Reverse Technologies group

Originally started as an innocent group of Engineers and Scientists whose goal was to integrate the advanced technologies of races such as the Iconians, Inchon & Eccobarians into Federation Technology.

After its take-over by Admiral Doenitz, it rapidly became a black-project which protected it's secrecy by any means, including descruction of Starfleet Ships.

The USS Nimitz was nearly destroyed by an agent of Reverse Technologies, which caused an investigation of Admiral Doenitz and sparked the current Federation Civil War.

Zachary Falthgood was once a Captain and Project Director of the Reverse Technologies Group.

Posts Describing the History of Reverse Technologies

Authors Note

There is only one person to have ever written in depth about the Reverse Technologies Group, and that's J Trout as Zachary Falthgood, all the following posts are about him or his time in Reverse Tech while under the command of Admiral Doenitz

On the Nimitz, meeting the Scientists (Burial Grounds)

(USS Nimitz - Corridor - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 2045)

Zach crossed his arms as civilians and Starfleet personnel of all types brushed by him in a small flood. They were all in small groups, being loosely led by a Nimitz crewmember, to find their quarters.

Of course, given that more then three quarters of them were civilians, that actually meant it was hardly controlled chaos, waves of voices and protests and questions. The usual awe of being aboard a Starship, the usual grousing that someone hadn't gotten enough sleep, or to be careful with this and that bit of equipment, and the usual tall tails about the past and history in general.

This was the type of crowd he had spent nearly half his working career with, mostly at archaeological digs on old T'Kon worlds, though he also spent time on Verniz to study the newly discovered Ichon society and her technology. One didn't major in Reverse Technology Integration without spending at least some of their career buried in technology that didn't originate within the Federation.

He smiled as he noticed one of the faces he was looking for, and started moving forward against the tide. It wasn't as easy as it appeared, pushing against dozens of people who were intent on finding their beds or starting discussion groups for whatever had been found. He weaved in and out of people better then his large frame would suggest, until he came face to face with the wizened old man that he had come looking for. "Grandpa, d*mn have you gotten older!"

The man paused in his speaking, to another Doctor that Zach recognized but couldn't place a name to, and turned to face him. "Zach Falthgood? Zach, the guy who never drops his shades and INSISTS on calling me 'Grandpa', Falthgood ?"

The old man's face broke into a grin, and he surged forward to give the 7 foot man a hug. "Its been a long time, pipsqueak!"

Zach nodded, "Yeah, since Pyylarn Eight as I recall, that major T'Kon port site."

"Starfleet never did know what they had there, and you certainly didn't make a point of explaining it to them!" the four and a half foot man said as he reached up to poke Zach in the chest. "You knew as well as any of us just what lay under the surface there!"

Zach put a theatrical finger to his lips. "My report ended up getting most of the project sacked and classified, as it happened. I am, and I quote, "paid to rip their computers apart and plug the components into our Starships, not tell horror stories and fables about doomsday races, machines and endless sources of energy!' "

Zach snorted, "End quote."

The old man put out a hand and turned Zach around with amazing strength both for his size and apparent age. What was little known was the little man wasn't much older then Zach, nor was he human... It was something Zach had found out only by reading the man's file not long after they had first met. As he recalled, the wizened old individual had come blundering into his lab yelling about something while Zach had been dismantling something of particular.. Erm, instability. In short, the loss of concentration had nearly killed them all.

The old man steered them into a set of quarters, and he breathed a sigh of relief as his form dissolved into something a lot larger. The 'old man' was a Chameloid, a shape shifter, and it was something Zach never got tired of watching. He sat in one of the chairs and leaned back. With care he pushes his shades up on his forehead, then folded his hands together in his lap. "Quite a gathering we have going here, I haven't seen so many of these people in once place in... Ages." he finally said, "In fact, I cant recall ever seeing such a collection together ever before in my life." He cocked his head to the side, "...and I haven't exactly been a stranger to large scale finds when it comes to old technology or advanced civilizations."

'Grandpa' (Zach couldn't remember his real name) looked at him, then sat on the bed. The creature (which was very hairy, something like a nine foot bunny with an apes nose and camels ears, Zach couldn't remember the name of the creature either) sagged on the bed and quivered. "Oh, its exciting, this find. They up and pulled me from that new Ichon site over near the badlands, and we had just found a nearly intact shuttle, complete with some sort of pods, we can only assume what they were for since nothing we have can open them!"

"Alright," Zach said after a moment. "Ill bite, what's this great find?"

"Weeeeeeeelll, I'm not supposed to say."

Falthgood rolled his eyes, "Come now, together we hold more orders to stay silent on what we know of ancient technology, and have our names on more Confidential blacklists, then any five Admirals in the fleet. If they cant trust me to keep a secret, who are they going to trust?"

"How about that redhead you found on Verena, or the blonde on Tyvoln Seven, or..."

"They promptly forgot what they knew," Zach said darkly after a moment. "You know that as well as I do."

