ronni giving her a suggestion. She called up the image of the dress on her display and agreed with the choice. She would wear a pale blue-green silvery dress. It was full length and made of a material similar to satin. The top was fitted and the skirt flared from her hips. K'arta replicated the dress and tried it on. The hem seemed to float just above her toes. She was very pleased and put the dress away to keep it clean for the wedding. K'arta fell into bed thinking of the upcoming wedding.

The day of the wedding, K'arta arrived on the holodeck to find a beautiful apple orchard filled with chairs for the guests. She found the room the bride and bridesmaids were using and entered. Miran was nervous as Kateli arranged her hair. K'arta gave Miran a reassuring smile and greeted the rest of the bridesmaids.

"Thanks for the suggestion." she said to Ronni who was getting dressed.

"No problem. I thought you'd like it." the Delphinian responded smiling.

K'arta found an empty spot and began to dress. She was soon dressed and had her hair pulled back halfway. Ronni was also dressed and Miran was close to being ready. Her dress was beautiful when she was fully dressed K'arta found a few stray wisps of hair that had escaped Kateli's meticulous braiding. K'arta pulled out an extra barrette and secured them in Miran's hair. The nervous Bajoran tried to protest, but K'arta cut her off, telling her it was tradition for her to borrow something for the wedding. Ronni then approached and handed Miran a small frilly blue garter. She smiled mischeviously as she presented it to Miran. All the women had a good laugh as Miran put it on. It was time for them to line up for the procession. Kateli went first, escorted by Troy Blair. K'arta caught Ronni looking after him and wondered what was up between them. She shook her head as her blue friend started down the aisle with a member of the Casey clan. K'arta had been amazed at all the people he'd invited. The excited Klingon gave the nervous bride a reassuring smile as she started out to meet the best man. She'd met him briefly when he came aboard. They walked sedately down the aisle to the alter where Captain Price stood waiting. They parted and turned to watch Miran proceed.

She was beautiful walking next to Alexander Stephin. K'arta could almost see a tear of joy trying to run down Miran's face. Mr. Stephin gave the bride away. Captain Price's words were beautiful. Before she knew it, Miran was handing her bouquet to K'arta and asking for the ring. Then the wedding was over. The party walked back down the aisle, led by Deiran and Miran. The guests dispersed to Ten-Forward while the wedding party stayed behind for pictures. Before they separated again, K'arta gave Miran a hug and slipped the holodisc into her hand. The Bajoran's eyebrows furrowed a bit, but then she smiled and gave her Klingon friend another hug. Then they parted to change for the reception.

Quentin awoke to hear the door chime.

"Come"

He looked up to see Mulich enter the room.

"What the hell are you doing, our shift starts in 15 minutes?"

With that, Quentin leapt out of bed and ran over to his cupboard, to get his uniform. He then ran into the bathroom.

About 10 minutes later, he left the bathroom looking like a respectable security officer. He then walked over to the replicator.

"Orange juice"

He looked over at Mulich.

"Want anything Mark?"

"No thanks. Hurry up otherwise we are going to be late"

Quentin finished his drink and left the empty cup on the replicator pad. He then left the room with Mulich.

They walked down the corridor heading for the turbo-lift. Once inside Mulich said.

"Deck 38"

Once they arrived, they left the turbo-lift and walked down the corridor heading for the Security office.

They entered the security office to find Lt Comm Sterner sitting at the desk.

"What can I do for you two?" Sterner said

"I would just like to know where you want us to patrol today sir?" Quentin said waiting for a reply

"New Challenges"
by Christopher Thomas

Ensign Thomas' Personal Log, Stardate 49707.13

Chris was begining to settle in his new routine as a parent, atleast with regards to time. He was using his free time more effiecently to his advantage. The ship had arrived at Sigma II to help an archeologist setup research facilities on the planets surface. The first away team had already beamed down to the planets surface.

*** Ensign Thomas' Quaters ***

Chris wasted no time getting up this morning. a new mission had begun. He was exicting about the possibities that might occur over the next couple of days. Though Colby was already providing him with enough excitment to last a lifetime. Anything that he could reach, and things he should't be able to reach were always somewhere other than where he had put them. School would soon be starting and not a moment to soon. Colby was wearing Chris out. However something about this new mission had managed to rejuavnte Chris into action. He cleaned the room and the headed for main engineering. Lt.(jg) Chiron and he were finally ready for the first test run of an mobile holo-emitter that Chris and associates had design and built by Chiron. If everything worked as planned they would send down or take two of them to the planets surface.

*** Main Engineering ***

"Good afternoon, Lt. (jg) Chiron, how are you doing today?" Chris asked, though he keep wanting to say morning for some odd reason. Which was probably due to the difference shift times that had thorwn him off this morning, afternoon.

(("Just fine, a new day of life. And how about you? I'm sure Colby is having an effect on you.")) Chiron stated telepathically more than asked about Colby. He could tell that Colby was effecting Ensign Thomas' life.

"I doing just fine and so is Colby. He's been nothing but fun.Well we should get to work, I'm sure that Captain Price and Commander Coe would like to see what we've come up with and to give them a test run. With the conditions on this planet a hologrphic assistant or two might prove to be usefull." Chris said as he thought of a couple of times in his past that he wished he could've used holographic people.

(("Of course, so then lets get to working on putting them together.")) Chiron projected.

They spent the next three hours putting the pieces together. The systems were so small that they had to test every piece to make sure that it was in working order. The microcircuitry was the toughest part to put together. They had decided that atleast one the first few should be put together by hand instead of just replicating them. Although the thought of tring it that way had crossed their minds, the complexity of the system might actual prove to be togther to replicate than it looked. In any case building them by hand was more of a requirement, in case anything went wrong they'd have to know how to repair them and run test on them.

The work was painstaking, only one person could rok on it at a time, so they were both working on one each. The worked progressed slowly for an additional hour, before they both had finished. They were tired, but they had completed two mobile holo-emitters, next step would be testing them.

"Let's take a twenty minute break, before we move onto the next phase." Chris suggested, to which everyone agreed. With that Chris head for his quaters to check in on Colby and see how he was doing.

*** Ensign Thomas' Quaters ***

Chris walked into his quaters noting they were not messed either Colby wasn't done with school or he decided to make a mess of there quaters.

"Colby I'm home for a little." Chris said as the doors shut behind him.

"In here." Colby called out.

"Prehaps you would care to join me for a bite to eat before I have to go back to engineering." Chris as he walked over to the food replicator and order some soup and crakers along with some water.

"Coming," Colby said as he entered the room, "What are you working on in engineering?" Colby asked.

"I am working on a project that might help away teams be better prepared for trouble."

"Ohh" Colby said, not that it interested him. He ordered something to eat, with water.

"I'm glad that we're getting this time to sit down and eat, prehaps someday in the future my schdule will change, but in the meantime we should enjoy our time together." Chris as he thought about Gwyen but he was missing her a little bit less with each passing. Yes he would always miss her being here with him, but with Colby now his life he did't feel so alone among people.

He finished his dinner and his thoughts turned to Dev, she was young and lovely and in some aspects she reminded him of Gwyen. She almost always knew what he was going to do or say before he did so, and that was always worth a luagh or two.

"I'll be home later, but I want you in bed at 10pm young man. I will check in on you later tonight." Chris said as he rose from the table a placed the bowl and untiles away. He smiled at Colby before he left and told good night and I love you. He then headed back to engineering.

*** Engineering ***

"Now we need to load up the basic information into each one, then we can proceed to upload the characterial information for a holographic person. We should selected people who everyone knows is dead and there for can not be alive." Chris said as he started working again.

(("True but we need to prove the veristility of the system and I know I am going to chose. Darmok.")) Chiron responed mentally.

Chris continued working and considered his possiblity of choices and what the implications of each would be to Starfleet. He consider the possibilities, he could load up historical data on General Robert E. Lee and introduce him to the captain. With so many choices, he could choose James T. Kirk, George Washington, or any countless number of posibilites. This was going to be more difficult than he thought it would be in choosing a holographical persona. They finished up the work and set off to see the Captain, he had wanted to be informed when they were ready for testing.

"Ensign Thomas to Captain Price, sir we have completed work on the mobile holo-emitters and would like to demostrate them to you."

"I'll be in my ready room." The captain responded.

Then they set out to see there captain and show him their work.

*** Captain's Ready Room ***

After having requested premission to enter the ready room, they entered and prepaired to deliver their sales speech like they were Ferengi's but without the lobs.

