An hour later, Mei-Wan and Gahdani made their way through a set caves, scanning with handheld devices.

“I am finding traces of the alloys you indicated, but nothing substantial enough to suggest artifacts,” Gahdani said.

Mei-Wan nodded. “My hope is the deeper we go those traces will turn into pieces and the pieces into something truly interesting.”

After a moment, Gahdani turned to her. “What is the nature of your and Doctor Robinson's relationship?”

“We're friends,” Mei-Wan said. “We enjoy each other's company most of the time.”

Gahdani frowned as she adjusted her scanner. “Very strange.”

“You getting something on the scan?”

“No, about your relationship.”

“Oh,” Mei-Wan said, her excitement dying as fast as it arose. “What's so strange about it?”

“Your arguments.”

“You'd be amazed by how much humans argue.”

“Why?”

“Sometimes we don't clearly understand one another's point of view, or their needs.” She thought a moment. “And sometimes the argument isn't about what we're arguing about. It can be some long simmering issue that's never been resolved, but causes an argument over something completely unrelated.”

Gahdani resumed her scanning. “You do this purposely?”

“No. We're just unable to be clear about things sometimes.”

“Do you not join together? Don't you share one another during intercourse?” Gahdani asked.

“Physically, yes, and hopefully emotionally, and while it does help us grow closer it doesn't necessarily help us understand one another any better.”

“But not your minds?”

“No,” Mei-Wan replied. “It would be nice if we could.”

“Then what is the point of sex for your species?”

Mei-Wan fought back a laugh, knowing all of this was new to Gahdani. “Mainly, we enjoy it. And then there is the reproductive aspect.”

“I had forgotten that about your species,” Gahdani said. “You use joining to create offspring.” She looked at Mei-Wan. “Do you and Doctor Robinson have any children?”

“No,” Mei-Wan said. “And it's not something that's likely to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Our relationship is more off than on at the moment,” Mei-Wan said.

“I find your species immensely intriguing,” Gahdani said. “But also very confusing.”

“Yeah, we get a lot of that.”

Mei-Wan turned her scanner toward a cave that branched off from the main one. “I'm getting something more this way.”

Gahdani followed. “Yes, I see it now too.”

“Does your species form long term relationships?” Mei-Wan asked.

“Yes. Ours can last for centuries.”

Mei-Wan turned to her. “What is your lifespan?”

“The oldest of us lived two thousand and four hundred of your years.”

“That's amazing,” Mei-Wan said.

“Most of us maintain our forms for shorter periods,” Gahdani said. “What you would call my parent existed in his form for one thousand two hundred years which is more typical.”

“If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?”

“I have existed as myself for seven hundred years.”

“Your people must have a very different view of history due to your longevity.”

“We view events in terms of how they play out on the galactic stage rather than on an individual level,” Gahdani said. “We see patterns in the ebb and flow of cultures and societies.”

“I would very much enjoy discussing that with you some time.”

“Conversing with you about it would please me.” Gahdani hesitated. “Doctor Robinson will not be offended if we do, will he?”

“No,” Mei-Wan said. “He'd be glad we did.”

Gahdani shook her head. “Very puzzling.”

Mei-Wan smiled just as her scanner let out an annoying set of loud bleating tones. “That's more like it!” She made an adjustment to the scanning device.

“I see it,” Gahdani said, examining her own scanner. “It is large, and not very far under the surface. Strange.”

“Why so?”

“If it is Ancient Progenitor in origin, shouldn't it be rather deep under the surface?”

“It depends on how much erosion has taken place,” Mei-Wan replied. “Given we're in a cave along a shoreline, a lot of water erosion could have gone on over millions of years or longer.”

“I detect a power source,” Gahdani said. “Weak, but steady.”

“That conforms with what I've seen at other Progenitor sites. A standby power source is present, waiting for activation.”

“Has an activation ever been problematic?”

“I once set off a power neutralization field, knocked out all the systems on the planet and the ship in orbit.”

“Fortunately, this is an uninhabited world, and we have no ship in orbit.”

“That's why I had Hal shut down the Athena's power systems, and made sure when we got the ship it had sufficient shielding.” Mei-Wan turned to Gahdani. “We should get the others. I think this is going to be the place we want to dig.”

“It should be stable,” Neelan said, checking her scanner. “It is fairly loose and it's not supporting the walls of the cave.”

“Great,” Mei-Wan said as everyone grabbed a shovel except Harold.

He operated the controls to the large mechanical digging device which would do most of the work while the rest of them cleared along the edges. Given the depth of the entrance they were trying to get to, Mei-Wan estimated it would take them five hours.

While it seemed like tedious work, she knew from past expeditions that close quarters activity had brought her team together more than almost anything else they had done.

She cast a glance over at Nick and found him smiling. He knew too.

“All set?” Harold asked.

“Go ahead,” Mei-Wan replied.

The machine began to dig into the loose dirt inside the cave.

Neelan stood back, monitoring the structural integrity of the cave with her scanner.

