They turned around, startled. In the open doorway, there stood a beautiful, humanoid female. She had long, black hair and tanned skin. Her big brown eyes had small, yellowish dots in them, and her full lips were curled into a smile. She was tall and wore a strange, white dress out of a material that seemed to be glowing, somewhat illuminated. At closer regard, you were able to see that the foreigner's fingers were very long and skinny, her ears small and pointy(not at the top like a Vulcan's, but at the bottom), and her skin like thin, sparkling paper, but even without that, she wouldn't have appeared quite human.
"I am Roxhia Tishaya.", she introduced herself in perfect standard English, with an indefinable accent.
"I am Counsellor Deanna Troi, and this is Lieutenant Sarah Chavelle.", Deanna replied, noticing that they hadn't spoken yet. "We are from Starfleet." It didn't seem dangerous to tell the other woman that. She didn't sense any hostility from her, but it was also hard to feel anything else radiating, so they should be polite but cautious. Apparently, the alien was familiar with Starfleet.
"Yes, you are wearing the uniforms.", Tishaya stated.
"Pardon, but what exactly did you mean by 'you have come back'?", Sarah asked curiously. She had been standing around frozen in surprise, but finally said something now.
"You were asleep. We were waiting for you to wake up.", the woman explained with her melodious, low voice. 'Who are "we"? When was this planet settled? How do you know about Starfleet? Why do you speak standard? How come no contact with your race was archived? How do you survive on this planet? Why have you brought us here?' Thousands of questions were going through Deanna's mind. But the counsellor realised that this was not the right time to ask them. They would have to go the long way to find out. Hopefully, it would prove to be effective.
"How did we get here?" A harmless question.
"A few young Hesejk found you outside in the storm. It is safer in here."
"Hesejk?" Lieutenant Chavelle was very interested, but didn't want to seem too intrusive.
"A group of my people, but we will have time to talk about all of this later, when your friends wake up."
"We are very interested in conversing with you, so we can find out more about each other", Troi assured her, "but we must get back to our ship. We haven't communicated with them ever since the storm started." She didn't want to stay inside the cave longer than necessary, the Titan would start a rescue mission.
"Of course, I understand. But the storm will last several hours longer, you should stay here over night. If you don't want to, then go ahead and leave, but it is dangerous out there. We can discuss matters over the evening meal.", Tishaya suggested.
The counsellor and the engineer exchanged a look. It would be good to find out more about this race, but their stay would have unpredictable consequences. Deanna didn't sense a lie from the other woman, apparently she was being honest about the storm. Yet she would have to find a way to talk to the captain…Will.
"Thank you for the offer, we appreciate it.", she answered friendly. "We will discuss it with our fellow officers once they get back to consciousness."
"Of course, the ranks.", Tishaya uttered.
She gave them a small nod, and left without another word. The door stayed open.
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"Captain, the storm is dissolving rapidly.", Lieutenant Mahiko, the ship's major pilot, informed him.
"Scan for life signs!", Will barked. There was a short pause.
"Ensign?", he pressured impatiently.
"No life signs detected.", Rhiko, the Klingon ensign, answered.
"Could the ionic particles still disrupt our sensors?"
"Impossible, Sir." The bridge crew was getting anxious, down on the planet were their friends, their family. Yet they managed to retain the professional façade.
"Kline, do a detailed level three scan. Lapnik, find out if there are any substances on Keiona that could interfere with our sensors.", the captain ordered, composing himself. Without waiting for confirmation, he went to his ready room, quickly "handing over" the bridge to Lieutenant Mahiko.
Will was going to research something himself, something about the way this mission was going was wrong, horribly wrong. It had to be. This couldn't be the outcome.
The captain wouldn't even let himself think about the consequences if the scan had indeed been correct. Nothing was for sure yet.
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They had just finished eating. The dishes had been very unusual, it had been some kind of meat(real meat, not replicated substitute meat) from the Benara, an animal which appeared to be very common on Keiona(the blankets and some of the other persons' clothing were made of Benara fur, too). Underground plants had been served afterward.
So far, the conversation had been very informative, Roxhia Tishaya had given them an overview about their society and explained a lot. Keiona's inhabitants had all come from a far away solar system a long time ago(anywhere between 10,000 and several hundred thousand years previously). The exact history had been forgotten, there were many legends about it. They all seemed to have adapted well to the harsh environment, living underground in a civilized manner. Technically, they appeared to be very advanced, the Titan's crew wasn't able to tell how much exactly they knew and were able to accomplish.
