"Curses, Foiled Again . . ."
by the still naked Lt. Ronni Morris
Asst. Chief of Science, USS Galaxy
Current Chief Monolith Driver, Time Stream

Ronni stepped back and suddenly a force field, generated by the monolith sprung up. Unfortunately, K'arta was outside the force feild. 'I have to get these people away from us without hurting them.' she thought. She looked over at K'arta, who was getting the Blood Lust. 'Great, just what I need now!!'

Looking down at her tricorder/communicator she was trying to program some illusional voices to maybe distract them, but a large rock hit K'arta in the head. "Ah, forget it, quick and dirty is needed here . . . " she said. Then, stepping out of the force field and taking a deep breath, she screamed. She tried to pitch the scream as high as possible, as was used on her homeworld, Delphi, to stun the Qulak shrimp. The villagers either dropped to the ground stunned, or ran away. Ronni wanted to yell for joy until she looked over at K'arta.

Her friend was laying on the ground not moving. She had several bruises from the rocks and had been locked in a grip with one of the human villagers. His hand was on the necklace that K'arta was wearing, the one she had been given by the old woman where K'arta had landed originally.

Ronni went over and moved the man, but when she did, the chain on the necklace broke. On the back of the necklace was an inscription that the tricorder/communicator translated as:

Suddenly, Ronni heard over her bracelet communicator, "Hello? This is Lt. Devlynn Salshyar of the USS Galaxy, can anybody read me?". Ronni quickly tapped the transmission button and said, "Hello, this is Lt. Ronni Morris and with me is Lt. K'arta. We arrived, unfortunately, in the center of town. For some reason, the townsfolk didn't understand the sudden appearance of Delphinian and Klingon women."

Dev said, "We are on trial right now for witchcraft. I can't talk long, but most people ran out to see the disturbance. We are in a large wood and brick building in the center of town. Come and get us."

"How many of you are there?" Ronni said.

"Four. Three Starfleet officers and one young civilian." Dev whispered.

"Lt. K'arta is unconcious. I'll have to revive her first. I'm going to carry her into the woods and as soon as she wakes up, we'll come and get you. Be ready for anything!"

"Ok, but hurry. Salshar out." she said.

Ronni quickly stripped an unconcious woman of her dress and put it on. It was a little tight, but it would have to do. She then picked up K'arta and carried her to the woods. Part of the way there, the shoulders of the dress ripped out, but Ronni didn't care because she could now move her arms.

Hiddened in the wood shed behind one of the outying homes, Ronni ran a scan of K'arta. Since the tridcorder she had been using wasn't a medical tricorder, it could only tell he the basic, she could tell that K'arta would be alright. In fact, she woke up, only complaining of ringing in her ears and a splitting headache. Ronni explained what had happened and they began planning a way to rescue their crew mates.

"Not now Doctor"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

The explosion rumbled the very ground Captain Price was standing on. The Federal General, Hooker, glanced away from Lee as he held him by the jacket collar, trying to intimidate the truth out of him. Who he is. What he is doing in Fairview during the middle of the American Civil War.

"That sounded close 'mate." Lee commented.

"Cursed cannon." Hooker spat out, just as another explosion erupted in their encampment, followed by another, and several more. The General released Price. "The Rebs are moving on our position." Hooker stated over the sound of cannon blasts. Placing a hand on the pommel of his sword, the General hastily exited the tent to rally his men and get an assessment of the situation.

Seeing this as his best opportunity, Captain Price quickly grabs the futuristic portable holo-emitter and then exits the tent.

Soldiers were rushing around in a fury of activity. It appeared as if these troops were getting ready to mobilize, possible to advance on a counter attack offensive to combat this current assault. Lee didn't really care for the historic significance of this battle. All he wanted to do was locate Jacqueline and get back to the monolith. Back to the Galaxy. Lee glanced around, squinting through the dust and smoke that was clouding the battle field encampment. "He said to take the Doctor to the wounded tent..." Lee thought out loud. Placing a hand over his eyes to shield them from the slowly setting sun, he glanced around until finally, he located the field hospital. Hastily, Price made his way to the tent, keeping his head down as shots and cannon explosions discharged all around the camp.

Lee made it to the tent and brushed back the entrance flap with his arm. "Doctor, common 'mate. Time we got out of here."

Jacqueline shook her head. She was working on a wounded soldier who was too near an exploding cannon. Much too near. "I can't leave just yet Captain. I have to try and save this mans life!"

Captain Price let out a sigh as he entered the hospital tent, letting the entrance flap drop shut. Standing near to the Doctor, Lee could see the soldier. The young boy of a man laid upon the make shift operating table consisting of a cot stacked on top of a few crates. He was missing an arm and most of the shoulder of his right side. It was a gory, scarlet-purple mess. Jacqueline had her hands and arms, up to her elbows, covered in blood. The look of determination was etched upon her face. Watching her work on the man, Lee would of sworn that she was totally oblivious to the fighting, the gun fire, the cannon explosions erupting all around them. She was totally focused on her patient, and seeing that he did not die. It was commendable, but the Captain knew this was not their time. Not their place. And right now, more than ever, it was important that they return to Sigma II and to the Galaxy.

"Doctor." Lee said flatly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We have to go now."

Rousseau shrugged her shoulder out from the Captain's grasp. "NO! I can save this mans life Lee!"

"JACQUELINE!" he shouted, grabbing the Doctor by her shoulders with both hands forcefully as she worked. "Jackie, look at him. The explosion dismembered his appendage. It destroyed his shoulder, possibly damaged his spinal column... LOOK AT HIM!" Lee turned Rousseau so she had no choice but to look at the person laying before her on the cot. Up to that point, she was only seeing a patient. Lee's voice softened somewhat. "Look at him Doctor. Given this time period's technology and level of medical expertise, what would you say his chances are of surviving?"

Doctor Rousseau took a long look at the blood drenched soldier. He had already fallen unconscious from his injuries. As Jacqueline thought about it, he had been unconscious the whole time she had been working on him. She stared at him silently. Seeing for the first time.

"How would you feel if it was you lying in that mans place? Would you really want to prolong the pain?"

Jacqueline slowly shook her head as she closed her eyes firmly.

"Common, Doctor. The rest of these soldiers are busy preparing to counter this offensive. It's our best chance to slip away before anyone notices."

Doctor Rousseau grabbed a towel and began patting down her blood stained arms. Finally she discarded the towel and grabbed the tricorder. "You are right Captain. Let's get out of here."

Lee gave Jacqueline a quiet nod. He was sorry he had to insist on her abandoning her humanitarian efforts, but given the situation, and their being from the future, he knew it was important that they get back to their own timeline. They had already lost Ensign K'Trall. Lee wanted to make sure he didn't loose Jacqueline as well.

The Captain paused at the exit of the hospital tent, peeking out to make sure no one was paying any attention to their comings and goings. When he was satisfied, he whispered back, "Coast is clear 'mate. Let's do it."

The Captain and Doctor Rousseau began exiting the encampment as quickly as they could. It appeared that Hooker was organizing his men, preparing for an advancement on the Confederate forces that were attacking them. Lee overheard one soldier telling another that it appeared the Confederates were retreating, and Hooker was determined to pursue and crush them. Lee and Jacqueline kept moving. They were just about clear of the encampment, near the tree line to the woods, when things took a sudden turn for the worse.

Over a dozen Confederate troops burst out from the woods, leveling their side arms and riffles at the rear of the Federal encampment.

"Bloody 'ell!" Captain Price declares as his eyes widen in surprise at the gray uniformed soldiers directly in front of them. Turning, Lee goes to push Doctor Rousseau out of the way. "Get down!"

Gun fire erupted around them as the Confederate soldiers hooted and hollered as they discharged their weapons at the Federal forces. The stink of burnt gun powder filled the air as the Captain and Doctor Rousseau hit the ground.

Jacqueline spat out, "Who on earth are these guys?"

Over the noise of gun fire Lee answered, "Confederate solders. Rebels. The army of the South. Quickly, we need to get into the cover of the woods. It doesn't look like these men are advancing."

A barrage of Federal gun fire returned from the encampment where the Captain and Doctor Rousseau had just come. Bullets began embedding themselves in the ground and the bark of near by trees.

"Keep your head down 'mate!" Lee called back. Unfortunately the warning was too late.

Several of the gray uniformed soldiers were struck down by the Federal troop's return skirmish. When Lee didn't hear the Doctor respond to his warning, he stopped and turned around. His eyes widened in horror as he saw her lying on the ground holding her head. She was barely moving.

"Jacqueline!" the Captain called out as he turned around and headed back to where she laid upon the battle field. In the distance Lee could see the blue coats charging towards their position. Some were firing their hand guns and riffles wildly at them. Just as Lee was drawing towards the Doctor's side, a shot ripped through the meat of his leg, knocking him off his feet.

The Captain hollered out in pain as the bullet penetrated his thigh, exiting cleanly through the other side. Price looked up at Jacqueline, and quickly scurried along the ground towards her on his arms.

"Doctor?" he asked as he shook her with one hand. "Commander, are you all right?" When no reply came, Lee reached and moved Rousseau's hand from her head. He was upset to see a small bullet wound near the back of her skull. Just as he let out a gasp in shock, Jacqueline fell unconscious. Seeing the Federal troops approaching rapidly, advancing on the retreating Confederate soldiers, those that still lived, Captain Price grabbed the Doctor's arm and painfully hoisted her up over his shoulder. Lee struggled to maintain his balance with most of his weight resting on his uninjured leg. Carefully he bent down, reaching for the all important tricorder that rested on the ground. His fingers wriggling as he tried to stretch his hand far enough to grasp it. Finally he did. Holding it firmly, Lee turned and hobbled as quickly as he could to the woods, carrying Jacqueline's unconscious body with him.

"Thank God for nightfall." He thought as the sun began to set, casting dark shadows in the woods. It provided them with the cover he needed to escape.

"Riddle Me This..."
By Lt. Mitchell
Chief of Science USS Galaxy

While Lt. Hutchcraft and Professor Hallmark argued over desecrations and impending danger of dismantling equipment, Lt. Mitchell walked to Professor Currie at a distant console.

"Lt.! Have a look at this!" James strolled around the lip of the overly large console to catch a view at what Dr. Currie was going on about.

"I've been trying to decipher many of these symbols." The older woman was gesturing to the upper right portion of the oblique console. "They don't appear to have any significance to the other symbols, but bear a resemblance to the ones on the floor." She pressed one of the litten up buttons.

