"Kopano, turn that alarm off!"

The tall engineering lieutenant hit the button on his console at Kirk's command. The captain grabbed the handles of his command chair to steady himself as the ship rocked. Another shot from the Klingon ship grazed the Enterprise's shields. The viewscreen shimmered as the energy dissipated. A fresh round of reports began to flood in from around the ship.

He hit his communicator with his fist. "Kirk to shuttle. Uhura, you'll have to go without me. Leave immediately. We'll provide a diversion. Rendezvous back at this position in 24 hours. Understood?"

"Aye, Captain."

"Go!"

Down in the shuttle Uhura leant forward to Sulu sat in front of her. She tapped him urgently on the shoulder. "Go, go! The Captain's not coming." She nodded to Chekov who was stood drumming his fingers on the wall next to the outer hatch, watching her expectantly. "Close it, Ensign. We're moving out."

Chekov grabbed the handle and shut the hatch with a slam, sealing the door. The shuttle pressurised with a hiss. He heard a deep, distant roar and felt the hangar deck beneath them pitch – the ship was taking more fire.

"Shuttle Control, request bay doors open." Sulu's smooth deep voice seemed unruffled by the danger that faced them beyond the ship's shields.

"Bay doors open, Lieutenant. You're clear to leave. Best be quick." The duty engineer's voice sounded tinny over the speaker.

"Acknowledged."

Sulu boosted the idling engines and lifted the shuttle gently off the deck with a smooth push of his controls. He propelled it slowly towards the opening doors. Chekov moved up to the front and took his place next to him, avoiding the glaring green eyes of Senrug. This was the first time he had seen her since she had been in the Brig. He had eventually summoned up enough courage to sit with Sulu and Uhura one evening in his cabin and gone through every last painful detail of what he had done whilst under the influence of her drugs. He had been horrified and disgusted with himself. Despite their protestations that it hadn't been his fault he still felt somehow ashamed and degraded by it. He hated Senrug even more for making him feel that way. He was glad he couldn't remember any of it. He hated her for the pain he had had to endure during his treatment and the danger she had brought on the entire ship. He felt her eyes boring into the back of his head. She sat at the back of the compartment on a bench next to security lieutenant Momani, her hands cuffed behind her back. She sat erect and proud, dressed in a loose black shirt and trousers which had come out of Stores. In Chekov's opinion, this only made her look like a sleek carrion crow, ready to tear human flesh with her yellow claws. It worried him a little that the Captain hadn't made it down. They would have to take Senrug to Cyliss and face whatever was down there without him – an army maybe, a whole fleet ready to launch and speed its way to Earth… they didn't know. Senrug was their hostage and their bargaining chip. It was all they had to go on now that the Enterprise was to depart. They had hoped that the ship could have stayed in orbit - a silent threat above the planet. However, the Klingons had put paid to that, another aggressive scouting party harrying them while calling for back-up. The Enterprise had had to leave. Earlier that day Spock had showed Chekov his initial scans of Cyliss and they had revealed an odd planet. Although it was a Class M planet and there were bountiful signs of life, there didn't seem to be any industry. The energy readings were all wrong. Worst of all, the planet was cloaked in thick storms. The storms themselves were natural enough – clouds, lightning, rain, all the usual phenomena – but they were generated from a power source at one of the poles. They couldn't beam down, so intense were the storms, so they had had to take a shuttle. Even this was a risk.

The shuttle moved out of the bay doors and into the vacuum of space. Uhura busied herself with running through her systems' protocols. It always felt colder at this point, she thought. She had been told on numerous occasions that she was just imagining it, but she always increased the heating just a touch anyway. Sulu saw her adjust the environmental controls and gave her a despairing look. He swung the shuttle round towards the planet in a wide arc. It looked small, grey and uninviting. He turned on the rear viewscreen to watch another streak of energy flash its way from the Klingon ship towards the Enterprise. He muttered a silent encouraging prayer to Lieutenant Lam, his replacement at the helm, and watched with satisfaction as the ship performed a perfect Pike manoeuvre, rolling quickly out of the way before jumping to warp and disappearing.

"Good work, Lam," he said quietly. At least the crew was safe.

"They can hide, but they'll be no match for the Cylisi army." Senrug's deep voice cut through the low hum of the engines with an arrogant air. "All you're doing is fulfilling my plans. You can't stop us."

"Just be quiet," said Lt Momani lazily, stroking his bushy moustache. His tone expressed how fed up he was becoming with his prisoner. He appealed to the three officers with both hands. "Does she ever shut up?"

"I will raise my army and lead my people to Earth," Senrug ignored him pompously. "When I first met you, humans, I was only interested in your potential as thralls. Now your subjugation will be a pleasure in itself."

Chekov stopped his calculations and looked round. "I thought you had seen by now that we are not as easily defeated as you thought."

