Down on Eden: Smoke and Mirrors

Redding gathered himself up and did a head count of the landing party, all were accountable and unharmed, with the exception of Moore and Oseno.

Oseno was shaken, but indicated he would be alright.

Immediately, T'Lana placed a device on Moore's forehead and it hummed.

"This should stabilize him until we can get to the Horizon, Commander."

She cast a critical eye at Redding.

"Although now that the Zetarians have taken the Polaris, and presumably its crew, I do not see that as an achievable goal."

Kalar was less diplomatic with his opinion.

"What the hell was that, Commander!"

He practically tackled the larger man as he rushed at him.

"Was THAT your big mysterious plan? Let them on board and shut down the computer?" h

He gritted his teeth and clinched his fists as he spoke.

Oseno, still to weak to stand, ordered him to stand down, but Redding waved him off.

"No, the Lieutenant has a right to be mad. I put all our lives in danger and Moore may not survive this. And as far as he knows, the Polaris and its crew are lost to us and more still, we are now stranded on this planet. Is that about right Mr. Kalar?"

His voice was so stern, his presence so overwhelming, that Kalar reflexively took a step back.

"Ye.. yes.. Sir." Kalar stammered a little, but tried to keep his outrage alive.

Redding grinned at him, like a man meeting an old lost friend.

"Outstanding, that's just what I wanted to hear, " he said, tapping him on the chest to emphasize his sentence.

Polaris: Bridge

The being now posing as Hunter paced around the bridge, looking up at the equally possessed Ji'lan every twenty seconds or so.

"How much longer?" he repeated for the third time.

Ji'lan's face frowned at him, rolled eyes and went back to her work.

"A little longer each time you bother me, 'Captain'...  but I am almost done."

She shook her head in mild annoyance.

"But i don't understand why this will work."

The Hunter being ignored her and rechecked the sensors.

"I know your out there, Redding. In these files they say you can't die... Are you planning something? Something we can't see? I know it's not possible... Helm! get us off the surface! there's too much at stake to take chances."

"I said.." Ji'lan repeated, "I don't see how this could work."

Hunter stormed over to her.

"Why? what do you mean?"

"The Draxx communication configuration Redding sent us is just short of technical gibberish, at least to me."  She shook her head while she went over it. "It should not work at all."

Hunter thought it over.

"Can it harm the ship in any way? blow out the comm system or something like that?"

She shook her head.

"No, the worst that could happen is it wont work. But, for whatever reason, the communication system IS taking the configuration. We should now be able to breach the barrier... If this works at all."

Hunter paused for a few seconds thinking it over, if this was some sort of trap he could not see it.

"Proceed" he said through gritted teeth.

"Opening hailing frequency; Polaris to the USS Horizon, come in please. This is the USS Polaris on planet Eden, do you read us?"

They waited for long seconds but only silence answered them.

"As I suspected," the possessed Ji'lan finally sighed. "The Horizon must be otherwise engaged and does not receive our transmission. If their passive sensors are not aimed at our exact location on the planetary surface, like if they are elsewhere on the planet's orbit, then they just don't see our light emissions. But I think it's even simpler than that; the barrier is stopping all forms of energy, most of all electromagnetic energy... hence why we could not escape, any better than light can. To make contact, we'll have to reach orbit ourselves... meaning going through the barrier."

"And you're sure we can do this with this vessel?" the Hunter being growled, feeling frustrated by this setback.

" Simple physics; this ship now has stored enough reserve energy from their makeshift tidal wave turbine to repower it's internal systems and fire it's chemical thrusters. It's not much but at least enough to achieve escape velocity. Of course, the barrier will kill all power aboard as soon as we enter it... but our momentum will be just enough to achieve orbit... which will assuredly be detected by their mother ship."

"All energies also means biological energy," the other pointed out. "How will we survive the crossing?"

"The same way these corporeal creatures did... more or less. They initially had energy coverings to retard the draining long enough for them to cross. Their whole ship was depowered but they were through before the suffered too much."

"There is not enough energy stored here to even attempt such an energy shield!"

"No... but these living physical bodies will shield our own electromagnetic existence with their own life force within this armored flying shell. Of course, our hosts will die... but then, we will need only a few minutes to retake control of those dead bodies and reactivate their nervous system with our own brainwaves... making them essentially our bodies... permanently."

"And then," smiled the Hunter being with glowing red eyes, "we will use the auxilliary crafts and crew of that ship to ferry the rest of us out... to freedom... and life. Even the Opposition will acknowledge this chance at a new, real existence. Good... let's do this."

All grinning and showing red fiery eyes glowing all accross the small bridge, they finished looking at the technical guides and allowed the conditionned reflexes of their hosts to start the launch. With erratic movements but then with a smoother trajectory, the Polaris moved upward towards the upper atmosphere in a roar of powerful thrusters. It reached escape velocity in mere seconds ant then shot up towards the stars.

