"Gone like a freight train/Gone like yesterday/Gone like a soldier in the Civil War, bang bang/Gone like a fifty-nine Cadillac/like all the good things/that ain't never comin' back."

-Montgomery Gentry, Gone


A searing headache was the first thing that Sophia Katsaros became aware of as she drifted back into consciousness. Several other unpleasant sensations followed, the foremost of which was a sudden urge to vomit. She fought down the nauseous feeling, gingerly sitting up and opening her eyes, though a sudden gust of hot, dry wind forced them shut almost immediately as small particles stung them. Sand?

Shielding her eyes now, Sophia opened them once again, blinking in the harsh sunlight of a seemingly endless desert. The only interruption to the rolling sand dunes was the rest of Security Team Six sprawled out around her.

What just happened? Sophia demanded of herself, gripping the side of her head. She felt like she'd just been broadsided by a vehicle the size of, oh, say, the Enterprise, which was not helping her memory of recent events. She remembered the full security detail assembling in the transporter room, and then…and then…someone screaming. That was all.

The number of bodies seemed much too small for how many people had been in the away team. Sophia did a head count, growing frantic when she noted the absence of the entire bridge crew as well as Adalyn Foster, the team "captain", and her best friend. She scrambled to her feet, barely restraining herself from shouting into the hazy, sandy wilderness to try and get a friendly response. Instead, she tried to catch her breath, mind spinning as she sank back onto the hot sand, though the dizziness was more vertigo than anything. Once she'd calmed down again, Sophia carefully went over the emergency protocol that had been drilled into her mind at the academy. Without Adalyn there, Sophia was technically the leader of the team, a realization that was both unpleasant and unwelcome.

"This can't be happening," Sophia thought with a groan, falling back onto the ground, ignoring the fact that she was getting covered in sand as she tried to think of reasons why this couldn't be happening. "One: I'm not a leader. I'm the sensitive one, the thoughtful one, the one Adalyn always said was a Betazoid in disguise. I read people, figure them out. Not boss them around; I can't do that! Two: I have no clue where we are, much less where the bridge crew and Adalyn went to. Three: … I can't think of a number three. Fantastic." She sat up once again, resigned to, but still slightly overwhelmed by the task of trying to lead security team six.

Sophia looked around at the various other members of the team, gratified to see that none of them seemed the worse for wear after what was, undoubtedly, the most spectacular transporter failure she'd ever witnessed or experienced. She had to stifle a bout of laughter, though, when she saw one of the newest team members pinned under Lyren Grax, the team's Betazoid tactician and mind reader. That poor man. Sophia thought with a smile as she removed the outer jacket of her decidedly much too stuffy uniform. Lyren was quiet and reserved, even for a Betazoid, and his telepathy had made him highly sensitive to emotion. Christy had only been part of the team for a few weeks, a new addition after their arrival on the Enterprise, and she had never been known to censor her language. Lyren was in for quite the earful (and mindful) when the two of them woke up.

Sophia took a steadying breath before once again climbing to her feet, this time moving to rouse the other team members. She received several groans of pain and annoyance in varying levels, and one remark of, "Just five more minutes, ma," which earned the speaker a sound kick in the rump before Sophia moved to the next person. A few minutes later, as she was walking from a slightly concussed Thomas to a happily snoring Kaylee, Christy and Lyren woke up. There was an initial moment of confusion, and then Christy broke into a series of screamed profanities that would have made a Klingon proud (or blush, Sophia wasn't sure where exactly the line was drawn). Sophia struggled to hide a grin as Lyren scrambled backwards, face red and one hand over his left ear, the one that had been closest to Christy's mouth.

Everybody laughed, and Christy had the good grace to look embarrassed. By the time Sophia had finished her rounds, all but two of the other security officers were awake and at least semi-upright, all of them attempting to either contact the Enterprise or discern their present location. There was a definite air of confusion and fear surrounding everyone as they gathered around Sophia, brushing sand off uniforms and out of hair, though Thomas stayed behind, attempting to rouse the two downed officers. Christy was the first to speak, breaking the edgy silence. "Lieutenant, where the hell are we?"

Sophia flinched. "I really don't know, Christy. Though I can safely say that we're not where we're supposed to have ended up."

