With the exception of the captain at the helm, the others either manned non-essential stations or took a break in other parts of the craft. The journey was barely a few hours old and already Dr. Giovanni's need for babble and hyper-activity were getting on everyone's nerves. Captain Freeman was almost beginning to regret bringing her along, but she was the best medic on the ship. Only the stoic Vulcan Ehlana showed no obvious signs of irritation, but Freeman guessed that it was only a matter of time.
"So anyway, I put all this, well, lawn trash together; the broken toys, the dirt covered tools, and that old potato I mentioned earlier, and made this big thing out of them," Giovanni was saying excitedly to Dr. Leighton in the runabout's main gathering room. "I then ran in to my mother and told her excitedly that I had dug up old dinosaur bones in our backyard and pieced them all together. When she got outside and saw the mess I'd made of our lawn, digging pits everywhere, she nearly had a fit!" The doctor laughed at the memory.
"You certainly had a very interesting childhood," Leighton told her, straining for his words, trying to be polite.
"Doctor!" Freeman's voice called down the short hall to the room she was in. "I think we should all get some rest. It's been a long day, and we'll be to the planet in less than eight hours. We should try and sleep now, while we can."
"Oh," she said, somewhat disappointed. "Very well sir. Good night," she called back. The runabout's occupants all got up and went to their respective tight sleeping quarters.
Lt. Ivanovna took a detour through the craft's forward section, where Captain Freeman was sitting, making preparations to engage the ship's auto-pilot and to have it alert the crew at the first sign of any trouble. Her six foot six inch frame cast an imposing shadow on the console. "Captain?"
Freeman glanced up at her, "Yes, Katrina, what is it?"
"Thank you for saving my sanity."
Freeman smiled, "My pleasure, Lieutenant."
The shuttle journey passed uneventfully, and just under eight hours later the computer roused the crew from slumber as it slowed to impulse power for planetary orbit. A groggy Captain Freeman took the helm for orbital approach as Lt. Ivanovna monitored the tactical station next to him. The others stood or sat behind them and looked on.
"One minute to a geosynchronous orbit," Freeman reported to his crew. "At Dr. Leighton's request, this will be directly over the location of the old city he's found records of. The best place to search for the identity of these people and their remains is there." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Scan of the planet Captain," Ivanovna reported once the craft was in orbit. "I show a breathable atmosphere, with a surface temperature of negative three degrees Celsius, little vegetation, and little animal life. No humanoid life signs on the surface."
"We'll have the replicator generate appropriate clothing," Freeman commented to the assembled crew.
"Captain, this is interesting," Ivanovna blurted out suddenly.
"What is it Lieutenant?"
"I'm reading a massive network of caves underneath the city. And a source of heat," she added after a pause.
"Life signs?" Dr. Leighton breathed anxiously, his voice nearly inaudible.
Ivanovna whirled about in her chair to face the archaeologist. "Inconclusive, Doctor. I'm not getting precise readings on most of the system. There's something in the atmosphere or in the rocks which is interfering with our sensors."
"Captain, I suggest we beam into the cave network," Dr. Leighton requested.
Freeman shook his head. "Too risky. If we can't get a precise reading, we could beam into solid rock. Besides, we don't know what's in those caves."
"Please, Captain!" Leighton asked, exasperated. "Just a few hours! Lt. Ivanovna said she wasn't getting good readings from most of the caves, not all. We could beam into one of the other areas. What we find in there could be the remains of the last Humans to live on this planet." He paused, letting his monologue sink in. "Please! We're here; there's no reason to pass this up."
Freeman considered, before finally nodding assent. "Very well, Doctor. We'll go in fully armed, however. There could be animals which would like nothing better than to make us their next meal."
Leighton smiled and nodded, and the crew, with their replicated winter apparel, beamed down to the planet. They arrived just outside of one of the cave entrances to the underground network that Ivanovna had spoken of, and took a survey of their surroundings. One thing was for certain; the wind was harsh, and it was bitterly cold.
"Reading the first hundred meters inside the cave," Ivanovna reported brusquely. "No life signs." She barely managed to utter the last word before the crew rushed for the cave to escape the driving wind. "Picking up a faint source of heat," she continued pointedly. "We should continue on."