Nick took charge as he often did with their excavations. After med school, he had helped build houses on numerous planets, helping colonists establish themselves on new worlds. He seemed to like feeling raw soil in his hands.

They all went to work, talking and laughing as they went.

After thirty minutes of clearing dirt away, Mei-Wan found a stone to rest on and grabbed a bottle of water.

Susan sat next to her. “I never get tired of doing this. It's great to actually smell dirt again.”

“Speaking of dirt,” Mei-Wan said. “You hear anything about Nardinian Yulox lately?”

Susan took a drink of water from her own water bottle. “Last I heard, he was in Tholian space pissing them off in a major way.”

Mei-Wan chuckled.

“You concerned about him?”

“Just worried he, or someone like him might end up searching for the same things we are.”

Susan shook her head. “If there isn't a payday in it, Yulox won't go after it.” She stared at Mei-Wan a moment. “You worried Temporal Investigations might hire him?”

Mei-Wan nodded. “He'd be a good choice to get in my way. And they'd be able to deny they had anything to do with him. He's not respected by much of anyone.”

“I think you're letting your paranoia get the best of you. They haven't shown themselves in months, right?”

“Close to a year now.”

“Forget about them,” Susan said. “Focus on the here and now.”

Six hours later, they cleared away the entrance to a set of stairs.

“I'll send the digger in,” Harold said. “It can check the stability of the structure down there.”

Mei-Wan didn't want to wait. If it had only been her, she'd have already been down there. But she had a responsibility to look out for her team.

So she waited.

“All clear,” Harold finally announced, ten minutes later. “We should probably shore up one of the walls just to be safe, but I think we're okay for a quick examination of the space.”

Nick grinned, and waved Mei-Wan forward. “After you.”

Mei-Wan started down the ancient stairs covered in dust and small pebbles. She wound her way down a narrow corridor, then down another. Finally they arrived at the main chamber. It reminded her of the one on Dalvanax Two, and was about the same size. She looked about for a control panel.

There it was.

Mei-Wan moved quickly toward it, and opened her bag.

“What are you up to?” Nick asked.

“This is where she pulls off one of her magic tricks,” Harold said with a grin.

“Magic?”

“Just watch.”

Mei-Wan shined the ultraviolet lamp on the controls and they illuminated.

“Here goes,” she murmured.

She touched a control and light filled the middle of the chamber. A holographic figure appeared.

It was an Ancient Progenitor who began to speak in their language.

Mei-Wan was pleased to see Gahdani had her scanner at the ready to record the voice for later analysis and translation.

“Okay, this is impressive,” Nick said, turning to Mei-Wan who now stood at his side. “However, as to exactly who this is and what species they're from...”

“They called themselves the Beota,” Susan jumped in to reply. “They were spread across much of the galaxy five billion years ago at which point they were engaged in a massive war with all non-humanoids. They then seeded the galaxy so that after they were gone their progeny would rise up after most of their enemies had died out.”

“Otherwise known as the Ancient Progenitors,” Harold said.

“A lot of assumptions in that conclusion,” Nick said.

“That's why you're here,” Mei-Wan said. “To question those assumptions to make sure we're not running down the wrong road.”

“Oh, I'll be raising a lot of questions,” he said. “But at the moment, I will admit I am having a harder time discounting the idea as I have in the past.”

“Just wait until they translate this,” Harold said. He turned to Mei-Wan. “You want me to check the power supply to this projection system?”

“Yes, make sure we're not draining it too fast,” Mei-Wan said. “If the levels go too low, we'll have to figure out how to recharge it.”

Nick took several more steps toward the holographic figure as it continued to speak. “The biggest issue I have right now is how did this recording system stay functional for so long?”

“I've been working on that,” Harold said. “My theory is they used some sort of quantum shielding to slow down the aging process of their mechanisms. All Ancient Progenitor artifacts have been found in the same functional condition.”

“Or the dating methods aren't coming up with accurate results,” Nick said.

“Perhaps,” Susan said. “But we did extensive tests on Hel'yra and found the dating estimates were consistent no matter what we tested or where it was located within the site.”

“That's interesting,” Gahdani said, checking her scanner.

“You get something?” Mei-Wan asked.

Suddenly the figure vanished though its voice continued, then an image of a galaxy appeared.

“Is this ours?” Susan asked.

“Yes,” Gahdani said.

Twenty-five red dots began flashing across the image of the galaxy. Text in the form of strange symbols appeared next to the dots.

“What's this?” Mei-Wan insisted. “What is it saying about this?”

“These locations are repositories of data,” Gahdani translated. “If you are cut off from one, seek out another and present your information for our search.”

“Repositories of data sounds promising,” Neelan said.

“No, not respositories,” Gahdani said. “Libraries.”

The entire group became excited, but Mei-Wan most especially.

“Make sure you record all the information on this map,” Mei-Wan said, glancing at Harold. “I want you to translate the map from the stellar locations in their time to ours.”