Tishaya was their Roxhia, the highest title possible, their leader, comparable to a queen in the old absolute monarchy. The rest of the society was divided into four groups: The few guardians, who administrated and executed the Roxhia's orders; the small number of Jesv, who were something like scientists/inventors; the Hesejk, who produced goods, treated and served; and the Epamari, the military. Tishaya had told them that which role one was to take had to be determined at his/her birth, it was supposedly decided by genetic factors.
Many questions were still open.
A male servant entered the elegant room with a small stone plate. The walls in this part of the cave sparkled slightly, it was a huge room. The roxhia was sitting at the head of the long stone table, the Titan's away team at the sides in large, fur covered seats.
The male approached Tishaya and bent down, touching the tip of her stretched out fingers with his forehead. It seemed to be a gesture of obedience, the servants were also very quiet in her presence, speaking a few words in a foreign language only if they were asked something.
Roxhia Tishaya took something from the plate, and the servant left. Only now, the others were able to see that it was some kind of insect, and still alive. Covering up their disgust, they watched the gorgeous woman swallow the bug. Although their faces didn't show any emotion, Tishaya seemed to notice her guests' surprise and smiled.
"That was a Goviz, it will survive. Goviz help with the digestion. It's a…" The roxhia was looking for the correct word. "…a symbiosis."
They nodded, "interesting", Eric remarked.
"Roxhia", Commander Davenport started, "there have been other missions from Starfleet to this planet. Keiona, however, was reported to be uninhabited."
"We did not contact the people who came here, Commander.", Tishaya explained.
"So you did know about our attempts to colonize this planet.", the counsellor stated. "But you are not interested in connecting with other races." She wasn't speaking in an accusive tone of voice.
"We were not."
"You do, however, Roxhia, know our language and culture rather well."
Tishaya only kept smiling, and ignored the comment. A gesture which she always used at the unpleasant questions. Deanna sensed her unwillingness to explain anything else, it was frustrating, but over the years, she had learned patience.
"Have you ever made contact with humans before?", Ashley asked.
"Yes.", the leader replied. "But why have you come here?"
"We were in the middle of an environmental examination, when the ionic storm began.", Davenport told her.
"An environmental examination.", Tishaya repeated. At that moment, Deanna believed to feel a mixture of suspicion and relief float through the roxhia.
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"Captain, I have finished the scan.", Lieutenant Kline said.
"Report.", Will demanded.
"There are no life signs on the planet." No life signs. The crew was shocked, even if they didn't express it. There was a moment of silence on the bridge, all you could hear was the beeping of the instruments.
The captain coughed shortly, and tried to appear confident. But the façade was at the edge of breaking down. "Lapnik?", was all he had to say, and the lieutenant answered him. "There are no known disruption factors for our sensors." It sounded finite, but Will wouldn't let it be. He was shielding himself from the unavoidable conclusion. As long as there was one chance, the slightest bit of a doubt, they would keep searching.
"Keep scanning frequently. Lieutenant Mahiko, I want you to calculate the way the team down there could have gone, give me a radius. We might go on another away mission."
He tried to keep his thoughts rational, there were two more things to do: contact the Klingon Empire and inform them about the further delay. They wouldn't be pleased, but there was no other possibility. And contact his superior, asking him to send another ship to Klingon. Telling Starfleet what had happened. Let's hope it would not be Wilson.
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He entered the dark quarters. "Light.", he asked from the computer. Without looking around, Will went directly to the replicator, he somehow felt dehydrated.
"Water."
"Incomplete order. What temperature would you like?", a mechanical, female voice replied.
"Damn it, I don't care.", he murmured through clenched teeth. "8C." The glass cup materialized, the captain grabbed it, emptied it immediately and sat down on the couch. The room seemed so empty. His eyes fell on a picture on the small sideboard. It showed Deanna and him on shore leave two years previously. That day seemed so close, yet so distant at the same time. He remembered everything about it, the smell of the sea, her pink lipstick, how she had lost her blue scarf and they had kept looking for it,…
Suddenly, Will was very convinced that if she was dead, he would know somehow. Maybe it had to do with that imzadi thing which seemed to be so meaningful on Betazed and still was to them, too. Yes, he would know if Deanna were dead. It was the only hope left.
At that moment, he couldn't stand the quarters anymore. Their fillings were full of associations, causing pain.
Quickly, Will left and went down the corridor to "New World", the ship's pub/bar/restaurant.
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I'm back!!! Ouch, everything hurts so much though. Ah! Oh well, it'll get better.
I apologize if you think that this chapter is too sentimental and I got carried away, but I'm not apologizing for what I wrote. It is as it is. In this case, the large amount of emotion was justified, at least in my opinion. I mean Will and Deanna have known each other for like twenty years, they're the complicated couple, he would feel pretty strongly about the possibility of her death.
Thank you for the reviews!!!