Title: "Lost" (Part 3 of 4)
Author: Captain Stephen Maruu
Stardate: 2460833
Earthdate: October 31, 2383
Location: USS Virgo

"Hey, babe." Dana kissed Stephen gently on the forehead. "You have to go to work."

Stephen opened his eyes to see his wife sleeping next to him. "Good morning."

Dana smiled and kissed him on the lips. "You know, it wasn't even half as scary as I imagined it." She paused. "I am so glad you were the one."

Stephen smiled and returned the kiss. "I am too." He got up and headed for the sonic shower.

Dana got up and enveloped herself with a bed sheet. She walked to the replicator. "Two Maruu-A breakfasts."

Two plates appeared which Dana quickly grabbed and placed on the table. She sat down drinking a cup of coffee.

Stephen walked out of the shower fully dressed and putting on his pips. "I've been thinking," he said as he sat down across from Dana, "You should move in with me."

Dana smiled. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," he said. "It *is* the best suite on the ship. Plus, we are, like, the only married couple in the galaxy that isn't living together."

"Well, you have a busy job, taking care of a starship and all," she excused the fact that they were not living together. "I'd love too. Plus, it's a nice, big room. I'm sure all my stuff will fit perfectly."

"Great," said Stephen as he finished his breakfast. He got up to leave. "We'll start moving tomorrow. I'll ask Jon if he can take a few hours of my shift so I can focus on the move."

"Good." They kissed on the lips. "I have to get ready for work too."

Stephen headed to the door. "See ya this afternoon."

He headed out the door as Dana headed in to take her own shower.
 _____________________________

Stephen walked onto the bridge as Jon got up. "Good morning, Stephen."

"Morning, Jon. How are things here?" Stephen asked, happily.

"Everything's great." He paused. "You seem cheerful this morning."

"I had an excellent night."

"Well, I'm glad."

"Thanks, Jon."

K'Lara stepped into the conversation. "I'm sorry to interrupt your wonderful conversation, but I think I have something on scanners."

Jon and Stephen sat down in their respective seats to inspect their computers. "What is it?" asked Jon.

"I don't know; neither do the scanners. But it's huge. It's an area of space which is about three light years wide and five light years high."

"How about across?" asked Stephen. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his head: *Let the river guide you out.*

"About one light year."

"I guess we can go across then." Stephen turned to his first officer. He stopped as the thought flashed in his mind again, this time with a feeling of dread: *Let the river guide you out.* "Right, Jon?"

"Is everything okay, Stephen," Jon asked, concerned.

Stephen smiled. "Yeah." He turned to K'Lara. "Take us through."

The ship started to move into the unknown anomaly. Suddenly, the lights flashed.

Benton, standing at tactical, announced, "There was a fluctuation in the power grid. It has corrected itself."

K'Lara then said, "Captain, the ship isn't moving. We seem to be stuck."

"Engineering," began Stephen, "what's going on?"

*Let the river guide you out.*

Jennifer answered hurriedly, [The warp core is working at peak efficiency. Impulse, warp, and transwarp systems are online and operational. It's like being trapped in mud; the ship's wheels are moving, but we aren't going
anywhere.]

"If we go to warp we may get out because this anomaly may not exist in subspace."

[It's worth a try. I've done all I can on my end.]

"K'Lara, take us to..."

*Let the river guide you out.*

Suddenly, Stephen felt afraid. "K'Lara, all stop. Jon, organize the senior staff. We need to have a meeting now."

"Sir?" Jon was worried for Stephen.

"Just do it. I have a bad feeling about this."
 _____________________________

"The anomaly is made of high concentrations of chronoton and tachyon particles," explained Jennifer to the senior staff in the briefing room. "This is why moving at impulse got us no where. Moving at warp, however,
would have caused this." Jeniffer activated a computer screen which showed high velocity winds pushing against the ship. "We would have collided with high energy subspace 'winds' which would have torn the *Virgo* apart. Quite frankly, Captain, if we had gone to warp, all or most of us would be dead by now."

Johnny looked gravely and Jenara, then at Stephen. "Thank goodness for the captain's hunch."

"I think it was more than just a hunch," said Stephen.

"Captain?" asked Benton.

"I remembered doing this before. I remembered ordering K'Lara to jump to warp one. Then, she and a lot of people died, and the ship was crippled."

"You can't have remembered it, sir. This is the first time this happens to us," replied Jon.