"Captain we've completed the work on the mobile holo-emitters." They set both of thier's down infornt of the Captain. The emitters were the size of a tricorder folder up, bulky but then that was to be expected considering these were the first ones to be built.

"Ok so what is there capabilities, then." The captain inquired.

"If our calculations are correct then they have a four to five hour life, after they have to be recharged and that is under favorable conditions. If you asking how long they'd last on Sigma II, I'd say no more than three hours, without recharge. Though the time usage could be increased at the cost of range. We worked on a way that would allow up four holo-emitters to operate on the same external unit. The range would be probalby no more than scanning distance of a tricorder, in just about any condition. The usage would increase by about three hours for four holo-units and adding an additional half-hour for each holo unit not being used." Chris said as he prepaired himself to answer more questions the captain would likely ask before allowing a surface a test.

Lt. Devlynn Salshyar (Dev)
Chief Counselor, USS Galaxy - NCC-70637

[Mercury to Salshyar]

[Go ahead Ensign]

[I was hoping that we could meet to continue our session]

[Of course Ensign, how does, 11:00 tomorrow sound? I'll be finished with the testing by then]

[It's a date]

[Good, I'll see you then, Salshyar out]

Devlynn walked from the main Gym of the USS Galaxy and toward the nearest turbolift, the second round of tests where done, only one more day to go. She transfered all the information from the PADDS to the computer in the Counselors Office, to be checked and coded to be sent to SFHQ.

She was tired of the tests. And with graduation just around the corner, her time seemed to be spread too thin. She was thankful that Starfleet granted her the staff additions. She didn't know how Counselor Chandler managed things with only a five person Staff.

She entered her office and sat down to the computer. Just then she was called to the Bridge. "Counselor, we are approaching Sigma II, I would like for you to be on the bridge when we make our first communication." It was the voice of the Captain over the comm.

"Understood. I'm on my way." She got up, the results would have to wait.

As the turbolift doors opened, Dev secretly wished that Chris would be on duty, but she knew that he wasn't. She was disappointed. She arrived just in time to hear the end of the discussion about moving the Galaxy to a lower orbit. Something about interference from the atmosphere...

She listened to the exchange between the Captain and the Doctor on the planet. She waited until the Captain gave the order and then she approached Commander Coe. "I would like to join you on the away mission. I have a great interest in Archeology. Beside, with all these tests. I need to get off the ship!" She smiled despite herself.

"Wedding Bliss"
by Lt Casey Ti Miran

Miran was overwhelmed at the size of Deiran's family. The number of people that showed up for the reception was amazing too. Basically everyone on the ship wanted to join in on her and Deiran's happiness.

People toasted the newly weds. Miran stuck like glue to Deiran- too many people where at the party and she was ready to leave. Deiran threw the garter to a mass mob of eligible bachelors and Miran through the bouquet out to the single women of the ship.

Deiran gave to her a beautiful song that fit their relationship well. Miran had never heard the song but it talked about a knight in shining armour from the olden days taking her away to a castle some distance away. Deiran said the song was from Earth. It would always be their song. Yes, Deiran was the hero she had been dreaming of- when she had any type of pleasantness in her nightmares.

Finally they got to leave and be together. She would always treasure the memories and time with Deiran.

***

"Status Lieutenant Ti?" the Captain asked of her. The crew still called her Ti. She probably would never lose that. They know her as Ti and will always remember that.

"Entering standard orbit, Captain," Miran replied while tapping a few controls, then smiling over at Deiran sitting on her right at Ops.

"Very good, Lieutenant." Praise was good. Everyone was still in an unlifted mood Captain included. It also met that he was still happy with her performance on the bridge.

She had given many thanks yous to people with the wedding. She was sad that the Vicksburg had to depart carrying the people that became her foster family away. She wished the whole clan could have been there but if they had she wouldn't have ever met Deiran. She had planned on trying to join whatever ship that Robert served on when they married. She would have never came onto the Galaxy, never had all these friends, and most importantly never would have met Deiran. What interesting plans the Prophets came up with. They must have gotten a kick out of the twists in her life- they had to have fun creating their grand scheme.

"Is that possible Lieutenant? Entering that low an orbit with the Galaxy?" What was he talking about? Then the drifts of conversation came back. They wanted to enter low in the atmosphere to beam people. Possible? With her at the helm? Many people didn't have the experiance flying in atmospheres as she did. Most people spend most of their time controlling space bound vessels only coming into atmospere to land not have fun like Miran generally did. Granted she had never done anything like what he wanted with a ship this large.

"It would be difficult, and the ship would require periodic course corrections to prevent orbital decay caused by the planet's gravity, but yes, sir, I can do that, Sir." Of course she could. She better not get cocky though. At the first sign of cockiness accidents occur. People get hurt. Why couldn't everything be as simple as flying?

"Of course if the Galaxy is orbiting the planet at that low of an altitude, our communications and transporter systems will have a greatly limited range sir. We'd only be able to get a signal to Doctor Currie's landing site when the Galaxy is directly over head." Miran listened to Deiran's conversation with the captain.

"And how often would that be 'mate?"

"At that altitude, the Galaxy will be making an orbit about once an hour... if that helps," Miran piped up and then blushed after realizing what she had done. It was an easy question though. They would be about the same orbit as the late 20th century orbiters used by the space travellers of that time. Every forty-five minutes was a sunrise or sunset for them.

"Thanks, Miran." The smile he gave her made her feel good. She could tell- it would be a long while before she didn't feel like a newly wed any longer. She loved Deiran that much.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's do it 'mate. Bring the Galaxy into a low planetary orbit Lieutenant Ti, while Lieutenant Casey uses the deflector array to keep us nice and cool."

"Yes, sir" Little later Miran guided the ship through the proper adjustments and trajectory to be in the proper spot that Deiran and the Captain had figured out.

"We have acquired low planetary orbit, Captain." She proved that she could. She wasn't being overly cocky. She never got along with those cocky pilots that thought they were good. She ignored them as they her and she usually out fly them. That was a time in her life though she didn't try to make friends and was too scared to anyhow.

Erratic weather patterns were always fun. It wouldn't be too bad until the 850 millibar range. There are no fronts at the 500 millibar level. There are still troughs and high speed winds though. Winds are slower at the 850 because of friction. Most of the larger atmospheric planes though fly above the weather but you always have to fly through that to reach the ground.

It would be tough for any pilot to make it with the conditions she was describing. Miran would have loved to tried but wouldn't have wanted to risk anyone else's neck doing it.

The planet was larger than Earth so had a greater gravity well. More corrections would be needed to remain in the proper orbit. The lands and oceans below with the swirling clouds where pretty. No man made objects were big enough to be seen from the sky.

Miran sat back and kept busy with her job.

"You Better be Careful, or I'll Assign You to Waste Extraction!"
By Ensign Alan Hewson

In an engineers life, he/she will hear, "You better be careful, or I'll assign you to waste extraction!" from his/her superior as a hollow threat or joke many, many times. This comment is always good for a laugh, especially to non-engineers who believe that waste extraction duty consists of wading through a mixture of discarded liquids, or rummaging around in countless items of solid trash. The truth is, waste extraction duty usually consists of an engineer sitting at a secluded workstation, making sure that the waste processors are working properly. It has been suggested that a tomato or some other inanimate object (though some would argue that this description applies to an engineer) could easily do this job, but nonetheless, a living-breathing human has to endure this task. A simple job such as this is an engineer's worst nightmare. Therefore, that is the true fear of being assigned to waste extraction.

However, anyone would rather sit at a station and monitor waste extraction instead of actually having to go inside a waste processor and repair it. Ensign Hewson was the lucky one (or rather unlucky one) who had the assignment of repairing the damage to the waste processors after the Galaxy had it's run in with the Void.

Standing above the hatch that led to the dreaded solid waste extraction processor on deck 9, Alan took a few deep breaths before ceiling his bio suit. The waste processor was located deep in the heart of deck 9 which meant that he had spent a good 15 minutes climbing and crawling through Jefferies tubes. A quick glance at the small monitor on the left wrist of the bio suit confirmed that the suit was operating perfectly. With a sigh, he tapped in the access code that would allow him to open the hatch. A small panel located directly to the left of the hatch opened to reveal a lever that had to be pulled to release the safeties on the hatch. With a slight strain, he pulled the lever. The hatch swooshed open, which activated a containment field that covered the opening. Alan disabled the last security measure with another code. With a spark, the field disappeared.

