Away missions had always fascinated Ensign Pavel Chekov. The thought of exploring something new was so... awe inspiring. But this away mission... not so much.

Today's mission consisted of going to the surface of Salthasia, a recently discovered planet, to find one Lieutenant Xavier Roosevelt, who'd been UA for nearly six days. Anyone being UA on a Starship is odd business to begin with, but considering the recent anomalies occurring around the ship, this Lieutenant missing was only the icing on the proverbial cake. Computers had been reading odd patterns in the atmosphere surrounding the ship, i.e. that something was actually surrounding the ship save space, presences and absences that didn't seem to actually be occurring. For instance, on the bridge nearly a week and a half ago the computer had alerted the Captain that Hikaru Sulu had disappeared from the ship. When the Captain looked to Sulu's seat, there he was; facing the Captain back with a confused look on his face.

The Lieutenant's actual disappearance was only finally noted two days ago, when the crew finally realized that his disappearance had actually occurred.

Now, Ensign Chekov, Commander Spock and Captain Kirk were standing on the transporter pad awaiting transportation to the surface.

"All ready, Cap'n?" Scotty asked getting ready to transport them.

"All ready, Scotty, beam us down." Kirk replied.

"All right then, here we go. Good luck." Scotty said as the three men dissolved from the room.

****

The three officers re-materialized moments later on a second transporter pad in a Salthasian Government building. Once they had their bearings back from the journey, they looked up to meet the onyx eyes of a Salthasian ambassador.

The Salthasian species was beautiful. Strong and terrifying, but beautiful. The temples of the face were accentuated as were the cheekbones: each forming a line of bone protruding under the skin. The temple bone curved down next to the eyes to meet the cheekbones; then the combined line moved down to the jaw bone and ran along becoming less and less apparent until finally it connected into a human looking chin. Like humans their blood was iron-based, so their skin has a red tinge to it. They each had a set of onyx eyes and a mane of moss coloured hair. The men wore it pulled back with what looked to be a leather cord, the women wore it down with a circlet embellishing the crowns of their heads. Each of the men were strongly built, much like American football or hockey players. Each of the woman were strongly built as well, with soft curves and muscular frames.

The ambassador outstretched his arms gracefully. "Welcome."

"Thanks." Kirk said simply, stunned by the beauty of the female Salthasian behind the ambassador.

"You have come in search of a missing crew member, yes?" The ambassador continued, aware of, but ignoring Kirk's obvious infatuation with his female colleague.

"Uh..." Kirk stammered unblinkingly.

"Keptin!" Chekov elbowed his superior in the ribs to bring back to the present moment.

"Oh, uh, yeah, of course. Lieutenant Xavier Roosevelt." Kirk managed to collect his thoughts while massaging a now bruised rib.

"A human, I suppose?" The ambassador stated. His voice was calm and clear, much like Spock's, a defining feature of the species, Chekov remembered from his readings on the species. They were an adventurous people who formed their culture from aspects they found useful from other cultures. For instance, they had utlised the Vulcan approach to logic: they followed logical thought processes and based any and all actions on that very thought process while maintaining an emotional balance. Granted, the balance was closer to that of the Vulcan's rather than that of humans, but they did show some emotion.

"He is." Spock broke his silence to answer for the Captain, who's mind was falling back to the Salthasian woman.

"We haven't seen any live humans on our planet since..." the ambassador said with a slightly lost tone in his voice.

"Amata." The woman finished in an alto tone which visibly placed goosebumps on each of the officers arms; had they not been wearing long sleeves, of course.

"Yes. Amata." The ambassador agreed.

"We should contact her, Ambassador. She may know something through the medical unit." The woman said smoothly, sending a fresh wave of goosebumps up the men's arms.

"Agreed."

"Who is Amata exactly?" Kirk broke his trance for a brief inquiry.

"Our chief Medical Examiner. She is human, like yourselves." The ambassador approached a computer console on the opposite side of the transporter room from the pad and created an audio connection with someone who, the men guessed, was Amata. "Amata?" The ambassador called through the audio link.

A feminine grunt came from the other side, then a sigh. Kirk raised his eyebrows.

"Ah, there we are. Yes, Ambassador?" The voice of a young woman came through the connection.

