Down on Eden IV: Confrontation with the Draxx & the Zetarrians

During the exchange between the theats of the Strategic Ops Officer and his counselor, the Draxx had remained silent and watchful; both of them and of whatever was happening to them. When Oseno's team approached, they had tightened the grip on their weapon long before the second Starfleet had team showed up to meet with that of Neil Redding. Often their ears flickered and their eyes took a distant glare, but otherwise they showed no sign themselves of what they were thinking.

Once the Starfleet teams rejoined and the Bajoran had spoken, the leader of the Draxx just snarled thinly. It was more a laugh than a threat, but not the kimd of laugh you wanted to join in. Then T'Lana came over to Oseno and spoke softly to him.

"Commander, they're not alone."

"How can you tell?" Kalar asked, looking around into the thick jungle around them.

"There are comm exchanges between them and others of their kind, in some form of battle language like the Klingons have but too high-pitched for the universal translator of our communicators to pick it up."

"Ultrasonic?"

"Affirmative. I myself can barely hear it... but they do. Notice how their ears flicker and then the fur of their throat ripples immediately after that. Sir, from this, from the outward lack of reaction from these before us to your theat  and the estimate of their crashed ship complement to be over a hundred, and assuming that at least a third of them may have survived the landing, it is logical to assume that it is we who are surrounded."

"It seems that the females of your kind are the ones endowed with perception and  intelligence," then growled the Draxx leader, looking at both Yiral and T'Lana with his deceptively smiling canine face.

"True enough K-9" Redding said with a bit of a smerk, being careful not to show his teeth. "But they keep us around for our 'fortitude' and ability to take punishment when the need arises." And gave an apologetic shrug in the direction of the women.

It was an attempt to use base 'male humor' to put the canines at ease, hopefully without belittling the women.

From some distance, a rumbling sound rose in the dusk. To everyone, it sounded like the far away roar of powerful thrusters. It came from where the Starfleet people had come.

And towards that direction, a sudden flurry of red and blue discharges rose over and through the trees to move in that same direction.

Oseno knew the sound was likely the Polaris on take off, and as for he red blue light, while he wasn't sure he suspected it was what Adira had tried to warn him about and he also suspected he knew what they were though he tried to keep that realization from breaking his external demeanor.

"We are not alone either," Oseno replied with a quick tap of his combadge

"Oseno to Polaris, status Mister Hunter," 

"On our way Sir," 

"You may have incoming, Lieutenant, the beings from our briefing, take immediate precautions." 

Aboard the Polaris Hunter was checking with his staff.

"Confirmed, Sir," Ji'Lan reported from her sensor readings. I read numerous EM surges closing in on a definitely deliberate interception trajectory with us from multiple vectors. Contact in thirty seconds... mark."

"The forcefield will block immediate penetration... but ship's systems can take fifty-four percent of an EM blast... but the rest will incapacitate us seriously if they all hit at the same time!" warned Akaal. If that happens it's either we drop all forcefields... or we go down like a rock!"

Before Hunter's eyes, the main screen showed the red, purple and black of the dying day of an alien sky over the treetops of an island's jungle and, against that backdrop, clouds of red and blue energies swirling to meet them head on.

"Polaris, Redding here; check the area for a large body of water and make for it. Be prepared to submerge if possible. So far, it seems to hold them off."

(Leaving space for Jureth to play that out)

Redding turned back to the Draxx leader.

"I'd like to here more about this 'sacrifice' you brought up, exactly what are you proposing?"

The wolfish alien looked straight at him.

"We will terminate our lives so that they will not be able to use our bodies and our technology to escape. Join us of your own free will, with courage and honor, and like us, be remembered among your ancestors as saviors of your pack. "

"I get the concept of sacrifice... do you have a name? or shall I go on calling you K9?" Redding said with a hint of annoyance."Trust me K9, If you have legitimate prisoners here, we'll die before they get away because of us."

"Rhan rasraa Harrunal Groll rah Rhoo meur Warreh laekaeon Rriihr Arhen Draxx. It sounded like a series of short growls but the universal translator came up with 'starship Rhan, Second pack leader Groll son of Rhoo of clan Warreh from the Rriirh star system of Draxx Space'. And we don't have prisonners here. We follow the Pact between us and the Zetarrians."

The Horizon's first officer's demeanor became more threatening as he gripped his rifle. "But we NEVER just die because someone else thinks its the best option out of a situation. And if at all possible, we'll save you as well despite your intentions towards US."

If anything Redding was attempting to show a lack of fear of the Draxx as he assumed they would see that as a sign of weakness. His intuition seemed to prove itself correct, as the ears lifted up with the head, slightly exposing the throat. The growl in the voice also smoothed out noticeably.