When he was half way down the ladder, he heard the containment field re-activate above him. It was a necessary pre-caution, but it meant he would have to go through the procedure of turning the safeties off once more.

At the bottom of the ladder, a huge pile of discarded uniforms greeted him. They appeared to have white burn marks on them, indicating that they had not been properly scanned in the waste extraction processor. Also, located near the pile of uniforms was a pile of clothes that had been worn during the medieval party. A slight chuckle came from Alan as he saw his own outfit on top of the stack. Eventually, he made his way over to the main access panel of the processor. The panel came off with hardly any effort. It didn't take Alan long to figure at what was wrong with the processor. It appeared that the central tri-matrix scanner had been overloaded, which would prevent the waste processor from correctly scanning the items that passed through it. To be on the safe side though, Alan had the computer run a Level 3 diagnostic on all the waste processors in a cascade pattern. That way he wouldn't have to take all the processors off-line at the same time, which would cause a huge backup in the system. The diagnostic would only take about fifteen minutes, so he leaned up against the wall and thought about the performance tests he had taken that day.

The Engineering test seemed rather simple to him, but the Command test proved to be an obstacle. Normally, he wouldn't have to take both tests, but as a new officer onboard, he was required too. He didn't dream of commanding his own starship someday, which was the case with many officers. He was an engineer and engineers are a special breed of people. The logic behind having an engineer take the Command test seemed to be rather flawed to him. He thought over each answer he had written down, trying to think of better ones.

"Level 3 diagnostic of waste extraction is complete," the computer brought A.C. back to task at hand.

"Were any malfunctions found in the waste processors?" Alan already knew the answer, but he wanted to make sure there weren't any other problems.

"The tri-matrix scanners in the waste processors on decks 9, 13, and 24 are overloaded. No other problems were detected."

"That's good. At least the power transfer relays weren't damaged." He pulled out the necessary tools for the task at hand and proceeded to repair the damaged scanner.

*******Seven Hours Later*******

After repairing all three processors, he filled out his report before going off duty. He stopped by his quarters to take a shower, when the computer informed him that he had a message from Ensign Harris. Quentin had invited him (along with the other new crew members) to holodeck three at 1700. Unfortunately, at that time, A.C. was repairing the waste processor on deck 9. He sent a quick message to Harris telling him why he hadn't been there.

A.C. came out of the shower feeling nicely refreshed. He put on his casual clothes, and picked out a few bottles of drinks to take down to Ten-Forward. He hopped that the bartender would be gracious enough to let him leave them there. Caring a bottle of Klingon Blood Wine, a bottle of Scotch, a bottle of Talaxion Ale, and a bottle of non-intoxicating Sylk Juice from Lomnar Prime, he headed down to Ten-Forward.

"Counseling"
by Ensign David Mercury with assistance from Lt. Devlynn Salshyar

*************** 11:00 ***********************

"Come in," Lt. Devlynn Salshyar said as she organized her desk. "Hello David, I will be ready in a minute."

"Take your time, those tests must have you busier than ever," David said as walk into her quarters.

"You don't know the half of it. So, how have you been lately?"

"Well that is one of the reasons why I wanted to see you so soon. I have a date tomorrow," David answered.

"Wonderful, who is the lucky woman?"

"Ensign Boudreau, from engineering."

"I met her the other day, she's very beautiful. A little nervous, eh? Well let me give you some womanly advice, stay relaxed, be positive and most importantly be yourself. Women don't like it when you act like someone you are really not. A believe me, you don't have to be a telepath to tell!"

"Thanks Counselor, I will."

Dev could sense that David was feeling a little bit more confident now, "You see all it takes is a little encouragement. I would like to get to know you a bit better, David. If that is alright with you? What are your interests, what do you like to do to unwind, how do you like being on the ship?"

"Ancient curses"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

The shimmering blue light of the transporter beam faded depositing Commander Coe and the rest of the away team on the surface of Sigma II.

"Welcome to Sigma II everyone." Doctor Currie greeted warmly. Standing near her were three of her colleagues.

"Thank you." JT replied cordially before adding, "I am Commander Johnathan Thomas Coe, Executive Officer of the Federation Starship Galaxy."

Marie smiled. Her gray eyes twinkling slightly as she spoke. "Pleased to meet you Commander. I am Doctor Marie Currie, lead Archeologist of this expedition." Turning, Dr. Currie pointed out the people with her. "These are my associates, Doctors Turner and Goldstein, Professor Hallmark, and Engineer Fitzpatrick."

Each of the members of her staff nodded cordially as they were introduced. JT quickly introduced the members of his away team.

"Good to meet you all. This here is Lieutenant Andrew Hutchcraft, the Galaxy's Chief Engineer. He will be working closely with your people in arranging for the personnel and materials needed to complete the facilities. This is Lieutenant Devlynn Salshyar the ship's Chief Counselor. She is very interested in your archeological find here. Lieutenant James Mitchell, the Galaxy's Chief Science Officer is likewise interested in your findings Doctor. Lieutenant K'arta is Assistant Security Chief, and this is Doctor Jurelle Tash a Medical officer."

"I am glad you were able to get here so quickly Commander." Doctor Currie started. "We have been living out of survival tents for weeks now. I look forward to having a permanent facility built with running hot and cold water."

Patting his balding forehead, Doctor Goldstein nods in agreement. "Yes, a nice warm shower would be most refreshing indeed."

A few smiles crept onto his colleague's faces as he removed his rectangular spectacles and began to clean them meticulously as if he was obsessed with keeping then totally clean. An irritated look crossed Doctor Goldstein's face as he notices their reaction, obviously some inside joke that the Galaxy crew is still not privy too. He places the glasses back on his face before turning to Commander Coe.

"I suppose you'll want a tour of the site to see the plans we've laid out for the facilities Commander?"

JT looked at Doctor Goldstein and nodded. "Yes, that would be great. The Galaxy will be out of range for the next forty minutes or so. Once they approach the next window, more personnel will be beaming down. It would be nice to be able to let them know what other materials and personnel will be needed to complete this project."

"Ah yes Commander." Professor Hallmark interjected. "Waist not, want not. I like a man that gets right down to the job at hand."

Commander Coe smiled at the Professor, probably the oldest one on Doctor Currie's team.

"There is plenty of time for that gentlemen," Dr. Currie commented, "Let's take them to the dig and show them some of the things we are so excited about. Come Commander, follow me."

Doctor Currie began walking towards what looked like great walls that surrounded a massive, ancient city. The blocks that comprised the wall appeared to be made out of huge slabs of granite, some four or five times the size of a human. When they neared what looked like what was once a gated entrance way, Doctor Currie stopped.

"The original find was inside these giant outer walls of the city, but in the last couple of weeks we have managed to uncover these using the modern excavation equipment we salvaged from the shuttle crash."

"Yes, I remember you telling the Captain about your little mishap landing on the surface Doctor. Did everyone arrive safely?"

Engineer Fitzpatrick winced at the mention of the shuttle crash landing. "Please, do we have to bring that up *again*?"

Doctor Currie smiled slightly. "It's okay Randal, it wasn't your fault. Sigma II's weather and atmosphere make it an extremely difficult place for shuttle craft maneuvers. To answer your question Commander, yes, everyone arrived unharmed thanks to Fitzpatrick our Engineer and

pilot."

"Well, yes, all of the *people* arrived safely. Wish I could say the same for what's left of the shuttle craft. It's a total wreck." The engineer says as he rubs his head shyly.

"Doctor," JT says as he stops and inspects some of the inscriptions on the sides of the city walls. "These markings look almost like Egyptian writing?"

Marie's smile grows even wider. "Excellent eye Commander. Yes, they are very similar to the ancient Egyptian inscriptions on Earth. There are minor differences however. You see, these carvings appear to predate those found back home."

JT looked surprised. "Really? That is interesting."

Marie nodded. "Yes, there is more inside. Come follow me."

Commander Coe, the rest of the away team and Doctor Currie's colleagues walked behind her, following through the mysterious gates.

On their way through, Doctor Goldstein paused to remove his glasses, once again polishing them to remove the accumulation of dust from just the last several minutes.

"Trouble keeping those clean Doctor?" Counselor Salshyar asked.

