Chapter Text
“We are now entering system XY-587, dropping to sub-light speed,” said Lif Culsten as he entered the warp drive shutdown command into the conn.
The viewscreen at the front emphasized the deceleration when the image came to a near standstill.
“Are we still sure this is the system we’ve seen on the Hyterian map?” said Edison from his chair next to the captain.
“The location of this system is consistent with the markings on the star map,” said Xylion, sitting at his usual post at the aft science station.
Edison referred to the computer screen mounted to his right. “The map seemed to be referring to a sizable asteroid belt.”
Michael stood and took a few steps toward the viewscreen. “Dee, are you able to locate it?”
Her fingers started to dance across the touch controls of her console. After a few seconds, the ship’s sensors informed her of the result of the scan. She shook her head. “There is no significant asteroid presence within this system.”
Michael turned to Xylion, fixing him with an asking expression.
Edison stood as well. “Perhaps this isn’t the right place after all. Did we make a mistake?”
The Vulcan considered Edison as if he had just proposed the unfeasible. “The Hyterian map is surprisingly precise and correlates to current cartographical data with an eighty-eight point six five percent accuracy.”
“Could Spooner have been right after all? Are we on a wild goose chase?” said Edison and looked at the captain.
Michael turned to face the screen again, staring at the emptiness it currently displayed. There was a dim star in the distant background, radiating very little light. “Are there any M-class planetoids in this system?”
“XY-587 is a main sequence red dwarf unlikely to support habitable planets. The star is also prone to high levels of solar flare activity and produces strong magnetic fields,” said Xylion.
“In other words, not a prime vacation spot,” quipped Culsten.
“Wait, this can’t be the right system,” said DeMara after double-checking her readings and then looking up from her console. “There are only five planets here.”
Edison nodded as he stepped closer to look over her shoulder. “The projection had eight planets.”
“The Hyterian chart says we’re in the right place but the system does not match the one in the projection,” said Michael still looking at the screen. “What are we missing here, people?”
Silence followed, filling the bridge with the gentle operational hum of the ship’s instruments and engines.
Michael refused to believe that this mission had come to an end before it had even begun as he walked back to his chair to sit down. He glanced at his first officer, but Gene Edison had no answers to give.
“With the assistance of the computer, I have thoroughly re-analyzed and compared our charts with all data points we were able to collect on Dentura. There is no question, in my opinion, that we are at the correct coordinates as indicated on the Hyterian map,” said Xylion.
“But we’re missing three planets and one asteroid belt,” said Culsten. “They can’t just disappear, can they?”
“Dee, put the Hyterian projection on screen,” said Michael.
Momentarily, the display on the screen changed to a rotating wireframe of the projection the away team had activated on the planet. One large central globe with eight smaller planets slowly moving around it in their respective orbits. A small dot within a much larger arrangement of dots of various sizes near the seventh planet shimmered more brightly than the rest of the illustration.
“Now show me this system on the same scale next to it.”
The wireframe moved to the left while on the right an orrery of XY-587 appeared. This one was much more detailed and displayed in photorealistic colors. It featured a much smaller central star and only five planets surrounding it.
“Those are different systems,” said Culsten.
“Not necessarily,” said Xylion who had left his station to move closer to the main screen. “Two of the planets in this system appear to have a similar mass as the two outer planets in the Hyterian projection,” he added and pointed at the screen, not unlike a college professor teaching a class of students.
“They’re the same,” said DeMara.
“This projection is what? Over a hundred-thousand years old. That’s a long time. What if the system has changed?” said Michael. “The star seems much smaller; it might have lost matter and altered the gravity forces in this system.”
“A significant shift in gravimetrical forces in this system would have affected the orbits of the planets,” said the Vulcan and returned to his station. “I’m running a simulation based on the star losing mass and gravimetrical pull consistent with its contemporary condition.”
On the screen, the wireframe projection took on a more natural look, similar to the illustration on the right. The large central globe grew smaller causing the surrounding planets to change orbits. The paths of the inner planets closed on each other until they intersected. The first planet collided with the star and disappeared, making it quickly lose even more matter. Then the second planet and the third planet collided with each other, eradicating both. In the end, all that was left were five planets that had significantly closed to their sun. It was now an almost exact replica of the model on the left.
“We are in the right system,” said Culsten.
“Mystery solved,” said DeMara with a smile.
Michael stood and gave Xylion a satisfied nod. “But this is only the first step. Can you tell what happened to the asteroids, Commander? Have they been destroyed?”
The Vulcan returned to enter commands into his station. “According to the simulation, the shockwave resulting from the collision of the second and third planet pushed the asteroids into outer space,” he said. “I’m calculating their position now.”
“Let’s hope they survived that shockwave,” said Edison.
“I have a position,” the Vulcan said and stood. “Helm, change our heading to five-six mark one-seven-six.” He looked at the captain. “According to my calculations, the asteroids should be six-thousand-three-hundred-fifty-five point five astronomical units from our present position.”
“They made quite the trip,” said Edison.
Michael nodded. “Mister Culsten, get us there now. Warp five.”
* * *
A journey that had taken the stellar rocks centuries took Eagle barely five minutes. They found the asteroids exactly where Xylion had predicted them. But the crew made another more unexpected discovery. They were not alone.
The viewscreen displayed another starship hovering near one of the bigger rocks. The pale-yellow ship was roughly ankh-shaped, with two wing-like protrusions flowing out from its wedge-like forward hull and a long narrow tail ending in a fork shape.
“Confirmed as a Cardassian Galor-class cruiser,” said Leva from the tactical station and reaffirming earlier suspicions.
“Romulans, Klingons, and now it looks as if the Cardassians have joined the party as well,” said DeMara.
“The more the merrier,” added Culsten
Michael rose from his chair. “Hardly.”
“We should all just ask them to come over for a cup of tea and talk about this,” said Culsten with a smirk. “You know, like civilized people.”
Michael looked for his science officer. “What do you make of the asteroid, Commander?”
“I believe it’s what we are looking for. Sensors are detecting a structure of artificial origin within the rock as well as a breathable oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. I detect similar materials and structural designs as on Hyteria and Dentura.”
“Are there any life signs inside the asteroid? Cardassian perhaps?” said Edison and stepped up to Deen’s console in the front.
She shook her head, “Nothing I can detect.”
“Mister Leva, hail the Cardassians,” Michael said. “Maybe we can persuade them to that cup of tea after all.”
Leva shook his head after operating his board. “They are not responding.”
“Thoughts?” Michael said, looking at his first officer.
Gene Edison studied the screen. “We’re in the right place. We know that and our Cardassian friends know that. They also know why we’re here. But they know something that we don’t and they’re not feeling like sharing,” he said and looked at the captain. “I say we go over there and have a look for ourselves.”
“You think this artifact might be inside the asteroid?”
“Perhaps. But I know that we can’t afford not to look.”
He nodded. “I agree,” he said. “Assemble an away team. And I suppose I don’t have to tell you to exercise extreme caution while you’re over there.”
“You sure don’t,” he said and looked at Xylion who was already on his feet and ready to join him.
DeMara also stood from her station but Edison stopped her with a quick shake of his head. “I’d like you to stay on Eagle.”
“If this is about that little mix-up with Klingons on Dentura—”
“It’s not. We just don’t know what we’ll find over there. And with the confined space, I’d like to keep the away team as small as possible.”
Her disappointment was obvious. From their very first discovery, she had been among those most enthusiastic about piecing together the mysteries of the Hyterians and their complex culture. To be left out now while investigating an ancient site that promised to contain more secrets of this mysterious race was clearly a source of frustration to her.
“Sorry Dee, I’ll make it up to you,” he said and headed for the turbolift with Xylion following closely.
“You better,” she said under her breath. She exchanged a glance with the captain.