"If they're all like you, Pasha, it will be so easy," she sneered back at him.

"Suka!" Chekov's temper flashed. He was half out of his seat before Sulu grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. The navigator turned sharply back to his work. Sulu saw his fists clench over his console, his jaw hardening.

"Ignore her, Ensign," he said. "She's only trying to wind you up." Chekov flicked furious, narrowed eyes to the helmsman but remained silent.

Sulu turned and raised a threatening finger at the alien. "Leave him alone. If you don't keep quiet, I'll throw you in that locker over there."

Senrug gave a forced laugh but didn't offer any more comments – the helmsman looked like he meant what he said. Sulu returned his attention back to the Klingon ship. There it still sat, its bulky wings hanging in space, ready to swoop. They weren't firing. It was unlikely their shuttle had been seen but he kept the engines on the lowest possible power just in case. In this mode he always felt like they were tip-toing. He monitored the data coming in to see what the Klingons would do next. Why wasn't the Bird of Prey pursuing the Enterprise? He concentrated on the data on his board. "I'm worried. The Klingons haven't moved. Uhura, Chekov, can you see anything?"

Uhura monitored the frequencies her sensors were picking up. Something was going on. It looked like a -

"Shuttle!" yelled Chekov. "Intercept course! Bearing 456 mark 821."

Sulu fired up the engines to full. No more tip-toing – this was a headlong flight.

"Have you got me a course?" asked Sulu, swinging the shuttle round towards the planet with a sickening lurch.

"Aye. Loaded!" responded Chekov, punching in the final command.

A streak of phaser fire shot past their port side.

The navigator recoiled from the screen instinctively. "They're on to us."

"I'm taking evasive. Hold on!"

Sulu squeezed every last ounce of power from the engines as he pushed the small craft towards the planet. Another phaser shot left the Klingon attack craft. Sulu's keen eye timed his dive to starboard to narrowly avoid the weapon's impact. The planet was getting closer but not yet close enough. Uhura and Chekov worked silently alongside him. Another shot lashed out towards them. The craft had gained on them. Sulu had less time to react. The shot grazed the side of the ship, flinging the small shuttle into a sudden spin. Sulu fought for control. He was disoriented momentarily but thankful that the gravity system had remained functional.

"Uhura, damage report!"

Uhura was already on the case. "No damage to the shields or engines but we've got a steady power drain across the whole ship. It's small, though, and gradual. Nothing to worry about at the moment. No systems compromised."

The shuttle sped on its way towards the planet, pursued by the Klingons. As they approached they could see the storms swirling grey and white. Flashes of unseen lightning lit the clouds from below. Sulu didn't have much time to seek out the best place to enter and plunged the nose downwards into where he thought the clouds might be thinnest. If they wanted them, the Klingons would have to follow them all the way down. The small craft bucked as it hit the outer atmosphere. The nose cone turned from red to white as the shields soaked up the friction. They continued the descent till they reached the storms. A violent wind tugged at them, tossing the shuttle around like a leaf. Sulu fought for control but it was as if the vessel was being pushed towards a new direction. The wind was so loud they could hear it roaring outside the hull.

"Where are the Klingons?" yelled Sulu.

"Gone," replied Chekov, surprise tinging his voice. "I can't see them."

"Uhura?"

"I'm not picking up anything. If they made it down, they're nowhere near us."

It's like we've been separated, thought Sulu.

"Sulu!" said Chekov urgently, "We're way off course. I'm going to have to recalculate."

A sudden flash of lightning lit up the viewscreen. It seemed to wrap itself around them, snaking along the hull as if looking for a way in. Chekov's console exploded from within sending sparks and components bursting upwards. We yanked his hands away and shielded his eyes just in time. He issued a hissing curse in Russian. "Now I'm going to have to calculate it myself. Where the hell are we?"

Sulu didn't have time to answer. It felt as if someone didn't want them to know where they were going. His hands flew across his board as he strained his eyes desperately ahead. Rain was now lashing down against the viewscreen. It felt like they were underwater. Another burst of lightning struck the ship. Once again its tendrils clung to the sides, spitting and curling like a long thrashing snake. It moved to the rear, lassoing itself around one of the small nacelles. A strange dull thud resounded from behind them.

"Uhura, what was that? Get me a report!" shouted Sulu. He couldn't spare a moment from his efforts and knew Chekov would be busy fixing their position.

Uhura analysed their information as quickly as she could. "We've lost some manoeuvrability. I think you're going to have to put down around here. Wherever that is…"

She saw Senrug sat at the back of the cabin. She looked terrified. She obviously had no idea what was going on. Uhura felt quite reassured by that. At least this wasn't part of her plan. Momani sat beside her, holding onto the curtain of shock webbing on the back wall. He had a firm hand around her arm, keeping her from falling off the bench.

