Disclaimer: Star Trek and all associated characters and situations are the property of CBS studios. Star Trek Online is the creation of Cryptic and Perfect World. Tomb Raider and the situations therein are th1e property of Square Enix. All are here used by myself for entertainment purposes only, without permission or intent to profit. Stardates were calculated with the help of the TNG Stardate Calculator available on TrekGuide .com and may be slightly out of sync with those used in the game's lore.

Lost Memories

USS Nautilus, Shuttle One Crew, Senior Science Officer Carlin Drel's Log, Stardate 81633.3:

Thanks to Sam's quick thinking, we managed to rescue Ensign McKensey from the wreckage of the downed bird-of-prey. His legs were severely injured, but with Doctor Howard's care I expect he'll make a full recovery...as long as we can get him and ourselves off this planet, that is.

We have made some progress on that front. With the help of the surviving Orion command crew, we've managed to retrieve Atria's personal shuttle from the wreckage and convince her not to take it off the planet without first investigating and neutralizing the source of this planet's dangerous storms. Our investigation begins at an old Dominion research outpost, on the eastern shore of the island. Hopefully we can find information there about what we're up against, since the Dominion studied the storms far longer than we have.

Hopefully also we manage not to kill each other en route...

Drel made her way through the cramped shuttle cabin to kneel beside Doctor Howard, who was treating Ensign McKensey's injuries. McKensey was sedated and covered with an emergency blanket while Howard adjusted an osteogenic stimulator over his leg. "How is he?" Carlin asked.

"Stable for now," said the Doctor. "It'll take at least sixteen hours to get him back on his feet, though. He has comminuted fractures on both legs."

Carlin winced. "At least he's alive," she reminded herself.

Howard nodded. "Sam got him out in time," he said, looking up to where the raven-haired lieutenant stood, fiddling with the transporter control sphere. "I don't care what the brass says about her: she's a hero in my book. You both are."

Carlin blushed slightly. "Thanks. I'm sure there'll be plenty of commendations to go around if we get off this planet."

"When we get off this planet," said Howard. "I believe in you, Drel."

"A touching sentiment," said Atria, from the front of the cockpit. "Correct, too. We will get off this planet. I have no intention of dying here. However, when we do get off it, you'll all be prisoners of war," she said coolly. "After all, this is my shuttle, and I plan on taking it straight into Klingon space without a backward glance."

"Is that so?" said Sam, hand shifting to her bow.

"Let it go, Sam," Drel instructed. A cramped shuttle in ground-hugging flight over a mountainous island was no place for a fight with the only allies they had - who also happened to be flying said shuttle. "We can all argue about this later."

Sam let go of her bow, but there was still fire in her eyes. "I didn't go through all this just to be a prisoner to someone else."

"And neither did I, but we'll talk about it later," Drel said firmly.

"We're approaching the Dominion base," said Ursan, interrupting. "I'm picking up something on sensors, but it's difficult to make out."

"It's the polaric radiation," said Carlin. "You'll have to use a subspace differential pulse to clear it."

"Way ahead of you, Starfleet," said Atria, hands playing over the sphere of the shuttle's science station. "Emitting pulse now."

A blue light emanated from the shuttle before dissipating into the landscape below. Looking out the cockpit windows, Carlin could see a sprawling thermal concrete structure perched atop ragged cliffs overlooking the sea. She could also feel a familiar tinge of queasiness. And here I was hoping that joining would cure my airsickness on shuttles... She sighed and diverted her attention away from the windows while she tried to shut out the sensations of motion.

Fortunately, she soon had other things to think about. "I'm reading faint power signatures inside the base," said Atria. "There's also a lot of lifesigns from humanoids of various of races. It looks as if your friends beat us here."

Carlin rose and moved to the science console. "Let me see," she said, looking over Atria's shoulder.

"I'll save you the analysis, Starfleet," said Atria. "The Solarii are all over that base and if we want to get inside we'll just have to wait until they're gone."

"And if we do that, we risk not getting the information at all," said Sam. "They might delete it once they have whatever they came for."