Goldstein shot Dev a nasty look, but quickly relaxed as he realized she was being sincere in her question and not poking fun at his habit. "Yes young lady. My vision isn't what it used to be, and this site seems plagued with dust mites." He smiled.

"That can be most distracting." Dev said as she stepped over to an inscription on the face of the wall near the entrance to the city. "Doctor Goldstein, can you read this to me?"

The balding scientist quickly placed his glasses back upon his face, and for the first time noticed what a striking figure of a woman Counselor Salshyar was. Fixing his posture some what, he walks over to where she was standing.

"Ah yes. I see you've found the famous curse of the city."

Dev turned and looked at Doctor Goldstein. "A Curse?" She said with a smile, sensing that the Doctor was either teasing her or didn't believe this to be anything to worry about, though his tone was making out like it did. Sometimes it pays to be Betazoid. But for the sake of meeting a new friend, Counselor Salshyar decided to play along. "What kind of curse? Can you tell me what it says?"

Dev had done a good job sounding 'scared' at the word 'curse' so Doctor Goldstein cleared his voice and recited in a low tone the verse.

"Dwell not in this place, on foot or in space. Take not root like a tree, or worms meat thou shall be. Heed thy advice, take flight! Thou shall not be warned twice."

The Doctor then glanced at Counselor Salshyar and smiled slightly. "Of course no one believes in ancient curses used to frighten a primitive people. DO YOU Counselor?" He asked.

"It is definitely something to consider..." Dev said, sensing Goldstein's own amusement.

"Come child. We should catch up with the others. Don't want to be left behind."

"Please, lead the way Doctor." Dev said with a grin. Doctor Goldstein begins to walk through the entrance. Counselor Salshyar takes a last glance at the inscription, and shakes her head at the Doctor before following him through.

"Planetside Once More"
by Lieutenant Andrew Hutchcraft

Fortunetly, depressions are temporary and easily resolved after a coffee at your quarters, a whiskey at sketcher's, and then a quick work-out in the holodeck. Hutchcraft was fit, healthy, and ready to go. His personal problems had been given the reset button as far as he was concerned, and it was certainly back to work for him.

He entered Alpha Shift brisk and energetic, fresh from the athletic work-out he had done in his usual holodeck programme. Entering Main Engineering, Hutchcraft once again faced his crew, but this time without the emotional pressures of missing one's previous acquaintenances.

Gamma Shift had walked out, with most of Alpha Shift quickly making their way in. Hutchcraft noted the new faces, including one he had not yet encountered.

"Excuse me, my I ask your name?" Hutchcraft asked as he approached the rather attractive woman just entering.

She turned around, not looking like anything Hutchcraft had previous encountered. He was unsure whether the person was Bajoran, Klingon, Human, or an entirely different race. She resembled several races though, and certainly did not half as different as the other half klingon walking around Engineering.

The multi-breed engineer spoke "Sir, Ensign Samara reporting for duty!"

"Ahh, Samara, pleased to meet you, having any trouble?" Hutchcraft asked, looking as helpful as it was possible for him.

Samara shoke her head, and Hutchcraft smiled "Alright them, I hope to see some good work out of you, Ensign"

Hutchcraft nodded, before moving over to the warp-core to make some readings. He stood in front of the warp-core, by a console, making an analysis of recent performance. All was as it should be, the warp-core reaction has previously been more efficient, but it had certainly seen worse days. Hutchcraft continued to do some checks, before checking on Ensign Boudreau down in Deck 21.

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

Ensign Boudreau and a small crew had been doing the finishing touches to the damaged deck. The area was certainly looking better, Hutchcraft could clearly remember the horror that occured in the deck before hand. He felt horrified when he had to drag the wounded out with his colleagues, but was refreshed to see the joint forces of his crew finish up on not only Deck 21, but the other decks that had been affected by the Void Co-Operative attacks.

"How is it going, Miss Boudreau?" Hutchcraft asked, as the Quebecan turned around to see him.

She put on a serious face, before analysising the repair work they had done so far "We're getting there, Lieutenant. I think we should be 100% done by next week, the engineering crew is doing an excellent job"

"Yourself and Hewson certainly have shown yourself to be able at this kind of work, Ensign. Hence, I'm asking you if you would like to be part of the Engineering team that will be assigned to our new project on Sigma II" Hutchcraft turned to Boudreau, and put on a pleaful expression.

Boudreau looked happy at the idea. To go down to a planet for an Engineering project was an exciting idea "Of course, sir, may I ask who is involved, and more importantly on what?"

"The first team will only include myself for surveilance purposes, but after that, an Engineering team will beam down. Currently I'm assigning Ensign Hewson, Ensign Mercury, Ensign Samara, Ensign Wadell, Ensign Ba'Kel, Ensign Dana and Petty Officer Paulson to the team being beamed down after the initial away team. We're extra aid in setting up a permanent research centre there" Hutchcraft looked at Boudreau to see if she was paying attention or not, which she seemed to be doing.

Ensign Boudreau looked pleased "Alright then, I'll await your orders, sir. What sort of research?"

"Archeological. Doctor Currie and her team have found an interesting discovery, I'm going down to see what it is. It certainly sounds exciting" Hutchcraft did not seem to have the sarcastic tone that once thrived in every breath he took. Maybe it was just himing growing up.

The young Ensign nodded, before bidding the Lieutenant farwell. Hutchcraft left Boudreau to her repair work, before Hutchcraft went out to find another of his officers.

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

Hutchcraft felt sorry for Chiron. His saddening experience with the parasidic alien was a horrible one, and Hutchcraft hoped that one day Chiron would fully recover. For now, though, Chiron was still a good engineer, as well as one of Hutchcraft's most experienced.

He located the Lieutenant in his quarters, and walked in after a nod of approval by the Tamarian.

Hutchcraft immediately handed Chiron a PADD. The Assistant Chief took a look at it ...

"Chiron,

I'm currently gathering an engineering team to go down to the surface to help out with the construction of a permanent research centre there. For the moment, you are to keep command of the ship when I'm not on board."

After reading the PADD, Chiron handed the device back, before a mild message could be heard in Hutchcraft's head {That's alright with me, Lieutenant}

Hutchcraft smiled. It was still a nauseating experience, but not an unbearable one certainly. Hutchcraft quickly bowed, before exiting the officer's quarters.

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

Hutchcraft's job was not over. He returned to his usual duties for the day, before hitting his quarters for some rest during Beta Shift.

As Gamma Shift dawned, Hutchcraft awoke, all ready to go on a real away mission once again. It had been so long since he had last stepped on a planet, his head starting to feel trapped by the surroundings that he walked through every day. Some would go bad, he simply just got tired of it.

Hutchcraft did all the usual morning things, before getting into his duty uniform, and walking towards the Warp Core Chamber once again. He looked around to see a busy Gamma Shift staff at work.

"It's looking good Mercury, keep this work up m'boy" Hutchcraft smirked as he entered, spotting the Ensign in the corner of his eye.

Mercury laughed "Thank you, sir, I'm trying my best. I'm all set for this new task. Sounds like a lot of fun"

"It does, doesn't it. Where's Ba'Kel and Dana?" The Lieutenant then replied.

"Dana is down in Deck 21 with repairs, Ba'Kel is filing some reports ..." Mercury responded.

Hutchcraft nodded, noticing all was well. As he did, another officer came into sight. "You must be Specialist Kartain" Hutchcraft noted as the Enlisted Officer approached him and Hutchcraft.

"Yes sir! Pleased to meet you, sir!" replied the Specialist. Hutchcraft smiled at the officer's enthusiasm.

"How are repairs on those final conduits, Kartain?" asked Mercury, looking towards the officer.

"We're just finishing up on Deck 22, and then we'll be going down to Deck 21 ..." Kartain replied.

Hutchcraft nodded "Good, Ensigns Mercury and Ba'Kel shall be on the Engineering Team being involved with the Research Centre construction. While their down there, we'd like to see you and the remaining engineers finish off all the loose ends here."

Kartain nodded politely, before he was dismissed by the Lieutenant. After that, Hutchcraft excused himself from Mercury's company, and made his way towards the transporter room.

Alpha Shift had been coming, and so Hutchcraft ran into Chief Jensen as he walked towards the away team. The two briefly exchanged words, before the transporter room doors opened, and they moved to their seperate groups.

Hutchcraft smiled at the familiar faces, including those of Commander Coe and Lieutenant K'arta. He got himself into position, before the transport began...

