Despite their claim of seeing an Earth-type predator roaming through the darkened halls of the Leonov, being met with nothing less than derision by the crew member they encountered, the fact remained Ensign Starke was still dead. It also stood to reason, she was mauled to death with something possessing jaws more powerful than any human. As Janice ushered them out of her quarters after they had lost sight of the creature, there was nothing left to do at present but to return to the rendezvous point and gather a detail to tend to the young woman’s body. Buck was reluctant to bury her on this lonely planetoid, not when there was a possibility of returning her to her family when they got back to the ship.

It further angered Buck, the callous dismissal of the navigator at the news that someone had died, especially when one considered the only reason Starfleet officers were on this rock in the first place was to aid the Leonov and its crew. Buck seethed inwardly in anger but reminded himself that a commanding officer had no time for such feelings, not when he still had two crewmen missing and a dangerous animal to track before it killed again. Despite his anger at losing one of his people, the question begged to be asked.

Where the creature had been all this time the Maverick’s crew had been on the surface?

Until now, they never had the slightest hint such a creature might exist not to mention the difficulties in caring for the animal. It was also a terrible strain on resources to keep a tiger fed, considering how voracious its dietary requirements could be. However, the question of why was not as important to Buck as the how. In their repair efforts, the Maverick’s crew had been right throughout the ship, even the parts of it supposedly contaminated by Berthold radiation and nothing they had seen supported the possibility of this creature’s existence prior to this day.

Buck knew that the timing of Ensign Starke’s death could not be coincidental since they had now lost their means to escape the planetoid. Even though he kept his observations to himself, he had the terrible premonition things were going to escalate now they were effectively trapped here with the rest of the Leonov. There was no reason to move in subterfuge now, the crew of the Maverick could not leave nor could they warn the ship of danger, now it was starting to expose itself, unafraid of the discovery. Buck wondered if Julia and Ezra had made some similar discovery. Had they found something that required their disappearance to hide?

As they made their way back to the rendezvous point where the Maverick’s crew was holding Kelisan and his people at bay, Buck noticed JD had become very silent. The young man was clearly disturbed which was unsurprising considering he and Ensign Starke probably moved in the same circles, being the same age and had probably known each other at the Academy since they were both newly commissioned.

Buck who had more than his share of fellow officers dying in the past could appreciate how difficult it was to absorb the death of a crewmate, especially when one was young and fresh from the Academy. The glamour of starship assignment was still fresh in one’s eyes and the danger of it had yet to sink in for one to understand that it was dangerous out here and people died, regularly. JD Dunne was one of the most promising young officers in the Maverick’s stable, if not the most promising and it was Buck’s singular pleasure to nurse him through his formative years in Starfleet. However, there were some things he would have to take care of himself and all Buck could do was offer guidance.

Unfortunately, answers were another thing altogether.

"You okay JD?" Buck found himself asking.

"Yeah," he nodded quietly. "I just can’t believe she couldn’t care less." He remarked, referring of course to Janice’s behavior.

"Believe it," Buck remarked, his lips thinning into an unhappy line mostly because he was no happier by the lack of compassion the woman had shown at Ensign’s Starke’s grisly death, not to mention accepting their explanation at how it had happened. All she had been interested in doing was proving she had not seen the creature that committed the act of murder, and yet the blood prints had proved the tiger could have gone nowhere else.

"I remember reading the manifest for all the animals," JD explained, emerging into the darkness outside the ship. Now more than ever, the oxygenated darkness seemed more foreboding than ever. JD had never realized how eerie it had looked to be on the surface of this planetoid like they were in space but not quite as if their minds were not ready to accept the environment was anything but hostile

"Manifest," Buck looked at him, remembering the youth had mentioned something but not paying close attention until now. "How many of them were there?"

"About eleven."

Something about that number struck him even though for the present, he could not imagine how. No more than he could imagine how it was possible for Kelisan to keep livestock alive when their own survival here had been so tenuous. While Buck would feel naturally grieved at having to destroy the animals, he would not hesitate to do so when that would have been more merciful than allowing them to starve. There was no way the Leonov could feed animals of this nature, even if they were willing to starve themselves. However, the Leonov crew did not appear starved, not in the least. Sure they were gaunt and a little hollow around the eyes but that was what one expected of people trapped on this planetoid for so long.

They were cresting the top of a slight mound when suddenly, Aislynn appeared before them. She appeared to have been running and was out of breath when she sighted JD and Buck.

"Aislynn!" Buck called out. "What are you doing here? You should be back with the others." Her presence here brought to mind other concerns immediately. How had she managed to get past his security team? As charming as the young lady could be, Ezra’s security officers were professionals and were trained by the Chief, himself not to fall sway to any entreaty especially if it came from a group of individuals whose intentions were suspect.

"I had to come!" She cried out, genuine concern in her eyes. "I had to warn you."

"Warn us of what?" Buck retorted. "How did you get past my security people?" His hands gripped her shoulders tightly and he was just angry enough after losing Ensign Stark to shake the truth out of her, which was mild in comparison to what he had in mind when he got his hands on Mr. Kelisan.

"You’re in trouble." She declared, clearly troubled by her presence here and she looked worried as she cast her gaze over the shoulder as if debating what she would do next. "I didn’t want them to get you too."

"Them?" Buck’s voice hardened into granite as the possibility of horrific proportions became to look in his mind over the possible fate of his engineering team and security officers. "Who's them?" He shook her and drew a cry from her.

"Please Buck!" She pleaded for him to stop. Tears running down her youthful face. "It was not my idea. I didn’t have a choice! We had to do what it wanted us to do. It needs to feed!"

Buck’s eyes widened and JD’s jaw dropped open as Buck said very quietly as he stopped shaking Aislynn and stared at her. "What do you mean it?"

"It!" She started to cry. "It lured us here the same way it lured you!" Aislynn swallowed thickly as she stared at him, with nothing less than guilt in her young eyes.

Buck could very well believe her claims that she did not wish to see him die and knew that she cared for him a great deal, as much as any young girl with her first crush tended to do. "But the damage to the ship…" He stammered.

"It lets you see what it wants you to see." She explained, knowing it was death if the others heard her speak this way. However, Aislynn was not about to let Buck Wilmington end up the same way as all the other poor unfortunates who had been lured to this world in the last six months. "The ship is not damaged. We landed because we detected a distress signal and saw a ship on the surface. Once we were here, it would not let us leave. It killed everyone except us."

"Where is it?" JD asked, his phaser drawn staring about apprehensively for their phantom creature.

"It’s all around us." She replied, her eyes darting about nervously like a terrified animal. "For those of us who were left alive, we found that after a while we could communicate with it. It told us it would keep us alive and maintain the air if we cooperated."

"Why didn’t you just leave?" The Ensign asked because Buck was too busy contemplating what Aislynn had told him already.

Aislynn did not answer and as she struggled to address JD’s question, Buck spoke up and spared her the embarrassment of forcing the truth from herself.

"Its because they don’t know isn’t it?" He looked at her. Now things started to make sense, Julia Pemberton’s observation that none of the Leonov’s crew were capable of making even the most minor repairs on their ship or even troubling themselves with the notion of making their habitat even the slightest bit more comfortable during the length of their incarceration.

Aislynn blinked and warm tears ran down her cheeks.

"No, we didn’t." She said ashamed and whispered after a moment as Buck raised her chin in his hand and wiped the tear running down her reddened cheeks. "I don’t like what we have done but I’m the weakest and the youngest. What I say doesn’t matter to the others."

"It’s not your fault," JD said understanding perfectly how it was to be overruled by his elders although he could not imagine being in the terrible situation Aislynn had been virtually locked into the moment the Leonov landed on the planetoid. "You couldn’t help it."

"I don’t like hurting people," she swallowed looking at Buck, needing him to understand most of all because of how she felt about him. "I like them and I don’t want to see them get killed. All I want is to be away from here. If I help you get away, will you promise to take me, Buck?" She asked hopefully, gazing into his strong face, hoping the kindness she saw there was not an illusion like everything else in her universe.

"Of course I will," Buck said tenderly, having no stomach to disappoint this child who was not responsible for the action of the adults of around her.

"Thank you, Buck," she smiled at him sadly and then added. "I am sorry about the others."

******

The first thing that Ezra and Julia heard, once they concluded their exhausting descent from the mountain that had sprung forth out of nowhere and barred them from their friends and crewmates, were the screams.

After the most back-breaking endeavor that either officer had undertaken in recent times, Ezra and Julia finally crossed the unnatural formation and saw the Leonov awaiting as they had left it, unconcerned over their ordeal as it continued to remain in its stranded location. They saw no signs of anyone as they made their way towards the ship and neither was there any effort to impede their progress by the mysterious force that saw fit to plant a mountain before them. Despite his gratitude they managed to cross the large rock obstacle without incurring any serious injury, the lack of interference gave him reason for concern. Ezra now wondered what was the real reason behind its granting them passage back to their friends, knowing the news they brought could only confirm the Maverick’s suspicion that nothing about this place was what it appeared.

Thus instead of going to the Maverick, Ezra decided the safest course of action was to get Julia to the runabout so she could return to the starship and inform the captain what they had discovered, while he, in turn, went to find Buck and conveyed the same. After everything that had happened so far and despite the seemingly benign state of their mysterious attacker for the moment, Ezra had no intention of allowing her to go to the Midkiff on her own and insisted on accompanying her. Only until he saw the craft in the air would he rest easy.

