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HUNTING GROUNDS Chapter 1 (My God,) he thought, (it's huge...) Victor Xavier Pennington probably realized that the massive starship literally filling the window of the shuttlecraft would be quite large, but this fact never sunk in until he had actually seen the imposing shape of the starship. Here stood the future of Starfleet, of the Federation, hell, the universe so far as he could see. He stared dreamily at the sleek lines and graceful curves that belied just how much power the ship actually had at its disposal. (...and this will be home for a while. Wonder when I get to meet Captain--) "Commander?" The young pilot interrupted his train of thought. "We've arrived, sir." "Oh...I'm sorry. Just being a putz. Thank you, Ensign." "No problem, sir. Airlocks are secure, so you can go on aboard." He smiled warmly, almost as if he were wishing Victor luck. "Thanks again, Ensign." He walked through the automatic doors and was greeted immediately by an Andorian with full commander's rank and a white collar, which represented Command section. (Here's my boss, I think,) Victor thought as he snapped to attention. "Lieutenant Commander Victor Pennington reporting for duty, sir." The Andorian considered him for a moment, and then replied. "Welcome aboard. I am Commander Rh'eldak, executive officer and second in command. At ease." Victor relaxed. Rh'eldak offered him his blue hand, which Victor took and shook hands with him. The commander's frail looking hand was quite deceptive, as Victor had to make an effort not to wince. Rh'eldak offered to show Victor to his new quarters, and soon they were walking around the mazelike corridors of the starship. Victor absorbed everything he could about the ship's design that he could without looking like a tourist. Minutes later, the two officers were in Victor's new quarters. "This sure is a step up from the _Minuteman_," Victor remarked. It really was. He could actually take more than two steps before running into a wall. "I'd hope so. I've never been on a destroyer before, so I wouldn't know. There's a gift for you on the shelf." Victor turned around and noticed a bottle with a bluish liquid inside. "Romulan ale?? I'm flattered." "It's a tradition I'm passing along. When I first arrived here, the captain gave me a bottle as well. After our first day together, we'll drink a toast to what I hope is a long and healthy life here. But that is for later. Now, we should talk a little business." "As you wish, sir." Victor replied. "As Chief of Security, you only answer to myself and the captain. You're also the second officer, so you'll probably see conn duty as well. Have you ever met Captain Sulu?" "No, sir, but I've heard of him." Having heard of Captain Hikaru Sulu was something of an understatement. He was perhaps one of the best young captains in Starfleet, which was reflected in his posting to the namesake of the new Excelsior-class starship, designed to go farther and faster than anything that had flown previous. Of course, Captain Sulu was famous long before he was a captain. As one of the top officers on the USS _Enterprise_ he was in the history books already. And at 42, he wasn't even close to being done with his career. "Well, you'll get your chance soon enough. We have a department head's meeting tommorow at 1400 hours. Soon after that you should probably have your branch meeting." "I've already planned a gathering for 1800 hours. You may observe, if you'd like," Pennington offered. "I'll be on the bridge, probably. I'll want the standard report, of course." "Of course, sir." With that, the Andorian excused himself and Victor sat down at his desk. "Computer," he said to the voice-acces panel. "Working," the computer replied in a neutral tone. "Access personnel records for USS _Excelsior_ Security Branch as of Stardate one-one-three-six-four point eight." "Stand by for voice-print verification." the computer droned. (Yep,) Victor thought to himself, (this is gonna be an interesting ship. I can tell already.) ----------------- Captain's Log: Stardate 11366.2 -- We have completed our minor repairs at Starbase 28 and have also taken aboard 14 new crew members, including our new Chief of Security. Our new orders take us to a fledgling Federation colony on Omicron Delta IV, to investigate the recent loss of communication from the settlers, whose weekly reports abruptly stopped six weeks ago. Even at Warp 6, it will take us nearly a week to arive at the Omicron Delta system. Starfleet Command warns us to be on guard, as the colony is close to a known Orion trade route. Captain Hikaru Sulu sat in the central chair of the USS _Excelsior_ as the bridge crew made final checks on her systems to assure that they were in top running order. Sipping a cup of herbal tea, he felt quite relaxed. He felt like he *belonged* in the captain's chair. It felt natural to him now. Of course, there was a time when he didn't feel comfortable on a starship at all. A time when all he wanted to do was follow in his father's footsteps and serve on a science vessel, but Starfleet felt he was better suited to exploration. But