"Doctor! What did I tell you about touching anything?" A slow rumble resonated throughout the chamber. Lt. Sterner and his security crew came stumbling out of a corridor and looked around anxiously. They approached the Science officer and Currie stumbling through the shaking chamber. Dust began to fall.

"Look!" Someone yelled out. James turned at the sound and was taken aback. The inscriptions on the North wall began to glow a bright flaring green. The core at the center of the chamber pulsed more rapidly. The green glow at the portal shone brilliantly as suddenly a sliver of light split across the wall at floor level and widened out and up. It was opening!

"Everyone take cover!" Sterner and his crew took up strategic positions, to both cover the light and those unarmed in the Away Team. Mostly, they just hid behind consoles while the glow slowly enveloped the room in a eerie wash of Turquoise. A grumble echoed throughout and the sounds of shifting rock could be heard.

James peeked up over the console and ran a tricorder scan. Energy scales were off the chart. The green glow faded back to the soft white light of before Currie pressed the button. The Team began to emerge from their respective niches to see what happened.

The wall had 'opened' up. Along the inscriptions set into the stonework, had been a panel that was somehow activated by the Doctor's curiousity. An enormous console had been moved out from inside the wall. Several large screens that appeared to mimic monitors were spread across it. One of them had been activated and was emitting an image. A low murmur of sound was emanating from it.

Sterner and Enquist led the way, sweeping with tricorders as the rest of the Away Team followed behind. Hutchcraft's fascination with his console was taken over by the newfound discovery, to Hallmark's content.

"All clear. There doesn't appear to be anything potentially hazardous here." Sterner put out. He kept his tricorder near at hand just in case, though. They all gathered around the monitor showing the image.

There was a group of natives surrounding something, then a high-pitched wail sprung out, dropping natives left and right. A blue-skinned female stepped into the picture.

"Ronni!" Mitchell's eyes went wide. "What's going on here?" The others stood in awe, no one injecting any comment. They continued to watch the images being played out on the screen. Hallmark, Fitzpatrick and Currie knelt by the console and examined the new hieroglyphs.

Ronni had knelt down and was pushing an older male's body off something, then she groaned as she reached down to pick something up. The 'camera' suddenly zoomed in to watch she was holding. Turning it over, Ronni, ran her fingers along an inscription along the back of it. She transalated it as the team watched on in earnest.

"What was that, Professor?" James tore his eyes away from the monitor to focus on Hallmark.

"A riddle, Lt. The Egyptians were famous for their riddles. It is widely believed that they were the first civilization to employ the use of them. They were used to test knowledge and sometimes as rites of passage." Hallmark's attention had been diverted to the riddle at hand. It had been pasted tot he bottom of the viewscreen in a scrolling box while Ronni had established a link with some others. She was talking to them now. Lt. K'arta was unconscious and a large monolith sat in the background.

Enquist and Currie had gone off to check out some of the other dark consoles while Mitchell and Hallmark hummed over the riddle.

"The beginning of eternity......end of time......space....Hmm.....I've got it!" Hallmark snapped his fingers and you could positively swear a light bulb went on above him.

"Hey...Ronni, is it?" He looked at Mitchell, who nodded. "Ronni!" The blue-skinned woman kept going about her business, carrying her friend off to a distant forest. She couldn't hear.

James studied the riddle more closely. "The Big Bang?"

"No. Egyptian riddles were much simpler than that. They are one word answers, and most of their riddles were puzzles in themselves. Many hidden meanings and misleading directions. They are more 'illusions', than anything else. Look at the riddle more closely. Think of it in the literal sense. Follow it."

James' eyes scanned the riddle over and over again, getting so frustrated as to go over it one letter at a time. "I can't see it." He rubbed his eyes. Then it came to him.

"No way....that can't be the answer." He looked at Hallmark, who grinned. "Look at the riddle. See?" Hallmark chuckled. James slapped himself in the head.

"What's the answer?" Hutchcraft spoke out. He'd been awfully quiet over the last few minutes.

James grinned. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you...."

"If you don't, I'll have to beat it out of you." Andrew grinned right back.

Mitchell opened his mouth in retort, but was cut off by an alarm of some sort. The lights in the room began to dim, and the console came to life with several images all presenting themselves on individual monitors. All were portraying images of various crewmembers of the Galxy in different settings. Captain Price was in some kind of war. The American Civil, I believe. Lt. Casey was speaking with George Washington, Doctor Andrews and another female were on a boat of some sort. A scene of who looked like Troy Blair with a woman played itself out. There were others, but before anyone had a chance to see who was where, a reddish mist began to fall around Thomas Enquist.

"Get him out of there!" Sterner hollered out and tried to throw himself through to knock Enquist out of the way, but he was too late. Enquist was gone. Vanished with the mist as if they were never there.

Another monitor crackled to life. Enquist had appeared in a medieval jousting match, in the open. The two riders were startled, as were the horses, as they were in full stride. The white knight, being caught off guard by the strangers arrival, lost his balance and tilted to the left a bit. The black knight was distracted by the stranger's arrival and forgot to raise his shield. The jousting lance caught the black knights shoulder joint, snapping it in half and spearing him through his neck. Dropping him to the ground writhing in death.

"The King! The King has been killed!" The people at the match were stunned, but no more so than Enquist.

"Grab him! He's a warlock! He was sent by Satan to kill the King!" Enquist was shocked at the proclamation.

"Wait!" But he was too late. The crowd had swarmed over him and began to beat him with whatever they had. Bloodlust filled their faces as Thomas' blood filled the air.

"Get those Romulans for me, Jack...." His last words rung out as his hands were dragged under and his life snuffed out in one quick moment by the rise and fall of fists and rocks.

The screen blanked out.

"My god....." Currie rasped out. The others were in shock at the events that had just transpired.

"What is this place?" Los spoke out.

"I think I have an idea...." Currie hypothesized. "After going over some of these inscriptions, and using Professor Hallmarks theory of riddles being 'rites of passage', I think this is some sort of punishment or training grounds....maybe a teaching facility. and this is the central hub. Literally a Control Room."

"If that's the case, we *have* to get these people out of there and get them back." Mitchell put on a stoic face. "Get in teams and figure out those riddles. We must to find a way to get the answers to the others. It's probably their way home. DON'T touch anything!"

Lt. James Mitchell Chief Science Officer USS Galaxy

"...Riddle Me That"
By Ensign Alan (AC) Hewson

The sun made its weary way down the horizon, showering brilliant colors on the town below. Yellow mixed with orange, orange mixed with red, red mixed with pink, and pink faded away into darkness as the moon took the upper-hand in the battle for control of the sky. It would be a short-lived victory, for the sun would once again conquer the moon in the morning, sneaking up in the east as the moon turned its back. It truly was a beautiful sunset, unfortunately AC could not enjoy it.

After arriving in Chicago from New York, he had finally met up with Troy Blair, the only other crewmate from the Galaxy who had ended up in the same predicament. A woman named "Cherry" had accompanied Troy to the library, where they had all met. Her career choice was questionable, working in an illegal bar (or speakeasy as they were called during the time period) providing men with "entertainment" for a price. Her high pitched voice made Alan want to scream every time she opened her mouth.

As they were walking back to Cherry's apartment, three cars pulled up next to them. Alan counted thirteen men as they quickly exited their cars, grabbed Troy, and take off in less then thirty seconds. He and Cherry followed the cars on foot, which proved to be quite a task. They caught a break when heavy traffic slowed the pace of the getaway cars. The cars turned down an alley, which led to a seemingly abandoned warehouse.

Alan sat crouched down by a window, raising his head just enough to allow him to view the room inside. Troy sat tied to a chair in the middle of a room filled with all kinds of bootlegged liquor. Five brutes stood guard around Troy. Alan ducked back down and sat with his back against the wall.

"Oh, AC! What are we gonna do? I just know they're gonna kill him if we don't save him! AC, ARE YOU LISTENING?!" Alan almost lost it. Her voice screeched like a banshee scream in his ears. He felt his hand slip inside his jacket, grasping onto the handle of his gun which rested inside its holster. A small smile crept up on his face.

"The hard question is who to shoot: her or me!?" He found it strange to be making jokes to himself in his current situation. The muscles in his hand relaxed, allowing him to release the gun before he did something he would regret. His mind quickly shifted to the matter at hand: rescuing Troy. He thought about using his phaser on a wide field stun setting, which would knock everyone inside the room out. However, he couldn't risk exposing the liquor to a phaser blast, which could cause the chemicals to explode. His choice was clear.

"Cherry, I've got a plan." She leaned towards him, anxious to hear what he had to say. "I'm gonna keep watching what's going on in there through the window, and you're gonna sit right there and shut up." Before she could protest, they noticed that the gangsters had left Troy alone in the building. They rushed to the nearest door, which was unlocked.

Cherry bolted across the room to Troy, and then she proceeded to land a monster kiss directly onto the lips of his comrade. Alan almost laughed out loud, but found the strength to restrain it. He walked behind the chair, and untied the rope, which held Troy captive.

"Thanks, AC." Troy said as he rubbed his wrists.

Alan assured him that no thanks were necessary. "Except for putting up with that she demon," he murmured under his breath.

They all agreed that the quicker they left this place, the better. As they tried to find a back door to the place, Alan noticed a large stone pillar standing in the middle of a stack of crates. He turned to mention it to Troy, but saw that his counterpart had already made notice of this out of place piece of decor. Alan moved towards it to examine it closer.

He was pretty sure it resembled the stone carvings on Sigma II. It had to mean that something on Sigma II had caused them to travel back to this time period.

"You think it can get us home?" Troy asked, noticing that Alan was deep in thought.

"Defiantly," Alan responded, not entirely certain that his statement was true, "but I will need t

o know what the writing says. Unfortunately I didn't have a tricorder on me when I was zapped." He did at least have a Type I phaser on him at the time though, so he counted his blessings as they came.

"Hmm, there's gotta be something that can help us." Troy said more to himself than to Alan.

"They must of stolen this from the museum to bootleg with." Cherry spoke up.

Alan had no idea how the monolith could be used for bootlegging, but he didn't want to question Cherry since she was already mad at him. Cherry proceeded to tell them that there was an Egyptian exhibit at the museum.

"Cherry darling, could you please take us to the museum? We want to speak with this guy." Troy asked, knowing that Cherry would do what he asked of her.

"Uhhhh.....ok, but I think we should all leave town instead." For once, Alan agreed with Cherry. He didn't feel like messing with gangsters, but he saw no alternative choice.