"Are you sure you won’t come with me?" Julia asked, hating to separate after their trek together. They were both similarly exhausted with Julia wanting nothing more than to drink in a long glass of water while indulging in a nice hot bath. There was dirt in places on her body, she would rather not name and could hardly imagine how disheveled she looked. Normally, she would not care less about such things but did this ordeal have to happen with the one person on the Maverick’s whose opinion about how she looked mattered the most?

"No," Ezra shook his head even though he would not mind being far away from this place. Despite himself, he had to confess he did not like this place and would rest easier being back on the ship but he was Chief Security Officer. That meant he had a responsibility to his crew which went beyond his personal feelings. "I have to find Commander Wilmington and tell him what we have learned, not to mention what we have endured. I for one am very interested in Mr. Kelisan’s explanation of things."

"Ezra he may not know anything." She pointed out as their course diverted from the Leonov and progressed towards the runabout. "If we couldn’t see those ships without flash blindness, it is completely possible that neither could the Leonov’s crew."

"I will give them the benefit of that doubt," Ezra replied and then paused a moment because it did not feel right, no matter how much he tried to think it possible her explanation might be the truth. "Julia, I have made a career reading people and learning what they are thinking, to know that Mr. Kelisan is lying and has been lying since we arrived here. It is as much as body language as what it is in his eyes and both tell me he is hiding something, something exceedingly dangerous and is near terrified of having us find out. I will know what that is, one way or another."

Julia nodded somberly; aware he had to do what he must and knowing secretly it was the reason she cared so much about him. Ezra Standish was such a paradox at the time. There were moments when he appeared as if he would trade his own mother for a quick dollar and then there were other times when he bore such a strong streak of nobility and honor, it was hard to imagine it coming from the same man.

"Is that right?" she brightened a little, trying not to dampen the moment with unhappy thought. "So tell me, what am I thinking?" She asked.

Ezra flashed her that dimpled smile that she found utterly irresistible before saying. "Well, you’re thinking I am a terrible charming man you must simply forgive for his trespass at our first encounter?"

"Oh really?" She looked at him skeptically. "I’d try again."

Ezra was about to respond when suddenly he heard a scream and several others, cutting through the moment and slicing through their ears with the piercing effectiveness of a knife.

"What the hell was that?" She demanded but Ezra was already running, phasers drawn. She fumbled for her own weapon and ran behind him in pursuit, wondering what else could possibly happen now.

The screams continued, blood-curdling chilling groans of guttural agony and as they ran across the sandy terrain against the blackness of space as their sky, there seemed to be something primeval soaking up the strange air coating this world. As they neared the sounds of screaming, they could hear other sounds, not quite screams but not quite voices either. If one had to put a definition to it, the best description would be a roar.

Through this windless harsh environment that looked like the lunar surface of a barren rock, they could hear an animal roaring in majestic fury. What they saw as they closed into on the sounds was enough to take them both by surprise and then horror. Both Ezra and Julia stood frozen in place for a few seconds as they came upon the scene, for a moment wondering if this was just another illusion produced by the entity that placed a mountain before them. Ezra wished more than anything that it was just that, an illusion but as he saw the tide of blood and the dying before him, he knew it was anything but a facade.

This madness was real.

The creatures varied from small to extremely large predators, the kinds of animals one would see in a zoo. A tiger was presently tearing out the throat of one his security officers while those who had not been overcome were firing at the creatures desperately, trying to chase them off their screaming comrades to little or no avail. The engineering officers who were not armed did not have the luxury of defense and as the jaws snapped close around one neck, ending everything person was in a spurt of blood, Ezra already shooting and offering defense in any way he could, saw something else. Upon death, something was bled away from the body that was not just life. It drifted out of the body like white smoke before sinking into the heaving earth.

Each death that came saw a repeat of this strange phenomenon. Mist-like, it lifted out of the body long enough to enjoy freedom for but an instant before the earth absorbed it once more like a magnet pulling in nail fillings, refusing to go and consume it whole. Ezra watched for a split second, watching the cycle take place, hollowing in the gut each time it happened because he knew it was one of his crewmates. Setting his phaser for kill since stun seemed to be doing little to stop the creatures from mauling those who were unarmed to death, he took careful aim knowing his shots had to be precise or he would be dealing death to whomever he was trying to save.

"Ezra watch out!" He heard Julia scream as he was adjusting his weapon and looked up to see the furry bulk of orange and blank stripes leaping at him with teeth leading the way. Ezra raised his arm to fire but the creature moved with incredible speed, all he could do was use it to keep the tiger from its throat. The power in those feline limbs dropped them both on the ground with the creature clearly in the dominant position. Ezra felt his phaser fly out of his hand just before teeth sank deep into his forearm. He let out a cry of pain as blood immediately spilled forth from broken skin, staining his turtleneck in waves of vibrant red.

Julia watched in horror as the animal prepared to move its powerful jaws to the tender flesh of his neck, which was customary for a tiger kill before she immediately lunged for the phaser that had been in Ezra’s hand. Around her pandemonium ensued and too many dead were lying on the soil for her to endure Ezra joining her number. She moved with more grace and agility than she had ever mustered in her life. Julia rolled onto her knees after diving for it and completely forgot she was an engineer with no taste for weapons as she fired the shot, praying her routine target practice was not a wasted effort.

A phaser set for kill left no trace of a body. When the beam struck the creature, its entire form glowed and its last act in the living world was to utter a roar of defiance and pain as it disintegrated before Ezra. The security chief let out a sigh of relief as the weight of the creature suddenly disappeared from on top of him and the other animals, seeing the destruction of one of their number immediately desisted in their efforts, startled momentarily by the sudden show of force by the prey. Scattering as large predators did until they had allowed themselves sufficient time to evaluate the encounter, Ezra saw the other animals disappearing into the darkness of the planetoid around them.

What was left in their wake showed Ezra that the Maverick’s crew had won no victory of any kind.

"Ezra, you’re bleeding!" Julia hurried over to him stating the obvious as he tended to his arm while at the same time surveying the extent of the destruction around them. At least half their number lay dead and most of these were engineering officers who had not been armed at the time of the attack. Hampered by their inability to shoot without a clear line of fire, some of his security team was similarly mauled to death

"I am fine." He said not at all caring about his minor injury, not when there was blood everywhere. Ezra had not seen such carnage since he was an ensign fighting the Border Wars with the Cardassians. The area before them looked like a field of battle with a victory being a matter of perspective.

"Oh my god," Julia looked at the faces of the dead and recognized some of those as being men and women she had worked with. She strayed from him, trying to remain detached about their deaths as Starfleet officers were meant to be but there was no way she could manage it completely. Her hand covered her mouth as she tried to hide her sorrow and blinked away open tears as she went to help some of the survivors.

"Commander Standish!" Lieutenant Katovit exclaimed from where he was kneeling over one of the junior members of the security team, looking as dismayed as Ezra did at this moment but lacking his Chief's poker face. Upon seeing Ezra, he rose to his feet and hurried to meet Ezra part way. "We’ve been looking everywhere for you and Lieutenant Pemberton." The assistant security chief declared relieved but at the same time wishing his commanding officer had been here. Perhaps if Ezra had been around, they might have not been caught as unawares as they had been

It was a sentiment that Ezra could well understand because, at the moment, he was feeling the same thing himself. These were his people! He was responsible for their safety! For them to die the deaths that they had received outraged him when they had come here on an errand of mercy. Ezra swallowed away the bile of his anger and met Katovit’s gaze.

"It is a long story," Ezra said in a measured voice because that was all he could trust himself to answer with at this time. He had not been this angry in a long time and Ezra was certain rage was not the best way to proceed. The main objective right now was to get everyone back to the Maverick before more lives were lost. "Suffice to say this planetoid is full of surprises. However, I am more interested in learning what the hell happened here."

Katovit at that moment had some inclination at how much restraint his commander was using by the use of such strong language from a normally erudite man "The captain ordered us back to the ship when you went missing," he explained. "We were gathered here preparing to leave when all of a sudden, it happened."

"Those creatures emerged out of nowhere?" Ezra looked at him.

"No Sir," Katovit said reluctantly. "Those creatures were the crew of the Leonov."

"It’s simple really," Alexandra Styles explained to Captain Chris Larabee and the remaining members of the senior staff of the Maverick gathered within the confines of the debriefing room. "We know the life form radiates a dampening field capable of deflecting our sensors scan, jams our communications channels and also excludes the possibility of transporter lock, which effectively leaves us blind on all levels. Now, Ezra reported when they first arrived on the surface of the planetoid, the Away Team noted the Leonov was less damaged than what was initially thought. At the time, we did not think much of it but now I believe what he saw was not an aberration but rather an illusion."

"An illusion," Chris absorbed her words, finding her theory sound as he recalled every piece of information Buck and the others had reported to him during their mission on the planetoid. "I think you’re right." He nodded in agreement. "Julia more or less said the same thing when the Away Team first sighted the Leonov. Initially, she had estimated it was going to take a great deal of work to get the Leonov off the ground if it was even possible. However, once she inspected the ship on the planetoid, the damage was not near as severe and the repair time was reduced significantly."

"All life forms have some form of defensive mechanism," Nathan added his voice into the discussion. "The chameleon on Earth changes color to blend into the environment, the tree climbers of Altair are able to exude a body odor that has hallucinogenic properties, leaving its predators disorientated while it makes the escape. Just because this creature is significantly larger in size does not mean it does not have a defensive capability of its own, except this ability also acts as a lure for its food source."