Michael offered an innocent shrug, his policy had long since been to leave away team assignments to his XO.
She uttered a little sigh and returned to her station, receiving a sympathetic look from Culsten.
* * *
Gene had opted to bring Lieutenant Louise Hopkins, Eagle’s young but gifted chief engineer into the asteroid. Initially, she hadn’t been too fond of the idea of traveling deep inside a rock since she generally didn’t go on away missions, preferring the simplicity and controlled environment of her engine room instead.
Hopkins had never joined Starfleet to be an explorer or to see new worlds but to keep herself challenged with the demanding needs of a starship engine. That’s what she was best at and that’s what she liked doing. But Gene realized that her expertise could come in handy when investigating an ancient space station that was still running after centuries in continuous operation.
“I had no idea,” she said, her mouth open in awe as she took in her surroundings.
The away team of four had been transported into the asteroid and now stood at the center of what seemed to be a huge cavern. The ceiling far above their heads was glowing in bright golden light, doing a great job of imitating daylight. The walls surrounding them were shimmering with colorful lights. They were not fixed, however, and every few seconds a spark of light would crawl up or down the wall creating an ever-changing orchestra of color and light.
The four of them stood on an elevated platform made out of solid stone and they found four paths leading in each direction. They weren’t much wider than three meters at the most and had no railings whatsoever. About ten meters below was a lake, and way down at the bottom more crystal lights shimmered through the clear water.
“I think this might be new to all of us,” said Gene who couldn’t quite suppress his astonishment either. For a moment he was reminded of fairy tales he had read when he had been a child about caverns filled with gold and precious stones. The place they had come to looked much more like a treasure cove than a space station.
Hopkins tried to get closer to one of the walls and failed to realize that the platform they were standing on did not reach all the way to it. When she reached the edge with no intention of stopping, Nora reached for her shoulder and pulled her back.
“Watch out,” she said. “Unless you want to go for a swim.”
Hopkins looked at her friend and then down at the water below.
Xylion had also approached the edge and took a knee to take a closer scan of the lake with his tricorder. “Interesting, the water seems to run throughout the entire facility and supplies the station with oxygen.”
“No life support system?” said Hopkins almost disappointed, clearly eager at getting a chance to examine whatever astonishing technology was at work here.
Xylion pointed at the water. “That is the life support system.”
The young engineer nodded slowly. “I wonder what kind of artificial gravity network is keeping us planted to the floor.”
Gene looked around, trying to examine where the four paths led to. They all seemed to disappear into other caverns. “Commander, do you have any idea where to go?”
The Vulcan checked his device. “I read a power source five hundred meters from our position.”
“Well, let’s go find it,” said Hopkins enthusiastically while pulling out her scanning device. Before Gene could say anything, she was already heading out.
He smiled and followed her and so did the other officers.
The stone path they were walking on led them out of the main cavern and into a brightly lit hallway. It connected the first chamber with a much smaller one. Here too they walked onto a narrow path to cross the lake below until they stepped onto a more solid rock formation.
“The Hyterians have integrated this structure seamlessly into the asteroid, it seems,” said Xylion.
“I wish we could find out how they did it. Their engineering skills must have been astonishing,” said Hopkins and then stopped. She had reached the end of the cavern. A massive stone door was embedded into the rock, hindering their progress.
She turned to face the others. “The power signature emanates from somewhere beyond this door. There is definitely some sort of complex technology at work here.”
Gene stepped closer to the door and touched the stone. He wasn’t surprised to find it warm. “I suppose we can’t rely on help from the locales this time.”
Hopkins offered him a puzzled look.
“There are no inscriptions on this door. The opening mechanism must be different from the one on Dentura,” said Xylion.
“Commander, take a look at this,” said Nora who was standing at the edge of the rock platform.
Gene and the others joined her and found steps that had been carved into the rock. They were leading down and into the water.
“Maybe the Hyterians were great swimmers,” said Hopkins.
Xylion shook his head slightly. “According to my readings, the water level exceeds the basin’s apparent design. It seems logical to assume that this part of the station has been flooded.”
“The opening mechanism could be down there,” said Hopkins and carefully walked onto the steps. There were only four above the water. She stepped on the last one and crouched down to touch the calm surface.
“Be careful,” said Nora who clearly didn’t appreciate her initiative, likely due to her inexperience with away missions.
Hopkins’ hand dipped into the water. She turned her head. “It’s nice and warm.”
“So what?”
“We could go in and see what’s down there.”
Nora shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“What’s wrong, Laas?” Hopkins said with a smile. “Don’t like water?”
As a matter of fact, Nora Laas was not overly fond of it. But that wasn’t the main reason she disliked her friend’s idea. “We have no idea what might be in there,” she said and turned to Gene for support.
He looked at the stone door and then back at the body of water. “Commander, what can you tell about the water?”
Xylion referred to the tricorder. “It reads at ninety-eight percent H2O. I also detect small concentrations of several halogens that interfere with sensor readings” he said. “The lake also contains significant amounts of oxygen-producing algae, however, toxicity levels are within safe parameters.”
Nora turned to Gene. “Commander, I do not like the idea of sending anyone down there.”
“I volunteer,” said Hopkins and stood.
Nora turned and pointed at her as if she was about to put her in her place but Gene cut her off.
“You’re absolutely right, Lieutenant. I’m not going to send anyone in there.”
Nora nodded with approval.
“I’ll go for a little dive,” he said.
“What? No!”
But Gene had made up his mind and was already approaching the edge of the platform.
“Commander, I must strongly protest.”
“Laas, our mission is clear. We must find out the whereabouts of the artifact and at the moment the only way to do that is to go down there,” he said and pointed at the water below.
Nora sighed. “Fine, then let me go.”
“I was the captain of the swim team back at the Academy. Anybody else here who can make that claim?” he said even as he took off his uniform jacket. He shot a quick look at his officers, satisfied that he heard no other objections. He then turned to Xylion. “What will I find down there?”
“Sensors are still having difficulties penetrating below a certain depth, but the basin appears to be at least fifty meters deep. Due to the asteroid’s properties, the pressure is less than 1.1 bar at ten meters. I cannot detect any life forms besides algae.”
Gene nodded. “That should make for a pretty comfortable dive,” he said and took a few steps away from the edge. “You stay here and wait for me until I come back,” he added, took three running steps, and leaped into the water with a perfectly executed header.
Nora hurried to the rim and noted the disturbed surface of the water. Somewhere below she could spot him quickly descending into the depth of the lake. After a few seconds, he disappeared.
The three officers remained by the edge for almost four full minutes, anxiously awaiting his return.
Nora turned to Xylion. “How long can humans hold their breath?”
“Human apnea can last for more than eight minutes when submerged below water. Any longer could cause brain damage,” he said. “I find it doubtful that the Commander can hold his breath for such a long duration, however.”
Hopkins stepped up the stairs and joined Nora who was still looking into the water trying to find Edison again. She put a hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t like this,” said Nora.
“Give him another minute.”
But she was already taking off her jacket along with the golden uniform shirt she wore underneath, leaving her in a gray tank top. She drew her phaser. “Is this thing waterproof?”
“It’s not really designed to operate below water.”
“Great,” said Nora and pressed her weapon into Louise’s hands. “Hold that for me,” she added, obviously not happy about leaving her sidearm. “I’ll be right back.” Not a moment later she too had jumped into the lake head first.
Hopkins was standing close enough to get soaked by the splash she had made. Wiping off her wet face she turned to Xylion. “Are away missions always this much fun?” she said with sarcasm lining her voice.
Xylion raised an eyebrow in response.
