Sorry for the long wait, I have been developing this story and wanted to get oh so many chapters finished before I began updating. Until I actually finish this thing, I will not be updating regularly.

Oh yeah, I didn't want to be this person, but may I have some reviews? I like to see where I have gone right and where I have gone wrong in some areas. Also, they are very nice (Shadi's voice).

However, enough with the unpleasantness, enjoy chapter 2!

Chapter 2

Blue eyes shot open and scanned the familiar, but darker background. Pain shot through his chest as if someone hit him with a phaser on stun. Captain Picard surveyed his surroundings once more.

It was a rough ride, everyone had either fallen to the floor, or were sprawled on control consoles. Picard checked the status of the crew of the bridge, no one had any serious injuries, but a few sported nasty cuts and large bruises which could be fixed by Docter Crusher. Speaking of which...

"Injury report," Picard voiced through the ship's intercom.

A gentle, but obviously stressed voice responded, "I have 200 with minor injuries, ranging from cuts to broken bones. 6 people are critically injured and will need urgent care, but the odds are heavily in their favor."

Captain Picard could finally let out a sigh of relief. "That's all?" he questioned.

Crusher responded, "no, there are more trickling in, I haven't got a full count yet, we've just emerged from the portal. I was surprised that 200 people could show up that quickly to sickbay."

Picard laughed, despite the situation."Thank you Doctor Crusher," he finished.

"Crusher out," answered the voice on the intercom.

Riker slowly rose from the floor, his throbbing head the reason for this action. He checked around the bridge. His attention was caught by a sprawled feminine form.

"Deanna!" Riker quietly shouted. He began to slowly crawl towards her.

Thankfully, his attentions were not needed. The woman began stirring, and when her five senses were fully functional, she was staring into the brown eyes of William T. Riker.

"Back off!" was the appropriate response that Deanna articulated.

Riker followed this short order, but protested, "I was worried about you, you looked practically dead."

"Yes, but there are others on the bridge who might need you attentions more than me!" she hissed. Upon further analysis by Deanna, everyone else on the bridge was up, either resuming their posts, or getting immediate medical care. Riker was right, she probably deserved the most attention. To add fuel to the fire, Riker merely shrugged his shoulders upon this discovery.

The massive warp core of the enterprise glowed it's usual eerie blue color. Many of these peculiar reactions were the result of the energy from the anti-matter that made warp-drive possible. According to the working computers on that level, however, warp drive was not possible.

"And were out of impulse power, sensors are at 30%, communications are gone, forget about shields and weapon systems, the only thing that is fully functional is artificial gravity and life support." read the dark-skinned man with a visor over his eyes.

The younger man processing these reports fumed, "So, were basically a floating piece of metal in space."

"I would count our blessings, Mr. Crusher, if we didn't have life support, we would be just a floating hunk of metal," the dark man coolly answered.

Geordi La Forge probably had the second most stressful job on the ship. He oversaw all its workings, primarily the engines and generators. If he did his job wrong, the Enterprise would be basically useless. And right now, the Enterprise was basically useless. However, he wasn't going to wallow in sorrow, like some other chief engineers have done in the past. Geordi realized that nothing could have stopped the Enterprise's entrance into the strange anomaly. The here and the now would be the judge of how well he could do his job. And right now, that was restoring the Enterprise's sensors.

After various power reroutes and recharges, La Forge reported, "We can begin starting some long-range scans, I think I'll start on the engines once I give the captain an update."

Captain Picard rushed to the intercom, anticipating news from Geordi. He held his breath when he heard his chief engineer.

"Ship's sensors have been restored to around 80 percent, so we can at least find out where we are," reported Geordi.

"Your update is most gratifying," Picard answered. Once the sensors were back online, the crew could triangulate the ship's position in order to get their bearings. Hopefully, the Enterprise was not lost in the vast nothingness of space, or worse, in enemy territory.

"Scan the surrounding area, look for anything familiar, a planet, a constellation, anything" Picard ordered to the various members of the bridge.

While the crew got to work on this, La Forge continued on the intercom, "My main concern is the engines, if we find out we are in the middle of the Romulan Empire, for instance, I would want warp speed up and running as quickly as possible."