"Could we please pick another way to put that?" Mary asked, wincing at the thought their friends on the planetoid were the main course at a banquet for an alien life form. As it was, she was still having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea the planetoid around which the Maverick had been orbiting the past few days was, in fact, a life form planning to dine on their comrades trapped on its surface.

"Sorry," Nathan apologized with a sheepish smile, having forgotten there was no need to be quite so graphic in his description of the facts. Sometimes, it was necessary for him to remember being a doctor tended to make him forget not everyone could be as clinically accepting as he was about the grisly nature of some forms of life. "Force of habit." He remarked in Mary’s direction.

"Go on," Chris spoke up sternly over the sound of their conversation because he wanted to hear why Alex called this meeting. He assumed the purpose of the gathering was because the science officer had made some important discovery that might serve to aid the crewmen that were still trapped on the surface of the alien creature/planetoid. His concern for the safety of his people was such that he had no patience to tolerate the customary banter during their briefings. Nathan and Mary immediately fell silent as Chris turned his high powered gaze back to Alex and waited for her to continue.

"Thank you, Sir," she said gratefully and waited until she had their attention before speaking once again. "While we may have established what we see before we are an illusion, there is no way an illusion could keep us from scanning it or finding our crewmates on its surface. By all rights, our sensors ought to pick up the Away Team with no trouble at all so we can get a transporter lock."

"So why can’t we?" Mary asked, finding herself rather intrigued by what Alex was implying.

"Because we assumed the creature is capable of exuding a powerful dampening field when in actual fact, I don’t think it's doing that at all. I don’t think its instrumentation or sensors, I think it's us."

"Us?" Vin exclaimed confused "How could it be us?"

"Telepathy," Chris said simply, guessing what Alex was driving at. In retrospect, it was the most logical explanation for what had been happening since they arrived in this system. Chris had yet to encounter any dampening field so powerful it could resist all forms of scanning. Throughout this entire situation, this was what Chris found so hard to believe, that nothing they had on board the Maverick was capable of penetrating the shell this planetoid surrounded itself with.

Telepathy was the only answer that made any reasonable sense. All life no matter how advanced or primitive was capable on some level of sensing one another even if that method was not immediately obvious to another life form. An organism as complex as the one they now faced, born in space would find telepathy the most expedient way to communicate with another of its kind. By the same token, it could no doubt use its telepathic capabilities to affect other life forms as well.

"But we heard a distress signal." Vin protested, finding it extremely unpleasant to accept that something could have been altering his view of things by means of mind control. It was not as if he did not have enough difficulties with his mental shields already, without having strange alien creature probing his thoughts and shaping his perceptions to suit its needs. "We were light years away when we detected that distress beacon. That couldn’t have been an illusion."

"The signal is probably real," Alex answered his question and understanding all too well why Vin was so repulsed by the notion of the alien affecting his mind by way of telepathy. Personally, she had not liked the idea any more than he did when Nathan had first brought up the possibility they may have been subjected to telepathic influence. If anything, she felt rather outraged the alien had free reign over her mind. That was a privilege she allowed no one, not even the person she cared for most on the ship. "I don’t doubt we heard a distress signal from the Leonov but once we got close enough to the creature, it was able to affect us almost immediately, giving us the illusion of self it needed us to see."

"To get us on the planetoid," Chris concluded, not having to hear the rest of Alex’s narrative because it was fairly obvious to everyone by now what the alien’s hidden agenda had been. "No doubt it would have manufactured some way to get the rest of the crew down to the planet and if that didn’t work, throw some illusion at us to force the ship to land or worse."

"Exactly," Alex concluded.

"So now that we know why and how it does what it does, what can we do about it?" Vin asked, looking at the two senior officers for a solution. Like everyone else in the room, Vin was trying to work the problem of their stranded crewmen rather than focus on the fact that they had been stymied by their efforts of retrieving them. "We’re no good to Buck or anyone else down there if we are just as susceptible to whatever telepathy that creature is using on them."

"Well, I think I may have a solution to that," Nathan spoke up now that the discussion had broached that point and Alex sat down so that he could continue the briefing since it was Nathan who had been the one to formulate the idea he was about to present in the first place. "Judging from the ECG readings and all the data Alex has accumulated on the creature since we arrived, I believe there is a way for us to get around the illusionary effects of its telepathy."

"How?" Chris asked impatiently.

Sensing that his captain’s patience was waning, Nathan wasted no time in continuing. "Well at the moment our optic nerve is being bombarded with signals that only allows us to see what the creature wishes us to see. To counteract that effect, I can adjust the optic nerve to accept signals that come from only a visual source, like the light spectrum. It will be a little disorientating at first but will provide enough visual acuity for a person to function and perceive the creature as it truly is."

"It will do," Chris stated firmly not afraid of the risks when there did not seem to be any other alternative. Now he was aware of just what kind of danger Buck and the others were facing, Chris was willing to gamble on any chance they had of retrieving the Away Team, even if it meant an ‘adjustment’ as Nathan put it. "Go on."

Nathan nodded after he was given leave to continue and resumed his explanation of the process he devised to allow them to see through the illusions the life form so cleverly deceived them with. "The serum’s effects do not last for more than two hours and I estimate a human body could handle two dosages, no more. I would not recommend any more than that because the optic nerve is too sensitive for such continued manipulation. However, the effect should last long enough for us to go the surface and extract the Away Team."

"Good," Chris nodded and released a deep breath, glad they had a decisive course of action. "I take it the serum is ready for use?" Chris asked Nathan as he sat up in his chair, poised to move at a moment’s notice once he had the answer he needed.

"Yes," Nathan answered. "I prepared the hypos shortly before the briefing."

"Alright," Chris spoke up, allowing his gaze to move over the faces of his officers. "I want a minimum complement for our Away Team, Vin, you and I will take a shuttle down there."

Chris started to lift himself out of the chair when he noticed that no one else was doing the same. There was a line of tension running through the room, not to mention a feeling of awkwardness running through the senior officers that put him on guard immediately. Although Vin wore that typically unflappable expression on his face allowing no one to know what was going on inside his head, Nathan was more telling in his features. The doctor was tense but was not quite ready to say what was on his mind. Alex remained impassive and was frowning, Chris guessed that was mostly to do with the fact he had not singled her out to be on the rescue team and Mary just looked plain uncomfortable.

"Okay," he sat back down. "What is it?"

Furious glances were exchanged back and forth across the room before settling on Mary, who let out a deep breath as a hint of crimson stole into her cheeks.

"Captain," she said after a moment, choosing to be the one who told him what they all had such trouble with because as a protocol officer, it was her duty to do so. "It is inappropriate for you to leave the ship."

Chris looked at her blankly for a moment before the realization of what she was trying to tell him sunk in. "Oh no, you don’t…." Chris started to protest, understanding what she was getting at. "You’re not going to start quoting me regulations about the Captain staying on the bridge."

"Then I will," Alex rose to Mary’s defense because Mary’s feelings for Chris was making it difficult for her to be blunt. "It's tactically unwise for you to leave the ship. As your acting first officer, it is my duty to inform you with half the command staff on the planetoid and unaccounted for, your place is here on the bridge. I am the one who should be going. The Maverick should not be left without her captain if it falls under attack. We have no idea what this life form will do once it discovers we can see through its façade. It’s been responsible for the death of billions of life forms on several different planets, it could not have done that without some form of mobility. If worse comes to worse, it may be capable of putting a formidable defense as any hungry animal might do."

Chris swore under his breath and smoldered inwardly at her words, mostly because she was right. There were too many unknown variables at work here for him to risk himself and his ship over his own desires. A good captain had to know when to stand down and this was one of those times. "Point taken, Commander." He frowned conceding defeat. "You and Vin will take a shuttle to the surface of the planetoid. I want you to find our people and get out. No deviations. Is that clear?" He gave Alex a hard look.

"Yes Sir," she nodded, knowing how hard this was for him and had not wanted to take this course but he was the Captain and with Buck and Ezra off the ship, there was no other choice.

She was expendable. Chris Larabee was not.

******

Buck felt his heart pounding in his chest as he ran across the barren landscape, widening the distance between himself and his party as he raced towards the rendezvous point where he left the rest of the Away Team. As he neared it, he started to hear the sounds of phaser fire and noises not too dissimilar from what he and JD heard prior to finding Antonia Starke. When Aislynn apologized to him, he finally understood his security team as well as the engineering crew he left behind to go search for the Ensign, were in grave danger.

He barely noticed the envirosuit he was wearing as he hurried forward, crossing the sandy dunes until he reached the top of a hill allowing him to see the place where he left the rest of the Away Team. Buck stopped short as his eyes widened in nothing less than horror as he saw their broken bodies, lying across the flat plain in the aftermath of the massacre, their blood seeping into the earth. Some were still standing but a great number of them were injured or dead.

"Buck!" Ezra called out as he saw the first officer staring in the scene he and Julia had stumbled upon a short time ago.

For a moment Buck did not answer and Ezra could only imagine what the man must be thinking because Ezra had the exact same thoughts when he was faced with this carnage. He saw Buck's gloved hands fist up as the first officer drew closer to what was left of his Away Team. Julia was helping the other security officers tend to the dead and administer aid to those who were still left alive. It was with a deep sense of outrage that Ezra realized there were going to be many of those.

