It was well known throughout the Maverick; the Captain and the Protocol Officer were involved in a relationship set at an intensity of a slow-burning romance. Most of the crew understood much of their deliberation was due to the fact Lt. Travis had lost her husband at the Battle of Sector 001, the same engagement that delivered Chris Larabee his captaincy.

Still, the depth of their attraction was visible in the subtle touches they exchanged in public, the little smiles of tenderness and the smouldering gazes they shared across a crowded room. When it was possible, the lieutenant often attended official functions at the Captain’s arm and anyone who saw them together could not deny they made a handsome couple.

Only Chris and Mary were aware of how intimate their relationship was. While they touched each other in kisses, hugs and innocent hand holding, the road to full intimacy had yet to be travelled. Chris had allowed Mary the time to mourn Syan and he himself, needed to adjust his own life to accommodate her. As Captain, there were lines they could not cross and once intimacy was finally reached, how he conducted himself as master of the Maverick, would come under great scrutiny.

Nevertheless, Chris expected the first time he and Mary spend the night in his quarters to be somewhat different than the reality he was experiencing right now.

Mary had asked to stay after arranging to have Billy spend the night with Audrey and Lilith King, preferring evasion rather than telling her son the truth about her situation. She had no desire to traumatise him with the knowledge his mother had turned into a child, at least until she knew it was reversible. However, after Billy had gone, Mary found it odd to be alone in her quarters when she felt like a stranger in her own body. She needed company and knew Chris was probably be feeling just as displaced as she was.

“You know,” Chris stared at Mary as they sat on the sofa, lamenting their condition. “I imagined the first time we spent the night together to be a lot more different than this.”

They were both stretched out, separated by a bowl of popcorn, watching a holo-movie on the Federation Net. It was. some god-awful thing called Love in the Time of Klingon Measles. The movie about a Klingon warrior’s unrequited love for an Andorian female during an outbreak of Klingon Measles boasted some of the worst acting they had ever seen. Mary pointed out rightly, the Federation shouldn’t have entirely abandoned the death penalty for such grievous mental harm. Still watching how bad it was had reduced them to laughter which they both sorely needed.

Mary gave him a look. “I find it extremely distressing talking about that in this condition Chris,” she gave him a look.

“Lieutenant,” Chris returned with a little smile. “I have only the purest intentions in mind.”

“Cut it out!” She tossed popcorn at him. “This is strange enough as it is. I mean look at us!”

“Trust me,” Chris sighed facing the screen again. “I’m trying not to think too much about it.”

“I don’t want to go back and do it all again,” Mary dug her hand into the popcorn, paying little attention to the holo movie. “It was hard enough the first time.”

“No kidding,” Chris thought of his childhood and while there was a fondness in those memories, he could do without going through puberty again. “I worked my whole life to be here, to command my own starship and knowing I might have to start from scratch is kind of disturbing.”

No that was not going to happen, Chris had decided resolutely. He was not staying like this. They had a solution and thought it was not one he was ready to take yet, if all else failed, they would have no choice but to employ it.

“Mary, if this crazy idea of going to the planet doesn’t work, we’ll go with Julia’s plan of using the transporters. I don’t like the idea of losing a few days from my memory either, but if it gets us back to normal, we’ll risk it.”

Mary let out a sigh of relief and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Chris. I was really starting to get worried about what would happen to Billy if I stayed like this. Syan’s parents are already unhappy that I brought him on board a starship. If I’m in this condition, they would insist on bringing him home to Vulcan.”

Chris stiffened at the thought. Billy was like his own child and Chris had come to love the kid in the year since he’d met the boy. If he felt such an ache at the loss, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how Mary would feel. “It’s not going to happen. I promise you.”

Suddenly, he heard voices outside the door and exchanged a puzzled glance with Mary before getting up to go investigate. Reaching the door, he activated it only to be confronted with the scene of Adam kissing Irene, the pretty teenage daughter of Lt. Anson Lee, the ship’s geologist. At his appearance, both Adam and Irene stopped what they were doing and regarded him.

“Oh, you’re babysitting?” Irene asked Adam, her arms still wrapped around his neck as she stared briefly at Chris before turning back to him.

“Babysitting...?” Chris gaped at both of them with nothing less than outrage at the suggestion. “I don’t need a babysitter!”

Adam broke into a grin at Chris’s reaction before facing Irene again. “I gotta go,” he kissed her lightly on the lips. “I gotta put him to bed. If he doesn’t get eight hours, he’ll be cranky in the morning.”

“That is not funny.” The Captain of the Maverick said through gritted teeth, trying very hard to remember this kid was his flesh and blood and Starfleet tended to frown on keelhauling these days.

“Call me later,” Irene said flashing Adam a radiant smile as she disentangled herself from him.

“You can bet on it,” Adam gave her his most charming smile and Chris swore the girl positively melted.

Jesus Christ, Chris thought. I'm raising Buck.

Chris watched the teenager saunter down the hall, casting Adam a wistful look in the universal gesture of interested female before she continued down the hallways, leaving them alone.

“How’s your playdate dad?” Adam asked, still smirking, finding the outraged scowl on his father’s face to be quite amusing.

Chris’s eyes narrowed. “I’m glad you’re finding this so amusing.”

“Just a little,” Adam replied, following his father back into their quarters, hating to admit he enjoyed seeing Captain Larabee a little less in control of himself. “Actually, it’s kind of interesting seeing you this way.”

Chris stared at him. “How the hell can you find this interesting!” Once again, he glowered at the sound of his near high-pitched voice.

“Well it’s the first time, I’ve seen you not so captainy,” Adam admitted. “I mean it’s all I’ve ever seen you be since I met you. You’re always the Captain, it’s nice seeing what you’re like beneath it all.”

Chris looked at him with a frown. “I’m not always on.”

“Yes, you are!” Mary sang out helpfully.

Chris turned on her. “Am not. I know how to relax.”

“Only when you’re on the holodeck,” she said helpfully, smiling at Adam.

Mary’s appearance struck Adam almost as much as Chris. In that other universe, he had come from, Mary Travis had been his foster mother, whom he’d loved more than any other person. Seeing this fairy child with her golden tresses and associating her with the woman who raised him was somewhat jarring.

“Thanks a lot,” Chris grumbled sitting next to her on the sofa. “When did you start dating Lt. Lee’s daughter?”

“Oh, we’re not dating,” Adam shrugged and then stared at what was playing on the holo-screen. “Jesus dad, there’s an entire library computer of holo movies on screen and this is what you’re watching? No wonder Mary doesn’t want to go steady with you yet.”

Mary snorted and once again, Chris cursed that keelhauling was a thing of the past.

*******

After living several hundred years and being host to a symbiote who had already run through six or seven past lives, it was safe to say this was a first for Rain.

Fleetingly, she wondered how Vin and Alex were handling the situation and supposed it couldn’t be as bad for them since they were at least the same age. While she was accustomed to thinking herself mentally older than Nathan Jackson, now it appeared it was the case in a physical sense as well. It was even more awkward since they were cohabitating. Right now, her lover was seated next to her on the sofa, trying to appear that he was perfectly fine with all this when in fact, she could see him twitching with anxiety.

“Nathan, it’s not that bad.” Rain assured him. “If you don’t get to Mordor and destroy the One Ring, I’m sure Chanu and I will be able to cook up something using your previous transporter patterns”

Nathan gave her a look. “So, if I don’t get myself killed going on this strange, Lord of the Flies adventure...”

Rain’s eyes widened. “Nathan Jackson, Mordor is in the Lord of the Rings! Not Lord of the Flies.” She stared at him in outrage. “Don’t make me book another session in the holodeck so we can climb up Mount Doom again.”

Nathan groaned and buried his face in the palms of his small hands. Agreeing to participate in the Lord of the Rings holo-program, was payback for all those occasions Rain played his love interest and typical damsel in distress in the Magnificent Seven program. Sure, she was kidnapped more times than was normal and on one occasion, was almost murdered by a band of deranged cannibal circus people, (not one of the seven’s better antagonists), but it wasn’t as painful as her favourite fantasy program. The last time they went into the Lord of the Ring’s simulation, he and Rain played the title characters and forced to wear furry prosthetic feet to look authentically like hobbits.

It was damn weird.

Worse yet, the last time they were on Earth, she managed to get her hands on an extension pack to the original program, the Hobbit. For some reason, the scenario was three times longer than it had to be, and Nathan just knew he was going to end up dressing up as a dwarf.

“Anyway,” he frowned. “You think this transporter procedure will work?”

“Sure,” she said confidently. “It means we’ll just transport all of you to the planet and then store your patterns in the buffer, and make sure it comes out in a configuration we’ve stored during a previous transport.” In truth. it was nowhere that simple but Rain was trying to make Nathan feel better. “Think of it as being silly putty and then smooshed into a mould of your original shape. Of course, you’ll lose time but at least you’ll be back to normal.”

Nathan shuddered and retorted with chagrin. “Lord woman, do you think you use another term other than smooshed?”

“Sorry,” Rain apologised. “I thought I’d keep the analogies age appropriate.”

“This is not funny!” Nathan said exasperatedly. “Look at me! I can’t be a kid again!”

“No kidding!” Rain returned just as annoyed. “This isn’t fun for me either. While I’m used to being the older woman, what with my symbiote being several hundred years old and all, this isn’t what I had in mind when I chose to take up with a handsome young doctor. I was hoping for one that was at least past puberty.”

“Thanks a lot,” Nathan grumbled.

His disconsolate expression tugged at Rain’s heart and she sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Don’t worry Doc,” she said with a little smile. “We’ll get through this. You’ll go down there armed with all the knowledge you’ve learned from carrying the One Ring and going to Mordor, I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding this Cavern of Whatsits and get back to normal.”

The doctor rolled his eyes. “Oh great.”

******* 

Following Inez’s visit, Buck actually felt better and decided to leave his quarters. After all, no one would recognise him as being the First Officer of the Maverick and there was nothing to be done until they set out to Hadir in the morning. Besides, he could at least act like an adult even if he was trapped in this child’s body. Tomorrow, they would go to Hadir and put this nightmare behind them and it would be over. There was no point sulking in his quarters in the meantime.

Making his way down to Four Corners, Buck decided to take up Inez’s invitation to come down to the mess, where she promised to replicate him something special. He had to admit, he was rather taken by how amazing she had been through all this and despite his misery, she had been the only one who had the words to make him feel better. Once again, the connection that tugged at his heart from the moment he met her, made itself felt more acutely and Buck swore after he was back to normal, he was going to do something about it.

He was in such deep thought about this, he didn’t look where he was going and ran into a gaggle of girls, of varying heights, the same age...well present age, as he.

“Sorry,” he apologised and noted they were all staring at him with interest. No doubt they were trying to figure out who he was since they hadn’t seen him on school. The school allowed all the children of the Maverick to become familiar with each other and they were no doubt puzzled why they hadn’t seen him before today.

Buck tried to come up with an explanation in case they asked when suddenly, the leader of the pack, a pretty thing with tight blond and a smile that looked more like a smirk, stared at him with interest and fascination. Buck recognised her as being the daughter of Doctor Mims, the ship’s dentist.

Susie was her name, he thought.

Buck realised he knew the others with her too. The one with the dark hair was Mary Ann. Buck remembered her because the girl was always wearing a bright blue windbreaker as if she expected the environmental controls to suddenly fail and was trying to avoid freezing to death. Buck didn’t know where she came from but he assumed it had to be an ice planet of some kind.

Meanwhile, Vicki Swanson, Buck noted was minus her little dog today. While pets were allowed on the Maverick, the animal was an escape artist and somehow always managed to get out of the Swanson’s quarters. The last time the animal absconded, it disappeared into one of the maintenance shafts and what it did in there put Chief Engineer Pemberton in the foulest of moods after she was done washing the poop from her hands.

