Mission Archive

Doctor Mizore, currently assigned to the USS ANUBIS as its Assistant Chief Medical Officer, moved about her domain with an entirely new perspective and drive.  The title she held no longer reflected the full extent of the duties she had accepted, at least in her heart if not yet officially to the ship's CO.

The physical well-being of the crew would be her primary responsibility, but for the time being the Bajoran Doctor had one patient who required her complete and undivided attention.  Although Ensign Shar'El, the ANUBIS' ILO, appeared to be resting calmly on the biobed, the readouts displayed on the monitoring screen painted en entirely different picture.  Imprisoned within the tranquility of her humanoid form, the woman's mind seemed to be on the edge of a cataclysmic confrontation opposing her sanity and the knowledge that had found its way into her head.

"Hang in there," Seska whispered through a pleading sigh.  "We're almost home."

=-=

Setting: Black Emptiness

Stardate: Not applicable

~We're almost home.~

Before the words had echoed through the endless dark void that surrounded her, Shar'El had heard nothing other than the clicking of her heels against an invisible floor, its color matching perfectly with that of her surroundings.  Time in this place meant nothing, so there had been no way for the ILO to know if she had pondered those words for only a few seconds or for countless hours.

"Home?" Shar'El asked out loud as if hoping that someone would step out of the darkness to answer.  Slowly the darkness gave way to images of the starbase she had called home, of EARTH and Starfleet Academy and lastly of the NEW ALEXANDRIA base from which the USS ANUBIS operated from.  Although all of those placed had been familiar, Shar'El could not truly refer to any of them has having been *home*.  With that thought waves after waves of images flooded the darkness and moved in closer, each showing a world previously unknown to the ILO. There had been so many images that the woman fell onto her knees and tearfully begged for this to stop.

=-=

Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Stardate: 30150.1315

Eve stepped into the main area of Sickbay, her grey-eyes gaze immediately went onto the only patient in the room.  As the Ship's Counselor the Cardassian born woman had access to he medical reports of Doctor Mizore, and the latest one had brought the rather imposing dark haired officer in.

"She's physically stable," Seska offered as she joined the Counselor.  "I just can't stop her from thinking or remembering.  It's like her mind is trying to break free out of her skull."

"We all know that you are doing your best," the Counselor said, never taking her eyes off the woman who appeared to be peacefully resting.  "Shar'El is in good hands being here with you, no one doubts this."

"I just hope that we can make it back before it is too late," Doctor Mizore sighed.  "We always seem to be fighting against it."

"Against what?" Eve wondered out loud, not certain as to what the Doctor had been referring to,

"Time."

=-=

Setting: Black Emptiness

Stardate: Not applicable

~Time.~

There was no time in this place, at least not that Shar'El could measure or experience. The ILO could witness the rise and fall of an entire civilization in a single heartbeat and yet it felt as if she had been in here for an eternity.

Thoughts without form. Knowledge without substance. Images without meaning.  Had this all not been so overwhelming the ILO might have actually found the experience interesting instead of seeing it as an endless nightmare.

=-=

Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 30150.1415

"How are we doing?" The captain asked of the red headed CEO who had been monitoring the latest set of tweaks from the Engineering station on the bridge.

"The engines are at 122%," Sonja said with a sigh.  "The transwarp field generators are on the verge of giving us a less than pleasant rendition of the Anvil Chorus.  Why else do you think I'm up here instead of down there?"

Although the CO knew that the last words spoken by the CEO had been meant in jest, Erik still wondered if something more could be done to reduce their travel time back to NEW ALEXANDRIA.

"Captain," the Chief Science Officer stepped in with.  "Maybe we could try and modify the warp field harmonics frequency and geometry.  In theory we could gain a few points of speed by doing this although it would require energy to be diverted from other systems."

"We've pulled pretty much everything that was available to get us this far," the Chief of Security chimed in.  "As per your orders the tactical systems were even taken off-line leaving me with a blank console to supervise."

"Whatever little bit of extra power we were able to shave off the ship's systems is currently being used to strengthen the structural integrity field which is the only think keeping us from flying apart at the seams," the Chief of Operation added.  "There is nothing more we can do."

Erik nodded his acknowledgement of the facts has they had been presented to him and made his way back to the central chair.  Everyone had done their best which meant that the only thing they could do was wait and hope that it at all been enough.

=-=

Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Stardate: 30150.1515

Seska stood over the motionless form of the ILO, a medical tricorder firmly in her grasp.  Like everyone else on board the ANUBIS Doctor Mizore had done everything that had been possible leaving the final outcome in the hands of powers beyond their understanding.

