Chapter Summary: A return to the Ring does not go smoothly.
Chapter Word Count: 5,893

The cruiser came out of the portal, engines humming, and all occupants braced for impact. An impact that didn't occur.

"Report," Santana said, pushing the sound of her voice past the chatter erupting from the bridge crew.

"All sensors online, Lady Air," her helm answered. "Proceeding at normal flight pace towards the next portal."

"Science," Santana said, directing her question at the Science officer from the Shadow team. "Anything different?"

"No ma'am," the Science officer reported. "Matching previous records of trips through the long range portal."

"Good," Santana said. "Get us through that hole in the wall, Helm. Science, start scanning as soon as we're through."

"Yes, ma'am," she answered. "Scanning to commence once through."

"Weapons?" Santana said, continuing through her bridge crew.

"We're picking up targeting systems from the Ring," her Watch Officer, Poe, said. "But nothing coming our way."

"Good," Santana said. "Any signs of movement in-system?"

"All quiet in scanner range," Poe answered. "Scanners not reaching out beyond the outer system shield."

"Find a way through the fog," Santana said. "We need to find out how that shield works."

"Initial data says it is a frequency displacement shift," Science Officer Rio said. "Adjusting scanners to compensate."

"Excellent," Santana said. "Keep collecting data. We need to know if the Bugs can see through it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Approaching portal gate," Helm said. "Brace for change." There was a brief vibration and hum as the cruiser passed through the portal into the inner system.

"Not bad," Santana said. "Find us a place to start, Poe. We don't have a lot of time."

"Aye, ma'am," Poe said. "Commencing wide band scan."

"Estimate a week to scan completely," Science said. "An additional couple weeks to analyze."

"Find us something to dig into while you are doing that," Santana said. "Blue Team is going to go spacey if they sit still too long. Consult with Blue Team Leader. Find them some place to stretch their legs if not a war of some sort."

"The Ring is unpopulated, Lady Air," Poe reminded her.

"Yes," said Santana, "but maybe a robot war or a storm. Just something they can use to burn energy on if we're stuck in a holding pattern for too long."

"Yes, ma'am, a playground for Blue Team," Poe said, straighfaced. "Any other requests?"

"You already know what we need," Santana said. "Find it."

"Comm link back to Fleet set up," the Comm officer said. "Limited to the battle channel for now."

"How soon to get full comm traffic," Santana said.

"We're pushing as much data as we can through the outbound portal as we can," the Comm Officer said. "We're working on widening it."

"Keep working on it," Santana said.

"Yes, ma'am," Comm said.

It was her off shift, and Santana was catching up on paperwork. A week in and they'd found nothing beyond a few empty cities and towns. Not even a space port, though according to her science team a structure of this nature couldn't have been built without space access.

But they were almost up to full comm capability, and she expected a flood of paperwork as soon as it was open. So she was trying to get out ahead of it while she had the chance.

"Hey San," Brittany's voice carried over the Council internal comm. "How's it going?"

"Hey babe!" Santana said, eagerly putting down her tablet. "Boring. We're still scanning the ring, looking for any facilities that contain command and control systems. Nothing so far."

"Getting anything useful otherwise?" Brittany asked.

"You'd know better than I," Santana said. "I'm sure your Shadow team is sending everything back, now that we have full comms."

"Some faint clues but nothing definitive yet," Brittany said, "from the data I've seen. They're integrating nicely into your crew."

"A good pick," Santana said, agreeing. "We'll need more like that before the Bugs hit us."

"In progress," Brittany said. "They'll be ready. How about the others?" "Q's Blue Team is an interesting bunch," Santana said. "Very intense. They've got a Q-clone as Team Lead."

"Not surprised," Brittany said. "Something about Q's genes makes for good ground combat leaders."

"Then why do I just get the cooks?" Santana said. "Could use some more good flight leaders."