"Are you busy?" The ambassador asked.

"More or less, sir. I'm in the middle of the autopsy of the senator's nephew, that's what you were hearing just now, actually, his liver was being stubborn, didn't want to detatch itself from the body... quite a tragedy really, my preliminary findings would suggest..." she began a tangent that the whole room could sense wouldn't end soon.

"Amata, we need you to check something for us please, dear." The woman said approaching the computer console behind the ambassador.

"... and, oh. Yes, of course." The girl on the other end replied.

"Has a human crossed your table recently? Or the table of a colleague perhaps..?" The ambassador inquired.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I recall that autopsy. An unnamed human crossed the table maybe, four days past? Yes, a peculiar case, indeed. There was nothing physically wrong with his body… I ended up ruling it a subdural hematoma due to some minor bruising of the brain…"

"Are you still in possession of the body?" Kirk asked, interrupting another on coming tangent.

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

"I want to get my doc to have a look at it. And I'd like to see if it's my missing Lieutenant."

"Missing Lieutenant..? That's very interesting. Is your doctor here now? Mr..?"

"Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise." Kirk said proudly.

"A Starfleet vessel? My, my, I seem to be swimming in uncharted waters with this cadaver… I can have the body ready momentarily if you'd like to come over and have a look. I'll even run a second autopsy if you feel I've missed something." The girl said eagerly.

"That'd be just great. I'll get my doc in here though, if you don't mind." He didn't say it as though it were a question.

"I understand. Is he with you now?"

"No. But I can get him here."

"Sounds good. I await your arrival, Captain."

The connection went dead and Kirk picked his communicator from his pocket. "Bones." He said into the device.

"Yeah, Jim?" came the rather garbled reply. There was a huge amount of atmosphere between the two communicators, but the reception was not as bad as Kirk would have expected.

"I want you down here, we're gonna see if this body they've got is Lieutenant Roosevelt. I want you to help with the second autopsy if it is."

"Sure thing, Jim. I'll be right down." The connection broke and Kirk replaced his communicator in his pocket.

"We'll await his arrival, if you don't mind ambassador." Kirk said politely but again, it didn't sound like a suggestion.

"Of course." The ambassador replied.

The five proceeded to wait in silence. Chekov's eyes wandered the room, noting the subtle artistry of the room's architecture. It looked a lot like the interior of the Enterprise. The walls were metallic, a glass barrier stood between the computer terminal and the transporter pad. The doors looked to operate pneumatically. The transporter pad had six panels, one of which would soon be filled by the one and only Doctor Leonard McCoy.

Chekov rocked from the balls of his feet to the heels as the group waited in silence.

Suddenly the body of Doctor McCoy materialized before them. He stepped down from the panel and shook hands with the ambassador.

"At last." The Ambassador stated. "This way, please." He proceeded to follow the woman from the room into a series of hallways that looked just as similar to the ones on the Enterprise as the transporter room did.

"Amata Gerald is the chief Medical Examiner for this sector of the government. She covers all high priority cases: inter-planetary crime, foreign cases, and the like. She is human, much like the majority of you. She is highly intelligent, but, once you meet her you will find my explanation to be somewhat… inadequate." The woman explained from the front of the group.

"I bet you that's what an angel sounds like." Doctor McCoy whispered in Kirk's ear.

"I don't doubt that for a second." Kirk replied.

The group reached a stair well and descended. At the bottom, the atmosphere changed. The walls turned from metal to brick, the floor to solid concrete. The hall was so narrow the group had to travel single-file. Chekov walked at the back, silently admiring the rustic beauty of the hall.

A pneumatic door whooshed open ahead and Chekov heard the ambassador greet Amata Gerald. Chekov couldn't see past Spock, who stood in front of him but he saw the Vulcan's back get stiff and heard his breath catch.

Chekov stood on his toes and used the walls to see over the Commander to see what he saw. He fell back to the ground with no avail. Spock turned slightly to see Chekov trying to see past him and moved politely. Chekov nodded to him in thanks and Spock nodded back, keeping his eyes on the floor the entire time. Then, Chekov made the mistake of looking at Amata Gerald.