"Well, what do you suggest? Rush in there and see if you can take on the lot of them with that primitive weapon of yours?" asked Atria. Sam glared at her.

"There's a third option," said Carlin, interrupting before a fight could start. She pointed to the sensor readout. "There's a secondary memory core with access in the basement. It's partially flooded, but we should still be able to get to it. Best of all, there's only a handful of Solarii guards. We should be able to avoid the others entirely."

Atria studied the sensor readout herself, then looked back at Carlin. Her eyebrow raised slightly. "You know quite a bit about this place for someone who's never been here before."

"Not really," said Drel. "It's a pretty standard design, and about thirty years ago there was a lot of interest in places like these among Starfleet engineering officers - specifically interest in how to blow them up." She shrugged. "Destroying enemy research and development facilities like this one was an important part in winning the war."

There was a warning chime from Ursan's console. "These Solarii have probably spotted us by now," said Ursan. "We should get out of sight." Already he was manipulating the helm controls to bring the shuttle about. Carlin had to fight down a fresh wave of nausea and look away from the window.

Atria didn't seem to notice. She nodded her approval at Ursan's course change and pointed outside at something Carlin's stomach would not let her look at. "There's a strip of beach behind those cliffs where we can land without being seen," she said.

"Good," said Drel, moving toward the shuttle's hatch (and away from the windows). "Drop us off there and we'll get in, get the information, and get out."

"Data on polaric energy storms that can target and disable a bird-of-prey or a shuttle in atmosphere seems pretty valuable, especially now that we're on such a shuttle," said Atria. "How do I know you can be trusted with this information?"

"Because we're not you," Sam deadpanned.

"Sam!" Carlin scolded.

"It's true," her friend replied.

"You may think so, human," said Atria, "but I could say the same of you. After all you are the ones we caught skulking about on this gods-forsaken planet in the first place."

"If that's how you feel, why don't you come with us?" asked Carlin.

"Someone has to stay with the shuttle to watch your doctor and...scruffy friend," she said, then glanced at Ursan, who was busy setting the shuttle down on the beach. "Why don't you go, dear?" she cooed to him. "I can trust you."

The big man smiled and his cheeks turned a deeper shade of green. Carlin realized he was blushing. "Thank you, my lady, I think I will," he said, and began powering down the now-mercifully-still shuttle.

Drel checked the charge on her Bajoran phaser and turned to the Doctor and Crusoe. The bedraggled freighter captain still had the disruptor she'd given him the night before, but the Doctor was unarmed. "Will you be alright alone with her?" Carlin asked.

Howard nodded. "As long as I have this, I'm not helpless," he said, tapping his medkit. "Speaking of which, I have some apolinaride for you. It should help counteract the effects of the pheromones." He produced a hypospray and injected her. "The rest of us have already had our injections, but it took me some time to work out the dosage for you."

"Newly joined Trill," she said.

"Exactly."

"Thanks," said Carlin. She could feel her head clearing already. She glanced back at Atria and found her gazing off into space, as if their conversation was completely unimportant to her - even though Drel knew there was a pretty good chance they'd just spoiled one of her major reasons for dividing their party as she had: Ursan with the two women, and herself with the men. Let her play innocent if she wants, Carlin thought. She'd be keeping her eye on the Orion, because when it came right down to it she didn't trust them any more than Sam did. But for now, she needed to concentrate on the Solarii.

She held her phaser ready and stepped out onto the beach as soon as Ursan opened the hatch. Sam followed her lead, bow in hand. They set out along a strand of white beach between the gray sea on one side and limestone cliffs on the other. Ursan set a brisk pace and the women, though tired, managed to keep up.

Soon a narrow ravine opened in the cliff face to their right. They followed its meandering path up and away from the beach. The sand beneath their feet was gradually replaced with gravel, then loose stones, and finally smooth rock. At that point, Ursan suddenly stopped and raised a hand to signal for silence. Carlin was about to ask him why they'd stopped when she heard the voices, echoing down from the top of the cliffs.