* * *
Nora Laas quickly realized that the asteroid lake was much deeper than it had appeared from above. It also suddenly occurred to her that it had been quite a while since she had actually dived, in fact, she hadn’t done so since a mandatory exercise at the Academy years earlier, and it took her a few moments to get used to the idea of being completely submerged in water.
She had never been entirely comfortable with being underwater ever since she had nearly been drowned by a Cardassian to extract information from her. She had almost died during the torture session in which she had been repeatedly thrown into a river. She had never given up what she had known but the experience had scarred her for life.
Doing her job, she decided, took precedence over childhood trauma.
And it wasn’t just doing her job. She had to know that Gene was all right.
The mild temperature and the seemingly light consistency of the water made the dive fairly easy and she descended rapidly. Almost too rapidly.
The shimmering walls all around her and the thick algae at the bottom, however, made it a challenge to find her bearings, or Gene for that matter.
She stopped moving for a moment, and instead just floated, trying to take in her surroundings.
She spotted a much more powerful source of light coming from the farthest rock wall. With air running out, she really only had two choices, so she went for the light.
As she got closer, she realized that it wasn’t just a light source, it was a tunnel. She spared one last look toward the surface, but by now it was clear that she was committed, she had to push on.
She slipped into the passageway and pressed on as fast as she could. She knew she wasn’t the best swimmer, but with a growing sense of desperation mixed in, she practically raced through the tunnel, battling not only the water but also her rapidly growing need for air.
The tunnel felt never-ending, and with each forward thrust, she became more and more conscious that she may never get to the other side of it. Images of the ugly and distorted face of a Cardassian soldier filled her mind, grinning at her from above the water, teasing her with the endless supply of air he had access to, while he kept his firm grip on her throat below him.
The walls were starting to move in on her and she was fighting every instinct to try and take a desperate breath of nonexistent air.
Then, finally, after what had felt like an eternity underwater, the tunnel ended and led into another cavern.
She shot upward like a missile and breached the surface.
Laas had never valued air more than she did at that moment, sucking it in eagerly as if she hadn’t tasted its sweetness in years.
She was so consumed with filling her lungs, she didn’t even notice the hand that had reached out for her at first. Not until she was suddenly pulled out of the water and onto a rock ledge.
“Had a feeling you would come looking for me.”
Laas coughed and then recognized Edison standing over her. “I… we were concerned,” she said while slowly making it to her feet.
He took her arm to help her up. “I understand,” he said. “I would’ve called in but it seems I lost my communicator,” he said and looked at her soaked clothes to find that her combadge was absent as well.
Laas took a few steps away from the water to get a better look at her new surroundings. The cavern was much smaller and the ceiling hung much lower than in the others they had come across so far. She noticed that the walls were decorated with different colored crystals and that they were the cause of the shimmering lights all around them. The crystals did not just reflect light but also shined in their own respective colors. The color scheme did not seem fixed and every once in a while, the color inside a crystal would travel to a neighboring stone. All this made the cavern appear like a constantly changing rainbow.
“This is beautiful,” she said after watching the changing light patterns for a moment.
He stepped next to her. “Touch one.”
She looked at him and then, encouraged by a short nod, she walked toward the wall. She cautiously reached out and touched the closest crystal. Its surface was warm and smooth. She felt the transparent stone vibrate gently. It became stronger and quickly spread out to the surrounding crystals. The bright azure light contained within it began to fluctuate. The vibrations turned into a humming sound that echoed throughout the entire cavern in a pleasant melody. Then, when the humming reached its highest tone, the light expanded and spread out across all the other stones along the wall and ceiling.
She let go of the crystal and turned to look around. The entire cavern was now lit up in that same azure light and the crystals resonated their slowly dying song.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The blue light from the ceiling crystals dimmed first and small particles of light rained down like blue snow. The song ended and the crystals all around them once again took on their various colors.
A wide smile came over her face. The entire event had been quite astonishing and surprisingly soothing after having nearly drowned in the tunnel earlier. She couldn’t quite explain the feeling but she knew that she wanted to do it again and she wanted to share the experience with him. It took her a few seconds before she could find her voice again. “That was incredible.”
He nodded. Whatever effect it had had on her it seemed quite obvious that he had felt similar. She was glad about that. But as much as she wanted to experience it all again, she knew that she could not allow herself to get lost in emotions. They had a mission, and that had to be their priority.
She reluctantly turned away from him and closed on something that had caught her eye. It was the only part of the cavern that was not covered with crystals. It was a smooth stone surface, quite obviously not natural. It had a small platform imbedded in it and on top of it sat a sole piece of stone.
“What’s this?” she said as she stepped closer.
Gene followed. “I’m not sure. I believe it’s some sort of altar or shrine,” he said and then stepped up to it and touched the smooth surface. “There are inscriptions here that look Hyterian.”
She looked at chest high platform and at the piece of rock that lay perfectly at its center. On closer inspection, she realized that it wasn’t just some rock but a man-crafted piece. It was smooth and curved but it looked broken at two ends. It wasn’t much bigger than an average-sized hand.
Gene had gone into a crouch to look at the inscriptions below the platform. “These almost look like drawings.”
She joined him. The depictions were carved directly into the stone and were rather crude, not at all like the carefully arranged Hyterian runes. “Maybe it’s some sort of warning.”
“As in, do not touch this or you die?” he said with a boyish grin.
She shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s the work of bored children.”
He used his hand to brush over the surface to reveal more drawings that had been covered up by dirt and dust. The depictions were of distinctly humanoid figures and they seemed to carry some sort of weapons. It appeared as though they were engaged in a battle with something that Edison couldn’t quite make out. In the next depiction, the humanoids were lying on the ground, defeated, possibly dead. There was another pair of carvings below with the same figures but without weapons. In that one, they remained standing.
“This is pointless,” she said after looking at the engravings and stood. “This is clearly important. Let’s just take it and return to the others.”
“Wait.”
But she had already reached for the piece of rock on the platform and picked it up. She turned to him. “What?”
He looked around ominously as if he expected something to happen.
“Oh come on, you don’t really believe that just because I pick up a piece of rock–“
The ground under their feet began to tremble.
She almost lost her balance but he caught her before she could fall.
The crystals around them began to play that same melody they had heard before but something was different this time. There seemed to be more urgency in the music-like resonance. The colors began to change more rapidly now and the sounds did not die down. The pitch was getting increasingly higher and the vibrations were becoming so strong, the crystals started to tremble.
He looked at her. “You were saying?”
One of the crystals crashed to the floor and loudly splinter just a couple of meters from where they were standing.
She looked up. The lights were dimming and the crystals on the cavern ceiling were shaking so hard, they were all threatening to come loose and rain down on them like bombs.
“I think this is our cue to get out of here,” said Nora.
“Agreed.”
Without any further delay, they ran toward the lake and dove straight into it. Just seconds after that, another more violent tremor shook the cave. They could feel it even in the water and were shocked to see that the passageway they had used before was starting to collapse.
He waved her in the opposite direction to another, nearly identical tunnel.
She acknowledged and then followed him inside.
* * *
Louise Hopkins had been staring into the lake for two minutes and couldn’t help but be worried about Edison and Nora. They had both disappeared into the depth below and were clearly overdue.
She turned to Xylion but as usual, his face was a perfect mask of neutrality, making it near impossible to know what was going through his mind. “Do you think they’re ok?”
Xylion took a look at his tricorder. “I still detect two life signs. That implies that they are alive.”
She turned to the lake again. “But they might be in trouble.” She wanted to jump in and go after them but she knew that she would probably be of little help. It was much more likely that she would get into the same predicament Laas and Edison had gotten themselves into. Whatever that was.
Xylion tapped his combadge. “Lieutenant Commander Xylion to Eagle.”
“This is Leva, how’s it going over there?”
“Not so good, we’ve lost contact with Edison and Nora,” said Louise when she heard his voice.