the life of a starship grew on him, and he learned to sit at the helm like a master pianist at his instrument, and soon he felt the yearnings to one day sit in the center seat. At one time he even thought of trying to beat Jim Kirk's record of being the youngest captain in Starfleet. But he felt his loyalty to the now-retired captain for a long time. Which wasn't necessarily bad, just time consuming. Oh well, he was here now, and he would stay here as long as he could. He belonged here, after all. "Captain, Docking Control has cleared us for departure," said Lieutenant Coffman at the communications board. "All right then. Helm, manuvering thrusters, please," the captain ordered. "Manuvering thrusters, sir," was the crisp reply from the Vulcan helmsman. The mighty starship stirred, and then backed slowly from the docking moors of the orbiting Starbase. Within a few minutes the _Excelsior_ had cleared the starbase and was ready to leave the system. Sulu imagined the _Excelsior_ to be like a great white stallion, reared up on its hind legs and ready to move at a moment's notice. (Where have I seen that image before?) Sulu thought briefly before he proceeded. "Half impuse out of the system, Mr. Sesik," "Half impulse, captain." was the response. With a surge of energy, the _Excelsior_ moved into the vastness of space. Sulu looked out the viewer and counted the planets as they went by. He only saw two. The others were probably on the other side of the system. Sulu could have had the science officer on duty call up the system on the screen and find out for sure, but there really wasn't a reason other than his own curiosity. (Besides, there are other things to be thinking of.) "Engineering, status of warp systems, please." Over the intercom came the reply from a voice Sulu couldn't place right away. "Warp systems are at 100% efficiency, captain." "We'll be moving at a steady Warp 6 for at least 6 days. Are the engines up to it?" The reply was hesitant, but not overly so. "We'll do everything we can down here, sir." "That's all I can ask. Bridge out." Sulu then returned his attention to the helm. "Lay in a course for the Omicron Delta system, please. Warp factor 6." "Aye, sir. Course laid in and awaiting your word." said the navigator, a burly-looking, but mild mannered Tellarite, so far as Tellarites go. "The word is given, then. Warp 6." With that, the _Excelsior_ streaked off and dissapeared. --------------------- Victor had arisen later than he wished. Of course, reviewing personnel records until nearly 2 in the morning didn't help matters, either. Looking at his timepice, he saw that he only had 3 hours until the department head's meeting. (Well,) Victor thought, (I might as well not get lazy...) "Computer, give me the location of _Excelsior's_ gymnasium and training center." The computer informed Victor, "The gymnasium is on Deck 14, starbord section." With that, Victor gathered his training clothes and some of his equipment, then proceeded to leave. He got halfway through the door when a thought struck him. He turned around, went too his personal chest, grabbed a long box, and left his quarters with a spring in step. The gym wasn't very full, since it was first shift and the majority of crew were on duty. Victor reviewed his own schedule in his head briefly. He had second shift for the remainder of the week, and then he would change over to first. This gave him time to adjust to the _Excelsior's_ sleep cycles, since planetary time based on sunrise and sunset was pretty meaningless in space. His shift started with the department head's meeting and ended with the Security branch gathering. Victor warmed up and streched, and then worked with the weights for 30 minutes. Then he went to his bag and pulled out the long box. He smiled as he opened the box to reveal a set of fencer's blades. He took out his foil, which was one of his personal favorites, adjusted the safety tip, and headed to the clear part of the floor. He imagined his adversary standing in front of him, blade in hand, and not planning to be nice. Victor lunged and parried, slashed and blocked, remembering the drills and strategy he had learned since he was a boy in New British Columbia. This was where Victor felt unstoppable. (Hell with a phaser, let me do rounds with this!) he thought as he imagined his opponent's exposure and lunged after it with everything he had. "Touche." Victor started, not realizing anyone was watching. He turned and saw his imaginary adversary turned to life. A man in full fencing garb, mask on and foil at his side. Victor smiled. "I didn't realize I'd find a fencing partner so soon. Care to join me?" "I think so. Put your mask on, then." Victor tightened his mask, adjusting it so his line of vision wouldn't be impaired. Doing this, he realized that a small crowd was gathering to spectate the impromptu fencing match. Settling into position, he saluted his opponent and waited for him to be ready. Having the salute returned, Victor said his favorite words: "En guarde!" The two swordsmen approached each other, observing the other's movements and stance, looking for weaknesses that might me exploited. With