Sulu dived down below the clouds. The planet that greeted them looked bleak and damp. Vast, cloud-topped mountain ranges rose up from a flat plain dotted with broad sinuous rivers and dense green pine forests. In the distance, a vast, broiling grey ocean stretched to the horizon. All of the scenery was on a large, dramatic scale. Sulu circled around peering through the rain at the ground as the wind buffeted their small craft. There didn't seem to be any signs of life – not even birds or animals. Suddenly something caught his eye – stonework. He flew the shuttle down to have a closer look. In the middle of a stretch of forest, tall buildings poked out like dead fingers between the swaying trees. As they neared he could see that the buildings were derelict and vegetation was growing up between the stones. They looked as if they had been abandoned for centuries. The crumbling ruins hinted at what must have been a large and complex civilisation. The tall towers had toppled in on themselves and smaller dilapidated square houses lined smoothly paved roads set out in a grid pattern. He spotted a large clearing – what looked to Sulu like it might have been a large civic plaza. He initiated the descent sequence and landed the shuttle with a soft bump. The crew looked out of the window at the ruined city in silence. Even Senrug kept her peace. The shuttle vibrated slightly as the rain continued to lash at the shuttle in fierce gusts.

"Well, we're here," said Sulu unnecessarily. Somehow he had expected a more dramatic arrival. He had been prepared for a battle, a barrage of communications and enemy fire – not just a dreary abandoned planet. He felt slightly let down and confused.

"Do we have waterproofs?" asked Uhura, suddenly feeing practical. If they were to go outside then they needed something drier and warmer than their uniforms.

Chekov stood up quickly. "I'll go and check." He disappeared into the rear compartment.

"Grab phasers, communicators and a couple of tricorders while you're there," called Sulu after him. He turned to the security guard. "Momani, you stay here with Senrug. We'll take a look outside and see if we can figure out what's going on. It doesn't look like there's much here. I don't think we'll be long." Senrug glowered at him. Although her demeanour was still proud, Sulu could tell she was nervous and concerned. He turned his attention back to his instruments. He began to shut down the engines and run through his final procedures. Chekov reappeared a few moments later with an armful of jackets. They were standard issue all-weather coats. He dished them out. "Great," said Sulu despondently. "They're grey. Just what we need." They shouldered their way into them in silence.

Chekov released the hatch and jumped outside down onto the mossy ground beneath him. He landed with a slight squelch. Even in the blowing gale, the air smelled of damp vegetation and mould. The rain continued to fall around them, although the sky did seem to be brightening up a little. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and zipped it up to stop it from blowing back down again. He put his hand on his head to hold it in place as he stepped forwards to let Sulu and Uhura jump out behind him. They looked around them, steadying themselves as the wind tried to blow them off their feet. The plaza they had landed in looked ancient. Tumbled down stone buildings stood on each side but nature had long ago started to retake the city. Trees and plants pushed through the joints and pavements, spreading their leafy stalks and branches through every crack and crevice. Some of the buildings must once have had elaborate carvings up their columns and across doorways, but these had worn smooth from the eroding effects of the wind and the rain. The soft building blocks were often concave in places.

"Ugh," said Uhura loudly over the wind. "Let's get this over and done with." She had already begun her scans on the shuttle but the data she was getting was sparse. "Where are all those life signs we picked up on the ship? I can't detect anything living at the moment. Surely a place this abandoned would attract no end of wildlife."

Chekov started up his tricorder and let the data start to roll in. Almost immediately his readings puzzled him. "Uhura, you can confirm this? I'm getting life signs but they are non-specific and non-localised. It's like they should be there, but aren't."

"What does that mean?" asked Sulu, pulling out his phaser nervously. He scanned the area around him. The buildings looked back at him, their windows like blank, empty eyes, dripping with rain. Only the moaning of the wind and the sheeting rain could be heard.

"My scans aren't picking up any signs of industrialisation," Chekov continued, his head hidden under his hood as he bowed it over the tricorder. "There's no warp-capable fleet out there, no mechanised armies… nothing. All I'm getting is the power source we detected on the Enterprise that's keeping the storms going."

Uhura ran a full sweep again to confirm. "No, you're right. I'm not detecting any communications either."

"This is strange," said Sulu uncertainly. "It could be a trap." He motioned towards a wide avenue of ruins leading off to the right of the plaza. "Chekov, have a look around those buildings up that street and see what you can find out. We'll try over here. Stay in communication."

