Happy Fourth of July!
This day is marked a holiday because I'm updating!
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
^^That's a lot of o's
Anyway, turn your attention to all these words below you, I find them kind of interesting
Chapter 6
Life was boring. Really boring. Aang struggled with his fire nation shoes.
"Nothing to be done," Aang simply stated.
Katara replied, "I'm beginning to come around to that conclusion, ever since Sokka left I have been saying 'Katara, get a hold of yourself, you haven't tried everything yet',"
"Wait," said Aang, "That makes no sense."
"Uggggggghhhhhh!" shouted Katara, "I'm quoting a book! You don't get it?"
"No," Aang replied, he then asked, "What was the book about?"
"Nothing," stated Katara. Aang decided that without Sokka, he had nothing better to do, but to dream.
The city was chaos. Smoke columns were visible from all directions. The people were bustling in all directions.
A group was distinguishable from the rest of the people. If one talked to them, they would make out strange accents and attitudes among the strangers.
These strangers, however, were not of their world.
"It makes me nervous that they're crowding the shuttle," exclaimed a weak, but conscious Weasly Crusher.
"We'll probably break many rules of the Prime Directive trying to get them away," quipped Riker. Not to mention they didn't even know if their shuttle was even capable of flight once they got the natives away. However, with communications with the Enterprise working so far, Picard could ask for another shuttle. That would be risky in itself.
And that was a worry for another time. Picard's group managed to locate an entrance to what was known as the Crystal Catacombs. They also located two stern looking men in red armor guarding the entrance.
The entrance was nothing special. In fact, it just looked like a cave, bored into sloping rock. In fact, the shuttle crew thought that whoever lived underground lucked out that there was such an entrance.
Heck, they were lucky that they had an underground chamber in the first place.
Pondering on these early people was not the present threat at this time, however.
"Well, I think asking these guys to enter is out of the question," Riker sarcastically concluded, he then looked at his commanding officer for further instruction, "Captain?"
Picard hesitantly responded, "I think another rule of the Prime Directive will have to be thrown down the tubes, phasers number one."
The two men pulled out their own small metal devices, complete with black hand grips and a small barrel. The weapon's size was not indicative of its power, however.
The soldiers had not noticed Picard's and Riker's approach. They did not even know what hit them when Picard and Riker turned their phasers on them. They collapsed silently into unconsciousness.
"Anyone saw us?" asked Picard into his communicator.
"You have performed the operation stealthily," came the reply from Data.
"Okay," finished Picard, "I don't see anyone else, you can advance."
The rest of the crew walked foreword, at the entrance of the cave. Data then pulled out his tricorder and held it up to the entrance.
"Captain, we have about 100 meters to go before we reach the catacombs," explained the android.
"Okay," replied Picard. He then went on to say, "I need you and Mr. Crusher to stand guard outside. Use those uniforms and put the bodies out of sight."
"Understood," answered the android.
"Now, let's see what's down there."
The walk was predictably long. The cave was sizable enough, about two people in height. The strange impressions on the side suggested that it might have been carved out. That was of little concern right now, the current goal was the dilithium.
The crew reached the mass expanse of the codex. The chasm reached out far and wide. Strange shapes formed against the walls. Upon further inspection, it was shown that these were living space, little huts carved against the stone face.
The most prominent feature of the catacombs, however, were the crystals themselves. They were large, green and emitted an eerie glow. It was the true source of the dilithium.
"Mr. Worf," began Picard, "What are the readings on these crystals?"
"They are incredibly pure," responded Worf, and reading further, continued, "They are averaging 90% purity. Deposits like these are rare throughout known space!"
"Excellent," replied the Captain, "That makes the process that much easier."
Riker armed his phaser and proceeded to the nearest deposit. Deanna went to help him.
Worf then approached Captain Picard. "So Captain," he began, "any plan for getting back to the Enterprise?"
"I've ordered Geordi to have a shuttle on standby, just in case," answered Picard, "If all goes well, we should fade out of their memories like a myth."
The process of collecting dilithium was actually rather simple. Riker had already collected two samples, and was proceeding on to a third. Deanna really was offering no help to him. Nothing but a bunch of generic, "be careful" and "watch out". She seriously needed to calm her nerves down, she was a consular after all.
"Do I need to be the one counseling, Deanna?" Riker asked with annoyance.
"We've lost so much of what we knew," answered Deanna, "I don't want you to be next."
"Aww, it's so nice that you care for me," Riker replied with a smile.
Deanna's response was a flabbergasted, "I didn't mean it that way!"
Will Riker's inquiring smile prompted Deanna to respond, "I would be concerned with anyone else, the Captain, Data and even the rest of the crew! Just be glad you're one of them!"
"I am."
"Well Will, I was also referring to what we knew, don't you find it strange that the people here speak basic English, in fact, the same English we do?"
"Well I was concerned about the language-"
"And don't you find it even stranger that their written language mimics that of Chinese?"
"Yeah well, that is a little wierd-"
"I'm just saying that we're probably in store for many more things that defy our logic."