no warning at all, Victor's adversary attacked. Victor barely parried the lunge in time. Taking advantage of his partner's non-defensive position, Victor let loose a series of lunges and slashes, which were defended seemingly without effort. (This is getting fun,) Victor thought sarcastically to himself as he continued. The match had lasted for nearly five minutes without a single touch, and Victor was beginning to tire. Parries were coming slower, and attacks seemed even more easily defended. Realizing he couldn't hold out at this pace much longer, Victor decided to go all out and gamble getting a double touch, which was the risk of going strictly offensive. With a grunt, Victor repeatedly lunged, until. . . (Damn.) He would probably be dead had he not been wearing his gear and the safety tip not securly affixed to his opponent's foil. He stood and saluted his most worthy opponent. The crowd applauded for both competitors, and then went back to their own workouts. Victor removed his mask, thinking of something to say that would compliment the winner, yet salvage his pride a little. "Man, you're good. I must be getting old or something." "I wonder what that makes me, then," said Sulu as he took of his mask. Victor looked twice. And then a third time. And a fourth. And suddenly, he felt his face warm considerably when he realized how stupid he must have sounded just then. (oops.) "I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean--" Sulu held up a hand. "It's alright. You're one of the best swordsmen I've seen in a long time. If you hadn't gotten desparate, you probably would have outlasted me. You're Victor, correct?" "Yes, sir, Lieutenant--" "We have a rule in this gym, Victor. Rank doesn't exist. That way you don't have to feel bad about beating me, and you can't come down on one of your people just because he or she happened to catch you off guard when you're sparring. That way everyone plays as hard as they work. Make sense?" "Yes, si--I mean. . .Hikaru?" Victor asked more than said. "That's right, Victor. We'd better get cleaned up and changed. There's a department head's meeting in about 45 minutes." "You're right. I'll see you there." Victor saluted with his foil again and went to gather his stuff. _________________ (The captain seems much more intimidating in uniform...now would probably not be a good time to call him 'Hikaru') thought Victor as he entered the briefing room and looked around at his new officers. Rh'eldak was sitting next to the captain, with the chair on the other side of Sulu empty. On the other side of Rh'eldak was a human lieutenant with engineering insignia and a blue-eyed human female no older than he was wearing a Medical Branch tunic. A Vulcan and a Tellarite occupied the chairs on the other side of the empty chair. Victor sat down and was introduced to the command crew by Captain Sulu. He was all business at this point, Victor noticed. Sulu quickly had the computer supply information about the Omicron Delta system and _Excelsior's_ orders concerning the Federation colony there. "We really don't know what we're going to find when we get to Omicron Delta IV," Sulu remarked as the department heads finished digesting the computer's output. "All Starfleet knows is that regular weekly reports ended two weeks ago, without any warning or explination. Because of the distance of the star system, that means whatever happened to the colony happened six weeks ago." "Which also means that we might be too late to do anything if they needed help," Rh'eldak stated. "Don't be so negative, Rh'eldak," snapped Marcus Newton, the chief engineer. "It could be something as simple as a broken comm unit which they ran out of parts for." "I was not being pessemistic, Mr. Newton. I was only stating a possibility." rebutted the Andorian. Victor spoke for the first time. "And that possibility does exist. We know that the Orions travel along that system. If they were to discover the colony, they might decide it's ripe for the picking. What I don't understand is why the colony's even there in the first place." "The colony is primarily scientific in nature," Rh'eldak stated. "More than one hundred Federation scientists and their families are surveying the planet's natural resources, meteorlogical patterns, archaeology, and wildlife. The interesting thing about the planet itself, according to reports from the colony, is that no intelligent life seems to have lived on the planet for a long period of time." "Excuse me?" said a confused Lauri Lindstrom, the chief medical officer. "What do you mean by a 'long period of time'?" "What I mean," Rh'eldak informed, "is that although the colonists have found signs of technology, no race has stayed on the planet for more than a century, so far as the scientists can determine. For one reason or another, every race that has colonized there, has either left or died out. Most seem to have left, but there have been evidence of a dozen different alien races that have been on the planet at one time or another." "That could mean any number of things," Victor said with a chill in his spine, "and I'm not sure I like any of them. Captain, I