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Written By
Michael Gray
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Chapter 1 - Departure
The starship Chamberlain sailed into orbit around Yed Post Four, a bright blue-green world, known to the local inhabitants as Gamala. Various Starfleet vessels and hundreds of other ships cruised about the planet, many on their way to the surface. Some moved toward repair facilities while others went to and from the orbiting spacedock--- the ever present sign of Starfleet's influence. The Chamberlain was far too large to enter that structure, so it slowed and followed a small shuttle to a preassigned place in high orbit for repairs.
The Oceana class Starship had only been out of the Delta Ophichus Shipyards for three months, but in that time its crew had made a discovery of such importance that nearly every archaeologist within two hundred light years had moved heaven and whatever world they called home to come to the planet below. They all waited to hear from a member of the Chamberlain's crew and they expected her to change how they viewed everything they had previously believed about themselves and their place in the Galaxy. She, however, was not yet aware of those expectations.
None of them knew that another had arrived who also wanted to see beliefs change. His goals were much larger than those of the Chief Archaeologist of the Chamberlain, but he needed the knowledge she brought to succeed at his quest. He had waited long for the moment now at hand, and would not let it slip from his fingers.
***
Jack and Mei-Wan McCall exited a turbolift onto the flight deck of the Chamberlain and walked across the huge hanger where above them a large berth for the Defiant Class starship Abdiel stood empty. Mei-Wan looked at the ceiling seventy feet above where numerous members of the flight deck crew worked on power conduits and support grapples for the soon expected Abdiel.
Jack walked up to the young, brown haired Deck Officer who presented the captain a worried smile.
"Your shuttle is this way, sir."
The McCalls followed the man to a craft which bore the name, Maxwell.
"A science shuttle?" Jack asked.
The officer forced a smile. "There must have been some mix up, Captain. This was the only shuttle left for you. The others have either left already or are undergoing repairs."
Mei-Wan grinned as her husband fumed. "We only have to go down to the surface, Jack."
"I know, but a science shuttle?" Jack asked. He was hoping for something with some power in its engines. He had a chance to get some real flight time in and he was stuck with a slow moving, sluggish science shuttle.
A haggard looking officer lumbered up to them. He smiled as he stopped a few feet behind Jack.
"Is there a problem, Captain?" Flight Deck Commander Lee McGuire asked, his voice thick with the accent of his Irish ancestors.
Both Jack and Mei-Wan turned to face McGuire.
"It seems the runabout I requested was not reserved, Mr. McGuire."
The junior officer handed McGuire a PADD.
After a moment the Flight Deck Commander turned to Jack. "Yes, there does seem to have been a communications problem, sir. I'll be sure to talk to Mr. Negev about it once he's back aboard."
Jack had heard through other officers that McGuire was still angry over the "communications incident" more than a month before. In some ways he didn't blame the man, but this was petty even for McGuire.
"Well, I guess a science shuttle will have to do," Jack said.
McGuire watched the captain and his wife stroll toward the Maxwell. After ten seconds he shook his head and walked away.
A voice called out just as the McCalls arrived at the open hatch to the shuttle, "Hold up, Jack!"
The captain of the Chamberlain knew there was only one man aboard who called him by his first name. He turned and saw balding fifty-eight year old Hank Evans running over to them followed by the graceful Commander Kadan Loftus.
"Mind if we catch a ride down with you?" Hank asked.
Jack smiled. "I thought you were staying aboard."
"Not anymore he isn't," the lovely Bajoran woman, Kadan Loftus, replied.
Mei-Wan smiled as Jack waved them toward the craft. "I'm flying this time," Jack said firmly.
"Yes, sir, Captain, sir," Hank replied.
***
The shuttle Maxwell left the flight deck of the Chamberlain and banked downward to join other craft making for the surface of the planet.
Jack McCall sat behind the controls with Hank next to him at the co-pilot's station while Mei-Wan and Loftus sat in the seats behind them. Hank looked out at the large number of shuttles ahead of them and hoped the traffic would thin out by the time they reached the surface.
Mei-Wan watched her husband pilot the shuttle down through the ever thickening atmosphere of Gamala. An uncertain quiet had inhabited their relationship the last five weeks since she had received the offer to lead the expedition back to Hel'yra. She knew Jack didn't want her to go, but he wouldn't say it. Part of her wanted him to give her the excuse to stay, but the part of her that had dedicated her life to archaeology was glad for his silence.
Thirty thousand light years away by distance, but only five weeks away through the Tartarus wormhole, Hel'yra beckoned to her like no other world. Five billion years ago the race the Federation knew as the Ancient Progenitors walked upon that dusty little planet and left behind technology so advanced it bordered on magic. To uncover their secrets was akin to recovering some ancient magic art for Mei-Wan, and she desperately wanted to be the first person to look upon its long hidden enchantments.