"Careful, the shuttle passed this way. The Outsiders may be nearby," said one of the voices.

"You think Outsiders are around every corner," said the second voice, in the slow tones of a Pakled. "They can't be. They are just people."

"Yeah, well these people have guns, and they've killed more of us than the Oni ever did," said the first voice.

"Where did they come from? Who are these people?"

"I don't know, I've heard they're Starfleet."

"Starfleet is coming here! They are smart!" said the Pakled, his voice sounding just a little panicked.

"It's not like that," his companion assured him. "I heard they came in on a shuttle crash. They're still plenty tough, though. They tried to get them with a roundup, but one of them killed Vamdar."

The voices started moving northward along the rim of the canyon, away from the group on the canyon floor. Carlin still heard the Pakled's surprise as he said, "They killed Vamdar?"

"Not just him. They killed Durtlhor and Nikora, and blew up the city, too!" After that, the voices faded into the distance.

"I see your reputation precedes you, Starfleet, though not all of it is earned," Ursan rumbled when the Solarii had passed out of earshot.

"Hey, I killed two of those people myself," said Sam.

"And my gunner blew up the city," Ursan pointed out.

"It was already on fire!"

Carlin rolled her eyes. "We can add up the score once we're off the planet," she reminded them. She didn't feel like keeping tabs on her score personally. Now more than ever she understood the necessity of using lethal force against the Solarii, even when non-lethal measures were available. Every enemy you don't kill today is one more you have to face tomorrow. It was something Antori had learned in his violent youth, and not a lesson he was proud of. Carlin couldn't say she liked it either, but she had to concede that, at least in the case of the Solarii, it had wisdom. Still there was no point trying to take down a couple more of them if you had to take foolish and unnecessary risks to do so. They let the Solarii on the cliff go on, oblivious, while they continued up the canyon toward the base.

A few minutes later, they arrived. Carlin stopped at the final bend in the trail and pulled out her tricorder, running a lifesigns scan. She remembered seeing guards in this area on the sensor readout, but the radiation obscured her scans now and she couldn't find anything. That's strange, she thought. The range is five meters and the doorway is definitely within that. They should be here. Why aren't they...? Then she heard the sound of footsteps and chanting, from above - at the top of a cliff face 10 meters up. That was their only warning.

Weaponsfire sounded. Carlin and the others flattened themselves against the rock face and readied their weapons, but could see no fire streaking down from above. Instead, the chanting suddenly cut off and the body of a Bolian dressed in ragged clothes slammed into the canyon floor in front of them. Carlin recoiled.

"What the hell did you do that for?" demanded a voice from above.

"He was getting on my nerves," growled the voice of a Lethean. "All that praying and chanting...Sun Queen this, and Sun Queen that...I couldn't take it anymore."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to shoot him."

"I got angry and I snapped, okay? This place brings it out in me."

"Yeah, I get that, Brother." A pause. "Well, the com network's been down since last night, so what are we gonna tell the Enforcers in an hour when we go to report in and there's only two of us?"

"It was an accident," said the Lethean. "He fell."

"But you shot him!"

"They won't come out here to look for him, and even if they did, they aren't going to find the body," said the Lethean. "Watch this. I'll vaporize it!" Carlin heard a fire selector click and gravel crunch beneath boots almost directly overhead. She looked up and took aim with her phaser. A moment later, a human and a Lethean carrying a Jem'Hadar rifle peeked over the edge. Their attention was on the Bolian, so they didn't notice the armed trio on the canyon floor until a second later - a second too late.

Ursan and Carlin opened fire in the same instant. The green bolt of the disruptor and the red-orange beam of the phaser hit their targets dead-center. The Solarii guards' eyes went wide with shock and they fell. The human tumbled backwards to lay on the cliff's edge, but the Lethean fell forwards, hitting the ground beside the body of the man he'd killed. Sam grabbed the unfortunate man's rifle, but it had broken in the fall and she discarded it. Carlin tried not to look at the bodies.