"Because the cooks have the right temperament for space," Brittany. "Troopers are different. A good Q combat leader isn't a good spacer."

"How did that happen?" Santana said. "I've got some of the best engineers in the Clans and they're all Rachels. Why can't I get some Q combat leaders?"

"You'll have to talk with a Clan geneticist," Brittany said. "The Confederation AI's have no idea why our genetics resulted in people with this range of talents."

"I thought Clan geneticists didn't approve of this kind of gene manipulation. Where do we even find one to ask?" Santana said.

"At the next Council of Clans convention," Brittany said, "in a hundred years. Assuming they will even discuss this with us."

"Think they'll be unhappy with us?" Santana said. "What can we do?"

"Well, the Council of Clans gave the Confederation permission to do whatever it takes, within moral reasons, to resurrect the Serpent Clan, so we're safe. At least if we beat the Bugs," Brittany said.

"Of course," Santana said. "Minor detail. But it still doesn't get me some Q's for flight leaders."

"Lady Air, we've found something," Rio said over her command comm.

"Looks like I have to go," Santana said.

"Yes," Brittany said. "I'll talk with you again tonight. It takes a lot of power to have this level of comm contact."

"Okay, babe," Santana said. "I'll be there in a minute," she told Rio. Standing, she stepped out onto the bridge. "What do you have?"

"In the fifth quadrant, we've discovered this," Rio said, pointing at a small structure in a desert on the screen. "It has a shield that we can't scan through."

"Have the Shadows looked at it yet?" Santana said.

"They're on a shuttle now," Ro said. "They should reach it in an hour."

"Ah, right," Santana said. "Millions of square hectares of land in a big ring."

"Where have we seen something like this before?" Joy asked, examining the small edifice. "That writing is somewhat familiar." She traced the faint marking with a gloved hand. "Very curvy."

"There was a crystal ring. A very large crystal ring that went places," Janice said. "If you may recall."

"Very much so," Joy said. "So we should be able to translate this. Did you finish that auto-translator you were working on?"

"Yesterday," Janice said. "If we can get a good imprint we'll know what it says in a minute." She stood back and aimed her scanner at the short sloping wall. She slowly moved her scanner up and down along its length. When she finished, she looked at the scanner's display panel.

"What's it say?" Joy asked.

"It's just a string of letters and numbers," Janice said "PNX-2093. No idea what it means."

"In code?" Santana said, joining them on comm. "Can you decode it?"

"Just a designation," Janice said. "We don't have any context for it."

"There's this little trick I learned watching TV," Joy said. "Something called MacGyver. It should tell us how to get in." She attached several probes to a section of the object. Adjusting her scanner, she activated it again. A faint green oval appeared in the center of the wall, surrounding the writing. "Looks like a door."

"You didn't learn that from MacGyver," Joy said, poking her.

"Well, no but it sounded good," Janice said.

"Ladies," Santana said, interrupting them. "Get on with it."

"Yes, ma'am," Joy said. "Getting on with it."

"We have a door, or something resembling one. How do we open it," Janice asked. "It's a very dense material. Same material the ring is made of. We don't have anything that will cut through it."

"Major Geordi?" Joy asked the Blue Team leader. "Do you have anything that can cut through a class nine material?"

"No," Geordi said. "That's impervious to all of our portable weapons."

"Lady Air, we'll need something to open this," Janice said. "Nothing short of a cruiser's close range maser has that kind of power."

"If we try to open it with the cruiser, it'll destroy it," Santana said. "It's not a precision instrument. Figure something else out. The Shadow says you are some of her best." With that she dropped off their comm channel.

"Yes, ma'am," Joy said. "Now what," she said to Janice. "Can't cut through it. Don't have a key."

"Well, the Gates are all crystal based," Janice said, " and all of the tech of theirs we've found so far has been crystal based. Maybe we just need the correct frequency?"

"Anything special?" Joy said. "It could take days to figure out which one, if any."