"We die if it is necessary to save the pack. This is our way. But you are strangers with strange ways. You may have ways that we do not have. I am listening."

"Well for starters Groll, tell me more about the Zetarrians and this pact that you have, I'd like to break as few laws as possible to achieve our objective." He checked the sky again, always keeping his peripheral vision on the Draxx in front of him, and being obvious about it as well so Groll would understand that Redding considered him a worthy threat, out of respect.

"Past that point I plan to improvise, but fortunately, I happen to be damn good at that." he said looking back at him.

"You have instincts... good," Groll acknowledged.

He took a moment to think before answering the exec of the Horizon.

"We know little about them. What we know came only from the few direct contacts we had when encoutering a group of them in space, many centuries ago. As far as we can understand, they come from some kind of ancient civilization that destroyed itself eons ago; but some of them managed to survive in some kind of deliberate or accidental transmutation from physicality to non-corporeal existence. Over time, two factions emerged; one that saw it's transformation as a new step in their evolution... the other as  a punishment and destiny they had earned but had now paid enough for. The positive faction, as we call it, wanted to live and explore this new reality of their existence. The other, we call it the negative faction, has one single goal; to get back to material existence... at any price."

His gaze looked around them all before he resumed his answer.

"We don't know either who or how this planet's containement field of negative energy was built. But we know why; this is the only way to permanently contain them. As energy beings, unprotected by a material shell, they die instantly if they touch it. That's why the negative faction wants to possess bodies; not only to live corporeal lives again, but to escape from here. That is why it is imperative that we destroy our ships and ourselves to prevent that."

"It happened before," Yiral then said with a certainty that was almost frightening.

"It has been done at least once we know of. A little over a century ago,  a group of about fifty of them escaped through the use of one of our own ships marrooned here and flew into the space anomaly a light year from here. We don't know what happened to them. But another group, much larger, escaped through this region of space. Our people have been on the hunt for them since then. Recently, an alien ship emerged from the anomaly. When we found it, it was already invaded by the Zetarrians. They planned to use it to go somewhere we haven't identified but which they named 'Federation Space.' We assumed this was somewhere beyond the anomaly, where that unknown vessel had come from... you have now supported that hypothesis. The scout ship that found that vessel was destroyed in the encounter but managed to send a log buoy. We were on our way to find it when we encountered your smaller ship in this system and, being the prison system, we assumed it was the reported alien craft, as it matched much of the data we had recovered."

He made a pause, as if reluctant to continue. But then, he shrugged his massive shoulders.

"We may have been mistaken... and that ship is either still out there... or has returned to her point of origin... your Federation Space. And our own warning buoys were sent out. In a solar day at most, ships from one of our fleets will come... and now, you are listed as a threat as much as this unknown alien Federation vessel is. it will be seeked out and destroyed... just as yours here."

He was now looking alternatively at Oseno and Redding but in a curious, non direct way; obviously so as to not display any threatening attitude a direct stare would imply.

"Well.." Redding said with a sigh "It may give you a little comfort to hear that we have a system in place for detecting and removing these types of energy parasites. It turns out that there not all that rare in the universe, but thankfully rare enough to handle."

Something about a ship nagged in his memory but he couldn't pick it out. "Anyone have a clue witch Federation ship he might be referring to? I'm sure I've heard something like this before."

The Vulcan T'Lana answered him in the perfunctory report giving manner of a Starfleet officer.

"Sir, only three Federation starships are recorded as having ever entered the Azimuth Horizon anomaly; the first one is the ambassador class USS Artemis of Captain Kheren, which discovered it, entered it no less than three times, even went as far as entering this pocket universe... but was destroyed the third time as she helped to tame the anomaly during Operation Horizon. The Uss Artemis never reported any encounter with beings corresponding to what we know of the Zetarrians."

She made a pause as a few heads nodded, remembering the much publicized fate of the famous Stalwart Guardian of the Federation.

"Then there was the Intrepid class USS Lotus, which under the command of Captain V'Rell Gould went in to save the lives of Captain Kheren and then-Commander Syntron from the wreckage of the Artemis, at the end of Operation Horizon. Again, there was no report of any energy life forms and the Lotus never went through the wormhole itself. She was decommissionned afterwards to be replaced by the Horizon as Lotus Fleet's flagship."

Again, many heads nodded.

"The third one is a Federation media ship assigned to Lotus Fleet for the purpose of recording the Fleet's remarkable actions at the edge of Federation, Klingon and Romulan territories. The last report about that ship stated that she was lost with all hands within the anomaly prior to Operation Horizon; Nova class starship USS Nuntio, Captain Caroline Rousseau commanding."

