Shadows of the Past

Crusade & Star Trek TNG crossover : Galen is ordered to investigate an EF excavation, while Picard finally has something other then an anomaly to discover.

Disclaimer: I do not own Crusade or Star Trek, nor any of the content from those shows.

Chapter 1

"Ship pursue" Galen commanded after he associated with his ship

The Excalibur opened a Jump point and set course for Babylon 5 to negotiate landing rights on Lorka 7. Just behind the Excalibur Galen's ship accelerated through the jump point careful to never get too close to the massive warship in front of it.

Galen accessed his probes on the bridge of the Excalibur and listened in.

"So Gideon means to go to Babylon 5"

Suddenly Galen felt a forceful tug as he was ripped from his ship. The electron incantation always startled Galen, but then who wouldn't be startled to suddenly find themselves propelled perhaps a hundred lightyears away from their position in a matter of seconds. Of course he wasn't really torn out of his ship, but the perception was the same nonetheless.

"Galen" a strongly modulated voice proclaimed

"What have I done to earn attention from the esteemed council this time?" asked Galen recognizing Gowen's voice

"I am not here to give you a reprimand for your actions Galen, but if you would like I could convince the council to set up an investigation," replied Gowen sarcastically

"That will not be necessary Gowen"

"Good then we should get down to business" "Our intelligence probes have intercepted many gold priority transmissions from Earth Force detailing the excavation of an ancient city that could have possibly belonged to the Shadows. We need to be sure if this is in fact an ancient Shadow city, and if it does turn out to be one, we will need you to do anything in your power to keep it out of the hands of Earth Force."

"But what about Gideon and the Excalibur?" asked Galen

"Don't worry, if our information on the Lorkans is correct, Gideon won't be going anywhere"

Suddenly Galen's vision darkened and he fell back into his ship. The incantation was over and hardly a fraction of a second in real time had passed since it was initiated. Galen noticed that he had received a message from Gowen. In his mind's eye he opened the message and scanned the contents. The message contained background information on EF ship positions near the planet, copies of the intercepted transmissions, and coordinates to the planet in question.

"Ship set course to beacon 11582, alert me when we near our destination"

Galen decided to get some sleep while he could. His trip through hyperspace would take just over 9 hours and he was going to take advantage of the time he had.

Chapter 2

Galen's tech woke him.

"Ship what time is it?"

A holographic display lit up revealing the time of 21:30 Earth Standard Time. Galen couldn't believe it; he slept for the entire 9 hours. This was the first time he had slept that long since he was in the chrysalis stage on Soom. Galen scanned for other ships, and located a lone Starfury patrolling hyperspace near the gate. He launched a probe and had it follow the fighter knowing that the fighter would eventually have to go through the local gate to normal space.

Galen watched the picture through his conjured sphere as his probe emerged in realspace, scanning the surroundings. The scan revealed an Explorer class ship, an IPX freighter, and a Hyperion cruiser. Galen ordered the probe to orbit the planet above the excavation site to get a picture of what was happening on the planet. The immensity of the excavation astounded Galen as he viewed several structures at least a mile tall extruding from the ground. The structures looked organic to Galen but they did not remind him of the previous shadow buildings he has seen during the Shadow war.

The ships proximity sensors suddenly chimed as a ship came in to range. The sensors indicated that it was an Omega class destroyer, and it was headed for the gate. Galen ordered his ship to follow the Omega through the jump gate and used his probe to pick out a spot on the planet to land.

The atmosphere of the planet had all of the essential ingredients to support human life in the air, but the amount of carbon monoxide was still dangerous. Galen cast a shield around himself, and created a platform to take him to the excavation site. He was dismayed to see not only humans but also Drakh filing in and out one of the buildings. Technomages were weary of the Drakh because they had no way to know how much they knew of their order. Some feared that they could see through the illusions that the mages made. Galen had no choice but to attempt to enter the building using a full body illusion. He conjured up the uniform and mask of an IPX employee and filed into the massive structure.