"It's all in the math," Janice said. "They were very math-oriented. Once we knew the math, we were able to decode those crystal memory chips. Not that they had anything important on them but the principle should be the same."

"So, time to set up camp?" Joy said. "Have a bonfire? Roast some marshmallows? Catch up on the latest Terawatt?"

"Haven't roughed it for a while," Janice said. "But I'm sure we can get some survival huts down here. It's not like this is an occupied planet."

"Got it," Joy said, several minutes later. "Survival huts not needed. Watch this." She pointed her scanner at the glowing door and tapped on the control screen. A humming noise engulfed them, cycling through several different tones. This continued for several bone jarring minutes before being cut off. With a loud whoosh, the circle disappeared.

"Clever," Janice said, nodding to herself. "How did you figure it out?"

"I'm special," Joy said, jumping up and down in excitement. "Can we go in?"

"No," Major Geordi said, having joined them during the loud humming. "We'll check it out first." Pulling down her face mask, Geordi waved over several members of her team and gave them orders.

Geordi and two of her troopers cautiously entered the small building through the oval.

"We've lost contact with the Hand team and the Shadows," Rio said. "Their comms cut out when they entered the building. And then everything just stopped."

"What did the recovery team find?" Santana asked, leaning forward. Losing Blue Team would be bad. Very bad. They were second only to Gold team in experience and talent for mayhem.

"The area is clear. No signs of a fight," Rio said. "Blue Team leader, and her landing team are missing and there are no signs of the Shadows who were with them."

"Blue Team, and the Shadows, are all wearing Clan hard suits," Santana said. "They should be registering on our scanners."

"There are no signs of any of them," Rio said. "It's as if they don't exist or aren't on the planet anywhere."

"Something must be blocking them," Santana said, frowning. "The planet must not be as empty as we believed. Find them."

"Yes, Lady Air," Rio said. "I'll lead the Search and Rescue team. Fortunately, we have the design of the tone key used by Shadow Joy to open the edifice. She uploaded it before entering."

"Make sure you come back," Santana said. "I have no wish to lose you or any of your team in this effort. And bring back our missing people."

"Yes, Lady Air. We shall return. All of us," Rio said, saluting formally.

The small Search and Rescue team gathered in front of the small building. Weapons ready, face masks down.

"Ready?" Rio said over their comm. She triggered the tone used earlier by Joy to open the oval door. As soon as it opened, she led her team in.

The empty chamber was dimly lit with a faint green light. There was a broad stairway leading downward. Rio directed her team down it into the bowels of the planet. Moving carefully, they slipped down, Rio leading the way.

At each landing they passed, they left a comm transmitter, keeping in touch with the cruiser as they moved forward and downward.

"No sign yet," Rio said to Santana. "Not even a spec of dust to show they've come this way. If they came this way it was their choice."

"Joy and Janice can be impulsive," Freid, their Shadow assistant, said. "but they aren't foolish. If they came down here they had a good reason."

"Blue Team Leader and Blue Team are also not foolish," Rio said. "Lady Hands sent her best infiltration team with us. That is why we suspect something happened to them. They wouldn't just wander off."

"Whatever took them didn't give them a chance to resist," Jane, the Search and Rescue team medic said. "If they'd resisted there would have been some damage, some sign of it."

The team reached the bottom of the stairway. There were three tunnels leading away underground.

"We'll have to pick one," Rio said. "No splitting up. Send probes down them first."

"First rule of Search and Rescue," Beni said, in an ominous voice. "If you split up you start to lose your way. And you die."

"You watch too many horror movies," Freid said, shaking her head. She pulled out a search probe and tossed it in the air. It flew down the left tunnel, disappearing into the dark. She took out another and again tossed it into the air. It flew down the right tunnel, quickly disappearing. Taking out a third probe, she tossed that one in the air towards the center tunnel.

"What do you see?" Rio impatiently asked Freid. Only Shadow suits could access Shadow probe video directly. Something she'd bring up with Lady Air when they got back to the ship.