“Are you able to locate them and beam them back to our location?” said Xylion.
There was a short pause before Leva spoke again. “I’ve got them.”
A sudden and violent tremor shook the cavern. It was so unexpected that Louise lost her balance and fell to the ground. Xylion was slightly more effective but struggled to remain on his feet.
“What the hell was that?” said Louise still on the ground.
Xylion stepped up to her and easily pulled her back onto her feet. “We do not have sufficient information for a reliable conclusion.”
“Commander Leva, we just experienced some sort of shockwave. Do you know what happen?” said Louise once she was back on her feet.
Silence.
“Something is interfering with communications,” said Xylion.
“Look.” She pointed at the stone door that had been sealed earlier but now showed a small ray of light shining through a crease that had not been there before.
Xylion walked up to the door, slid his fingers inside the gap, and tried to push the door open. The heavy stone moved less than a centimeter.
“You think you can open it?”
“It is a simple matter of relaxing the muscles in my body and then applying the right amount of pressure,” he said and pushed again. This time the door seemed to glide open easily. He stopped once the gap was wide enough for them to pass through.
“Not bad,” she said and slipped through the opening.
Behind the door, they found a narrow passageway very similar in design to the ones they had seen on the other Hyterian colonies. Their surroundings looked man-made even though the principal material was still stone.
The bright illumination made it fairly easy for them to find their way down the corridor but they proceed slowly and with all due caution regardless.
“This technology is truly amazing. None of this material looks like any metallic alloy or poly-plastics we are familiar with. It’s almost as if they built this whole thing out of marble and stone and somehow fused it with light and heat-emanating technology. I’d love to get a look at what powers this whole thing,” she said as she made her way down the corridor.
“There is no doubt that the Hyterians were extraordinarily skilled engineers and designers.”
“You can say that again.”
Xylion gave her a somewhat puzzled look. “What would be the purpose of reiterating my statement?”
She stopped and turned to face the Vulcan. She had a wide smile on her face.
“It would not surprise me if we could learn from studying their methods,” he said. When he realized that she was not going to continue he simply passed her by and took the lead.
Louise suppressed a chuckle and then turned to follow the Vulcan. “Working with humans must be irritating for you,” she said.
“It can be challenging on occasions.”
After only a few more meters the corridor ended and led them into a large oval-shaped room. Three more corridors opened up into this chamber. The high ceiling shone so brightly that it seemed like it was made out of pure light. Xylion immediately recognized the design. It was in many respects the exact duplicate of the two other rooms he had visited on planets light-years away. It had an identical shape and even the inscriptions on the walls seemed to be similar.
“Look familiar?” she said.
He gave her a short nod and then proceeded to the same point where they had found the map on Dentura. Just as he had suspected, here too there was a large circle symbol containing representations of stars and stellar phenomena. This map displayed a different part of space. Whereas the first circle had only been filled in the lower left corner, this one was completely blank except for the upper right section.
Xylion directed his tricorder at the symbol to begin an immediate recording. Once he had everything the device could gather, he approached the wall and touched the highlighted star within the circle. He stepped aside when a focused beam shot out of the wall and projected a three-dimensional image of a solar system at the center of the room.
“Neat trick.”
“I believe we have found another clue to the whereabouts of the artifact,” said Xylion.
Louise was more interested in the projection system than in the projection itself. She approached the wall but found that whatever was creating the projection was deep within the stone wall, with no obvious way to get to it.
“There must be some maintenance access or something like it,” she said while inspecting the wall more closely.
Xylion moved to the center of the room and faced the projection. Like the last one, this too was a wireframe orrery made of auburn light.
This time three planets revolved around two stars. The third planet was highlighted more brightly than the others.
“How would they have fixed their systems when they broke down?” said Louise with increasing frustration. Here she was, on a space station that utilized technology every engineer in the galaxy would kill to get their hand on, and she couldn’t find a way to see what made it all tick.
“This station may have been in continuous operation for more than one thousand years. It stands to reason that the technology operating this facility does not require any maintenance,” said Xylion without taking his eyes off the projection.
She turned around. “Systems that do not need to be maintained? Imagine the possibilities,” she said and brought up Nora’s phaser she still held in her hand, considering for a moment to try and blow a hole into the solid wall.
“It would make engineering personnel obsolete.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
Xylion turned to face her. “I did not mean to offend you, Lieutenant. But the fact remains that this installation has not been attended to in a very long time and still appears to be fully functional.”
“All right,” she said conceding the point. “But this isn’t a starship, it hasn’t been traveling through space at faster-than-light speeds encountering unforeseen challenges and dangers. And most importantly, there haven’t been any people around here to mess things up as they are prone to.”
“A valid argument. Although it did, apparently survive the destruction of its home system.”
She smiled at her apparent victory.
“It would be difficult to ascertain for certain the degree of maintenance required if this station had been in active use. The fact that it has survived a catastrophic event within its home system without any apparent damage however gives further proof to the technical ingenuity of its creators.”
“There is that.”
Xylion turned his head slightly as though something unseen had caught his attention.
“What is it?”
“Do you not hear?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I hear nothing. Must be those pointy ears of yours.”
Only seconds later she did hear a faint noise coming from somewhere deeper within the asteroid. Three additional passageways led into the room but she couldn’t see anything or anyone within them.
And then, what had begun as a faint whisper, suddenly boomed through the room. It was so loud, she thought it would pierce her eardrums, even as she reached up to cover them. The bright white light up above changed to a dark blue, drowning the room in an ominous and gloomy azure color.
“What is it?” she yelled at the top of her voice.
Xylion showed some irritation but was otherwise unaffected by the deafening noise. “It’s an alien language I am unfamiliar with,” he said loud enough for her to understand. “It would be logical to assume that it is Hyterian.”
After a short while the sound became more tolerable and she removed her hands from her ears. She could make out the alien voice now. It had an undeniable urgency to it and it seemed to repeat itself over and over again. She had no idea what it was saying.
“Something tells me they’re not saying ‘welcome to our space station’.”
Her fears were confirmed when she saw something approach them from within one of the corridors. She couldn’t quite make out what it was at first. Once it had cleared the passageway and entered the room, however, she knew what she was facing. At least in a technical sense. The drone was of the simplest design. It consisted of a one-meter high and half-a-meter-wide rectangular block. On top of it rested a head-sized globe. The gray device was featureless and looked as if it had been carved out of solid rock. It hovered over the ground and approached them slowly.
Instinctively, they both took a step backward.
“Interesting,” said Xylion. “I wonder what its intentions are.”
She drew her phaser and pointed it at the approaching machine. “I don’t think it’s here to chat,” she said, with her back now pressed against the wall.
The drone showed no intention of stopping and continued to close in.
She fired her phaser but the crimson-colored energy beam was simply absorbed by its smooth surface. She quickly increased the power setting and fired again. This time the beam penetrated the drone and it crashed to the floor.
She sighed with relief and noticed that sparks were coming out of the hole her phaser had torn into the rectangular part of the drone. She cautiously approached the damaged machine and kneeled next to it. She could see some sort of circuitry within it and was surprised to find it quite easy to tear away the outer casing. It felt and looked like stone but it wasn’t. The inner workings she revealed were a complete mystery to her. She had never seen anything like it.
“This is amazing,” she said under her breath while investigating the circuitry. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
She touched one of the many transparent tubes containing some sort of blue liquid that ran along the insides of the drone. She felt a rather strong discharge and her fingers retracted immediately. “Damn.”
“Are you injured?” said Xylion, looking over her shoulder.
“I’m fine, just a little static shock.”
“Perhaps you should apply more caution.”
“Duly noted,” she said and went back to work inside the drone. She carefully pushed the tubes aside and found a gleaming crystal at the center of the machine. It seemed like it could have been the power source. And it was still active. She pulled on it and it came loose. As soon as she had taken it out of the drone the white light within it died.
