Chapter 311

SHUTTLECRAFT SLAYTON

ON APPROACH TO GHOST TOWN LANDING SITE 1

The shuttle flew over the town for a normal pre-landing scan. The area looked clear of any large animals or people. Jacobs looked to the Co-Pilot for today's mission, Lt. Karl Agathon. "See anything at all?"

Agathon was looking at the scanners, "No sir. Just buildings. Nothing moving outside."

Jacobs mused, "This planet's interference with our scanners does not leave me confident that nobody is around. Sorry, too many double negatives."

Agathon smirked, "I can't see not using them all the time either sir."

Jacobs announced, "I see the landing site ahead, just to the left side of that big building."

The shuttle flew ahead and settled in for a gentle landing. Agathon took a couple of readings and said, "All is normal sir."

Jacobs nodded and pushed the radio button on the shuttle, "Shuttlecraft Slayton on the ground at site 1, disembarking now." He got up and said, "It's good to be doing this in the standard uniform." He checked to make sure his new phaser pistol was in the newly designed holster that the Badgers crafted. Looking at the Badgers and science personnel, he could see everyone went through their own personal checks.

Carter's voice came over the shuttle's radio, "Shuttlecraft Brandenstein on the ground at site 2, disembarking now."

Jacobs turned to the door and said, "Let's go. Main administration building first." The door opened and all went through. Agathon was the last to go through and closed the door. The shuttle landed right in front of what they thought was the main administration building for the community. Jacobs thought it was difficult to accurately describe this… community. It was not a town, or a city. It felt more like a planned community. It was evident that it was planned out because the boulevards were very wide. The strange thing was that there were no commercial buildings, no place for commerce to take place. Back in the Federation, even orbiting starbases still have PX's and some select other vendors.

Bauer was walking beside Jacobs, phaser rifle at the ready. Jacobs had his phaser drawn, Lt. Maya was behind them running her tricorder, looking for life signs. Ghost town seemed appropriate, nothing was moving, it was eerily quiet. They walked up to the main doors. The Main doors were two very large, grand wooden doors. Maya announced, "They're locked. Standard physical locking mechanism."

Jacobs and Bauer looked around. Jacobs mused aloud, "Rather grand entrance for a dying community."

Bauer commented dryly, "I guess the administrators wanted to make sure you knew who was in charge. Lt Maya, where is the locking mechanism?"

Maya used her tricorder and pointed, "Hinged on the outside of course, there is a mechanism three feet off the ground between the doors, and another pair of mechanisms between the door and floor a foot either side of where the doors meet. Looks like high grade steel to me."

Bauer asked, "How do you want to do this sir?"

Jacobs said, "This place is abandoned, as we discussed in the briefing, phasers are ok. If you would rather blow it though…"

Bauer smiled, "I'll save the explosives for safecracking." He adjusted his phaser rifle's settings then took an aim at the points Maya indicated. He fired three times, burning the wood and melting the bolts. Parts of the door were still burning when Jacobs pulled the heavy door open. The flames were small and dying out quickly. The group entered the grand entryway. There was marble and other ornate stone all over the interior.

As the group walked in and looked around, Jacobs noticed some areas looked like things had been removed. Jacobs pointed, "Look at that stairs banister, where is the actual rail your hand would touch?"

Maya walked over, "It's been removed obviously."

Jacobs asked, "Why though?"

Maya working her tricorder said, "I'm picking up traces of gold."

Jacobs looked around, "They salvaged things before they left?"

Bauer said, "It looks like they did. I hope they left something for us to use."

SHUTTLECRAFT BRANDENSTEIN

LANDING SITE 2

Carter and his group were walking up to what they thought was a hospital. Entering the hospital in what they thought was the lobby, the Badgers set up their transporter pattern enhancer in the lobby while the others were scanning the area.

Carter looked to Dr. Mallard and asked in his Australian accent, "Well, Doc, I got you here. Where do we go from here?"

Mallard was looking at his tricorder reading the signs on the walls. "I'm not sure. I would have thought that they would have an emergency admittance center. It does not seem like they do at all."

Carter said, "Maybe they did their stuff on the way."

Mallard shook his head, "I do not think so. Most cultures medicine separates into emergency and not."

Carter mentioned, "But Ducky, our own sickbay does not have an 'emergency' entrance."