The dark-haired beauty with the severe expression on her face, who looked like she was an admiral in training was Lt. Commander Girle’s young daughter Pauline. She reminded Buck of Alex and the First Officer had the sneaking suspicion she would someday end up running the fleet. The few times the kid had met Chris during the Captain’s question and answer sessions at the school, Pauline grilled Chris so thoroughly the Captain of the Maverick paused the practice for an entire month.

Susie seemed to be staring at Buck with a gleam in her eyes that made the First Officer of the Maverick decidedly uncomfortable. Of course, she couldn’t know he was, in fact, a thirty-eight-year-old man, not a ten-year-old boy.

“You’re new.” Susie pointed out. It wasn’t a question.

Buck decided playing along was probably the best idea. “Yeah.”

“Are you a gentleman?” she looked over her shoulder, reaching some silent agreement with her friends he could not fathom before facing him again. There was a slight southern twang to her voice that sounded very much like the one used by Ezra Standish.

“I guess.” He replied puzzled, wondering what an odd question to come from a little girl.

“We need help,” she stated, glancing over her shoulder, once again gaining the unspoken agreement of her friends.

Even in this state, he was still the First Officer of the ship, and he could never say no to a lady in need, no matter how old she was. “Sure, what can I do for you.”

“We want to learn how to kiss,” she stated without any hint of embarrassment. “We need to practice on someone. Want to help.”

One word crossed his mind and it was spoken with a voice that sounded a great deal like Chris Larabee.

Felony.

When JD Dunne asked himself yesterday, if things could get any worse, he did not expect Fate’s reply to be “Challenge Accepted!”

As it was, the reports he read yesterday defied belief and at one point, was convinced he had stumbled into an alternate reality where nothing was sane. Unfortunately, he had no such luck. This was his reality at present and he was expected to deal with it.  Occupying the Captain’s Ready Room felt odd but he could hardly deal with some aspects of the job while seated behind the navigational console. The desk felt too large, not simply because it was, but also for the responsibility that came with it. Nevertheless, he had a job to do and as crazy as everything was, he wouldn’t shirk his promise to Chris Larabee and the Maverick.

JD just wished what he had to deal with wasn’t quite so crazy.

First came the bizarre report from temporary CMO Doctor Zheng Li Pong, informing him of the presence of Lieutenants Terri Kearns and Cherry Sherman who arrived at Sick Bay, covered in green goop sprayed on when they went to take a shower. Not only was the substance the cologne of choice for skunks everywhere, but it also left a stain against the dermal layer resistant to treatment and had to be worn off naturally, which usually took a week. Suffice to say, he agreed with Li Pong’s decision to put them on medical leave.

Upon investigating how such a thing had come about, however, JD was informed by Lt. Chanu that someone with a Class A rating in computer programming had done the deed. Since only two people on board the Maverick was qualified, the field of suspects was somewhat narrowed. It was either the Maverick’s Chief of Security or the Science Officer.  From then on, JD just knew the day was going to get worse.

It did.

Not long after this, JD received a complaint from one Lt. Commander Judy Seils that her ten-year-old son had returned to their quarters asking if all Orion slave girls had huge breasts. When JD went to source out how this had come about, he learned the child had gone into the holodeck with ‘some new kids’, one of whom was capable of hacking the holodeck protocols to inject some realism to the children’s adventure simulation they were playing. The newcomer had added enhancement to the program that was not at all age appropriate, including Orion slave girls, vicious Nausicaan bounty hunters and a setting of the seedy, dangerous world called Purgatory,

Naturally, the children loved it and JD was just annoyed enough to be tempted to call Maude Standish.

Elsewhere, another crewman had reported a case of bullying after seeing a child they did not recognise, being pursued across the ship by a group of ten-year-old girls, led by little Susie Mims, shouting ‘we won’t use tongue!’

Of course, that was yesterday.  Today, he was wondering whether a career in Starfleet was worth it.

Standing in Transporter Room 1 the next morning, it was time for the senior staff (such as they were) to transfer down to Hadir to begin the search for the Cavern of Azcax.  The first to arrive was the Captain, Mary Travis and Adam Larabee. All three were wearing travelling clothes for the day, carrying backpacks with the supplies for what they would need during their search. However, JD questioned the success of the mission, the instant the trio stepped into the room,

“I swear to God Chris Larabee, if you say you’re Captain of a starship one more time, I am going to hit you!”  Mary Travis declared imperiously at Chris, wearing a scowl on her face, her fists clenched at her sides. “You sound like a big know it all that’s itching to get wailed on!”

“Well, I am the Captain of the ship!” Chris returned just as stubbornly. “And you’re being way too mean for me to want to keep going with you. The Captain’s girlfriend is supposed to be nice!”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” Came Mary’s furious exclamation. Her small face turning red with annoyance.  

Adam was rubbing the bridge of his nose, appearing as if he was suffering a headache and JD had the impression this bickering had been going on long enough to get on the younger man’s nerves.

“Have they been like this...” JD asked, allowing the two to continue their argument as he stepped behind the unmanned transporter controls with Adam for a little privacy.

“Since this morning,” Adam declared, wondering how two of the most affectionate people he knew had been reduced to this. “You were right about them starting to act their age.”

“Great,” JD groaned turning back to Chris and Mary.

“You kissed me!” Chris was pointing out to Mary. “If you kissed me that means we’re going together.”

“I am my own person, I can kiss whoever I like!” She turned her back to him, arms folded and nose in the air, looking most imperious.

“What do you mean you can kiss anybody?” Chris demanded. “As Captain of the ship....”

“OHMYGOD!” She whirled around and glared at him. “Quit saying that already!”

Adam said to JD.  “I’m never having kids. Ever.”

"Alright, that's enough!" JD barked at them both, his tolerance levels reaching breaking point because he couldn’t bear to see two friends, not to mention officers, he cared for behaving this way.

"You can't shout at me!" Chris gave him the Larabee glare which only sounded petulant now that Chris was in this state. "I'm the Captain!"

"Oh, God..." Mary groaned behind him.

At this point, the door slid open and entering the room was Buck Wilmington and Josiah Sanchez. Josiah who was easily the tallest among them, made Buck look positively puny. Fortunately, the two of them looked a good deal saner than the Captain and Mary were being at present.  Like Chris and Mary, both boys were similarly dressed. JD was grateful they didn’t look like they needed a timeout.

“Please tell me you’re sane,” JD whispered under his breath.

“This is going to be so awesome!” Josiah was gushing to Buck who did not at all seem as enthused. “Hi JD!” The counsellor beamed happily at them. “Why isn’t everyone here yet? How can you be late for going on an adventure? I hope we see a real-life wizard and maybe a dragon. Wizards have dragons, don’t they? They always have a dragon to protect their stuff in the cave or go flying off to meet other wizards and fight evil bad guys.”

Josiah said all this without taking a breath.

“Dragons?” Buck stared at him.

“Because this could be like Jules Verne. You know like Journey to the Centre of the Earth? Or the Lost World, or even the planet Mongo! When you travel deep enough on a planet, you get to see all sorts of neat stuff! Dragons, dinosaurs, giant man-eating plants! Flying sky crabs that spits out balls of electricity! How cool would that be? Imagine dragons or pterodactyls! Maybe even trolls!  You know they live underground in big caves.”

So not sane, JD decided.

“He’s been like this all the way here,” Buck grimaced, showing aged resignation despite his youthful face. “Who knew he had an active an imagination like this?”

Certainly not JD who was wondering how on Earth Josiah had become a counsellor with all this bottled up inside of him. His musing was not too different from JD’s own as a kid but there had been never any doubt what JD wanted to do when he grew up. Listening to Josiah now, JD could well understand why the Counsellor had been so willing to abandon his life on Earth to join the Maverick’s crew.

As Josiah went to join Chris and Mary, JD turned his attention to Buck and noted that Buck didn’t sound as regressed as the others.

“How you doing Buck?” JD asked, having fought since this all began, to hide it was Buck whose welfare worried him the most when he ought to be concerned for everyone equally.  Aside from Casey, it was the First Officer of the Maverick that meant most to him. Since coming on board the Maverick, Buck had been there for him, as a friend and mentor who made the transition easier to bear. He’d come straight from the Academy, still stinging from the loss of his mother and would not have been able to imagine it, if Buck had not been there for him.

Throughout this entire situation, it was not lost on JD it was Buck who had the most difficulty with the transformation, even more so than the Captain, and JD wished he had been more on hand to help Buck through it.

“Wanting to get this over and done with,” he grumbled. “I still think we’re all gonna get lost in caves and die horribly but I’ll be okay.” He offered JD a little smile.

JD had no doubt of that. He might be the smallest but at the moment, he seemed to be the one holding up better than all the others. With a flash of insight, JD suddenly realised that perhaps Buck didn’t seem so childlike because he was never really a kid. In fact, now that he thought about it more, it occurred to JD Buck had always been used to taking care of someone, if not him or Chris before that, it was the mother who treated him like the man of the house.

“I know Buck,” JD smiled at him, reaching for Buck’s arm to squeeze it in support.

“And you’ll do okay too,” Buck reached for his arm and squeezed it. “You’ve been doing good so far.”

“Thanks, Buck,” JD said and suddenly found the need to add further., “Buck whatever happens down there, I got your back okay?  You’re not going to be alone in this.”

Buck blinked and for a moment, he looked very much like the child he was, vulnerable and needed the assurance. “Thanks, JD.”

Before anything further could be said, the doors to the transporter room slid open and stepping through first, carrying his backpack and what looked like a knife in a leather sheath attached to his belt was Vin Tanner. Of all the children, he looked like the one most accustomed to going on an extended trek and JD realised Vin had grown alone up in a rugged, treacherous jungle and survived. Remembering this, gave the ensign a great deal more confidence about the trip they were taking to Hadir. At least, the kids wouldn’t just be relying on Adam to get them through the rough spots, it was entirely possible Vin could also be as resourceful.

As if to prove his point he was looking over his shoulder at Alex, who was peering into the room with eyes like a frightened animal.  

“Come on Alex,” he said to her kindly. “It’s going to be alright.”

“No, it…it.... won’t.” She stammered in her small voice, slinking into the room as if she would bolt at the first loud noise.  “I... can’t do this. I could get everyone hurt.”

In stark contrast to how their relationship had begun, Vin placed both hands on her shoulders and met her frightened brown eyes. “It will be okay, I’ll take care of you. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Are you okay Alex?” JD asked, trying to equate this frightened, timid young girl with the spirited and abrasive child of yesterday. The ensign was reminded of how Alex had been when she first came on board the Maverick when all she wished to do was hide whenever she wasn’t on duty. Later, they would understand why but in those first few days, it had been a mystery.

“She’s just a little scared,” Vin spoke for her, his hand still in hers. It appeared no matter what their age, the bond between the two was just as strong.

She offered JD an uncertain smile and seemed to slink closer to Vin when he looked at her. JD was trying to figure out how this child had become the woman he knew.  Having met Alex’s foster mother, Kellien, JD supposed the lady had to be responsible for bringing the girl out of her shell.

The door was still open and JD, Vin and Alex turned towards it when they heard new voices approaching the room.  Nathan Jackson, whose unruly hair was concealed beneath a baseball cap, was looking disapprovingly at Ezra who looked like he was wearing an environmental suit. Every part of him, except his head, was covered.  Next, to him, Julia Pemberton who was wearing cut-off jeans and a purple t-shirt, looked as if she was embarrassed to be standing next to the Chief of Security. Behind the trio of children, Rain was looking at the whole situation with amusement.

“You look ridiculous,” Nathan complained. “We’re going in caves, you’re going to pass out in a minute from the heat and I won’t be carrying you.”