“Another drone,” said Xylion.
She looked up to see it coming down the same passageway the first one had come out of. She quickly got back to her feet.
A lighting ray shot out of the globe of the approaching drone and missed her by hand length. It struck the wall behind her and hit the projection emitter. The projection flickered and then disappeared entirely. The powerful lightning ray had ripped a small hole into the sturdy wall.
She quickly took cover behind one of the columns and Xylion behind the opposite one.
“I guess it’s safe to say that they have hostile intentions,” she said.
“I concur,” said Xylion and fired his phaser. His aim was dead on but he had not yet increased the power settings on his weapon and it showed no effect on the drone. He promptly corrected his mistake and fired again. The drone became immobilized only a couple of meters short of the column Louise was standing behind.
“I don’t know about you but I’d rather return to Eagle now,” she said.
“Agreed. However, I’m unable to raise the ship.”
Her glance fell upon the hole that the drone had torn into the wall. She could see circuitry running within it.
“Maybe there’s something I can do about that,” she said and walked up to the wall. She noted that the wall was indeed made out of stone but she managed with some effort to break parts of it away and increase the size of the hole in the process. Behind it, she found a design very similar to the interior of the drone. There were numerous transparent wires and tubes with different colored fluids traveling through them. She could also see more crystals and quickly figured that they were either the power source or a system that transferred the energy from some other place within the station.
“I suggest you expedite your efforts.”
She turned only to spot another drone appearing from the passageway. She quickly faced the wall again, determined to make some sense of the alien circuitry.
Xylion in the meantime left the cover of the column to distract the drone and draw it away from her. The tactic worked and the machine locked onto him instead. It fired another lightning ray, he barely managed to avoid by jumping behind a column for cover.
He returned fire, landing a direct hit. The weapon’s beam left a dark scorch mark on the gray casing of the drone but failed to disable it.
He avoided another blast by quickly changing his position again and then increasing the setting on his phaser once more before firing. This time his efforts showed the desired effect and the drone shut down.
“The drones are becoming more resilient,” he said but was almost instantly distracted by yet another drone approaching him from one of the other corridors. He fired without hesitation.
The drone crashed to the floor before it could reach the room.
Louise rubbed her temples in an attempt to relieve some of the stress she felt coming on. As a chief engineer, she was no stranger to the sensation. And usually, she reveled in it, enjoying the challenge of working against a ticking clock. But that was when she was on board Eagle, where she perfectly understood what she was working with. Where she worked within a framework she was intricately familiar with, and where there were no damningly insistent voices booming across the room, except perhaps the occasional call from the bridge, demanding an update.
And even though she was not entirely in her element and she still didn’t understand everything she was looking at, she thought she was beginning to make some progress. “I think the drones are controlled by this interface,” she said mostly to herself and cautiously reached inside the circuitry to pull free some of the transparent tubes.
Two new drones were already approaching the room from two different passageways to replace the ones that had been disabled.
It was becoming rapidly obvious to Xylion that this self-defense system was designed to slowly increase in strength until it overpowered any intruders. He fired at one of the approaching devices but his weapon did little damage. He swiftly increased the setting and fired again.
After two shots the approaching drone was disabled. He noted that his phaser was now close to the maximum energy setting. He turned to look at the chief engineer, to encourage her to work faster, but after noticing how focused she appeared to be, he decided not to distract her.
He had to jump to evade another attack, took cover behind a column, and went back to trying to fend off the drones with phaser fire.
“These crystals seem to increase in energy output every time a drone is disabled,” she said, thinking out loud. “If I interrupt the connections, it might disengage the entire system.”
Xylion had just taken out the second drone but a new wave was already approaching. His weapon now at the maximum setting, it seemed doubtful he could defend against the increasingly stronger machines much longer. He disabled the first drone of the second wave as soon as he spotted it down the passageway but two more were approaching from other directions.
He started to slowly step back toward Hopkins as he continuously fired his phaser. “I strongly recommend that you find a way to deactivate these drones now.”
She turned around to see Xylion closing in on her with two drones in pursuit. His phaser was barely even slowing them down.
Realizing that she was out of time, she whipped back around, reached into the hole in the wall, grabbed as many of the tubes as she could, and ripped them clean out.
The two drones stopped and sagged to the floor.
She turned holding pieces of transparent wires, fluids dripping down her hand. A smile came over her lips when she realized that the drones had stopped.
Xylion holstered his weapon. “Good work, Lieutenant. Now we must find a way to–“
He stopped himself in midsentence when he realized that the drones began humming again.
Louise raced around to look at the circuitry and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Somewhere from above and utterly out of her reach, new connections grew out of the crystals. Like living tendrils, they were finding their way through the circuitry to repair the damage she had done. The engineer in her couldn’t help but be impressed by the self-healing abilities of the system but she knew all too well what it meant.
“We’re going to have a big problem here.”
* * *
Michael stepped onto the bridge after he had received the urgent call from So’Dan Leva that something on the asteroid had gone very wrong.
“Report,” he said as he strode toward the command area.
“We lost communications with the away team, sir,” said Leva while he returned to his post at tactical and by implication returning command of the ship to the captain. “One second I was talking to them and the next they were gone.”
“Dee?”
“Some sort of force field has been erected around the asteroid,” she said after checking her readouts. “I cannot say what might have triggered it.”
“Can sensors penetrate it?”
She shook her head. “No, but I can still make out the away team. They are definitely still alive. But there is no apparent way to reach them or bring them back.”
Michael didn’t like it. Losing contact with an away team mid-mission was what kept starship captains up at night. Not knowing what was going on made him feel helpless. Sure, he could try and mount a rescue mission, but with little to no information about the situation on the ground, there was a good chance that anyone he would send would find themselves equally trapped or worse.
For now, he needed to trust in the resourcefulness of his first officer to get the away team securely back to the ship. This was in no way the first time he had found himself in this position and not the first time that Edison would have managed his way out of a tight spot.
A warning sound chiming from Leva’s tactical console behind him caught his attention.
“The Cardassian ship is hailing us, sir.”
“Now they want to talk,” said Culsten.
Michael straightened his uniform jacket. He knew that whatever the Cardassians were up to, they had chosen this particular time to contact Eagle for good reason. “Let’s hear what they have to say.”
Seconds later the image on the screen shifted to show a Cardassian officer sitting confidently in a large chair, presumably on the bridge of his ship. He wore typical gray battle armor and the spoon-like ridges on his forehead left no doubt that he belonged to a warrior race. He was wearing a self-important smile, like a man with supreme confidence in himself and his position.
“This is Gul Renek from the Fifth Order of the Cardassian Union and commander of the Keldana. I extend my greetings,” said the man in such an exaggerated manner of politeness that it nearly defeated the purpose.
Michael nodded briefly to acknowledge him. “I’m Captain Owens of the Federation starship Eagle. What brings you to this part of unexplored and unclaimed space,” said Michael, making sure to emphasize that Renek had no jurisdiction here.
The Cardassian commander leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “You could say I’m something of a … what do you humans call it? Ah, yes. A Good Samaritan. Trying to help where I can.”
Leva uttered a sharp cough after hearing those words.
“Is that why you have chosen to contact us now, Gul Renek? To offer us your help?” said Michael, not fooled for even a moment that Renek did not have an agenda.
“Well, it does seem apparent that you have somewhat of a problem on your hands,” the Cardassian said calmly. “If only you had contacted us sooner, we could have warned you about the security systems in place on the asteroid. This could have been avoided.”
“We did try to contact you earlier,” said Culsten, glaring at the man on the screen.