Mallard looked back, "But it does, Mr. Carter. We have our own emergency transporter pad. And the very design of sickbay is to handle a large number of casualties quickly. We are all about emergency. Shipboard operations dictate that. When you have virtually unlimited space, then you have the luxury of separating off a portion of your medical facility for more routine, non emergency items."

Carter looked around. "I see what you mean. So, what is our stop?"

Mallard still looking at his tricorder, "Let's try this way first. I think that sign says something akin to 'pharmacy'."

Carter motioned to Teal'c, who took the lead. The place certainly looked like some hospitals he had seen. More like a hospital he had seen on a colony world. Drab, featureless. The place was downright depressing. It was also rundown, he could see tiles in the floor that were cracked and partially missing, the walls were repeatedly marked about waist level. It looked like places where a gurney would hit the wall, and it was never fixed. Carter asked, "Ducky, what do you think of this place?"

Mallard was already disgusted, "Not very much Mr. Carter."

Carter smiled. Dr. Mallard usually kept his English, or Scottish, gentleman demeanor in place. He didn't joke around much, and one liners even less. Dr. Mallard like to tell stories though, usually for a moral. The stories were just so long. Carter risked another story being told, "Why not?"

Mallard said, "For a working hospital, conditions are rather unsanitary."

Carter said, "It's been abandoned for years."

Mallard nodded, "Yes, but before they abandoned, they did not take care of the place. You see the grunge, the ground-in dirt, the worn handles, the broken tile. This place was neglected long before they abandoned it."

Carter did not pick up the smudgy handles before. "I see what you mean."

Mallard continued, "I've only seen a couple of hospitals this bad before."

Carter asked, "Where? Colonies?"

Mallard shook his head, "No. Earth."

"Earth?"

Mallard explained, "There are a couple of hospitals that were kept in their original condition, and now are museums."

Carter was bewildered, he never heard of this before. "Where, why?"

Mallard started, "Well, to start, the hospitals were both behind the iron curtain."

The term sounded familiar. "I've heard of that for some reason. Were they Roman?"

Mallard shook his head. He was still reading the signs on the walls with his tricorder, "Take a left Mr. Teal'c. No, back in the mid twentieth century, a totalitarian empire called Communism controlled most of Europe and part of Asia. One hospital was in East Berlin."

"Berlin is one city."

Mallard shook his head, "Not for a portion of the twentieth century. East Berlin was under control of a totalitarian government. The other was outside Moscow, Russia. Both hospitals were in serious disrepair, unsanitary, poorly constructed which reminds me about this hospital."

Ensign Dietrich was running his tricorder and said, "I can verify that. This hospital is not as well built as the one we were in at Capital city. The tricorder is picking up poor concrete mix, broken rebar, rusting braces, and numerous other faults."

Mallard nodded, "Similar to those museums. The hospitals were barely able to function."

Carter said, "Why even have them? If you are not going to run them right."

Mallard said, "Because it fulfills a need. The government builds a hospital cheaply, proclaims its care for the citizenry when it opens, then never takes care of it. Over time it degrades, and people notice, but acclimate and never truly see the sorry state it is in."

Teal'c was listening to all of this quietly but was focused on making sure the way was clear. He too was disgusted with the conditions he could plainly see. He broke his silence and in his deep bass voice said, "Overseers."

Carter turned and asked, "What Teal'c?"

Teal'c continued, "Overseers, Lords, Masters. The rest of the population are essentially slaves."

Carter asked, "Like you were?"

Teal'c nodded quietly, "Yes. Even the Jaffa were slaves. We were just the muscle of the Gould to keep the population of worker slaves under control. Slaves are always expendable no matter what they are called."

Carter thought, then asked, "Even Jaffa?"

Teal'c said, "Yes, unless you were Gould, all others were slaves and expendable. Even Jaffa. This place reeks of disdain. The people who were in this place cared nothing for the population. The population here were slaves."

Carter said, "We haven't seen anything yet on slavery."

Mallard interrupted, "Teal'c may be using a different term, but it does apply. The population is controlled by their government through various means. Not all control is under chains, sometimes that control is willingly given. They believed the government was caring for them. A true test is that the rulers here, I believe they are called the 'Central Authority' never would step foot in here if they were sick themselves. Here we are at the pharmacy."

Carter said, "Let's go in. I want to update the Captain while you do your thing Doc. Thanks for the explanation."