suggest that we increase speed so we don't waste what could be precious time." Sulu looked at his chief engineer. "Can we handle Warp 7 at limited times, Mr. Newton?" He nodded. "Yes, sir, but no more than 12 hours at a time, with 12 hours between each time we go Warp 7." Sulu thought for a brief moment. "All right, then, that's what we do. Thank you for your input. Let's do our jobs." With that, the meeting broke. HUNTING GROUNDS Chapter 2 Victor walked through the ship from bridge to engineering. He met people, familiarized himself with where things were, and tried to seem as nice a guy as he could. Most people were pleased to meet Victor, and those that didn't were the type that got intimidated by command officers or Security Chiefs. He tried not to take those cases personally. The Security people he ran into he made sure to say "Hi" to. He met the rest of his staff during the 1800 hours security meeting. He introduced himself, got to know who his people (and nonpeople) were, let them know that he was aviailable to talk to about anything, and know how he planned to run security on the _Excelsior_: VERY tightly. "You all should have pride in yourselves," Victor said "because Starfleet entrusts you with the safety of some of the Federation's best and brightest. Never forget that. It may not be the most glorious job, but it's one of the most important jobs there are on this ship." Since no one seemed to object, he called the meeting closed and invited all his new co-workers to play 0-g rugby on the Rec deck. Victor had learned from experience that few things bring people together like a game. Play was as important as work, and Victor began to appreciate Captain Sulu's "no rank on the rec deck" policy. Victor had never seen people have so much fun on a starship before the _Excelsior_. On the _Minuteman_, where Victor was Security Chief prior, personal workouts were meant to be fast and efficient. This was primarily because there just wasn't room to have many people working out at the same time. There was no such thing as an organized game on the _Minuteman_. (Which reminds me,) thought Victor after the game, (I just *have* to get a full match with the captain sometime. Maybe with the epee this time...) --------------------- Hikaru sat in his quarters, going through paperwork. This was the one thing he did *not* like about being a captain. He thought back to when he didn't have to do paperwork, but instead listened to his captain complain about paperwork. (That's one thing I'll agree with you on, Jim,) Hikaru thought to himself. Jim. Just plain Jim Kirk. Hikaru still had a hard time calling him Jim. Not long after the Khitomer incident, Captain Kirk had retired from Starfleet. He was still in San Francisco, as an advisor to the Admirality and to the Academy. Jim had insisted that his friends call him by his first name--he didn't want to have a title anymore; that part of his life was over, he said. Jim kept in touch with Hikaru whenever he could, and Hikaru did the same. There were times that he tried to figure out what it was about Jim that made him such a famous captain--and realized that there wasn't any one thing that set Jim apart. In fact, the only thing that let Jim succeed when others with as much or more ability failed was simply that Jim never gave up. He was the most dedicated officer that Hikaru had ever met in Starfleet. Because of that, Hikaru chose to stand with him as he broke nearly every rule in the book to bring back his best friend. Hikaru knew that he was putting his career in jeapordy. At the time, he didn't care. That was the loyalty he had felt. True, there were times when he didn't agree with him. There were times that James T. Kirk could be the most arrogant SOB in the known universe. Despite that, Hikaru loved and respected the man that he had learned so much from when he was on the _Enterprise_. Just then his commlink beeped. "Captain, you have a personal message coming in from Starbase 32," Janice Rand's voice said over the speaker. "Shall I send it down to your quarters now?" "Please do," Hikaru said a bit too eagerly. "It's an excuse not to do paperwork." The mini-screen blinked, and a face appeared on it. Hikaru's eyes widened in surprise. "Pavel! How are you? I haven't seen you in nearly 3 months!" "I'm doing good," Pavel Chekov said from the distant starbase. "Sorry it has been so long, but I have been busy with my rest and relaxation." He grinned. "I'll bet you have," Hikaru teased. "So what's the word? Rumor mill says you're up for a promotion." "I know nothing of what you speak of," Pavel said calmly, as he stood a little higher. Just high enough to show off his shiny new captain's insignia. Hikaru laughed. "Pavel, that's wonderful! What ship did they give you?" Pavel said, "They gave me the _Andromeda_. Looks like we'll be racing to the end of the galaxy together." "That's great! Let me know when you get on board. I'm happy for you, Pavel." "I'm happy too." (Pavel always has a way of understating things,) Hikaru thought. (If he was anything like me, he didn't sleep for days.) "I have other news as well, Hikaru. Spock's mother died not long