She turned to the others. “If we are able to locate these worlds, and these libraries still exist, this may finally give us conclusive evidence about who the Ancient Progenitors were, and more importantly, what they were up to in our galaxy.”

An hour later, they all met in the cave. Harold set up a small holographic projector on the ground in front of them.

“I have correlated the map Dani gave me from the Ancient Progenitor recording with the current location of star systems in this galaxy,” he said, activating the projector.

An image of the galaxy floated in the air before them.

“Before I show the information concerning the libraries, there's something else you should see,” Harold said. He touched a control, and thousands of blue dots spread across the holographic galaxy. “There was data in the recording about a project, and from the number of worlds involved, a very large project.” He touched another control. “One planet in particular caught my eye.” He zoomed in on a world that filled the view. “This is listed as the home of the Joktan.”

Mei-Wan couldn't help reacting. “Oh my god...”

“You know of it?” Harold asked.

“It's Earth.”

“Yes,” Harold said.

The others started murmuring among themselves.

Harold continued. “It's on the list of worlds to be seeded by the Ancient Progenitors. You knew about this?”

Mei-Wan nodded. “Several billion years ago, Earth was the home to a non-humanoid species called the Joktan. They were evacuated before the Ancient Progenitors could exterminate them.”

“Do these Joktan still exist?” Susan asked, worry in her eyes.

“Based on what I learned, I believe so.”

“Your kind should leave Earth then,” Gahdani said. “It is not your world.”

“Hold up there,” Nick said. “We evolved on Earth, and as far as the archaeological record indicates, there wasn't life before us.”

“The Ancient Progenitor records indicate otherwise,” Gahdani said, her white in white eyes narrowing as she stared at Nick.

“The important thing is that those who helped the Joktan escape, a species call the Wubon even older than the Ancient Progenitors, left a computer system on Earth to tell us we had failed to exterminate the Joktan.”

“Funny how no one else has heard of this,” Susan said.

“You haven't heard of it because it was destroyed so you couldn't hear about it,” Mei-Wan replied.

“By who?” Nick asked.

Mei-Wan took a long breath. “I found it and within an hour, Temporal Investigations followed me there, and destroyed it.”

“Who the hell are they?” Nick asked.

“Guys who make sure the time line doesn't get mucked with,” Harold said. “Very secretive, and very nasty.” He turned to Mei-Wan. “That you know about them, and that they followed you, indicates there's a lot you haven't told us about, Boss.”

The others turned to Mei-Wan.

“I haven't told you to protect you,” she said. “And after they destroyed that site on Earth, I know they'll go to any lengths to keep their secrets.”

“Why not just kill you then?” Neelan asked.

“Because she does all the hard work of finding these places, and then they arrive afterward to eliminate them,” Emily added. “Maybe you should take up basket weaving instead of continuing with archaeology.”

“I had considered that,” Mei-Wan replied. “But we're far enough out in the Kel-j'na region that I don't think they can keep up with me as well here.”

“That's why all the secrecy about our expeditions,” Neelan said with a nod. “You weren't worried about news people or other archaeologists. You were concerned about Temporal Investigations.”

“But we should have heard this long before now,” Harold said, looking down. He appeared upset.

“She told me,” Susan said. “I used to be in Starfleet like Mei. I'd heard whispers about them from other officers. I agreed she had to keep it quiet to protect the rest of you.”

“I think we need to know about this,” Nick said. “Is there more to it?”

Mei-Wan spent the next half hour explaining how Temporal Investigations had forced her to work for them in exchange for her sister's and Robin Nelson's freedom. She also told them about her experience of being sent five billion years back in time.

Nick stared at her. “I can't believe you didn't tell us that.”

But Mei-Wan could see in his eyes, it wasn't “us” he was bothered with, but that she didn't tell him specifically.

“The less you know about them the better. Once you enter their orbit they'd see you as another resource to be exploited. I don't want that for any of you,” Mei-Wan said.

Emily Taalan smiled. “So we need to pretend we still don't know about them?”

“That would be a good idea,” Mei-Wan said.

Harold looked at Mei-Wan, a grin formed on his face. “So you were really back in the time of the Ancient Progenitors?” His earlier disappointment giving way to the excitement of a real adventure.

“Yes,” Mei-Wan said. “Given they wanted to replace me with one of their own, I must admit my opinion of them sank even further.”

“I knew there had to be more to your dislike of them,” Nick said. “I'm not sure I can buy time travel.”

“They sought to escape the destruction of Hely'ra,” Susan said. “We have to assume they didn't just try this with one person.”

“Then there could be Ancient Progenitors walking around?” Emily asked. “Consider my mind blown.”

“If that's true, and they were seeking to exterminate non-humanoid life, then the entire galaxy could be at risk” Nick replied.

“I agree,” Mei-Wan said. “That's one of the reasons we have to inform the galaxy about the Ancient Progenitors.”