 "No. Jenara, check the date."

Jenara replied automatically, "It's stardate 6083..."

"Not the stardate. Go to the computer. Check the date according to the stars around us."

Skeptically, she got up and examined the data. "Oh my..." She turned around. "It's stardate 61164!"

Stephen turned to his crew. "So, we've been repeating the same day for about four months."

The crew was aghast.

Benton looked at Jeniffer. "So, how do we handle this sort of anomaly?"

Jeniffer shrugged her shoulders.

Stephen said, "The words, 'Let the river guide you out,' kept flashing through my head on the bridge. Maybe it..."

Johnny interrupted him. "Letting the river guide you is a Native American belief. Many tribes believed that in desperate situations the best thing one could do was become tranquil and to allow things to happen as nature deems fit."

Jeniffer nodded. "It's a start."

K'Lara added, "Besides, it's not like we're running out of time. We have all eternity to figure this thing out."

The crew let go a nervous laugh.
 

Title: "Lost" (Part 4 of 4)
Author: Captain Stephen Maruu
Stardate: 2460833
Earthdate: October 31, 2383
Location: USS Virgo

Stephen sat in his chair, his crew in tact and the ship undamaged. "Are all systems ready?"

Jennifer walked to a console and checked the screen. [Yes, sir. Ready to begin shipwide systems shutdown.]
 _____________________________

"Good."

Jon pressed a button on his computer. "Initiate primary systems shutdown."

The lights went dim and shut off. Back up lights came up.

Stephen pressed another button.

"Initiate secondary systems shutdown."

The backup lights shut off, leaving them all in the dark. The bridge officers all turned on their wrist flashlights.
 _____________________________

Officers walking in the corridors turned on their wrist flashlights as they continued walking.
_____________________________

[Ready?] said Stephen over the com.

Jennifer didn't answer. She walked to the console in front of the warp core and pressed a button. "Initiating warp core shutdown."
 _____________________________

Every light on the ship shutdown completely. The *Virgo* was in the dark.

Suddenly, the *Virgo* shook. It began to drift backward as it turned on its nose, and then upside down. The ship flew backward until, suddenly, a flash of blue light appeared.

The ship glowed. When the light faded, the *Virgo* was stranded and dark.
 _____________________________

Stephen tapped a button on his computer. "Reactivating primary systems."

The lights all came back on.

"All right. Did it work?"

[Yes, sir!] exclaimed Jennifer. [The subspace winds drove us out. We're out of the anomaly."

Stephen didn't believe it. "Jon, check your chronometer."

Jon smiled. "She's right. We're out."

"K'Lara, what date is it?"

"March 1, 2384," K'Lara said happily.

"Great," Stephen sat back in his chair, relieved. "Well," he got up, "I've got stuff to do. Can you cover for me, Jon?"

"What stuff?" asked Jon.

"I promised Dana I'd help her move into my quarters a few months ago, and

haven't gotten around to it."

Jon smiled and waved him off as he took the captain's seat.

Stephen casually walked off the bridge.
 _____________________________

Stardate: 2461164
Earthdate: March 1, 2384

"So, K'Lara died?" asked Dana as she helped pile up her belongings.

"Yeah," Stephen said. "Her and all of the engineers."

"Wow."

"And what scares me is that that could have happened in an anomaly that didn't loop time. We could all be dead now."

"You got lucky. But it was a lesson, and you're a better captain for it."

Stephen smiled as he approached a consoled. "Initiate site-to-site transport Maruu Pi."

The huddled pile of Dana's belongings disappeared.

Dana continued, "So, what else do you remember?"

"Something about the T'rais."

"The T'rais?"

"Yeah," Stephen scratched his head. "And the Kelvans."

"The Kelvans? What do they have to do with the T'rais?"

"You know, I don't even remember." Stephen grabbed his wife's shoulder. "Oh well, I don't remember so it mustn't have been that important."

"Yeah." Dana kissed him on the lips. "Well, let's get everything organized upstairs."

"Okay. Let's go." Stephen walked out with Dana. Suddenly, he started running to the nearest Jeffries tube. "First one to the Deck One cleans!"

Dana ran after him. "Oh no you don't!"

They ran and laughed down the corridor frightening two ensigns.
 _____________________________

The *Virgo,* having planted a beacon at the edge of the anomaly, went to warp, leaving the beacon flashing a red light.