Mallard responded, "Gladly Mr. Carter. Mr. Dietrich, get a sample of that water over there on the counter, I have a hunch. Also, let's scan for the following…."

Carter let the science team get started. He decided to call the Captain. He flipped open his communicator, "Carter to Jacobs."

LANDING SITE 1

The landing party just found what seemed to be the hall of records. The Badgers set up the transporter pattern enhancers nearby and everybody was at work trying to sort through the paperwork to find something worthy of sending up to the ship.

Jacobs' communicator beeped and he flipped it open, "Jacobs."

Carter's voice came through, "Carter here sir. We're inside."

Jacobs said, "We are too. Wait, let's let the ship listen in." Jacobs pushed a button, "JJ, are you reading us?"

Jareau's voice came through, "Loud and clear sir."

Jacobs said, "Go ahead Alan, what are you finding?"

Carter relayed the observations of the team so far. He finished up with, "We're now in a pharmacy with Ducky looking for clues."

Jacobs looked around, "Interesting. We're definitely on the opposite end of the spectrum. Everything over here is ornate, well cared for, except for what has been salvaged. Good work, let me know what you find."

"Carter out."

Jacobs closed his communicator. He could tell that this place was significantly different than the hospital Carter's team was in. This is where the ruling class was. It fit what they were theorizing in the planning stage. The Central Authority was in control, enjoyed their comforts, and had a disregard for those that were not part of the Authority. Maya called out to him, "Captain. We've found some documents."

Jacobs walked over, "What did you find?"

Maya pointed to some file cabinets. "First, as we talked about earlier, nothing is computerized. This filing cabinets here are master tallies and reports on the population, over time. I think we need to send this up."

Jacobs asked, "Where do we start?"

Maya shook her head, "It doesn't matter. I'll have a tricorder recording where each filing cabinet is scanned, so it can be correctly organized later."

Jacobs nodded and said, "Mr. Knabe, go ahead and start up."

Knabe was carrying a suitcase-sized scanner, and set it on top of a filing cabinet. He adjusted the controls and in a few seconds the scanner had scanned the cabinet. The scanner automatically identified the edges of the papers inside the cabinet and the ink of the writing, and transmitted the information up to the ship. It was similar to photocopying; except they didn't have to pull the sheets out and take a picture of them. Knabe slid the scanner over to the next cabinet and repeated the process.

Jacobs could see as fast as it was for each cabinet, it was still going to take some time. He asked Maya, "What are in these filing cabinets?"

Maya pointed to various places in the room, "We have production reports, what I think are resource reports, inventories, and I think reports from the Central Authority."

Jacobs nodded, "That should give the people in Cargo Bay 2 something more to do. Let's find out something else to investigate down here on what caused them to abandon this community."

Maya pointed out, "One possibility is breakdown of infrastructure. I remember seeing something about the difficulty of maintaining the electrical generation plant here."

Jacobs asked, "You want to see the electrical plant? What do you expect to see?"

Maya said, "I would guess non-functional generators or something. We already know there are no computers, so some technology regression is already evident. I think that would be a good place to start."

Jacobs said smiling, "You glanced this, out of a ton of paperwork? How fast do you read Maya?"

Maya embarrassingly said, "Fast enough."

Jacobs smiled, "Very good. Mr. Knabe?"

Knabe turned to face the Captain, "Yes sir?"

"How long until you get done sending stuff up?"

Knabe said, "Not long, maybe ten minutes?"

"Good, be ready to pack up and go when you are done. We've got more places to visit. I'm going to go on a short flight with Maya identifying more landing sites. Jack, stay here and provide cover."

Bauer nodded, "Aye aye sir. You aren't going to land anywhere without us along, are you sir?"

Jacobs chuckled, "No, I'm not. You can tell Leo that I promised not to land without Badger protection. Maya, let's go do some scouting."

LANDING SITE 2

Dr. Mallard looked around. When the Tangians decided to abandon this city, they were thorough on taking all the drugs available. They had their own scanner to send up records that they wanted more thorough analysis later. Even just skimming through the material it was apparent what was happening.

Dr. Mallard flipped open the communicator, "Dr. Mallard to Captain Jacobs."

Jacobs' voice came through, "Jacobs here. What's up Ducky?"

Dr. Mallard started to report, "From what we've found here, I can say that they are no longer producing the antivirus. It seems to be brought in from the Central Authority stockpiles. We still don't have samples of what they are using but….."

Jacobs said, "Go on Ducky."