Renek offered the young pilot only the briefest of glances before he focused on Michael again. “You did?” he said with an obviously fake expression of disbelief on his vaguely reptilian features. “We were rather busy and must have overlooked your call. What a shame, we could have saved you the trouble of having your people trapped over there.”
“What a shame, indeed,” said Michael by now well aware that Renek had no intentions whatsoever of providing useful assistance nor had he been interested in warning them. “If I may ask, how did you come to know about the asteroid and its security systems?”
“We were fortunate enough to have been warned before we arrived,” he said. He seemed uninterested in sharing any more information on the subject. “Now shall we move on to more pressing issues, Captain? After all your people are in great danger on the asteroid. I believe their safe return should be of paramount concern to you at the moment. I might have the means to help you return them.”
“I take it that the gracious help you’re offering will not be completely free, will it?”
Renek leaned forward in his chair. “Surely you understand that my noble deeds put enormous stress on my resources. It would only be fair for you to show us some gratitude for our efforts.”
“What is it you want?”
“It is clear by now that you are looking for the Hyterian artifact, an object of incredible scientific significance to my people. We will help you return your crewmen if you provide us with any data about the Hyterians you currently hold in your memory banks along with all information your crewmembers on the asteroid have collected. After all, the safety of your personnel is surely more important to you than a bit of scientific data.”
“Yes, you are correct, it is,” said Michael and took a step closer to the screen. “And that is exactly why I’m not going to trust you, Renek. Tell me, if you know how to circumvent the asteroid station’s security how come you haven’t gathered the information there yourself?” Michael continued without waiting for an answer. “To be blunt, I believe you are lying and trying to deceive us.” Michael turned his back to the screen. “Have a good day, Gul Renek.”
Leva ended the transmission before the Cardassian commander had a chance to reply.
Michael took his chair. “Mister Leva, keep a close eye on those Cardassians. I don’t want any more surprises.”
DeMara turned to face. “Now what are we going to do?”
“Keep scanning that force field for any weaknesses, see if you can find a way to penetrate it.”
She nodded, stood up, and walked over to the science station at the back of the bridge, hoping that she could find out more from Xylion’s station.
Michael glanced back at the screen. “In the meantime, we just have to trust our people to find a way to get out of there.”
* * *
Nora Laas was about to explode.
For the last two minutes, she had been diving through a narrow shaft, closely following Gene. He was going as fast as he could and she had to admit that it wasn’t easy to keep up. But the problem wasn’t the pace; the problem was the absence of air to breathe.
By the sounds and the eruptions all around them, it had been clear that the cavern they had been in only moments ago had completely collapsed. She knew she couldn’t take much more of this and if they wouldn’t find some breathable air soon, they’d both suffocate.
Her silent prayers were answered when the shaft finally led upwards and she could spot another light source above. The shaft opened up into yet another cavern. She immediately noticed the smooth and even surface of the ground as well as the other passageways that seemed to lead further into the station.
She didn’t have time to give it much thought, however, as her main focus remained following Gene and get to to the surface as soon as possible.
He stopped for a second to make sure she was still below him, then allowed her to catch up before they both emerged from their overlong dive. They immediately drew desperate breaths of refreshing air. Laas coughed out some water she had swallowed seconds before she had reached the surface.
“For somebody who doesn’t like water, you’re not a bad swimmer.”
“Who said I don’t like water?” she said in between coughs, trying to hide her immense discomfort.
“Could’ve fooled me,” he said and pointed to the edge of the artificial lake.
He swam ahead making sure she was following closely. He grabbed the edge and lifted himself out of the water. Once he was clear he turned around to help her onto the dry rock.
They both lay down flat on their backs, trying to recover after diving for their lives.
Laas was still busy coughing but after a few moments, it turned into laughter.
Gene turned his head to see what could have caused her such amusement.
“We’re in the middle of an asteroid floating freely in uncharted space. This is about the last place I’d ever thought I might drown.”
He joined her laughter. After a minute he got up to his feet to take a better look at his new surroundings. This cavern was as well illuminated as most of the other places on the ancient station thanks to the bright light emanating from the crystals all around them. The cavern was much colder than most of the other rooms they had been in, however. They were standing on a small and rocky outcropping clearly part of the asteroid itself and it didn’t look as if it had been purposefully constructed by the Hyterians. The ceiling of the cavern was just a few meters above their heads. There was no place to go but back into the lake.
Laas stood up as well. “What I would give for a dry uniform,” she said, looking down at her soaked clothes.
“Don’t count on that to happen for a while. It would seem like we’re about to get wet again,” he said looking down into the lake.
She sighed. “I don’t think I can take any more diving.”
“I don’t think we’ve got much of a choice here.” He took a knee by the edge. Something in the lake had caught his attention.
She stepped up to him. “What is it?”
“There’s something down there,” he said. “I’ve noticed it on my way up.”
She tried to spot whatever it was he was trying to find but she had no luck.
“Wait here,” he said and dove back into the lake before she could object.
She could make out his form diving to the ground. He seemed to be looking at something for a few seconds, then he returned to the surface.
“I need your help,” he said as soon as he shot out of the water.
She nodded and jumped in after him.
He led her to the ground. There was a lever mounted on the wall. It was a long, heavy rod that stuck straight out of the stone. There were some Hyterian characters carefully carved into the wall, undoubtedly explaining its function. He signaled her to grab the lever and push it downward. She nodded and did as he had advised. She quickly realized that the lever was stuck and did not move easily. Gene joined her and pushed as well. Being submerged in water made it difficult to apply pressure to the lever but after a few seconds their combined strength showed some effect and the rod slowly budged.
Laas heard a noise of stone moving against stone and soon after felt a current that became stronger the more the lever moved. The rod eventually locked into position and she looked up to see that parts of the wall had disappeared to reveal an opening, protected by fortified bars. The current she felt was created by the water streaming out of the cavern and into the opening.
Gene gave her a thumbs-up and they quickly made it back to the surface for a much-needed breath of air.
“With any luck, this will be the last diving we had to do,” he said.
She pulled herself out of the water to sit by the edge. She looked at the surface of the dwindling lake. Even though the current she had felt underwater had been quite noticeable, the water level dropped very slowly. “But it looks like we’ll have to wait a while.”
He left the lake as well to sit next to her. “Waiting beats any more diving, wouldn’t you say?”
She was quick to agree.
Yet she couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable. Sitting still and waiting, had never been one of her strengths. She knew that she could use the breather. Even though she would have never complained about physical exercise, swimming and diving were not something she was used to, and was not part of her strict exercise regimen. Although, after her experience on this submerged space station, she was wondering if it wasn’t time to include it.
Diving and exercise weren’t the only things on her mind.
For a while now she had wanted to spend some time alone with Gene and now that they were, she felt uneasy about it, nervous even.
She had simply no idea how to breach the subject that had been on her mind for so long.
And it wasn’t as if she didn’t get signs from him as well. They had never been anything obvious but the smiles and looks he gave her had been telling.
She stole a glance at him while he was distracted observing the lowering water level and quickly found that he didn’t seem uncomfortable in the slightest. But then of, course, Eugene Edison never really looked uncomfortable. Nothing seemed to be able to rattle him, it was one of the things she appreciated about him. But she couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was an act. A façade he put on to appear like a strong and confident executive officer.
She so desperately wanted to see what she would find behind that mask.
He turned to look at her and she became painfully aware that she had been caught staring. She blushed slightly and looked the other way.
“Laas, there’s something I’ve meant to tell you for a while.”
She looked straight at him. “Oh?”
“I didn’t know if you realized how valuable you have been to us … to me … as chief of security. I wanted to make sure that you were aware how much the captain and I have appreciated your dedication to your duty as well as your advice and support.”
She nodded slowly but didn’t speak. It wasn’t quite what she had expected. Maybe it wasn’t what she had hoped.