James Donovan - Riel Elitia

"Tests"
by Lt. Ronni Morris Asst. Chief of Science

Ronni sat at the Science station, obsessed with the sight below her. The sensors continued to only pick up random images of the planet below, but of what she could see, it was fascinating.

Tapping at the LCAR as fast as possible, without taking her eyes off the Science station's screen, she tried to refine the view, but as soon it was stabilized, the atmosphere would change enough to ruin the setting. But the brief glimpses were outstanding.

According to the information available, the Sigma II project was researching an ancient civilization with too many similarities to Earth's ancient Eygpt. On the screen, a brief flash of clearness, showed one of the largest buildings that Ronni had ever seen. It was visible from orbit. Wow.

A light on the display flashed and Ronni sighed. She turned off the alarm just as Ensign T'val came up to replace her. Ensign T'val said, "May you succeed with your tests Lieutenant." Ronni smiled sarcastically and said, "Thanks!" The sarcasms was obviously lost on the Vulcan.

Ronni returned to her quarters and took a quick shower, she wanted to be at her best for the test. When she came out of the shower, there was a vase of white daisies and red roses on her table. She looked around for a note, but there was none to be found. "How odd. If they were from Troy, there would be a flower that squirted water or ink at me." she said quizzically.

At the testing center, she had to wait for about 15 minutes before the previous examinee was finished. Ronni was excited, because she liked being tested on what she knew. If she didn't know the answer, she like the challenge.

The Challenge test was to realign a crystal structure into a particular pattern. It was a timed test and Ronni was failing it horribly until at the last moment, she noticed that if she moved the bottom three struts to the upper left, it worked.

The failed the Command test horribly. Not only did the diplomat NOT survive, but she managed to get the ship destroyed and start intergalactic war. What was REALLY bad is that the scene was just supposed to be a Peace Conference on Risa . . . . .

The Psychological test was hard because she had to choose between saving the life of her brother Vyonn, who was in real life was Missing in Action, or the life of an innocent child. She had chosen the child, but it still hurt.

After the tests she returned to her quarters, took one of the daisies from the vase, and fell asleep in her tank.

"Alpha Shift"
by Ensign K'Eytyanna Samara

Alpha Shift - 0730 ....

K'Eytyanna walked out of the turbolift into Main Engineering, looking straight at the revolutionary M/A reactor system. As she headed towards the duty station that she had been assigned to, her instinctive Klingon senses picked up someone walking towards her and her Klingon mind quickly tensed her body, ready for any threat. A friendly sounding voice spoke from nearby,

"Excuse me, may I ask your name?" As she span around without thinking, her Terran mind quickly chipped in, 'Relax. We aren't in danger, so don't lash out. Remeber the regs.' As she relaxed her body slightly, her eyes flicked to the person's rank pins. Standing a bit straighter when she realised the person was her CO - Lieutenant Hutchcraft, she barked out, "Sir, Ensign Samara reporting for duty!"

Her quieter Bajoran side mentally groaned in dismay, not at all happy about the over-enthusiasm and boundless energy of her Klingon side. Aware of the groan, her human side stepped in quickly and motioned the Klingon side back,

'You've had your turn. Let Bajoran handle this, and we'll let you run our body ragged for as long as you want.' The Klingon side stepped back, moping around in the background of their joint mind.

Lt Hutchcraft asked in a caring manner, "Ahh, Samara, pleased to meet you, having any trouble?" Her Bajoran side quickly shook her head, hoping that no one could sense the deep and continual internal fight. Hutchcraft smiled and replied,

"Alright them, I hope to see some good work out of you, Ensign" He nodded before walking away, to the relief of Samara's Bajoran side. 'Human, your turn. Thanks for stepping in.' Her human side replied before preparing to continue with the duty shift, 'It's alright. I know how difficult is for you.'

***********

1633 ...

Opening up a panel inside the Jefferies Tube she had been working in, K'Eytyanna ran a tricorder over a black wave-guide splitter module. The results returned by the tricorder showed less then a quarter efficency on one of the outputing waveguides. Using a field demagnetiser, she opened up the module and started working on the device. Five minutes later, she closed up the module and ran the tricorder over it again.

'Damn #&$(%$ module!!' her Klingon mind mentally cried out. Before her other sides could intervene, she snarled loudly and she smashed her fist into the module, which sparked slightly. Double checking the results, she smiled when it was back upto top efficency, despite the now-obvious imprint of a fist on the casing. Closing up the panel, she crawled along the enclosed access tube until she reached the end and went down the ladder to the top Engineering deck. Walking over to a cabinet, she opened it and put the tricorder back inside before closing it up again.

A telepathic voice she recognised as Lieutenant Jg Chiron's asked, (("Ensign Samara, what are you doing here? Your duty-shift ended over half an hour ago."))

Turning around with her human side in control, she replied, "A gravity wave-guide splitting module was playing up, but it works now. I was just about to log it in the main computer as repaired before running a Level 4 diagnostic of the gravity wave-guide system for the Stardrive section."

(("Ensign, I congratulate on your enthusiasm, but go off-duty now."))

Clenching her fists tightly, she replied, "With all due respect, I would prefer to finish the job I started, Sir." Lt Chiron nodded before walking away. Five minutes later, Ensign Samara logged the end of her duty-shift with the computer and entered an waiting but empty turbolift.

"Deck 33, Section 4." Leaning against the turbolift, she closed her eyes for a moment until the lift stopped. Walking out, she headed along the corridor and entered his quarters, heading straight to the replicator where she ordered a bowl of gagh. Sitting down on a couch, she ordered, "Computer, are there any holodecks free at this time?"

The reply came back several seconds later, ["One of the personal holo-simulators on Deck 12 is not booked for the full duration of this shift."]

Getting up, she started stretching as she replied, "Good. Book the holo-simulator under my name for four hours." Walking over to her closet, she removed a small case holding an isolinear chip. After inserting it into a slot, she ordered, "Computer, upload holodeck programs from isolinear chip slot into Holodeck storage."

["Working. Programs uploaded."]

*******************

Ten minutes later ...

K'Eytyanna walked upto the holodeck door carrying her bat'leth in one hand and a broadsword at her hip in a scabbard. After double-checking the room was empty, she entered the room and waited for the doors to close. Walking over to the arch computer controls, she said after she put down her bat'leth next to the arch, "Computer, run program Samara-Training-Kemptor XI Genetics Facility, Level Four without holodeck safety protocols." K'Eytyanna drew her broadsword and walked into the Facility, ready to take out as many of the Cardassians as possible.

Ensign K'Eytyanna Samara, USS Galaxy NCC-70637 Engineering Department

They entered the security office to find Lt Comm Sterner sitting at the desk.

"What can I do for you two?" Sterner said

"I would just like to know where you want us to patrol today sir?" Quentin said waiting for a reply

"You are to patrol the whole ship but with special attentions in the shuttle bays and transporter rooms"

"Thank you, sir"

Ensigns Harris and Mulich left the Security office. They headed towards the turbo-lift which would take them to the shuttle bays.

[8 hours later]

They left the turbo-lift and returned to the Security office to sign off from their shift. After they had done this, they returned to Harris' quarters.

"I will see you at 1700, Quentin"

"Yeah Mark, see you then"

With that, Mulich moved off down the corridor heading for his quarters. Quentin walked over to his cupboard.

"What shall I wear?" he said looking around the cupboard

[10 minutes later]

Quentin looked in the mirror.

"Perfect" he said feeling proud of himself

He was wearing a smart checked shirt and a pair of Jeans. He looked casual but smart and most of all felt comfortable.

"Computer, what is the time?"

"The time is 1625"

"Thats good, time to get something to eat" he said walking over to the replicator

"Coffee hot"

His drink appeared. He removed it.

"And I'll have some chicken soup"

A bowl with hot soup appeared in the replicator with a spoon beside it. Quentin took the bowl and walked over to his small table. He placed his coffee on the table and started to eat his soup.

[20 minutes later]

After Quentin finished his coffee and soup, he picked up the mug and bowl and left them on the replicator pad before leaving his quarters. He headed for the turbo-lift so that he could go to the holodeck.

He arrived at the holodeck to see a wonderful plush green field with a small farm building in the distance and a hugh Sycamore tree to one side.

*England* he thought to himself

He walked down to where he could see a table with some chairs around it. On the table were lots of different types of foods which were typical of a picnic lunch. Quentin walked up and saw Mark organising things.