“Back to the map,” Harold said. He touched a control, and the galaxy map changed again. Twenty-five red dots appeared across the image of the galaxy. “These are the libraries the recording spoke about. Twelve of them are on worlds which we have evidence no longer exist. Of the thirteen remaining, there are three in the Kel-j'na Region, and four in Federation Space.”

The image zoomed in on the Kel-j'na Region where three red dots displayed and text unfurled next to them.

“One is in Levalum territory,” Harold said. “I suggest we avoid that one for now. One is in Fashod space which shouldn't be too difficult to get to. The last one is in the Geryon system. I looked it up and found no one has been there in more than three hundred years. Evidently there is a field effect extending a full light year from the star which makes warp travel impossible.”

“We'll leave that one for later,” Mei-Wan said. “I don't want to take a two year trip if we don't have to.”

Everyone else nodded.

“The one in Fashod territory should be our next stop,” Susan said. “It's a barren world so we won't have to contend with indigenous life forms.”

“I agree,” Nick replied.

The others all nodded.

“We'll leave in the morning,” Mei-Wan said. “But I do want to get as much as we can out of the site here before we depart. Temporal Investigations might still be following me.”

Mei-Wan walked along the shore as the sun sank toward the horizon. She let the sound of the waves crashing on the beach hypnotize her, making her drowsy, but in a very pleasant way as if she could almost float away.

An hour later, she returned to the cave, and found Nick and Gahdani talking.

“What's up?” Mei-Wan asked.

“Dani was telling me she's translated more of the message,” Nick said.

“What did you find?” Mei-Wan asked.

“Harold's discovery of the worlds they intended to seed is only the beginning of what they were doing,” Gahdani explained. “Their systematic plan to exterminate all non-humanoid life in the galaxy was more involved than we thought. It appears to have been the driving force behind everything they did.”

“But they failed,” Nick said.

“Yes,” Gahdani said. “The non-humanoids, as Mei-Wan has pointed out, had help. But the losses were tremendous. The Ancient Progenitor in the recording states that at that time they believed they had eradicated nearly sixty-seven percent of non-humanoids.”

“God,” Nick murmured.

“But at the time, their major focus was the Volmvas, a species which had accelerated their evolution to become beings of energy.”

“That is true,” Gahdani said. “But their seeding program was meant to finish what they had not time to accomplish on their own.”

“I know,” Mei-Wan said.

“This information must be released to the entire galaxy,” Gahdani said. “At some point, species like the Joktan will have to be contacted so that reparations can be made to them for the theft of their world.”

Nick looked at Mei-Wan. “She's right. We're going to have to tell the galaxy.”

“I know,” Mei-Wan said. “If you sense any reluctance on my part, it's not that I want to keep this secret. I don't. It's just I want to make sure we release all of it, the entire story at once.” She took a long breath. “I don't want there to be a repeat of the mass suicide on Falanis Seven.”

Nick nodded.

“What happened on Falanis Seven?” Gahdani asked.

“There were a group of religious extremists who worshiped the Ancient Progenitors, and after Mei-Wan published some of her work, they killed themselves and their children.”

“I won't be responsible for something like that again,” Mei-Wan. “I want to make the galaxy better, not worse.”

“Your kind must face the truth about yourselves,” Gahdani said. She then turned and walked out. “Even if some of you cannot accept it.”

***

Three days later when they arrived...

“Rain storm?!” Susan shouted staring at Harold. “But you said...”

“Hey, there isn't a lot of data on this rock,” he said.

Mei-Wan frowned, and turned to Neelan. “You're sure that's the site?”

“It's the only one I found in my scans, and it's size is substantial,” she said. “I can't get a surface scan that is reliable due to the storm.”

“Well, it's waited billions of years,” Nick said. “A few more days won't kill us.”

“There's another problem,” Emily said. “The site is in a valley that I don't think we can land the Athena in, especially with the rain storm.”

“How close can we get?” Susan asked.

“About two kilometers,” Emily replied.

Mei-Wan turned to Harold. “As soon as we land, I want you to unload and assemble the tractor.”

Harold smiled wide. “Yes, ma'am.”

A few hours later, they took the Athena down into the atmosphere of the planet. Uldix Two was worse than barren. It had no vegetation and no oceans, just a few lakes here and there. It was a long dead world.

Mei-Wan opened the back ramp, and Harold exited to unpack the tractor from the storage compartment on the underside of the ship.

She walked down onto the surface, feeling the loose gravel grind under her boots.

“That's god awful,” Nick said behind her.

“What?” she asked.

“The smell of this world,” he replied. “It's like a musty room which hasn't been opened up in a decade.” Nick turned to her. “It smells like death.”

“If this world was used by the Ancient Progenitors, then it's probably not much more than a grave at this point.”

“I know it's part of the job, but doesn't it ever bother you disturbing other people's last resting place?”

“No,” she said. “I try to show respect for the places I investigate.”

“Try?” Nick asked with a grin. “I'm going to go help Hal assemble the tractor.”

Mei-Wan watched him walk off.