***** At the Museum *****

The cab ride over to the museum went without incident. As the trio exited the cab, the driver spoke up. "Hey buddy! Ain't ya forgitn' somthin? 'Dis nice little ride ain't free ya know!" Alan had forgotten to pay the cab driver. As he pulled the money out of his wallet, a piece of white paper fell to the ground. The cab sped away after the driver received his payment, as Alan bent down to pickup the paper. He was sure this had not been in his wallet before. It read:

"Riddles and Dilemmas"
By Ensign Thomas

They reached the monolith and began looking it over, they were after all pressed for time. Any moment now they could have company and that was not exactly an enjoyable thought.

"Chris we should tell the people about the ergot in the rye, before we leave." Dev said adamantly. She felt that the people needed and deserved to know about the ergot which was causing their problems.

"Dev I understand your concern, but haven't we messed this timeline up enough yet." Chris said as a rhetorical question.

"We must tell them they deserve to know the truth!" Soushon said loudly as he moved in closer to Chris.

"You both realize the risk we take of telling the people of Salem about the ergot, regardless of whether we can find a way home or not, the others still might. Logical our best course of action is to assume that we are really in the past and that any actions could have an adverse effect on our future as we know it. With that said, then we can try once we determine if we can even get home. The monolith is our priority first and far most." Chris said, realizing that he had over stepped the beyond of his rank, but if they were stuck in the past then ranks really no longer mattered.

"Agreed." Dev and Soushon said in unison.

They set to work looking over the monolith using the tricorder, trying to figure out if anything on the monolith would give them a clue about how to get of here. They were pressed for and searched feverishly looking for something that might be of help.

Then Dev found something that caught her attention, because it something that she had seen and remember from the planets surface that they were working on. The people of that civilization enjoyed or haunted by riddles though out their entire civilization. She found a riddle craved into the stone, though why it was the was a mystery at the moment.

"I found something, it is a riddle. I remember the city was full of riddles as well, when I was down there." Dev said as she stepped back a bit so that Chris and Souse could have a look for themselves.

"Well if this is the way home then, we can now to the townsfolk about the ergot before we leave." Souse said as he studied the riddle closely.

Chris knew that this debate would come up as soon as they found a potential way home. This risk were to great either way, perhaps stop the witch hunts before they begin or not. Resulting in potentially either a new timeline or not. This would not be an easy answer to come to however they had little time for debate and argument over a trivial matter. Chris was in the minority as whether to tell the people or not. He felt that doing so, by all know accounts would likely disrupt the timeline somewhere along the way and create a new world. If Chris was in charge the answer would be no, but he wasn't and the choose and decision fell up the counselor who was the senior ranking officer. Her decision could have unforeseen side effects on the future, perhaps similar to the effects that Captain Kirk had on a mirror universe which resulted in the Federation going from aggressive to passive and finally its surrender. This would have to be the toughest decision the counselor likely would have to make in her career. Chris loved her so much, he feared what might happen after this confrontation to their future. Who knows they might return to find that Gwyen was alive now and not dead.

"Dev the decision to tell the people of Salem has to be your decision. I am afraid that I can't support you if you decided to tell them about the ergot. I know what you're going to say, but I must stand behind my beliefs which tell that informing is wrong, regardless of whether we can back or not. We must consider the fate of our current future. Let me ask you is potential saving twenty life's now, worth the risk of a court-marital or worse the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people lives occurring to save these in our past? There are so many unknown variables that could occur by telling them." Chris said and prepared for the potential return trip home to their time whenever that maybe. His choose was not an easy on, for he truly wanted to stand beside Dev's decision to tell the people of Salem about the Ergot in their rye, but he couldn't it went against everything he had been taught and learned while serving in Starfleet.

Chris Patton

The group huddled around the Monolith. Devlynn, Shoushonn, Ronni, K'arta, Chris and Colby. They had read the inscriptions, both of them.

Dev thought about the riddles. They seemed somehow connected, but not. She knew that the answers where similar, somehow.

Chris began lecturing on time travel ethics. Dev could barely supress a laugh. He began. "Let me ask you is potential saving twenty life's now, worth the risk of a court-marital or worse the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people lives occurring to save these in our past? There are so many unknown variables that could occur by telling them." When he was through, he turned to prepare himself for the return trip.

Dev stopped him. "Chris, listen to this." She began, his ethics were in question. "Do you remember what happened in that jail?" She asked, not waiting for an answer. "That guard died." He opened his mouth as if to ask, how do you know, but closed it. He was talking to a telepath, of course she could tell.

"Do you not think that that has changed the timestream more than saving twenty lives? Think of it this way. His children, their children, grandchildren, etc. They don't exsist in the future Chris." She paused, thinking, "how do you know that that wasn't an ancestor of Zephram Cocrane?! Or Jean-Luc Picard. Maybe a relative of your own."

"Chris," she continued. "Giving these people a chance is much less likely to cause problems than the single death that you caused here." She sighed. She didn't think that this was getting through to him. "Also, I am no more superior here than you are. The Federation and Starfleet don't exsist yet, therefore our ranks to not hold true."

"My choice is to tell the people of Salem the truth. They can chose to do with the information what they wish." She turned and walked away from the group. "If you are with me, you may follow, if not. So be it."

On her way through the makeshift camp, she collected a tricorder and the phaser. She walked into Salem and down the main street. People stopped and stared. There was much whispering. As she approached the square, she climbed the steps of the large courthouse. Turning back toward the town, she noticed that she had acquired a following. Most of the people in Salem had collected at the base of the steps.

"People of Salem," she called. "I am Devlynn Salshyar."

"It's the witch!" Called a young man.

"Yes, I am a witch. And I am here to say that I have taken it upon myself to poison your bread! All the wheat and rye within fifty miles of Salem is bad." She faked an insane laugh.

"Evil demon!" Screamed a woman.

"After noon today, all the bread and grains in the town will be poinsoned." She grinned. "This is payment for what you did to my subjects!" She shouted.

One of the larger men in the crowd rushed up the steps to attack her. She fired the phaser on the mildest setting, hitting him in the chest. He fell back with a gasp. The crowd quieted. "Would anyone else care to try?" She said.

Sensing the fear in the crowd she continued. "If anyone tries to harm any of my brothers or sisters. The witches of Salem, they will feel my wrath. And remember, eat not of the bread, for it is poisoned!" With that, she threw the tricorder into the air. It hit the steps of the courthouse with an explosion of smoke.

Devlynn Salshyar, Terrorist-Witch of Salem, Mass. was gone.

She appeared back at the campground, and slipped back to the monolith. They were still searching for clues to the riddle.

After reading it out loud to herself. The answer hit her full in the face.

"Pronounced as one letter, and written with three. Two letters there are, and two only in me. I'm double, I'm single, I'm black, blue, and gray. I'm read from both ends, and the same either way.

I'm doomed if I can't solve this riddle tonight, to live forever within this terrible site!"

It was so ironic after what she had just done. She had just opened the EYEs of the people of Salem to the Ergot. Whether they believed the curse or not, she didn't know. They certainly feared her.

She turned to the others. "I've figured out the riddle. Both of them actually..."

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

Chiron sat in front of the obelisk, crosslegged. He had studied ancient languages in Starfleet Academy, and had paid close attention to the facinating culture of the Egyptians.

The Egyptians of Earth had ideas that were centuries ahead of their time. They were able to build massive pyramids with no complex machines at their disposal, only massive manpower and a few simple machines. Their written language was one of the first as well, based on pictures, and god-images.

He mumbled to himself, absentmindedly using his voice. '...and this symbol is "nephr"... next to an ankh...' Seeing that Samara was busy with her new page, he telepathically sent a message to Nilani.

'Nilani, I have the translation of this obelisk.' The Bajoran woman walked over to him, and leaned over his shoulder. "Go ahead, Chiron."

Running his finger over the letters as he read, Chiron sent to Ms. Kahn.

'To find your way back to your home, In this period you must roam. Find the riddle, do not wait. Failure here may seal your fate.'

'Hmm... terribly cryptic...' Khan nodded, and said, "We should probably split up. It would greatly increase our chances of finding this riddle." She went over to Samara. She told the Klingon / Bajoran / Human about the writing on the obelisk, then said, "K'eytyanna, Chiron and I are going to go look for the riddle. We'll return before nightfall."

Samara nodded quickly, turning her attention back to the young human. Chiron raised himself up onto his horse's back, and after Nilani had done the same, led the steed out through the barn's doorway.

********

Making their way through the nearby woods, the two out-of-place crew members searched almost everything, trying to find their riddle. Suddenly, Chiron stopped his horse. Raising his hand, Nilani stopped as well. He placed his finger across his lips. He sensed the hardened minds of....

Before he could finish his thought, about 10 knights emerged from the brush all around the two. Their armor was black, not the bright silver of the Round Table nights.

"Look here! We have some prisoners!" The leader maneuvered his horse over to Nilani. "And quite a beautiful prize, too..." The knight drew his hand up to Nilani's chin, and in a flash of rage, Chiron lashed out telepathically. The Knight bent over, but then recovered. He turned his attention to Chiron. "A wizard, eh? A worthy prize. Bind them, and bring them to our Lord's Castle." A few knights advanced, but were quickly struck my Chiron's powerful mind.

Knight after knight came, and finally, Chiron tired. One knight came forward, binding the Tamarian's hands with a rope. Another raised his sword, and as the blade came into Chiron's view, he read lettering inscribed on the side.

Lieutenant Mitchell turned away from Ronni and K'arta's screen just in time to see another wink to life. "Another monitor just came to life!" He shouted excitedly. He ran over to the newly activated monitor, just in time to see Chiron get hit over the head with the hilt of a sword.

Mitchell cringed. The camera view abandoned the fallen Tamarian, and zoomed in toward the sword. The frame froze on the message written in the metal weapon.

"This one will be a toughie...."

[ The Schizoid Man ]

Ensign Mercury

"Commander, I have completed the new configuration on my com badge," Ensign Boudreau says as she signals the Commander over.

"Good job, Ensign, try to establish contact with the ship."

"Yes sir." Boudreau taps her com badge and a single beep is heard. "Ensign Boudreau to Galaxy, please respond." A few moments of silence. "Ensign Boudreau to Galaxy is anyone there. Commander there is no answer, it is almost as if Galaxy is not there anymore. I have re-checked the new configuration and there is no apparent interference blocking the signal."

"O.K., then we are going to have to assume that we are alone. Ensign Mercury, I need your assistance." Ensign Mercury, walked over to where the Commander and Ensign Boudreau were standing. "Ensign we seem to have lost contact with Galaxy, Ensign Boudreau had made adjustments to the her com badge to pass through the interference but there was no reply. You were the last one to beam down, did you notice anything strange?"