Ezra sniffed in his usual haughty manner. “Where we are traversing has not been visited by anyone for centuries, I refuse to be afflicted by whatever strange microbes that might be lying in wait for us down there, thank you very much.”

“Ezra,” Julia sighed, her slight shoulders bobbing up and down in frustration. “I’m sure it’s not gonna be so bad. It might even be fun. Come on, how many chances do we get to go on a real adventure?”

“Real adventure? Fun?” Ezra gaped at her.   “Pray to tell, what fun can it be, entering some unknown place where we could be in danger of being infected by germs and microbes, fall to our deaths or be maimed? There could be tiny insect life waiting to crawl into our ears at first opportunity and lay their progeny, not to mention the possibility of carnivorous life forms waiting for tasty morsels such as us.”

“And you think all those things are going to be kept out by extra layers?” Nathan bit back.

Rain raised her eyes to JD and Adam respectively. “Yeah, that answers one burning question that was always on my mind,” she said with a little smile. “Ezra always talked like this.”

“Very funny,” Ezra retorted. “Mock me if you will but when I am safe from whatever flesh-eating disease consumes you all., I will have the last laugh.”  

“Nathan’s a doctor,” Julia shook her head about to give up on this argument. “We’ll be okay.”

“I mean a real doctor! One whose taller than us.” He snorted derisively.

“What do you mean a real doctor,” Nathan shoved him. “I’m a real doctor. Give me a scalpel and I’ll show you!”

“Hey!”  Rain snapped, shoving both boys apart as they looked ready to get into a fight. Both glared at each other in their respective corners, they seemed to settle down, perhaps remembering themselves.

“Oh, this is gonna go well,” Buck gave JD a look.  “Maybe I ought to stay here with you.”

******* 

Rain took up position behind the transporter controls once the group had finally calmed down enough to pay attention. Once the cacophony of bickering, discussions of who was going steady with whom, precautions needed to prevent infections of flesh-eating disease and if there might be balrogs roaming the deep places of the earth, were concluded, JD managed to get the group ready for transport.

“You sure you want to do this?” JD asked Adam. “I mean I can ask Lieutenant Katovit to assign security personnel if you want to bow out.”

Adam raised his eyes to his father who was at present on the transporter pad, adjusting Mary’s backpack while she complained, she didn’t really need his help since she was her own person. The young man still had difficulty believing the couple who could barely keep the affection out of their eyes whenever they looked at each other, in their adult states, could be reduced to this. If they were restored to their former selves, Adam knew he was going to be getting a great deal of amusement at their expense.

“No, I better go,” Adam replied with a faint smirk. “Someone else might decide to shoot them.”

“Are we going or not?” Josiah hollered from the transporter pad, having thrown a tantrum until he could go with the first group to Hadir.

“Hey, I say when we go,” Chris spoke up annoyed, not at all pleased to have his position usurped, no matter how tall Josiah was. “I’m the...

“CAPTAIN!” Both Mary and Buck said in unison.  “We know already!”

JD looked at Adam with a grin, not at all envying the task the younger man was about to embark on. “They’re all yours.”

When the world materialised around Adam and his ‘charges’, the former resistance fighter found himself surrounded by the grey walls of Hadir’s central mining complex.

The rest of the city, what he had seen through the view screen prior to their transport to the planet, was an urban sprawl of dazzling architecture, gleaming towers, artistic spires and domes. However, the mining facility was decidedly lacking in such aesthetics and designed purely for functionality. Like every other industrial complex Adam had ever seen, this one surrounded them with grey walls, an assortment of piping and conduits running across the ceiling and walls, carrying power, water and anything else required to carry out its mining operations.

People were going about their business, seemingly oblivious to their presence, some heading to other parts of the complex, while others were manning the machinery sitting on the floor, at respectable distances from each other, like a gridiron formation.  The activity reminded Adam of an ant farm, where the goings on that did not involve them personally, was something they had little time to indulge.

Setlan and Veer were waiting for them when they appeared in what was the main thoroughfare of the facility. While Adam had never met the man before, JD’s description had been extremely accurate. The man was... eccentric. He was on this occasion dressed in ornate robes, with a high mandarin collar, with a red fez perched on his head. His assistant Veer was a little more sedate in black embroidery and a sombre expression on his face.

“OH, MY GOODNESS!” Setlan exclaimed when he saw the children, his face splitting into a welcoming grin as he approached with arms wide open.  He looked like an insane Santa Claus.

“If he tries to hug us, shoot him,” Chris said to Adam.

“I’d be more worried about him going for the cheeks,” Adam couldn’t help remark.

Chris’s eyes widened in horror.

“Aren’t you all precious!” Setlan declared, giving the children a smile and nudging Veer. “Look at how cute they are! Why only two days ago, they were Starfleet officers and now look at them!”

Adam could almost feel the bristle of annoyance rippling through the group at that remark.

“We are still Starfleet officers,” Ezra spoke up haughtily, almost on cue. “Our current situation is temporary. Once we unravel the mystery of the Caverns, I am certain we will return to normal.”

“Of course,” Setlan nodded, giving Ezra a look so condescending, the Security Chief of the Maverick was tempted to punch him in the mouth.

Julia, who was standing next to Ezra could see his jaw ticking in anger, grateful they were denied phasers before leaving the Maverick. With their current temperament the way it was, Setlan could have found himself inadvertently stunned if the Security Chief was annoyed enough. Which he was right now.  Squeezing his arm, she gave him a look of sympathy, hoping it would defuse his annoyance.

Not that Julia could blame him of course. Glancing at Chris Larabee, she could see her Captain in a similar state of irritation at the tactless statement.

Chris was mad but he had the presence of mind to keep his temper in check, mostly because they needed Setlan’s cooperation and he didn’t want to be stuck like this forever. After all, he was... before he could even finish the thought in his head, he glanced at Mary and kept himself from thinking the ‘Captain’ again.  Well, he’d show her, Chris thought snidely and ended that line of thinking before it went any further.

Although he was the Captain.

“And who is this?” Setlan regarded Adam, seemingly oblivious to the effect his enthusiasm was having on the children of the Maverick, eyeing the teenager with interest.

“This is my son Adam,” Chris introduced the teenager, feeling ridiculous doing it in this condition. He should be a grown-up, so he could proud of telling people who Adam was, not feeling like a freak because Adam looked more like his babysitter than his child. This was just so UNFAIR!

“Ah….” Setlan took a long look at Adam, examining him as if he were a new specimen. “It’s all in the eyes, isn’t it?” Setlan nudged Veer next to him. “Welcome to Hadir young man, I am most impressed that you’ve chosen to accompany your father on this great quest. I am terribly sorry about all this. If we had known the effect of the Blue Vale on off-worlders, we would never have served it.”

“That’s right!” Mary burst out, revealing in the last few hours that she was quite the brat as a child. “You should have told us! Now, look at us! I have a son!  I’m two years older than him now! How am I supposed to take care of him like this!” She marched right up to Setlan and glared at him, her small hands clenched into fists at her side, while her blond hair swayed behind her like a banner of war.

“Mary, stop it!” Chris groaned and went to silence her because he did not want anything to keep them from getting to the bottom of this situation and provoking the planetary head of state was never wise.  “This isn’t anyone’s fault. I’m awful sorry Setlan, as Captain...OW! That hurt!”

Chris glared at Mary, holding his arm where she punched him.

“Stop saying that! You’re not the Captain! You’re a little kid like the rest of us!”

“OKAY KNOCK IT OFF!” Buck Wilmington barked, somehow managing to produce a bellow worthy of his adult self, despite his somewhat diminutive size at present.  The rebuke made everyone jump, including Setlan and Veer. “This isn’t going to solve anything. We gonna have to rely on each other when we go looking for these caves and we’re not going to get anywhere if we behave like this!”

“Yes, please, please listen to him,” Alex said softly and looked as if she might start to cry, clearly disturbed by the raised voices around her. Her brown eyes were glistening as she stood behind Vin. “This is scary enough as it is without all of you fighting.”

“Were you born without a spine before you got to Kellien?” Mary bit back.

“HEY!” Vin immediately rose to her defence. “Quit being such a cow! No one’s happy about this!”

“Oh, bite me!” Mary glared at Vin, more than prepared to punch him too. Vulcan or not.

“Man, your girlfriend’s snotty!” Nathan shook his head, trying to remember that this was their protocol officer, who was an expert in diplomacy and tact.

“I’m not his girlfriend!” Mary declared.

“Are too!” Vin said smugly. “You kissed him, that means you’re going together.”

“Hey everyone, take it easy!” Chris snapped, ignoring the continuing issue of his relationship with Mary because right now, he didn’t want her for his girl. She was kind of mean. “Look you have to do what I say! I’m the Captain....”

“Oh my God!” Josiah groaned in exasperation, impatient to begin this quest. “CAN WE GET GOING ALREADY!”

“This is very traumatising,” Adam said with a straight face to Setlan.

The First officer of the Maverick exhaled deeply and seeing as to how he was the only one among the group, remotely reasonable, turned his attention to Setlan.  “Maybe you better just show us the way to these caverns, so we can get started.”

“Yes,” Setlan nodded, somewhat shocked by the children, senior officers, whatever they were, behaving so badly. “I think under the circumstances that would be best.”

******* 

A short time later, they were descending into the bowels of Hadir, riding in one of the service elevators normally employed for transporting equipment from the surface. The beginning of the tunnel network supposedly leading to the Caverns of Azcax was at the deepest level of the mines and the journey down took several minutes, with each level passed marked by a flash on the elevator panel. Fortunately, Setlan had opted to leave Veer to guide them to the tunnels that were supposedly the mythological entrance to the Caverns, although no one had ever managed to explore it to know for sure.

According to Veer, the tunnel system was little more than cracks in the dense rock and appeared to be particularly resistant to drilling. The best mining equipment had done little more than excavate a few dozen feet and the time taken to do so was so laborious, it was simpler to abandon the idea, and move on to more easily accessible pergium deposits elsewhere. Besides, there was also the danger that prolonged attempts to widen the fissures by blasting and drilling, could result in bringing down the entire cavern.  

“So, will our tricorders work?” Nathan had to ask, not liking the idea of wandering in scary caves when his medical tricorder wasn’t working. As it was, no one had been happy to hear the transporters would be no good to them while they were down here either.  The density of the rock not to mention the high pergium content made transporters unreliable resulting in Nathan being doubly insistent that the tricorders worked at least. While he might have the emotional control of a ten-year-old, he still had the knowledge of a doctor and even if Ezra Standish had apparently been a hypochondriac as a child, he wasn’t wrong about the dangers they could face.

Of course, Nathan would rather be force fed Brussel sprouts than admit that.

“We cannot say,” Veer answered honestly.  “We know we are unable to use matter transference devices because of the interference but we have no idea how your devices will function there. We’ve never had anyone able to explore those tunnels to tell us whether or not they will work.”

“Uhm....” Alex spoke up quietly. “We...we could uhm, configure the tricorders to make up for it.”

“Sure!” Julia piped enthusiastically at the suggestion. “I can do that easily. No problem!”

“Well that’s something,” Chris grumbled. “Okay, we’re going to get moving. Try to remember, despite this,” he looked at himself with a frown, still unable to believe this situation, “we’re still Starfleet officers.”

He avoided using the word Captain and took a step away from Mary just in case.

“Adam, follow for as long as you can but if it becomes too narrow, turn back,”  Chris said seriously, managing to project some measure of authority in his voice. “I don’t want you to get hurt. We’ll be okay. I promise.”

Adam wasn’t so sure about that, not seeing how volatile their tempers were. However, there were some realities he had to face. It was very possible, he might have to abandon them if he could not fit in those tunnels.

“Okay.” He agreed reluctantly, “but only if there is no other way through.”