ago." Hikaru's face dropped. "Oh, no. How is Spock? Have you heard from him?" "He is on Vulcan now, preparing for her memorial service. I sent him and his father my condolences. I know little else." "Well, thanks for telling me," Hikaru said. "I'll get a message out before we get too far away." "That is good," Pavel replied. "I must go now. Soon _Andromeda_ will be here and I must be ready to recieve her. Good-bye, Hikaru." "Good-bye, *Captain* Chekov." Pavel grinned as the communication ended. Without hesitation, he beeped Janice on the bridge. "Lieutenant Rand, I need to send a message to Sarek on Vulcan." "Sarek? Can I ask why?" Janice inquired. "I'll tell you about it later. Is that okay?" There was a brief pause. "I guess it is. I'll pipe it down to you." Rand said. As Hikaru began to compose his sympathy message he thought to himself, (Paperwork doesn't seem so bad now...) ------------------- The week travelling to Omicron Delta IV seemed to go pretty fast. Victor and Rh'eldak drank their toast, even though it was a couple of days after Victor's first day; the thought was what counted, anyway. Victor had met few Andorians in the Academy or in service. Rh'eldak, in fact, was the first Andorian he had ever really gotten to know. Victor pondered this idea; Andor was one of the original members of the Federation, and yet it seemed that there were more humans in Starfleet than any other species. Rh'eldak seemed as capable as any other officer; in fact, Victor couldn't see a reason why Rh'eldak shouldn't have a command of his own. (I might have to talk with him about it sometime. . .but later, when we know each other better.) ------------------- "Approaching Omicron Delta system, sir," "Take us into the system at three-quarter impulse and initiate standard orbit around Omicron Delta IV." Victor said from the center seat. He then tapped the commlink on the chair. "Bridge to Captain Sulu." "Sulu here. Yes, Mr. Pennington?" "Sir, we've entered the system and will achieve standard orbit shortly. Any instructions?" There was a brief pause, then a response. "Nothing that I can think of. Is there still no response from the colony?" Victor looked back at Janice Rand, the ship's communication officer, and gave her a nod. She understood and replied from the comm board. "Nothing, captain. The colony has been quiet since we started trying to hail them." "All right then," Sulu said over the commlink. "I'll be on the bridge shortly." "We'll be expecting you, sir," said Victor. "Bridge out." Victor sat for a moment, then thought to himself, (We should all be here. Rh'eldak will be around somewhere.) "Bridge to Commander Rh'eldak." "Rh'eldak here," came the soft reply. Victor informed Rh'eldak of the same thing. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Rh'eldak out." ----------------- Sulu walked down the hall towards the turbolift. He had felt the ship slip out of warp, and assumed that the _Excelsior_ had reached its destination. He was almost out the door when his commlink beeped. (Well, at least he's thorough,) Sulu thought to himself as the turbolift doors opened for him. "Bridge," Sulu said to the wall. Within a second the turbolift was moving. The lift made one stop along the way, and Rh'eldak stepped into the lift. "I assume you're going where I am, sir?" Sulu smiled and nodded. "What have you been able to find recently?" "Nothing we didn't already know, I'm afraid." Rh'eldak replied. "Perhaps the colony's log will tell us more--if they ever figure out we're here." The turbolift slowed down, and finally let its passengers off at the bridge. Victor stood down as Sulu approached, allowing the captain to have his customary seat. Victor moved to the Defenses station. This was a relatively new idea in Starfleet, creating a station that kept control of sensors and weapons, which let the helmsman concentrate on steering the ship, and the science officer concentrate on analyzing data. Victor liked his station. He felt like he took a more active role in defending the ship, which was his job, after all. Victor settled down in his seat and checked out the systems on his board. "Standard orbit, Mr. Sesik." Sulu told the helmsman. "Anything at all, Lieutenant Rand?" "Nothing, sir. I've been trying since we could do realtime communication on subspace, with no luck." "Try opening a channel one more time," Sulu said. "If they've got handheld communicators, we'll be in range of them now." Rand adjusted her controls accordingly. "Channel open, sir." "Delta Omicron IV, this is the Federation starship _Excelsior_. Do you read us? Can you respond?" They waited a few minutes, and there was nothing. Sulu shifted in his seat. This was making him nervous. (Why don't they *respond* already?!?), he thought. "Mr. Pennington, do a sensor sweep of the colony." Victor looked at his viewscreen and keyed in the proper commands. (Wait a minute...something's wrong...try this again...no, that's not right. It *can't* be--) "What's the delay, Mr. Pennington?" Sulu was now nervous and annoyed, and his tone of voice reflected such. Victor turned and looked at the captain. "Sir, I checked and double-checked... According