"Ezra?" Buck seemed to snap out of dazed state at the missing security officer. "Where the hell have you been?" The taller man started to stride towards him. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Trust me, Commander," Ezra let out a heavy sigh as Buck reached him. "It was not by our choice we were led astray. Julia and I had made an interesting discovery and went to investigate when we were beset up by some alien entity that placed a rather large natural formation in our way."

"Entity!" Buck looked at him and then remembered what Aislynn had told him about there being a creature on this planet that was communicating with the crew of the Leonov. "Is that what did this?" He looked around at the bodies around him and felt his stomach hollow in anger. These were his people! He should be able to protect them. Suddenly Buck understood why Chris was the way he was about losing crew. Seeing all the dead around him made Buck think this was his failure! He was their commanding officer! He should have been able to stop this or at least seen it coming!

"No," Ezra shook his head somberly. "It was not some alien life form that perpetrated this atrocity." The security replied, feeling his jaw clench in anger just thinking about who attacked their fellow officers and crewmates. "It was the crew of the Leonov. According to Lieutenant Katovit, they metamorphosed into animals and wrought this massacre upon our unsuspecting Away Team."

Buck merely stared at him in disbelief but his response was cut short by the arrival of JD and Aislynn. The boy froze in his tracks and stared at what lay before him. Even though the faceplate of his helmet, Buck could see the horror and disgust in his eyes as he viewed the dead and wounded, not to mention the blood. The damn blood that was splattered everywhere, staining the earth and draining JD's face of color.

"JD." Buck started walking towards the young man seeing the panic strike him.

Aislynn was merely staring sadly at what lay before her like she had seen it all a thousand times before. Of course, if what Ezra suspected about that graveyard of ships he and Julia had discovered was true, and then it was not entirely an untrue statement. He followed Buck as the first officer hurried to JD, who was trying to reach the young ensign who had never been confronted by such a grisly scene like this and was reacting the way only a novice could.

JD could not breathe. He had tried to fight the nausea gripping his stomach but the sight of all those dead bodies pierced right through the walls of his control and he could feel bile snaking up his throat. Fumbling for his helmet, he almost wrenched its fastenings free before and hurled it aside before doubling over and retching the contents of his last meal into the sand, continuing to do so until all he could eject was the acid inside his stomach.

"Oh my god..." he stammered. "Oh my god..."

"JD!" Buck came next to him and held his head down, helping him through the moment. JD felt humiliation overcome him just as easily as nausea, at the undignified display but he could not help it. He had known those people stretched out on the dirt, their bodies broken, their blood oozing out of them into the sand.

"Just breathe easy," Buck said gently, understanding completely what the youth was going through. No one could witness something like this for the first time and not be unaffected. If JD had reacted any other way, he would have been surprised.

It took a few seconds for JD to compose himself and Buck remained at his side throughout most of that time, gently offering the young ensign enough words to make him understand his reaction was natural and there was nothing to be ashamed about.

"I'm sorry Buck," JD said softly, wiping his mouth once he was able to control himself. Despite Buck's understanding, JD felt terribly embarrassed by his display and wished he had been more controlled when he saw all those dead bodies. "I've never seen anything like that before." He whispered, glad that everyone was not looking at him. He felt humiliated enough as it was, despite their compassionate understanding.

"Its okay JD," Buck patted him on the back, wanting to reassure him there was no shame in this. "That's exactly why it happened. You'll see a lot of worse things in your time and you'll handle it, I got every confidence in that. Its just going to take some time."

JD offered him a wan smile and Buck had to admit that helping the kid out had centered his own anger somewhat and gave him focus. Once he was assured that JD was all right, Buck strode back to Aislynn, gesturing Ezra to come join him. The security officer was performing what first aid he knew on some of the wounded and immediately complied with the order as soon as he saw Buck waving him over.

"Alright Aislynn," Buck said firmly, trying to keep the anger out of his voice as he spoke to the young woman because she looked so damn afraid. He reminded himself she was not responsible for the actions of her elders. After all, she had come to him and JD to warn them. Buck also had no doubt by allying herself with him and the rest of the Maverick, she had become subject to their fates if her former crewmates were to attack again. "I need to know what this thing is."

Aislynn's eyes glittered with tears as she looked at Buck and Ezra, trying to show them with soulful eyes this was not her intention, she had never been given a choice about this. "It’s all around us." She explained.

"All around us?" Buck replied. "I don't understand. What do you mean by that?"

She paused a moment, trying to chose the right words and then decided that the best way to tell him was to just come out and say it. "This place," her gaze moved around the landscape before returning to Buck's face once more. "This place is the entity you are seeking. It is not a planetoid at all but a living thing."

"You mean this entire planetoid is a..."

"A life form." Ezra declared, staring at Buck with wide eyes. "It actually makes sense." He said with more than a hint of excitement. "The reason Julia and I had disappeared for all that time is because we discovered a graveyard of ships. Not simply one or two but dozens! We only managed to see it because Julia acquired a case of flash blindness and in the instance, it took for her vision to clear, the ships became visible to us."

"Okay, its a life form and its lured us here," Buck tried to wrap his mind around all this new data. "What does it what from us?"

Aislynn swallowed and looked at him. "It wants to feed. It needs life force but it does not know how to kill to extract it. The body must die first before it can take the energy. It communicated with those of us who were left after it had taken all the life from the Leonov and offered us a chance to survive if we would do the killing for it. We were trapped here. We could not leave and we had no choice but to help it."

"No choice?" Ezra replied derisively, wondering how anyone could sell out others in such foolhardy venture. "All you needed to do was to leave in your ship or tell the poor innocents you kept here like fly paper the truth and they could have taken you."

"No they couldn't," Buck said softly, understanding at last the heartache and the sacrifice Aislynn made when she agreed to help them.

"What do you mean?" Ezra turned to Buck who was staring at the young girl with just as much sadness.

"They're not the crew of the Leonov, Ezra." Buck answered. "They're the livestock being transported to Lysia."

"How is that possible?" Ezra Standish stared at Buck Wilmington with nothing less than astonishment following his revelation regarding the true identity of the Leonov’s ‘crew’. It took quite a bit to leave the normally cool and collected security chief with his jaw wide open in amazement but Buck’s statement had that effect upon him and more. He thought about the people they had been interacting with the last few days were a little peculiar and while he found their body language displaying all the signs indicating some form of deception, even Ezra had not come to the conclusion Buck just presented to him.

"It lets you see what you wanted to see." Aislynn whispered again, unable to meet Buck’s gaze now he knew her secret. She had never thought it was possible to feel so ashamed in her life but she was. She cared for Buck deeply and she also felt a kinship with these space-faring individuals who lived their lives among the stars as she had always dreamed of doing. Aislynn did not wish to hurt them and she was sick of the killing. "You wanted to see survivors so you did." Her eyes filled with tears.

Buck placed his hand on her cheek, refusing to see anything else but the young woman who had placed everything at risk to help them, not just her life but also her humanity. "Tell us what happened Aislynn," he urged gently, showing her he bore no malice towards her. "The real truth this time."

Aislynn nodded and swallowed thickly. "I don’t know what happened to make the ship land here, I guess it did the same thing to the Leonov as it did to the other ships. We heard it talking to us inside our heads and it said Captain Kelisan did not want to stay here. There was a Betazoid on board who could sense a living thing and that made it impossible for it to trick them into killing themselves like it had done with the crews of the other ships and the planets in this system. It told us if we helped it, we could both feed. It changed some of us and told us what to do. It read Captain Kelisan’s mind and knew exactly how we could kill everyone on board. It told the rest of us to leave the ship while one of us, the one you see now as Kelisan, flooded the decks with radiation. All the crew died within minutes and it was able to feed."

"Dear Lord," Ezra gasped softly, having his questions answered finally even if he did not wish the answers to be this bizarre or gruesome. Now he understood why the supposed crew of the Leonov had such difficulties conducting basic repairs or improve their living conditions on the ship, and why they were so adamant about remaining behind. If they were to leave the planetoid and beam on board the Maverick, it was possible the creature’s powers might waver enough for their true selves to be seen.

"Then it was Janice who killed Antonia." JD who had been listening intently behind Buck exclaimed.

"Antonia?" Ezra gaze Buck a sharp glance. "Ensign Starke?"

"Yeah," Buck nodded somberly while JD’s gaze dropped to his feet. "She went missing right after the Captain gave us the order to evacuate. We found what was left of her in the engineering deck."

Ezra said nothing for a moment, showing his distress at the young woman’s death with little more than a slow blink and puff of air from out his lungs before that cool facade felt into place once again. Like Buck, Ezra felt the crew of the Maverick his responsibility and losing anyone made him feel as if he had been deficient in his duty to protect them.

"So this thing has been using you and the others to attract other people onto the surface?" Buck asked, getting back to the subject on hand.

"Yes," Aislynn nodded, wishing they would ask her no more questions because she felt guilty enough about all those who died. "Most of the time the ships land and the others were able to make the kill. Your ship was different. It was not like most of the smaller ships that happened this way."

"Galaxy-class ships aren’t made for landing," JD explained. "They can’t enter the atmosphere."

"It could sense all the people on board your ship and hoped it might trap enough of you down here so we could feed but it had to be careful because it knew you could hurt it."