"Approaching the barrier," the possessed Ji'lan announced. "Breaching in five seconds, four... three... two... one..."

Almost instantly, all lights went out. The dimming roar of the engines was suddenly engulfed by the rarefied air of the upper atmosphere... and every single form on the bridge, and on the entire ship, winked out of existence, leaving but wisps of weakly crackling energy where they had stood a moment before.

Planetside

Everyone in Redding's team, Oseno's and the Draxx survivvors were looking up where the compact shape of the Polaris had ascended the sky, leaving a trail of fire behind it until it had been a small bright moving star before the early night sky. Then, it winked out as a candle flame blown out by a sudden gust of wind.

The ominious silence among them was broken by the sudden alarm of the Draxx as they lifted their weapons to turn towards some sound none of them had heard... except T'lana's Vulcan ears.

"Someone's coming... many people..."

Between the trees, dark shapes could be seen approaching. Their obvious physical presence reassured the Draxx leader that they were not the dreaded Zetarians so that he motionned for his people to stand ready but not open fire as they emerged into view; probably because his night vision was superior enough to Humans that he had recognized who those silhouettes were.

Before them all appeared Hunter, Ji'Lan and the entire complement of the USS Polaris.

"Commander Oseno Sir... Commander Redding... that was the most... brutal transport I ever experienced," Hunter said in greetings.

"Suddenly crossing transporter confinement beams and demolecularisation process with the photons and forcefields of an activating holomatrix accross an entire starship under automated computer synchronisation does not allow for comfort, that much is certain," Ji'Lan answered from his right. "But hey, it worked!"

"Obviously, Lieutenant," T'Lana stated matter-fo-factly.But then again, she always spoke matter-of-factly. "The Zetarians occupied the replacing holograms the moment they started invading your bodies as the internal ship sensors sent the alarm to the transport computer and the shipwide hologrid. As the report from Doctor Gray of the Phoenix showed, they do not differenciate between organic and inorganic bodies that they perceive as physical. Flesh and forcefields are the same to their electromagnetic nature and perceptions."

"It's... it's a ship full of... of holograms that flew out?" the big Kalaar stuttered, eyes blinking.

"Affirmative, Lieutenant," the Vulcan confirmed. "By now, they must have crossed the energy nullifying shield of the planet on sheer momentum... and as the whole ship was again drained of all power, the holomatrix too shut down... leaving the possessing aliens once again bodiless... and, if alive, too weak to do anything when the Horizon will find them."

For a moment, they all sighed, chuckled, nodded or smiled at their good fortune.

"Sir..." Kalaar then said to Oseno, lowering his giant frame in a contrite posture, " I wish to report myself for disciplinary action. I acted out of emotion in showing lack of confidence in the actions and decisions of a superior officer. This is not the proper conduct of a Starfleet officer. I should have known that Commander Redding did not earn those pips out of favor or chance. Commander Redding here gave me, for one, a lesson into what it is to be a Starfleet officer... and I will take that lesson in full, Sir."

Oseno rose gingerly to face the hulking Capellan. "Lieutenant.." he began the pain he was feeling evident in his voice despite his best attempt to maintain a stoic demeanor. "It's natural to be upset when any life, but especially your own,  has been endangered particularly if you can't see the purpose behind it. I once had a shouting match with Captain Siduri after he interfered in one of my security exercies on the Alsea forcing my people and I into nearly firing on a crew member. The Captain had been trying to keep my team on our toes, but all I saw was his interference in my drill and the well being of a fellow officer put into potential jeopardy.  Under our present circumstances, and given your exemplary service record, as your commanding officer I will not be bringing any formal charges against you. Consider this lesson a warning Lieutenant, but also don't ever stop questioning. The extreme situations we face as Starfleet officers require that we think for ourselves, that we come up with out of the box solutions, and that we question everything around us from time to time. Just try to do it with...respect next time." 

Kalaar almost seemed disapointed that Oseno didn't charge him with insubordination, a thought that almost made the Bajoran smile, particularly when the man managed a muted "Aye Sir" Jureth winced as he lowered himself back to a seated poition, and seeing the commander do so Doctor Lowe from the Polaris immediately moved to his side with a medical tricorder.

"Commander, what exactly did you do to yourself?" 

Oseno smiled "Threw myself across a transporter confinement beam." 

"You did what?!" the doctor asked increduously.

"It's not as bad as fighting Khan.." he replied chuckling and then winced and grabbed his side.

"I will never understand ship captains and security officers.." Lowe mumbled "I can stabilize your injuries with the equipment I managed to grab, but full treatment will have to wait until we reach either the Polaris or Horizon sickbay." 

"Thank you Doctor," Jureth replied and then looked up at Redding "Well Sir...what now?"

"Now? now we set up a base camp and wait for pickup." Redding made sure not to just the word 'rescue' for morale.

"No telling whats going on up there, may be a few days, so lets make ourselves comforatable, and get to know our new friends," and pulled a deck of cards from his carry pack. "Lesson number one: poker."