“I’ll be the first to admit that I had my doubts initially about bringing you on board. After Leva recommended you for the post and I read your file I was concerned that your experiences in the past might not be entirely compatible with the position of chief security officer on a starship but you’ve excelled in the post, far exceeding my expectations.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
He looked concerned. “I hope I haven’t offended you.”
She quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not it at all. I’m sorry,” she said. “I really appreciate what you’re saying and I’m glad that you and the captain think so highly of me. It’s just that…”
“What is it?”
She tried to desperately think of a way to put her feelings into words. But it was difficult because she didn’t even know what her feelings were. Not really. “I didn’t expect this.”
He nodded.
They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, watching as the water level continued to recede slowly.
“You know, we always seem to be talking about work, have you noticed that?” he said after a minute.
She glanced at him with a growing smile. “Yeah.”
“Looks like we’ve got time on our hands. Why don’t you tell me something about yourself? Something that’s not in your file.”
“About me? Oh, … I don’t know… “ she said, suddenly feeling completely out of her element. She wasn’t very good at sharing personal stories, never had been. “Maybe we better start with you?”
He nodded. “Sure, what do you want to know?”
“Did you ever think about doing something else? Then Starfleet, I mean. Settling down perhaps, have a family, that sort of thing,” she said and only belatedly realized how private that question had been, her head turned a shade of red. “That’s a stupid question, you don’t have to answer it,” she added quickly.
“No, it’s not. And I did once, actually, a long time ago.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Starfleet was not my first choice. When I was much younger, I wanted to be a professional piano player.”
She smiled; her curiosity piqued. “Tell me more.”
“It’s true. And if I may say so myself, I was pretty darn good at tickling the ivories. Most parents encourage their children to take piano lessons. I had to beg mine.”
She laughed as she imagined him as a child demanding his lessons.
“My old man was never that crazy about the idea. He had it in his mind that I follow his footsteps and continue the family tradition and join Starfleet. But going into space was the last thing on my mind when I was a lad.”
“Your father forced you to go to the Academy?”
“Not quite,” he said. “I convinced him that I would be a much better piano player than an officer. And for a while, it looked as if that was exactly what would happen. Eventually, I was accepted to one of the best music schools on Earth; Juilliard in New York.”
“What happened?”
“I met a girl.”
She grinned.
His glance wandered upward as he recalled long-forgotten memories. “Isabelle from Argentina,” he said with nostalgia in his voice. “I fell for her pretty hard in my first year. Obsessed wouldn’t be too far off the mark,” he said and looked at her. “At first, she seemed to feel the same way and we made all sorts of crazy promises to each other. I guess I got carried away and my music started to suffer from it.”
Laas wasn’t quite sure if she should be amused or feel pity.
“It got so bad that they threw me out of school and Isabelle … “
“What happened to Isabelle?”
He shook his head. “I have no idea. She broke up with me and I guess she went back to Argentina to marry some musician.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Once I was done with music, I decided to take up my father’s request and I went to San Francisco to enroll at the Academy. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. I love what I do,” he said and looked into her eyes. “And I love the people I work with.”
“I’m glad you made that choice.”
“Yet I can’t help wondering what happened to Isabelle.”
“Considering that she left you I’d imagine she lives a miserable life.”
He laughed. “Perhaps, but I bet she’s not taking dives within an asteroid deep in uncharted space,” he said and got back to his feet. “Speaking of diving, we better get back in there before all the water is gone and we’ll break our legs to get to the bottom.”
She nodded and stood up.
He jumped into the dwindling lake and she followed suit.
* * *
Louise had run out of options.
No matter how fast she rerouted the station’s systems, she could simply not keep up with its self-repairing abilities. She had never seen technology this advanced but she had no time to admire or study it.
She also had to move past the inherent restrictions of having no user interface to work with. Whatever she wanted to work on, she had to do it manually, which cost precious time. Time they did not have.
The drones had once again commenced their attack and were becoming stronger by the minute. Xylion had almost exhausted the power cell of his weapon and Louise knew that her phaser was not much better off. The only consolation was that the drones did not attack in a constant stream.
Xylion had noticed that there was an exact three-minute and twenty-three-second interval between the attack waves. But at the moment this did not matter much as there was no way to escape the hovering attack devices.
“I just don’t know what else to try,” she said with frustration. She had spent the last minute since the most recent attack to try and outsmart the security system by cross-linking the connections that ran behind the broken stone wall. But she had remained unsuccessful.
Whatever intelligence was at work in the asteroid station had anticipated her every move and preemptively deactivated any circuitry she had targeted. In her career as an engineer, she had rarely encountered a problem she could not solve. The experience was devastating.
“Have you located the source of the communications blackout?” said Xylion.
She shook her head. “No, but I imagine it is some sort of dampening field,” she said while sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.
“Lieutenant, I do not believe I have to emphasize the seriousness of our situation. The probability of our survival is minimal if you do not succeed.”
She averted her glance downward to avoid him seeing her face, as she could sense her eyes getting wet.
Xylion had not served with humans for long. He had never been entirely comfortable with species that showed their emotions in such an open manner. And even though he could not claim personal familiarity with her reactions, he had observed this behavior in humans before and also the tendency of superior officers to counteract those reactions.
He took a few steps toward the chief engineer. “We must combine our efforts to improve our chances of escape. Assist me to boost phaser power output,” he said. Logic told him that escape was unlikely and he was not inclined to lie to Hopkins about that but he understood the necessity to try and distract her from focusing too much on her thoughts of failure. He had learned that it played a pivotal role when handling subordinates.
She looked at Xylion’s determined expression and just like that any sign of fear or doubt where gone. Instead, she gave him a firm nod and got to her feet.
They quickly managed to boost their weapons and braced for the next attack wave which commenced exactly as Xylion had predicted.
The drones were still of the same simple design as they had been before. But these armed robots were nothing like the ones they had encountered earlier. These incarnations easily absorbed most of the shots the two officers unleashed. Together they managed to disable the first two drones but the third one refused to go down.
The drone didn’t return fire. Instead, it continued to approach their position, seemingly unstoppable.
She glanced over at Xylion. Her shimmering eyes begged the Vulcan for a solution but she did not speak. She knew he didn’t have one.
The drone entered the chamber and closed in on its two targets.
Xylion stepped out from behind his cover and directly into the drone’s path. He fired a couple more blasts at the drone but they remained as ineffective as the ones before.
“Step behind me,” he said while he slowly backed away from the approaching drone.
She understood what he intended. He’d fight the drone barehanded if needed to try and stop it from killing them both.
She froze.
“Now, Lieutenant,” said Xylion with just the slightest hint of urgency in his voice. His eyes remained fixed on his automated opponent.
She rushed to follow his instructions, finding momentary refuge in the shadow of the tall Vulcan.
The drone continued on its path at a slow and unchanging speed as though it wanted to study its prey up close before delivering its death blow.
Xylion, whose mind constantly calculated eventualities and probabilities for any given situation, was at this point as helpless as Hopkins. His weapon had become useless and his only remaining option was to hope that his physical strength alone could defeat the machine. Logic dictated that that action would fail.
Louise's back was now pressed against the wall and Xylion stopped as well to keep some distance from her, allowing to drone to get within mere centimeters.
“Commander!”
Xylion turned ever so slightly to spot Gene Edison and Nora Laas who had just entered the chamber from another direction.
“We have to do something,” said Nora as soon as she realized the situation her shipmates were in. She was first and foremost a fighter and when situations were becoming threatening her instinct was to jump into action no matter if she was armed or not. That was what she had learned while fighting for survival ever since she had been a child.
But Gen held her back. “Something seems familiar about this,” he said while observing the drone and the two officers who had been pushed into the far wall. Xylion still held his phaser in his hand and his glance was once again fixed on the drone that was now within striking distance.