"Your phaser." Buck replied glancing at Ezra, reminding the security chief of the experimental shot he had taken at the surface when they had first arrived. By testing his phaser to see if it would work, Ezra had caused the planetoid to rock violently, leading them to the conclusion the spacial body had been unstable. Now the answer appeared far simpler. "That was a reaction to pain not an unstable planetoid."

"So it kept delaying our departure, while it came up with a new plan," Buck concluded. "Then Ezra and Julia stumbled on the ships that came here previously and things started to unravel even further when the captain decided we were to abandon the Leonov here and return to the ship."

"So is everything here an illusion?" JD asked, glancing at Aislynn as he tried to wrap his mind around what they had learned.

"Everything except the air. It makes that on its own." Aislynn replied.

"Commander," Julia Pemberton announced herself as she approached them. The chief engineer wore a worried expression on her face as she wiped the sweat from her brow and tried not to notice her Starfleet singlet was stained with the blood of injured officers. "We got a lot of wounded people here, we need to get them to the ship. Some of them are bleeding badly and if we don’t get them to Sick Bay, they’re going to die."

Buck only needed to look over her shoulder at the collection of prone figures to know her estimation of things was no exaggeration. He took a deep breath and considered what they would do next, aware all eyes were cast in his direction, awaiting orders. "Aislynn, do you think you can help us get to our ships?"

"I can sort of find it." She confessed. "I have a strong sense of smell that can give me an idea if we are going in the right direction but it won’t help because you won’t be able to see it."

"That doesn’t matter." Buck replied quickly, "Julia, Ezra said flash blindness caused you to see those ships the first time, is that true?"

"Yes," she nodded quickly seeing what he was getting at. "But it wouldn’t appear long enough for us to fly both runabouts out of here."

"We can work our way around that," he answered. "We’ll do it one person at a time. Aislynn will lead us to where the runabouts are, we’ll get on and keep repeating it for as long as it lasts until we can take off."

"This is going to require a great deal of coordination," Ezra said dubiously. "Many of our injured are in no condition to make the attempt."

"I agree," the first officer declared, having considered this already. "However, we only need one of the runabouts to take off and get to the Maverick. Once we tell the Captain what’s going on down here, they may know of a way to get us out of here, using the same method."

"It’s a plan," Julia agreed with the logic of his words. Besides, the alternative was to sit here and wait while they were all hunted down and killed one by one.

"Alright," Buck spoke up loudly, not just to those in his immediate vicinity but to the rest of the Maverick’s Away Team. "We’re moving out."

"Buck," Aislynn gasped out loud and captured everyone’s undivided attention as her eyes widened in fear. "We have to go now." She said in a hushed voice, her eyes darting around in fear. "They’re coming."

******

Vin Tanner blinked.

Even though he could see clearly enough, it felt as if his vision was being bombarded by far too many light rays. Everything before him was reflecting light to some degree and he had concentrate for a moment to regain his equilibrium. Even though it was impossible for him to feel the serum enter his veins through a hypospray, the adjustment to his vision made it clear exactly when Nathan’s concoction had done its work.

Glancing at Alex who was looking over the phaser rifles they had brought with them, Vin wondered if she having similar difficulties with her sight as he piloted the shuttle Worthy out of the Maverick’s shuttle bay. Her hands moved deftly over the metal, indicating if she were having the same minor disorientation he was experiencing at the moment, she certainly was not showing it. Her eyes studied the weapons carefully, ensuring they were in perfect working order if required during their rescue expedition.

The Worthy sailed out of the shuttle bay and Vin immediately keyed in the coordinates for the landing zone where the runabouts Midkiff and Perlman had put down. Among the inventory for their rescue mission was an ample supply of the same vision adjusting serum that allowed them to see through the illusions being cast by the alien life form, for use on the Away Team. Although not as versatile as the runabouts since it was designed as a short-range vessel, the shuttle maneuvered well once they left the shuttle bay and made a neat arc in space towards the alien creature.

"Oh hell…" he found himself exclaiming as he peered out of the cockpit window once the planetoid came into view. For a few seconds, he could only stare at the life form beyond the hull of the shuttle in astonishment. What he was staring at looked nothing like the planetoid it had claimed to be, far from it in fact. There was no adequate way Vin could describe it since there had never been a creature closely resembling it. All he could see was pulsing pink and lavender colored flesh, gigantic veins running up and down the length of its body, no eyes to speak off and the ripple against its skin whenever it breathed.

"What?" Alex asked, having looked up when he made his exclamation of surprise and finding the speech in her throat die once she caught sight of the creature. "Oh my God." She whispered in similar awe. Suddenly, the scientist in her kicked in and she quickly spoke up. "Computer, begin scanning the life form."

"Unable to comply." The computer’s dulcet voice returned. "Dampening field is interfering with multiphasic signals."

"Continue to scan anyway," Alex said impatiently.

"What are you doing?" Vin asked as he set the course towards the creature.

"We’ve never seen anything like this thing before," Alex explained, her eyes still fixed on it and wondered if there were many other creatures like this in existence. Was it part of a race of creatures or was it a fluke of nature? "Federation xenobiologists will have a field day with the data we accumulate."

"Makes sense," Vin agreed, remembering once they were far enough away from here, the creature’s influence over their perceptions would be broken. He would not be surprised if all their scans revealed a wealth of information about the life form which had previously been obscured by its illusionary capabilities. "It’s a shame we can’t help it by finding it some other way to feed. It’s not killing because its evil, it’s just trying to survive."

"I know," Alex sighed feeling the same way. The scientist in her was impressed by this remarkable creature, not only its ability to mask itself but truly space dwelling life forms were rare in itself. "Maybe those xenobiologists can learn enough about it to substitute its food source." She answered after a moment. "Best thing we can do right now, is to get our people off and put some distance between us and it without provoking it into attacking. I’d hate to fire on it unless we really have to."

"No kidding," Vin replied, his eyes still fixed on the creature's form as it loomed closer in the cockpit window. As they approached it, they could see the grooves of its skin, the veins that pulsed with life and no doubt internal fluids, resembling rivers as they snaked across the creature’s entire form.

"How are you doing?" Alex asked, now that they had a moment alone.

Vin looked in her direction long enough to realize that she was not talking about the optical adjustment they had both been subjected to but rather a more personal matter.

"I’m better." He said with a little smile. "Mary’s been showing me a couple of mental exercises and I’ve been managing to get this thing under control."

"Well, think of this way. You could be a Betazoid."

"Christ," he said with a frown. "Don’t even joke about something like that."

"Hey Vin," Alex paused a moment, deciding this was a good a time as anything to bring up something that had been preying on her mind since the incident between them when he had inadvertently invaded her mind. "You know you can talk to me about these things."

Vin met her gaze once more and answered just as quietly. "I didn’t want to bother you with what’s going on in my head. I get the impression that you got troubles of your own."

Alex let out a deep breath and remarked. "I do," she did not bother to lie since he probably saw something inside her mind during their meld that probably gave him good reason to think that. "But it helps me if I can help you." Her eyes met his and for a moment, they held each other gazes as unspoken things passed between them needing no words to communicate. "You know something," she said with a bittersweet expression on her face. "You’re my best friend on this ship and I want to help you if I can. I know I’m not the easiest person to talk to sometimes but I’ll always be there for you. You can count on it."

"Friends huh?" Vin nodded and though he felt immensely pleased by her words, there was something about how she defined their relationship in the parameters of friendship that bothered him. She was more than just a friend to him. Vin did not understand what it was he felt for Alex, knowing only when he was with her, it didn't matter if he was different and not quite Vulcan. She made him feel good about himself in a way no one had done since his foster parents.

"Yeah," she flashed him a smile, not a mere shadow of one she often produced for everyone else but rather a real smile reserved only for him. "Friends."

Vin felt himself flush with feelings he could not describe, knowing only that it filled him with warmth whenever she looked at him that way and confirmed one thing most definitely in his mind.

Whatever she was to him, they were certainly not friends.

******

They hurried away from the rendezvous point, certain the scent of blood from the wounded was doing nothing to hide their escape and sooner or later, they would be found. Despite being armed with phasers, there were too few of them who were uninjured who could repel the animals stalking them without endangering the wounded they were attempting to move to safety. With Julia and JD leading the way as Aislynn guided them to the approximate position of the roundabouts, Buck and Ezra took up the rear, keeping a close eye on the terrain to ensure nothing was approaching them for a sneak attack.

"You realize of course," Ezra said as his eyes skimmed the barren landscape before them and saw nothing stirring in the dunes. "That if this creature is so adept as to provide an illusion capable of making us believe animals bound for a Lysian zoo were actually the crew of the Leonov, then it is all possible it could allow those same animals to sneak up on us before we were even aware of it."

Buck’s gaze did not move away from the terrain but he did stiffen enough to respond in a slow drawl. "Are you trying to be pessimistic or does it came naturally?"

"Why naturally, of course, Commander., Ezra responded with similar sarcasm.

"You were right Ezra," Buck said after a moment with more than a little more remorse in his voice. His eyes was still fixed ahead, skimming over the horizon, trying to see through the image they were presented with, to the reality beneath the illusion.

"About what?" Ezra looked at him mystified.

"About coming here in the first place. We didn’t know enough about the planetoid to make a landing. We should have been more thorough with our investigation."

Ezra sensed immediately this confession was coming from the first officer out of the guilt he felt for those who had died trying to rescue non-existent survivors.