to the sensors, there is currently no intelligent life on the planet's surface...human, Vulcan, Andorian, Tellarite, or otherwise." --------------- They checked. They recalibrated the sensors twice. They did everything short of opening the window and sticking their heads out for a closer look. Nothing changed the fact that nearly 300 scientists and colonists were simply not there anymore. "Look at the colony itself, Mr. Pennington," Rh'eldak suggested. "Has there been a battle of some kind down there?" Victor examined the information on the screen. "No signs of structural damage to the buildings...and no sign of bodies, either. Whatever happened down there happened real quietly." "Has a ship been here lately?" Rand offered. "If the Orions found out there was a colony here..." She didn't finish the thought. "There are no ion trails in orbit, but that doesn't mean much. Six weeks is a long time, and ion trails are traceable for less than a day." Victor said. "Recommendations?" Sulu asked. "There's little else we can do up here," Rh'eldak said. "I can check the colony's computers and see what they've been doing. Sending an away team down would seem the next course of action." "I recommend against it, Captain," Victor rebutted. "300 colonists are unaccounted for, and we have no idea why. Sending people down is an unnecessary risk." Sulu thought for a moment. "Anyone else?" he asked. "Speak freely if you wish." "I would agree with Commander Rh'eldak, sir," Sesik said thoughtfully. "The only way we will be able to gather more information will be to access the colony's computers. The risk is there, but it is one that must be taken." "That makes sense to me," Rand said. "Both points of view make sense, Lieutenant. That's the problem." Sulu said with a sigh. "Rh'eldak, you and Sesik will lead the landing party. Mr. Pennington, provide them with Security personel as you see fit." "Yes, sir." Victor thought briefly on the security roster and who would be on planetside duty. He chose three people mentally: Ellingson, a tall human whose reflexes were like none he'd ever seen before; Tredrex, the Tellarite who would go up against even the biggest people in hand-to-hand, and Yolanda, the woman he passed by at the phaser range hitting bulls-eyes left and right. "Let's go then," Victor said. "I'll have three persons waiting for us in the transporter room." "All right, then," Sulu said. "Let's find out what's going on here." ----------------------- HUNTING GROUNDS Chapter 3 The landing party assembled at the transporter room minutes after Victor had summoned the three persons he chose. Victor issued each party member a phaser and a tricorder. Just before the party was ready to leave, Sulu walked through the doorway. "Stay in constant contact with us," Sulu ordered. "We have no idea what's down there. Stay together, find the colony's log, and beam back up. Don't fool around." "We should be fine, Captain," Rh'eldak said. "If anything happens, you can beam the lot of us up." "All right then," Sulu replied. "The coordinates have been fed into the computer, Mister?" The Transporter Chief looked down at his control panel. "According to this, Captain, the party will land in the center of the colony, next to the administration building." "Perfect," Rh'eldak said. "Let's not waste time, everyone." The party began to take their places on the transporter pads. "Good luck, all," Sulu said. He then nodded to the transporter chief and muttered "Energize." In seconds the party was gone. "Keep a close eye on them. I want them beamed up at the first sign of trouble." Sulu said to the transporter chief. "I will, sir." "Very well then. You know your duties," Sulu remarked and left the transporter room. As Sulu walked down the long corridor towards the turbolift, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of doubt. (Am I doing the right thing? We don't know what might happen. . .Nonsense. That's why they're Starfleet officers. They know the risks, just like I did. . .maybe I should have gone. . .Why? Rh'eldak knows computers better than I do. So does Sesik. . .Doesn't matter, anyway. I've made a decision, and I'll follow it thr--) He almost ran over Doctor Lindstrom just with his thinking. He brought himself to reality with a start. "Oh, I'm sorry, Doctor. Are you all right?" "I'm fine, Captain. The question is, are you?" "Of course I am. I was just deep in thought. Again, I apologize." Doctor Lindstrom replied, "Don't worry about it. I've got some coffee brewing in my office. The real stuff, not the junk the replicator calls coffee. Care for some?" Sulu balked. "I really should be on the bridge..." "You know as well as I do that there's nothing you can do on the bridge right now. If you're needed, they'll call you. So come on," she said with a smile. Sulu hesitated, but finally gave in. "As you wish. I haven't had a chance to talk to you in a while anyway." "That's the spirit. And if you're a good boy, I may even give you a balloon," Doctor Lindstrom teased. "I think I'm a little old for that, don't you?" Sulu said with mock seriousness. "No," Lindstrom replied, with much less mockery than Sulu expected. "One