"Yes, yes." the beast said without hesitation, "I'm well aware the power you were given in your office at Starfleet, I don't need to be reminded."

NRPG: Get the idea there is more to Zach then just the nut, maybe has a somewhat darker past then his bubbly nature would account for ? No, he aint SFI, Alister has no competition from me *chuckles*

RPG: After several seconds of silence, the creature reformed into his 4 foot 'human' guise. "Alright, but keep this quiet." He leaned forward and looked around, as though looking for someone else in the room.

"A ship..."

"A ship?" Zach said, just as quietly as the Chameloid had whispered.

"Yess... But not just any ship, a ship and a city and... And... The prospects are marvelous. Far above what we ever studied, far above what we ever could have learned or you could have divined from the rusted technology we have dug up in the past. A pristine, untouched, and completely..."

Grandpa shut up in a second as the doors opened. A woman walked in, and Zach's brow immediately furrowed. "Lockwood." he said in a dark tone. "I wish I could say it was a pleasure." He leaned back in his chair again and pushed down his shades as a somewhat young, but very fierce looking trill came to a stop just in front of the bed that Grandpa was sitting on. "Zach," she said in a sickly sweet tone, "One would think you would have more respect after the whipping I gave you on Verena."

"No worse then the time I brought you up on charges and had you in the brig for six months on Pyylarn." he shot back in reply. "Conduct unbecoming, theft, theory theft and debunking, as I recall."

"Yes, you always were so sweet to me." she purred in reply, "By the way, how is your son doing?"

The color drained from Zach's face, and he stood to his full height in an instant. She looked up at him, that smile never leaving her face, and Grandpa quickly stood to put himself between them. "Enough!" he bellowed, more for Zach's benefit then hers.

"It will never be enough," he snarled as he started pushed Grandpa aside to reach the Trill scientist. He reached out with one of his huge hands, only to find it covered in a paw at least three times bigger. He looked over, and noticed that Grandpa had changed back into the beast. He looked back, and strained with all his strength (which was considerable) but to no avail. He bit his lip hard enough to bring blood, then turned away.

After a few moments, he turned back. "I'm out of the loop, I don't have half my powers that I had.. The ones I never liked having. But if you mention him again, you will disappear into the deepest, darkest pit that you can imagine." Gone was the friendly, goofy exterior, replacing it was that of a man only barely holding onto his rage. Zach's son, the one he had treasured, had disappeared from one of the work sites he had been at so many years ago. No trace had been found, but this trill woman had made mention of it so many times afterwards, he had come to the conclusion long ago that she knew something she wasn't telling. She was the one person in this universe that he quite literally hated.

"I only came to tell you how wonderful it would be to be in such close proximity again, it has been far to long since we worked together." she said, with a hint of playful humor about her that Zach just wanted to rip her open for. "Besides, I wanted to catch up on the old times and see if you had any old photo's of the digs we were on."

"Melina, I should have had you killed." Zach said, tonelessly and with a completely strait face.

Her own smile faltered for an instant, then returned with it's full mocking brightness. "But you didn't, live with it." She turned on her heel to exit the quarters, leaving Zach staring after her, his fists clenched and the cords on his muscles bulging. Grandpa, satisfied he wasn't going to go running after her, changed into his older looking form once again. "You cant change her, you know she does that to bait you. Ever since you proved her wrong, ever since you had her public ally discredited and forced her to reachieve each of her degrees..."

"I don't care." Zach said, cutting in. "I mean what I say to her, so you had best take heed of it. Ill be back, when I can concentrate."

He didn't wait for an answer, instead walking out the door and heading for the bridge so he could have a little chat.

On the Nimitz, Getting Irritated (Burial Grounds)

(USS Nimitz - Personal Quarters - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 2100)

Zach picked up a tricorder and ran it over the small piece of T'Kon technology he had brought with him from Cochrane, for the thousandth time. And like the other nine thousand times, it reflected all scans. He changed the bandwidth slightly, if absently, but nothing would penetrate this hunk of metal.

He shut the tricorder slowly, and rubbed his hands over it absently as his attention was focused on one spot on the wall.. And inward to his own memories. With a sudden bellow he turned and tossed the Tricorder with all his strength across the room and into one of the bulkheads. Being made as it was it didn't break, but it made an ungodly metallic

• thump* against the metal of the wall.

Falthgood turned and gave a royal kick to the T'Kon technology, and ended up both bruising his foot nearly immediately and kicking the hunk into his bedroom. He sat down, and ran both his hands through his very short hair, trying to decide if he wanted to commit murder or simply break down and cry. He had often felt this way, a couple breakdowns would do that to a person, but he had long since recovered and had attained the personality he had before he had ever gotten seriously into Reverse Technology, into a Starfleet Think-tank designed for the utmost secrecy. The official findings had been many, but very few had ever been released. Each year the Federation Council would deliberate in public council if it was worth the resources to keep up such a strong Research and Reverse Engineering department devoted to the various long-gone races. Every year Starfleet would quietly present its last years findings and, publicly at least, the Council would reluctantly pass the budget statement for the next year.