Chekov set off across the plaza and onto the street Sulu had pointed to. It was a broad avenue, but like all the other buildings, only ruins and crumbling stonework lined the street. Although he didn't think he had much of an eye for architecture, the buildings all seemed to be of one genre. In fact, the whole city seemed to be in one style as if it had been built in one go and designed by one person. As he walked along he felt the wind begin to ease off a little and a first watery ray of sunshine seeped through the clouds. It was welcome but didn't really lift his spirits. He could do sultry sunny days or clean icy nights, but not rain. He stopped outside a large tall three storey building. It was the most intact on the whole street. It seemed like a good place to start. He walked up its worn grey steps and through the large doorway. He crossed the threshold cautiously as he went from the relative light outside to the inner gloom. As his eyes adjusted he found himself in a large and impressive hallway. A white stone staircase stretched in front of him and split in two as it curled round and out of sight into the reaches above. The ceiling towered high above him, its broken roof riddled with vines and greenery that made a new covering in place of where the roof had been. The grey sky shone dully through the gaps in the plants. He moved further inwards, stepping over a pile of broken tiles that had crashed long ago from the roof and shattered onto the black and white tiled floor below. But what sort of a building had it been, he wondered? A house? An office? He couldn't tell. It must have been impressive in its day, he thought. Whenever that had been. He unzipped his hood and rolled it down around his neck, shaking his arms to get rid of the water droplets still clinging to his jacket. He pulled forward his tricorder from his hip and started up its scans again. It began to work, beeping quietly every so often as it completed each task. He moved over to one of the tall narrow empty windows that overlooked the street and sat down on a window ledge. He placed the tricorder next to him and watched the data scroll by. He had started with the geological data: rock composition from the top down. Since there didn't seem to be anyone around, he reasoned, he may as well gather some scientific data to take back to the ship with him. He looked out at the street. The wind had died away and the rain was starting to ease. He watched the final raindrops fall into the shimmering puddles. The uniformity of the city troubled him, he realised. On all the worlds he had been to since joining the Enterprise, each one had had its own culture and style. Every city had reflected the histories and characters of the people who built them. As he looked out over the bland street in front of him, the scene said nothing to him. The uniformity of the designs and even the intricate carvings spoke of sameness. Perhaps that was the way these people were, he reasoned. But they must not have been very creative. It certainly wasn't the city of a people who could exile their own kind across the galaxy. The tricorder interrupted his musings and beeped to indicate it had finished. He picked it up, skimming through the information absently to check for any corruptions. How old were these buildings, he wondered. He found the right section and began to look in more detail. Date of construction:15,000 years ago. He did a rough calculation in his head, chewing his bottom lip as he considered the variables. That would make it about 10,000 in Earth years. Date of abandonment: 9,000 years. No, that couldn't be right. He made the calculation again and re-checked the data: 9,000 years. That would put it at about 5,000 in Earth years. "Etovo ne mozhet byt!" he said out loud to himself, standing up in surprise. The dates were impossible. He knew for a fact that the Providers had been exiled a little over 2,000 years ago. They had proof from Triskelion. If the civilisation on this planet had ended 3,000 years before that, then how did the Providers get to Triskelion and who had sent them? He looked again at the power readings they had detected. He thought he knew the answer. He had to get back to the others. He picked up the tricorder and turned towards the doorway.

"Humanoid, bipedal, male. The brain has four distinct sections interspersed with fluid, enclosed in tissue layers and bone, connecting to a basic nervous system." A deep male voice resounded around the room.

"He is young. The brain is not yet fully compatible with the endocrine system," another, this time female, responded.

"This could be a feature of his species," posited the first voice.

"Unlikely," dismissed the second. "The others are fully integrated."

Chekov froze to the spot, holding his breath in fear. This reminded him of his first arrival on Triskelion. He waited, his heart pounding in his chest, expecting the wagering on his life to begin, but the room fell silent.

"Who are you?" he called out shakily. He placed the tricorder by its strap slowly over his shoulder and reached for his phaser.

"He is afraid," said the first voice. "He is becoming aggressive. See how this major gland is releasing this oxygen hydrogen compound. He is arming himself in defence."

"Show yourselves!" shouted Chekov angrily, flicking on his phaser to full power. He hated being analysed even in Sickbay by doctors he trusted, let alone by unseen aliens with unknown intentions. The room fell silent again. He stood for a few seconds, uncertain what to do next. He had to get back to the shuttle at all costs with the information from his tricorder. He had to warn the others that the planet was not so uninhabited as it seemed. He looked towards the doorway. There was no sign of any aliens. His path was clear. He gathered himself, took a deep breath and bolted for the door as fast as he could, skidding on the tiles, sending debris sliding across the floor in all directions. But as he reached the threshold he came to an abrupt halt, his eyes closing shut as a reflex. He felt winded, as if he had run into a brick wall. He felt something constrict around his neck. He dropped his phaser and fell to his knees, clutching at his throat at the unseen force that was choking him.

"Please, not again," he begged with the little breath he could. The force closed still further around him. He cried out.