When the lift came to stop and the aging metal doors creaked open, the first one through was naturally Josiah.  He had been fidgeting throughout the journey to the planet’s depths and Chris wasn't surprised when he rushed out without waiting for anyone’s permission. The Counsellor still viewed this entire trip as a journey of a lifetime and despite all the misgivings his comrades had about the undertaking, nothing seemed capable of dampening Josiah’s spirit of adventure.

“Josiah hold up!” Chris called after him but Josiah was already gone.

“We’re going to have to lasso him,” Buck muttered, rolling his eyes in exasperation as they shuffled out of the elevator into the large cavern beyond.

As explained by Veer, the Hadir had managed to get their machinery this far because the cavern they had just entered was a natural formation. It was believed that within the narrow tunnels was a motherlode of pergium but the attempts at drilling and blasting had resulted in only a small penetration of the sheer rock wall. While they could use more powerful explosives, the danger of collapsing the tunnel completely or worse yet, igniting the pergium under such intense heat, made the whole effort pointless.  In the end, it was simpler to seek out accessible deposits elsewhere.

Emerging into the cavern, they were immediately confronted with the speckles of glitter that was raw pergium across the ceiling and walls of dark stone. Against the almost indigo coloured rock, it was rather breathtaking.  The failed attempts of mining were also evident by the abandoned machinery and equipment left in the lit corners, while deep concave grooves in the walls, revealed where the attempt at blasting had taken place.

The tunnel they would have to enter was little more than a crack in the wall, no more than three feet wide and five feet high. It was no wonder they were unable to mine the place, only children would fit in such a small space and even as Chris studied it, he worried about how Adam was going to fit its narrow confines.

“That it?” He looked at Veer unhappily.

“I am afraid so,” Setlan’s assistant nodded with similar dismay, probably having never seen the tunnel himself to realise just how confining it was.

Everyone was staring at the tunnel, all with their own feelings of anxiety, impatience, fear and concern. Adam was studying it to see how he’d move through it. He hadn’t lied when he claimed to have crawled through such tight spaces in the past. He had and some were even worse than this. What concerned him was the children under his charge. Sure, they were the senior officers of the Maverick, but at this point in time, they were children. They had the knowledge but not the temperament and that worried him.  However, to get them back to normal, they had to make the journey.

Adam didn’t like the idea of his father or any one of them going through that fissure, but he was not going to let them out of his sight if they had to.

Taking the lead, Adam started towards the entrance, casting a glance back at Veer.  “See you when we get back.” He said.

“Wait,” Buck Wilmington spoke up, once again using that voice of his, far more commanding than ought to be capable by a boy his size.

Adam looked over his shoulder and saw all eyes on the First Officer, who was stepping forward, head slightly dropped as if he was about to go to his own execution.

“What is it?” Adam asked, still trying to fathom how Buck Wilmington had ended up as tall as he did when he started as this little kid in front of him. Still, despite his size, Adam was very quickly concluding, Buck was the easiest to manage.  Even more from his father, who must have known from birth he was going to be a starship captain since he allowed no one to forget it.

“I should go first,” Buck stated reluctantly.

“No,” Both Chris and Adam protested in unison.

“Yeah,” Buck gave them both a withering look.  “You’re related alright. Look, I’m not any happier about this but I should go first. I’m the smallest and I can fit better than any of you. I can go ahead and scout it out.”

“I should follow you,” Ezra spoke. “I am Security Chief after all.”

“Who’s afraid to touch anything,” Nathan quipped.

Ezra whirled around and shoved the doctor, at the same time shattering what was left of Chris Larabee’s patience.

“STOP IT YOU TOO! OR I WILL KICK BOTH YOUR ASSES!”

“Because he’s Captain,” Mary couldn’t help but add.

“Mary shut the hell up!” Chris barked, staring at her so sharply, he put the Larabee glare to shame and silenced her immediately.  “Ezra, Nathan, you’re both last. Adam stay with them so they don’t kill each other! Josiah, you stay put and stop running off! The last thing we need is some monster eating your face off because you ran straight into it!  Julia, have you and Alex figured out how to make the tricorders work yet?”

“Almost done,” Julia asked, ignoring the antics of her lover and the doctor, who were both behaving like a bunch of dorks.

“Okay,” he looked at Adam who seemed to be smiling faintly at him. “What?”

“Nothing, Captain,” Adam remarked, glad to see some semblance of the father he admired showing himself, despite his current limitations.

Chris grumbled audibly before turning to Buck. “You sure about going first?” He asked his old friend. Despite the sense of Buck’s suggestion, Chris still worried about him. He looked so fragile, Chris was genuinely worried for him if he encountered trouble.

“Yeah,” Buck nodded, “I’ll be okay.”  

“Don’t worry Chris,” Vin spoke up, coming up alongside Buck.  While Vin was about the same size as Chris, his limbs were sinewy, possessing none of the baby fat normal to a kid his age. He had the look of someone who had gotten by on very little and had to work really hard to get it in the first place.  Chris supposed growing up on that savage world had demanded nothing less of him.

“But Vin....” Alex said looking at him worriedly.  Chris still couldn’t get over the fact this timid little girl, was going to become his tough science officer who sparred with Klingons during her off-duty hours.

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “I’ll be alright.”

Chris also realised this was the Vin Tanner who hadn’t known he was to become a pariah among his people. At this point in his life, Vin had been too busy surviving, with only his mother as company. She had loved him unconditionally and without the guidance of his Vulcan parents, Vin had loved her back, unaware of how much it would set him apart when he returned to the world.  A part of Chris felt angry at what Vin had endured, because someone who survived that hellish childhood, deserved better.

“Okay then Adam,” Chris said finally.  “Let’s do this.”

******* 

An hour after the senior staff left the Maverick, the proximity alert sounded.

Ensign JD Dunne, presently seated in the Captain’s chair, while still coming to grips with the curious circumstances that saw him occupying Chris Larabee’s place on the bridge, though he was daydreaming at first.  Since being left in command of the Maverick, JD had been envisioning what worst-case scenario might come upon him during the Captain’s absence and thought his imagination might have spilled over into paranoia.

He was nowhere that lucky.

When the perimeter alert sounded, screaming its warning across the bridge, JD realised he had been so preoccupied with the state of the senior staff, he’d all but forgotten there was a reason the Hadir wanted Federation protection in the first place.  

“Go to yellow alert!” JD ordered once he’d recovered his senses enough to realise this wasn’t some dream but a reality waiting response.

“Initiating yellow alert,” Drew Katovit replied promptly from the tactical station. JD still found it odd to see the man there instead of Ezra Standish.

“Do we know what it is?” He asked Charlotte Richmond who had taken up position next to Drew in the same way Alex and Ezra often performed during battlefield conditions.

“Scanning,” she replied promptly before looking up at him a moment later. “It’s a warship.”

“On screen!” JD said standing up from his chair.

“On screen,” replied the enthusiastic voice of Ensign Jewel Chunn, the lovely young woman with the flawless ebony skin, recently transferred to the Maverick.  JD had been pleased to see her, since they both graduated from the same class at the Academy.

The viewer came to life and appearing on the screen before them, was an Orion Marauder battleship.  JD had never seen one but it was comparable in size to the Maverick. From what he knew, the Marauders were the ship of choice for the Orion Syndicate.  As Ezra had guessed, the Syndicate was responsible for the raids on Hadir and JD knew of only one reason why the syndicate would come to Hadir with such a formidable ship.

The Orions thought they were facing Chris Larabee.

JD wished he didn’t have to disappoint them.

It was bad enough being an adult trapped in a child’s body with the lack of emotional control that came with it, but now Buck Wilmington was singularly annoyed to realise he was also being revisited by memories of past terrors. Specifically, his dislike of dark places.

When he first made the offer to take point, he did it as the capable First Officer of the Maverick. It was logical. His size made it easier to travel up the crack in the rock passing itself off as a tunnel. It was only after he started walking through the narrow passage with its wall slick with moisture, breathing in the dank, stale air and hearing the unseen things moving in the dark, did the old fears start creeping up his spine.

Suddenly, he became conscious that the torch he carried was the only thing allowing him to see what was ahead. Beyond the range of the beam, the darkness was overwhelming. In space, the expanse of blackness never seemed as foreboding because no matter what, the stars were there to offer one assurance. While the environment might be hostile, each pinprick of light was a promise of life. In this tunnel, there was nothing. It was like staring down the mouth of a black hole, where there was no destination, just a crushing singularity that promised total annihilation.

They had been walking for two hours now and even the glitter of pergium had become lost in the black, illuminated only when the light of his torch reached it. The strobe also revealed the tiny droplets of water in the air and Buck had to wonder how the humidity was being generated this far down. So far, the tunnel seemed to be gradually descending deeper into the bowels of Hadir and Buck hoped this wasn’t going to mean a journey of days, because they had supplies for only two or three. Any further than that, they would have to turn back.

“Alex, can we try again and see how far this tunnel goes?” Buck heard Chris, who was behind Vin, ask Alex. It wasn’t the first time the captain had asked the question. When they first entered the breach in the rock, Alex had attempted to use the tricorder with middling results. While it did provide them with some readings, it was not enough to cover the full extent of the tunnel.

“Uhm...okay,” Alex, who was a little further down their single-file formation, answered with uncertainty. “I’ll try but I’m not sure if it will work any better. The best it can do is tell us if the tunnel is getting wider or narrower. The pergium is still interfering with the sensor signal.”

“Pity,” Nathan frowned from where he was in the line. “Mine seems to be working fine.” The first thing Nathan had done when he entered the tunnels was to make sure the medical tricorder was functioning. Surrounded by all this darkness, the last thing they needed was to get injured in this place without any way to diagnose the problem.

“That’s because you’re scanning people, not rocks and they’re up close. Pergium has less effect on biological matter than it does on an inanimate material. Poor conductivity,” Julia answered dutifully.

The familiar rip of a Velcro flap being peeled back screeched across the air, followed by the insistent beeps and the soft tapping of a tricorder pad, told everyone Alex was attempting to make the scan.

“Where’s all this water coming from?” Vin asked as they waited for her to give Chris his answer. “I kind of thought  we were too deep in the ground for this.”

“Could be from the upper levels,” Adam commented. “You got a lot of operational mines that use a lot of water. They might have filtration systems that have created water flow from condensation.”

“Or maybe there’s an underground lake somewhere in here!” Josiah said excitedly, predictably going for the more outlandish reason. In the last two hours, Josiah had postulated they would find everything from Sauron’s One Ring to the Lost City of Atlantis. That they were several dozen light years away from Earth, where much of this lore originated, did nothing to dampen the man’s spirit.

“We could find a whole new ecosystem that was previously undiscovered.” He added his latest theory.

In the darkness, Ezra Standish performed a facepalm to stifle the groan of annoyance that threatened to escape his lips, having grown quite sick of hearing Josiah’s insane theories. In fact, the more Ezra listened to Josiah, the more he was convinced the man had no business treating patients. To Josiah’s latest remark, Ezra found himself needing to comment, however.

“I have no wish to stumble into an unknown ecosystem Counsellor,” Ezra stated hotly. Experience told him that after the initial novelty had worn off, the beauty of a new environment usually gave way to its deadlier aspects. “Usually such environments, unaffected by the outside world for aeons, are usually occupied by primordial creatures.”

“Like dinosaurs!” Josiah quipped not about to let Ezra’s pessimism dampen his imagination.

“Enough with the dinosaurs already!” Mary who had managed to remain silent for the last ten minutes, no doubt to give the whining that was getting on everyone’s nerves a rest, finally broke the drought. “We’re sick of hearing about dinosaurs, flying monkeys and talking parrots! Just give it a rest!”

“Oh great, “You got her started.” Chris rolled his eyes and glanced behind him to see Josiah was nowhere offended. It must be his Counsellor’s patience that kept him from telling her to shut up.