She turned to see Susan coming down the ramp.

“You're brooding again,” Susan said. “It's not a very becoming look for you.”

“Good,” Mei-Wan replied. “Maybe it will keep men away from me.”

“You don't want that.”

“I don't want the pain of another failed relationship. I wish...”

“What?”

“That I could go back to the Academy and smack my younger self in the head, and tell her to have more fun. To enjoy life.”

“You wouldn't listen to yourself,” Susan said. “You didn't listen to any of the rest of us.”

“Then why do I wish I had?”

“Because you see where all that serious student shit got you in the end,” Susan said. “Another thing we told you that you'd eventually see.”

“Why do I have to be so damn obsessive?”

“Given what I know about your mother, I'm not too surprised.”

“It takes a lot of work not to hate her.”

“She died about a year ago, right?” Susan asked.

“Yes.”

“And you're still dealing with this?”

Mei-Wan frowned. “Yes.”

“You should see someone about it.”

“I was,” Mei-Wan said with a sigh.

“And?”

“She told me I was the source of my problems.”

“Probably true.”

“Thanks,” Mei-Wan said, frowning. “I'm glad you're my friend, and not an enemy.”

Susan smiled. “I love you to death, Mei. But there's only one place to fix this. And that's inside you.”

“You think I should try to make a relationship with Nick work?”

“I don't know,” Susan said. “He might not be the best choice. And as far as making a relationship work, don't get too ahead of yourself. Don't think in permanent terms, or even past a couple of months. Meet someone you like, and commit to a relationship for three months, no expectations beyond that. You'd be surprised what that kind of perspective can do both for you and the relationship.”

Mei-Wan nodded and walked back into the ship. She wanted to get a few things before they left the Athena, and she also wanted a little time alone. Given they'd probably camp out at the site for the next week, she didn't expect she'd be alone much during that time.

Mei-Wan closed the compartment her backpack was stored in, and she checked the contents to make sure she had packed everything.

Gahdani walked into the locker area. “Is the tractor assembled?”

“Not yet,” Mei-Wan said. “But it should be in the next hour. We'll leave as soon as it is.”

Gahdani walked up to her. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go ahead,” Mei-Wan said.

“Would you be amenable to spending an evening with me?”

“An evening?”

“Yes, once we return to Kel-j'na.”

Mei-Wan thought a moment. Given Gahdani was a different species, Mei-Wan wanted to make sure she was understanding her intent.

“In what way do you mean it?”

“If you'd rather not spend time with me, I understand,” Gahdani said. “The differences between us are rather stark.”

“No, that's not it at all,” Mei-Wan said with a smile.

Gahdani seemed to relax a bit, though it was sometimes difficult for Mei-Wan to tell.

“I'm just trying to understand exactly what you're asking, and not for making a choice,” Mei-Wan said. “I would very much enjoy spending time with you. I just want to know what you're expecting.”

Gahdani nodded. “I wish to find out more about you.”

“Me?” Mei-Wan asked with a grin.

“You intrigue me,” Gahdani said. “As a member of a species I have little experience with, but also you personally. You contain many contradictions, yet they also appear to meld together into a coherent whole. And your intellect is attractive to me.”

“Well, that's a first,” Mei-Wan said. “I've had people interested in me for a variety of reasons, but never had anyone call my intellect attractive.”

“I apologize,” Gahdani said. “While your physical form is aesthetically pleasing, it does not form the basis of a sexual attraction as you would think of it.”

“What does constitute the basis of a sexual attraction for your people?”

Gahdani started to walk away. “Someone's intellect.” She left the room.

Mei-Wan felt stunned, not sure how to take what she'd just been told.

Emily walked in, opened her locker, and grabbed her own backpack.

“You okay?” Emily asked.

“Yes, why?”

“If I didn't know better, I'd say you were happy.”

“Is that so unusual for me?”

“Actually, yes, kind of,” Emily said, slinging the backpack over her shoulder. “Something happen?”

“Gahdani just told me my intellect is attractive.”

“Oh!” Emily said, smiling wide. “She likes you.”

“Really?”

“She asks about you a lot,” Emily said. “And if you're in a relationship. I think she was kind of put off by you and Nick back on that jungle planet.”

“I think she just asked me out on a date,” Mei-Wan said.

“You should accept,” Emily said. “It would be good for you. I think the two of you would get along great.”

“As opposed to me and Nick?”

Emily frowned. “Everyone can see that's just about sex.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Yeah.” Emily smiled. “Not that that's a bad thing. I'm sure sex with Nick is wonderful, but you need someone who can give you space, but be there when you need a place to retreat to.”

“You don't think Nick does that for me?”

Emily frowned.

“Okay,” Mei-Wan said.

“Again, he seems nice, but he's too much like you.”

Mei-Wan nodded.

Ten minutes later, Mei-Wan stood on the surface of the planet, looking out to the rocky horizon. The yellow sky made her uneasy. She much preferred blue, but also liked green skies. Yellow just seemed ominous to her.