"They know they have a problem. The records show that they were receiving shipments of antivirus until the community closed. So, their medicine only treats the problem, it does not cure it."

Jacobs thought aloud, "They only had enough medicine to treat the chosen population, did they anticipate having to continually treat them?"

Ducky guessed, "I do not think so. I am thinking that after the original virus burned out, they thought that the artificial plague was done. We know that animals became the carrier and can infect people. My guess is that they had to restart their antivirus production when people were becoming infected from animal bites."

Jacobs asked, "What kind of animals? Those snakes we found are not worldwide."

Dr. Mallard said, "I've talked with Dr. Tamm. He's found the virus in more than just those snakes. Almost all the animal samples we brought back have the virus. I'm thinking even an insect bite can infect them. Any new generation would have to be treated after their first bite."

Jacobs paused, Dr. Mallard imagined that Jacobs was shaking his head, "So they didn't plan on this. They were able to create more antivirus?"

Dr. Mallard said, "Either they did, or they initially created a huge amount of the antivirus for no reason."

Jacobs said, "I'll get Hotch to see if he can find out from the records we sent up where the main stockpile is. Our next stop is the power plant, and possibly other utilities here too. Where is your next stop?"

Dr. Mallard thought aloud, "One of the Badger patrols said he thinks he found the hospital main records area. I'm going to stop there along with their operating rooms, lab, and morgue."

Jacobs finished, "Very well, keep me informed. Jacobs out."

SHUTTLECRAFT SLAYTON

IN FLIGHT OVER THE ABANDONED COMMUNITY

Maya was working the scanners scanning the area below them. Jacobs was flying the shuttle wherever she wanted a better scan. "See anything yet Maya?"

"I've identified the power plant, and the water treatment plant. Can you get a little lower? I'm trying to find their communications system."

Jacobs smirked, he loved flying low. They were into the helicopter part of the envelope of flying. The shuttle was not as fun to fly as the old Hueys from his days at Starfleet Academy. Still, it was better than sitting behind a desk. "I can do that. Any lower Maya and I'll have to start following the streets, because we'll be below the rooftops. What's the problem?"

Maya shook her head, "I can't find what they used for communication. We know what their technology level was at the time these communities became active. It's inconsistent for a town this size not to have communication facilities."

Jacobs said, "Could they have done it wirelessly?"

Maya nodded, "They could have, but I know that towards the end, before they abandoned the city, they didn't have wireless capability."

Jacobs asked, "How do you know that?"

Maya explained, "It looks like they had something like a cell phone system initially, but those records we scanned up to the ship were over a decade old, probably more. If they didn't have computers for records, they probably didn't have computers for other services either."

Jacobs corrected, "Maybe, maybe not. They may have put communications computers on a higher priority. Can you find a wireless tower?"

Maya said, "I've found a few already. Suppose the wireless did go down before they abandoned the town, how did they communicate?"

Jacobs suggested, "Let's fly by one of the places you think they lived."

Maya said, "Ok, turn right to 090, you'll see a living quarters in the distance."

The shuttle flew up to the building, and Maya started scanning it. "Nothing indicated here."

Jacobs slowly brought the shuttlecraft close to the building. He was not impressed with the building. "The rooms look small."

Maya shook her head. "There is nothing here. The only wiring is to a light bulb in the center of each… whatever."

Jacobs maneuvered to be able to see more rooms and thought aloud, "It looks like each dwelling is just a single room with a bathroom attached. Nothing at all Maya?"

Maya shook her head, "No, not even furniture. What did they sleep on? Where did they eat?"

Jacobs said, "This reminds me of the dormitories at the Academy."

Maya turned to Jacobs, "Those dormitories are luxurious compared to these. I can confirm that the only services going into or out of each dwelling is plumbing for the bathroom, and the wires for the light fixture in the center of the room. The bare necessities. Captain, these people don't live, they exist."

Jacobs thought a bit. "So, what about their communication issue? No communication?"

Maya nodded, "I think not. No mass communication. We did pick-up low-level radio, but that could be between buildings, or emergency services. For instance, an accident happens at the power plant, someone goes to the radio to call the ambulance or whatever, the hospital dispatches an ambulance."

This planet was getting drearier all the time. Jacobs said, "Let's go pick up our landing party and check out some of these buildings."

Jacobs turned the craft back to Landing site 1, and pushed the communications button in the shuttle. "Jacobs to Dr. Mallard."

