After Captain Elric spoke with the archaeologists at the dig site on Leora IV, he left them and began touring the uncovered ancient structures on a grey, cloudy evening. There was once a human colony on the planet, but what his tricorder could determine from these stone buildings was that these constructs, instead, dated back to several thousands of years. As he pondered the catalogue of unknown ancient god etchings discovered here in the past decade, and how they were similar to what was on his PADD and the medallion, he thought he heard something moving and following him nearby.
"Hello?"
He paused for a second and determined the sound was of something small, scurrying around. Then, before he could decipher what was in the shadows, the ground beneath him broke through and he fell into a vertical tunnel feeding deep within the planet.
Jim tilted his head slightly. "Maybe he knows how to find the Infamous forces, and is going to try to replace you, so he can take over control of the Infamous forces and, like I said, free the Dominion."
Nat deadpanned Krystal. "Didn't Banks already do that?"
Either way, the new sample, like the previous, was the usual human blood. Nothing suspicious.
Jim sighed. "Who knows, I'm probably just crazy. Everything that's happened has been a lot for all of us..."
Nat raised an eyebrow. "Maybe this is all part of their plan. I mean, think about it; all of your knowledge of the future came from technology under the changeling Nat's control. He could lie, couldn't he? What if there isn't going to be an invasion at all?"
11 of 14 replied, "or maybe they're trying to distract us with mindless discussion while they plan their own invasion while we least expect it..."
Scott spoke up. "What?"
11 of 14 continued. "The changeling Nat is supposed to be a hyper-Q, right? Why hasn't he used that power to take over already? I mean, sure, he may not know how to use those powers very well, but if he and the changeling Sarah managed to create a Cardassian ship, then they can make ships. For all we know, he's "built" an armada bigger than us and the mirror alliance combined!"
Nat seemed wary again. "So they're trying to weaken us with the mirror Alliance first to make it easier to take us out...?"
11 of 14 leaned over. "Or they're trying to get us to focus our efforts on all the wrong places!"
"Well, what are the right places?" Banks breaks in in exasperated tones. "I suppose it still can't do any harm to arrange for those anti-tachyon pulses? Gimme back that hypo, sir, I've not fin- no, actually, I have, keep it."
She lined up n minus 4 vials of reassuringly red blood on the desk where everyone could see them. "Can you do me, please? The only other person I've not done is Sarah. The Sarah that is Sarah, I mean."
[img]http://www.zen177395.zen.co.uk/ST stories etc/OoOTiM banner.jpg[/img] One Of Our Telepaths Is Missing - a new Foundry mission.
What do you do when somebody goes into meditation and doesn't come out?
Where's the only place in the universe that Romulus still exists?
Can you cope when your minds are playing tricks on you?
Sarah shrugged and took an empty vial, and took a sample from Banks, then took another vial and got one from herself, which, like the others, was the usual human blood.
[img]http://www.zen177395.zen.co.uk/ST stories etc/OoOTiM banner.jpg[/img] One Of Our Telepaths Is Missing - a new Foundry mission.
What do you do when somebody goes into meditation and doesn't come out?
Where's the only place in the universe that Romulus still exists?
Can you cope when your minds are playing tricks on you?
Krystal thought for a moment.
"The other Sarah had similar powers, but lost them," she pointed out. "I think... there's an artifact that we've got somewhere that can do that."
[img]http://www.zen177395.zen.co.uk/ST stories etc/OoOTiM banner.jpg[/img] One Of Our Telepaths Is Missing - a new Foundry mission.
What do you do when somebody goes into meditation and doesn't come out?
Where's the only place in the universe that Romulus still exists?
Can you cope when your minds are playing tricks on you?
Scott spoke up. "He absorbed some thing at the center of the universe that gave him ridiculous levels of power greater than the entire Q continuum combined! We honestly don't know how..."
Krystal plants her hands on her desk.
"Everyone just shut up for a second!" she exclaimed. "Arguing over Admiral Nat isn't going to solve anything! We have a situation to deal with, lets focus on that right now and not worry about what ifs!"
Jim turned to Krystal. "How can we handle that situation if we don't know what situation we're actually dealing with?"
Nat stopped Jim before he said anymore. "Ok, let's at least agree on rigging our orbital facilities to emit anti-tachyon pulses?"
Jim nodded in agreement to that, at least, before continuing. "Can we at least send a ship to investigate our suspicions of the real Admiral Nat being stuck out in the Gamma Quadrant?"
11 of 14 shook her head. "Probably too dangerous, but I'll put a word in with Starfleet Command to have any ships out in the Gamma Quadrant keep an eye out for him."
"We can't get distracted by our fears," Krystal said. "Setting up the pulses will help us prepare for the Mirror forces. And last I heard, Admiral Nat had lost some of his power so he's not THAT godly."
Nat turned to Krystal. "Not really, actually. I had managed to take remote control of the Firestorm and access some fancy new Q power draining thingy they had built into it to drain the changeling Nat and my Sarah's powers..."
Jim went on. "Changeling Nat took all his powers back, and this changeling's with them. He may not be quite twice as powerful as before, but he is stronger. A lot stronger. Also, I don't fear the real Nat's being trapped in the Gamma Quadrant, I just want him out of there and back here where he belongs."
Krystal holds up a hand, causing it to have an ethereal blue glow.
"We don't really know anything about Nat right now," she said. "Lets focus on what we do know and not speculate. What we do know is that the mirror Alliance supposedly wants to talk in a few days, and they may very well be planning to stab us in the back."
