Stardate: 60712:1830
Title: Revelation 2380
Author: Captain Khavok
Time: During/after "Untold Mysteries"
Scene: Parsus, mysterious complex


"When you were last here do recall any of this?" Abby trailed one hand down the wall to keep her balance on the sometimes-precarious stairs.

"I don't recall seeing anything like this." The haunted look had not left the Captain's eyes and he carried on down the stairs determinately holding his phaser at the ready.

Khavok's grip on his phaser was more to keep him self anchored in the present than anything else. His haunted look came from the various memories he was experiencing. Alex did his best to give calm and steady answers to his crew.

*She's right about one thing, nobody won anything here* Alex thought silently echoing the XO's earlier sentiment.

Alex shuddered at the memories of the weaponry used and the destruction caused to the planet both by weapons aimed directly upon it, and by the wreckage impacting the surface. Of all the campaigns that Alex had fought in this is the one he most regretted. It was difficult to describe and even harder to justify, but for some reason all the stops were pulled. Weapons and tactics that were normally unthinkable were used for the slightest advantage.

=^= Battle of Parsus 2375 =^=

Breen fire collapsed the shuttles shields and some kind of projectile fire spider-webbed the forward viewports. Chaos rang continually through all com channels. Grimly, and with a bit of desperation Alex began looking for a place to set his shuttle down. Khavok spared a glace at what was left of his co-pilot and returned to the task of trying to keep the rest of them alive. All around the shuttle massive explosions marred the planet's surface as wreckage from the sky impacted.

The young pilot's vision turned bright white as a tri-cobalt weapon obliterated a debris field and scarred the planet. The little shuttle tumbled then, its pilot slipping into blackness.

=^= Parsus, 2380 =^=

Alex smiled as he heard the first ear splitting howl. It meant they were getting close, it was the first of the outer guardians braying its warning. Khavok saw his away team ready themselves and felt some feeling of pride. He saw the resignation and excitement in Abby's eyes as he ordered the move forward, just as she knew he would.

Alex shook his head then, there were details missing and things did not match his memory. The scene was close enough to memory not to worry him, exits were in different places and the equipment was wrong. There seemed to be some kind of change in the distance and texture as well. The Captain remained unworried however and his feeling of "rightness" continued.

The Captain watched Kal as he tapped at what seemed like random intervals along the outer walls of the structure. Alex having seen this before realized that there was nothing random in the engineer's movements at all.

=^= Parsus, 2375 =^=

Alex awoke startled; he felt no pain and was still dressed in the rags that used to be his uniform. He was lying in a fairly comfortable, clean and utilitarian room. A not unpleasant glow gave light to the surroundings although Alex could not discern any visible light source.

"Ah, you're awake," a man dressed in white, smiled.

There was no mistaking the aura surrounding the man and although he spoke softly the words echoed into every fiber of Khavok's being.

"Am I dead," Khavok asked?

"I suppose that would be a matter of perspective," the man answered still smiling.

Alex was a little bewildered in all the tales he heard of the afterlife, no one had mentioned that he would be sitting calmly in a comfortable room discussing the universe with a white robed man.

=^= Parsus, 2380 =^=

The screeching alarm gave Alex his first sense of unease. It was the first significant difference from memory and experience.

"Unfaithful, betrayer, unclean," the alarm said.

As the away team hurried into the open portal the wind rose, and moving with the swift wind several creatures materialized. The creatures were impossible to describe. Each member of the away team saw his or her respective culture's defending angels mixed with aspects of creatures from lore.

There were features of the creatures that were seen in common however. They were a color similar to that of the earth and walls surrounding the structure and they had metallic elements grafted seamlessly with their organic counterparts. The creatures stood half again the size of an average man and held a type of lance.

"Unfaithful, betrayer, unclean," the alarm screeched again, in unison from the mouths of the assembled creatures. A creature then struck McFrey with his lance discharging some sort of energy burst into him. McFrey crumpled to the dust with a sigh and it was impossible to tell if the man was dead or simply unconscious.

The creature that struck McFrey surveyed the rest of the away team, gazing at each in turn with a penetrating, oddly intelligent look. One of the spec ops members was raising a phaser at the creature and the lead creature stepped forward lowering its lance.

Alex with a word stopped the woman, who lowered her phaser at his command.

The leader looked at Alex for a moment and then made a swirling gesture with its hand. At once a dust storm swirled around the away team, causing vertigo and disorienting them.

Again the creatures shrieked as the dust storm ebbed, this time the entire away team understood what they said.

"We bid you welcome seekers, that which you seek lies soon before you. Beware the adversary he seeks as well and would claim your birthright as his own."

With the last statement the dust storm died down completely and the creatures settled back into the dust from whence they came.

"Care to explain what just happened Captain?" Abby asked as Maxine ran to the fallen McFrey.

"Short version or long?" Alex quipped with his first smile since planet fall.

"He's alive, barely, and I'm not sure for how long," Lt. Jenna interjected, Khavok wisely moved out of Abby's striking distance.

"Let's try short."

Khavok gestured to a couple of spare members of the away team and ordered them to take the injured McFrey back to the Relentless.

"Ok near as I can tell I was saved from certain death and/or I fell into some kind of alternate dimension during the battle five years ago," Alex started, "I had a lot of things that I really can't explain happen. I was instructed to assemble a crew and to return here. I have a mission here and it can't be completed without the rest of you."

"Uh, Sir," Vilmer interjected, "this is sounding just a bit strange."

"A bit strange?" Abby demanded, "what is this mission then."

"We're to retrieve a book."

"That's it, a book?"

"Not just any book, this has some revolutionary technologies in it. This…" Captain Khavok gestured to the outer complex, "is just the tip of the iceberg and actually detracts from the actual important find."

"You can all put away your phasers for now. We have nothing to fear while we're here. The guardians will take care of any external threat. The only thing that can harm us here now is our own fear, disbelief and betrayal," Khavok finished.

Hesitantly the away team complied. There was more than one who dared to doubt Khavok's sanity.

"You will have to trust me. In order to reach our goal it will take all of us," the Captain said striding to the opening.


=====================
Captain Alexander Khavok
Commanding Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
=====================