The captain nodded and the landing party proceeded, two abreast, into the cave. Using the Federation-issue palm beacon style flashlights to light their way, they proceeded carefully. Though the footing was sure, the cave widened and narrowed in such a way so as to force the crew to occasionally adjust. Eventually the cave narrowed to a path just wide enough to walk single file. After about ten meters of this, Dr. Giovanni, who was second in line behind Lt. Ivanovna in their walking order, stopped abruptly. Ivanovna continued on for a couple meters before realizing no one was following behind her. She frowned and walked back to the group.
"Doctor, why have you stopped?" Freeman called out from his position bringing up the rear of the march.
"Er, well, no reason really. I just needed a breather," Giovanni said, agitation clear in her voice. She put out her arms to either side, placing her hands on the walls of the passage, almost as though she wanted to push the walls away.
"A breather? What are you talking about? We just got here!" the captain retorted irritably.
Ivanovna laid a hand on Giovanni's shoulder, accidentally causing the latter to flinch at her touch. "It's alright Captain; I think she's claustrophobic."
"Doctor?" Freeman asked.
"I'm a doctor, dammit, not a spelunker," Giovanni hissed. "I hate closed in, tight places, that's all."
"Doctor," Ivanovna said reassuringly, "my tricorder indicates that this passage might be widening out a ways ahead. It shouldn't be too far now; think you can make it?"
Giovanni smiled at the kindness in her voice, "Yes, I can. Thank you, Lieutenant."
Nearly two full hours later, the group finally stopped for a breather. The cave was very gradually warming up as they proceeded on, though it certainly wasn't widening.
"Katrina," Dr. Giovanni said taking a drink of water, "I thought you said this cave would be widening soon."
"I did," Ivanovna replied simply.
"It hasn't."
"I know."
"Why hasn't it?" Giovanni demanded.
"I don't have any idea," Ivanovna replied honestly.
"Didn't your tricorder indicate that it was going to widen two hours ago?" Giovanni asked. Lt. Ivanovna didn't answer, but instead smiled broadly at the Bristol's chief of medicine. Leighton chuckled as it dawned on Giovanni what had happened; she'd been tricked. "Lieutenant!" Giovanni said in a shocked voice. "You tricked me didn't you?"
"It kept you going, didn't it? And the cave wasn't so bad, was it, so long as you had something else to focus on?" Ivanovna replied. Giovanni made a face in response; Ivanovna merely shrugged. "Shall we continue on, Captain?" she asked. Freeman nodded and the journey continued.
After another half hour or so, the trail widened considerably, and there was evidence to indicate that this occurrence was not natural. "Obviously this part of the cave was worked by someone for some reason; maybe a guard position or checkpoint or something," Leighton observed as the group paused. "Let's keep moving." The group passed a couple of side caves before emerging into a larger cavern.
"Captain, I think I'm picking up sporadic life signs nearby!" Ivanovna reported.
"Where, Lieutenant?"
"I'm not sure, the readings aren't clear because of these rocks, but I..." she started to respond, but was cut off by several humanoids rushing the group from the front. More came at them from the back. None of the group could really make out their attackers before all were engaged, the palm beacons carried by the landing party knocked wildly to the ground. A fierce hand to hand scuffle ensued. Though the Bristol crew fought valiantly, they began to fall unconscious from the fight, one by one; their opponents were all as tall and strong as Lt. Ivanovna, and appeared to have training as well.
In a moment, Freeman and Ivanovna were the only two of the landing party still up. They were easily surrounded; Freeman took more blows than he dealt out and finally dropped to his knees. A staggering kick to the back of his skull relieved him of consciousness while other attackers pinned his security officer's arms back and delivered strike after strike to her face and midsection. Eventually, she slumped limply to the ground.
What seemed like days later, Freeman and the others slowly woke up to numbing pain, stretching from head to toe of each person. They had all been carried and tossed, minus their weapons, tricorders, and the like, into a holding cell. This unfortunately included their communicators, though these were likely taken for their adornment value, as opposed to being recognized for their function.
The guards were of more immediate interest, however. Both were dressed in sewn clothes covered with skins for warmth. Leighton gasped as he saw what the captain and the others did; one of the guards was definitely Human, the other, definitely Klingon.
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