"The entrance isn't far, and we only have an hour before the Solarii notice these three are missing," said Drel. "Let's get moving!"

They rounded the final bend and came to a large duranium door which had been partially forced open. Carlin was able to pass through it just by turning sideways, and Sam made it with only a little squeezing and wriggling. Ursan was another story. He had to grip the sides of the door and force them almost halfway open to get through - but fortunately his size came with the strength to do that and crumple the edges of the door beneath his hands. Carlin was impressed.

They switched on palm beacons and passed into the bowels of the base. The thick thermal concrete walls were stark and barren and the conduits running along the ceiling were dry and dusty, like old bones. Still, there were some definite signs of past activity. Here and there a solitary white handprint could be seen on the walls. Once Carlin saw the words No one leaves scrawled in the coating of dust that had covered a darkened console. A little further on they found a fire-ring surrounded by half-rotten animal pelts lying beneath soot-blackened walls. "Some of your friends lived here, I see," said Ursan.

"Not very many of them, and not recently," said Sam, examining the old encampment. "In fact, judging from the size and condition of these skins and the litter pile over there, I'd say this place probably supported only a single inhabitant, and that probably twenty or thirty years ago, maybe more."

"That would put it right about the time the Dominion abandoned this base," said Carlin. "I didn't think the Solarii went back that far...and I've never seen them operate alone."

"Fascinating, but not the information we're looking for," said Ursan. He jerked his head down the corridor. "There's a sealed blast door down that way. Let's see if we can open it."

Drel nodded, turning away from the camp. "The secondary computer core should be not far behind that door." They advanced down the corridor to the door and found the control panel next to it dark and unpowered.

"I thought you said there were power signitures around here," said Sam.

"There were," Ursan insisted.

"There are," said Carlin, pulling out her tricorder and running a scan. "I'm detecting power signitures behind the door..." She wracked her brain. "There should be a distribution console just down this hall." She lead the way to a set of dark consoles and fumbled around underneath one of them for a switch. Once she flipped it, Dominion script flowed over the flickering displays. There wasn't enough power to support a translation algorithm without crashing the system. She wracked her memory for the rough translations and control sequences Perciv had learned from studying captured Dominion technology. She pressed in a sequence hesitantly. Nothing happened. Then a moment later a klaxon rang out through the facility. "Fvdat!" she swore and pressed in another sequence hurriedly. The klaxon fell silent and the other consoles lit up as power was redistributed throughout the basement level.

"What was that?" Ursan asked.

"The alarm?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure honestly. It's been a long time since I've done something like this." Whatever it was, hopefully the Solarii don't figure out who triggered it until we're already long gone, she thought. They hurried back to the door controls and keyed in the opening sequence. The blast doors ground open and they found themselves in the large atrium of the secondary core control room.

They also found themselves facing a new obstacle. The western wall was partially collapsed, as was the ceiling on that side, and the lowered section of the floor between the door and the core control room was flooded about a meter deep with stagnant water.

"Well, I was hoping not to get wet today, but...," Sam began moving toward the water, but Carlin blocked her path with an arm.

"Don't," she said and pointed. "See that conduit trailing in the water?"

"The one that's...um...sparking?" Sam swallowed.

"Yes, that one. It's definitely live and there's a very good chance its conducting electricity all through that pool of water," said Carlin.

"Definitely not something you want to touch," Ursan agreed.

"Well, is there a way to turn it off?"

Drel shook her head. "Not that I can think of. If I remember correctly, that conduit is the one that powers this whole section, including the computer core. If we turn it off, we risk accidentally wiping the memory crystals."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but we may have to make a choice between possibly-accidentally-wiped memory crystals and no memory crystals," said Sam.

"There's got to be another way," said Ursan, moving around this side of the room. He picked up a small, 2 meter long fallen girder coated in spray-on insulation. "Maybe we can use these to bridge the gap."

