Star Trek Bonaparte

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Episode Two

Nightmare in the Clouds

Chapter Two

Due to the interference from the planets gasses and elements they were unable to transport down to the structure so they had to go via runabout. For this mission, Woods selected an away team made up of herself, Purs, Winn, two of his marines for security, Doctor Mainwaring and Kruge. Purs was in the pilots seat while everyone else put on their space suits. Kruge didn't need one though, his suit of heavy armour could withstand the pressure and had an oxygen recycler. Woods did envy him on that, she found the Starfleet issue space suits to be bulky and annoying, although they were highly advanced and on the belt was a transporter buffer device which could store a limited amount of extra equipment. When she put her helmet on she sealed it shut and activated the comms unit.

'Everyone hear me?' she asked and everyone did confirm it. 'Okay. Purs, eta to touch down.'

'Any second now,' he answered. 'I'll stay here and keep in contact with you.'

'Good to hear. Everyone else, this is an analysis mission. We get in there, we check for anything interesting and then do a proper survey. Everyone clear on that?'

'Of course,' Winn answered her.

'Good.'

The runabout shook slightly as it touched down.

'Remember to check in with me every five minutes,' Purs told them.

'We will, don't worry.'

They then proceeded to the exit airlock of the runabout and moved into it, closing the door behind them, and then they marched out onto the surface of the structure, Woods feeling dread as she looked up at the two massive pyramids. They were made of black stone and, mixed with the clouds, everything looked evil, that was the only word which could describe it.

'Okay team,' she said, 'forwards.'

They moved slowly across the ground towards the triangular shaped airlocked ahead of them at the base of one of the pyramids.

'This place looks like a cheap horror holo novel,' Manwaring commented.

'I wouldn't call it cheap,' Kruge told her. 'The style of this building is thousands of years old. At the time to move it would have taken a lot of effort, Doctor.'

'Why didn't they just build a space station?' Mainwaring asked him.

'It might be religious,' suggested Winn. 'Trust me, faith can push people to do anything if they put their mind to it.'

'Possible,' Kruge agreed. 'We need evidence first though.'

They reached the airlock and Woods scanned it with her tricorder.

'It's unlocked,' she said and reached for a lever, pulled it but it wouldn't budge.

'Let me,' said Winn and he pulled it as hard as he could but it only moved a few centre meters.

'Me,' said Kruge and he aimed his right arm at the lever.

'What are you doing?' Woods asked him.

'My suit has an in built tractor beam,' he explained.

As he said it a jet of bright blue light launched from his armoured wrist and engulfed the lever. Slowly it was pulled down and then the airlock opened.

'Everyone in,' Woods ordered and a few moments later they entered the structure.

If she had felt nervous looking at it from the outside, the inside made her feel physically ill. It was dark, the floors and walls made from black marble, every surface covered with intricate harsh and geometric carvings. It was not just dark in the sense that there was almost no light, rather it was a darkness which sucked in the light itself, leaving nothing behind but shadow.

'Oxygen levels normal,' said Mainwaring, looking at the readings on her tricorder.

'Good,' said Woods, gladly removing her helmet and placing it in in her belt mounted transporter buffer. 'I hate those things.'

'Here, here,' agreed Winn.

Kruge removed his own helmet and attached it to his belt.

'Let's take a look around,' he said and they slowly moved through the building.

…

Back on the Bonaparte, Captain Lewis stood in Hanger One, as several shuttles crews began to unload crates of the minerals they had located. While the centre of what they were doing was in the expedition to the unknown building, they were continuing the mining operations and so far they had met with success, finding dilithium and significant amounts of useful gasses which could be turned into plasma.

'Excellent work,' Lewis said loudly to several of his crew members as they got out of their shuttle.

'Thank you sir,' one of them, a Lieutenant, said in response.

'Captain,' Sunik said to him as he approached, data pad in hand, 'the gas containers have taken up ten percent of Cargo Bay One's space.'

'Excellent. When Kruge gets back we can get an idea of its value.'

'The use of money in this galaxy is likely to cause confusion to members of our crew.'

'Shame we couldn't bring a Ferengi or two along with us.'

'Have you ever dealt with Ferengi?'

'No I haven't, well, except for meeting Captain Nog once.'

'Now your statement makes sense.'

'So, has there been any word from Woods?'

'None, due to the interference around the structure it is highly difficult to receive a signal from them.'

'I see. Well, let's hope that they find something interesting.'

…

Inside the building, Woods was looking at some carvings, they seemed to depict a battle of some type, hundreds of warriors were carved into the stone wall, battling each other with swords while above them what she thought were star ships were duelling in the sky.

'What do you think of this?' she asked Winn.

'It's a bad idea to bring swords to a gunfight,' he dryly answered.

'Tell that to the Klingons,' was her answer.

They both chuckled for a moment as Kruge examined the images.

'I don't understand this though, if both sides can use star ships why are they still using swords?' Woods asked Kruge.

'There have been times in history when wars have gone on for so long that both sides technology degrades to the point that they're using basics,' he answered.

'When you're at war for decades you just use what you can,' Winn added.

'Do you have experience at that?'

'My people fought a rebellion for years against the Cardassians.'

'Did you win?'

'They withdrew from Bajor eventually.'

'As long as you're willing to fight you can go on forever.'

'I think that's the motto of Bajor.'

'Look at this,' Woods interrupted them, pointing to a figure on the wall, twice as tall as all the others and with far more detail.

The carving itself seemed to depict a warrior clad in armour and robes, she was standing tall and proud, her finger pointing forwards and her warriors marching into battle.

'I saw another carving of her,' said Winn.

'Where?'

'Near the entrance.'

'I saw a statue that looked like her in another room,' said Kruge. 'This whole place might be a monument to her.'

'Who was she though?'

'We need to find an inscription,' he responded. 'I'll go an check on Mainwaring and her team. They might have found something.'

Woods watched the large man walk off, his armoured boots thudding against the stone floor.

'Who are we dealing with here?' asked Woods as she looked at the carving.

'Some sort of warrior, a leader or a warlord. It's hard to judge.'

'What was this place? Her monument, her tomb?'

'If it's a tomb we have to be careful to not disturb anything.'

'Agreed. I always thought there was something weird with taking stuff from tombs.'

'You're right. Wait a minute, I've found another carving of her.'

This one was on another wall, another depiction of a battle and this time the warrior woman was fighting against a man who had stabbed her through the heart.

'Her death,' Woods concluded and then looked at the warriors carved feet and then her eyes went wide. 'An inscription.'

She saw carvings below the woman and, although she didn't know what they meant, she knew they were words. Woods tapped her comm badge.

'Woods to Kruge.'

'Kruge here.'

'We've found another carving of the woman, and there's writing on it.'

'Run it through your universal translator. I'm helping Mainwaring with something. Read it off as it comes through.'

'Okay,' Woods pulled her translator off her belt and scanned the writing before waiting for a moment for the translator to work. They had added galactic basic to it, thanks to Kruge's computer, which should have sped it up. At last it beeped and the screen on the translator read "Translation Complete". 'Alright Kruge, we've got it. It says, "Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. From Passion I gain Strength, From Strength I gain Power, from Power I gain Victory. From Victory my chains are broken. The Force shall free me." What the Hell does that mean?'

'We have to get out of here,' Kruge said loudly. 'Now!'

AN: DUN, DUN, DUN! And the crew of the Bonaparte have their first encounter with the Sith.

Dante Yn: Personally I prefer the Soveriegn Class in design, but I do have a soft spot for the Galaxy. Those ships are beautiful.