"This is great, Mark" Quentin said feeling quite at home

"Interesting isn't it. It is actually England where you come from"

"I know. It looks and feels so realistic even the smells are genuine"

"Right we have just got to wait for the other guests to arrive now before we get started" said Mulich

Ensign Simon Ral,

"Sir I would like to transport down to the Planet!"

"Very well then you may!"

"Computer start Ral Log !"

[*starting*]

"Well as a science officer I think it will be very interesting to search the planet and find any new things! Another I have never visited this planet and would like to know more a bout it. well i think i should get some sleep so I can get up early and transport down to the planet to start the search.

END LOG

Computer save as 'A new search' !"

"Jolly Old England!"
By: Ensign M�lissa Marie Boudreau

M�lissa was working on all the repairs on Deck 21. It seemed like the place had been a real mess before repairs had started. She was glad she hadn't been here to see the destruction first hand. Part way into her shift, Lt. Hutchcraft came to see her work first hand.

"How is it going, Miss Boudreau?" Hutchcraft asked, as the Quebecan turned around to see him.

Boudreau looked happy at the idea. To go down to a planet for an Engineering project was an exciting idea "Of course, sir, may I ask who is involved, and more importantly on what?"

Ensign Boudreau looked pleased. "Alright then, I'll await your orders, sir. What sort of research?"

"Archeological. Doctor Currie and her team have found an interesting discovery, I'm going down to see what it is. It certainly sounds exciting." Hutchcraft did not seem to have the sarcastic tone that once thrived in every breath he took. Maybe it was just himing growing up.

The young Ensign nodded, before bidding the Lieutenant farwell. Hutchcraft left Boudreau to her repair work, before Hutchcraft went out to find another of his officers.

At about 1615, M�lissa was satisfied enough with the work she had done for today and headed back to her quarters to prepare to go to the holodeck. She changed into a pair of her many civilian outfits and ordered her dinner from the replicator. She had spent a few minutes programming different French Canadian foods into the computer.

"Computer, a poutine please." It wasn't exactly the healthiest supper, no vegetables or anything like that, but the computer added vitamin supplements for anything missing. M�lissa sat at her table and quickly ate the mixture of french fries, special gravy, and cheese curds. She longed for the real cheese curds of home but they were pretty rare.

Finally, it was time to go to the holodeck. She almost left late, as she was lost in her thought about her first landing party assignment. She couldn't deny that she was very excited.

As she entered the holodeck, M�lissa smelled trees and fresh air. The placed felt like earth but where ever the scene was placed, she had never actually been there. She spoted Ensign Harris talking to Ensign Mulich near a table and some chairs. 'Great!!!! More food!' she giggled to herself. At least she didn't have to worry about gaining weight. That just didn't happen to her. :)

"Hi Quentin! How's it going?" She turned to Ensign Mulich. "Hi, I'm M�lissa." Both of them looked pleased at her arrival. This looked like it was going to be a pleasant evening.

Am�lie - Aka: Ensign M�lissa Marie Boudreau Engineering Officer USS Galaxy NCC-70637

"A new Adventure"
By Commander Coe

**** Main Bridge ****

Coe entered the main bridge with a smile on his face. He surveyed the flury of activity as the crew took up positions as the ship prepared to enter the Sigma system. He nodded to the Captain as he sat in the first officers chair, lifting a PADD that sat on the armrest for a quick examination...

**** 10 minutes later ****

"Doctor Currie, this is Captain Lee Price from the Federation Starship USS Galaxy." Captain Price stood as he said it.

["Pleased to meet you Captain. I'm Doctor Marie Currie. We have been expecting a Starship for some time now. Your presence is more than welcome Captain."]

"I understand that you've made quite a discovery recently here on Sigma II Doctor. Starfleet Command wouldn't give me any details. I must admit, you definitely have peaked my curiosity."

["Yes Captain. It is quite exciting really. We have discovered an ancient city, ruins of a civilization that predates anything discovered on Earth."]

"Fascinating Doctor. Can you tell me any more about this city?"

["I can fill you in when you and your people beam down Captain. It's a long story that's best explained in person."]

["I understand Captain. The erratic weather patterns in the lower atmosphere also make landing a shuttle craft next to impossible. We crashed ours in the attempt."] Doctor Currie smiled as she spoke.

["Captain, you are talking to a Archeologist. Time is one thing we of all people appreciate above all else."] Coe smiled at this.

"Glad you understand Doctor. I will be sending down the first of my people shortly."

["We will be ready to greet them Captain."]

"Very good. I'll see you later Doctor. Have a G'day. Captain Price Out." The channel closed and was replaced with the image of the planets surface. Coe lifted the PADD and began searching through the crew manifest, anticipating the order to follow.

"I understand sir. I have a few people in mind already." Coe stood from his chair. With one quick glance around the room, Coe exited the bridge, enroute to the first officers office where he would choose the away team.

**** 30 Mins later, First offices office ****

After a half hour of searching through the crew members profiles, (many of which were new to Coe) the away team list had been complete. He took one last glance at the PADD before him:

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

CREW MEMBERS CHOSEN FOR SIGMA II AWAY TEAM MISSION: (Section heads listed first)

Officer in Command: Commander Coe
Second in Command: Lieutenant Mitchell

Science: Simon Ral

Engineering: Lt Hutchcraft
Ensign Mercury
Ensign Hewson
Ensign Boudreau

Security: Lt K'arta
Ensign Los
Ensign Harris

Medical: Lt MacGregor

Operations: Ensign Thomas

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

Coe looked back up before fixing a small serial link to the PADD and adressing the computer.

" Computer, have the following officers report to transporter room one at 13:00 hours."

" AFFIRMATIVE." Was the reply.

Coe checked his watch. 12:35. Anough time to finished some "paper work." He picked up the file on Ensign Boudreau and began reading.

**** 25 Minutes later, transporter room one ****

The sliding doors swung open and Coe was pleased to note that everyone was present. He pushed his COMM badge and waited for the replying click.

" Commander Coe to Captain Price."

" Price here."

" Sir, the away team is ready to beam down to the planet and are awaiting clearance."

" Understood Commander, we are approaching a the window. Prepare to beam down."

Coe clicked his Comm Badge again. As always he explained the drill.

" Alright everyone, listen up. This should be fairly routine, however we are going by starfleet protocol. Therefore, myself and the security officers will beam down first and secure the area. The rest will follow. Ok, security officers on the transporter pad, phasers on stun." Coe finished and took his place on the transporter pad beside Lt K'arta.

" Captain Price,request permission to beam down." After a few seconds, the reply came.

" Request granted." Coe nodded to chief Jensen.

" Energize." Instintly, Coe felt the familiar tug on his body as it was broken down into trillions of tiny particles....

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

Commander Coe.

"First Away Mission"
by Ensign Thomas

*** Captain Ready Room ***

Lt. (jg) Chiron had been ordered to report to Main Engineering. Leaving Chris alone with the captain. They were suppose to demonstrate the autonomous holo emitters that they had put together. The problem for Chris now was that he would have to explain them to the Captain by himself. Although Chiron could't talk, he still could communicate with others in different ways. Chris waited patiently in the captain's ready room. The captain had needed step out a confer with some other members of the crew.

Captain Price steps back into his ready room, "Ok, mate lets see what you got." Price said as he sat back down into his chair.

"Captain, Lt. (jg) Chiron and I have put these two protypes together for testing and demonstration. Mr. Chiron was very helpful with doing the actual assembly and some engineering factors that when not forseen when I started." Chris said he prepared to activate the emitter Chiron and put together.

"Please that these holocharacters were choosen as examples. Chiron choose Darmok as his subject for this demo." Chris said as he activated the emitter, 5 seconds later Darmok appeared before them and started to talk in traddition Tarmarin fashion.

"Darmok and Jalead at Tangria." He was about ready to go on, when Chris turned off the audio sequencer.

"The nice thing is that you can deactivate them, shut there vocal communication off." Chris said as he deactivated the emitter.

"How long can they last, mate?"

"The specs are as followed without this nice control center." Which is about the size a Briefcase. " 5 hours under favorable conditions, beyond that it depends on the enviormental conditions. There is h

owever a solution to this, and that is the terminal. It does however creat some problems, time is 4 hours on, three hours rest(recharge) and then 4 hours on. This can go on as long as power is availbe and circuity for replacement parts. The requirements and limitations are very complex. The distance between this unit and the emitter can effect duration. In any case with or without this terminal I recommend no more than three hours usage for every seven hours on the planets surface." Chris as he thought his words, they could've been organized, but the information variables were subject to change.