"We'd need an awful lot of them to bridge a 9-meter body of deadly water," said Carlin. "I only see three of them...plus that cargo container." She strode over and ran her tricorder over it. "It's empty, composed of a triselinide ceramic. It's tough, buoyant...and non-conductive." She shut her tricorder. "The container's empty and comes in two halves. If we can open it, we should be able to use them to float ourselves across."

She tried overriding the controls on the container, but they'd long-since lost power. Ursan nudged her out of the way and seized the container in both arms. He twisted and the seals snapped. A moment later, the container lay in two neat halves on the floor. "There, we can use the insulated beams to pole across to the other side, as long as the containers don't get bogged down with our weight," he said.

"Triselinide is extremely buoyant," said Carlin, picking up a beam. "It should be able to handle even your weight."

"Which leaves us with only one problem," said Sam. "Two makeshift boats, three passengers. Weight may not be an issue, but I don't think it's physically possible to fit both me and Carlin in one of those things at the same time."

Carlin nodded, she was right. "One of us is going to have to stay behind."

"I'll stay," Ursan volunteered.

"Good idea, except that when your girlfriend back in the shuttle asks for a report and finds out you don't have one, she'll fry all three of us on the spot," said Sam. She sighed. "I may not like her, but we need her shuttle right now, and that means we need to keep her happy - so you are definitely going. As for Carlin, she's the only one who knows what we're looking for and is familiar enough with Dominion technology to actually find it...so that leaves me. I'm the one who has to stay."

"We could try to send one of the boats back across," Carlin suggested.

Sam shook her head. "If something happens over there, you'll want to at least have the option of getting out in a hurry." She nocked an arrow to her bow. "You go on ahead. I'll watch your back."

"Be careful," Carlin said.

"Same to you," said Sam, jerking her head toward the massive Orion, who was already lowering his half of the cargo container into the water.

Carlin picked up her half and followed his lead, lowering it into the water and then stepping inside. Even with her weight in it, the makeshift raft only sank a few centimeters into the water, barely enough to give it stability. Ursan's sank nearly three times as deep, but still had plenty of clearance. They poled off with the insulated beams and headed for the other side of the room, the opposite "shore," where the control room lay. The journey was a long and (given the deadly electric current in the water around them) nerve-wracking one, but thankfully uneventful. They arrived at the other side and walked into the secondary computer core's control room at last.

There were several active consoles around the room. Carlin picked one of them. She would have loved to say that her choice was informed by her previous host's knowledge of Dominion systems, but Perciv's studies of the bases had never been that intensive. If anything, her choice was motivated by convenience: the console was nearby and appeared to be in the best condition. She opened her tricorder and loaded the translation algorithm. The Dominionese script flowing across the display was replaced with Federation standard characters. Her hands played over the controls. "It looks like the secondary core was damaged, and then someone tried to erase all the files," she said, frowning.

"Then that's it? We came here for nothing?" asked Ursan.

"I didn't say that." She called up the backup files and keyed an advanced search algorithm. "A lot of Cardassians worked for the Dominion during the War, and if any of them were here, there's bound to be something left. The Cardassians are legendarily thorough when it comes to keeping records." The console gave an affirmative tone and she allowed herself a smile. "Here we go: I've got some audio logs used in preparing the official records. Let's play them and see if we can get any hints at where else to look."

She activated the playback, then suddenly jumped back. The voice was Cardassian, but it was also familiar. Matan! Only the crackle of dusty speakers assured her that the man himself was not actually in the room.

"Expedition Field Report: Stardate 51953.2. Despite the loss of two cargo ships to intense ion storms, the expedition has made landfall on the planet's largest island. We've established a communications center high in the mountains and construction of a coastal research base has commenced. Initial surveys have revealed several possible excavation sites for the xenoarchaeology team. The ruins are much more extensive and much older than anticipated, dating back several thousand years and apparently unconnected to any of the crashes. The Vorta believe they may hold the key to unlocking this planet's secrets, so they'll be investigated in due course. The task of identifying and controlling the source of the polaric energy and the storms will be long and arduous, but once we succeed in our mission, the Dominion's victory in the war will be certain."