"Thank you once again Gerodi," the captain answered as he turned off the intercom. By now, he assumed, the crew could get a basic idea of where they were, unless, of course, the anomaly was a bit more eccentric in its positioning.

He got the results he was dreading from Data, "Captain," the android started, "I cannot find any constellations, nebulae, or any other telling signs that are familiar in any Federation, Klingon, or even Romulan positions."

Data also added, "However, we are not stuck in the middle of nowhere. There appears to be a Class M planet nearby. Unfortunately, I cannot scan the surface for any population or technology. If we are indeed stuck in this unfamiliar position, it may be possible to use this world for our benefit."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves too quickly Data, our sensors haven't fully recovered, there may be yet a familiar constellation in the background that we are missing," Picard responded. The captain's first and foremost duty was to get home, and frankly, considering the Enterprise's condition, he was not even sure if they even could reach the surface of the nearby planet.

Picard retreated from the bustle of the bridge to his personal quarters. He was not coping out of his job, he needed peace and quiet to plan the ship's next move. Slowly, but surely, Captain Picard drifted off into sleep.

His dream was interrupted by a tickling on his cheeks. Aang opened his eyes to see his one and only flying Lemur, Momo, licking his face. Aang then turned and saw all his friends, Sokka, Toph, and especially, Katara. All four humans, plus the flying bison and lemur gathered for one big hug, together again at last.

As the group ended their formalities and lifted off into fire nation territory, Aang reflected on the past. He never knew what he was thinking on the fire nation ship. All that he could think of was his failures. When he was first confronted with his Avatar duty, he ran away and let a brewing war erupt for the last 100 years. When he confronted the Fire Lord's siblings in Ba Sing Se, he was powerless to stop their assault, because he feared them. He was afraid that everyone would doubt him. If he could end the war right here and right now, he could amend not only his, but Roku's mistakes. Therefore, he set off alone on his mission. He managed to get past the fire nation blockade, but in the end, he was too weak to carry on, and he ended up on this island.

"Aang," Katara began, bringing Aang's mind back into the present, "I find it noble that you have taken it upon yourself to end this war, but honestly I also find it kind of stupid." Katara finished her lecture with a small smile to lighten up Aang, but when one is called stupid, the reaction generally isn't positive. Aang gripped the saddle of Appa tightly, the insult stinging his entire being.

"Kyoshi and Roku somehow got it done by themselves," Aang lamented, "Does that mean I'm weak if I cannot handle this war all by myself?"

"No," Katara firmly responded, "It means you can learn from their mistakes, and be smarter than them."

"Aang," she continued, after noticing his confused look, "you're the Avatar, but your also human. You have strengths, weaknesses, burdens and dreams. No one in this world accomplished great things on their own. Heck, even Sozin required the entire fire nation military to start the war. Finding the strength to pull through this means you must admit that you cannot shoulder this alone, you need friends."

Aang smiled at Katara's advice. She was quite the motherly figure. Probably the result of dealing with Sokka and small water tribe boys, though Aang didn't just view Katara as a friend and a mother. He surveyed the back of Appa, viewing his friends, his gang, Katara was right, he needed them all. Right now they were carrying out their trademark activities; Toph was busy picking her toes, Sokka was writing ferociously on a scroll, and Momo was ... raiding the last of the berries!

"Momo!" shouted Aang, "I don't think we should snack now!"

Katara and Toph let out a heartly laugh. Sokka, on the contrary, shouted out many incomprehensible words and began chasing the Lemur around the back of Appa.

This chase continued, right until Appa landed on another land mass. One by one, each of the gang got off, Toph breathing a sigh of relief as her feat touched the ground, and Sokka with a flying lemur in his hands.

"Out of the two flying-furry things here, you annoy me the most!" grunted the disheveled Water Tribe teen at the equally disheveled lemer.

Aang glanced at the horizen, much was to be done. However, the sun was setting, marking the end the day, and the end of a long journey. Aang slowly drifted to sleep, and wondered if the strange dreams would appear to him again.