"Nothing so far," Freid said, after several long minutes. "The left and right tunnels are clear. They merge back into the center tunnel four clicks down."

"Doorways?" Beni said. "Empty tunnels make no sense."

"Closed ones," Freid said. "At regular intervals."

"So, center tunnel it is," Rio said. Signaling advance, she once more led the team into the dark.

"The end is just ahead," Freid said. "Another click and the tunnel ends in a large chamber."

"And Blue Team?" Rio asked. "Any sign?"

"Still nothing," Freid said. "The chamber is half a click wide."

"This is turning into a wild goose chase," Rio said to Lady Air. "Nothing here. No signs of Blue Team."

"Check out the chamber and then come back," Santana said over the comm. "We're wasting time."

"Yes, Lady Air," Rio said.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, they fanned out on the edge of the chamber. The three probes buzzed back and forth across the large chamber.

"Anything?" Rio asked. "Looks empty."

"It is," Freid said. "Clean. Not even a spec of dust."

"Head back to the surface," Rio said. "We'll have to reevaluate. They obviously aren't here."

"So, nothing?" Santana said. "No Blue Team, no planet tech. Just empty rooms."

"Yes, Lady Air," Rio said. "Wherever they've gone, it isn't here."

Joy rolled over. "My aching head." She reached around blindly, trying to find anything.

"Ouch!" Janice said, swatting away Joy's hand. Sitting up she looked around. Clad only in the bio suits they wore under their hard suits, she and Joy were alone in a green lit chamber. Getting to her feet, she cautiously explored the chamber. With the exception of the two of them, it was empty. No furniture, no loose objects of any kind.

'Where are we?" Joy said, groaning.

"Don't know," Janice said. "But I've lost my favorite Shadow suit and my tools."

"It's not just you," Joy said. "I've lost everything also." She cautiously got to her feet and joined Janice in exploring the chamber.

"I wonder what happened to Blue Team?" she said. "The Shadow told us to keep them safe."

"Can't keep them safe if they behave foolishly," Janice said. "Who goes into a dark room without checking it out first. We have probes for that kind of thing."

"We need to get out of here and find them," Joy said. "And then Lady Hands can spank them."

"I'd liked to spank that Geordi," Janice said, with a growl. "She knows better than to ignore our advice."

"You and your spanking," Joy said, shaking her head. "How do we get out of here?"

"Simple," Janice said. "It's another crystal tone lock. And I've got the tone generator right here." She held up a thin object.

"How'd you fit that into your suit?" Joy asked. "And why did they let you keep it?"

"Because whomever grabbed us isn't human, or maybe even a living creature?" Janice said. "They wouldn't know all of the possible places it could be hidden."

"Not sure I needed to know that," Joy said, shaking her head.

"We all have our hold outs," Janice said. "I won't ask where you keep yours."

"Don't," Joy said. "So, we get out of here and find Blue Team and escape?"

"Of course," Janice said. "And run for it."

"Okay," Joy said. "Let's get on with it."

Nodding, Janice stepped over to one of the walls. Holding her crystal key tightly, she tapped the wall with it, generating a low hum that sounded familiar to Joy. There was a louder hum and the wall split down the middle.

"Quick, out!" she said, gesturing for Janice to follow. She ran out into the hall. As they left the small holding chamber, it closed behind them.

"Great," Janice said. "More nothing. Does any of this look familiar?" She waved at the grey walls.

"I didn't see the inside of that building before they grabbed us," Joy said. "This could be anywhere."

"They're probably going crazy looking for us," Janice said. "We need to find Blue Team, and our equipment so we can call for help."

"This is what Lady Air was looking for," Joy said. "Some sign of tech used by the Ring builders."

"We haven't actually found any tech," Janice said. "Just got ourselves captured and are attempting to escape."