Right behind him stood Louise Hopkins with two weapons drawn. Her own and the one she had been given by Nora earlier both of which had proven useless against their opponents. She tried to look stoic but it was clear from the look in her eyes that she was not ready to die.
Gene slowly stepped into the room but the drone didn’t seem to register him as a new threat, instead, it remained entirely homed in on its two primary targets.
Laas couldn’t stand still and watch what was about to happen here. “Commander?” she said impatiently, urging him to allow her to take action.
“Wait,” he said, very much to her frustration. Then he looked at Xylion. “Commander, drop your weapons and raise your hands.”
“What?” Laas couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
But Xylion didn’t hesitate, letting his phaser fall to the ground and raising both his hands over his head.
Hopkins looked as confused as Nora but eventually followed the Vulcan’s example.
“Lieutenant, slowly step up next to Commander Xylion. Don’t make any aggressive motions,” he said.
The idea seemed to scare the engineer but in the end, she mustered the resolve to follow the order, inspired by a trust that wasn’t easily questioned.
The drone came to a stop right in front of the two frozen officers.
Laas stared at them in horror, expecting the worst. She quickly cursed herself when she noticed another drone that had approached her and Gene from behind. She had been too distracted by the events in front of her that she had paid little attention to her surroundings. A mistake that she knew could be fatal.
Gene became aware of the other drone only seconds after her. It had sneaked up on them and was already nearing striking distance. His arm reached out for the Bajoran to prevent her from making any hasty movements. “Slowly.”
They both turned to face the approaching automaton which like the other one closed within a few centimeters before it came to a stop.
“Raise your hands and remain completely still,” he said as he put his arms up.
“All right,” she said and followed suit. “But if this is not going to work I’m going to—“
“If this won’t work, we’re dead.”
It took all of her willpower not to jump at the sudden humming noise that emanated from the machine. It was powering up and preparing to do something. A blue beam shot out of the globe-shaped part of the drone and engulfed both of them.
She felt a warm and tingling sensation all over her body but it was gone as quickly as it had come. And then, to her utter astonishment, the drone simply glided away again.
The voice that still echoed through the room died down and the dark blue lights were once more replaced by bright white illumination.
She gave Gene a puzzled look.
He approached the other two officers who had gone through the same treatment. “Are you all right?”
Xylion nodded. “Fascinating. The drones appear to react to our intentions. How did you know?”
Laas stepped up to them holding the piece of stone they had collected earlier. “The carvings in the altar room?”
He nodded.
“That was a long shot,” she said. “It could have meant something entirely different.”
“No victory has ever been won without taking risks, Lieutenant,” he said and then looked at Hopkins who appeared visibly shaken but physically unharmed. “How about you?”
It took her a few seconds to respond. She had come within inches of death, practically staring it right in the face. It was not an experience she was accustomed to or one she wished to relive anytime soon. “Next time, I’m staying on the ship.”
* * *
“It was astonishing. Every single room was brightly illuminated. It almost felt as if we were walking in sunlight,” said Gene Edison, recounting his experiences on the asteroid to the captain as they walked side by side through Eagle’s corridors on their way to the science lab.
“They were filled with thousands of crystals, humming the most extraordinary melodies when touched. I couldn’t even begin to explain the light drops that rained down on us.”
“I wish I could’ve seen it.”
“I’ll try to be as precise as possible when I write my report,” said Edison with an easy smile.
“I’m looking forward to reading it.”
As they reached their destination, the doors to the main science lab slid open and they stepped inside. As before the room was still a hub of activity with the science personnel hard at work trying to analyze and understand the long-extinct Hyterian civilization.
Xylion and DeMara Deen were sitting at the central workstation and Armstrong was standing behind them, his eyes fixed on the large screen in front of him.
Michael and his first officer approached the three scientists.
Armstrong noticed the senior officers arrive and turned to face them. “Captain, you will be very pleased about the progress we’ve made.”
“What do you have?”
Armstrong pointed at the texts displayed on the screen. “We have managed to translate what we believe to be key elements in Hyterian philosophy.”
“Go on.”
“We confirmed our initial believes that they were spiritual but we now also believe that they were extremely superstitious as well.”
“What do you base that on?” said Edison.
“With the additional data we gathered inside the asteroid base, we were able to complete certain translations that indicate that the Hyterians believed in the existence of pure evil that is able to physically manifest itself and then bring destruction and suffering to all Hyterians,” said Xylion.
“Manifest itself how?” Michael stepped closer to the screen to see if he could find answers to his questions there.
“At this time, we have insufficient data to form a probable theory.” “We’re hoping that we might learn more about this on other Hyterian colonies,” said Armstrong.
DeMara noticed that neither Michael nor Edison seemed to be particularly excited about their more recent findings. “We’re not talking about a purely mythological idea like say the old human belief of the devil or the Klingon afterlife of Sto-vo-kor. This was something very real and very physical to the Hyterians and they feared it more than anything else.”
Edison studied the screen as well but when he didn’t find anything there, he focused on DeMara. “From what we can tell these people were extremely advanced. I find it difficult to believe that people who traveled the stars thousands of years before we even built cities were afraid of monsters in the dark?”
DeMara nodded but Armstrong answered before she had the chance. “Exactly. But that is what all our translations point to. It’s a very exciting idea and we definitely have to study it further to be able to fully understand it.”
Michael frowned. It wasn’t that he disliked what he heard. On the contrary, exploring new or in this case old civilizations, especially ones as advanced and as ancient as the Hyterians, was an important part of his job but at the moment he had different concerns. “I admit that this is all very interesting but let’s not forget that we’re on a mission to find the Hyterian artifact. And time is an issue here.”
“Shouldn’t we attempt to learn as much as we can before we go after something we don’t yet fully understand?” said Armstrong, sounding almost defiantly.
Xylion shot him a glance making the younger scientist know that he did not appreciate a member of his staff trying to confront the captain.
Michael was not offended. He couldn’t help but admire Armstrong’s devotion to his field and under different circumstances would have commended him for it. “I’m afraid we do not have that luxury, Lieutenant. This has become a race and we cannot afford to come in at anything but first. Our objective has to be to secure this artifact before anybody else can.”
DeMara leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You make it sound like a military objective.”
He nodded. “It might very well be one. If it turns out to be as powerful as we think it might be, think about how the Romulans or the Cardassians may use it. We are in quite a literal arms race here. This means I need you to look at what we have learned so far and give me the most likely location where the Hyterians would have hidden this artifact,” he said and then turned a pedestal that held the small piece of rock the away team had found in the asteroid, protected by a glass dome.
Armstrong joined the captain.
“What can you tell me about this?” he said.
“Not much I’m afraid. It’s … well it’s a piece of rock with no unusual attributes as far as we can tell.”
“It looks like it broke off from something. What about these inscriptions? Any luck with those?”
Armstrong shook his head. “No, they are still a mystery to us like many other symbols. We were hoping to learn more after investigating other locations.”
Michael straightened and looked at the archeologist. “I’m sure we’ll find more pieces to this puzzle as we go on. In the meantime, I want you and your people to continue your work and find out as much as you can. It might come in useful. But your priority is clear,” he said and then gestured for his first officer to follow him out of the room.
Michael stopped in the corridor just outside the lab. “Gene, I need you to keep an eye on our scientists.”
“You are concerned.”
“I understand that they are eager and excited, Gene. And don’t get me wrong, I think that’s a good thing. For many of them, the Hyterians might be the greatest professional challenge of their lives. But I worry that they’ll lose sight of our primary objective if we don’t keep them focused on it.”
“I’ll make sure they stay on task, sir.”
“Get me a location.”
Gene gave him a curt nod and then watched Owens walk off.