"No, really?" Christy snapped back. "Anybody with eyes can tell that this isn't the nice green planet we were supposedly beaming down to." She swept an arm out towards the desert. "That landscape sure as hell ain't green. Oh, and one other thing, Miss Einstein. The solar system we were just in? It only had one sun." She jabbed a finger at the sky with her last sentence. Sophia looked up and groaned—sure enough, two golden stars shone blindingly overhead. As she blinked the doubled glare out of her eyes, she saw Kaylee, one of the members that had been with the team throughout its days in Starfleet Academy, put a hand on Christy's shoulder, a silent warning to shut up and stop mouthing off to your superior. Christy apparently didn't get the hint, or chose to ignore it as she shook the hand off. "So, what are we going to do now, Leader?" She put as much malice as possible into the name as possible, making it perfectly clear that she did not approve of the change in management.

Sophia gave the other woman a disbelieving look. "Excuse me?" A smug grin crept onto Christy's face, and her stance simply oozed rebellious confidence. Heads swiveled between the two women, most wondering either why this was happening now of all times, or who was going to win the fight. Thomas just sighed from his seat between the two unconscious officers. Of all the times for the two siblings to have a fight…

"I hope you don't mind my interference, but our survival on this planet may well depend on the cessation of your petty squabbles," cut in an even voice with a distinctly Vulcan accent.

"Do you mind, Sanek?" asked Sophia, her teeth gritted.

"Yes, actually," he responded, forcing his broad-shouldered frame between the opposing siblings and fixing Christy with an imperturbable stare. "If we are to locate our lost crewmates and find out just where we are, we will need to function efficiently as a team. It is only logical that we should put aside our disagreements for the time being."

Sophia sighed, internally admitting that the irksome Vulcan was right. Difficult as it might be to manage someone like her sister, keeping some level of harmony within the team would be essential if they were all going to survive for long in a desert like this. She took a deep, steadying breath, then turned back to the rest of the team, who had been watching the confrontation unfold with interest.

"Right…sorry. Um…well…I guess we should just move out and start looking for shelter, okay?" she told them hesitantly. How does Adalyn do stuff like this all the time? she silently demanded of herself.

"Signs of civilization would be best, obviously, but if we can't find that, there should at least be a cave or something where we can get out of the sun."

"Suns."

"Shuddup, Kaylee. Anyway, we'll try to contact the Enterprise again at nightfall, then plan what we're going to do next."

Sophia took a long look at the rest of Team Six, carefully reading their expressions. Sanek was inscrutable as always and Christy's arms were still crossed in defiance, but the rest seemed to have pulled together. They looked just a little bit more unified, more confident, and seeing that gave Sophia all the reassurance she needed.

She smiled, a little nervously. "Our team survived Nero and the wormhole; this will be no problem. Let's go! We've got a planet to explore."

They set off, eleven red shirts blazing against an ocean of pale sand. Sophia soon fell into step with Christy, who was trudging resolutely along, glowering at the dunes beneath her feet.

"Anything to say?" she asked her sister sweetly.

"Let's just hurry up and find some shelter," Christy growled. "Knowing our luck, this place probably gets sandstorms at night."


"I'm not sure I like this," mumbled Lyren, what felt like several hours later.

The security team stood at the mouth of an enormous canyon system, interconnected rocky valleys stretching out to the horizon. Only in the last few minutes had the endless sea of rolling dunes given way to rocky terrain: the canyons seemed to have risen up out of nowhere.

Sophia avoided meeting Lyren's eyes—the empathic abilities of Betazoids had always unnerved her a little. "We were looking for shelter," she pointed out, "And whatever we find in this canyon, at least we'll be out of the open desert."

The others still looked hesitant. "Remember that huge skeleton I tripped over?" said Kaylee, nervously brushing a strand of non-Starfleet-standard blue-highlighted hair out of her eyes. "What if there's an alive one of…whatever that was…in there?"

"That's why God told Zefam Cochrane to invent phasers," Christy replied promptly. Sophia grinned—she'd known her sister would be anxious to put their long, blistering, sandy trek to an end. Still, she had to admit that now that the twin suns were sinking towards the horizon, the twisting canyons were starting to look a little dark…and ominous…and…

Snap out of it, Sophia, she chided herself hastily. In case you forgot, you have a team you're supposed to be leading!

Before she could change her mind again, Sophia strode decisively into the mouth of the canyon, the rest of Team Six reluctantly following behind her. They fell into shadow almost immediately, and the temperature plunged abruptly as first one sun, then the other slid out of view behind the overhanging crags.

"I must admit that I agree with Lyren," mused Sanek.

"About what?" asked Sophia absently, most of her attention still devoted to scanning their surroundings.

"I'm not sure I like this either," he responded matter-of-factly.

An uneasy silence fell, broken only by the steady crunching of their footsteps. Sophia was painfully aware that she didn't really know where she was leading the team, but the vague hope of finding civilization kept her resolved to stay moving until nightfall.

