Earth Spacedock - Deck 47
Krystal smiled and lead the way from the Infirmary over to the Lexington. Nat followed, still a little annoyed by their choosing such an obvious location. "Jade to Lexington. Do a sweep of the ship for anything out of the ordinary. Also run a check on the ship's computer for any anomalous programs or anything."
Graff headed for a weapons locker, retrieved a hand phaser and phaser rifle, body armor and personal shield generator. He then followed the others to the Lexington. "It pays to be prepared!" he said, noticing the others stares.
As Captain Elric was walking, he couldn't shake his own incessant curiosity. There was something about the fragmented data's described dimensions and composition that he just couldn't pin. Elric was certain he was seeing familiarity to what he surmised were extrapolated scans on the PADD in his hands.
"Excuse me for a moment," he said to the others, apologetically. "Please continue to the briefing. I'll meet you there."
Instead of heading to Deck 47's giant transporter pad, he turned and headed for the turbolifts.
Krystal led the group to where the Lexington was docked. At the airlock was an attractive young Andorian woman leaning against the wall. They made their way to the main lounge at the bow of the ship.
Elric stepped into the storage facility next to Spacedock's security office. He accessed the database and located Storage Locker 38. After inputting his clearance code, the small door along the wall opened and he took out an average-sized medallion.
"Well, that's something," he said to himself. "The etchings on its front appear to be of an alien god, similar to the data on the PADD, similar to a stone tablet that was recently discovered on Leora IV."
He turned it over and noticed its back contained grooved teeth as if it was part of a mechanism. Further study would be needed, but he had a meeting to get to.
Elric made his way through Earth Spacedock to the transporter pad on Deck 47. He nodded to the operator when Elric was suddenly dematerialized, instead, by a non-Starfleet confinement beam.
---
U.S.S. Lexington
After a minute, Krystal started tapping on the table. "Something feels off," she said. "Elric should have been here by now..."
Nat nodded in agreement.
Ensign Aurelia Banks, research and analysis expert, looked up immediately. "You think so? Where was he going, d'you know?"
Graff gripped his rifle more closely. "He needed to check on something or othe... damn it!"
Nat sat there. In a moment, he seemed a little worried. Almost as though he could sense something bad coming.
"Nat... better check with ESD," Krystal suggested.
Nat shook his head. "No, not that. Something else entirely. Something... something... Borg? Yeah, check with ESD about Elric. I have something else to check up on..." He got up and walked over to a comm panel nearby, evidently contacting Starfleet Command. After a few minutes, he came back and practically fell back into his chair.
11 of 14 scanned Nat. She raised an eyebrow. "Nat, you've got chroniton particles, particularly in your brain."
Nat replied, "They did say time went by a lot faster inside the Chronostorm. I suppose it's possible that when they returned us to 'normal' time, we didn't quite align with it properly. I can see the future, and Krystal seems to have been developing powers a lot faster than she should have."
---
Captain Elric - Brig
Elric found himself in a darkened starship holding cell, with no idea where he was. Looking around, his first thought was to find a method of escape. While feeling the walls for a hidden control panel, he was suddenly surprised to see an emblem decorated on the side; one he recognized immediately. The Terran Empire.
---
U.S.S. Lexington - Ready Room
Krystal motioned for everyone to follow her before heading up to the Bridge. After a brief check in with her crew, she went into her Ready Room and sat behind her desk to continue with the others.
---
Captain Elric - Brig
Elric continued searching for a way out of his cell, appalled at the fact he was kidnapped before the meeting with them, though, not surprised. It was then he noticed the force field was off all along. He was never confined to begin with. To that, he left the Brig and began walking the ship.
---
U.S.S. Lexington - Ready Room
Aurelia nodded in silence as she listened to Krystal. "That reminds me, Captain Elric still hasn't arrived. We should ask them if they know where he is."
Nat nodded in agreement.
"I don't know who it is you want to send for from Earth Spacedock, but I can ring up about Captain Elric," Aurelia volunteered. She went over to the comms panel and evidently made a call to ESD Ops. "This is Ensign Banks, can you tell me the current location of a Captain Elric? He was to meet some people here and he hasn't. We're a bit worried about him."
"Let me bring up the... He's not here. Down as having left the station 22 minutes ago, by transporter."
"For the U.S.S. Lexington?"
"That's right."
"I see. Thank you. Just a moment." Aurelia puts her hand over the panel. "Well," she says, unnecessarily, "he's not here."
"Computer, locate Captain Elric," Krystal said.
"Captain Elric is not aboard this vessel," the Computer replied.
---
Captain Elric - I.S.S. Amaterasu
Elric had raided a weapons locker and trained his disruptor forward as he entered an empty Bridge. He could see that the ship was on course for Leora IV. Suddenly, the view screen clicked on and he saw himself— or, rather, the mirror universe version of himself.
"Elric, I've been watching you and I've given you my ship for one purpose: To track the source of that find, the data of which you have acquired from Admiral Quinn. You do not have to share anything with me, nor do you owe me anything. There is no catch. We merely have similar goals. Now, be forewarned, the transwarp beaming device on this ship is faulty, and may still transport people at random from your Spacedock. It's damaged Jem'Hadar technology, but it's not like more crew would do you harm. I'd be there myself, to prove who's the better Elric, but, unfortunately, I'm indisposed with other matters at the moment. We'll have to contest another time. Elric out."
Later, Elric slouched in the Captain's chair, flipping through the fragmented data on his PADD. He had sent out a message to Starfleet Command, informing them of his situation, and requesting orders. He expected to be returning home, but when the communications signal chriped, indicating a reply from Admiral Quinn, all it said was, "Proceed."
When Elric's ship reached Leora IV, he went to the helm and put the vessel into orbit. Getting back up and walking passed the ship's dedication plaque, he noticed its name. The I.S.S. Amaterasu, the mirror version of his own ship, which he had previously nearly destroyed. "Computer, set a new rule: If that unpredictable transwarp beaming device pulls anyone from home onto the ship, transport them down to my coordinates. Acknowledge?"
The computer chirped in agreement. Elric nodded and then went to the transporter room, himself, and beamed to the planet surface.
---
Leora IV
After Captain Elric spoke with the archaeologists at the dig site on Leora IV, he left them and began touring the uncovered ancient structures on a grey, cloudy evening. There was once a human colony on the planet, but what his tricorder could determine from these stone buildings was that these constructs, instead, dated back to several thousands of years. As he pondered the catalogue of unknown ancient god etchings discovered here in the past decade, and how they were similar to what was on his PADD and the medallion, he thought he heard something moving and following him nearby.
"Hello?"
He paused for a second and determined the sound was of something small, scurrying around. Then, before he could decipher what was in the shadows, the ground beneath him broke through and he fell into a vertical tunnel feeding deep within the planet.