Ursan looked at Carlin, studying her expression. "That voice, you know it," he said. "You fear it, too."

"It's Matan, the leader of the Solarii," said Carlin. "I always just assumed he was a survivor from a previous crash. I had no idea he went back as far as the Dominion presence here." She shuddered, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The Dominion was looking for the cause of the storms. The answer's somewhere in here."

Another log began playing. "Expedition Field Report: Stardate 51955.8," Matan's voice said. "The Jem'Hadar have begun a search of the crash sites and ruins. So far, they haven't found any survivors. They've established a perimeter though, which has allowed the xenoarcheological team to begin investigation of a ruined village south of the communications base. Preliminary results are expected within the week. Meanwhile, construction of the main base is proceeding smoothly."

"We don't have the time to listen to him give a blow-by-blow account of all Dominon history," said Ursan. "Skip ahead."

Carlin picked out a later file. "Expedition Field Report: Stardate 52259.8. This morning, a group of Tal'Shiar operatives attempted to airdrop onto the island from a shuttle. They found out why the Jem'Hadar haven't bothered setting up anti-air defenses. The storms made short work of them, and the Jem'Hadar mopped up the survivors."

"Interesting, but irrelevant," said Ursan. Carlin nodded and picked out another file.

"Expedition Field Report: Stardate 52752.7. By all accounts, the war outside the nebula goes poorly. The Dominion is on the defensive inside Cardassian space now that the Federation and the Romulans have developed a countermeasure to the Breen energy dampening weapon. We need a new weapon to turn the tide, but the source of the storms alludes us. The scientific team has encountered another setback. The subspace nexus they found at the highest point of the ruined monastery had seemed at first to be the point of origin of all the polaric energy on the planet, but conventional scans have revealed no energy signatures or lifesigns in that area. A Jem'Hadar contingent was sent to investigate, but they have not yet returned. Some of the Vorta think that our best hope may be the xenoarcheological team, which has determined that the ruins on the planet originated from an ancient Human culture on Earth, a superstitious group that worshipped a goddess-figure known as the Sun Queen. We will see what comes of their investigations."

"That still isn't terribly helpful," said Ursan.

"I'll skip to the last regular entry," said Carlin, keying up the file.

"Expedition Field Report: Stardate 52880.4. After months of excavation, our xenoarcheological team has finally found something. The tomb of an important general dating from the Yayoi Period was discovered in our coastal dig site. It contains information on the cause of the storms and the location of the Star - the mythological source of the Sun Queen's power. While further investigation is necessary, we are confident that this, at last, is the key we've been looking for."

"The tomb," Carlin said to herself. "The Vorta's logs mentioned finding a tomb, just before the Oni attacked..."

"It looks like there's another log attached to that one," said Ursan. "Maybe it says more about the tomb."

Carlin played it. The difference was immediately apparent. The tone of Matan's voice had gone from confident narration to a panicked half-whisper. "Expedition Field Report, supplemental. Our coastal base has been attacked by unknown assailants. We suspect a larger group of the Tal'Shiar have arrived and are attempting to sabotage our operations. Communications have been disrupted across the island and we've sustained heavy casualties. Many of the Jem'Hadar have simply disappeared. All remaining personnel are proceeding to the ancient monastery to insure control of the Star of Yamatai. We expect to meet heavy resistance in route. Request reinforcement as soon as possible."

Then, there were screams in the background. Matan gasped. "They're still here," he whispered. "Quick, everyone hide!" There was a scrambling sound, then silence. The silence only lasted a minute though. It was broken by the sounds of heavy footfalls, the distinct clanking of iron armor, and the murmur of ancient Japanese commands. Carlin remembered those sounds from yesterday, and they made her shiver. Those were the sounds of the Oni. In the recording she could hear them shout a sudden command. Swords were drawn and there were more screams, much closer than the ones before. When the screams ended, the footfalls retreated, fading into the distance. Carlin shuddered and looked around the room. Now that she was looking for them, she noticed several old bloodstains on the floor and walls. She wondered how Matan had survived the horror. There didn't seem to be much place to hide in the room.