"Now Deanna, you're starting to sound like that apologist I've been studying."
"Now Will and Deanna, you two are starting to sound like a married couple," interrupted Picard.
"I assume you've got all we need," Picard continued after a brief pause.
"Yes," replied Riker, holding up three Dilithium crystals.
"Here," he said, passing one sample to Worf, and another to Picard, "This ensures that if something bad happens to one of us, we still have some dilithium."
"Nothing bad will happen to us," Worf gruffly responded.
Picard took out his communicator. "Data," he spoke, "Commander Data, we are ready to go, please make preparations."
The captain heard no response from the communicator.
Furling his brow, Picard spoke once more, "Commander Data, please respond."
Those words echoed through the strange device Lieutenant Chang held in his hand. He studied it. Small, made of strange material. And a voice spoke through it. His day was getting better.
The two spies, or whatever they were, were currently bound, and their strange gadgets striped. One spy was an extremely pale man with yellow eyes. The other was less strange looking, a boy at best. Both wore gnarled, but heavy Earth Kingdom robes.
"So," Chang asked the strange pale man, "What does this device do?"
The man replied, "Under the Federation's Prime Directive, I am obligated not to tell you."
Chang sighed, earth kingdom peasants, always so stubborn.
"I think if I, inquire, a bit more, if I do say so myself, I think you just might be able to, ignore, your ... Prime Directive."
The man didn't even flinch, and as soon as Chang was finished, he replied smoothly, "You see, if your implying torture, that is impossible on me, as I am impervious to pain."
"You may be," Chang hissed. He didn't believe the man's story, but he was going to play along, "But your friend may not be."
As a response, one of the men formed a flame in his hand. He brought it closer to Weasly's head. The skin on his forehead began moistening up to the heat of the flame.
"NO!" came an emphatic yell.
Chang swooped around to see four other people running towards them. He quickly ordered the remaining soldiers to form a defensive perimeter. He wanted alone time interrogating his subjects.
The rest of the crew pulled out their phasers. "On stun!" Picard quickly yelled.
Three of the red armored soldiers fell to the red beams of the phasers. The others responded by punching the air.
And fire shot out of it. Fire, out of thin air. And Riker was the victim of it. He raised his arms in a defensive position, and the sleeves of his primitive disguise caught ablaze.
"Damn it!" he exclamed, crouching, trying to find a way to extinguish the flame.
"Fall back!" yelled Picard as the remaining soldiers began smothering them with fire. Picard fired his phaser back in response, and was relieved to see a body fall to the stunning beam.
Two of the soldiers were suddenly lifted in the air and tossed effortlessly aside. Commander Data stood there in the midst of the soldiers, becoming a one man army as he was quickly over-powering them.
Flames suddenly consumed Data. Commander Chang then assaulted the man with a barrage of fire balls.
To his frustration, the man appeared unharmed, although his clothes burned away to reveal a strange yellow-black skin-tight suit.
"System's, overheating," replied the strange man as his movements came to a halt.
"Power supply, burnt out, secondary supply, not func-"
And as his words trailed off, the pale man collapsed.
"Data!" exclaimed Picard. He rushed towards his fallen friend, and was immediately rejected by a firebolt to the chest.
Picard groaned heavily as he fell back, his phaser falling away from him. He saw Data loaded onto some sort of cart. The remaining soldiers stood at attention, in front of the remaining crew members.
"Arrest all of them," ordered their leader, "I'll process this one early."
He lept onto one of the strange lizard-like animals attached to the front of the cart. He whipped one of them, and the animals ran off in the distance.
Picard gasped for air and looked around, his entire crew was either on the ground, or badly burnt in the case of Worf, who was using a knife as a replacement for a phaser.
"Too bad we couldn't have more fun," said one of the soldiers, menacingly. "Those strange tools of yours gave you a chance, but, eventually, everything falls to firebending."
As he finished his statement, he raised his arms for a final strike on Captain Picard.
He never finished, as Weasly Crusher, who benefitted from Data's earlier tactics, stunned him in the back with a phaser.
Picard quickly retrieved his phaser as the rest of their soldiers turned their fronts to Weasly. His crew had the same idea. In mere moments, the crew was free of the tyranny of the soldiers.
"Captain!" screamed a voice in the communicator, Geordi, Picard put it up to his face, spotted with mud and burns, and responded, "What?"
"Are you alright? We lost contact with you for a moment."
Picard looked to the rest of his crew, injured but alive.
"We got into a conflict, but we're free of it now, we've got the dilithium."
"Good," came a relieved response from the communicator, "Good luck getting back."
"One problem," began Picard.
"What?" responded Geordi, his voice tense.
"Commander Data has been captured."
The communicator was dead silent.
"Oh great," interrupted the voice of Picard's first officer, "Just when things couldn't get any worse."
Picard looked to where Riker was pointing.
Four of these lizard-like creatures emerged from the corner of the sand colored building. They were hauling something massive, something metallic.
Their shuttle.
Now here is where things get complicated.
See you, my sparse audience, next friday.