She wanted to know why the Ancient Progenitors had seeded much of the Galaxy with their own genetic material resulting in the wide abundance of humanoids. She wanted to know where they had gone afterward and why they had left nothing behind, except a short message locked away in the very DNA of their progeny.
She looked at her own hands and realized there was more to her yearning than scientific reasons. Mei-Wan wanted something beyond that. It had become almost a religious quest. She hoped to be the first humanoid to learn the secrets of all beings like her--- the secrets of her own existence. But even more, she wanted to understand 'why.'
Mei-Wan watched glowing plasma fill the front viewport of the shuttle as air in the atmosphere was superheated by their craft's descent. She remembered as a child being afraid of the fires of flying into a planetary atmosphere. It always reminded her of ancient stories and myths about hell. Her father, a scholar of ancient Earth cultures, would try to reassure her that's all they were; stories. But deep in a dark corner of her mind those stories resonated.
She sometimes wondered if it was really fear of hell fire or just love for her father that sent her into his arms to hide. He encouraged her interest in archaeology at every opportunity even pulling strings to get Starfleet Academy where he taught to let her sit in on several classes in the Archaeology Department. Mei-Wan's mother always thought she'd come to her senses and show interest in a "real" science. As the years went on and her interest in archaeology increased to a passion, even her astrophysicist mother seemed to at least tolerate her daughter's career path.
And now that path led to the Archaeological Council Conference on Gamala where in less than forty-eight hours, Mei-Wan McCall would deliver the keynote address.
Jack turned back to look at Mei-Wan as the plasma fires outside the shuttle died away. He grinned.
"What?" Mei-Wan asked.
"You were smiling."
"Just thinking of my parents."
"You did send them that message, didn't you?" Jack asked.
Mei-Wan nodded. "As soon as we made it back to this side of the wormhole."
Jack returned to his controls as a gargantuan metropolis appeared though the clouds ahead. Thousands of small craft filled the sky buzzing about the city of Sylvanus in a semi-coordinated dance.
"Damn," Hank Evans remarked. "That's a lot of shuttle traffic."
"This might take a while," Jack said.
"What the hell are all these people doing here?" Hank asked, exasperated at the thought of wasting time in a holding pattern when he wanted to be down in the city experiencing various delights with his beautiful Bajoran friend.
Jack smiled and pointed back to his wife.
Mei-Wan's eyes went wide. "Me?"
"For the last week and a half the Comm channels have been filled with requests to come here for the conference and there has been a fair amount of inquiry about your speech," Jack said.
Mei-Wan leaned forward for a better view. "But all these people?"
"This has got to really piss off that jackass Zachary. A member of his department getting all the attention for a mission he commanded?"
"I tried to talk to him about co-authoring the report on Hel'yra, but he always seemed irritated I'd even asked."
Loftus chuckled. "Mr. Zachary always struck me as the kind of person who'd be irritated by the need to take a breath or the beginning of a new day."
"I bet he's so mad he won't even come down to the surface," Hank chortled.
Jack shook his head. "He went down five minutes after we secured the ship."
Hank frowned. "You sure about that?"
"Said he had someone to meet."
Hank laughed heartily. "Just don't tell me he's meeting a woman. If that happens my opinion of females everywhere will drop."
"He was married once, Hank."
"And she divorced him. Bright woman."
"I've got a friend in the Personnel Department who told me he's been bothering them a lot recently," Loftus offered.
"Hopefully he's after a transfer."
"Now, Hank… " Jack started.
"Now Hank, nothing! The guy is an ass-wipe, Jack, and you know it."
Mei-Wan covered her mouth to stop the laughter starting to well up inside. Hank's description was just the beginning of interesting terms that her fellow "prisoners" in the Science Department used to describe their fearless leader.
The panel in front of Jack filled the shuttle interior with an obnoxious electronic bleating. The captain of the Chamberlain quickly touched a control ending the assault by the bothersome noise.
"Shuttle Maxwell, this is Sylvanus Port Control, according to your manifest, Lieutenant Mei-Wan McCall is aboard. Is this information correct?" asked a voice out of the shuttle's speaker.
Jack looked back at his wife and smiled. "She is indeed aboard, Port Control."
"Pilot, we are transmitting a course to your onboard systems. You will proceed immediately to landing station ninety-four."
Hank looked at Jack. "A starship captain doesn't get us anywhere, but an archaeologist does? What's the Galaxy coming to?"
Mei-Wan watched as Hank turned back to her and said, "No offense, Mei."
She replied with a grin.