The recording was still playing. After a minute, Matan's voice returned as a hoarse whisper. "Alive...I'm alive...They were looking right at me, but they didn't see me. How is that possible? How are they possible? I don't know what they are, but they definitely are not Tal Shiar! ...it's not natural, not natural...perhaps the humans who once lived here were right. There's something supernatural about this place...I have to go!"

"And where did he go?" Ursan wondered aloud.

"Maybe to the tomb where the Dominion found their answers," said Carlin. She moved to a different console and motioned for Ursan to take her place. "Play the next entry while I start searching whats left of this database for any references to the tomb."

Ursan nodded and stabbed the console with a fat finger. Matan's voice returned. "Gil Matan's personal log, restricted access. Days have passed since the attack. I found a few other survivors hiding in the base like me. There's been no word from the Jem'Hadar force the remaining Vorta led off. I have no doubt about their fate. Our last order was to follow them, but none of us were fool enough to obey. Today, for a second time, we attempted to escape by shuttle...with disastrous results. Just like before, a storm came out of a clear sky and struck us down onto the rocks. Now two more lay dead and a third is wounded beyond help. The others are starting to panic. They're looking to me for a plan...I have one, but it does not involve them. They are weak and stupid: a liability in this place. I suggested they make another attempt to leave, but I won't be joining them. To do so would be suicide. No one leaves: this is clear to me now."

"I guess that would explain why your friend said there was only one person in the camp out there," said Ursan.

"He killed the others," said Carlin.

"He let them kill themselves."

"It's the same thing," said Carlin.

"Any luck on database?"

"I'm trying to recompile the fragments that survived," said Carlin. "Are there any other entries?"

"Only three," said Ursan.

"Play them all," said Carlin. "I'll keep looking."

Ursan queued all three logs for playback. The first began. "Matan's Field Notes, 2384. It seems fitting that I should mark these in Earth years. The period of rotation and revolution for this planet is the same as Earth's, and Humans have had an indelible effect on this planet...and whatever holds me here first had contact with them, was first named by them in what we wrongly mistook for myths and legends... I have searched the island, and each day I am more certain I know the cause of the storms - a person, not a phenomenon, as the scientists wrongly assumed. There have been other crashes during the past few years, other survivors...I have avoided them, left them to struggle and die on their own, and if they got in my way, I was not merciful. But now I know I need others. In order to move forward I must fully control this planet. So I will gather a small group of followers. They must understand power and the need to organize, but more importantly they cannot hesitate to kill and use violence. It will be part of their life here. They will need structure and purpose and work. But when we are done and the planet is mine, then I will discover more about what keeps us here. I will find out what She wants..."

There was a pause, then the second log played. "Matan's Field Notes, October 24, 2386. My patience has been rewarded. At long last, I have my lieutenants, my enforcers of the way. The storms brought me exactly the men I needed to begin building the Solarii Brotherhood: men strong of body and weak of will. They were broken in the storms, weakened and vulnerable. I raised them up again. Now they serve me, and through me, Her - The Sun Queen. She is showing me the way. She has always shown me the way, even before I knew. I cannot deny what I have seen and soon, neither will they. She is everywhere on this planet. ...But the Solarii Brotherhood must grow. We will recruit as many as we can. I will draft laws, create a code for them to live by, and they will build for the Sun Queen while I search for the Key."

There was another pause before the final log played. This one was overlaid with static. "Solarii Field Notes, Father Matan's Record: January 21, 2389. The Solarii, my warriors of the sun, have grown strong in number. I have discovered everything I need to move inland, and the base has sustained damage. We can no longer stay here. It is time to move on. We will build our city high up in the mountains, by the old palace and the wreck of the Romulan warbird. From there we can protect ourselves from the Oni guardians and I can access all points on the planet swiftly. I must be prepared to capture anyone who comes to this place. I know now what I seek: the Key to escaping this place...and perhaps much, much more. It may take years, but I will find her."