With a completely unrepentant smirk, Vin turned to his best friend and grinned. “Well you’re the Captain, you make her keep quiet.”

“I don’t have a muzzle...OW!” Chris started to say when a small fist hit him in the bicep. For a girl, she could hit real hard. “You do that one more time and I swear, pretty or not, I’ll knock you on your ass.” He glared at her hard, perfectly willing to carry out the threat.

After all, it was the 24th century and equality meant you got to hit anyone you liked.

“Whether I’m pretty or not is none of your concern, Chris Larabee.” Mary huffed haughtily but shrank silently at the threat.

Adam, who knew perfectly well what was going on between the two and told himself he was going to have a great time reminding his father and Mary of this situation when things were back to normal, drawled with a smirk. “I’d say get a room but, in your case, maybe a playground.”

Both shot the teenager a murderous look.

“Knock it off you too!” Buck snapped, his patience wearing thin with both of them. It was so damn obvious Mary liked Chris but at this age, the line between love and hate was painfully thin. In any case, Buck didn’t care for their bickering. He didn’t want to stay like this and the sooner they got this quest, trek, whatever... over and done with, the better. Besides, in the last few seconds, Buck had noticed something, and he needed silence to hear it better.

“Shut up and listen.”

Everyone fell silent and did not speak for an instant but when they settled down enough to do so, could discern exactly what Buck was calling their attention to. They heard the sounds of running water. It still seemed far away but the sound was being carried through the tunnel. It was steady and continuous as if it was a current that was more than accustomed to the path it was taking.

“That’s water!” Josiah exclaimed. “I’ll bet there’s a river down here somewhere!”

“Is such a thing possible?” Ezra’s voice asked through the darkness. “We are quite some distance from the surface.”

“Uhm...yeah it is,” Alex said in her stuttering voice, once again making everyone who heard her wonder how on Earth she had evolved into their science officer. “Well sometimes a river can get diverted underground and if the conditions are okay, can thrive. You can tell how long it’s been down here by what we find in it. Usually, if the river’s been here a long time, the things in it will change to exist in an underground environment. “

“There could be....” Josiah started to say when Ezra cut him off.

“Counsellor, one mention of dinosaurs and I shall not be responsible for what happens next.”

“.... piranha.” Josiah declared smugly, not about to let Ezra’s warning intimidate him.

Someone uttered a short laugh and stifled it. Buck was almost certain it was Julia. Nathan was nowhere that restrained and started to laugh out loud, no doubt infuriating their Security Chief to no end. Almost as much as Josiah’s shit-eating grin.

“Quiet!” Chris snapped, cutting off any more arguments before they could get started, even though to be honest, he was getting sick of hearing about dinosaurs too. If there were dinosaurs down here, (which would be totally cool for about a second), their mission to find the cavern was going to become a great deal more painful. “Buck, can you see anything?”

“Not yet,” Buck answered, already aiming his torch down the tunnel but could see only the walls of the passage and nothing else. At least, the width of the tunnel remained the same and had not narrowed since they set out. It allowed Adam to remain with them, even if it was still a bit of a tight squeeze for the teenager.

“Just be careful when you’re going on ahead,” Adam warned Buck, the only one of the troop who seemed to be holding onto his adult persona for dear life. Thank God. “If there’s some kind of river or lake running through this place, the last thing we need is for you to fall into it.”

“Especially if there are piranhas!” Julia quipped, frowning at the thought that Josiah had inadvertently put in her head.

Buck exchanged a look with Vin who was behind him before Buck shook his head in sarcasm. “Thank you for that comforting thought.”

“Don’t worry Buck,” Vin said patting his back. “If there’s anything like that, I’ve got a knife. I’ll gut it before it can even take a bite out of you and if you go into the water, I’ll be right behind you.”

There was a gasp of fear that came from Alex and an equally frustrated groan from Chris. “How about neither of you going in?”

“Yeah,” Nathan added. “Anything you get bitten off I’m going to have to put back together again.”

“I got a reading of what’s up ahead,” Alex said after regaining her composure and overcoming her fears for Vin. “It’s not giving me much of a signal because of the pergium, but it looks like the tunnel ends in about five hundred meters.”

“Well that’s something,” Adam replied, hoping where they arrived was much easier to travel than this tunnel.

They continued up the passageway for another half an hour, moving slowly because they were mindful of the edge they were approaching. Despite being several miles beneath the surface, the tunnel felt humid and moist, no doubt because of the river they now knew to exist. Stalactites had started to appear above their heads. The pale limestone formations looked like serrated teeth which made no one happy, particularly Adam who was now forced to keep his head down even further, almost to the point where he was half bent over.

Piercing through the darkness, after what seemed to be an eternity, but was only another thirty minutes or so, was light. It emerged through a rough hewn doorway at the end of this narrow chute of a tunnel. It illuminated the walls with its radiance and offered a welcoming invitation to the group of travellers approaching it so cautiously. Beyond the doorway, Buck heard running water. The loud, rushing hiss gave away the size of the waterway beyond.

“I see light!” Buck exclaimed and Vin who was behind him, immediately craned his neck over Buck’s shoulder so he could see for himself.

“I see it too!” Vin confirmed, his blue eyes widening with astonishment at Buck’s discovery.

“How can there be light?” Nathan asked no one in particular. “We’re miles from anything!”

“There could...uhm...be a lot of reasons,” Alex volunteered. “There could be plants or animals with bio-luminescent characteristics.”

“That’s right,” Chris agreed with her. “It’s pretty common in a deep ocean environment,” he flashed her a little smile of encouragement.

Mary caught the look Chris gave Alex and decided, she did not at all like it.

“All of which means there could be something in the cavern that could eat your face off right?” She stared at Alex pointedly.

“Yes,” Alex nodded meekly, not liking the hard stare Mary was aiming at her.

Buck ignored the comments, his initial fear giving away to curiosity as to what they might find beyond the doorway. Approaching it cautiously and ever mindful of Adam’s warnings to take it slow, Buck had to squint because the illumination from the chamber beyond was so bright, his eyes hurt seeing it after being in the darkness for so long. However, the pain slipped away, and he peered through it.

The cavern in which he entered was almost a hundred feet high, with stalactites covering the ceiling as far as the eye could see. The illumination was coming from the walls, generated by a luminous blanket of moss covering most of the cavern. It spread across the roof and down the walls, punctuated by bluish coloured flowers, that was quite breathtaking. The luminescence cast a strange, unearthly bluish-green glow across the area.

However, none of it was as astonishing as what he was staring right in front of him. What was before them did not look like a river. It was much too vast for that. The water seemed to disappear into the distance, with frothy waves rushing to greet the pristine white sand at the shore. The water crystal clear and Buck could see the bioluminescent creatures Alex had suggested earlier, swimming languidly beneath the surface, their glowing bodies adding to the light in this place.

And then there was the boat.

It sat at the end of a wooden dock at the far end of the cavern. With twin masts, the tallest of the two was almost fifteen feet high, with white sails hanging from the gaff, appearing as immaculate as the sandy shore. The vessel looked like it had sailed into being from another century, with its wooden panelling and bow spirit extended proudly, almost as if it were pointing in the direction it wished to go.

If Buck didn’t know better, he would have sworn it was waiting for them.

“It’s a schooner!” Vin Tanner exclaimed with excitement as he emerged into the cavern next to Buck and once the helmsman saw the ship in the distance, lost all good sense. He was overtaking Buck in a second, jogging up to the vessel, in his eagerness to reach it.

“Vin hold up!” Buck called after him, but it was no use. When Vin was on a tear like this, nothing short of a stun blast was going to hold him back.

“What did you...” Chris followed soon after and was about to ask when he caught sight of what Buck was staring at and Vin was heading to with such speed. He could see Vin’s footprints in the sand as the Vulcan closed in on the craft. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It’s a schooner,” Buck explained. “At least that’s what Vin says.”

The others emerged soon after, all making the same exclamations of shock. The boat that awaited them looked in perfect condition although who knew how long it been down here, waiting for someone to come and discover it.

“Is that a boat?” Adam had to ask. He had never seen one look like that but considering his upbringing, it wasn’t entirely a surprise. He knew little of Earth’s history and had never been to the planet until Chris took him not long ago.

“I believe it is a schooner,” Ezra explained. “Although it does seem rather small. I was under the impression they were usually larger.”

“Vin!” Chris called after his best friend. “HOLD UP!”

Vin was almost to the ship when Chris’s bellow halted him in his tracks. Almost impatiently, Vin stopped and turned around, frowning because he was eager to get to the craft. “Come on Chris, look at that beauty! I mean she’s a schooner and yacht and she’s cherry!”

Chris and Buck exchanged glances and rolled their eyes, sharing the same sentiment. Vin Tanner was a connoisseur of anything he could pilot. It didn’t matter if it flew or sail, Vin considered himself a helmsman first and foremost. If it existed, he wanted to be at the wheel. Of course, the last time Chris gave into Vin’s desire to pilot an ancient craft, it resulted in a lot of people losing their lives and it was a lesson burned into the captain’s memory for all time. One he was not about to repeat.

“Oh wow!” Josiah gushed. “Look at it! It’s like the Jolly Roger!”

“The what?” Adam exclaimed, suddenly wondering just how deficient his education was. While this was not the time to give thought to the subject, Adam realised it was something he was going to have to deal with if he was remaining in this universe permanently.

“It’s the ship in Treasure Island,” Julia declared.

“Well, what’s it doing here?” Mary demanded. “That’s an Earth ship! An Earth ship shouldn’t be here. This is smelling fishy!”

“Take it easy,” Chris gave her a look. “It might look like an Earth design but that could just be a coincidence.”

“Yeah,” Alex said meekly. “Hodgkin’s Law of Parallel Planetary Development says planets can develop the exact same way as another if the conditions are right. It could just be the way they built boats here is the same as Earth’s.”

“I think you’re right,” Chris agreed with her and once again, he found himself giving Alex a smile, trying to prompt more responses from her, mostly because her observations were usually very useful. Alex was the best science officer he had ever worked with and they needed that to get through this.

“Thanks, Captain,” Alex replied, giving him a small smile.

“Don’t encourage him,” Mary grumbled darkly, not liking the attention Chris was giving Alex at all.

“What is that craft doing here?” Ezra asked. “I find it oddly disconcerting that it has been waiting here in pristine condition for us.”

“One way to find out,” Josiah said excitedly, “we gotta go on board.” The Counsellor had overtaken them all and was now crossing the sand to join Vin.

“Dad, we’re going to have to take a look at it anyway,” Adam advised having scanned the area and saw no other path they could take to get beyond this cavern. There was only one way to leave the area and it appeared to be across the water. “There’s no other way forward. I know it’s improbable it being here, but let’s face it, this whole thing is crazy anyway.”

Chris could not disagree with that and turned to his First Officer.

“He’s right,” Buck shrugged. “The boats the only way we’re getting ahead. Otherwise, we’ll have to turn back.”

“That’s not happening,” Chris said firmly, having no intention of giving up and nodded at Buck to proceed.

The first officer nodded, understanding Chris’s order, even though they were both staring at each other as ten-year old’s. Even in this state, they complemented each other as Captain and First Officer of the Maverick, enough so that Buck could still anticipate what Chris needed.

Looking at Vin and Josiah who were gazing at the ship longingly, Buck hollered. “Okay Vin, Josiah. Go ahead! Ezra you too. Make sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m a security chief,” Ezra grumbled emerging from the group and hurrying after the two who were running towards the craft, wearing happy grins on their faces. “Not a miracle worker.”

JD wasn’t certain who was going to carry out the order, whether it was Jewel at Navigation and Comms, the seat he normally occupied or Charlotte Richmond, sitting in for Alex Styles. In the final analysis, it really didn’t matter because it wouldn’t change the fact it was he in charge of the bridge now. Chris Larabee had asked him to keep his ship safe and JD would do it to the best of his ability.