"Buck," he said in a voice not so filled with smug awareness. "You were no more wrong than I was. We thought there were survivors and your desire to help them was not misguided. As Starfleet officers, it is our duty to render aid, no matter what the risk to ourselves personally. No one could have suspected the truth behind this place. I suspected something was wrong but while I always believed the Leonov’s crew had something to hide, I did not for one moment suspect they were any more than who they claimed to be."

"Thanks, Ezra," Buck responded aware the security officer was trying to make him feel better and if it were not for the fact there were so many of their number dead, Buck might have allowed himself to feel that way. "But I don’t think that’s going to be much comfort to Ensign Starke when its all said and done."

"Buck watch out!" Ezra shouted and shoved Buck out of the way when a tiger materialized out of thin air and lunged at the first officer. The first officer tumbled to the floor as the creature landed right in the place where he had been standing and snarled loudly, teeth bared as it prepared to lunge again. This time, the security officer was better prepared and he raised his arm to fire his phaser when another feral animal sprung out of nowhere, knocking him off his feet.

Buck scrambled to his feet and saw both animals preparing to converge upon Ezra as the man struggled to find the phaser knocked out of his hand with the appearance of the second animal. Powerful jaws widened, preparing to snap shut around Ezra’s arm when Buck fired at the nearest animal even though he could hear the low growl of a third. The phaser was set to kill and the beam struck its target, disintegrating the animal before it had a chance to bite down on Ezra. However the security officer was nowhere out of trouble since he had another big cat to deal with.

Buck swung around and fired at what appeared to be a Klingon Mountain cat, which was all tusk and teeth, not unlike a saber tooth tiger of Earth’s ancient past. He fired only once, halting the animal just before it was about to lunge and did not wait around to see it die, confident the phaser blast was more than up to the task of ending the threat. Instead, he turned back to see Ezra fighting for dear life with what looked like a timber wolf as he held the animal back by the throat, trying to keep its massive jaws from his neck.

Using all the strength that Ezra could muster, he flipped the creature over his shoulder, feeling warm blood on his body and legs from where the wolf’s sharp claws had dug into him while they had been wrestling. It landed on its back and roared in outrage as Ezra searched frantically for his phaser when suddenly he saw the creature struck with a beam of energy. It let out a howl of outrage as it glowed momentarily and then disappeared altogether.

"Ezra!" Buck hurried to him and helped the panting security officer to his feet. Ezra was covered in dirt and blood, there were deep laceration in his skin and the man looked visibly shaken.

"I could have done without that," Ezra remarked retrieving his phaser. "Thank you for your timely intervention Commander."

"My pleasure," Buck mused with a troubled expression on his face. "Is it me or should there have been more of those things?" He asked after a moment's thought.

"Now that you mention it." Ezra realized what he was getting at, forgetting the pain caused by the rips in his skin. The realization dawned upon both of them at the same time as their eyes widened in unison.

"Oh shit!" Buck exclaimed first, breaking away from the security officer as he ran after the rest of the Away Team at top speed. Ezra remained behind, keeping up the best he could even though he was bleeding in several places and the pain was affecting him more than he would like to admit. He saw Buck disappear over the crest of a dune when suddenly he heard the sound of phaser fire and voices shouting in alarm.

Hobbling in pain and leaving traces of blood as he struggled to keep up, Ezra felt his heart pound in his chest at the thought of harm befalling Julia. The creatures posing as the crew of the Leonov had sent a trio of their number after himself and Buck, cleverly distracting them as the main group converged upon the rest of the Away Team. Probably able to smell the scent of blood from the wounded, the creatures were more or less assured of targets that could not be easily defended by the scant few officers that remained.

Ezra crested the hill and saw Julia helping a member of the engineering team with severe leg injuries out of the kill zone while JD provided as much fire as he was capable. Having learnt their lesson the first time around, the creatures were not engaging the armed Starfleet officers, concentrating their attention instead on the weaker members of the group. Ezra supposed they were following the typical hunting behavior of large predators in the wild.

Those armed were well protected but their number was too few and Ezra noticed in some instances, their attackers seemed to disappear and reappear, no doubt being given assistance by the alien life form upon which they were all trapped. Large, jungle predators appeared out of nowhere and Ezra was hardly surprised that none of the vegetarian exports to the Lysian zoo had survived, if the dietary requirements of these beasts were anything to go by.

Buck saw JD fending off a large bear-like animal that was moving at him with surprising speed and agility, having recognized the beams of phaser energy as something it should avoid. It was barreling towards the kid who was trying his hardest to keep the behemoth away from Julia and the injured officer. Buck knew instinctively he was not going to succeed, at least not until the animal got too close for him to afford making a mistake. As much confidence as Buck had in JD, he knew the youth was too green to have that much pressure forced upon him and he did not deserve to die for his inexperience.

Aiming carefully, he tried to fire and then heard a loud, powerful roar behind him. Spinning around as fast as he could, he barely had time to register from which direction the attack was coming before a great weight lunged at him and he was tumbling down the small slope, with no idea where his phaser went in the downward descent. He could feel the hot and fetid breadth of something extremely strong and aggressive scratching away at him with its power hind legs. Buck let out a cry of pain as he felt what he was certain were claws tearing at his flesh.

Both he and the creature came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Buck saw a set of widening jaws preparing to take a healthy bite out of his neck before he raised his arms in a defensive posture, allowing those inch long teeth to sink into the skin of his forearm instead. As the mandibles closed with swift efficiency, a scream escaped him before he even had a chance to acquaint himself with the pain that came with the bite.

"Buck!" He heard JD shout and saw the boy's concentration waver long enough to let the bear creature narrow the gap between itself and JD. Buck's attention was snapped back to his current predicament when the animal tearing at his arm began to tighten its grip, digging teeth deeper into his flesh. Buck fought to dislodge it from on top of him but the animal was a mass of fur, wild and strong as it fought to stay where it was. He had to get to JD before that monster ripped him to pieces, Buck thought desperately when suddenly a blast from what was definitely not a hand phaser cut through the frantic sounds already charging the air.

The creature on top of his disappeared before his eyes as another blast was heard. Buck rolled onto his stomach, his arm oozing blood from torn flesh as his eyes searched for the source of this rescue. Standing not too far from the scene of the battle was Alexandra Styles and Vin Tanner. The officer of the con had been responsible for saving Buck's life but had little time to rest on that achievement. Vin immediately turned his attention to the creature stalking JD and took careful aim. Buck held his breath a moment because the shot would have to be extremely precise since the beast was no more than inches away from JD and the distance between shooter and target was considerable. Unsure as Vin might be about himself at times, there was no such hesitation when he pulled the trigger on the phaser rifle. The shot was neat and right on target, killing the creature in mid-step before it had a chance to advance any further.

Alex was also causing similar devastation with her rifle, shooting all the attacking creatures, even the ones they could not see. For a moment, Buck though she might have been firing at nothing but in death, he saw tendrils of smoke emerge out of nowhere, which did not have its origins from her rifle. As Buck understood it, it was the alien drawing the life force from the creatures dying; feeding on the servants that provided it with sustenance for so long. He had no idea how Alex and Vin were managing to see but he was not about to argue with the results.

Buck did not know how long it took before enough of the creatures were shot for the others decided the odds were more than they were willing to risk. Almost as suddenly as the carnage had begun, it ended just as abruptly with the remaining animals withdrawing. While the Away Team made a valiant effort to fight the threat as well as defend its wounded, there was no victory with the casualties that lay dead in the sand. Buck clutched his bleeding arm and struggled to get up when he saw Vin extending a hand towards him.

"You look like you could use a little help there Commander." Vin said with one of those little smiles of his which usually meant he was pleased as hell but too damn unflappable to show it.

"Oh just a little," Buck grinned, never thinking he could be so happy to see anyone as Vin pulled him up easily with his Vulcan strength. "Damn, I didn't know you were such a fine shot Elf."

Vin gave him a look and knew if it had been anyone else he might have had cause to be offended but Buck would never intentionally insult him. Besides, he supposed that he liked the first officer enough to allow Buck to use that nickname on him since it was meant in affection. "Well, some people try to do better with a phaser rifle than their mouth." He drawled sarcastically.

"You're spending way too much time with Alex," Buck chuckled as they walked over to join the others.

******

T hanks to Alex and Vin's timely arrival, the Away Team was soon led to the runabouts which were only a few short meters away from where the creatures had chosen to launch their final attack upon the escaping Starfleet officers. The Worthy had put down next to the runabouts after being located by Vin and Alex who were able to track them down by making a visual search of the area. It was not hard to find the Away Team once they had landed because the sounds of animal roars, screams, and phaser blasts were more efficient in attracting their attention that the brightest flare.

Almost all of the Away Team was in need of immediate medical attention and Buck wanted to get back to the Maverick as soon as possible to meet that need. It was strange to be told they had boarded the runabouts when all they could see was open landscape. JD had agreed to pilot the Midkiff while Buck was doing the honors on the Perlman. Of course, before they could make any move to return to the Maverick, Alex made certain everyone was inoculated with the serum Nathan had created to adjust their optical nerve to see past the illusion the alien had created for them.

Alex was about to press the hypospray to his arm when suddenly Aislynn came to him. Alex seemed to stare with something was akin to shock and awe as the young woman approached him. Those who had been inoculated seemed to have the same reaction to her. He wondered what it was they saw.