Occasionally, a distant sound would break the silence, reminding them all that they were not alone in the desert. Once, a warbling, alien roar echoed distantly through the canyon, unnerving the whole team (Kaylee in particular, who was immediately convinced that the noise had originated from an animal like the one whose skeleton she'd encountered earlier). More frequently, there would be the muffled clatter of rocks falling, often accompanied by the frantic sounds of scratching and scuttling. Sophia desperately tried to convince herself that these originated from creatures no more threatening than Earth mice, but she couldn't suppress the chills they sent down her spine.

By the time the last glimmers of sunset light were beginning to disappear—sunset with two stars had been quite a production, lasting more than an hour—Team Six had encountered an obstacle. Before them, at a narrow pass in the canyon, was a substantial rockfall, enormous boulders littered with abandon from wall to rocky wall.

"Let's set up camp here for the night," Sophia suggested, looking around at the others' silhouettes in the semi-darkness. "It might be a lost cause, but before you do anything else, I want everyone to try to contact the Enterprise from here, just in case."

There was a pause, then various glowing patches of light ignited as communicators and tricorders were turned on. This was quickly followed by a rather substantial outbreak of cursing in at least three languages (Greek for Christy; Betazoid for Lyren; particularly salty Romulan for Thomas, who was something of a professional).

Sophia suppressed a grin. "Well, that figures. Let's get our supplies out, maybe get a fire started, and bed down for the night. Maybe tomorrow we'll find some civilization…"

"Are you kidding?" Christy flared up immediately. "This whole planet is a godforsaken desert. Who the hell d'you think would live here?"

"UTINI!" somebody answered.

After a stunned, immobile instant, Security Team Six began scrambling for their phasers. Unfortunately, they were far too late—dozens of small, brown-cloaked figures were pouring rapidly out of crevices in the rock everywhere they looked, surrounding them within seconds.

Sophia only had time to say "What—" as the nearest cloaked creature, rusty eyes glimmering from the depths of its hood, hoisted a ludicrously large device that crackled at one end with barely suppressed electricity. It pulled the trigger in a businesslike way a moment later, and a tremendous flare of light burst into the twilight air.

Sophia was barely conscious of her body slamming onto the unforgiving floor of the canyon, scarcely aware of her every nerve tingling with lighting. In moments, her consciousness slipped away, for the second time that day, to the sound of screaming.


Hello and welcome back! I'm painfully aware of how long it's been since my last post, but now, happily, it's summer and I have far more time to write. Fans and friends of FanFiction, watch this space for possibly exciting new developments coming soon!

This chapter was co-written by Aberolingarn, who also created many of the members of Security Team Six (by which I mean everyone except Adalyn and Sophia). Many thanks for her excellent work!

It's just not a good day to be a red shirt (then again, do they have any good days?). First Captain Kirk stabs Adalyn with a lightsaber, then the rest of her team is abducted by Jawas. So it goes. I don't know what the time difference is between Coruscant and Tatooine, but I wouldn't be surprised if all this was happening at once! Of course, there's more to the story as far as Team Six is concerned—after all, the Jawas must be taking them somewhere…


Time for some Nerd Notes!

-A few hints I've placed in this chapter suggest that Security Team Six took the exact same route as R2-D2 did at the beginning of A New Hope, waking up where the escape pod landed and getting abducted by the same Jawa gang. Coincidence…or design? We still don't know who sent them all to the galaxy far far away, after all! Given the parallels, playing the appropriate music ("The Little People") while reading this chapter might be amusing.

-As far as I know, it's not Star Trek canon that Zefam Cochrane invented the phaser, but then again, why not? Memory Alpha just says they were invented sometime in the 23rd Century, and Cochrane was around then. Being a survivor of massive world war, he probably would've wanted to develop less fatal weapons for the new frontier, and being the kind of guy he was, he'd want to do so anonymously. Regardless of what the truth is, it's the kind of thing Christy would say.

-Aberolingarn was the one who named one of the red-shirts "Kaylee," but she tells me she's never even heard of Firefly and that it was a coincidence. I've been writing her personality similarly to the other Kaylee's, though, just for laughs.

-Jawas are only seen abducting droids in the movies, but remember, they're technology scavengers, and everyone was using communicators right before they were attacked. Besides, there are other reasons...

-Simon Pegg has said that Benedict Cumberbatch is NOT playing Khan in the new Star Trek movie. Thank you Scotty! I hope this is true, for as fine an actor as Benedict is, I just can't see him in the role once so nobly filled by Ricardo Montalban's pecs.


-UTINI! (Translation…Maecenas Out for now!)