"Sorry to say but no, everything seemed normally. What is the next step Commander?" David said with a hint of uncertainty.

"I don't know, I would like to have a better understanding as to what happened to Galaxy! Any suggestions?"

"Commander, there might be something useful to us aboard the Docter's shuttle that crashed," David said.

"You mean we could try to use the shuttle to contact the Galaxy ," Commander Coe said.

"Not exactly, I think David is thinking about using the sensors to get a better idea of the location of the Galaxy," Ensign Boudreau interupted.

David smiled at Melissa, it appeared they both were thinking on the same wavelength.

"O.K. the three of us will attempt to get the shuttle operational, and the rest of the away team will continue investigating the surface," Commander Coe ordered.

"Confusing Times"
by Lt. (jg) K'arta

Almost as soon as the rocks started raining down on Ronni and K'arta, they stopped. Before the two could act, though, they were herded into a cell. It took three large men to control K'arta as she was chained to the cell wall. Ronni didn't struggle nearly as much and was given much looser bindings. A dull ache begain to sink in as the Klingon started to give up her struggles. The rocks had bruised her head, shoulders and back, and now her wrists and ankles were chafed almost to the point of bleeding. She wouldn't let the pain show in her face though, Klingons didn't show pain or fear even if they felt that way inside.

The sherriff and a few townspeople left the jail fairly quickly as the sky darkened. They seemed pleased with their catch and looked forward to the coming day. K'arta and Ronni sat in the dark of their cell listening to the sounds of a town readying for bed. Almost as soon as everything was quiet, a soft rustling began at their window. Someone whispered to the two women that they would be free shortly. The bars fell away from the window quickly, but at the same time loud voices surrounded the cell window. It sounded like their rescuers had been captured.

Three people were filed past Ronni and K'arta's cell and herded into the cell at the other end of the corridor. Unfortunately, a stone wall blocked the two off and there was no real way for them to communicate. Both K'arta and Ronni wanted to know who they were.

After a difficult night, K'arta and Ronni were herded out of their cell and into the sunlight. An unspoken message passed between the two friends as they were escorted to the courthouse. At a peak moment when the crowd was yelling and their captors' attention was averted, the two broke away and made a beeline for the monolith. K'arta did her best to hold the villagers off while Ronni worked on the monolith.

The converging crowd presented a challenge to the Klingon security officer who handled two and three opponents at once. She seemed to be striking in all directions at once, exausting work, but worth the effort. She was delighting in the fight, plus the sherriff couldn't get through the crowd of people to regain control. A large rock thrown by one of the teenaged boys surrounding the monolith came crashing down on K'arta's head as Ronni stepped toward the crowd and opened her mouth. K'arta barely heard her friend's scream as the combonation of that and the rock knocked her unconscious.

Just before blacking out, K'arta had been wrestling with a man. He'd been quite an opponent, but was resorting to sneaky tactics. He'd gotten K'arta at a disadvantage by taking hold of her torc. The stiff silver rope was starting to cut into her neck. As she fell unconscious with the man toppling onto her, the torc was finally ripped from her neck.

K'arta woke in a different place than where she'd been knocked out. It was a damp and musty shed near the edge of town. Ronni quickly explained their situation and showed the Klingon the inscription on the torc. K'arta groaned as she read the riddle on the torc, it was only adding to the splitting headache she already had. She and Ronni made a plan to rescue their rescuers and headed out of the shed.

Five Starfleet officers and a child were finally united around the monolith. They were beginning to ponder their riddles together when Dev turned to the group.

"I've figured out the riddle. Both of them actually..." she began.

"I think I've got it too." Ronni stated. She whispered her answer in K'arta's ear before sharing it with the others to make sure. The Klingon's eyes rolled back into her head when she realized the simplicity of the riddle. After agonizing over it since learning of it, she was ready to kill the writer, if the writer wasn't all ready dead.

The six clustered around the monolith ready to return to their time and place.

" Alone"
By Commander JT Coe AND Ensign Mélissa Marie Boudreau

**** Planets surface ****

Commander Coe walked into the tent and sat behind the desk. He activated the computer and then proceeded to establish a communications link to the galaxy. Coe was surprised when after a few seconds there was no response from the galaxy. He ran a short diagnostic and the computer and found that both the link and the computer checked out. Coe realised that the galaxy was in range and when the link failed to initiate Coe began to feel uneasy. He left the computer and walked outside to find Ensign Boudreau one of only two officers left on the planet with Coe.

Outside Coe found the Ensign and asked her about her newly modified communicator. Perhaps, Coe hoped, her commmunicator could be used to contact the ship and ask why, the away team was not being received on normal comm channels. He found her near the newly constructed communications base, re-routing some power grids.

" Ensign, can you try to contact the Galaxy with your communicator. Im not getting any response on normal channels." Coe Inquired.

"Well sir," Mélissa said hezitantly. "I believe that I've completed the modifications to my communicator, but I don't know if they will help. The Galaxy should be overhead in a couple of minutes and that would be the best time to try it."

" Very well Ensign, come and get me when your ready, Im going to be looking over the communications array. Just over here." Melissa nodded.

A few minutes and a few adjustments later, the USS Galaxy was directly overhead. "Here you are Commander. You can try to contact the Galaxy now."

JT took the communicator Mélissa was handing to him. "Coe to Galaxy... Galaxy this is Commander Coe, come in please. Coe to Captain Price... Coe to anyone on board the Galaxy, respond please."

The young Ensign took the communicator back, opened it up and checked her modifications. "I don't understand sir... It looks like the signal should be getting through to the Galaxy but no one is answering... " She put the communicator pin back on. "Almost like there's no one home," she muttered.

"Hmm." Coe Muttered.

" Ensign Our inability to contact the galaxy should be of major concern to us. Let's put all effort in to finding out exactly what going on. Are any of the systems in the new communications centre operable? Sensors or anything? I would like to run a simple scan on the galaxy to find out exactly what's going on. Understood? " Coe looked uneasy. He felt unsure. And he hated that.

" Yes Sir. I'll get right on it."

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

Written by: Commander Coe AND Ensign Mélissa Marie Boudreau

"Over-Powered"
by Lieutenant Andrew Hutchcraft
(with indirect contribution from Lieutenant James Mitchell)

After the Chief Engineer got over the sheer beauty of the control room's power-source, both he and Professor Hallmark began a more intelligent study of the monolithic device.

"So what's the technical evaluation on this, Lieutenant?" asked the Professor, looking at the huge core.

Hutchcraft tapped at a padd, and looked briefly at a modified tricorder before replying "I'm not sure, Professor ..."

"Sureness comes with time" the Professor commented back.

Hutchcraft gave a slight laugh, before continuing "I'd love to have a look and see how this thing actually operates. This could be useful to us ..."

"Federation first, I see ..." Hallmark muttered

"With me, consider it a rarity" Hutchcraft further proclaimed, as he continued to enter new information into his PADD.

Hallmark began to circle the power-source, properly responding to the Engineer's statement as he did "Lieutenant, to break this ... wondrous device, or any of the other ancient creations in this room, could be dangerous. I'm sure this culture would have set traps to stop vandals ...."

"I'm not a vandal, I'm an engineer ..." Hutchcraft smirked back.

Hallmark's aged face turned to him "Perhaps there's not a difference ..."

Andrew continued to study the device, trying to learn more about what it did, how it worked, and how efficient it was. The answers were not too pleasing "Professor, I think we might have a problem ..."

"Oh?" queried the old professor.

Hutchcraft took another look at the tricorder, and then looked back at the Professor "This thing is just a lil too efficient for what it does ..."

Hutchcraft sat down and continued to look at his read-outs. This was not like anything he had ever seen. Not only was it an elegantly beautiful device, but an incredibly powerful one. The power it was producing was at an enormous level, and with so much raw energy being produced, it was obviously not just powering the control room.

Suddenly, things began to happen. The Core pulsed even quicker, the Engineer's tricorder reaching maximum levels. "Professor, I think we should get out of the way ..."

"A wise suggestion, Lieutenant" stated Hallmark, as he stepped back towards a pillar covered in inscriptions to the east. Hutchcraft began to move back as well, before shouts and yelling could be heard from the other groups.

"Everyone take cover!" Sterner yelled from out of nowhere. Hutchcraft turned, to see a huge white light emerging from one of the walls. He moved back ever so quickly, taking the Professor alongside. Both hid behind a large pillar, while the room was covered in a shining light. From white, to turquoise, to green and then back to white, the light was accompanied by a fierce selection of noises and moans the likes of which neither Hallmark nor Hutchcraft had heard. Something was happening, and it was not like anything they had seen before.

As the situation became calm again, Hutchcraft turned from his pillar to see that the wall had opened up, revealing a huge array of consoles in its place. Hutchcraft tip-toed towards them, with Hallmark following. Sterner and his Security Officers had already reached the new discovery, while Mitchell and the Doctor were also slowly on their way.

Wherever this was, this was a place of much wonder, but it also appeared to be a place of many dangers. Such concepts seemed more suitable to a fantasy tale, rather than the all-to-real experience Hutchcraft was encompassed in.

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

"I think I have an idea...." Currie hypothesised. "After going over some of these inscriptions, and using Professor Hallmarks theory of riddles being 'rites of passage', I think this is some sort of punishment or training grounds....maybe a teaching facility. and this is the central hub. Literally a Control Room."

"If that's the case, we *have* to get these people out of there and get them back." Mitchell put on a stoic face. "Get in teams and figure out those riddles. We must to find a way to get the answers to the others. It's probably their way home. DON'T touch anything!"

Hutchcraft nodded, and looked at each of the riddles closely. Some of them were incredibly obvious, others were more complicated. Some even offered two or more answers, thus demanding more thought.

This wasn't the only thing on the Chief Engineer's mind, though. Having seen Ensign Enquist die was something he wished would not have happened. Hutchcraft helped save Enquist's life before, during the holodeck accidents almost half a year ago. It was only sheer luck that Hutchcraft had helped the Security Officer, but he was glad he did. Enquist was a good officer, and a nice person. To see him die because of some cruel culture's testing device was not a good experience.

Still, Hutchcraft had a job to do, and had his hopes high that this would not happen to any more of the team. He would put in as much effort into solving the riddles, and any other problems in the control room, so that perhaps the team could get out as quickly as possible.

The Chief turned back to the monitors. He retained his cool, and his sarcastic flare, and continued with his work.

"What do you think, Mitchell?" Hutchcraft asked the Science Officer.