Mallard's voice came over the speaker, "Ducky here, Captain. What can I do for you?"

Jacobs asked, "While you've been at the hospital, have you seen any communications devices?"

"The walls have an intercom system on them. No power so we do not know how to use it."

Maya chimed in, "Dr. Mallard, it does not seem that they had voice-recognition technology. Are the units simple on and off like ours or ones with lots of controls?"

Dietrich's voice came over the speaker, "Captain, it's Ensign Dietrich. Each panel has probably two dozen buttons and a couple of switches. The Translator says they are just for in the building. Places like Operating rooms, administration, pharmacy, etc."

Jacobs asked, "Any personal communications? Any way for family to get in touch with patients here?"

Dietrich said, "Not that I can see. There are no phones in the rooms for patients, not that you would want them there."

Jacobs asked, "Why do you say that?"

Dr. Mallard spoke up, "For our standards, there are too many people to a room. They have six patients per room, and substandard services. I'm going to talk to Dr. Paoto about what her view is on the hospital later."

Jacobs said, "That sounds like a great idea."

Dr. Mallard asked, "Captain, have you all run across any references to recycling?"

Jacobs looked at Maya, who shook her head. "No, but the only place on the ground we've been was the local government offices. Why?"

Dr. Mallard stated, "We've come across numerous references to it. More than I would expect. Evidently, they recycled everything. That might explain why we are finding nothing left behind."

"We will keep an eye out for recycling references. Maya did you find a recycling plant?"

Maya shook her head, "Nothing that I would expect to be a recycling plant. I would expect something that can sort material such as metal, plastic, useful paper from trash. Dr. Mallard, are the references you're seeing for something like a rubbish container?"

Dr. Mallard answered, "Curiously no. There are no places for trash, but I assume that they were all taken away. It's more an administrative effort, paperwork showing a certain amount of what I would assume truckloads taken to recycling. Judging from the size of the hospital, they must be recycling everything, including food."

Dietrich added, "Captain, Lieutenant, It's Ensign Dietrich again. I've done the conversion. We are talking truckloads of material, not containers. We know about how much, just not what it is."

Jacobs mused, "Probably grinding it up and spreading it out on the fields for fertilizer, or feeding cattle, or something. Keep us informed, Jacobs out."

LANDING SITE 1

Grignak had been hiding in the shadows, scavenging for whatever food he could find. When the Central Authority abandoned this town, they took everything. Best places for food were where the Overseers lived and worked. That itself was becoming tough to find food. At least there was still places to sleep that were away from the wind.

Grignak came out of one building and immediately ducked back inside. He saw something he hadn't seen in a couple of years- people. Grignak peeked around the edge of the door and saw them coming out of the main administration building. There were lots of them, probably about a dozen if he could see clearly. Some of them were carrying some big boxes. A few of them were dressed in black from head to toe- those must be the overseers.

He was terrified of the overseers, with good cause. Grignak did not know what to do, they were coming for a clearing right in front of him. He had to run now or try to be totally still. His bum leg would keep him from running, so the only choice was to hide. Grignak snuck back inside the building and hobbled up the stairs, making his way to a window. This was perfect, he could see those people making their way to a clearing, and he thought that he would be near invisible, peeking out the window. He had to make sure it was safe to move when the Overseers were gone. As the group got closer, he could see that the clothing was not quite right, it was black, but not the right shape. Also, there were others that had clothing of black pants, gray shirt, and various colors on the collar. Those must be the citizen-helpers. The ones dressed in black definitely were overseers, even though they didn't have the flowing black robes. They had guns.

Suddenly, in the distance, Grignak saw something that made him go pale. He had heard of the terrible power of the Overseers, and the strange machines of old that could travel through the air, but he never saw one. Now he saw something that was large, the size of a transport vehicle, but flying. It was landing at that clearing where the others were waiting. Grignak's worst nighmare was coming true, the Overseers were returning.

CARGO BAY 2

USS WISCONSIN

Dr. Tamm and Dr. Paoto were working on a pair of consoles next to each other. They were going over some of the records that were scanned from the hospital. Dr. Paoto shook her head, "The care provided at that place must be horrible, the death rates are all off, way to the high side. I still cannot find out why the birthrates were falling off though."