"Ok, and what about this one mate? You only showed me one." Captain Price as he eyed the second holoemitter.

Chris activated the seconded emitter and then 5 seconds later General Robert E. Lee appeared, wearing his uniform and sporting his beard. Chris careful watched the captain's face without saying or doing anything to draw attention to himself for a few minutes. He wanted the captain to have the chance to meet his idle.

"Greetings, Sir." Robert Lee said turning to face the captain, "Perhaps either of you gentlemen could where I am at, and how I get back to the battlefield?"

The captain looked at Chris with one of those looks. Chris quickly keyed in a code a paused the General from doing or saying anything else. He was going to have to explain his way out of this one, he'd plan to remove his selction for something more general in nature.

"Ensign Thomas, why did you select him?"

"I thought that you might enjoy the chance to talk with anyone on the ship that pleased you, without having to worry about problems." Chris said. "I can earse him from the emitter, sir..."

"No that will not be needed, leave him, I'd like to talk with after all. You have premission to beam down to the site and set the other up for use on the planets surface. I'd also recommend that you select someone more suited to the situation down there, mate." The captain said and looked back at General Lee, "How long do I have before I should recharge the emitter?"

"Given the conditions I would say four hours, then save the program or not, its your choice. I will change the selection on the other one to something more correct." With that Chris got and started folding the equipment back into place for esaier caring.

"Dissmissed."

*** Transporter Room 40 minutes later***

This was Chris' first away mission since leaving S.I, which made him nervous, because of the chances that something could go wrong. He was after all only Human and there were always unforseen problems that could appear at any moment.

He cleared his thoughts and focused on the project and the mission. Then stepped onto the transporter padd with sever fellow officers. They all made it safely to the planets surface and then went their own ways.

Chris transported down with the equipment and a portable stand for the terminal to rest upon, since there were no buildings or other places that he could safe setup the interface up. He looked around the site and realized that he had choosen correctly on his selection. Chris found a idea location and setup the needed equipment, after checking with Commander Coe who interested in seeing what he had come up with. He also gave the commander the needed codes so that he could also operated the setup, though Chris figured that atleast for the next couple of days he be on the surface monitoring and alyazing the data that would be gathered.

Twenty minutes later everything was set and ready to go.

"Ensign Thomas to Commander Coe the Autonomous holo-emitter is ready to be activated." Chris said, which brought Commander Coe over to his setup location. When he arrived he nodded to Chris for him to proceed. He activated the system and then turned the holo emitter on, and five seconds later a strange man appeared before them. By this time a crowd had developed around the sit wondering what was going on.

"Commander Coe, everyone allow me to introduce you to Henry Schle. I have pulled information on some of the foremost knowledgable archeologists from Earth's history." Chris said as he started to relax now that the system was up and running within established parameters.

"Greetings, we should get started working on this site, before someone losses something else here." Henry said. He had a German accent which, surprised most people. THough some were not concered.

Chris manned the terminal while Mr. Schle and the others started moving around the site and looking at cravings and such. Ensign Thomas contacted Lt. (jg) Chiron electronically, and informed him that the project data was showing that they had been successful. They both could be pround of there work that had each contributed to make this project a success.

"Visitation"
by Lt. Ronni Morris
Asst. Chief of Science, USS Galaxy

"Come on Troy!" said the Delphinian plaintively. "My chief responsibility as Assistant Chief of Science on the USS Galaxy is to research alien artifacts and design. I want to go down to the planet, but regulations say I can't go down by myself."

"I said no!" he said turning back to his food. They were in Ten-Forward having lunch and Troy was in a bad mood. "Now leave me alone. I'm tired and have to go back on shift again soon."

Ronni "Hrumphed" him and got up and left. She went to her lab and got some research equipment. Tapping her comm badge she said, "Ensign K'van to transported room 2. Bring your equipment, we're going to do some research, planetside."

"Yes Sir" came the Vulcan Science Officer's voice. He was a very quiet person whose spaciality was Ancient Civilizations. He and Ronni had spoken a couple of times, but until he got on a subject he really liked, it was like pulling teeth to get him to start talking.

They met in the transporter room and after logging a report of where they were going and what they were looking for, they beamed down. It was a 'rough' ride, but the transporter Chief had got them down in one piece.

As seasoned scientists, both officers started scanning the site. She had received permission from Ms. Currie to come look at the large building she had found from her station on the bridge. There were remnants of a rather large city here. Ronni scanned the large the edifice , but couldn't find an entrance of any kind.

Walking slowly along the wall, Ensign K'van pointed to some of the designs that were carved into the wall. The designs ranged from obvious sun and moon designs to unknown animal designs. Two designs seemed repetitive, the first was of a cat like animal, "Kind of reminds me of Ensign Chandler" she said. K'van just raised an eyebrow and refused to comment.

The second repetitive design was strange in that it looked a lot like an Earth scarab. As he was moving closer, Ensign K'van's foot kicked a small stone. Ronni bent down to pick up the stone and saw that it was actually a clear/bluish gem. The shape of the gem seemed to match one of the carved designs on the wall.

Both officers scanned and recorded the design. The stone was a form of diamond which K'van said was a symbol for purity and deity in many ancient cultures. Ronni held the gemstone up to the identical design on the wall and slid the stone in. Suddenly a steep ramp opened under their feet. Both officers tumbled un-ceremoniously into the darkness.

Outside, the wind continued to blow. On the ground outside where the Officers stood, there was no trace of an opening. On the ground, the gem laid next to a comm badge and a PADD.

USS Galaxy
Lt. Deiran Casey
"Sigma II"

Deiran still felt like a newlywed. He�d been married to Miran for 8 weeks, and he loved her more now than he did at their wedding. Deiran was easy to live with, he could adjust to anything. So, he was getting used to the little rat that Miran called Bobbie. He would never tell her, but he hated the thing. But, his love far outweighed his hate in this situation, he just let it pass.

"Honey, it�s time to get up, we�ve got to be on shift in an hour," Deiran said as he shook her at the shoulders.

"Okay, I�m up," she moaned.

Deiran got into the shower, dressed and was ready for a day of hard work. He had to go down to Sigma II and prepare the Ops department for the building of the permanent structures. Nothing could get done without Ops. That�s why Deiran liked Ops, everyone takes them for granted because Ops is always there, almost on cue. They just don�t get any respect. No respect!

Miran was still in bed, sitting on the bed, her feet touching the floor. She had a beautiful silk nightgown on. Her hair was a bit disheveled, her eyes a little puffy with sleep. But, Deiran loved her, she looked beautiful even when she was tired and that�s tough to do for a woman. But Miran had natural beauty that could shine through any haze.

"Common babe, you�re gonna be late!" Deiran told her. He took her hands and helped her to her feet.

Miran was standing now. She looked at Deiran, right in the eyes. "I love you!" she said with a flirtatious smile.

"I love you too," he said. Then he kissed her passionately on the lips, holding her in his arms. "This universe can�t hold my love for you, Miran. I�d like nothing better than to stay here with you all day, but we don�t want to be late again. It�ll look bad on my record. I�m going for that promotion to Lt. Commander in a couple of months."

"You�ll be a Captain before you�re 27," Miran laughed.

Deiran smiled, he had it planned by the age of 26 he would be a Captain.

*** 0745 hours, Main Bridge ***

"Well, hello, Casey�s, late again I see?" Commander Coe said, smiling.

"Sorry, sir, didn�t get much sleep last night." Deiran said seriously, he didn�t. He was up planning for his away mission today.

But, everyone misunderstood. A few giggles and laughs rang throughout the bridge. The Casey�s were newlyweds and it was kind of expected of them.

Deiran and Miran ignored the laughing. It was none of their business what they did at night.

*** 1100 hours ***

"Okay, Boaz, are you ready?" Deiran said as he stepped on the transporter pad.

"Yes, sir," Trinker replied through his translator, it gave off an echo as he spoke.

"Freeman, don�t forget to get those supplies down to the planet�s surface," Deiran commanded.

"Aye, sir," Freeman said as he picked up the huge metal case and set it on the transporter pad next to his.

"Okay, Chief, we�re ready to beam down." Deiran was excited about his first surface away mission. Ninety-five percent of his tour was spent on the Galaxy. The only other away mission he had, would never be found on his record. It was just a vacation on Moudini.