Mitchell turned to the Chief Engineer "I think this is a rather odd culture"

"That's an odd statement. Seriously, what was the answer to that first riddle?" Hutchcraft asked, turning to Mitchell, grinning slightly.

Mitchell looked back, and torturously replied "Figure it out, Hutchcraft"

"I can't ... I hate riddles ..." muttered Andrew in a low voice, looking around the monitors as he did.

"Think about it, Andy. Beginning ... and End ..." helped the Science Officer, to little avail.

Hutchcraft sighed "Now all I can think of is String ..."

Mitchell laughed, and looked at the consoles too. It was an interesting scenario, and certainly not as conventional as the useful Starfleet encounter. Hutchcraft thought about the riddle with frustration. Riddles were things you needed to be in the right frame of mind for. Sadly, it was never a frame of mind he was in.

"What about that one? The first couple of lines could suggest a Bee, but the rest of it doesn't suit ..." Hutchcraft noted

"Nah, I know the answer to that one too ..." Mitchell smiled delightfully "Perhaps that one is time ..."

Hutchcraft shook his head "No, that one ..." Hutchcraft pointed to another monitor "... is time, I think, but don't hold me to that. I'd thought that one was God, but I don't think these people believe in our religions ..."

"Obviously. That one looks like a Dog, but that's just far too obvious" Mitchell commented, pointing to a monitor displaying a situation on Bajor.

Hutchcraft nodded "I agree, but that could be the idea of the riddle ..."

While Hutchcraft and Mitchell attempted to solve the riddles, Fitzpatrick walked up to Hutchcraft "Sir, this power-source, it keeps producing more and more ... I'm not sure how safe it is"

"What do you mean, Fitzpatrick?" Hutchcraft queried.

Fitzpatrick began to mumble, before continuing "Erm, well if it were to create too much power, chances are it's going to overload and ..."

"... That's a possibility, Fitzpatrick. Looks like we should do some more surveys on the core. Happy riddle-solving, James" Hutchcraft nodded to the Team Chief, before walking back to the power-source.

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

As the two Engineers rapidly struck against PADDs and viewed Tricorders, things looked ever less hopeful. The core was producing more power than it should, to places the team probably didn't know of. While the team did not know for sure, they all agreed that there was a heavy possibility of the core overloading.

The pressure was on now in two ways. First, the team needed to help the lost crew-members, somehow. Then, they needed to either get out of the control room, or somehow calm down the core.

Things were no longer as wondrous as they were before, and this certainly was not some fantasy tale. The grim reality that people could die (as they had before, with Ensign Enquist's untimely death) in this beautiful maze was becoming more evident.

Could the team get out of this one?

James Donovan - Aka Lt Hutchcraft, Chief Engineer, USS Galaxy

"Obelisk"
Lt Casey Ti Miran

Miran woke early. The sun hadn’t started to rise. She quietly gathered her things. She stole to the kitchen and took a couple of garden grown foods. She didn’t want to take too much from the poor family. She was afraid of staying too much long, afraid of saying something that would endanger her future.

She stopped for a moment in front of the painting in the sitting room. It was Fala’s mother or so Miran had been told. There was a striking resemblance between herself and her grandmother. Both of Miran’s parents were dark headed. Her mother had brown eyes but her father had the light eyes that Miran had. She started once again towards the door. About the time she reached for the handle she sneezed. She stood there a couple of minutes listening for sounds to indicate that she woke someone. Hearing none she left the house.

***

It was about noon when she came upon a good sized village. She had no clue the name. In the center of town there was a large stone obelisk. She approached it in awe of its craftsmanship. The obelisk had some type of engraving but it wasn’t Bajoran or Cardassian. She was puzzled that this stone object would have some other type of writing than Bajoran on it. It didn’t make sense.

Unless, that is, this stone obelisk had something to do with her being here in this time. She studied the writing to see if anything could come to mind. There was a bird. This one was quite similar to a star.

It started with a single scream. Then came shouts that the Cardassians were coming. People panicked, Miran had no where to run, no place to flee to. The Cardassians were rounding people up to take as slaves and workers.

Miran was one of those caught. Her terror was great but not overwhelming. An old woman approached Miran.

“Miran child, remember this-

Miran pondered over it using the phrase as a distraction to her fear. ‘Runs over fields and woods all day.” It could be a river. It runs over the countryside, tongue could refer to lapping waves, the bone could symbolize the importance of the river to an area. Not too far from the Stephin’s home was the Mississippi river. It was often refered to as the backbone of the midwest. But a river doesn’t lay under the riverbed unless it was an underground river.

Maybe it refers to a dog. But dogs lay under beds alone unless you count the dust bunnies. A pair of shoes!! It runs over the countryside on someone’s feet. The Terrans had a shoe called a tennie and they called the little flap a tongue. The bone could be the foot that goes in them. And they always come in pairs.

Miran also thought about the danger that the Galaxy faced. If the time she was in flowed like the time the Galaxy was in, the ship had a day and a half at most before it crashed into the atmosphere.

She prayed that she could find a way out of this as soon as possible. She needed, wanted to get back to the obelisk and see what else she could find out.

"Anticipation"
By Ensign Thomas

Chris stood close to the monolith as did everyone else in anticipation of what was going to happen next. They all knew that there were no guarantees that they get to go home even after solving the riddle. Of course there were no real guarantees in life either, so they waited patiently.

Though time passed Chris was beginning to feel that it was taking an entirety for whatever was going to happen to happen. Chris took a deep while his hold Colby was relentless. He did what anything distracting him and thus stranding him or anyone else back in this time frame.

The real question was had they answered the puzzle correctly or not, for they couldn't tell do to some interference. There was no telling what was causing it, though with any luck the problem would not prevent there leaving.

Chris considered his actions and his refusal to standby Dev's decision to tell the people of this time about the Ergot, which had actually helped her in answering the riddle that they had found carved into a log near by and some of it had been carved on the monolith. The problem Chris faced was how their relationship would or wouldn't be effected by his decision. He felt guilty for some reason, something that he had not felt in a very long time. His relationship with Gwyen was open and they new each other. He never felt guilty about anything with her while she was alive, then her death came he felt responsible in someway. His relationship with Dev was different much different. Though he could only speculate as to why this was so, but even that was not an answer.

With each passing second he began to worry about whether or not they had provided the right answer to their riddle. He personal disliked most riddles because the ones he had to deal with were incomprehensible, even sometimes the creator of a particular riddle. Though in this case he suspected that it might a bit difficult to track down the origins of why this particular was so enthralled by riddles.

The answer would come soon as they stood around the monolith hoping and praying that there answer was correct and that they would soon be returned to their home, the USS Galaxy. Chris also knew that their first task if returned directly to ship would be to get control of the ship. The ships orbit by now was in serious jeopardy and that meant they'd have a hard time regaining control.

Chris Patton

"The darkness of night"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

The last wisps of daylight quickly disappeared in the thick shadows of the woods. Captain Price hobbled painfully on his injured leg as he struggled to put distance between himself, the wounded Doctor Rousseau that lay unconscious in his arms and the rest of the Federal officers that were still discharging their weapons wildly into the under brush.

"Curse this place." The Captain hissed under clenched teeth. His running had taken on a lopsided rhythm. His wounded leg grew stiffer with each forced step. He was holding it nearly perfectly straight, bending at the knee only slightly to minimize the pain. After traveling for several hundred meters, Lee could go no farther. He wanted to simply collapse from exhaustion. He had lost a fair amount of blood from his injury. That, combined with the weight of Jacqueline and his own high adrenaline levels had taken it's toll on him. Still, he struggled to carefully place the Doctor down on a grassy patch near a tree before he plopped himself down, being careful to keep his leg straight out.

Lee grimaced at the pain as he began inspecting his leg. He was pretty sure the gun shot had went clean through his thigh, but still checked to verify the fact. Only now did he begin to realize just how much blood he'd lost in the last few minutes. His eyes blurred slightly and he began to see tiny spots from his rapid decent to the ground. Shaking his head, Lee tells himself, "Focus. Must try and stay alert."

Removing his gray duty jacket, the Captain begins ripping it into strips, preparing to form a make shift tourniquet for his thigh. Wadding up a couple pieces, he wraps the leg in the strips and ties them off as tightly as he can manage. He winced in pain as he completed tying off the field bandage, then leaned back momentarily against the tree and let out a sigh. It was then that he noticed Jacqueline laying there, perfectly still.

"Doctor." He whispered as he leaned towards Jacqueline's body. Placing a hand upon her shoulder, he rolls her over. Checking her throat, a relieved look rested upon his face as he felt a steady, but somewhat weakened pulse. "That's it 'mate. Hang on."

Sifting through the Doctor's hair, Lee struggled to get a better look at her head injury. The darkness of night made it difficult to see, but he could tell that the bullet had struck Jacqueline in the back of the head. It must have originated from some distance away. Probably just the unluckiest of shots that happened to strike her on happenstance. He could see no exit wound, so either the bullet was still imbedded in her head, or it could possibly of bounced off the back of her skull after penetrating the skin. There wasn't too much more the Captain could tell about the injury. Like most of the officers on the Starship, Captain Price had completed the basic medical training courses taught at Starfleet Academy, but his area of expertise was not medicine. Other than the most basic of first aid, there was really nothing he could do for the Doctor. Lee quickly used the remainder of his jacket to dress Jacqueline's wound. It wasn't bleeding nearly as badly as his leg had been, but he wanted to make sure no dirt made it into the wound until he could get her medical attention back on the Galaxy. Lee glanced up as he tied off the last of the head wrap, thinking how arrogant that thought was. "And how exactly are you going to get back to the Galaxy 'mate?" he asked himself, "Other than knowing you're five hundred years in the past, you haven't got a clue how to get back." Then he thought a moment and glanced at Doctor Rousseau's tricorder. "Other than that monolith..."

********

*** City Center control room, Sigma II ***

"This is remarkable!" Doctor Currie exclaimed as another one of the 'ancient' view monitors came to life. "You say each one of these is displaying members of your ship's crew?"

Lieutenant Mitchell nodded. "That is correct Doctor. That is Lieutenant Blair and Ensign Hewson. It looks like they are in the 1920's by their attire and the,.. the,.. I think they were called 'automobiles'? that are in their time period."

"Have you any idea of what this means Lieutenant?!" Marie said with bubbling excitement, "If these controls can send people back through time, there is nothing we can not learn about our past. It is the greatest archeological find of all time!"

