Chapter Three

-Recognized, Picard, Jean-Luc. Captain USS EnterpriseThe computer announced in the small room. It was no bigger than an airlock, with doors in front and behind them. Picard and Madden were locked in the small room, while the computer seemed to be scanning them.

-Recognized, Madden, Martin. Commander USS Enterprise. Temporary level black security clearance granted. The computer seemed to ignore the two security officers behind them. The doors in front of them slid open, revealing a large room.

"Captain Picard!" Jean-Luc heard his name from across the room. Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge was rapidly working his way through the small crowd of people, trying to get to his captain.

"Geordi… great to see you again. How are things going?" Picard replied once they got face to face.

"You are not going to believe what they found!" LaForge exclaimed as he jumped with excitement. He turned and pointed to the corner of the room. "Take a look at that!" Picard looked over behind Geordi and whistled softly when he saw it. A large ring was standing up in the corner of the room.

"What is it?" Picard asked, as the trio started walking towards it.

"We don't have a clue. It is six point seven meters in diameter, and this inner ring here has thirty-nine constellations in it. It has these nine chevrons around it, but quite frankly Captain, we don't know what it does."

"What about tricorder readings? Sensor scans?" Picard asked as he touched the side of the ring.

"Well the material it is constructed of isn't in any of our databases. As for the internal circuitry of the device… without a reference to compare to, we don't know what any of it is." LaForge finished. They glanced over at Martin Madden who seemed to be deep in thought. He was pointing to the constellations and the chevrons and talking softly to himself.

"Commander?" Picard asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"Coordinates." He replied, as he looked over at him.

"Pardon?"

"Look… the constellations. They are coordinates in space. These nine chevrons must act as locking mechanisms. It's a transporter, or something like that."

"How the devil did you come up with that?" Picard asked. Suddenly, his communicator activated.

"Enterprise to Picard."

"One moment." He said to LaForge and Madden. He walked over to a vacant corner, and replied. "Picard here."

"Deanna Riker is on subspace, she is requesting to speak to you. She says it's urgent."

"Route her through my communicator."

"Yes sir. Standby." Picard frowned. Something must be wrong for Deanna to call him over subspace demanding to speak to him- even when he was off the ship.

"Captain Picard?" Her soft voice came through the badge

"Deanna, good to talk to you again… my ops officer said it was urgent?"

"Yes… it is. Can you talk for a moment?" Picard glanced around the room. Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to him.

"Yes."

"Good. Now it may be nothing, but last night I had a dream. I saw you and several security officers step out of a large ring on some alien planet." Picard nearly choked, as he glanced over at the ring that Madden and LaForge were standing near.

"This ring wouldn't be six point seven meters in diameter with nine chevrons around it, would it?"

"That's the one. It also has constellations around the inner part. Anyway in my dream it was inactive at first, then the chevrons around it lit up, and suddenly the inside of the ring turned blue… like looking into water. Then four officers stepped out- I believe one of them addressed himself as 'Gordon,' then several people including you stepped out of the wall of water. Capatin, I felt intense danger when you stepped out… something seemed to be waiting for you on that planet." Picard crossed his arms as he thought about what she had said. How could she have had a dream this realistic, which included the strange ring?

"Deanna, can I call you back in a few minutes?"

"Yes. Just be careful…"

"Of course. I will call you in a few minutes. Picard out." He walked back to his first officer and chief engineer. "Commander Madden, I want you to stay down here and assist Geordi. I want a full report on this… whatever… in a two hours."

"Yes sir."

"Geordi, whenever you are finished here, report back to the Enterprise." LaForge nodded. "I am heading back to the ship to begin preparations for the retrofits." He stepped back a few feet. "Picard to Enterprise, one for transport."

--

Deana Riker reached down and tapped the panel on her computer display to activate it. The screen lit up, and displayed the words System Ready.

"Computer, access ships library." She said, somewhat lost in thought. "Is there any record of a large metal ring?"

-Please narrow search parameters.

"Oh I don't know." She said, frustrated. The images of her dream were starting to fade away. "The ring was about twenty feet across, and it somehow acted as a transporter. It has constellations on it, that's about it. Now search for it."

-One entry found.

"Display it." The screen changed to a text article about a Caitian legend. As Deanna Riker read the article, she became more and more worried. Suddenly, Will walked into the room.

"Did you speak to Captain Picard?" He asked as he came up behind her and kissed her cheek.

"Yes. He was in the middle of something and said he would call back. Listen to this Will. According to Caitian legend, that ring I saw in my dreams is called a Stargate. This says that 'superior beings' once reigned upon this section of space, and used the Stargate to get here. This also says there were only three Stargates in our galaxy, and they were all buried to prevent the other beings from crossing over to our galaxy."

"That's just a legend. Besides, if this area was under rule before long ago from an alien race, we would have archeological evidence to support that."

"Computer, is there a image, hieroglyph or drawing of a Stargate?"

­-Affirmative.

"Display it." A crude sketch replaced the article on the screen. Deanna gasped and stepped back from the monitor. "That's it, Will! That's the exact device I saw in my dream!"

--

Hey, This hasn't been re-read for spelling errors. I try to fix the major things during my writing, but I really don't have time for anything else. Just tell me what you think of the story? Please? Oh, and if you haven't figured out already, I'm not following the Stargate universe exactly. I am changing it up just a little bit. Just so you know.