The natural world turned into blue molecules and needles through his system, which was what it felt like to be transported. Like your whole body had fallen asleep. It went away when you rematerialized. It was like stomping your foot when you felt the needles prick your foot and then the blood rushed back and the sensation dissipated.

From blue to bright light, Deiran rematerialized right in front of where the permanent structures were being built. Trinker and Freeman started to unload the Ops equipment as Deiran went to check with the other department heads about coordinating the efforts.

"Hi Ronni, you look especially blue today, in a good mood?" Casey asked.

"Yep, this place is fascinating."

"Yeah and it�s dusty too, real good place to dry out." Casey smiled. He loved teasing Ronni. She never took it well, that was the fun. He never treated her like Troy though. Casey was nicer than that.

Casey walked over to the Counselor,"Dev, I didn�t expect to see you down here?"

"I wanted to see the excavation site. It�s fascinating," She replied, her beautiful smile illuminating her face.

"Yeah, that�s what Ronni said. What�s so fascinating?" Casey asked.

"These inscriptions are similar to the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics of earth," Dev said.

Casey looked at them. Then he took a closer look and read part of one,

"Dwell not in this place�on foot or in�space. Take not root like a tree, or worms thou shall be. Heed thy advice�mmm let�s see, oh yes, take flight! Thou shall not be warned twice."

"I didn�t know you could read Egyptian hieroglyphics, when did you learn that?" Dev asked, completely shocked.

"Well, this is a little different, you have to read into some of it. Because it�s not plain. I learned on my own. I taught myself, just a hobby. I enjoyed and admired ancient Egyptian architecture. When I would go into the holodeck, I would program Pyramids, the ancient city of Memphis. All kinds of things. I would look at the hieroglyphics and feel stupid, I couldn�t decipher them. So, I learned how. It took me a whole year."

"Do you know what this could mean?" Dev asked.

"Well it sounds like its a warning to get off the planet. Like there�s something here that could hurt you if you stayed. I wouldn�t want to be the scientists staying here, it�s kind of creepy�scarreeee," Casey said, trying to spook Devlynn.

Dev read Casey�s thoughts and found no fear.

*** 1145 hours ***

Casey was working on fixing the power conduits for the permanent structures, and also trying to hook up the sewer power generators. Without generators to run the recycling computer and machine it would get really smelly down here.

It took Casey three hours to get it done. He enjoyed every minute of it. He was doing something challenging, on his first official away mission and from the curse he read to the Counselor, it was a dangerous planet.

"Little Egypt"
by Lt. (jg) K'arta

K'arta beamed down with the first away team on Sigma II and greeted a small group of scientists. After introductions were made, the archaelogist offered a tour.. The small security team stood near the back of the group. Dr. Currie started a tour of the ancient city and their planned facilities.

Ensigns Los and Harris drifted towards the far perimeters of the tour while K'arta tried to remain within earshot of the archaelogist. She spoke of the writing and heiroglyphics that predated Earth's own Egyptian civilization pointing out their similarities and differences.

K'arta was amazed at the size of the slabs used in the buildings and the perimeter wall. If the city did predate that of Egyption cities on Earth, how did they place the stone where it was without some sort of technology? K'arta's mind raced with questions and curiousity.

Once the tour had concluded and the teams began to break up into departments K'arta ordered the security officers to aid in anything and to inspect the security of the area. She was headed back into the walled city to do some exploring.

Calling up the map function on her tricorder the Klingon set out through the maze of the city. Here and there she found some fallen walls and a little rubble. She marked those in her map along with any other interesting sites. As K'arta ventured further into the heart of the city she thought she saw a building with a tower that rose above the rest. Making that her destination she turned into a narrow street.

K'arta's attention turned from the tower to the ground as she traversed some rubble in the alley. Befor she realized the sunlight was blocked out. Startled she looked up again. Ahead of her was a brick wall too tall for her to climb over. It was also what was blocking the sunlight. Frustrated she picked her way back down the alley to the main street. Pausing for a moment she marked the dead end in her tricorder and looked for another way to the tower.

Walking down the main avenue she noted what could be shops and residences. All of a sudden they fell away as she strode into a huge crossroads. Breathlessly she stood in the center and looked around her. To her back was the path she'd come on, in front was somewhere that she hadn't been and to her right seemed a clear path to the tower. The tour led by Dr. Currie hadn't taken the away team very deep into the city. The researchers seemed anxious to get started with their facilities. Smiling to herself, K'arta set off to the tower. Intent on reaching it before sundown.

"Ghosts, Curses, and Talaxion Ale (Oh My!)"
By Ensign Alan C. Hewson

"They say it's cursed, you know."

"What are you talking about Russ? What's cursed?"

"What's wrong with you Alan? It's been going around the whole ship! They say that the archeologists have found a curse written on some wall down on the planet. It goes something like... 'Dwell not in this place, on foot or in space. Take not root like a tree, or worms meat thou shall be. Heed thy advice, take flight! Thou shall not be warned twice.' Rather catchy rhyme, eh?"

"Oh come on Russ, I could come up with better stuff when I'm drunk! Who told you this? It sounds really hokey to me. A curse? I don't think so."

"Oh, the mighty Alan Clarence Hewson doesn't believe in curses, eh?"

"Look, the only curse I believe is in that Talaxion Ale you've been drinking. Well, I better go. I'm scheduled to go down to this 'cursed planet' in a few hours. I'll see you tomorrow."

As Alan stepped out of Ten-Forward, he heard Ensign Wadell shout, "Watch out for worms!"

******Transporter Room 3******

Alan arrived at the transporter room a few minutes before his crewmates. He placed his equipment on the furthermost pad to the left, and then proceeded to strike up a conversation with Mr. Streb, the Transporter Chief.

"So Streb, tell me, what have you heard about this supposed 'curse' that was found on the planet." Alan had always found that Transporter Chiefs always had the latest news before anyone else. It was hard to tell why, but he figured that they must not have anything else to do since their job is rather monotonous.

"Come on now, don't joke around with me. You don't believe in the curse do you?" Streb asked as he turned his gaze from the transporter controls to Alan.

"Not at all. I was just curious. It sounded pretty lame to me. Still, there's something about an old curse or a ghost story that always makes people nervous. Did you know that they don't even use the fifth floor at Ratherford Hall at the Academy any more? Supposedly, a Cadet hung himself in his dorm room. Legend has it that his ghost still roams the halls. On Halloween however, they open up the floor so people can spend the night up there."

"Did you ever see the ghost?"

"Yeah, he was a real friendly ghost. We drank a few beers, sang a few songs. Naw, I'm just kiddin'. It was really pretty boring. The janitorial staff actually uses the empty floor for storage. Although in my senior year, we did rig a bunch of the storage boxes with anti-grav units. After the freshmen had been there about an hour, we switched them on. Those boxes started flying around everywhere! It scared the pants off them!"

They both got a good laugh out of the story, when Ensign Boudreau walked in.

"What's so funny boys?" She said as she placed her equipment on the transporter.

"Oh, I was just telling Streb a story from my Academy days, M�lissa. How are you doing?"

"Couldn't be better. I'm just really anxious to get down there!" Her voice was full of excitement, with a slight hint of nervousness.

"I guess this is your first away mission. Don't worry, you'll do fine. Besides, I'll be there to watch out for you." A big grin formed on his face as he awaited her response.

"Oh that makes me feel ssooo much better. Don't worry about me Mr. Hewson, I can take care of myself."

"Just remember, Ms. Boudreau, big girls don't cry." They exchanged smiles, and before she could counter Alan, Streb spoke up.

"I hate to break up this 'Battle of the Wits', but you've got one minute before the interference becomes to strong to transport down through. I doubt Hutch would be pleased if you two showed up late." Mr. Streb informed them.

"Two, I thought there were going to be three of us. Where's Ensign Mercury?" Alan looked at M�lissa who shrugged a response.

"You two better get ready. I'll give Mercury thirty more seconds before I beam you down. If he isn't here by then, he'll just have to wait another forty minutes." The two Ensigns took their place on the transporter and waited. Alan actually counted to thirty-seven in his head before Streb activated the transporter.

"I'm sorry, but I can't wait any longer." Streb started the transporter sequence as the doors to the transporter room swished open.

Through the mist, Alan could make out Mercury looking at him from the entranceway. He did not look at all pleased with himself.

"I'm sorry pal." Alan thought. Then his vision faded to total blue.

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