***
Jack and Mei-Wan McCall walked down a crowded street in Sylvanus as the bright midday sun warmed the crisp fragrant air. Landing Station Ninety-four stood in the heart of the city's open mall district where merchants sold objects from across the Federation and beyond to the unknowing arrivals walking past. The variety of wares was enormous. Spican Flame Gems sold at one table while a strange orange liquid sold at another. One vendor insisted he had a map that would lead the buyer to a planet guaranteed to provide eternal life. The table next to that one sold holographic programs of women, men, and everything in-between who would satiate any and all desires.
Jack smiled and turned to watch the willowy figure that walked beside him with a backpack over her shoulder. No holograms for me, he thought. He was more than satisfied with the woman he shared his bed with.
He watched her dark flowing hair dance in the soft wind coming from the direction of their movement. There was a certainty she brought to his existence; a constant which he could measure everything else by. She was his life, but now he was afraid of losing her and not to some accident or act of war. His adversary lurked in the dreams she had for her career and life.
Mei-Wan's soft luminous eyes glanced over at him and a wistful expression came to her face. "What are you thinking about?"
He looked down as the breeze caught only the ends of his short-cropped hair. "About us."
She nodded and looked forward again. "Me too." The wind blew a section of her hair across her face forcing her to reach up and pull it away. "I'd like to get a chance to talk about the expedition before I have to make a decision."
"I don't know what more there is to talk about, Mei."
She closed her eyes and stopped walking. Jack turned to her.
"Please don't do this," she pleaded.
"What?"
"This isn't easy for me," she stated as her eyes opened to look at him again. "You know what this expedition means."
"I do, but that just makes it more difficult."
Mei-Wan pulled the strap of her backpack higher onto her shoulder. "Other couples deal with separate assignments, why can't we?"
Jack looked at her with a face that had just recently started to show signs of aging with a few wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. For the first time in his life the passage of days, weeks, and months had become an actual part of his thoughts. The realization he wasn't immortal, that there were only so many years left to him, influenced how he viewed more and more of his life; especially his life with Mei-Wan. The thought of throwing a year of that away for any reason was terrifying. The only thing worse was the gnawing fear he had that she might leave him over the question of the expedition.
Jack couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn't make the situation worse so he looked at the ground where they stood.
Fortunately, Mei-Wan solved the problem for him. "I'm heading off to a café' Melissa told me about to finish up my presentation."
Jack looked at her, thankful the topic had changed. "Admiral Simmons wants to see me. With all the trouble the ship's been having I don't expect this to go well."
"Design problems with the Chamberlain aren't your fault, Jack."
"Well, I'm glad there's one person in the Galaxy that doesn't think so."
She frowned. "He can't blame you for that."
"I'm the captain, Mei. They tend to hold us responsible for everything under our command."
She nodded. "Where do you want to meet later?"
"I got us an apartment across the street from the Conference Center and a couple of blocks away from Starfleet's offices," he said with a smile.
Mei-Wan's eyes widened. "With all the people coming here, how did you do that?"
"It didn't look like I would until I mentioned it was for you. Seems everyone on Gamala knows who you are," he said.
"That'll really help out not having to go back and forth between the ship and the surface every day. Thanks."
"Sure." Doing things to bring a smile to her face excited him more than travelling the stars.
Mei-Wan leaned towards him and gently kissed him; taking a deep breath as their lips touched.
Jack smiled a few seconds later as they separated. "See you about 1800?"
"How do I find the apartment?" she asked.
"It's just south of the Conference Center in a place called Pierce Valley Apartments."
Mei-Wan hesitated, but then said, "I'll see you."
Jack stared as she disappeared into the crowd down a side street. Every time he watched her walk away a part of him went with her--- the best part.
A short ruddy faced merchant walked up to him. "Interest you in a tribble, Captain, sir?"
Jack turned and looked at the drab-clothed human and the furry thing that purred softly in his hand. "No thanks."
The merchant grinned at him. "Women really enjoy having them around."
"What?"
The stout man pointed the direction Mei-Wan had gone. "Your lady friend might like coming home to one of these sweet creatures."
Jack laughed and walked away from the merchant. "Believe me, the last thing she wants is to be hip deep in those things."
He briskly moved through the crowd in the direction of Starfleet's Offices. He passed a group of four Nausicans pulling another seller of strange wares two feet off the ground while arguing about the prices he charged. The nearly seven feet tall fanged aliens would be the ones to win that dispute. If Hank hadn't run off to the tram station with Loftus the moment they landed, his old friend would have insisted they break it up. Jack decided not to get involved in their business.