"Buck, do you promise to take me with you?" She looked at him with those soulful eyes and he wondered what kind of creature she had been in that other life before the Leonov. The one she would soon be returning to.

"Of course I am going to take you with us, honey." He placed his hand on her cheek again, wanting to assure her he would not abandon her, not after what she had given up to help him and the crew of the Maverick. She was just a child, no matter what species she had been born and he believed her when she said she had no choice. "I know what you did for us Aislynn. I won't ever forget that."

"Thank you, Buck," she answered, tears in her eyes as she looked at him, feeling sorrow he would never truly understand and after this day, she would never be able to tell anyone because she would no longer be able to speak. The days of humanity were behind her now and she was ready to accept it. Perhaps she had been from the first moment he had looked at her. "I want to see the stars. I want to see the stars just once."

"I'll see to it." He replied, feeling the emotion in his heart for this young girl, this child who wanted so much and was doomed not to have it from the very beginning. "I promise you."

That was enough. She believed him because he was Commander Buck Wilmington, a man of honor and a man who would never consciously hurt a lady, even one like her. She stepped away and nodded to Alex as if she was ready now for him to see her. Alex gave Aislynn a long look before turning to Buck and pressing the hypospray against his arm.

A loud hiss followed and Buck waited for the serum to take full effect. According to Alex, it would take no more than a few seconds. His eyes moved across the barren landscape of the planetoid that had been the grave of so many ships and so many poor souls before the Maverick's arrival. He watched as the sandy dunes disappeared, watched in a mixture of shock and mild horror as craggy terrain suddenly drained i into living breathing flesh capable of producing the most amazing feat of deception Buck had ever known. He saw the dark sky against the alien's form and then he looked forward.

At Aislynn.

She was at his feet. A small bundle of fur, not at all threatening and dangerous as her fellow crewmates had been. She had not lied when she confessed to being the smallest. She was little more than a kitten and beautiful in her own way. Golden in color, her pelt gleamed under the light of the stars. She looked at him with feline eyes and when she opened her mouth, a soft kittenish purr spoke to him in words he could no longer understand.

The language of a Selurian minx cat.

Buck leaned over and picked up the small creature into his arms and offered her a smile because no matter what she was, he had made her a promise. JD, Ezra, and Julia wore the same stricken expression, sorrow in their eyes for a creature that made a most charming young girl and proved more far more efficiently than anyone could have possibly imagine, what it was to be human.

Captains Logs Stardate 23.25.01

Following the rescue of our crewmen from the clutches of the space creature impersonating a planetoid, I have ordered the permanent establishment of a warning beacon in the system known as J12. The beacon will transmit a continuous automated signal to any passing ships, warning them of the creature and its powers of illusion. At the behest of Commander Styles, we have also sent all records regarding the creature to Starfleet Command in the hopes that the Xenobiology Department may be able to find some way to supplement its usual source of food with a substitute. It is our hope this would allow it to keep from preying on life forms that come across its path. After all, the creature can hardly be considered evil as the Commander informed me and it is an opinion I tend to agree with. Like any living thing, its need to feed is a natural function of survival and should no more be held accountable for its actions than a whale might be responsible for the plankton it eats. I suppose it's really a matter of perception.

"Since I have been rather accommodating with requests today, I have also granted Commander Wilmington's permission to send down a supply of food for the life forms still living in symbiosis with the creature. While we are unable to help the creature itself, we can provide sustenance for the animals left behind in the wake of the Leonov's destruction and food drops will be made periodically for as long as the life forms exist. Like the creature, they cannot be held accountable for their actions when their motivation was to feed. Starfleet Command may question my leniency on this matter but there is nothing served by destroying either the alien or the predators that exist upon it. It is my hope someday, we may understand one in order to help both."

"Under recommendations from Commander Wilmington, I have put in official commendations for Lieutenant Commander Standish and Lieutenant Commander Styles, if not for the foresight of both, we may have lost more crew than we had. I will also be penning letters to the families of the crewmen we did lose, including Ensign Starke.  

******

Chris ended his log entry and took a deep breath, easing back into his chair after the rather lengthy report. He glanced out the window of his ready room and saw the stars blurring past them at high warp. Chris could not say he was not glad for the quiet after the last few days. Following their return to the ship, most of the Away Team had spent a great deal of time under the ministrations of the chief medical officer being treated for a number of injuries. Most of these were severe trauma caused by animal mauling but fortunately, the return to the Maverick saved their lives.

Josiah had called earlier this morning to inform Chris the Maverick's crew count had risen by one. It seemed that for the first time in his life, Buck Wilmington was actually having a young lady to stay permanently in his quarters. Chris supposed despite the fact the young lady was actually a Selurian Minx Cat, this was a big improvement for a man who got nervous if he had to buy more than one matching dinner plate because it felt just too much like commitment. Still, Chris had read Buck's report and understood his old friend's reasoning for taking responsibility for the creature and it was just like Buck to do something like that.

Chris was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the familiar melodic chirping of someone at his door. "Come in," he responded automatically, beckoning them into his private sanctum.

The doors slid open and young Casey Wells peered through the sliding doors "Captain, you wanted me to remind you that you had an appointment with Lieutenant Tanner on the holodeck?"

Chris glanced at the chronometer on the wall and swore when he realized what time it was. He and Vin were going to try climbing the Machupuchare as they had intended to days ago before this had all began. As it was, he was due to be meeting Vin at the holodeck in ten minutes and was glad Casey had dropped in to remind him or else he would have forgotten completely. Finishing his log entry, Chris put down his datapad and decided to get moving. With a devious smile, Chris wondered if they ought to invite Ezra along. After all, the security officer was quite the expert at mountain climbing since his adventures on the most recent Away mission.

"Thanks, Casey," he offered the girl a grateful smile for the reminder as she advanced deeper into the office and took note of the data pad on his desk.

"Your log entry Sir?" She asked politely since one of her tasks as his Yeoman was to ensure that such documentation was stored away as well as copies made for transmission to Starfleet Command.

"Yeah," he nodded as he stood up from behind his desk. "You can file it away tomorrow if you like. I know you and JD had plans for the evening." He recalled hearing the youth discussing it on the bridge earlier and did not want to stand in the way of their plans with something that could wait until tomorrow. It would not make any difference if Starfleet Command received his report now or a day later; the outcome would still remain the same.

"Thank you, Sir," she brightened up immediately and brought an involuntary smile to Chris's jaded features. Despite himself, Chris found himself assuming a rather protective role over the girl who seemed far too young for life out in space on her own.

"Just beware of young ensigns with tall tales and mood lighting." He warned as he started across the carpeted floor toward the door, not entirely joking with her.

"Oh Captain," Casey giggled and blushed at the same time. "JD's not like that."

"I was an Ensign once Casey," Chris said, not believing that for one minute. "And I can tell you, they're all like that."

******

May I join you?" Josiah Sanchez asked Mary Travis who was finishing her cup of hot Vulcan tea while taking advantage of the panoramic view offered by  Four Corners.

"Certainly," the protocol officer flashed him a radiant smile and Josiah could tell by the bright glow on her face she was in high spirits today. Josiah knew she had good reason to be proud of her efforts and justified in her equally good mood. Following his conversation with Vin Tanner this morning, Josiah knew much of Mary's elevated spirits had to do with the young Vulcan. Vin appeared a great deal happier than he had been when Josiah had last seen him and most of this was due to his lessons with Mary. Mary's new approach to teaching him the Vulcan disciplines he had so much trouble mastering in the beginning, was proving to be a rousing success. It would not be long before Vin was able to exert the control over his telepathic abilities like other Vulcans and that gave the young man great peace of mind.

"Unfortunately, I can't stay long," Mary confessed to Josiah even though she allowed him to join her. "I've got to meet Julia at Holodeck 3 in about ten minutes. I am required to provide assistance in the name of sisterhood."

"I won't ask," Josiah remarked as he nestled himself across the table with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. "I just wanted to let you know I saw Vin for his scheduled appointment and without going into detail, I can safely say your lessons have had a marked improvement on his self-esteem."

Mary beamed despite herself, feeling singularly proud she was able to help him. "I'm glad." She admitted, taking a sip of tea and swallowing a little before she continued to speak again. "He's doing so well, now I know how to teach him properly. In a couple of weeks blocking other people’s thoughts is going to be as common to him as a reflex action. He's actually a very quick learner."

"Well, he has a good teacher." The Counselor offered her a warm smile. "You have done wonders for his spirits in that regard. You've made him understand he is out of touch as far as what a proper Vulcan is supposed to be, only by choice, not by ability. That makes a big difference."

"He has you to thank as much as me Josiah," Mary looked at him. "If you had not set me straight, it would never have occurred to me to take that approach. In fact," she stared at him with narrowed eyes holding a hint of accusation. "I think that you are very Machiavellian. You sneak around our backs and give us this oh so gentle nudge in the right direction. I had no idea that you could be so sneaky."

"Sneaky, I?" Josiah looked at her with complete innocence. "I have not idea what you mean, Lieutenant Travis."

"I'll bet you don't." Mary rolled her eyes skeptically. "Come on," she leaned closer to him. "What's your secret?"

"Being married to a Betazoid." Josiah finally confessed. "Either you learn to do things under the table or you get used to being in trouble a lot." He said looking about furtively as the words escaped him.

"And I thought being married to a Vulcan was hard," she laughed. "I'll never complain again."