James expression grew grim as the Doctor was growing more and more excited over the 'discovery'. She seemed to be ignoring the consequences of sending people back through time. Or the fact that if the entire crew of the Galaxy was back in history somewhere, that no one was currently on board the Galaxy. Then there was Ensign Enquist's sudden transportation in which he was suddenly, and brutally killed.

"Doctor, you may be correct that this is an amazing discovery, but right now it is the safety of this away team and all of the members of the USS Galaxy that I am concerned with. We have to figure out a way to get them back."

Doctor Currie began to shake the smile off of her day dreaming face just when another monitor snapped on. "Isn't that?.."

"The Captain!" Mitchell finished the Doctor's sentence.

"He doesn't look in very good shape." Currie commented.

James nodded in agreement. "No he doesn't. Looks like he's injured his head, and his leg. That's Doctor Rousseau..." Mitchell's tone trailed off as he saw the Captain rechecking her head bandage. "She's been injured too. It doesn't look good."

"What is he doing there?" Marie asked.

"I'm not sure Doctor, it looks like he's taking something from Doctor Rousseau." Mitchell replies.

*********

*** Chancellorsville, 1863 ***

Lee reached across Jacqueline and noticed a small book in her medical pouch while looking for an instrument to help him remove the cover off of the tricorder. "What is this?" he asked quietly of himself. Hoping that possibly, Jacqueline would answer him. When she didn't, Lee took the book and looked at it.

It was a small, leather bound bible. Nothing fancy, in fact it looked to be rather beat up. Captain Price glanced at Doctor Rousseau wondering if it belonged to her, not realizing that Jacqueline might of been a religious person.

Opening the book, he discovered that the book was not, in fact, hers, but belonged to that soldier she was attending to back in the medical tent. There appeared to be a lengthy dedication written on the inside cover, but the dim evening light made it too difficult to read. Lee placed the book back in Jacqueline's pouch and rummaged around until he found the tool he was looking for. Using the tricorders internal power source to help illuminate what he was doing, Lee began to selectively reprogram the medical tricorder to make room for the universal translator program that all tricorders contain.

*** Ensign Grump's Quarters ***

Computer begin personal log......

I have been assigned to the Galaxay now for about a week and I still have not been assigned a duty rotation. I talked to Lt. Mitchell the other day and he said they were giving me time to get used to the ship and my new crew mates. Furthermore, I would be assigned to a duty shift soon.

I have been spending my time getting to know my surroundings, it is one thing to study a galaxy class starship and it is a completely different thing to actually be on board to explore. This is a very large ship. I have visited a different area every day and still there are parts of the ship that I have not seen yet.

I have not met alot of new people, mostly other ensigns and the command crew, but I have yet to make any friends. I hope to change that soon. I have been reviewing the personality profiles on the ship's computer but so far I have only found two that seem to have similar likes and dislikes as myself.....Ensign Soushonn and Ensign Nilani. Unfortunately we share one common trait, we all tend to keep to ourselves. I must try to overcome my shyness and reach out to some of my crewmates but in particular I will try to get to know these two.

The current mission is a confusing one, I am still trying to understand all that is happening. I will keep reading the duty entries for each shift to keep abreast of the happening abourd the ship.

Computer end personal log and save.....

"Some days are better than others..."
by Ensign Hunter McKenzie

Fortunately the shock was short-lived. Mac quickly dove to the side as the Saurian fired off a hip level disrupter blast. As Mac rolled to his feet He hurled the fist sized stone at the Gorn, striking the disrupter and sending it flying from his hand Unfortunately Mac's satisfaction was short lived. Before him stood one of the most powerful, natural fighting machines in known space. The Gorn stood at least 7ft, Massive carnivorous jaws and wickedly sharp claws, still presented Mac with more problems than he cared to think about.

Mac slowly circled the massive Saurian, seeking some weakness to exploit. But for the past few seconds, none were readily apparent. With a burst of speed that belied it's massive size the Saurian suddenly lunged forward, its claw ripping across Mac's chest causing intense pain to his already abused body. He quickly followed the creature with several blows to the back of the creatures head.

"What's your skull made of......Neutronium?" Mac exclaimed as his blows seemed ineffective. "Hssckaktta Takkcst Lssiitta." The Gorn spat. A hint of sarcasm seeping into the comment.

Mac quickly looked around, there high above the Gorn lay his possible salvation. Mac quickly circled around, as the Gorn made several halfhearted feints and continued to mock him in that strange hissing voice.

"Thaaats it..." muttered Mac, "..just keep it up laughing boy."

Mac stopped under the stone overhang, steeling himself for the attack that he knew was coming. The Gorn saw the sudden change in Mac's attitude and decided to finish this once and for all. The burst of speed that Mac expected was not long in coming. The Massive Saurian barreled toward Mac, oblivious to any outside influence. At the last moment, with a flair of footwork that would make boxing great Muhammad Ali proud, Mac side stepped and pushed the Gorn into the cliff face behind him. The resulting crash knocked several of the smaller rocks loose and caused them to bounce of the scaly hide of the Saurian as he shook his head from the collision. Mac wasted no time, stepping back he drew his type 1 phaser and took aim at the Gorn where he stood against the cliff face. The Gorn looked at the small device with obvious disdain. The same mocking language issuing from its jagged maw. Mac smiled. He glanced at the power readout on the phaser, seeing that the amount of power was no where near what was needed to bring down a Gorn. Something the Gorn obviously suspected.

"Yeah, laugh about this!" Mac shouted as he adjusted his aim to the overhang, above the Saurian.

The blast exhausted every remaining kilowatt of power from the phaser, but succeeded in bringing the entire overhang of massive rocks down upon the shocked Saurian. Mac made his way to where the Saurian lay. From the damage to his skull, Mac had no doubt that the Alien was dead. As he searched the body for any salvageable equipment, what greeted his examination almost caused him to collapse in awe. As he moved the massive chest harness, he saw a series of words written not in Gorn, but in Terran Anglic. As he shook his head hoping to re-focus his eyes he read the flowing script:

"Well, Mac old buddy. If Starfleet was easy; everybody would do it." mumbled Mac as he made his way to the Monolith.

"Galaxy Log"
Ensign Kahn Nilani

"Let me go" As I it one of the knights. "Chiron" I cried out as I saw one of the knights hit Chiron on the back of the head. After he collapsed and they had tied our wrists up they put a blindfold on me and chiron, I felt them putting me on the back of a horse and scince i was bound I couldn't do anything about it. The trip to where ever we were going was a long bare back ride, I was getting scared because I didn't know wether or not Chiron was o.k. or not I couldn't sense his mind or anything. After what seemed like a hour I started to feel faint the blood was in my head and I started to get in and out. While this was happening I was seeing images of the Bajoran occupation. Seeing now dead friends and seeing people being exicuted. The last thing

I remembered was my parents before they were killed by the cardassians. As this Image left my head everything went black

Ensign Kahn Nilani
Medical Doctor Uss Galaxy

After Devlynn spelled out her ideas of the answer to the riddle, they keyed it into the Monolith. After she discovered the answer and said it outloud, a pad appeared on which they only had to chose the correct key. It was an easy choice.

Then they waited.

It wasn't a long wait. And just as quickly as they arrived in Salem, they were gone.

The red mist enveloped each member of the group and they disappeared, Devlynn was the last to leave 1692 behind, she sighed softly before losing consciousness.

Unsure of how long they layed there, Devlynn was shaken awake by Colby. He was frantic. He didn't know where they were. Nor did Devlynn. It took her some time before she realized that they were by another, yes, not the same, Monolith. But where, and when. This was starting to get old for her. She sighed.

Chris and Soushonn awoke quickly behind her. They tried to ascertain their location. It took some time, but Devlynn caught the thought of a fellow crew member. "We're on Sigma II!" She blurted out.

"But not all of us." Colby said from behind Soushonn's leg.

"What?" She asked as she looked around. He was right. Ronni and K'arta weren't there. Maybe they were at another Monolith. "Colby, do you know where they went?" She asked.

"They weren't here. I don't know!" He said. Shaking his head violently.

Chris was the first to decide to take forward action. "We must inform the Commander." He said.

It took only a few minutes to locate the Commander. He was quite suprised to see the three of them. He did a double take from them to their former 'monitor,' it was black.

"Counselor, Ensgin Thomas, Ensign Arcas!" He said. "What... How did you get here?"

Devlynn stepped up. "Commander, I will explain. There are riddles. Maybe you have a similar one. Once they're solved we are brought back here. Or that's what happened with us." She smiled. "Ronni and K'arta were with us, they didn't return. I can't sense them here. Has anyone seen them."

Commander Coe shook his head. "No, we haven't heard anything from either one of them!"

"Damn." She breathed. "I hope they're not still in Salem."

"Salem, Counselor?" Commander Coe asked, a quizzical look on his face.

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

"Waiting.. Waiting.. Waiting.."
by Ensign K'Eytyanna Samara

K'Eytyanna got down from her horse, and looked at the serf. Slowly, she walked in a circle around the man, sizing him up. 'We haven't ever needed anyone else, and we don't need anyone now.' her Klingon side snarled. Her human side sighed before deciding to use her Klingon side's instinctive distrust to an advantage, 'He doesn't have to do anything except carry stuff. Anyway, it puts us in a better position to watch him, just in case.'

K'Eytyanna looked up and replied, "Boy, if you want to, you can be my squire." Removing her helmet, she ran her hand through her hair and spoke to the squire, "Tell anyone and my blade will find you faster then you think possible. They are scars."
The serf gulped in surprise and replied, "Certainly M'Lady. No one will ever hear anything from my lips, M'Lady."

Hoping Chiron would sense it, she placed a strong thought in her head and tried to direct it towards him, 'Great, you just had to pick up an obsequious one, didn't you? If he discovers where we come from, we'll have to get Nilani to find some way to block his memory of this or find someother way to stop him telling. Captain Price wouldn't be too happy otherwise. By the way, I've named my horse Kiri-Jolith.' Chiron nodded to her and she stepped upto her brand-new squire, "What's your name?"

The serf replied, "Angus of the Clan MacLeod, M'Lady."

K'Eytyanna growled in disgust and cried out, "Angus, stop calling me M'Lady. Call me K'Eytyanna or Samara when we aren't around the townspeople and leave that for when we around townspeople. You are making me very uncomfortable and I don't like it."

"Certainly, M'... K'Eytyanna."