Neelan walked up next to her.

“They ready?” Mei-Wan asked.

“Harold is running a final check of the tractor.” Neelan followed Mei-Wan's gaze out to the horizon. “Interesting world.”

“I was just about to say it was boring.”

“There's quite a lot of electromagnetic activity here,” Neelan replied. “I find that interesting.”

“You can actually see it?”

“It's not exactly seeing, but yes, I perceive it as overlaying what my eyes see.”

“That has to be amazing in certain situations,” Mei-Wan said, turning to her.

“Like this one. That last planet was docile by comparison.” She pointed. “Over that ridge there's a lot of flux.”

“That's supposed to be where the Ancient Progenitor site is.”

“Exactly,” Neelan said with a smile. She turned to Mei-Wan. “Dani hasn't found it easy to adjust to living among humanoids.”

“Really? When I've asked her...”

“She's not going to tell you,” Neelan said. “She's thought highly of you from the moment she signed on for this job. Dani told me she had not expected a descendant of the Ancient Progenitors to seek out the truth about them. That you do so with such vigor impressed her. She told me that alone gave her hope for the galaxy.”

“Really?” Mei-Wan asked, not sure how to react to such praise. “I've never inspired anyone before.”

Neelan turned to her. “You have inspired many. You just need to stop for a moment and see them.”

The tractor behind them fired up its engines.

“Sounds as if Hal is ready,” Mei-Wan said.

Forty minutes later, they continued over the rough terrain, having had to turn around once to avoid a canyon which was in their path.

“Over that next ridge,” Neelan said, looking up from her scanner. “It's a good thing we did land elsewhere. The structures are only twenty meters under the surface. The Athena might have caused damage to them if we had landed in that area.”

“Not my ship,” Harold said with a grin. “She's a gentle baby.”

“How can they be that near the surface?” Mei-Wan asked, standing between Harold and Neelan in the driver's section of the tractor, keeping herself steady by holding onto a hand grip above. “It would have been here for billions of years. Dust alone should have buried it deeper than that.”

Neelan pointed to the scanner. “It does have the metal signature you had me search for.”

Mei-Wan shook her head. “You'd think I'd have learned by now that every time I think I've got the Ancient Progenitors figured out, something comes along to scramble all of it.”

They went over the highest point of the ridge, and headed down the other side.

“What's that?” Harold asked, pointing ahead.

Mei-Wan peered out the window of the cab, and tried her best to make out what Harold was talking about.

“Is it a structure?” Neelan asked.

“Above ground?” Mei-Wan asked, stunned there was anything but dirt and rocks. But something wasn't right. “Wait a minute...”

“Is that...” Harold sputtered.

“No, it can't be,” Neelon said.

But as they moved forward, and could see it more clearly, Mei-Wan had to believe her eyes.

“It is,” she said. “Stop here.”

Harold stopped the vehicle.

Mei-Wan turned to the door behind her and called out to the others. “We're here, and you're not going to believe this.”

All of them except Harold quickly shuffled out of the tractor, each of them stopping as their eyes caught sight of what was directly ahead of their ride.

No one spoke as they stood staring ahead.

“What is it?” Nick asked.

Susan, smiling, turned to him. “It is a Preserver obelisk.”

A tall metallic, four sided, green spire sat upon a stone base. On the lower section of the spire were a collection of strange golden runes.

“Preserver?” Nick asked, letting out a chuckle. “I thought they were a myth.”

“You thought the Ancient Progenitors were a myth,” Mei-Wan said with a grin.

“The more important question,” Gahdani began. “What is it doing here?” She pulled out her scanner. “There has been no life on this planet for nearly two billion years, and it was only microbial.”

“Have the Preservers ever moved or protected a simple eco-system?” Emily asked.

“Not that I'm aware of,” Neelan replied. “But that's not my area of expertise.”

“No, they've almost exclusively dealt with humanoids,” Mei-Wan said, thinking back through her studies of the Preservers. “There are a few cases where they moved other intelligent species similar to whales.”

Susan activated her scanner. “It has been here for at least one hundred thousand years.”

“Confirmed. The soil beneath the structure has been undisturbed for at least that long,” Neelan said. “Dating the material of the obelisk is proving difficult.”

Mei-Wan took a long breath. They could spend weeks debating the how and why of the obelisk being on top of an Ancient Progenitor site. But they had work to do, and she wanted to get into the chambers below ground.

“Let's scan the area,” Mei-Wan said. “See if you can find an entrance we can dig and get to. We can dedicate a little time on the Preserver object, but our goal is the Ancient Progenitor installation below it.”

Everyone nodded and spread out.

Ten minutes later, as she was doing scans of the structure underground, Mei-Wan looked up and noticed Gahdani stood on the Preserver obelisk's base, walking about it, scanning the golden runes on the sides of the spire.

Mei-Wan climbed the set of steps up onto the base. She approached Gahdani.

“They're musical notes of a sort which when uttered or performed on an instrument, will open one of the panels.”