is never too old to stop having a child inside you. We'll talk more in my office." she said, and started walking back down the corridor. Sulu followed right behind her. Soon the two of them were sipping coffee and talking again. "You know, Hikaru, you've been awfully high strung this last week. Is the mission getting to you?" "I'm fine, Doctor. Really." Sulu lied. "Are you? You're usually much more laid back than you are. A lot of the officers have said so." "So now my officers are talking behind my back. Wonderful." Sulu retored quickly, much more so than he would have liked. Lauri fixed an icy glare at the captain. "You know full well that's not what I meant, Captain. And that kind of attitude is exactly what I'm talking about. You're a good captain, Hikaru. You don't have to jam the rules down the crew's throats because they respect you enough not to break them. And you know why they respect you? Because you respect them. You add 'Please' and 'Thank you' to your orders, not just to be nice, but to make the crew feel good about themselves and believe that they're doing good jobs. And the crew notices when you aren't yourself." Hikaru thought for a moment. Then he sighed. "You're right, Lauri. I haven't been doing those things," He paused, gathering his thoughts and debating with himself just how much he wanted to verbalize. "It's just that this mission is so strange, and I'm not even sure if I'm doing the right thing. What if Rh'eldak or Sesik get hurt or killed down there?? I'm responsible for sending them." "They're Starfleet officers, Captain. It's their job. You know that," the doctor reminded him. "I know, I know. I was going through that before. Mapping empty space is one thing. This is completely different. No matter what, I'm accountable. I'm the one who has to face the families if something goes wrong. I wonder if this is how---" "Don't." Lindstrom interrupted him. "Don't compare yourself to anyone else. I don't care who it is. You're Hikaru Sulu, a unique person, and the only standards you have to live up to are your own. You'll only end up being miserable if you try to live up to another man's standards." Hikaru was stunned. Only then did he realize why he felt like nothing was working the way it should. The ship and the crew hadn't changed; he had. He was trying to run the _Excelsior_ the way that _Enterprise_ had been run when he served there. It wasn't his style of command. He remembered telling himself so many different times, 'That's not the way I'd do it.' Now he was trying to do exactly what he vowed he wouldn't. "Is it that obvious?" Sulu asked the doctor. Lauri nodded. Then she reached out and touched Hikaru's arm. "I'm worried about them too. But you're not helping yourself or them if you aren't Captain *Sulu*, the best damn captain there is, in my book." Sulu grinned. "Thanks, Lauri. I needed the talking to. Do I get my balloon now?" "Well, now that you mentioned it," Lauri opened her desk drawer and produced a large bag of balloons in many shapes and sizes. "Doctor's office isn't complete without 'em. What color??" Hikaru could only laugh. ---------------------- It was like beaming into a ghost town. Everything was there except people. Strange, how a place could look so modern and familiar and yet feel so alien. As the party materialized, the wind began to move through the buildings, kicking up dust from the disused walkways. "The administration building is right here," Rh'eldak said. "Let's see what we can find out." The six of them walked into the building and began to look around. Again, the same "ghost town" feeling pervaded. Dust was covering everything from lack of use. After wandering around the building for a short while, the group discovered the computer center. "Here we are," Rh'eldak said, encouraged. "Now we might be able to figure out what's going on here." He moved over to the computer and started working with it along with Sesik. Victor and his unit stood by the doorway, observing the area and staying alert. (Maybe I overreacted,) Victor thought to himself. (But better safe than sorry is a security person's creed.) "Anything useful, Rh'eldak?" "Plenty, Victor, but too much to go through here." He flipped out his communicator. "Rh'eldak to _Excelsior_," "_Excelsior_ here," came Lieutenant Rand's reply. "What's up?" "We've found the colony's computing center, and we'll have to download it to you so we can get through it all." "We'll be ready to recieve shortly, Commander," came the reply from Rand. "All right, hold this channel open, please," was Rh'eldak's response. "Sesik, adjust your tricorder so we can send a signal directly to _Excelsior's_ computers." "Yes, Commander," Sesik said, and busied himself with the task. Within minutes, the memory banks of the colony had been transferred to _Exceslior_. "Well," Rh'eldak said, "that's about all we can do here. Anything else before we beam up?" Robert Ellingson spoke up to the group for the first time. "Perhaps we could look around the colony some more. With a little footwork, we might find a clue that would give us a lead as to what *happened* here." "That is exactly the reason we accessed