He made his way to a wider street where a crowd of several hundred had gathered, listening to a man on a six foot high platform. The man appeared human, but had an odd look to his eyes. Jack guessed he was probably fifty or more years old judging by the gray hair and worn features about his face. He paused a moment to see what the crowd was so interested in and noticed that behind the man stood two golden-winged, birdlike humanoids; each eight feet in height. Jack finally recognized them as members of the proud Skorr species.
The two graceful creatures watched the crowd as the man spoke. "My fellow humanoids, we stand at a moment of transition like no other in the history of the Federation. In two days an address will be delivered on this planet that archaeologists will attend, but the larger population of the Federation may never hear. But hear it they must! For they must know the truth about us all."
Jack watched the ever growing crowd as it clung to every word the man said. When the speaker paused, the gathering collectively held its breath waiting for him to continue.
"We are not humans, we are not Vulcans, we are not Romulans, Klingons, Andorians, Ferengi, or Cardassians. We come from one source--- one people--- one blood. The differences we see are insignificant though others try to make them great. And for too long those differences have kept us apart like the feuding members of a family," the man shouted.
"I say we cannot allow anything to separate us from this point forward! I say we must become the people we are destined to be. Destined by our genetics… destined by what we are… destined by those who came before.
"Billions of years ago a people ruled this Galaxy, not by strife, hatred, or arbitrary rules, but by the force of the goodness and justice that flowed in their veins pumped by the certainty in their hearts."
Jack made his way through the crowd for a better vantage point to observe from. He was certain the man was referring to the Ancient Progenitors.
The speaker continued, "And from that proud line we all come… those of Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, Romulus, Betazed, Rigel, and thousands of other worlds, some we've never heard of and have yet to hear from us. But hear from us they shall.
"No longer can we allow the Prime Directive to keep us from our brothers and sisters just because some say they are not advanced enough! No longer can we allow them to live without knowing their true history and their true destiny! No longer can we sit silently while the Federation Council, the Klingon High Council or the Romulan Senate keep us fighting amongst ourselves and keep us from finding our brothers and sisters."
Jack knew the man's reference to the Prime Directive requiring non-interference with developing cultures would not sit well with Starfleet Command once they found out about it. That one rule was at the heart of what the Federation stood for, but it had always been the most difficult to come to terms with. The crowd, however, seemed to like what it was hearing.
The man stopped as cheers erupted from the gathering of aliens from more than fifty worlds. The entire time the two Skorr stood unmoving behind the speaker.
As the cheering subsided the man continued, "We must take the message that we are all one, that we all come from a race known only to us as the Ancient Progenitors, to every world they seeded no matter if the Prime Directive says we can or not!
"We must break down the walls we have put between us! We must proclaim to every world where the blood of our ancestors runs hot that they are not alone in the universe! They must know the grand destiny before us all! They must join us to make that destiny a reality!"
The crowd exploded in cheers of excitement as the man looked out smiling. Jack McCall would have to report this to Starfleet. He was duty bound to, but something about the man made Jack want to hear more. However, that was not to be.
From behind Jack the crowd parted letting five husky men from Federation Security move quickly towards the platform. They stepped up and approached the man, but stopped when they saw the two Skorr standing guard. Most inhabitants within five hundred light years of the Skorr homeworld knew better than to agitate the tall golden creatures. They had few equals as warriors and were the single most deadly opponent someone could face in hand to hand combat.
Prior to four hundred years ago the Skorr had refined their warrior culture to a level only dreamed of by the Klingons, Andorians, or Cardassians. That changed when a religious leader taught them how to channel their violent natures toward building a civilization of peace and prosperity.
A single Guard stepped nearer to the man who had been speaking, but one of the Skorr moved to block him. The Guard peered slowly upward at the eight foot tall creature as it tilted its beaked head and watched the human as a bird of prey might size up its next meal. The Guard swallowed hard as his hand crept toward the phaser at his waist.
Jack was certain this wasn't going to end well as the Skorr raised its talons as if to strike. Quickly the speaker turned to his Skorr companions and spoke too softly for Jack to make out the words. The giant creatures merely nodded as the man walked to the officers and allowed himself to be led away. A few moments later the man was taken through the crowd which stood silently watching the one who, a few minutes before, had held their attention so completely.
As the speaker and the officers walked past, the man looked at Jack and smiled, "Will they do the same when your wife speaks, Captain?"
It took several seconds for Jack to realize the crowd had begun to disperse. He was stunned by the man's question. Though Jack knew nothing of the sort would happen to Mei-Wan it troubled him that a seeming religious zealot knew who Jack was and worse, knew who his wife was. He felt a tingle along the back of his neck as his surprise turned to worry. Something very wrong was going on and Jack McCall did not like that somehow Mei-Wan was at the center of it.