She smiled and said, "We should go into the barn now, so that one one else notices us standing around. Angus, I'll show you what you need to know." K'Eytyanna patted her horse on the nose and very softly motioned it forward. The horse neighed in happiness and followed along as she headed into the barn with Angus. "S'Dan and Kelly, this is Angus MacLeod, currently employed by Chiron as my squire." The two officers nodded and K'Eytyanna tied the reins of her horse around one of the supports. Pointing to an empty corner, she said, "Angus, this way."

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

As Angus stepped into the stall, she removed her d'k tahg from it's sheath and held it so he could see it, "Okay, this dagger has a very sharp blade, as well as a few little surprises. By pressing this stud here, it releases two blades from inside."

Pressing the stud, two sharp blades shot out from the side. "Now, I'll show you how sharp the blades are." Spinning, she threw the d'k tahg into the wood, where it stuck in about ten inches. Angus yelped in surprise as she retrieved the dagger. "It is for that reason that you will need to be careful around it."

After she sheathed her d'k tahg, Ensign Nilani walked up and said, "Chiron managed to translate that message on the big black rock. It mentioned a riddle somewhere. K'eytyanna, Chiron and I are going to go look for the riddle. We'll return before nightfall."

K'Eytyanna nodded and turned back to Angus as she drew her broadsword. Aiming, she slashed the sword down into one of the wooden planks of the sty, cutting very deep into it. Leaving the blade embedded, she turned and said, "Swords are also very sharp. Both of these weapons are kept in scabbards or sheaths for safety, so be careful to keep them in their proper place. This way, it's time to learn about horses." Removing the sword, she sheathed it before saying, "Angus, you can close your mouth now."

He blushed slightly and said, "K'Eytyanna, I worked in the King's stables for a few months, and know how to look after horses."

She nodded and replied, "My apologies. I don't know anything about that, so how about I look after my weapons and you look after my horse?" "Certainly."

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

K'Eytyanna paced around the barn, growling in frustration as the others sat around waiting calmly. She looked out the door into the darkness and cried out, "Where the hell is Chiron? He should be back by now."

S'Dan stood up and walked over to her. Calmly, he spoke, "K'Eytyanna, it will be alright."

Motioning to S'Dan to come outside with her, she said, "You two stay here while I go and check out the area with S'Dan. Only use my dagger if neccessary - we don't want anyone hurt if we can help it." S'Dan walked outside with her and she led him into one of the small abandoned buildings. Turning, she said, "Okay. First off, I'm only telling you this coz you are Vulcan, but I am not comfortable with command decisions so I expect you to back me up if needed and give advice. Lt Chiron knows how dangerous it is to stay out at night, so there must be something wrong. We can't do anything tonight, but tommorrow, I'm going to head into the town to do a bit of investigating with Angus. I want you and Yeoman Ash to stay here in case they return. If they do, tell Lt Chiron that I don't want anyone to follow me. I will back once I found out more, find them or by nightfall, assuming we don't get caught up in anything. If he trys, I want you to try and stop him. So that he won't be able to do anything to you when we get back on the Galaxy, consider it a direct order."

"Ensign, that is an unwise decision."

"It is. However, I am not going to send others out when I could easily go. Personally, I know I couldn't stand it if I was in Captain Price's situation. Sometimes, Starfleet regs should be broken. Hopefully, the Prime Directive won't end upto be one of those regs on the mission. You are in charge. I know this is highly irregular and that you don't have command experience, but then again, so is being thrown back in time."

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

"Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig"
by Lt. Ronni Morris
Asst. Chief of Science, USS Galaxy

Ronni and K'arta looked at each other in shock as the other disappeared. It also slowly made sense. Ronni said, "K'arta, I was able to move us on accident, but now I've discovered the riddle placed before us. The answer is 'E'. Now they moved on without us because they arrived here together. Let me punch in the correct coodinates, and let's go home."

Quickly, she pushed in the answer to K'arta's riddle and the same sequence she had pushed to get them to move before. Suddenly they appeared next to the rest the the USS Galaxy crew and families. Ronni gave K'arta a hug and said, "We're home!!"

"After this, you have to come horseback riding with me." said the Klingon. K'arta then saw Casey Miran and ran to check on her while Ronni went looking for a Mr. Troy Blair.

"How About A Nice Swim?"
by: Doctor Will Andrews, Medical Officer

Will had been hiding by the side as the other guards began to bring all the female prisoners to shore. He had heard from another guard, who he noticed was a tad "slow", that the ship was arriving at Cape Town. He spent most of the night talking to this guard about things ranging from beer (which he knew nothing about) to old women. He got about a half an hour or so of sleep between each rambling, so he was somewhat exhausted.

He noticed a young woman approaching, with a scarf around her head. Will had to strain his eyes a bit, but he recognized her as Jurelle. "Thank God," he whispered to himself, as she approached. Will gave a slight wave.

She saw her jumping and waving, as she pointed to something over the edge of the boat. Will turned his head to take a look, and there it was - the monolith. Seeing that Will noticed it, Jurelle came over, beaming with excitement. "You see it!"

Will nodded. "I do." He smiled, slightly.

"What do we do now?" he asked, then sighed. "This isn't looking too good... what have you found out?"

Jurelle turned around to face Will. "Well..." she began, "...it looks like the only way we can get off this ship is if we jump off. The water isn't very deep, but I noticed that a lot of the people here have a profuse fear of water... and drowning. I believe it was fairly common," she said, letting out a slight cough.

Will could taste the saltiness on his lips, but it wasn't very pleasant. The conditions aboard the boat were unsanitary and filthy, to say the least, and it was apparent in the inordinate amount of coughing from all the passengers.

"Swim?" Will said, when he broke out of his slight daze from reality... or whatever. "I have to say that I'm not a very proficient swimmer..."

"It's either you swim or we get stuck in this time," Jurelle harshly interrupted. She sighed. Jurelle was just as frustrated and tense as he was, so he let it go. Under normal circumstances, Will would have probably talked her ear off about how he was just as tired and annoyed as she was, but he let it go.

"Look," she continued, "It's the only way. The water isn't that deep. I'll be right there in case you can't make it the rest of the way, alright?" she said, reassuringly.

Will nodded. "Besides, it's only a hundred metres or so to the shore," she added.

"What do we do once we've gotten to shore?" Will asked. He could feel his heart beating even faster now, as the adrenaline began to rush through his body. He was getting nervous.

"We figure out how to get home," she said, grinning.

"Right..."

Jurelle walked over to the edge of the boat, preparing to jump over. She tossed the scarf off her head and jumped off. It seemed like it was a long way down, but it was only a few feet. Just before Jurelle's falling into the water made a fairly large resounding splash, Will walked over to the edge and making sure that no one was around, he jumped in as well.

It was cold. His eyes closed, Will couldn't see a thing. He swam through the cold murky waters towards the direction where he felt some slight movement. Will could hear a sound; he couldn't make out what it was, but he presumed it was either the guards yelling or it was Jurelle's reassuring voice. He brought himself up to the surface and realized it was neither. Jurelle was nowhere to be seen and Will had surprisingly swam far enough from the ship that even if the guards realized he had jumped off, they wouldn't have been able to catch up.

The taste of the salty water was filling up in his mouth. He liked salt, but it was way too much. Almost unbearable. Strangely enough, it was making his water dry and his throat was getting scratchy. He coughed, then continued swimming to shore. *Breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose...* Will thought to himself, remembering his swimming classes from when he was a child. *Breathe in, breathe out,* he continued thinking to himself, until it became a sort of pattern.

Will raised his head up to see that he was almost there. He saw a splash to his right, then another. *It must be Jurelle,* he thought. Switching his direction to follow, he tried to swim as fast, but as silently as possible in the splash's direction. He couldn't see the monolith, but he saw the shore, and anything would be better than the cold waters of the bay.

His limbs were getting tired. *He* was getting tired; every part of his body ached. *Only a few more metres,* he told himself, as he pressed on. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked up to see he was only about ten metres from the shore. He stood up and realized that he was on land. Not dry land, but it was solid ground. Running up to the shore, he saw Jurelle running towards him. She waved, and, with every last ounce of strength, Will waved back.

"It took you long enough!" Jurelle yelled. She looked happy to see him. Will waited until he arrived onto shore to reply. He noticed that she was holding a few towels in her arms.

"Wait a minute... when did you swim to shore?" Will asked, thinking about the splashes he had seen earlier.

"About ten minutes ago. I swam out and about five minutes afterwards, I realized that you weren't around. I thought I had lost you," she said. "I'm so glad you're still alive." She smiled.

"Thanks... it's good to be alive." Will smiled back. Jurelle handed him a big towel, with which he dried himself off with. "Where'd you get these?" he asked.

"I took them off an empty boat," she replied.

Will snickered and managed a slight grin. "You know, it's the strangest thing," he started. "I couldn't find you, but then, I saw this splash, I thought that was you, so I followed it... then, it was gone."

"Maybe it was a fish," Jurelle said sympathetically.

"Maybe." Will grinned.

The two walked up to a grassier part of the beach area, where they dried off for a while. "I think we both need new clothes, it would look strange for us to be wearing these wet things," he said, while attempting to dry himself off.

"Well, at least we found the monolith," Jurelle said, after a brief moment of silence.

"Yes, but what do we do once we're there?"

"I don't know..." Jurelle stated plainly.

"We need new clothes," Will said, trying to change the subject. The two of them looked around the grassy knoll they had been sitting in, until Jurelle noticed something. "Look!" she said, pointing up to a house higher up in the mountain.

"What am I looking at?" Will asked. "It's a house."

"Further down, do you see it?" Jurelle asked again, pointing to what she thought was quite visible. Will squinted, then looked again. It was a clothesline. And he could see at least three shirts and pants blowing in the ocean breeze.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Will asked.

"Come on!" Jurelle motioned to follow, as she ran up the somewhat steep mountain towards the house.

Will was somewhat fatigued, due to the invigorating swim he had off the coast of Cape Town. He was pretty exhausted, but the hot sun along with the want to survive and return to his home aboard the Galaxy.

"Come on, hurry up!" Jurelle said. She had to be at least 20 feet ahead of him.

*Oh, good grief, how does that woman manage to keep going like that,* Will thought to himself. *Come on, keep going, keep going...*

The dust from the path that they were taking was getting into Will's eyes. Struggling to keep going, he rubbed his eyes and continued on. Jurelle was, again, out of sight, but he had a general idea of where the house was.

She reappeared again, but she was standing still, just below the location of the house. "You alright?" Jurelle whispered.

"Yeah..." Will groaned, "I'll be fine."

"Ssshh!" Jurelle shushed, putting her finger to her mouth. "A lady is up there, putting clothes on the line!"