She took out her tricorder and punched a few keys.

"With your permission, Sir..."

The Vulcan showed to Groll the 3D image she had called up from the computer files of the Polaris to which it was linked to.

"Is this the vessel your scout ship encountered?"

The canine alien blinked several times at it before flicking his ears forward.

"Yes; this is exactly the hull configuration that the record buoy sent us of the alien ship commandeered by the Zetarrians."

He lowered his head towards Redding and Oseno.

"The warp and energy signature, hull composition and life signs of your ship, your... Polaris, were practically identical to those recorded by the buoy's logs. We knew her therefore to be from the same point of origin and, detecting her in this system, we assumed you served the Zetarrians and undergoing a deliverance operation, willingly or not. The danger of the Zetarrians roaming free calls for swift and drastic measures; so then we strongly felt that we had to stop you. Now, we understand our mistake... but our incoming task force will make the same assumption when it will detect your mothership in this system, orbiting this planet."

Redding nodded in understanding to the Draxx plight.

"Under the circumstances, I understand your actions, but death has a finality that is always best served with caution, If you make a mistake with another life there's no taking it back. Try resolution before conflict, disarming before injuring, and containment before death.. but.." he went on "Always understand that death my be inevitable, and never be afraid to meet it out when all else fails."

The Draxx leader nodded, still silent, obviously pondering the man's words.

"What I'm saying is we know they can jump from person to person, not ship to ship, You.. I.. would have disabled their vessel before attempting to destroy it. After that we see what we can do whats in side."

"You are in error," corrected Groll. "The Zetarrrians can travel through deep space and enter  most technological system due their electromagnetic nature. One single open channel of communication is enough for them to invade a ship or installation at the speed of light and start overtaking living hosts. Many hosts die for not being compatible or because more than one tries to possess them at once and burn out their nervous system. That is why we use light signals between our units. Light is part of the electromagnetic force but, as it disperses to infinity in all directions at once, unless focused like in a laser beam, they can't travel through it without having their integrity disolved in the process. Beleive me, Commander Redding of Horizon, they can invade your ships and worlds before you even realize they have come."

"I do not presume to understand your captain, I would have still opted to disable the Horizon first, perhaps he thought our ship too powerful to disable safely... if direct harm would come from talk." and sighed.

"We are not a people prone to take chances when survival is at stake," Groll simply answered as much as an explanation as an apology. "We know what this threat represents to all space faring cultures."

"He is not kidding, Commander," Yiral then added. "Imagine if those beings would reach our universe. With the subspace relays strewn out all over the Federation, The Romulan and the Klingon Empire, they could invade everyone as fast as subspace signal travels... leave countless deaths in their wake..."

Everyone felt silent at the thought.

"Excellent point Yiral, perpair to send a data download to the Polaris with the information we have gathered so far, with orders not to accept any open communication from this point on as well as any com from anyone else but Oseno or myself for that matter." and looked back at Groll. "All other communication.. hmm.." He suddenly had a faraway look.

"But enough if this, tell me Groll.." He suddenly changed the discussion. "If we could get you back to your ship would they kill you outright? Is there nothing we can do or say that might allow us to work together on this threat? because I for one would rather go down with my teeth at my enemies throat, and that can be best done with a pack."

Redding eyes where deadly serious.

"We are more alike than I expected, Redding of Horizon. And we both face the same enemy.  I understand now that our chances of survival are better if we work together."

The Draxx went silent for a moment before he spoke again.

"Protecting ourselves from the Zetarrians on this wet, slimy world is feasible; viscuous, non-conductive substances, like water, disrupts the conductivity of their electromagnetic nature. Wearing insulated suits and avoiding using EM based technology is best to avoid direct contact. Any technology based on other energy source than the electromagnetic spectrum is impervious to them if strong enough. In case of possession, sharp pain to the host's body will drive them out as they feel that pain even more intensely than the host itself."

His eyes went to the top of the trees where they last had seen the energy creatures rushing at the sound of the Polaris engines.

"The biggest problem we have is escaping their prison... and without carrying them with us. You have a vessel... but the negative energy barrier surrounding the planet will drain all forms of energy into nothingness from the instant of contact, be it mechanical, electromagnetic, gravimetric, atomic... or biological. I see no way to bypass such a barrier."

"What do you think would happen if a Zeta possessed a living host and attempted to get through the field? how did they escape the first time?" Without a word of explanation he took Yiral's tricorder and started inputing some data into it.