Dr. Tamm said, "I may have the solution to that. Look at this." He brought up a picture of a complex molecule. "This is the molecule that your sleeper technology uses." Beside that he brought up a picture of another molecule. "And this molecule is something the landing party found in the water at the hospital." Dr. Tamm rotated the pictures around, and beside them was the chemical diagrams.

Dr. Paoto looked at them, "They look similar, but aren't the same."

Dr. Tamm said, "They don't need to be the same, this particular end of the molecule is very reactive, and identical. I believe that this substance is causing the falling birth rates."

Dr. Paoto asked, "How so?"

"The same thing that caused sterility in you is suppressing the fertility of Tangians on the ground. The reason it hasn't caused total sterility is that the concentration is far lower than what was in your system."

Dr. Paoto asked, "Why is the substance even there?"

Dr. Tamm shook his head, but Hotchner jumped in, "Excuse me, I may have the answer. Numerous documents that were recovered from the government offices refer to the Central Authority's water treatment plant. I've checked the chemicals that were added with chemists in my department, and they say all are consistent except for one. That molecule you have found is the only one the Chemistry department says that shouldn't be there."

Commander Paoto was overhearing the conversation, and got up from his terminal to join in. "Do they have a chemical name?"

Hotchner said, "Eiperhide. Does that sound familiar?"

Commander Paoto nodded, "Yes, I remember reading something on that from Facility 42. Let me find it." He went to his terminal and quickly found it, and put it up on one of the screens, "Eiperhide, a substance initially used to purify the water, but it was found out quickly it had the effect of lowering IQ and making people docile. The use was discontinued, but then picked up again when the Central Authority became the dominant power on the planet. Over time, the dosages were increased because of the fear that the citizenry would rebel."

Dr. Paoto said, "And as the dosage increased, the birth rate went down."

Hotchner nodded, "It would seem so. I would also surmise that those in power did not have Eiperhide added to their water."

Dr. Tamm shook his head, "That would explain some of the falling birthrate, but not all of it. And the death rate is way too high."

Dr. Paoto pointed to some pictures of the hospital on the screens, "Judging by what I'm seeing here, it's no wonder. That hospital is appalling, and I am counting that it has been abandoned a few years. It's no wonder that they had to ship some of their people for more extensive help."

Leonaidas was observing everything and asked, "How so?"

Dr. Paoto said, "I have seen numerous records that a lot of patients, the ones with either terminal problems or problems requiring major surgery or care, they were sent to the Central Authority Hospital. I gather it is near old Capital city."

Hotchner checked the records, "Cross referencing with the shipments out of this town, I can't account for when they left the town for the Central Authority or when they returned."

Dr. Paoto blinked, "I should have seen that. All their medical charts end with being sent to Central Authority for more care."

Jareau asked, "Isn't that the way it should be?"

Dr. Paoto explained, "When they returned, there should be follow-on examinations. Something. But no one who went to Central Authority hospital ever visited the town hospital again."

LANDING SITE 2

Dr. Mallard's disgust was evident, Carter noticed that the kindly Scottish gentleman was getting crotchety. Dr. Mallard said, "I think that is all we can find here. I have seen some signs for a children's wing of the hospital. I would like to visit that area also."

Carter's landing party followed the signs down the many hallways to the Children's area. Conditions were no better in this area. Again, the setup was relatively quick to scan the files. Carter looked around and saw a map on the far wall. He scanned it with his tricorder and saw that there were some sites called 'Youth Centers'. "Hey Doc, what are these 'Youth Centers'?"

Dr. Mallard shook his head, "I don't know. Why are they so important to the hospital?"

Carter asked, "You want to check one of them out? See what it is?"

Dr. Mallard, "I'm not sure what that will benefit, but might as well. Mr. Dietrich, how long until you are done?"

Dietrich said, "Five minutes."

Carter said, "Good, after you are done scanning, we'll pack up and go to a Youth center. They're not far away, but I'd like the security of the shuttle nearby. We'll fly there."

SHUTTLECRAFT SLAYTON

LANDING SITE 1

Jacobs stepped out with Lt. Maya and greeted the rest. "All aboard, we got places to go."

Bauer smiled, "Where to next?"

Jacobs said, "We're going to check out the power plant. There are a few other stops I would like to check out on the way. Getting tired yet?"

Bauer shook his head, "No sir, it's a pleasure being able to do my job without a pressure suit on."