Will nodded and sat down against a tree. He looked down upon the town of Cape Town. It was quite a view from where Will was sitting. Jurelle was looking up, making sure that the woman was gone. Satisfied that she was, Jurelle motioned for Will to follow her.

He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that the woman was entering her house. Jurelle turned to Will, nodding once. He knew exactly what to do. Get the clothes, then run like hell. The adrenaline began pumping again, the excitement and tension building. The two of them made a mad dash to the clothesline, taking any and pretty much every piece of clothing they could find. Pants, shirts, dresses, hats, undergarments, everything. They would sort through it all later.

"Okay! We have everything we need! Let's go!" Jurelle whispered.

Suddenly, a candlelight when on in the house. Its flickering caught the attention of the two. *Oh no...*

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY CLOTHES?!?!?" the old woman yelled, waving a wooden stick at the two of them. "COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"RUN!" Will cried out, but Jurelle was a step ahead. She had already made a mad dash for the other side of the yard, and Will was following along closely behind. The woman was too old and frail to be able to follow them anyways, but they weren't assured that she was the only person in the house. They ran like hell anyways, as fast as their tired legs could carry them.

* * * * *

Scott Hong Aka:
Doctor Will Andrews
Medical Officer USS Galaxy

"Looking for something useful"
by Lieutenant Commander Joerg Sterner
Chief of Security, USS Galaxy

Joerg was still shocked by the tragic and unnecessary death of one of his officers, Ensign Enquist. 'He was just standing at the wrong place.' he kept saying to himself. He knew he was responsible for the security of the whole away team, but Enquist's death was something different.

He tried his best to put his personal feelings aside and started to concentrate on the main tasks: to bring back the crew members of the Galaxy and to get this away safe back too.

He listened to the speculations of the scientists concerning the meaning of the verses that were found by each group, who were transported to another period in history each. He also was thinking the best way was to find the correct answer and somehow send it to the crew members.

While Lieutenant Hutchcraft was busily working on the power core, to find out why some much energy was being produced and where it was sent to, Joerg decided to check all the rooms once again.

"Lieutenant, we will check out all the rooms once again." he said the Mitchell, gesturing that he meant Ensign Los and himself.

"Perhaps we'll find something else that has been activated and will give us a chance to help the others." he added.

Lieutenant Mitchell nodded and was just about the tell them again not to touch anything, when Joerg said "I know, we won't touch anything. I promise."

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

On their second tour of the facility, Ensign Los saw the sorrowful face of his superior officer.

"Sir, I know you feel responsible for the death of Ensign Enquist, but there was nothing you could do to prevent it." he said.

"There certainly were moments when I would have been able to prevent it. If I had reacted more quickly he'd be still alive." Joerg explained.

"'If's and 'would's don't bring him back. He's dead now. You'll have to accept it. The earlier you accept this fact, the earlier you'll find yourself back as the profession you used to be."

Joerg thought this advice over and thought to himself 'He surely would be a great counselor.'

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

The two security officers concluded their second tour in the control room once again. Joerg sent Los to Hutchcraft to report their findings to him , while he himself turned to Lieutenant Mitchell to do the same.

"Ah Lieutenant Commander, what have you found this time?" Mitchell asked.

"We have found out the rooms where some of the extra energy is being transported. However there weren't any visible consoles there. Perhaps they also could be activated by pressing some of the hieroglyphs, or there aren't any consoles except those we already discovered." Joerg summarized his findings.

"Well that's not very much. But thank you for looking anyway."

"What have you accomplished here, while we were away?" Joerg asked.

"We have found the answers to some of the riddles, but we still have no way to communicate with the crew members."

"Have you considered using the device that sent Enquist to the tournament, to send someone to a specific history, so that this person could help our crew mates?"

"Yes, but we aren't quite sure if we can sent someone to a certain time line. We still try to find out what all those buttons do."

"If you need a volunteer to send back to some of our crew members, I'd do this job." Joerg stated.

"I don't think this is a wise decision right now, but should we find no other alternative I'll reconsider your offer Commander."

"Of course we also have to find a way out of this complex ourselves Lieutenant."

"Yes, but I'm quite sure once we fully understand all the controls, we'll be able to leave this complex intact."

'I only hope you're right.' he thought while watching the scientist going back to work on the consoles.

Chiron awoke in a dark, rock-walled cell. He was in a rather uncomfortable position on the floor, and stirred as he took in his surroundings.

"Chiron" Nilani whispered, forgetting momentarily of Chiron's hearing problems, "Are you all right?"

Sensing her concern, he shook his head. He had a headache to rival a phaser set on stun. He raised his hand up to where the pain seemed to be centered, touched his head, then looked at the hand. It was stained with the white blood of a wound. This wasn't good... If he lost too much blood...

Nilani noticed the large gash on his head. She bent over, scooped up some of the mud that paved the floor of the cell, and applied it to Chiron's forehead. "Here," She said, as she spread the slop around, "this should help for now."

Although it hurt immensely to project, Chiron sent a message to Nilani. 'I believe I have found the riddle that the Obelisk mentioned. It was on the blade of the sword of one of those knights. If we can discover the answer to the riddle, then I may be able to send the answer to the others. They can activate the obelisk, and return... us... home....'

The Tamarian struggled with the last few words. Kahn eased him back into a laying position on the floor. "You need to rest, now... conserve your energy for when we need it. I'll work out the riddle."

[ The Schizoid Man ]

"The Return"
by Lt.(jg) K'arta

K'arta and Ronni discovered that they didn't return with the other group of Starfleet officers in Salem. Slightly alarmed, Ronni determined that they needed to key in the answer to the riddle with the pattern she'd used earlier in order to go home. She quickly keyed in the proper sequence and they were enveloped in the red mist again.

They opened their eyes to see several people running toward them. They were all in Starfleet uniforms. Exausted and relieved that they were back in their home time, K'arta had an idea.

"After this, you have to come horseback riding with me." K'arta asked her Delphinian friend. Ronni agreed and the two split up. One searching for her nemesis, the other for another good friend.

K'arta found Miran close by. The small Bajoran was looking frantically around her as more and more people appeared from their travels.

"Miran, how are you?" K'arta asked, touching her friend on the shoulder.

Miran jumped a little, she wasn't expecting K'arta to find her. "I'm fine." she responded then sneezed.

Raising an eyebrow at the Bajorans sneeze K'arta asked, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"I'm looking for Deiran. Do you see him?" Miran sounded worried.

"Not yet, but I'll help you look for him." The pair headed toward one of the monoliths that stood nearby. "Ronni and I are going riding soon, would you like to join us?" K'arta asked her friend.

"I'd love to." Miran said smiling.

K'arta looked over another group of people and spotted Miran's husband.

"There he is. I think he's coming this way." K'arta put her hand up and waved to Deiran as he pushed his way toward them. Miran started toward him also.

K'arta smiled as she watched their reunion. She would leave them alone so they could talk and comfort each other.

"Effects"
By Ensign Thomas

Chris was excited to be back in their time and not stuck in the 17th century. Though he was still all be it disoriented from the time traveling that they had experienced. Unfortunately they were not returned to the Galaxy. They were on the planet's surface which still left them with the problem of saving the Galaxy from burring up in on entry into the planet's surface.

Chris wasted no time in coming up with a couple of ways that might allow them to regain control of the Galaxy or at least by more time. He would of course have to clear any action that he came up with, with Commander Coe. Chris set to laying out his plans, unless there was a riddle that was preventing them from returning. He suspected that the real problem they faced was figuring how to back to the Galaxy, since there was likely no one left onboard. He now wished he left the AHE on the ship he could've, then stopped and turned heading to talk with Commander he had already come with two things that needed to be done.

"Commander Coe, I assume that you've been working on how to get back onto the Galaxy. I have a couple of ideas that might just might prevent the Galaxy from being destroyed or provide us with a way to get back. However upon returning to the ship I surmise that any person to arrive, would likely be transported back in time again." Chris said as he watched the Commander, though he was only an ensign he was experienced with certain things that most of the crew had never had to face.

"Well let me hear your plan and I then I'll tell you what I think." Commander Coe said.

"I propose the following steps; first using the emergency communication setup I arranged earlier. Second I believe I may have away of a minimal buying us some additional time, however it require an extensive setup, before it would be ready. To this I propose that with most of my equipment still here on the planet I could reconfigure the AHEv1.2 to more suitable template for this situation. I will require someone who is a qualified pilot and who knows the ship. I will from careful programing reconfigure this AHEv1.2 to reflect the subject that I use as the template. When the Galaxy comes back around I will use the transporter that I integrated into this one. I will of course need to recharge it before trying this to ensure the best results. Once there I'll have the program first stop and recharge itself and then head for engineering or the bridge to make course adjustments periodically as needed. The only catch is that it may only be able to buy us an additional couple of days before the circuity fails. In any event successful or this holo emitter will be history. I fell that it is worth chance and the price, I hope that you will agree with me." Ensign Thomas said as he considered his proposal, he'd need some additional help most likely. Lt. Ronni Morris had just appeared after having failed to make the trip with them the first time or at least someone looking like him. If Lt. Morris was here his talents would be of great help, Chris knew that the Lt. was a scientist of what Chris was not sure, but he suspect that Ronni's talents might be useful. Though he truly wish he knew where Chief Engineer Huthcraft was or Lt. (jg) Chiron. He would be facing one of the greatest undertakings he had ever considered trying, but he had to try for Colby's and Dev's sake for entire crew he would risk everything to save the Galaxy and her crew.

Chris Patton

"Shuttle"
By: Ensign Mélissa Marie Boudreau

After a brief discussion with Commander Coe, Ensign Boudreau and Ensign Mercury headed towards the downed shuttlecraft. It wasn't the longest walk, but it wasn't the most pleasant one Mélissa had ever been on either. The planet seemed a little dry for her taste. They reached the shuttle and got straight to work.

"How long do you suppose it will take to get these sensors operational?" Mélissa asked.

The other officer turned towards her. "It's kind of hard to tell at first glance... the shuttle isn't damaged too much but who can tell about the sensors themselves."

"I guess that means we should get to work. We have to find out what's going on up there or we could be in big trouble." She tried to give a little smile as the engineers got to work.

After a lot of tinkering, adjusting, and a few scrapes and bruises from all twisted metal Mélissa replaced the panel where she had been working. "That's the best I can do with this sensor relay. How are you doing?" she asked her friend.

Hopefully, they would be done soon. Mélissa was ready for a good night's sleep.

Amélie Aka:
Ensign Mélissa Marie Boudreau
Engineering Officer USS Galaxy NCC-70637