"We'll find tech when we find Blue Team," Joy said, peering around a corner. "Got anything that will tell us where Blue Team is?"

"No, sorry," Janice said. "Left it in my other suit."

"And no Terawatt when you need her," Joy said.

"A comic book character isn't going to help," Janice said.

"But she's so tera," Joy said. "I bet she would have figured it out by now."

"When did you become a Terawatt fan?" Janice asked, as she cautiously looked around.

"Cook had the complete first series," Joy said. "We bonded."

"You mean you convinced her to make extra snacks," Janice said. "How'd Terawatt get involved?"

"I might have had some test footage for the new Terawatt movie," Joy said, winking.

"Of course you did," Janice said, sighing.

"This place is full of empty cells," Joy said, poking her head into another empty chamber. "Too many empty chambers." She slapped a wall and it split open revealing another empty chamber.

"Here's one that wasn't open," Janice said, stopping in front of a blank wall. "Think someone is in there?"

"Do we want to let them out if there is?" Joy asked her. "It could be something nasty."

"Stay back," Janice said.

There was a large popping sound and the wall split apart. Janice looked into the open chamber. "Well, that's different. Come see this."

Joy joined her in front of the chamber, and started giggling. "Do we have to wake them up? They're so cute like that."

"And if they find out we left them like this?" Janice said. "It won't be pretty."

"If we had video of this we'd be okay," Joy said. "But we do need to get out of here."

"Right," Janice said. "Time to wake up the sleeping puppies." Leaning forward, she cautiously poked the pile of troopers. Just as quickly, she jumped back away from swinging arms and feet.

"What's going on!" Geordi said, pushing the other two troopers away.

"We got nicked," Joy said, cautiously approaching. "Haven't figured out how yet, but we lost all of our equipment. But otherwise we're doing good. Just need to find a way out."

"We're naked!" Geordi shouted. "Where are our hard suits."

"Don't know," Janice said. "Lost ours also."

"You aren't naked," Bobbi said, looking down at herself and then at the others.

"We wear this under our hard suits," Joy said, tugging at her bio suit. "We don't do the naked into battle thing you troopers do. Our suits are a bit different."

"So we don't have any clothes?" Langley said. "Or suits? Or any of our equipment?"

"I think you looked cute like that," Janice said. "Let's go."

"Janice!" Geordi said, shouting in a hoarse whisper. "Where are our suits?"

"Haven't found them yet," Joy said. "We've been looking for you first. Sacrificing our own needs to your safety."

"A great sacrifice," Janice said. "We're working without any of our Shadow tech."

"But you aren't naked," Bobbi said. "We're supposed to escape like this?"

"Unless we find your hard suits or some clothes, yes," Joy said. "And we really need to get out of here, wherever here is."

"Ideas?" Geordi said, quickly assuming natural control of the situation, naked or not.

"No idea who or why," Janice said. "Probably some AI or automated defense system."

"We've detected no life forms so far, so AI, automated, or very well shielded is always a possibility," Joy added. "We'd like to get back to the ship. It's way past dinner."

"Or breakfast, or lunch," Janice said. "They're probably freaking out, if we aren't at that building. Which it is very likely we aren't."

"Okay ladies, let's go," Geordi said. "No time to waste."

"Naked patrolling? Not my favorite training exercise," Langley said, taking point.

"You have naked training?" Joy said, following. "Really?"

"Only during initial training," Bobbi said from behind her. "It doesn't matter."

"Might not matter to you," Joy said, "but I couldn't do it."

"It's like one of those nude beaches, except with possible fighting," Bobbi said in a low voice. "You get used to it. Though it better not get cold because cold tits are distracting in a fight."

"I really can't imagine," Janice said. "I like being warm. Sure, getting naked has its place but in a war? Or fight? Not if I can help it."

"And we won't ask you to," Geordi said. "But finding something to wear, suits or not would be a good idea."

They'd been traveling for an hour, checking the rooms and cells for anything useful, before they came across something they could use.