To his surprise Galen found the structure to be hollow. The only remarkable feature was a large machine in the center of the structure. Humans and Drakh were arrayed around the machine and Galen knew he had to find a way to get them out. While he was plotting of a way to eject the unwanted visitors he noticed one of the Drakh glancing his way. Seconds later he heard the charge of ppg's and knew his cover had been blown. Galen released his body illusion, and invoked his shadow armor and weapons. The human scientists, and archeologists looked in disbelief as ppg rounds blasted at the strange creature before them. Galen counted the number of attackers.

"Good only 5"

He aimed his shadow hand beam at the EF security officers and quickly took out two of them. Only the Drakh and two more security officers continued to fire at Galen but none of their fire could connect. Galen took out the two last security guards and set his sights on the Drakh. In his hand he conjured a fireball and sent it on a path to the Drakh. The Drakh dodged the fireball, but the next two fireballs connected sending the Drakh running towards the exit on fire. Galen marshaled the rest of the people out of the structure by sending more fireballs in their direction. Galen walked up next to the machine and touched the shadow skin that made up the exterior. It was a curious machine and Galen wished he could study it but he knew that more security would be on their way.

Galen was about to conjure his spell of destruction but his curiosity got the best of him. He decided that he would attempt to associate with machine to figure out what its purpose was, and then he would destroy it. He formed the spell to associate, and the machine powered up. Feeling an uncontrollable surge of energy over him, Galen attempted to form the spell to disassociate with the machine but it would not work. The machine enveloped the structure in a flash of energy and Galen disappeared.

Chapter 3

Picard sat down in the ready room with a grin on his face. This was the grin that only came when the Enterprise ran into something that was of great interest to him. Below him was a planet that presented him with the archeological find of a lifetime.

"Captains log: supplemental- We are in orbit of Laugesh 7, an M class planet that we have found to contain structures of an unusual type. Sensors indicate that the structures themselves are made of living organic material, and are almost a mile tall. Whatever species had once lived here left behind an unusual mark and I intend to personally find out who they were." Picard walked out of the ready room and onto the bridge.

"Number one I am leaving you in command of the ship. Data I want you and Mr. Worf to accompany me to the surface of the planet."

"Captain, do you think is wise for you to go to the surface?" asked Riker

"Number one; Mr. Worf, Data, and I are perfectly capable of handling this mission."

The away team lead by Picard beamed to the surface near the central structure. "Captain, I am detecting a small power source in this building," commented Data

"Very well then lets check it out," added Picard

Picard, Worf, and Data entered the cavernous open area of the structure heading towards the power source ahead. "I believe I have located the source of the output," said Data waiving the others

"What do you make of it Data?" asked Picard

"I need to get closer and perform a more detailed scan to tell"

"Go ahead"

Data walked up next to the machine and initiated the scan. As soon as the scan initiated Data froze in place.

"Data...Data!" called Picard

Both Picard and Worf carefully approached Data. When they reached him it was as if he and his tricorder went dead. A few seconds later a light began to form to the side of the machine, and a black figure jumped out of it knocking Worf down. Worf threw the creature off of him and pulled out his phaser. He was dismayed to find out that it to had also been drained of power.

"Captain I think we have been ambushed!" exclaimed Worf

"Easy Worf we might have a first contact situation on our hands"

Galen stood opposite of Worf and Picard wondering how a human had got back to the machine so quickly, and how he was able to breath without a mask. He also found the uniforms and the alien creature to be strange. Both sides were locked in a standoff. Worf tossed his dead phaser aside and took an aggressive stance, while Picard stood in a more cautious but diplomatic stance. Picard spoke first:

"I am Captain Jean Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets and this is Lt. Cmdr. Worf; we are on a peaceful exploration mission"

Picard and Worf waited for a reply but none came. "Perhaps it does not understand us," said Worf. As soon as Worf finished the sentence Galen turned around to face the entrance. At that moment Riker and a security team ran into the room and aimed their phasers at Galen.