Locked In (Part Two of Two)

It had taken Lieutenant Commander J'Ross and Lieutenant Lloyd nearly six hours to make the adjustments to the micro-probes and as they finally finished and loaded two of the modified probes into the launcher, the sky was beginning to darken.

Back at the base camp, the lights were coming on bathing the area in a soft white light. More equipment and personnel were still coming through the ring, but the flow had begun to slow. M'eko estimated that about eighty of the hundred or so Jem'Hadar were now here, the rest either assisting with the movement of the equipment from the surface of Bopak III to this alien planet or guarding the rogue Jem'Hadar on the Saucer section of the Leviathan-B.

"We're about ready." Amy Lloyd announced as he made the last checks on the launcher.

"Then let's move back and get these probes launched." M'eko suggested.

They both moved away from the launcher and once they were at a safe distance, Lieutenant Lloyd activated her tricorder and activated the launch sequence. In a flash of light, the micro-probe about a metre long zoomed away from the launcher and into the air. They watched the small rocket rise higher and higher into the sky. At about eighty thousand metres the rocket's nose started to dip and instead of continuing to rise higher into the atmosphere, it turned due east heading away from the base camp.

"What's the situation ?" M'eko asked.

"The probe is working perfectly." Amy replied, checking her tricorder. "It's flying due east at eighty three thousand metres and we're getting data back."

"Let's launch the second probe." J'Ross stated.

Moments later, the second probe left the ground and headed in the same direction as the first. At the programmed height, it too levelled out and headed off in the opposite direction to the first.

"The second probe is stable at eighty four thousand metres." Amy stated. "The energy levels are beginning to build in the shield array, but the probe should be OK so long as it remains at it's current level."

"Let's get the other probes loaded and into the air." M'eko suggested.

It took them about ten minutes to reload the launcher with two new probes and as they walked away from the launcher, Amy's tricorder beeped. Taking the device out, she examined it.

"That's strange." Amy commented. "The shield is powering up again."

Just then there was a flash of light in the western sky as the probe was destroyed.

"What happened ?" J'Ross enquired.

"The probe was destroyed, just like the first one." Amy reported.

"Did the probe malfunction ?" J'Ross asked.

"No, it was flying straight and level." Amy replied. "It looks like the shield does not cover the entire planet, just a large area."

"How far did it get ?" J'Ross queried.

"Just over a hundred kilometres." Amy stated. "The first probe is still OK and there's no sight that it's about to be destroyed. It's over a hundred and fifty kilometres away."

"Let's get these last two probes in the air." J'Ross stated. "Then maybe we can get an idea of how large an area the shield covers."

Within an hour, all four probes had been launched and been destroyed against the shield. The probe launched to the east had lasted longest, travelling over three hundred kilometres from the launch site. The last two probes launched north and south had reached two hundred kilometres each.

"So how large an area are we looking at ?" M'eko asked.

Amy quickly checked the figures on the tricorder and then stated. "About four hundred kilometres diameter. We're about a hundred and twenty kilometres from the centre of the shield, which is due north-east."

"What about the data we've got ?" M'eko asked. "Can you tell where we are ?"

"The data's going to take some processing, I'd need to take it back to the stellar cartography lab to get an accurate result." Amy admitted.

"But you can make a rough estimate of our location." M'eko suggested.

Amy quickly worked on her tricorder readings, scanning the data and making some rough calculation. Finally she looked up at the Commander.

"Well the results aren't very clear, but as an estimate I'd say we're somewhere between the Alpha and Beta quadrant's, about a hundred thousand light years from the galactic core.. I'd say were about eighteen thousand light years from Earth." Amy stated.

"Where's the nearest Federation base ?" M'eko asked.

Amy quickly checked her tricorder database.

"Look's like the closest base is Starbase 901." Amy confirmed. "But that's only an educated guess, these results could be out by maybe a thousand light years, we'll know more once the results have been through the astronavigation database."

By now the night sky was in full view and the only light source was from the base.

"Let's go and get back to base camp." M'eko suggested. "We'll get something to eat and some rest, then tomorrow you can go back to the Leviathan and analyse your results.

As they reached the base camp, both were very impressed with the progress of the base, it appeared to be almost fully operational. As they entered the largest building, they found most of the personnel already sat eating. Heading for the replicator in the far corner, they grabbed some food and found a couple of seats.

Just as they were finishing, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Phanan and the rest of the survey team came into the mess. Most quickly grabbed something to eat and found somewhere to sit and eat. The Colonel however spotted the Commander and walked across to her.

"Colonel." M'eko stated. "Aren't you going to eat something ?"

"I'll get something in a while." Jon replied. "I thought you might be interested in what we found on our way back from the obelisk site."

The Marine passed a tricorder across to the Commander, who activated it and examined the data held inside.

"These look like the same aliens we found in the caverns on Bopak III." M'eko stated.

"From what the survey team told me, this particular example only died some two hundred years ago." The Marine stated. "We found a small settlement about thirty kilometres from here and there were over fifty such alien skeletons there, all died at about the same time."

"That's very disturbing." M'eko commented. "That would suggest that this planet had intelligent life just a couple of centuries ago."

"There's more." The Marine stated. "I've seen a lot of battlegrounds in my time in the Marines and this settlement was a battleground. These aliens attacked each other."

"You mean these aliens appeared to be at war with each other ?" M'eko suggested.

"Not so much a war as a fight to survive." Jon stated. "Most of the aliens appeared to have died from close quarter attacks, many of the bodies were decapitated with crude weapons. Those that survived the attack probably died from lack of medical attention."

M'eko looked over an Amy, who had been listening to the conversation with growing fear.

"Lieutenant, when you get back to the Leviathan tomorrow, I'd like you to pass on the data to the life-sciences department." M'eko said quietly. "I'd like them to look at the surface scans to see if the probes have picked up any small settlements."

"Understood." Amy replied.

"I'll organise patrols." Colonel Phanan stated. "If there are still aliens on the planet and they decide to attack, we'd better be ready."

"Get something to eat first Colonel." M'eko suggested. "And I don't want any killing. Tell the patrols to fire only as a last resort and to use stun settings. From what you've said, these aliens don't have sophisticated weapons, I doubt they'd pose much of a threat."

"Yes Commander." Phanan confirmed, rising from the table and heading for the replicator and the other Marines.

"Let's find a couple of spare bunks and get some rest." M'eko suggested.

They both rose from the table and headed for the door, following a group of four Marines. As they walked across the well-lit base towards the sleeping quarters, they noticed several moving lights on the edge of the base. M'eko's keen night-vision could just pick out the green uniforms of the Marines, obviously the Colonel had anticipated the Commander's orders.

Entering one of the smaller buildings they found a couple of spare bunks and quickly fell asleep.