"Looks like a stasis chamber," Janice said.

"What's in it?" Geordi said. "This is the first thing we've found that isn't a pile of dust."

"Don't know," Joy said. "Need to get inside first."

"Maybe it's food?" Janice said, "They must have wanted to keep it fresh."

"Food?" Geordi said. "Why would you store food in a stasis chamber? It's probably something important."

"Food's important," Joy said, frowning. "You die without it."

"Open it and find out," Bobbi said. "Pointless arguments won't find us clothes or our hard suits."

"I like her," Janice said, smirking. "She has her priorities right."

"I thought you had a thing for Geordi," Joy said.

"I can't like both?" Janice said, winking at the now blushing troopers. "And the more I see the more I like."

"I'm not seeing the attraction," Langley said. "Geordi and Bobbi? Sure, Geordi is an awesome Team Leader, and Bobbi has her moments, but taking things to a personal level? Why would you want to do that? I spend weeks on patrol with them, and I just don't see it."

"Gee, thanks, Lang," Bobbi said. "Love you too."

"What! I'm right, right Major?" Langley asked Geordi.

"Wouldn't want to date you either," Geordi said. "But the Shadows are kind of weird."

"We're not weird," Joy said. "We're just right for our job. But can we get back to this stasis field? Is it worth opening? It probably doesn't have your hard suits in it. I'd be surprised if we find them anywhere here. Whomever nabbed us probably recognized them as weapon systems and destroyed them. And our stealth suits also."

"If we have to fight, I'd rather not be naked," Geordi said. "Or the others. And you two are also vulnerable. Those bio suits won't do much against sharp objects or energy weapons."

"Well, no," Janice admitted. "They aren't even very warm. They're meant to be interfaces between the suits and our nano tech."

"Can you open the stasis field?" Geordi asked. "You don't have any of your usual gadgets."

"Depends on how it's locked," Joy said. "We opened the chamber with you all in it using a crystal tone lock-pick. Just like we used on the door."

"And that won't attract attention again?" Bobbi asked.

"I think we triggered a defense mechanism," Joy said.

"So, you don't think there was any intelligence behind it?" Geordi asked.

"Nope," Joy said, making a popping sound with her lips. "An intelligent agent or alien would have searched us more thoroughly. We have our ways of keeping anyone from finding escape tools but they would have taken our bio suits also, not just the obvious. They probably thought they were part of us because of the nanites."

"Ah," Geordi said, nodding. "See if you can open that." She waved at the stasis chamber. "Anything is better than wandering around like this."

"I don't agree," Janice said, "but it's your party."

"Move back to the last tunnel junction," Joy said. "Just in case." She waited for everyone to get out of sight and triggered the crystal lock pick. There was once more a low hum, this time followed by a glow surrounding the stasis chamber. When it receded there was a large hole in the wall. Joy cautiously approached the hole and peered into the stasis chamber.

"What is it?" Janice shouted.

"Come see for yourself," Joy shouted back.

The others returned to the stasis chamber and peered in. It was a shallow depression, containing shelves of bundles.

"Well, not food," Janice said. Reaching in, she grabbed one of the bundles from a shelf. "It's soft."

Bobbi grabbed another. "It unrolls," she said, and proceeded to unroll the object. "What is it?" She asked, holding up a large square of material.

"Something wearable," Geordi said, grabbing another one and handing it to Langley, before taking one herself.

Bobbi took hers and tried to wrap it around herself, like a large towel or toga. "It doesn't want to be worn," she said after struggling with it for several minutes. She was wrapped up in the cloth, struggling to hold the edges together.

"Might need a push," Joy said. Taking her crystal lock-pick, she tapped it against a shelf, producing a different tone. She then touched Bobbi and the cloth with the lock-pick.

"What did you do?" Bobbi asked. "It moved."

"Thought so," Joy said to herself. "Just need to find the correct frequency."