Even if he was scared shitless.

“Aye Sir,” it was Jewel’s voice who replied.

JD’s fingers instinctively dug into the comfortable material of the armrests, praying the captain didn’t kick his ass for leaving nail marks in the upholstery. He heard Jewel’s voice speaking in the background and wondered how the Orions were going to respond when they saw him instead of Chris Larabee.

“Drew,” JD said calmly, “shield’s up at your discretion.”

Drew Katovit was an experienced security officer and someone who had Ezra Standish’s utmost confidence. In truth, Drew probably ought to be occupying this seat instead of him, but the Captain hadn’t left him in command, he’d given that duty to JD. Nevertheless, the ensign wasn’t about to let it go to his head. Drew knew his job and JD was smart enough to let him do it.

“Thank you, Ensign,” Drew replied with a hint of admiration at the young man’s trust. As it was, Drew was singularly impressed by how JD had been conducting himself since this had all begun. Being given centre seat a year out of the Academy would have reduced most officers his age, to gibbering idiots but JD had learned well under Buck Wilmington’s tutelage. Now, more than ever, it showed.

JD gave him a slight nod and then turned his attention front again. Without looking at the officer of the Conn, he added. “Wo, chances are when they work out why we’re here, they’re going to attack. Be prepared for evasive maneuvers when they do. If they want the pergium, they’re going to have to cripple us so we can’t stop them.”

“Aye Ensign,” Wo replied with a slight nod. “I got this.”

“JD, I’ve notified Hadir of the situation,” Charlotte added as well, aware he hadn’t given her the order but wanted to ease the burden off him as much as possible. Since they held the line against the Jem’Hadar, when the Maverick was beset by a Dominion task force, they had become friends and like Drew, Charlotte was admiring how he was holding up.  “They’re standing by.”

JD flashed her a look of gratitude and nodded.

“The Orions are responding JD,” Jewel announced, her brown eyes shifting immediately to the screen in concert with the rest of the bridge crew.

The face that appeared before them, with long flowing black hair, well-shaped eyebrows, hazel eyes and exquisite features that included full lips, not unlike Alex’s, made JD’s Adam’s apple bob up and down. She was, like all Orion females, stunning.  She was clad in very little, her cleavage showing prominently beneath the scrap of a top she was wearing. JD supposed he ought to be grateful Buck was on Hadir. If Buck had been his adult self, they would have had to have broken out the smelling salts by now.

“You are the Captain of the Maverick?” She looked at him sceptically, her brow arched in disbelief.

“No,” JD replied, telling himself they probably sent her here to get under the Captain’s skin. The irony of Chris Larabee’s current state was not lost on JD at this thought. “Captain Larabee is presently indisposed. I’m Ensign JD Dunne.  You’ve entered Hadir space without authorisation, please state your purpose.”

“State our purpose? To an ensign?” She balked at the suggestion, unwittingly raising JD’s hackles at the same time.

“An ensign’s all you got,” JD stated firmly, not about to point out she didn't look much older than him either. “What is your purpose here?”

“I am Commander Navea of the Orion Syndicate and we don’t need any authorisation! We’ve come to Hadir for pergium and I do not recognise Starfleet’s jurisdiction in this matter. Hadir is not a Federation world!” She huffed angrily.

“Hadir is presently making an application to join the Federation,” JD replied, recalling what Mary had explained on the subject of jurisdiction during one of their briefings, prior to arriving at Hadir. “Under the articles of Federation law, until such time as those proceedings are finalised, we will act on the behalf of Hadir, regarding the protection of its borders. You’ve entered Hadir space without authorisation, that is an act of aggression. State your purpose or leave.”

“You dare! You dare accuse us of trespassing and thievery?” She barked back.

JD suddenly realised, she wasn’t just as young as he, but also as inexperienced. Like most Orion females, she was probably more effective in a room with you. Their pheromones made it near impossible for males of most species (except Vulcan) to resist them and gave women, blinding headaches.  

JD’s eyes narrowed. “Trespassing yes,” he said with a little smile. “But I didn’t say nothing about thievery?”

Her eyes widened at the realisation of her unintentional slip and he could almost see the wince that crossed her face at that revelation. Instead of flaring up in anger, JD saw her eyes narrowing in the manner of a cat, just before it took a swipe at you, (goddamn Huxley!), before she spoke again. This time, her voice was sweet and enchanting.

“I have no wish to enter a quarrel with Starfleet over this matter. We are here to purchase legally, a shipment of pergium from Hadir.  Perhaps we may meet to discuss the situation. I’d be willing to come on board your ship.”

JD knew perfectly well why she was willing to do so. No doubt, she thought a face to face meeting would allow her to use her formidable sex appeal on him and get what she wanted. He debated whether to permit it. After all, if she was here, the Orion ship would be less inclined to take shots at them. Aware the Captain would prefer not to take the ship into battle without his being present, JD decided to take the risk and permit her on board.

With a few precautions of course.  

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” JD responded after a moment, getting curious stares from Charlotte and Jewel at the same time. Drew and Wo were still staring at the lovely face on the screen.  “I look forward to meeting you.”

She broke into a smile and JD had to admit, she was awful pretty when she did. Of course, it had all the warmth of a crocodile’s smile. No doubt, she was already thinking of all the ways she was going to get into his head and mess him up. It might even work except JD was more afraid of the scrappy little Bajoran with the ability to kick his ass if he even thought of looking at another girl.

Even if she looked kind of gross right now with the flu.

“I will transport to your ship shortly Ensign,” Navea said with a triumphant smile. “Please stand by.”

With that, the screen went blank and all eyes turned to JD.  Naturally, Charlotte who was the most senior officer on the bridge spoke first.

“Ensign, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to meet her face to face,” Charlotte declared, perfectly aware of how powerful the pheromones of Orion women could be.  It would be tough enough for the Captain to handle but JD was still a young man, with one girlfriend under his belt.

“I can handle it,” JD frowned, not liking the sceptical looks on all their faces.

“Sure, you can,” Jewel snorted, giving him a look of concern. She remembered JD’s dating history during his cadet years at the Academy. “You nearly fainted the first time Maddie Stokes asked you out! That woman,” Jewel stared at the screen as if Navea’s face was still there, “is going to kill you!”

“I did not faint!” JD blurted out annoyed, recalling Maddie Stokes who was easily one of the prettiest girls in his class at the Academy. She with her wild, curly brown hair, her perfect skin and gorgeous smile, spent four years ignoring him until he’d defeated the Kobayashi Maru test and was the talk of the Academy.  He’d stood there, tongue-tied as she asked him out and even though the date was pleasant enough, JD barely managed to get a word in through her incessant chatter about how he was going to be a starship captain someday, and he’d need an officer like her.

“Okay enough,” Drew spoke up, reminding them all that despite his age, JD was presently acting Captain and ought to be afforded the same courtesy. Certainly, Chris Larabee would not tolerate his judgement being questioned. “Ensign,” he looked at JD. “You sure about this? “

“Yeah,” JD nodded, once again reminding himself to tell Ezra how helpful Drew had been when this was all over. “If she’s here, they’re less likely to open fire.  In the meantime, we need to tell the Hadir to go to alert at their lunar mining facility because chances are, when she figures out I’m not going to play her game, they’ll be going after the pergium.  Charlotte, I’d appreciate you joining me when we meet her. Drew, you got the Conn til we get back.”

JD started to leave the bridge, gesturing to Charlotte to follow.

“Where are we going?” She asked puzzled since the Marauder had yet to signal their readiness to transport their commander across to the Maverick.

“To make a little stop,” JD said glancing at her over his shoulder as he made his way to the turbo lift. “At Sick Bay.”

*******

The ship was beautiful.

Vin Tanner ran his hand across the honey coloured wood and relished the sensation of the smooth lacquered finish under his palm. He stood at the helm, staring into the dark horizon beyond the bow, wondering what lay at the edge of this impossible underground sea and felt the tug of excitement at the idea of exploring it.  Overhead, the glitter of the strange, pergium enriched moss across the cavern roof resembled stars and for a moment, Vin thought he could use it to navigate like those old captains of hundreds of years ago.

With the wind from some unseen karst system blowing against the sails, the yacht which Josiah had christened the Jolly Roger, glided across the water away from the shore where they had found the craft.  The cool air carried the metallic scent of minerals, far removed from the dank, mustiness they experienced when they first entered the fissure. It felt pleasant against the skin and as Vin stood at the helm, enjoyed the sensation of it whipping through his hair.

Chris Larabee stood next to Vin, seeing nothing ahead except darkness. The cavern they were in was so large, it was impossible to see where it ended. Even though they had illuminated the path ahead with their torches, they could only see the immediate area in front of them. As the shore behind them grew more and more distant, Chris grappled with the unreality of their situation. As if it wasn’t bizarre enough they were trapped in the bodies of their younger selves but were now embarking on a quest that could have been lifted from any book he read as a child.   Despite Josiah’s annoying enjoyment of their present circumstances, Chris had to admit, he was starting to buy into its sense of adventure.

Just like Vin, Chris thought as he watched his best friend at the helm, proving once and for all he was able to handle any craft, whether it was on the water or in space. Between Vin’s expertise at the helm and Julia’s knowledge of sailing, a result of her Cape Cod upbringing, the Jolly Roger was making the crossing with remarkable speed. Even as he stood there, he could hear Julia’s voice in the background, providing orders to Nathan and Adam on how to man the craft.

“When did you learn to sailboats Vin?” Chris had to ask.

“Oh, when I was on that planet,” Vin volunteered, his blue eyes fixed ahead, trying to penetrate the darkness beyond the range of the torch lighting their way. Right now, all he could be certain of was there was still water to sail across as they journeyed ahead.  “Me and my foster father built a boat, so we could go exploring down the river. We were hoping to find other people but we never did. The boat wasn’t anything like this, but I liked the sailing well enough. He like sailing a lot and told me lots of stuff about it.”

Vin’s eyes misted over a moment, remembering the kind man who took Vin into his heart as the son he always wanted. He died too soon but he had meant enough to Vin for it to hurt, even after all these years.

“Sweet,” Chris remarked and then noted the sadness in the Vulcan’s eyes. He almost offered Vin comfort before realising Vin would probably prefer it if Chris didn’t bring attention to it at all.  

Instead, the Captain of the Maverick glanced over his shoulder to see how the others were faring. His eyes sought out Mary first and saw her leaning against the wooden rail along the port side of the craft. The wind was blowing through her long hair, making those glorious golden locks sway like a banner in the wind. She looked awful pretty when she was quiet, he thought with a smirk.  Despite how infuriating she’d been, Chris couldn’t help but find amusement in the discovery that little Mary Travis had been quite the brat.

If this nightmare ever ended and they were restored to themselves again, Chris knew he was going to get a great deal of amusement at her expense.

In contrast, Alexandra Styles was on the other side of the deck, holding her tricorder in her hands as her lovely features studied the display with the utmost concentration. Nevertheless, even with her focus on learning everything she could about their present environment, Alex still looked like she was ready to jump out of her skin at the slightest intrusion.  It reminded Chris of her manner when she first arrived on the Maverick, a year ago. It had taken a lot of healing to bring out the confident young woman who had been so ravaged by the Cardassians.

Perhaps this was the reason why Kellien, the Klingon housekeeper employed by the Ambassador when Alex was a child on Qo’Nos, decided to take Alex under her wing. Kellien had raised the frightened young girl she had been and given her the confidence to become the able Science Officer they knew. Had Kellien been prompted to do so because she couldn’t stand to see any child so afraid of her own shadow?