the colony's computers," Sesik stated flatly. "There is no reason for a manual search that I can see." "I don't know, Sesik," Victor responded. "Most often, computers only observe details they are programmed to look for. We may be able to find something they didn't." "Let's see what the captain says about it," Rh'eldak offered, opening his communicator. "Rh'eldak to Captain Sulu." "Sulu here. How's it going?" "We've completed the download, sir. We were wondering if we should look around and see if we can find any clues as to the colonist's disappearance." Sulu thought for a moment. Then he responded, "Go ahead and look around for a while, but keep in touch. Whatever happened to the colonists might happen to one or all of you, and I'd rather avoid that." Rh'eldak grinned. "We would as well, sir. Rh'eldak out." The landing party began to search the colony, looking for signs of anything out of the ordinary. After an hour, they had searched every building and the grounds around the colony and had discovered nothing. Victor was talking with Rh'eldak on the northern edge of the colony as the sun was setting. "We may as well gather the party and get back to the ship. This seems fruitless." "I would agree," Rh'eldak agreed and flipped out his communicator. "Rh'eldak to landing party. Please gather back at the administration building to beam up to the ship." Ten minutes later the party was beginning to form at the designated site. As the last few crew members arrived, Victor asked, "Where's Yolanda? She's the only one left." "She should be coming," Trebrex said roughly. "She went to investigate something just as you ordered us back here. She said she'd catch up." "You should *not* have left her alone," Victor reprimanded as he reached for his communicator. "Pennington to Yolanda, what's your status?" No response. "Sesik, tricorder scan. Where is she?" Victor said curtly. Sesik checked his tricorder. "Commander, Yolanda is not within tricorder scan." A chill ripped down Victor's back. "Dammit," he muttered under his breath. "Pennington to _Excelsior_, pinpoint Ensign Yolanda on sensors." There was a pause that seemed to take days in Victor's mind. (Come on, she's just out of tricorder range...everything's fine...she must have dropped her communicator or something...) The response was exactly what Victor was trying to convince himself not to believe: "We can't locate Yolanda on sensors. It's like she dropped off the face of the earth." An instant later Victor felt the tingly sensation of the transporter effect on his body. He wanted to scream, but his molecules were already being hurtled up through space towards the orbiting _Excelsior_. Once materialized, Victor wasted no time expressing his feelings. "Send me back down there NOW!" "I'm sorry, sir, Captain's orders." replied the trembling transporter chief. Without another word, Victor bolted from the transporter room and ran to the closest trubolift. Rh'eldak had called after him, but Victor chose to ignore him. The lift seemed to take days in Victor's mind; eventually, the doors opened to the main bridge. He zeroed in on Sulu in the center seat. "Why did you pull us out?!?! One of my team is missing, and I can't do anything about it up here! I demand to be beamed back down!" Victor was still breathing heavily from the dash to the lift. Sulu turned his seat to face Victor and fixed a piercing glare on him. He spoke with an even, calm voice, yet Sulu's eyes were doing lazer surgery on Victor's face: "I pulled you out because I do not want to lose anyone else before we can protect ourselves from whatever's taking people from the planet. There is now quite a bit we can do up here, now that we have the colony's log downloaded into the computer. If we can find a pattern to work with, we may be able to track down the missing colonists and Ensign Yolanda. And nobody, *nobody* demands anything from me on this ship. Have I made myself clear, Lieutenant Commander?" Victor gulped. "Aye, sir," was all he could get out. Sulu grinned. "Very good. Now let's see if we can do something to get them back. Do what you can with the sensors. Start a full sweep of the planet, acre by acre if necessary, but I want a clue to go on. Look for *anything* that might be out of the ordinary. Mineral content, atmosphere content, geological patterns, whatever. Just find something that you can follow." "Aye, sir," Victor said and went to the Tactical station to begin his work. Before long, Rh'eldak and Sesik came through the turbolift. Sulu turned to them and said, "I need both of you to start processing the colony's log so we can find a pattern to look for so we can figure out what's going on down there before we lose anyone else." "Yes, sir," Rh'eldak replied. "We'll use the main briefing room as our research station." "Relay your findings to Mr. Pennington at regular intervals," Sulu ordered. "Between the three of you, you should be able to discover something. I don't want to sit on my butt more than is absolutely necessary." "Agreed, sir," Rh'eldak said. He and Sesik then dissappeared into the lift. --------------

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