"Thought what?" Geordi said.

"Crystal tech. Everything here responds to crystal. We just need to figure out how to activate these."

"But you don't know what it is," Bobbi said.

"Universal clothes of some sort," Joy said. "Or a hat."

"Probably a survival tent," Janice suggested. "One per customer."

"Or both," Joy said. She tapped the crystal again, generating a different tone before touching cloth. After a few long seconds it suddenly changed shape, flowing around Bobbi, becoming a snug, form fitting bodysuit, leaving her hands and feet bare and stopping at her neck.

"Wow," Langley said. "How does it feel?"

"Like I'm not wearing anything, but I don't feel naked anymore. Sort of like a skin suit for one of the older hard suits that we wore in training before becoming troopers." Bobbi rubbed her breasts and side, and her legs. "Much better than nothing."

"Fit Langley next," Geordi said. "We'll want to take several wrapped coveralls with us for testing."

Janice grabbed several additional packets, stowing them in a pocket. Meanwhile, Joy activated the cloth Langley was holding against her skin. It wrapped around her just like the one had wrapped around Bobbi.

"How do we get them off?" Bobbi asked. "It's snug, and doesn't have a lot of give to it."

"Looks like it'll pull off like a leotard," Langley said.

"Save the experiments for later," Geordi said, now dressed in a similar cloth. "You should be able to defend yourselves in these, though you'll want to watch out for your feet."

"Not a problem, Major," Bobbi said. "Trooper feet never get soft."

"Where to now?" Joy asked.

"I preferred the other view," Janice said, pouting.

"If you behave, maybe we can revisit that," Bobbi said. "Maybe."

"I'm all about the behaving," Janice said. "Watch me."

"Watch me?" Joy said under her breath, staring at her partner.

"If it keeps her focused, let her," Langley whispered to Joy.

"She's just being silly," Joy said in a low voice. "Standard deflection technique."

"Ah, understood," Langley said. "What do you usually do when you get stressed and kidnaped?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Joy said, smirking.

"Ready to continue?" Geordi said. "We still need to find a way out."

"A map would be nice," Joy said. "Or even a compass."

"Would a compass actually work here?" Langley asked.

"Maybe one designed for the Ring," Joy said. "So, not a real one. Something using a local version of GPS."

"Like this?" Bobbi said, holding up her left arm. A small map had appeared above her wrist.

"Clever," Janice said, pulling her closer and looking at her wrist. "Not a lot of detail but it looks like we're on the right track. I think that's our tunnel, and there's a door."

"Not sure of the scale," Bobbi muttered. "Or how I turned it on."

"Probably read your mind," Langley said. "Must be all of that anti-psych training you've been doing."

"Anti-psych training?" Janice asked.

"Yeah, Lady Q worked with the Weaver on it. Someone needs to work with Mother but they don't want us being influenced by any Mother-magic," Langley said. "So, anti-psych training."

"Not everyone can do it," Geordi said. "You have to have some latent psych talent first. Bobbi is the only one on Blue Team who qualified."

"So, not just sexy but talented," Janice said, winking at her. "We definitely need to do some 'talking' when we get back."

"Is that what you call it in the Shadows," Bobbi said, flirting back.

"Keep it in your pants," Geordi said, growling at them. "I don't care if you're stressed."

"Yes, Major," Bobbi said, flushing.

"Yes, ma'am," Janice said.

"This must be us," Bobbi said, pointing at a small glowing dot on her wrist. "Need to know the scale but it looks like the tunnel ends just ahead."

"Even if we escape from here, how do we get back to the cruiser?" Janice said. "We don't have anything to signal with, unless that crystal lock-pick is also an emergency beacon."

"No," Joy said. "No emergency beacons on me."

"It can wait until we're out of here," Geordi said. "We won't know how hard it is to contact the cruiser until we know where we are. We could come out right next to our shuttle."

"We won't be that lucky," Joy said. "That would be too easy."