After a moment, she sobered up a little, remembering what had been the point of this exercise in the first place. Mary had not forgotten why Josiah wanted Vin to trust her, to bring to her the questions about his Vulcan heritage he could not ask anyone else.

"I'll be there for him Josiah." Mary declared without doubt or hesitation because she wanted to be there for Vin as someone else had once been there for her when she had first arrived on Vulcan knowing nothing.

She intended to be there for Vin Tanner, for all his questions.

******

Alexandra Styles wondered why she was doing this.

She would rather be in her quarters at this time of the day, listening to Puccini or Deborah Harry whichever came first, while soaking in a luxuriously hot bubble bath. She could just picture the soft scent of lavender in her nostrils and the delightful heat against her skin. Why on earth had she let Julia talk her into going to the holodeck to partake in some revenge she had planned for their security chief? Then Alex recalled Julia had appealed to the worst common denominator, using words like sisterhood, women who suffered together in times past, all those feminist buzzwords that had been immortalized in the centuries before them.

Oh stop complaining, Alex told herself as she stepped out of the turbo lift into the corridor leading to the holodeck. If Mary could take the time to be supportive of Julia's plans this evening, Alex supposed it was not too much of an annoyance if she contributed an hour of her life to this enterprise. After all, it was not like she had any plans this evening. Not that Alex was upset she was free. She was perfectly aware if she wanted suitors, Buck Wilmington would be on her doorstep so fast she would not know what had hit her until breakfast.

However, Alex was not ready for dating yet and she doubted she ever would be. Of course, she was a grown woman and like any other, she had all the baggage that went with being a woman her age that did not have a significant other in her life. Which made her question why Julia was so intent on torturing Ezra when it was obvious to everyone the chief engineer was crazy about the man.

Ah well, Alex thought with a wicked smile. No accounting for taste.

She turned the corner and saw Mary ahead of her. Alex hastened her pace and caught up with the protocol officer since they were both headed in the same direction.

"Hello, Mary." Alex greeted as she strode up alongside the blond woman.

"Right on time for our joint flaming of Commander Standish?" Mary asked with a little smile as she fell into stride with the science officer.

"The things we do in the name of sisterhood." Alex rolled her eyes with a weary sigh.

"By the way," Mary remarked. "I didn't want to ask her this but perhaps you can tell me what exactly did Ezra do to warrant this torture?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Alex laughed, remembering the story Buck told her and the rest of the bridge about the disastrous first date between Julia Pemberton and Ezra Standish.

The story had Mary in stitches by the time Alex was done telling it and the blond woman held her hand over her mouth as she laughed. "Oh my," she said still giggling. "That poor man. I don't envy him."

"Neither do I," Alex agreed with her on that score. "Although I can't imagine what women of the 20th century found so fascinating about watching half-naked men with oiled skin and tight-fitting shorts, dancing to bad music."

As they said that, both women stopped short at the sight of Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner wearing form-fitting mountain climbing clothes that left nothing to the imagination standing in front of the holodeck doors, preparing to begin their mountain climbing adventure. Alex and Mary went very silent as the two men stepped through the doors, every perfect sinew, and muscle displayed under the thin layer of fabric covering their bodies, oblivious to the fact they were being observed. In a second they were gone, leaving Alex and Mary releasing a long wistful sigh in unison.

"What time did Julia say we had to be there?" Alex asked with a perfectly straight face.

"Oh about now," Mary mused while she still staring at the closed door even though Chris and Vin had long gone.

"Let's hurry."

******

Ezra Standish had a bad feeling about this.

The restaurant in which he and Julia Pemberton were currently dining was all very tasteful and yet there was something about the volume of women in the place that made the chief of security rather concerned. The setting was 20th century Earth and although they were technically alone since the women in the place were all holodeck creations, Ezra had this feeling of ominous foreboding even though Julia had been nothing but pleasant throughout most of the evening. Perhaps it was because he was naturally suspicious but something about the place, in particular, the stage in the center of the room, made Ezra nervous. The restaurant itself had a very curious name.  Le Bares.  It also seemed to be a popular nightspot for women, as he appeared to be the only man present.

The floorshow had yet to begin and as Ezra dined on the very fine meal of Duck L’Orange with charming Bordeaux to accompany it, he tried not to let his suspicious nature ruin a pleasant evening if he was wrong. After all, they had been through quite a bit during their last Away mission and it would not be unreasonable to think Julia had forgiven him for their disastrous first date. Deciding he ought to just relax and enjoy the evening, Ezra eased back into his chair and regarded Julia who looked simply stunning in the sleeveless emerald colored dress she was wearing that matched her eyes perfectly.

"I am surprised," he confessed taking a sip of the Bordeaux from his glass. "I thought you have envisioned some terrible revenge for me after what I forced you to endure at our first evening together."

"Well," she met his gaze with a little smile. "I knew it was not your intention to make me put my head inside the mouth of a very large jungle cat. After the week we’ve had, it just seemed like a dress rehearsal for the main event."

"Yes," Ezra frowned, having thought the same thing after it was all said and done. "It was rather coincidental, wasn’t it. I do apologize, I had no idea that Caesar’s Palace would be so…"

"The word is tacky," Julia said abruptly.

"Believe it or not, I was aiming for opulent." He countered, giving her a look that reminded her of a little boy asking forgiveness.

"Well, it was a good if somewhat misguided effort." She replied sweetly.

Suddenly the holodeck doors activated and slid open. The doors materialized out of thin air although none of the other holodeck inspired patrons seemed to notice its presence. When the doors slid open, revealing the outside corridor, Alexandra Styles and Mary Travis entered much to Ezra surprise.

"Are we late?" Mary asked as they approached the duo’s table.

"No," Julia shook her head, unsurprised by their arrival since she had invited them. "You’re right on time."

"What is going on?" Ezra asked, being revisited by those ominous feelings again as both Mary and Alex pulled up chairs at their table and sat down, trying to hide the sniggers threatening to steal across their features and give the game away.

"Computer, secure all exits and encrypt activation mechanism in accordance to my authorization code. Pemberton 225471 and run upgrade program to current holodeck program Pemberton 4 and respond to voice command only from me." She said giving him a look of pure mischief and then eased back into her chair in order to enjoy the fun that would soon begin.

"What do you intend on putting me through?" He questioned, having guessed now this was the revenge she had promised him, as he saw the master of ceremonies appear on the stage floor.

"Oh, nothing that will hurt as much as sticking one’s head in the open jaws of a tiger." Julia deadpanned.

"And pray tell what are you ladies here for?" He turned to Alex and Mary.

"Sisterhood," Mary said without hesitation.

"Ladies, welcome to Le Bares." The MC captured all their attention when his loud voice boomed across the room. Upon his greeting, all the women excepting Julia, Mary and Alex broke out into riotous cheering that made Ezra very worried. "Tonight, we have something very special in store for you who have come to see the beautiful young men of Le Bares who are more than ready to perform for you."

"Beautiful young men?" Ezra exclaimed and then suddenly realized with a splash of cold water what Le Bares actually was. His realization made him stand up abruptly but Julia stopped him before he could flee.

"Hold it right there pardner," Julia ordered firmly in her best western impersonation. "You ain’t going nowhere." Without any hesitation, she pulled him back into her seat with a satisfied look on her face.

"Julia, let us discuss this like rational human beings." He began to stutter, having some idea of the horror in store for him now and knew he had a damn good reason to be very afraid.

"Rational hell," Alex drawled. "We want to see some skin."

"Yes," Mary added her voice to that request, remembering what it was that was so fun about serving with humans again. Vulcans just did not have any appreciation regarding the delicacy of strip clubs. "To be specific yours."

"Mine?" He stammered.

"Didn’t I tell you?" Julia looked at him innocently. "Le Bare’s special performance tonight involves audience participation and wouldn’t you know it? I program this entire place with only one male in the audience."

Ezra groaned and then grabbed the bottle of Bordeaux and poured himself a full glass, telling himself that there was only one way he was going out there. Blind stinking drunk. He just hoped no one had a holo-camera. As he drained the glass, Ezra could only think one thing;

The things a man did for love.

******

Whenever Buck Wilmington wanted to see stars, he normally went to  Four Corners or to the bridge. However, on this occasion, he decided he would forgo the lively atmosphere of both those locations and opted instead to visit the seldom-used Observation Deck. He knew that Alex and Vin liked to come out here because they were both private people who had more than a passing need for solitude at times, while treating to themselves to the spectacular vista of stars when the Maverick was in high warp.

Unknowingly, he sat at the place normally occupied by Vin Tanner. Buck sat perched right against the glass, gently running palm across the fur of the creature curled up most contently in his lap while her wide eyes watched the stars outside with fascination. The Selurian Minx Cat was hardly the most conventional of choices for a first time pet, but then Buck knew he would never be able to see the creature as a pet. A part of him would never be able to cast his gaze on this magnificent animal without remembering the sweet young girl she had been once in another life. Buck had made that girl a promise and it was one he would die keeping because of what she gave up out of love for him.

She, who was once a young lady, called Aislynn.

Aislynn, in her new guise, seemed aware of his mutual affection for her and raised her small head to let out a purr of contentment while her glowing eyes sparkled with the starlight that moved past them both. Buck made a mental note to do this again. He made Aislynn a promise he would not abandon her and it was a duty he was happy to keep because the memory of that young girl would remain with him as long as he kept this exquisite creature in his life.

And they could both see the stars.

THE END

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