"This is the only thing we can hypothesize about their escape. While encapsulated within a physical host and carried within a physical transportation device capable of high velocity, some might have gone through the field... be it at the end only through sheer momentum. Even as their hosts died and the vessel ended up drained and useless once beyond the barrier, just a few seconds in orbit above the field might have been enough for some of them to escape into outer space... and then proceed to their next victim."

Groll's voice became a low growl.

"If your ship is seen coming out of the field and our own ships are there, it will be destroyed the moment it is detected."

"Not an entirely unreasonable reaction.." Redding said still inputting information on the padd.

Several more minutes went by before he was finished and handed the PaDD back to Yiral. "Send this to the Polaris but do NOT read it and wipe it after that, I want no trace of the what I wrote there left." Just to be on this safe side he included an alert if she should attempt to access or copy the file before she sent it, It wasn't impossible she was already compromised.

"We have a saying where I'm from Groll, knowledge grants power. You may have given me the weapon we need to finish this." and signaled his team to get ready to move out.

"First priority now is to retrieve our people, Mr. Moore and Sufera." He then ordered one of his men to fire off a spotting flare.

"Anyone from the Federation will know what that is and head to us but we have a good idea where they're at, after that we'll make for the Polaris. If my idea works then this whole thing might be over by the time we get there." But he really didn't think it would be that easy.

As the flare went off in the darkening sky, lighting them all for a moment, Yiral took the PADD without looking at it as ordered. her eyes kept themselves into his.

"Sir, how am I to send this? If we use standard transmission mode or anything EM-based and the Polaris opens a channel to receive it, the Zetarrians will use it to invade the ship... and everyone aboard. And if we lose the Polaris..."

She didn't have to finish. If the Zetarrians took over the Polaris, they would escape and leave them stranded in their place within their own prison.

"There's nothing stopping the Polaris from trying to hail US right now, it's a calculated risk but at lest this way it's just one chance instead of a dozen. Also send it priority compact signal, it would be less then a second long."

And as if on cue, their communicator beeped to announce the voice of Hunter.

"This is the Polaris; away team do you copy? We are a hundred meters underwater near the shore of the landmass we left you. There is some kind of weird electromagnetic phenomena hovering over our position which registers as amazingly similar to brain patterns but of extreme intensity. Our sensors are unable to filter it out and reach your signal from our current location. We deployed a probe to act as a relay. If you receive this message, please respond within the next hour. Past that deadline, we will proceed with a search and rescue mission to try to find and retrieve you. Please aknowledge."

At the same moment the message was transmitted, Yiral sent her compressed data blip back to it.

"Here goes nothing," she said with a hopeful sigh.

On board the submerged escort class starship, engineer Akaal lifted his hands in frustration.

"That's it; that... thing out there just rushed our probe and shorted it our. We still have a few left... but they will certainly fall to the same fate the moment it sends a signal."

"Mister Hunter... I have something," Ji'Lan reported. "There was a return signal from our transmission, just before the probe was deactivated. I first tought it was a power surge feedback from the short-circuiting... but then, I did an analysis just to be on the safe side..."

"Out with it," grumbled the acting ship commanding officer.

"Sir... it's a compressed transmission... with Commander Redding's personal ID."

"Let's hear it!" Hunter ordered ashe straightened in his pilot seat.

"Converting into audio-visual signal on the main viewer," confirmed the Orion science officer.

Before them, the dull watery emptiness they had been looking at shifted to the image of what looked in the background as dense, dark foliage in a gloomy jungle. But on the foreground was the familiar face of Neil Redding. Data scrolled down on the left side of his strong features as he spoke.

*Lt. Hunter, here's what I need you to do, and there isn't much time..*

-Planet side-

Redding checked over his weapon as he relaxed on a downed tree, waiting for Oseno and his team to return with Mister Moore and Governor Sutra. Kalar stood nearby looking iritated, taking quick glances at Redding.

"Your practically fuming, Lieutenant. Just spit it out." the Horizon,s first officer, said glancing up at the man.

Kalar jumped at the chance.

"Sir, I know this might be necessary, but t's placing Lieutenant Moore in severe danger. And we can't even ask him to volunteer for it."

"All very true Kalar, but he's the only choice we have. For once, his clueless bravado will actually be an asset."

He looked around at the sound of Oseno and Moore coming into the clearing.

"But if it makes you feel any better, I'm not going to enjoy this even a little."

Moore waved and made his way over to the Commander.

"One Bajoran spiritual leader as ordered, Commander. I always get my.. err.. man, Sir."

Redding grinned in a way that made Moore slightly uneasy.

"I never doubted it. Moore. Are you both Okay?"

Moore' smiled returned.