“I know,” Gahdani said. “At least that's what they're supposed to be.”

“You think they're something else?”

Gahdani pointed at the runes. “Reading them from left to right, yes, they are that, but the text also forms a matrix which reveals other information.”

“I've never heard...”

“The Federation is not the container of all knowledge in the galaxy.”

“Sorry,” Mei-Wan said.

“You immerse yourself in your own culture from birth to death, and then when presented with something outside of that experience, you react negatively, questioning if it is real, and then when unable to dispel that, you deride it until you finally ignore it.”

“I think I'm a little better than that,” Mei-Wan said.

Gahdani turned to her. “My apologies, I did not mean it personally. But my reading of your species indicates a long history of ignoring the facts in front of you.”

“We can be that way,” Mei-Wan replied. “But we have been improving.”

Gahdani smiled. “Some of you have, yes.”

Mei-Wan felt nervous as hell, but decided to move ahead. “Uh, by the way...” She found her voice faltering. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“I'd very much like to spend an evening with you when we get back to Kel-j'na.”

“Good,” Gahdani said. “I am pleased to hear that, and to see that you are sincere about it.”

“I am,” Mei-Wan said. “I'm curious to learn more about you.”

“And I about you.” Gahdani's scanner began chirping. “It appears the entrance to the Ancient Progenitor facility is directly underneath this obelisk.”

Mei-Wan leaned to see the display. “I was afraid of that. We'll have to get authorization from the Archaeological Council to either move or tear into the obelisk. That'll mean a six day delay at minimum.”

“Or we could enter the obelisk,” Gahdani said. “There is a door inside the obelisk which leads down into the chambers below.”

“Really?!” Mei-Wan nearly shouted, peering again at the display. “Well, I'll be damned.” She thought a moment. “Why would the Preservers place an obelisk directly over the entrance of an Ancient Progenitor site, and include a way into that site?”

“Perhaps to limit access only to themselves.”

Mei-Wan thought a moment. “Check to make sure there aren't any measures to prevent entrance. I don't want to be blown to hell because we weren't careful enough.”

Mei-Wan walked down the steps of the obelisk as Gahdani scanned the interior.

Someone didn't want them getting the information locked away below ground which made Mei-Wan all the more determined to get her hands on it.

An hour later, after they had checked the obelisk over, Mei-Wan was satisfied there weren't any explosive traps waiting for them, and they proceeded into the obelisk.

The interior was dark, but alive with the equipment she would have expected inside a Preserver obelisk. The door leading into the Ancient Progenitor site was made of the same materials as everything else, and opened with a simple touch of a control at the side of the door.

Harold remained on the tractor in case they were trapped inside.

The six remaining members of her team made their way down the long set of stairs, activating their flashlights. Everything they saw was still of Preserver origin.

But after they reached what Mei-Wan estimated to be about eight meters down, Preserver metal gave way to stone stairs.

“These are much older,” Neelan said, reading from her scanner. “Billions of years older.”

“That's what we were looking for, right?” Nick said.

“I don't like this,” Susan said. “This isn't at all like the installation on Hel'yra.”

“But that was the center of their power and civilization,” Emily replied. “If this is the only thing on this world, then they might not have put as much resources into it.”

They continued downward, the air becoming more stale.

After going down some thirty meters, they stepped into a large open area that faded into blackness beyond the reach of their flashlights.

“I can feel air moving about down here,” Susan said. “But dusty air.”

“Is that smoke I smell?” Nick asked.

“I think so,” Susan said. “How can anyone be down here?”

The corridor led to a set of stairs which they followed down.

The stairs ended, opening into a larger space. As they turned a corner, they came upon something resembling a religious altar, circular in shape, and having four stations on the circle with short stone columns, and atop the columns were a number of candles, burning.

“Hello?” Susan called out.

A figure walked out of the darkness toward one of the columns of candles. It had an angry, Ancient Progenitor face.

“How can one of them still be alive?” Emily asked, taking a step back.

“They aren't,” Mei-Wan said. She stepped toward the figure. “It isn't meeting my eyes.” She took several more steps and swung her hand at the figure, but it passed through it. “It's a projection.”

“A very good one,” Nick said, smiling.

“We have to be careful this isn't an intelligent simulation which might self destruct if we don't offer up the right passwords,” Susan said.

“But we've already talked around it,” Nick said, a slight tremor in his voice.

Mei-Wan turned to Gahdani. “Translate whatever it says. If it asks for anything, we'll have to get out of here quickly.”

But so far, the figure simply stood.

Emily scanned the chamber. “There is a power source and a large collection of what appears to be electronic equipment about half a meter under the center of the chamber.”

Mei-Wan spun about to Gahdani. “On second thought, have your scanner translate the words, 'Stand by' into their language.”

Gahdani tapped out several commands on her device. A moment later, it uttered a set of strange sounding words into the air.

The figure faded away.

“Good,” Emily said. “That projection was creeping me out.”

