Chapter 4

Doctor Crusher was already waiting, with her medical tricorder and her med kit slung over her shoulder. "What's happened?" she asked, her eyes wide but not alarmed. She was prepared, of course.

He handed her a phaser. "Riker's found a small village down on the planet. It wasn't supposed to be inhabited. He indicated that someone might have been injured there, but the village seems to have been abandoned. Specifically he's found some dried blood but was unable to determine how long ago this…event occurred. He and the away team have gone to search for a mineral deposit nearby. If we are able to ascertain how recently it occurred—"

"Well let's go then," Crusher interrupted impatiently, holstering the phaser and stepping up onto the transporter pad.

"Doctor, we need to proceed with caution," he said, holstering his own phaser before stepping up beside her. "We are dealing with a pre-warp civilization and the risk of exposure—"

She fixed him with a stunned look. "You can't be serious. As far as I am concerned, Captain the Prime Directive is irrelevant where there is a duty to assist those in need!"

Picard clenched his jaw tightly. "Doctor, the Prime Directive is never irrelevant. And if I didn't agree with you that we need to provide whatever help possible, I wouldn't have ordered you down to the planet in the first place."

She glared at him, and he was sure she was about to say something more, when the transporter chief spoke up in a disconcerted voice.

"Sirs? Whenever you are ready—"

"Energize!" Picard and Crusher snapped simultaneously.

Trana IV

The two officers materialized amidst less than one hundred small dwellings. Riker had been right; they were constructed out of mud. Picard turned around slowly in a circle, surveying the terrain. To his relief, there were no humanoid creatures to be seen, and very little wildlife except a few birds. About 500 meters away, just as Riker had indicated, was a heavily wooded hilly area. "Riker's taken his team in that direction," he murmured.

Doctor Crusher had immediately begun surveying the ground with her eyes and tricorder. Picard kept a lookout, watching for any movement in the distance. But there was none. He thought he heard rumble in the distance, and the wind began to grow blustery, moving the trees back and forth. In the distance, the sky had darkened. A storm was coming. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that a few paces away, Crusher was kneeling on the ground waving her tricorder over it slowly.

Presently he tapped his combadge. "Picard to Riker." There was no response, and when he hit his combadge again, it sputtered. Damn. Then, to his surprise it chirped a moment later. "Data to Captain Picard," came his second officer's perpetually unworried voice. He smiled. "Picard here…Data we've lost contact with Commander Riker. There appears to be a storm coming in, possibly causing interference."

"Yes, Captain sensors picked up the storm's movement just after you beamed down. I would suggest either transporting back to the Enterprise or seeking cover, sir. In anticipation of communications interference I took the liberty of remotely boosting your communicator's relay power. By using a modulated bypass -"

"Thank you for your quick thinking, Mr. Data," he interrupted before Data got on a roll. "I will try the Commander again. Picard out."

He sighed, and nodded at Crusher who was now standing next to him. "Picard to Riker," he repeated. Static. "Picard to Riker…."

"Riker here—sir—-what-beamed…dangerous sir."

Even through the static he heard the objection. Picard's brow creased with concern, although he was quietly relieved to hear Riker's voice. "Commander, you're breaking up. My guess is that between the storm and the Andurine deposits you've found, we're going to continue to have trouble communicating. Can you contact the Enterprise for beam out?"

"Captain," said Crusher, "The only animal life signs I'm able to read besides you and me are the birds in those trees over there. I'm not reading Riker's team at all."

Picard nodded. "It's the Andurine—it's a very effective cloaking material. " He hit his badge again. "Commander, you've got to bring your team out of that area so that the Enterprise can get a lock on you. And you must hurry, a storm is moving in out here."

Riker's static-filled reply was quick this time. "We have a slight problem-...Doctor Francis fell-...broke-...caves …very treacherous sir."

Picard exchanged a worried glance with Crusher.

"Doctor Crusher is here with me…we're going to come and find you. Just stay in one place."

"Don't advise it-...Yar and I- ...-carry Francis-"

"Just stay put, so we can find you," shouted Picard above the now whistling wind. The communicator cut out completely and there was an immense boom of thunder from overhead. Both officers flinched.

"What did you find?" Picard asked.

"These dwellings are actually quite old, Captain. But the blood I found—and yes it was blood from something probably humanoid in form, was fairly new. I would say that something very bad happened here in the last few days."

"And yet no one is to be found," he said.

She shook her head. "No one. Although I did find some traces of what could be a very powerful plasma weapon." He glanced at the tricorder readings over her shoulder.

"May I?" he said and she handed it to him. He took the tricorder, switched its settings and knelt down examining the ground. He looked off again into the direction of the hills where Riker was located. Placing his hand on the ground he traced a faint pattern in the loose dirt. "There are more than three sets of foot prints here, Doctor. The away team is small; just Riker, Yar and Doctor Francis." He looked up at her. "Someone else either preceded them into those caves or followed them." Suddenly there was another boom and then a splitting sound. One of the trees nearby had been struck by a wand of purple lightning, and was now in flames.

"Let's get to cover," Beverly yelled, just as the rain began to pour down in sheets.