Turbolift

Deanna stood, leaning against the back of the turbolift, waiting to arrive at the Bridge. The lift slowed, stopping ten decks short of her destination. Deanna was hard pressed to hide her scowl as she saw Ken Smith standing there.

"Hi," Ken said as he stepped inside. "Deck Two. Where are you going?"

"The Bridge," Deanna answered, coolly.

"So, what was that whole thing about last night? You know, with you and the Commander?" Smith asked, his voice sly.

"We were having drinks."

"I mean, with the arm around your waist?" Ken slowly stepped closer to Deanna, watching her more closely than she was comfortable with. But she stood her ground, staring forward and not shrinking away from him.

"Wouldn't you rather it was my arm around you? The Commander seems… all right but he's just a Commander." Ken stepped closer, smelling her hair.

Deanna stepped away, turning to look at him, her face openly showing her disgust. "Definitely not."

"Ah, playing hard to get, I like that."

She felt the lift slow, its doors opening to show Deck Two. "It appears this is your stop."

"What if I don't want to get off?"

"Then I will push you out." Ken snickered, but obeyed her, standing just far enough away to allow the lift doors to close.

Deanna took a breath, steadying herself before walking onto the Bridge. She smiled at Will as he sat in the Captain's chair, taking her own next to him.

"What's wrong?" Will whispered, leaning in to talk to her. He always had a way of knowing how she was feeling.

"Ken Smith." Her two words were enough to explain to situation in Riker's mind, his anger spreading over his face.

"What did he do?"

"Nothing. Just annoyed me."

Holodeck

"I think I've got it!" Geordie announced, finally able to access some of the data.

"The computer is processing now… a lot of the information appears to have been destroyed when the capsule was damaged," Data reported, watching his screen carefully.

Geordie nodded and activated the first of the small amount of data left. Suddenly, the holodeck flickered, as if activating a holoprogram. Slowly, the place turned into a distorted image of Hytor Settlement- they were in a large clearing surrounded by towering trees, their leaves creating a canopy half a kilometer above them.

As the program fixed itself, a village began to appear. It was similar to the one they had found, only this one looked new and still in use.

Immediately, figures started to walk toward them, natives of the settlement no doubt. They had bronze skin and dark black hair, their clothing thin brown material. Data's observations ended with their eyes- blue irises surrounded, not by white, but a deep shade of blue.

Suddenly the program deactivated itself, leaving nothing behind but the black and yellow holodeck grid.

"Wow, that was…" Geordie stopped as he tried to find the right word.

"Fascinating?"

"Actually I was going to say familiar, but that works too. We should keep working; see if we can't uncover more."

"Indeed."

Observation Lounge

Riker suppressed a sigh as he looked across from him at Commander Worf, the Klingon as bored and inattentive as he. They had spent the last two hours listen to reports on everything the Federation library had on the planet and its species.

At that moment, Lwaxana had just finished explaining how the three species, the Nilaain, the Fruma, and the Cadda, had all once been space dwelling people, each finding Ketrel and staking their claim to the planet. Because of the limited documentation from that time period, none knew exactly when their people had arrived and therefore none knew who had true ownership of the planet.

"Unfortunately," the Betazoid was saying, "there is very little information on all of them, mainly the Nilaain. What little we know has been collected by other Federation teams sent to try and settle other disputes.

"All we know about the Nilaains is what we don't know. Namely, where they came from or their culture. The Cadda, we know, are very aggressive, their entire civilization based on war. The Fruma, however, are the exact opposite. They are curious and devoted to their religion. They have never once executed an offensive attack against the others like the Cadda."

Riker shifted in his chair, listening half-heartedly to what Lwaxana was saying. Without his noticing, she turned her attention to him, sensing his boredom. "Commander, I know this isn't the best thing you could be doing with your time but please, do at least give me the courtesy of listening."

"I apologize, Mrs. Troi. I promise not to be a farther distraction. Please continue."

Captain's Ready Room

For over three hours, Data and Geordie worked to get more data from the capsule. But it was useless, they couldn't access any more than tiny fragments, each of which lasted mere seconds.

At that point, it seemed it was time to inform Captain Picard of their discovery before proceeding.

"While… working on the data storage device, we believe that I accidentally activated something. Running some farther tests, we realized that there is, or rather was, a holoprogram downloaded on it," Geordie briefed Picard, watching as he Captain digested the information.

"We brought it to the holodeck in order to attempt to find out what the program was about but it seems that the damage has erased some of the program. We did, however, see a brief image of a species seemingly native to the Hytor Settlement."

"Interesting. Do you think you can get any more of it?" Picard asked his officers.

"Commander LaForge and I are still planning on continuing our efforts, Captain, but I doubt much more of the data is salvageable."

"Very well, give it a few more days. Dismissed." Data and Geordie nodded and walked out the room.

Ketrel

An ancient chamber stood silent, undisturbed by anything passing, by time or events around it. It's stonewalls stood sturdy with the passing of time, even the centuries that slowly went by.

An old, richly carved table stood in its center, surrounded by chairs of similar build. Candles flickered with their age, lit decades ago by those who still used the chamber.

Light shinned upon the dim chamber, seven forms disturbing the peaceful calm that had rested on the chamber for years. All seven separated, three of them- the Federation representatives- took their seats at the head of the table, while the others, including Riker and Worf, took up their search of the chamber.

Worf and his two security officers searched the stone chamber, looking for weapons or surveillance- all of which had been proclaimed illegal to bring. But nothing could be found by their eyes or tricorders.

Satisfied, the other four took seats set off to the side, needing to be used by no one, as they waited.

"How long until they arrive?" Will asked of the diplomats, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.

"They're traditions allow them as long as three days to arrive."

Riker starred at the Vulcan a moment, sighing, "Great." He settled back into his chair and waited…