"Or this could be something important," Bobbi said, pointing at a strange symbol on the map on her wrist. "What does it mean?"

"No idea," Joy said. "Doesn't look familiar. We'd need our translator to figure it out, if it's in our language database."

"It shows up on the map of your survival suit," Geordi said. "It must be important."

"Survival suit?" Bobbi said.

"Makes sense," Janice said. "Why else would it be in a stasis pod? I knew you were more than a pretty face, Major."

"We'll ascertain what it is before finding an exit," Geordi said. "It might answer a few questions."

"Do we try to close the stasis pod?" Janice said, "Or leave it open?"

"Open," Joy said. "If someone was going to come running, they already know we opened it."

"It most likely set off an alarm somewhere," Langley said. "I don't think anyone is coming."

"Not even a robot or two," Joy said. "Looking more and more like it was an automated response to our poking around."

"Which we need to turn off," Geordi said. "Makes it unsafe."

"It's possible that whatever dragged us here was only trying to help," Janice said. "We just need to find them and ask."

"We don't need help that steals expensive equipment. And hard suits worth several years pay," Geordi said.

"That's several years of your pay, Major," Bobbi said. "At my pay rate, we'll have beaten the Bugs and jumped through the singularity, twice, before my pay covers the cost of my hard suit."

"We have a pre-action payment plan in the Shadows," Janice said. "We own our suits. And have a stipend for upgrades and replacement costs."

"I don't want to own a hard suit," Bobbi said. "I'm on my fourth since joining Blue Team. We wear them out very quickly. If I had to pay for a new one every time it breaks I couldn't afford to be a trooper."

"Shadow suits are virtually indestructible," Janice said. "The occupant might get squashed but the suit won't, they're a sound investment. Your descendants can sell it or rent it to your replacement."

"She's kidding," Joy said, shaking her head. "Shadow suits belong to the Shadow. The teams don't own their own suits. That would be crazy."

"Enough jabbering," Geordi said. "Let's get moving. We'll check out that location on the map, and then get out of here."

"Yes, ma'am," Langley said. "Ready to go."

Looking at the others and receiving confirmation, Geordi led the way down the tunnel, towards the location marked by the strange symbol.

"We're receiving a broadcast on Blue Team's comm channel," Rio said, standing outside of the strange building.

"It's not reaching us here," Santana said. "Something must be blocking it. Relay it."

"Yes, Lady Air."

"This is Blue Team Lead," a breathless voice that Santana recognized said.

"Welcome back, Blue Team," Santana said. "Where are you? Your beacons are not registering with our scanners."

"Lady Air," Geordi said, "we have been unable to locate our equipment. It may have been destroyed."

"Destroyed? How?" Santana asked.

"Unknown."

"Where are you?" Santana repeated.

"Unknown. We are in a large underground complex. We appear to have found a control center. But it is mostly inoperative."

"I take it that 'mostly' does not include radio?" Santana said.

"Joy was able to activate a transmitter and set it to our frequency," Geordi said.

"Can you trace that," Santana asked Rio.

"We are getting a general direction," Rio said. "We need several more triangulation points to get an exact location."

"Geordi, can Joy set up a steady signal that we can triangulate on?" Santana asked.

"Yes ma'am," Geordi said.

"Do it," Santana said. "We'll come to you as soon as possible, and Geordi?"

"Yes, Lady Air?"

"Try to find your equipment."

"Yes, Lady Air."

Chapter Note: Terawatt belongs to DianeCastle and is used here with permission. Terawatt first appears (as Terawatt) in the story "The Secret Return of Alex Mack", which is the 3rd story in the series "A Brane of Extraordinary Women" posted on 'Twisting the Hellmouth'.

Terawatt is a comic book/fictional character in the Yucatan Job series/stories. The Yucatan Job does not take place in the Teraverse or surrounding multiverse, so Terawatt and/or her other incarnations will never appear as real people in this series.