"May the Prophets watch over you," the Bajoran born woman said as she looked down at the Ullian, the information displayed on the medical scanner pointing out that they were running out of time.  "Hang in there; you are not ready to become a ‘Boryhas’."

=-=

Setting: Black Emptiness

Stardate: Not applicable

~Boryhas.~

Although she had never heard the word before, Shar'El somehow knew its significance and reference to the Bajoran belief of a lingering spirit of someone who has recently passed on.  Had this been what she was experiencing? Had the ILO actually passed on and this had been the afterlife?  Given that the experience had not matched anything that had ever been recorded, Shar'El found it within herself to dismiss that possibility.

If she was not dead though, why had the word echoed through the darkness that surrounded her, a darkness that had gradually grown to be colder?

Would this darkness become her home, the place that she would be spending all of eternity in?

=-=

Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section C2, Level 3, Observation deck

Stardate: 30150.1715

Ensign T'Leia watched with Vulcan intensity and interest as the USS ANUBIS made its way through the imposing doors that kept the inside of the secret Intel base hidden from he outside universe. There was something almost graceful about the manner in which the SCARAB-Class Cruiser seemed to move in the tight quarters of the docking area.

"She's a fine ship," Elan said as he joined the Healer, "and I am sure that you will enjoy being part of her crew."

"Thank you," Andromeda said with a faint nod of her head, acknowledging the giant's words.  Based on everything that she had read and heard about the ship and its crew, she suspected that the term 'enjoy' might have been ill chosen by the Oltharian, but Andromeda did believe that the experience would be at the very least an interesting one.

=-=

Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Stardate: 30150.1715

"We're here," Eve announced to Doctor Mizore wh9o had already been preparing to have her patient beamed directly to the NEW ALEXANDRIA Sickbay where she hoped that something could be done to help the ILO.

"Can you get the medkit that is next to the door," Seska asked.  "I would rather go over with something than show up empty handed."

Eve quickly did as she had been asked and handed the case to Doctor Mizore who noted a rather strange expression on the Cardassian born woman, her grey eyes locked on something over Seska's shoulder.  As the Bajoran woman turned to see what the problem was she quickly noted that her patient had vanished.

"Where is she!?!"

=-=

Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section I, Medical level
Stardate: 30150.1717

A team of medical specialist hurried around the woman, the sound of their heels clicking against the dark hard floor sounding like the scampering of an miniature army.  Everything had been made ready, the medical team having been kept up-to-date through reports from the base's administration who had been keeping tabs on the ANUBIS and the situation on board as it hurried back.

Within seconds Shar'El found herself strapped down to some sort of biobed, and her head surrounded by a device from which radiated hundreds of small needle-like pins.  The low humming of the contraption in a strange way resembled that of the ancient machine, not that there had been any visible similarities between the two.

"Initiate primary neurological scan and begin a comparative synaptic review using the patient's own records as when she was assigned to the ANUBIS," the lad medical team member ordered as more people came into what could only be described as an operating room of some sort. Team 2, stand-by for a complete synaptic depolarization once the neurological mapping has been completed."

=/\= Will it work? =/\= an aged voice asked from behind a one-way mirror overlooking toe operation room.

"We are looking at a 78% probability of being able to retrieve the entirety of the data," the lead Doctor replied as he confirmed a large range of numbers being displayed on various screens.  "The neurological imprint appears to be very deep and complex, so I am not ready to give you any figures as to the odds of this officer making it through without any permanent brain damage."

=/\= Retrieving the *intact* data if your first priority Doctor,=/\= the aged voice said with a coldness that seemed inhuman. =/\= How long before this is accomplished? =/\=

"The extraction should not take more than three hours," the lead Doctor replied, his task having been made perfectly clear.

=/\= I will be back in two. Keep me informed should there be any unexpected problems, but I suspect that there will not be.  After all, you are the wizard. =/\=

=-=

Setting: Black Emptiness

Stardate: Not applicable

~Wizard.~

The surrounding darkness had become bitter cold and the word Shar'El had heard had not echoed like any of the others.  Something had changed; the images that had come so easily despite her wishes were now being pulled away leaving the ILO to scramble in an effort to hold on to something.

From the last word she had heard the memory of a distant story came into view, images trying their best to remain in focus as they were being pulled from her mind.  Without knowing why, the ILO simply took in a deep breath and clicked her heels together.

"There is no place like home. There is no place like home. There is no place like home."