Whatever the reason, Chris never finished the thought because he noticed Ezra making his way up the short steps from the main deck towards them at the helm.  The Security Chief’s youthful face still wore the frown that had been present ever since Chris made known his intention for them to use the Jolly Roger to continue their journey.  Not that Chris didn’t appreciate Ezra’s concerns. He did, as a matter of fact, but their options were limited.

“What’s up Ezra?” Chris asked as the pernickety, germaphobe reached them.

“Commander Styles has reported an abundance of life form readings in these waters,” Ezra answered, sounding no different than his adult self.

Not for the first time, Chris wondered if Ezra got beat up a lot in school for talking like that.

“How’s she doing?” Vin asked, glancing over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of Alex before he gave up realising she was beyond his line of sight.  Thanks to their reversal of age, the link established by their meld following the Pon Farr had been severed. After being attuned to her for almost a year, Vin found the lack of connection somewhat disturbing.

“She appears alright, although it is taking some doing coaxing a full sentence out of her,” Ezra remarked.

“I can’t believe that’s the woman who almost threatened to throw me into the warp core,” Chris said shaking his head in disbelief.  “The wonders of a Klingon upbringing.”

Ezra shrugged, concerned less with Alex’s childhood personality than their current circumstances. “Captain, do you not find this all somewhat fortuitous? That there is suddenly a sailing vessel in pristine condition simply waiting for us to find it?”

“I do,” Chris agreed. “This all looks too perfect.”

As Chris swept his gaze across the craft, he was unable to ignore the improbability of Ezra’s observations. For a vessel languishing here on its own for possibly centuries, the ship was perfectly preserved, without any signs of wear.  It was more than just its picture-perfect state, however, that struck him, and he could understand why Ezra was so suspicious.

The absence of dust and cobwebs on any surface made Chris believe the ship was being regularly maintained. Wood panelling shined as if  someone had recently polished it with beeswax and the sails which should have been blemished by time and wear, showed no such indications at all. Even the brass fixtures were gleaming and untarnished.

“Hell, nothing about this is right,” Vin commented. “We’re all kids, this boat looks like it’s been lifted out of another century. The whole place,” he ran his eyes across the cavern, “feels like something out of a book or holo-novel for kids.  I gotta feeling when we get to the end of this rabbit hole, what we find is nothing like what we expected.”

A thought struck Chris at that moment, so completely removed from their theories about how this happened to them, Chris considered the idea as being completely preposterous. Unfortunately, before he was able to ponder it further, the present calm was shattered by Buck’s furious voice bellowing across the length of the craft.

“Get down from there!”

To no one’s surprise, Buck was hollering at Josiah Sanchez, who was presently trying to get a bird’s eye view of things by climbing to the top of the main mast. Considering it was almost fifteen feet high and the fall would probably kill him, Chris shared Buck’s horror. At present, the Counsellor was hanging off the rungs like a monkey, with nary a care about his safety as he scaled the formidable structure.

I’ll be fine!” Josiah hollered back, and Chris could see his happy grin from the mast. “Don’t worry!”

Before Chris could get involved and threaten Josiah with the brig if he didn’t get down from there, another frantic voice cried out on top of her lungs.

“CAPTAIN!  We’ve got trouble!”

Alex’s tense cry captured everyone’s attention in an instant. All eyes turned to Alex who no longer wore the fearful mask of hesitation that had been hers since they set out this morning. Instead, she wore a face of worry, her eyes fighting the descent into panic. Leaning against the rails, she was holding out her tricorder, trying to confirm her findings on screen to what she was seeing.

Vin, Chris and Ezra exchanged looks instantly but it was Ezra and Chris who darted away from the helm and descended the stairs towards the main deck. Vin remained behind, wanting to go too, but forced to remain at the wheel, in case what caused Alex to cry out required them to navigate the Jolly Roger away from it. Gut clenching with conflict, Vin conceded Chris would ensure Alex was alright.

“What is it?” Chris called out to her as he and Ezra reached the main deck. Across the boat, the rest of the Maverick’s crew were doing the same, converging on Alex from wherever they were.  

Alex did not answer. She was still leaning against the rail, her eyes darting from the tricorder screen to the water, still wearing that alarming expression of fear on her face.  

Before she could answer, the deck beneath them heaved.

The massive, undulating swell of water came upon them so suddenly, the Jolly Roger seemed to protest as doors swung open, the sails flapping uncontrollably, and any object not secured was sliding across the floor. Chris and Ezra both stumbled, as they lost their footing, while Alex clung to the railing to keep from going overboard. Everyone was holding onto something, whether it was the boom, mast or railing, to avoid being driven to the deck.

Adam had one arm wrapped around Julia while the other was coiled around the main mast. The young engineer was still clinging to the teenager while seeking out Nathan, who was bracing himself against the boom. At the helm, Vin was gripping the wheel tight, while Buck was steadying himself by holding onto the doorknob of the entry into the lower decks.

Josiah who had been on his way down the main mast, felt his foot slip off a rung and almost went plunging downwards. Fortunately, his reflexes much improved by his current condition kept him from such a catastrophe. Regaining his footing, the Counsellor descended the mast, even though his gaze was scanning the darkness, trying to see what had almost caused him to break his neck.

“Over there!” Alex pointed when Chris recovered enough to reach her side.  

Less than fifty feet off the starboard bow, the dark water had started to churn and froth, creating white foam that was a stark contrast against the black.  Large bubbles rose to the surface and popped, filling the air with the fetid stink of a sewer. As Ezra flashed a torch on the source of all this turbulence, they saw the luminous outline of something beneath the waves, something that was not shaped like a fish. Slick, elongated appendages began to break water, appearing briefly before disappearing into the depths once again.

“What is it?” Mary asked, standing next to Chris and Ezra, cringing when she saw what she was certain were the sucker pads found on tentacles.

“I’m not sure,” Alex answered, looking up from the tricorder. “But it’s big. The dimensions I’m reading make it out to be bigger than a blue whale.”

“Oh, I do not like that comparison in the slightest,” Ezra complained, cursing the fact that he had no phaser in his hand.

With a tremendous splash that felt more like the explosive birth of a waterspout, they were all soaked to the skin by the wave that crashed against the boat. However, no one noticed the wet. How could they, when what emerged from the depths resembled some Lovecraftian horror? The mythological Titan, loosely resembling an octopus, was covered with spines like a sea urchin, protruding from a body that was slick and black. Blood red eyes blinked open and peered at them while its tentacles flayed overhead, each the size of tree trunks.  

“Okay,” Chris stated as he stared at the behemoth before them. “Maybe piranhas wouldn't have been so bad after all.”

Chris Larabee had seen a lot of strange stuff since becoming a starship captain.

Not once, but twice had he stood in an alien hatchery with man-sized bugs and xenomorphs preparing to kill him. He once parked his ship next to a space-dwelling life form resembling a planetoid, had that same ship taken over by alien entities inhabiting the bodies of his female officers, to say nothing about finding himself in a real-life version of his favourite old west holo-program. Even his present circumstances did not exclude him from the bizarre since he was having this thought in the body of his ten-year-old self.

However, what was in front of him? This was new.

“Oh my God!” Julia squealed. “What is it?”

The Chief Engineer of the Maverick, who at the moment looked like Little Orphan Annie with her bouncing red curls, gaped in horror at the leviathan frothing to the surface of this underground sea. With a head almost as large as the boat they were in, and tentacles the size of tree trunks, the behemoth was closing in fast on the Jolly Roger. Chris found he couldn’t blame her terror. As he took in the sight of the creature encroaching the distance between them, he wasn’t too thrilled about it either.

“It’s a Kraken!” Josiah cried out helpfully from the mast he was rapidly descending. Climbing down the rungs with a speed of a lemur, he finally set down on the deck, having concluded he would prefer not to be within easy reach of those tentacles if the beast reached the ship.

“A what?” Vin hollered from the helm. He wrestled with the wheel, attempting to steer the sudden appearance of choppy waves when he looked over his shoulders and saw what was fast approaching them. His eyes widened in a mixture of horror and fascination before he came to the split-second conclusion they better get the hell out of there. Fast.

“WHO THE HELL CARES?” Mary shouted in exasperation and managed to stomp over to Chris, not at all hindered by the sharp dips and rises of the deck beneath her feet. “Do something...CAPTAIN!” She punched him in the arm.

Trying to remember that in another guise, he really loved this woman, Chris swore at the pain caused by those small fists and snapped. “Well, we could feed you to it. That would choke it for sure!”

“Vin!” Chris ignored Mary sputtering and regained his composure long enough to come up with some course of action. “Whatever you do! Keep us moving!”

“I figured that pard!” Vin shouted from the helm, having no trouble at all carrying out that order.

“That’s it?” Mary demanded. “That’s your whole plan?” She glared at Chris.

“Oh, for Christ sake!” Buck swore as he stood by the rail, shaking his head to shed the water soaking him after the latest huge wave splashed over the Jolly Roger. One of those flailing appendages landed near the yacht and Buck ignored the spit-take both Chris and Mary were engaging in, to take more constructive action.

“Adam, you have a phaser. Shoot the damn thing!”

“No shit!” Adam retorted, wondering what the hell Buck thought he was doing.

He was in the process of setting the weapon’s intensity to maximum stun while trying to run across the slippery deck and not fall on his ass. Reaching the rail, he took a second to stare at the ‘kraken’ a creature that sort of looked like a giant mutant octopus. Despite its bulk, it moved with surprising speed, causing waves upon waves of water to come crashing down on the Jolly Roger.

“Shoot it! Shoot it! Shoot it!” Adam heard Nathan shouting and looked up to see one of those tentacles rising out of the water, it’s size easily dwarfed the Jolly Roger’s twin masts as it reached towards them with clear threat.

Adam came to a clumsy stop against the hand railing at the starboard edge of the boat, keeping a firm grip of the weapon in his hands, fearing he’d drop the thing. At present, it was their only protection against the creature and even he was sceptical at its effectiveness against a beast of that size. Nevertheless, he took aim at the spiky curve of its head and fired.

The beam of energy struck the Kraken just above one of its, large bulbous eyes. The tentacles in the air stiffened and then spasmed as if it were jolted with electricity and a terrifying cry of pain, not unlike the squeal of whale song, except this was a sharper and more intense sound. They all watched with wide-eyed fear as the creature reacted to the stun blast, praying the one-shot would be enough to drive it away.

It didn’t.

The momentary pause where the Kraken reacted to the pain ended abruptly. The leviathan shook off the blast and began to swim even faster towards them, its appendages thrashing the water so hard, everyone had to hold onto something because the craft was shaking violently. The tentacles intensified the turbulent chop in the water, sending larger and larger waves against the boat, making it near impossible for Vin to gain any distance.

“If I may hazard a guess!” Ezra shouted over the sound of the splashing water. “I do think we may have simply provoked it further!”

“Oh, you think?!” Chris snapped back, wondering why Ezra always felt it necessary to state the obvious.

“Hey!” Josiah suddenly exclaimed from behind them. Thankfully, his glee at discovering a real-life Kraken had been superseded by the realisation the thing was about to eat them and sounded a little less exuberant than before. “Look!”

Incredibly, Josiah was not bringing to their attention some other horrifying thing the Kraken was about to do to them. Instead, he was pointing to the bow of the ship. Mounted against the wooden deck, with the barrel pointed in the direction of the beast, was a harpoon gun. Chris thought it might have been lifted straight out of a history book because it resembled the type found on old Earth whaling ships. With its triangle pointed harpoon protruding from the barrel, it’s appearance was a shock to all on board.

When they had first come on board the vessel and christened it the Jolly Roger, they’d inspected every inch of it and not one of them had spotted the harpoon gun. Now it was here, almost as if it had materialised out of thin air. Furthermore, why would a yacht need a mounted harpoon gun in the first place? A thought started to form in his head again when Nathan’s voice tore him from it.