Everyone nodded in agreement, but Jim spoke up anyway. "We have enough reason to believe that Admiral Nat has also been replaced by a changeling just like this one; can we at least agree on that even though we have no clue where he is now?"
Nat nodded in agreement before turning to Krystal. "So what are we gonna do?"
"That's the plan," Krystal said before looking at Jim for a moment before continuing. "Make it happen people. We only have a few days before this meeting. Dismissed. Dennison. Not you. I wanna talk to you."
"Any particular reason you two are still here?" Krystal asked casually. "I've got an unresolved issue with Dennison I'd like to clear up if we're to work together."
Krystal rolled her eyes before sitting on her desk and looking at Jim.
"I'm pretty sure you know I don't exactly trust you," she said. "Especially after how you cut my legs out from under me on the Philidelphia."
Jim sighed. "You know how it is. Admiral's orders, even when you don't know they're a changeling in disguise. Do you think I liked being sent away from the Firestorm like that?"
"Captain," Krystal said before getting up. "I was the ranking officer aboard at the time, and you cut my legs out from under me before I even knew what was happening! Not only that, you made it pretty clear you wanted me gone shortly after that."
She crossed her arms across her chest.
"I need to know you won't undermine my authority like that again Captain," she said. "And frankly it will take more than your word alone to do that."
"Hello?"
He paused for a second and determined the sound was of something small, scurrying around. Then, before he could decipher what was in the shadows, the ground beneath him broke through and he fell into a vertical tunnel feeding deep within the planet.
Nat facepalmed.
Winning.
"I find that unlikely," she said. "Besides... as I just said... I have no power in the fleet..."
A thoughtful look crossed her face before Krystal snapped up a hypo and quickly drew a blood sample from Jim.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Either way, the new sample, like the previous, was the usual human blood. Nothing suspicious.
Jim sighed. "Who knows, I'm probably just crazy. Everything that's happened has been a lot for all of us..."
Nat raised an eyebrow. "Maybe this is all part of their plan. I mean, think about it; all of your knowledge of the future came from technology under the changeling Nat's control. He could lie, couldn't he? What if there isn't going to be an invasion at all?"
11 of 14 replied, "or maybe they're trying to distract us with mindless discussion while they plan their own invasion while we least expect it..."
Scott spoke up. "What?"
11 of 14 continued. "The changeling Nat is supposed to be a hyper-Q, right? Why hasn't he used that power to take over already? I mean, sure, he may not know how to use those powers very well, but if he and the changeling Sarah managed to create a Cardassian ship, then they can make ships. For all we know, he's "built" an armada bigger than us and the mirror alliance combined!"
Nat seemed wary again. "So they're trying to weaken us with the mirror Alliance first to make it easier to take us out...?"
11 of 14 leaned over. "Or they're trying to get us to focus our efforts on all the wrong places!"
Winning.
She lined up n minus 4 vials of reassuringly red blood on the desk where everyone could see them. "Can you do me, please? The only other person I've not done is Sarah. The Sarah that is Sarah, I mean."
One Of Our Telepaths Is Missing - a new Foundry mission.
What do you do when somebody goes into meditation and doesn't come out?
Where's the only place in the universe that Romulus still exists?
Can you cope when your minds are playing tricks on you?
Winning.
One Of Our Telepaths Is Missing - a new Foundry mission.
What do you do when somebody goes into meditation and doesn't come out?
Where's the only place in the universe that Romulus still exists?
Can you cope when your minds are playing tricks on you?
"The other Sarah had similar powers, but lost them," she pointed out. "I think... there's an artifact that we've got somewhere that can do that."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
One Of Our Telepaths Is Missing - a new Foundry mission.
What do you do when somebody goes into meditation and doesn't come out?
Where's the only place in the universe that Romulus still exists?
Can you cope when your minds are playing tricks on you?
Winning.
"Everyone just shut up for a second!" she exclaimed. "Arguing over Admiral Nat isn't going to solve anything! We have a situation to deal with, lets focus on that right now and not worry about what ifs!"
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Nat stopped Jim before he said anymore. "Ok, let's at least agree on rigging our orbital facilities to emit anti-tachyon pulses?"
Jim nodded in agreement to that, at least, before continuing. "Can we at least send a ship to investigate our suspicions of the real Admiral Nat being stuck out in the Gamma Quadrant?"
11 of 14 shook her head. "Probably too dangerous, but I'll put a word in with Starfleet Command to have any ships out in the Gamma Quadrant keep an eye out for him."
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Jim went on. "Changeling Nat took all his powers back, and this changeling's with them. He may not be quite twice as powerful as before, but he is stronger. A lot stronger. Also, I don't fear the real Nat's being trapped in the Gamma Quadrant, I just want him out of there and back here where he belongs."
Winning.
"We don't really know anything about Nat right now," she said. "Lets focus on what we do know and not speculate. What we do know is that the mirror Alliance supposedly wants to talk in a few days, and they may very well be planning to stab us in the back."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Nat nodded in agreement before turning to Krystal. "So what are we gonna do?"
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
"I'm pretty sure you know I don't exactly trust you," she said. "Especially after how you cut my legs out from under me on the Philidelphia."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
She crossed her arms across her chest.
"I need to know you won't undermine my authority like that again Captain," she said. "And frankly it will take more than your word alone to do that."
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
"It still leaves the underlying trust issue," she said.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
Winning.
The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)