"So, just more crazy talk," said Ursan dismissively. "What about you?"

"I've finished pulling the database together, but it's still sketchy..." She searched through the information she'd assembled, seeking any reference to the tomb at the coastal dig site. "I've got something...a set of coordinates!"

"Let's have them!" said Ursan.

"I'm downloading them to my tricorder," said Carlin. She turned to Ursan. "You didn't really think I was going to just hand over the only bargaining chip my friends and I have, did you? Now we have the information, and you have the shuttle. If we want to get off this planet, we'll be forced to work together."

Ursan huffed, but to Carlin's surprise his face relaxed into a smile. "I like the way you think, Trill," he said. "If that's the way it's going to be, then we'd better head back. It's almost been an hour. The Solarii are going to start missing their patrol soon, and Atria will start missing me!"

Carlin looked once more around the room, but the data was the only thing of value here, and she'd taken all she could. She knew Sam would be waiting too, and there was no telling what the Solarii would do when they found out the other survivors had been here. Personally, she'd rather not stick around to find out. "Come on," she said. "Let's leave."

Author's Note: I've had the opportunity to get pretty far ahead in my backlog for this story. As a result, I'm happy to announce the coming of a marathon of "Survivors of Yamatai" chapters. Starting August 17th, updates will be posted daily through the climax of the story and its conclusion. I'm very excited to be bringing this all to a grand finale. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

As noted in chapter 26, an osteogenic stimulator is a device used to repair broken bones. Comminuted fractures are fractures where the bone has been shattered into multiple pieces.

It should be remembered and noted that Atria's shuttle is Ferengi in manufacture, and all Ferengi consoles we've seen are hemispherical in shape.

Apolinaride is my own invention. "Airborne" mentions a drug that can be used to counter Orion pheromones, but its never named. I based the name on the name of Apollo, the Greek god of (among other things) light, clarity, and rational thought (things prolonged exposure to Orion pheromones make pretty much impossible). Given the state of open war between the Klingon Empire's Orion supporters and the Federation during the last two years (with probable raiding before that), I have a feeling that a counter-agent for Orion pheromones would be standard in Starfleet medical kits in 2407.

The Solarii encountered on the way to the research base are based on two conversations between Solarii mooks that can be overheard by Lara on her way to the Endurance. The interior of the research base itself is based on the Flooded Vault tomb in the Tomb Raider game, though with a puzzle that involves simply crossing the water via makeshift boat rather than using the boat to interrupt the circuit to the electrified water (as in the game).

Fvdat is a Romulan general expletive, called back from chapter 12, along with the fact that (based on chapter 13) Drel can swear in Romulan (among other languages). Triselinide ceramic is made up by me, though there are real compounds containing triselenide (which is presumably unrelated). Cardassian record keeping is attested in the DS9 episode "Cardassians."

Matan being a part of the original Dominion expedition to Yamatai was an idea that occurred to me partway through, and was hinted at in chapter 36. In the Tomb Raider game, he is simply a survivor from a previous crash, but I thought that this would make him a little more interesting. His logs here are a combination of two sets of documents in Tomb Raider: those of a German scientist in the "Wartime Intelligence" collection, and Matan's own "Diaries of a Madman." Stardates are again based on the TNG stardate calculator mentioned at the opening of the chapter. There's no mention of Cardassian timekeeping that I can recall from the series, but the Enterprise episode "Damage" indicates that both the Xindi and Vulcans had and used the Stardate system previous to its adoption by Earth and Starfleet. I take this to mean that Stardates are more or less a universal method of timekeeping (or at least universally available, if not universally used, a la Klingon Empire).

According to Memory Beta, gil is a Cardassian rank directly below glinn (the lowest Cardassian rank named on screen). While Memory Beta lists it as equivalent to the Starfleet rank of ensign, Memory Alpha correctly points out that Cardassian glinn often served as first officers and thus may have been equivalent to the Starfleet ranks of commander or lieutenant commander - which would make gil perhaps equivalent to a lieutenant.