She sat a desk typing on a computer. She wore a black uniform: pants and a halter-style top. Her chocolate hair was twisted into a neat bun. Thin slivers of a black stone hung from her ears. Hazel eyes lay under long, thick eyelashes; her brows perfectly formed. Full lips were slightly pursed as she searched for something on the screen. She clicked something and looked up at the group. Her eyes contained more force full on. Chekov caught his own breath and felt his heart rate increase exponentially. He almost had to force himself from her face to look at the rest of her.

She had a perfect hour-glass shape, she wasn't skinny by any means, but she wasn't fat… she rode a happy medium. Had Chekov been thinking much his Captain usually did when he scoped women he would have guessed her dress size to be about a 12 at most. She was average height, maybe 5'5" at the tallest.

She looked young, but she carried herself with a subtle grace. There were no wasted moves; no fiddling with hair, face, clothes or the pen she held behind her left ear. Every move she made had a purpose, every glance had a reason. She was obviously human, but there was something surreal about her that made her too attractive for words to express.

"Welcome to the government morgue." She said in a mezzo-soprano voice of honey. It was apparent from her voice that she was not a fully grown woman yet.

"Thanks. I'm Captain Kirk, this is…"

"Doctor Leonard McCoy, Miss Gerald. You can call me Bones if you like." The Doctor introduced himself eagerly, jumping forward to shake her hand.

"Of course. I am Doctor Amata Gerald." She returned the handshake and turned to Spock and Chekov.

The Ensign noticed the subtle double-take she did when she saw Spock's face. Chekov's heart sank a few millimeters at this, he knew that if she became fixated on his Commander, he would have no chance.

"Commander Spock." Spock simply nodded in her direction. Amata nodded back.

"Ensign Pavel Chekov." Chekov decided to pipe up and make his presence known from behind Spock.

Amata shook Chekov's hand warmly. Chekov did a mental double-take; he could have sworn he felt an electricity course into his body via his hand when their flesh met.

When she pulled her hand away she addressed the Captain and the Doctor.

"I was just about to pull the body. If you'd like to follow me." She led the Starfleet crew between two metallic autopsy tables: one clean and shiny, the other containing the body of a young Salthasian male, his torso exposed. Chekov looked away quickly; he wasn't planning on inspecting the inner organs of anyone today, although he knew that that might not be the case in the situation of the Lieutenant. They approached a wall of refrigerated compartments where the bodies were stored.

Amata tapped with her finger a computerized panel on the wall. A screen came up requesting a code. She typed it in quickly and scanned through what looked like a hotel guest list, but was really a list of the resident cadavers.

She clicked on one and a lock clicked open from the compartment labeled B106. She walked past the crowd of Starfleet personnel and pulled the drawer open to reveal a cold, blue tinged body.

"Is this your Lieutenant, Captain?" Amata asked, stepping to one side.

Captain Kirk nodded. "Yeah. Yeah it is."

Amata nodded solemnly. "I am very sorry, Captain." She walked to the opposite side of the room and retrieved a gurney to transport the Lieutenant to the autopsy table again.

Chekov watched her work in a trance. He heard her whisper to the body. "I'm very sorry to have to subject you to a return trip, friend, but a closer friend to you may be able to figure out what actually happened." Why would she talk to the body? Chekov wondered. It was already dead; it couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Please, allow me to help you with him, Miss." Bones jumped forward to assist the young doctor.

"Thank you, Doctor." Amata responded. Bones proceeded to haul the muscular frame of the dead Lieutenant onto the gurney and wheel him to the free autopsy table. He then hauled the body onto the metallic surface.

"If you want to begin the autopsy now, I can't help you, I must finish with the Senator's nephew." Amata responded to a look from Bones that said Shall we?

Bones looked mildly dejected. "Of course."

Amata turned to the three other officers. "If you would like to stay, I have no objections."

"That's fine; we need to return to the ship, for now. Well, I do, at least. Spock and Chekov, you two stick around for now." Kirk clapped them both on the shoulder and followed the Ambassador out. The woman followed them winking at Amata as she left. Amata nodded in return and donned a pair of fresh gloves.

"Now, where were we?" Amata asked the body of the senator's nephew.