"No worse for wear, Commander. The Bajoran should be ok as well, just in some sort of shock I think."

"Her name's Sufra, by the way," Redding said handing him a towel to dry off with. As he took it, Kalar left in a quite huff.

Moore dried himself off while looking at the Draxx standing a little way, they seemed to be watching him intensely. "Friends of yours, Commander?"

"Friends of our's Lieutenant. In fact, thanks to them, we have a way off this prison planet. I was just about to signal the Polaris to pick  us up."

He held out his communicator.

"Care to do the honors?"

"Would I?!"

He grabbed the field communicator from Redding's hand and activated it.

"Lieutenant Moore to Polaris, away team ready for pick up."

*Roger Moore, locking onto your signal. Please keep the channel open.*

"Can do, I'm not going anywhere." Moore said with a grin. "I didn't even knew they knew my first name was Roger."

No one had time to mention that it was written plainly on his Starfleet record that his name was Robert, not Roger. Obviously, he was just making conversation on a favorite topic, that being himself. At that moment, there was a colored light show over the treetops that intensified as swirling clouds of flashing lights and crackling discharges suddenly came in their direction.

All the away teams and the Draxx were drenched in the protective liquid the caninoid aliens had sprayed on them all; all except Governor Sufra and Lieutenant Moore... and he was holding the active communicator. Like lightning, the lights of Zetar were suddenly all over him just as the annular confinement beam caught them all.

The night's darkness covered everything in the jungle when all sentient life forms in the vicinity were swept away by the teleportation signal of the Polaris.

**Polaris: Transporter Room one**

As the figures of the away team began to materialize energy arched out in dazzling patterns of colorful energy, arcing around the room. One bolt struck the transporter operator as he recovered from the shock of the display. "Captain!" he started to yell out before being struck.

Redding and Oseno struggled to regain their footing. "Computer, override code.." Redding said weakly. 

"Too slow human." The chief said calmly activating the transporter controls. In a valiant but desperate move Oseno attempted to hurl himself out of the transporter field as it activated catching him partially out of the effect, the chief made no move to compensate for it.

"Arghhh!!" Oseno's scream echoed into oblivion, it was unclear if he could have survived such agony.

Lt. Hunter's voice came over the com. *Report! did you get them?*

"Yes captain, I got them." He smiled as the local energy arched into the com, headed directly to the bridge.

**Bridge**

Lt. Hunter's combadge sparked as a stream of colorful light swirled into the room, Hunter was infected first.

Science officer Ji'Lan yelled out "NO!" and jumped for the turbo lift getting struck just as the doors closed.

As the room settled all the bridge offers looked around at each other calmly, the turbo doors reopened admitting Lt. Ji'Lan back into the room, she too seemed calm.

"Hunter to transporter room one." he said, making himself more comfortable in the captains chair.

*Yes sir* Came the reply. *I transported the Commander and his team back to the beam up point, but I'm not picking up their signals now, they may not have survived Commander Oseno's disruption of the field.*

"Or they disabled their com badges, but their not important anymore. Bridge out."

He stood up and looked around, a grin covered him face.

"Commander, I think you should see this." Ji'Lan said with an amused look at her station.

"First things first Lieutenant. Computer, ship wide announcement." The computer responded ready.

"All sections, standby for an announcement." This would give them time to secure any critical work they might be doing.

Then he just gave a nod to the glowing balls of energy around him and they jumped into the com system, in seconds most if not all of the crew would be acquired.

The rest would be dead or dying. Not every corporeal lifeform was compatible with the merging or able to wisthand the intense neurogenic onslaught of a Zetarian's mind. They knew more than one of them trying to connect would burn out the host's nervous system; but more than a few didn't care, as long as they could take it first from another.

"Excellent, it's just to bad we have such a small crew, I would have liked to take more of our people off this wet hell of a planet." He frowned.

Ji'Lan smiled at him. "It might be possible sir, It seems I was working on a way to break through the barrier and contact the Horizon, with the data pack Commander Redding sent us earlier, It could be ready in the next 10 minutes or so."

Hunter looked astonished as he walked over to her station. "Are you saying we might be able to transfer our people from the planet surface to the Horizon directly?"

She grinned "ALL of our people, the Horizon is packed with more than enough people to take us ALL"

Hunter's head swam, the rest of the bridge crew cheered.

He got on the com, "Lt. Akaal, have you joined us?" 

Akaal's calm voice replied. *Aye Mr. Hunter, the engineering team stands ready.*

"Prepare the ship to leave the planet, we already know how, just this time were taking everyone with us."

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Continued in: Down on Eden, Smoke and Mirrors.