“We need to find the data core for this system,” Mei-Wan said.

“That should be easy enough,” Emily said as she quickly began scanning.

“This place is pretty damn creepy,” Nick said. “You think it was designed this way simply to scare off their enemies.”

“No,” Mei-Wan said. “I think they were just generally damn creepy.”

Within a half hour, Emily had located the data core to the installation, and the access panel to it. An hour after that, they had removed it from its slot in the equipment and in that moment the candles vanished.

“That was a projection too?” Neelan asked.

“I suspect it may take longer to explain the appearance of this place than to extract data from that piece we removed,” Gahdani said. “These creatures were quite different from their progeny.”

“I certainly hope so,” Susan said. “We haven't gone off on any genocidal rampage across the galaxy.”

“Yet,” Neelan said with a grin. “Given the history of most humanoid worlds, it's not too much to suggest it might happen in the future.”

“We've progressed beyond such insanity,” Nick said.

“Inform Forcas of that,” Gahdani said. “He continually preaches the superiority of the Ancient Progenitors and their ways to as many humanoids who will listen.”

Mei-Wan examined the data core. “If this thing contains what I think it does, and if we can find a few others that tell us the same information, we might get them to stop listening to Forcas.”

“As a member of a non-humanoid species,” Gahdani began. “I hope you are correct.”

They spent a few more days on the planet, cataloging information about the Ancient Progenitor site and the Preserver obelisk. Finally, they packed the Athena for take off.

Mei-Wan stood outside the ship looking out at the horizon.

Nick strolled down the ramp and stood next to her.

“I hear you and Dani have a date,” he said.

“Does it bother you?”

“I think it's great!” he said with a grin.

Mei-Wan frowned. “Okay, what's up?”

“Up? Me?”

“Yes, you,” she said, turning to him and poking him in the stomach.

“Hey!”

“Out with it,” she insisted.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Neelan strolled down the ramp, holding up a scanner unit. “I want to get some images of the landscape before we depart.”

Nick smiled at her.

Mei-Wan caught Neelan smiling back. “So that's it?”

“I really don't know what you're talking about,” he said.

Neelan finished taking her photos and headed back toward them. She paused next to Nick and gave him a quick kiss.

“You coming in?” she asked with a wide smile.

“In just a minute,” he said.

Mei-Wan shook her head as Neelan went up the ramp. “Yeah, that looked like nothing.”

“The last couple of days we...”

“You don't owe me an explanation,” she said. “I'm glad.”

“Really?”

Mei-Wan gave him a light kiss on the cheek. “Of course. You're a dear friend, Nick. If you're happy, I'm happy.”

“Same with you,” he said, pulling her into a hug.

September 14, 2382...

A month later, Harold walked into Mei-Wan's office on Kel-j'na.

“You got a minute?” he asked.

Mei-Wan looked up from the printed documents on her desk. “Sure.”

He sat in the chair across from her. “I decided to take another shot at the star systems I couldn't locate in the current layout of the galaxy.”

“I admire your dedication,” Mei-Wan said. “But I think the ones you've already found for us will be more than sufficient.”

“There was one in particular which I noticed had more detail on it than the others,” Harold said. “I had Dani and Susan look at it and do some preliminary translations.”

Now he had her full attention. Mei-Wan leaned forward. “What did they find?”

“There is one location which orbited around a red dwarf star, so in all likelihood it still exists,” he said, a grin developing on his face. “While the others were libraries, or repositories, this one was the library, the compendium of all the Ancient Progenitor knowledge they had ever gathered. The other sites regularly fed their information into this one.”

Mei-Wan realized she hadn't breathed since he began, and finally let the air out of her lungs. “If that is true...”

“It would be the most important discovery in the history of the galaxy. Just imagine what is in there. Not only science and technology, but a complete history.”

“From their perspective of course.”

“Even so,” Harold said. “Imagine all we could learn from a vast treasury of knowledge like that.”

Mei-Wan's mind had already begun racing down that particular road, and she liked what she could imagine. “What intrigues me are the things we can't imagine.”

He leaned back in his chair, his grin having become a wide smile. “So, you want me to forget about that one?”

“Hell no!” she shouted. “Do whatever you need to do to find that world.”

“I may need to seek out charts from other governments.”

She nodded. “Just don't let them know why you're asking. We don't need to be fighting off every amateur archaeologist and treasure hunter in the galaxy.”

“Susan and Dani already know about it, but I hadn't planned on telling anyone else,” he said. “I thought I'd leave that to you.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“I'll keep at it and let you know when I have something.”

“Do you have at least a general sense of where this world might be located?”

“Somewhere in the Beta Quadrant I think, but that's the best I can do at this point.”

Mei-Wan watched Harold leave her office, her mind consumed with the possibilities of what he had just told her. Perhaps with more information, finding other data cores from other of the smaller library sites, they might be able to get enough to tell them where the big one was.

She cleared her desk, and immediately began work planning their next expedition in the Geryon system.