“Is that a harpoon gun?” Nathan asked yelling, voicing the unspoken thought in all their minds. However, he moved on quickly to a more vital question. “Does anyone know how to shoot it?”

By now, the Kraken's head was close enough to reveal its mouth opening. Easily six feet wide, it was full of serrated teeth, each as long as a man’s forearm. The creatures were chomping menacingly as it approached. The action created more turbulence in the water. They were close enough to see the dark orifice of its gullet, the clear slime dripping off its sharp teeth. Chris heard Julia squealing in the background and wished she would shut up because that noise was almost as piercing as those sharp teeth were going to be.

Ironically, Mary reacted to it with less diplomacy than the Captain.

“Julia would you shut up already!”

“Oh, by all means, that will be of great help!” Ezra bit back at her, coming to his lover’s defence. “I am certain abusing her will help the situation!”

“Enough!” Chris cut both of them off savagely. “Ezra you know how to use that thing?

“Yes,” Ezra snapped back to attention, embarrassed he wasn’t already moving towards it. “Yes, I can!”

“Then get to it!” Chris ordered, his hand reaching out and grabbing Mary who had almost fallen on her rear, just as another wave splashed over them, drenching them both further. “Adam! Set the phaser for kill and fire again! We need to give Ezra time to shoot that thing!”

“You sure?” Adam asked as he set the phaser to the required setting. Frankly, he wasn’t optimistic about their chances but right now, they had little choice in the matter.

“What have we got to lose?” Chris retorted as he wiped the water out of his face. “DO IT!”

No sooner than the words left his lips, a tentacle slammed against the hull of the craft beneath the railing where Chris and Mary stood. The force of it tipped the boat dangerously to its side, almost submerging it up to the railing. Everyone slid across the deck at the sudden dip, while the captain and the protocol officer were slammed hard against the railing. Except in Chris’s case, he went over.

“CHRIS!” Mary screamed in horror as she saw him disappeared into the same water being shared by the monster a short distance away.

Sharing her panic, Adam was about to dive in after him, when Buck halted him in his tracks.

“Adam!” The First Officer of the Maverick grabbed his arm before the young man could do anything foolish. “You need to keep shooting at that thing to keep it busy and distract him from your father. We’ll get Chris! Josiah! Nathan!”

Adam wanted to protest but knew Buck was right. With prey in the water, this creature’s interest would be on retrieving the tasty morsel in reach, unless Adam gave it something else to think about. As much as it went against the grain, he would have to let Buck handle this.

“Chris!” Mary continued to call after Chris, her small frame leaning as far as she could over the edge despite the turbulence beneath the deck. Her heart was pounding as she saw him disappear into the depths when a tentacle reached for him like a giant python. Screaming at them both, her face was a mask of blind panic. “Chris Larabee! Don’t you dare drown!”

Vin, who was unaware they had a man overboard, was continuing to steer the Jolly Roger away from the beast, unwittingly leaving their captain behind. Mary watched as the starboard side of the ship pulled away from Chris. Julia, who had the most nautical experience among them, snapped back to clarity at the visceral realisation someone was in the water and shouted at Nathan and Alex.

“We have to stop the boat!” Julia exclaimed running to the mainsail to push it out to one side to bring the craft to a halt. “Nathan, help me! You need to do the same to the boom! Alex, tell Vin, we’ve got someone overboard!”

Alex nodded and hurried away from the starboard side of the craft where most of their party was congregated in their efforts to retrieve the Captain. The danger to one of their number shook Alex out of her complacency, and she shed her fear of the Lovecraftian creature attacking the yacht to reach Vin. Moving across the slippery deck, Alex was barely able to maintain her footing because the chop was making the boat beneath her seesaw until she was clutching every handhold to maintain her balance. Reaching the steps leading to the hull, she almost slipped as she climbed them to reach her husband.

Josiah on the other hand had seen a lifebuoy on the outside wall of the cabin and hurried to it. Retrieving it from its place against the hull, Josiah also glimpsed a boat hook and grabbed it since they would need it too. With both objects in his arms, Josiah hurried towards the rear of the ship where the others were gathering, engaged in the rescue of their captain who was in the water with a Kraken hell-bent on eating them.

The creature was closing the distance, although its tentacles reached them first. One of the long appendages had slithered around the railing. Python-like, the slimy black arm of the creature sought to get a better grip.

“Adam! Shoot!” Buck ordered. “If it gets a hold of us, it could tear the boat apart!”

Too late.

The yacht suddenly came to an abrupt halt as the tentacle found its handhold and pulled back hard, obviously trying to halt the craft’s flight. The force of it was so violent, everyone standing was suddenly not. The boat veered sharply to the left, almost coming about at a 90-degree turn. Buck who slid across the wet deck, still battered by the tremendous waves, managed to grab the edge of a bolted down compartment on the floor.

Adam dropped to his knees, feeling the pain reverberate throughout his body as bone met wood but managed somehow to hold on to the phaser. He had been trying to get a shot at the creature’s head when Buck’s order had changed his mind. Wincing at the pain in his legs, Adam took careful aim and fired the weapon. The shot escaped the phaser as a pulse of amber energy struck the thickest part of the tentacle.

The reaction was immediate. A loud, deep roar filled the air, almost shaking him to his bones and the limb shrank back from the rail, retracting into the darkness, no doubt to soothe its injuries in the cool water. Almost in retaliation, the beast flung another tentacle against the hull once more. It impacted hard enough for the sound of cracking wood to register in all their consciousness and make them wince.

Buck exchanged a glance with Adam, sharing the same thought. Despite the ache in his knees, Adam forced himself to his feet, clutching the handrail and offering his hand to Buck who was staring at the Kraken's rapid approach now the boat was almost at a standstill. “Fire!”

Adam took aim at its head and fired, hoping the phaser set to kill would injure it since he was doubtful the size of the thing would allow him to end its life. As it turned out, he was right. The behemoth’s tentacles shuddered again as the energy beam ran through its enormous body, the appendages spasming in pain. However, it did not retreat.

In fact, as Adam and Buck stared at the creature, it appeared to be regaining its second wind after that shot. “Oh hell,” Adam muttered. “This is going to be very bad.”

“No kidding,” Adam said sourly. “I think we just pissed it off.”

******* 

Meanwhile, Chris was trying not to drown.

Seconds after he went overboard, he discovered the water in this mysterious sea, was not at all salty but fresh, although it was a discovery he would have preferred to have made without swallowing any of it. He sank into the depth because, during the initial shock and panic of falling off the Jolly Roger, he was able to do little else. Not to mention the fear of being in the vicinity of a giant sea monster that probably intended on doing him serious harm with those serrated teeth, compelled him to keep his head down.

He’d envisioned many ways he was going to die. The picture always included him onboard the Maverick, fighting some great battle that would be known throughout the ages, not as the bite-sized snack of a   while he was still in the body of a child. When he did surface, he saw the monster looming behind him, its massive tentacles flailing so wildly in the water, he was barely able to keep ahead of the chop. As it was, sighting him had renewed the creature’s determination to reach him.

If his epitaph read ‘killed by a sea monster in child’s body’, Chris was going to be pissed.

“Chris!” He heard Mary cry out as she hung over the side of the ship, despite the sudden rise and fall of the deck, her hand extended towards him. “Chris Larabee! You get back here!”

Still bossing me around, Chris thought annoyed until he saw the raw edge of panic across her face. Her dove-like eyes were staring at him in fear, especially when she saw a tentacle snaking towards him. Chris saw it too and could only think to dive out of its reach, so the creature couldn’t see him enough to grab him. Its eyes were above the water level and Chris hoped it had only two of them because if it had more, he was screwed.

Something wet and cold slid20th-centuryg and felt a surge of panic, wishing he had a gun. He was suddenly reminded of that old 20th century movie where the young farm boy gets trapped in a garbage masher with some unseen monster. Chris had always felt disappointed the Federation had yet to encounter any race capable of producing a weapon remotely resembling a lightsaber.

Damn copyright infringement.

Chris ducked under the water, wishing he had his torch, so he could swim beyond the sight of the creature when suddenly, the boat banked sharply and before he saw the hull rushing quickly towards him, allowing him no escape. The pain exploded against the side of his skull and before he could think to cry out, the black claiming him was not the darkness of the water.

“CHRIS!” Mary fairly screamed when she realised what happened and saw him disappear underneath the waves. Without considering her actions, she climbed over the side of the railing and jumped in before Josiah who was on approach, realised what she had done.

“Mary!” Josiah shouted after when he reached the railing and stared after her in horror, still clutching the boat hook and life preserver. She plunged into the water after Chris, her golden hair a stark contrast against the blackness below. For a few seconds, Josiah debated whether or not he ought to jump in after her before deciding perhaps it was not a good idea to have three people in the water instead of two.

“Mary! Are you crazy!” Josiah shouted at Mary, but she wasn’t listening.

His voice became lost in the subsequent scream of pain that tore so loudly through the air, from the creature. Adam had started firing again determined to distract the Kraken, so they could save Chris. Mary glanced upwards and saw the stalactites hanging off the ceiling and was struck by the thought they might break free from all this ruckus and impale her and Chris in the water. However, her fear of this was immediately banished by the terror of being unable to see Chris.

Diving below the surface, she saw the faint outline of a tentacle and cringed, forcing herself to swim past it since the creature it belonged to was still reacting to the phaser blasts. She dove down deeper, determined to search the area where Chris hand sunk. Fortunately, she had been a strong swimmer as a kid. Having rich parents who lived by the sea, Mary was accustomed to taking morning swims with her father and felt a pang of sadness at the memory.

It was just like Chris to be such a bother, she thought with annoyance as she sought him out in the dark depths. Yet inwardly she knew if anything awful were to happen to him, she couldn’t bear it. Finally, Mary glimpsed something in the dark that wasn’t a monster’s limb and kicked hard towards it.

Upon reaching him, she saw the dark gash across his brow weeping blood against his pale skin. Her stomach clenched realising he was entirely unconscious. Grabbing him by the arm, she swam towards the surface and saw a tentacle swoosh past them, the power of it sweeping them aside, and almost made Mary lose her grip of Chris’s arm. Close up, the appendage looked even more menacing when she saw some of the sucker pads had teeth.

Despite their buoyancy, Mary’s arm was almost pulled out of its sockets as she dragged Chris through the water, before finally breaking the surface. When she was ten she was petite, and nowhere did she regret that fact more than right now. Nevertheless, she refused to let him go. Gasping loudly, her lungs bursting, she saw Adam continuing to fire at the creature, whose furious roars had been muted when she was underwater.

Meanwhile, Josiah was searching the surface, his face breaking into relief when he sighted her.

“Mary! Catch!” He tossed the life preserver at her, seeing she had Chris in her grip.

Still holding onto the Captain of the Maverick as best she could, Mary swam to it and immediately slipped the donut-shaped lifebuoy over Chris’s body. She was still trying to get it securely around him when another loud bang suddenly cracked through the air like artillery fire. Except this didn’t fire bullets.

This one fired a harpoon.

The harpoon sailed across the air once Ezra Standish got a clear shot of the creature. He decided to forego any effort to kill the beast since it would require more than one harpoon to do that. Instead, he aimed for something crippling, something that would cause enough pain to send it into retreat. His plan could backfire, but Ezra was a security chief long enough to know what would work.

The harpoon plunged into one of the Kraken's eyes.

The shriek that filled the air was almost deafening. Its tentacles retreated immediately as it appeared to writhe in agony. The harpoon embedded in the creature’s eyeball, oozed black blood and the shriek soon became a wail of pain. They watched as it halted its advanced, the excruciating and crippling wound inflicted, making it forget all about making them its meal. Still uttering that pitiful moan, it sunk into the dark water and disappeared from sight.

Hopefully for good.

NEXT CHAPTER

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