Grignak's leg was bothering him. He was lying down on the floor looking over the bottom of the windowsill. These people were obviously going on that flying machine, but were rather leisurely about it. The overseers greeted the couple from the vehicle, and appeared to be giving orders. Grignak's leg hurt from being still and Grignak shifted his weight to help his leg.

His bum leg caught on a leg of a small table, shifting it. A lamp that was on top of the table tipped and fell to the floor with a crash. Grignak went pale and dropped to the floor wondering what to do next. Maybe they did not hear it.

It wasn't a loud sound, just sharp. All the Badgers whirled with the phaser rifles at the ready aimed in the general direction of the sound. Bauer looked at the Captain, who had drawn his phaser. Jacobs said, "Check it out. Everybody else, on board now."

Bauer looked at the building where the sound probably came. Bauer pointed at the Badgers and gave signals for them to spread out and change the modes of the communicators to tactical mode. The Badgers moved toward the building; Standing Bear had his tricorder out scanning it. He gave signals to Bauer indicating a target on the second floor, at a window. Bauer did not see anything.

They got up to the building, whose windows were mostly broken. Bauer made signals for the plan. He and Standing Bear went inside and up the stairs silently. Outside, Stickell pulled a flashbang out and got it ready to throw in the window. Bauer and Standing Bear silently moved up the stairs and stepped out into a hallway. There was a door nearby and the two stood to either side of the door ready to go in. Bauer grabbed his communicator and flipped it open, on the screen he typed a quick message. "BADGERS MOVE IN, JOIN US AT TOP OF STAIRS. STICKELL STAY READY WITH FB. BAUER OUT."

The other Badgers heard the message in their earpieces as synthesized speech. They silently moved into and secured the first floor, making sure no surprises were lying wait. Eventually all except Stickell were ready. Bauer pointed to Johansen who placed a couple of small charges where the doorknob was. Johansen signaled ready and Bauer tapped his earpiece twice.

Stickell heard the two taps in his ear, and threw the flashbang through the window. As the flashbang hit the floor and detonated, the charges on the door blew knocking the door open. The remaining Badgers filed quickly into the room and secured it.

Bauer looked down and saw the Tangian laying stunned on the floor. Standing Bear quickly scanned and searched him and pronounced, "No weapons."

Bauer touched his earpiece, "All secure, one Tangian in the building."

Jacobs thought that this was going to be interesting. Better to not give him any information he does not need anyway. "I'll be right up. Lt. Maya, come with me."

Jacobs arrived to see that the Tangian was sitting up and drinking some water one of the Badgers gave him. The poor guy seemed terrified, but any sane person would be terrified at the Badger's entrance. First thing that Jacobs could see was that the Tangian's foot was mangled. He looked to Bauer, who shook his head. Jacobs looked again and saw it was an old wound. He introduced himself, "My name is Jacobs, I'm in command of this unit."

Grignak looked twice, "You are in command? But they are overseers."

Jacobs asked, "What do you mean?"

Grignak frantically pointed to Bauer, "They are Overseers!"

Jacobs said, "Calm down, we come in peace." He immediately regretted saying that, it seems like Denozzo's B grade movie lines keep popping up. Besides, what could be worse than to tell a man you just flash-banged that you come in peace? Jacobs tried a different tactic, "What is your name?"

Grignak looked around. There were lots of guns, but they looked strange. These people also looked strange, no ridges on their foreheads. Behind the one named Jacobs was a striking red-headed woman that had very strange eyebrows. "I am Grignak. Who are you people? You are not from around here."

Jacobs tried to smile disarmingly, "No we are not. We are from an island called Wisconsin."

Grignak said, "You don't look like me."

Jacobs explained, "We have been affected by the disease. I see you have some problems yourself."

Grignak embarrassingly said, "An accident."

Jacobs looked at his foot, "A clumsy fix. Your doctor did not do a good job."

Grignak spat, "My Doctor was going to send me to Central Authority Medical. No one returns from Central Authority. I not go."

Maya asked, "Central Authority Medical? What is that?"

Grignak said, "A lie. They said Central Authority Medical had better care. They would take care of citizens that our hospital here could not. They lie, no one returns from Central Medical."

Jacobs thought quickly, Lt. Jareau had updated him on the conversation with Dr. Mallard on the discrepancy on who was going to Central Authority or not. Now they have someone that has firsthand knowledge of what is going on here. He asked a simple question, "Then where do they go?"

Grignak disgustingly said, "To Recycling."