Secretly, Zach had never lacked for anything he asked for on his requisition forms. Be it equipment or personnel, they were always close at hand. Heading up research and development on several quiet worlds had its advantages, and a whole slew of disadvantages.

"Melina Lockwood," he said to himself, looking at his hands and rocking in his seat ever so slightly. "Of all the people in the universe, Lockwood had to be put on this project."

He knew he had acted rashly in Grandpa's quarters, but he didn't much care either. All the time he had within his control certain discretionary powers to maintain secrecy of his projects, the only time he had ever considered using them with enthusiasm was against her. He hadn't been attached to Intelligence, but he had been sorely tempted to call in a few favors, just for a small interrogation. It had been Grandpa who had stopped him then as well, the not-so-old not-quite-human being had been his guardian idiot for most of the years Zach had been in close contact with Archaeologists and the whole Slew of Reverse Engineers.

And because Melina had continued to stick around most of the major projects Zach would be assigned to, even after her 'retraining' (which was a joke, she passed every class in days, not years), he found he couldn't stay around. It had taken a lot to be released, and that release had included so many extra secrecy orders and such a hefty demotion from Captain to Lt(jg) that he was surprised they hadn't just given him to SFI to be quietly reprogrammed. He knew where a lot of skeletons lie, he supposed he was still being watched and would continue to be watched until the advances he had found, decoded or designed were comfortably included in typical Starfleet technology. His official record would probably never clear from the Fiction that it was today, half the places he had been no longer existed on that record, most of his older promotions, compared to most people with the years he had in the fleet, his biography and official transcript was awfully short and very censored.

He closed his eyes for several moments, memories welling to the surface unwillingly...

In the Past, Planet Pyylarn and the disappearance of Falthgood's Son (Burial Grounds)

(Planet Pyylarn - Ruins of Lyyran, Archaeology/Reverse Engineering Headquarters - Head of Reverse Technologies Integration, Captain Zachary Falthgood - Many Years Ago, 0940)

"The perimeter has been searched several times, no point of forced entry has been found and the sensor logs concur with that assessment. No other signs have been found, Sir."

Zach continued looking out at the primordial Rain Forest that was ringed the entire set of ruins, he had been watching the rain pour in buckets for the last couple hours, not moving an inch as his Security force roamed the area with Tricorder out and mandatory phasers at their sides. That same forest had to be cut from the edge of their perimeter every day by men with industrial phasers, its undergrowth grew at a phenomenal rate, it had presented the Archaeological groups no end to troubles. Time and time again he had laughed at the dismal faces of his colleges and friends who where there to study the history of the place, and to a lesser degree the technology as well, as their mapping and digging crawled at a horribly slow pace in all the mud and amongst all the plant life. This place was, as Grandpa had termed it, an Archaeologists Purgatory... Heavenly for the finds, and Hell in location.

The ruins were not his business, though he had a certain fascination with the abundant history. His job was figuring out the gizmo's that people brought him after they had been recorded by the Scientists and Archaeologists. And in figuring them out, also figuring out how to apply their benefits to current Federation Technology, or at least theorizing how they could be useful when His own peoples technology progressed a few years.

Today however, he wasn't laughing. Nor was he working.

His son had gone missing, without a trace and without a cause.

Funny how one of his most hated enemies had come back into the fold not a week ago, such a coincidence, really.

"What you are telling me is that the one person I actually care about most in this world has up and disappeared like a fart in the wind, right past one of the most paranoid security forces ever assembled by This Mans Starfleet, and you have absolutely no way of knowing either what happened or why he disappeared." he said after several silent moments. "Am I correct?"

He turned on his heel, licking at the tip of his the moustache he had taken to wearing since being in this climate. The Security Chief didn't flinch, Zach had to give him credit for that. The guy knew exactly what Zach could have done to him, yet he stayed in place and said "That is exactly what I'm saying, Sir."

The Real world of Reverse Technologies, for all the science and engineering that it stood for, had been overshadowed in the last twenty years by secrecy, blacklists and paranoid admirals who buried everything that was advanced in years of cross referencing and trickle down release. Zach had joined the fleet with a lot of skills in ripping things apart and figuring out how they ticked, along with a solid base in Subspace Mechanics. His science degree had an engineering minor to it, and after reverse engineering a few other winning science projects to show the principle of what was considered 'theft' by many full Scientists and Engineers, he had been rushed into the program by some guy named Captain Doenitz, and had spent the rest of his working career thus far moving from one planet to another. Most of what he did would never make it into his file, but that didn't bug him much. He had managed to find a job he liked doing, people with the same interests (including a now deceased wife), and he had a way to continue his line by way of a Son from his wife.

Except that now his wife was long dead and his Son missing.

"Find him, Lieutenant." he said in a hard tone, "Or bring me the head of the person that caused it. I don't care what it takes, or who it is."

The Lieutenant came to attention, "Yes Sir!"

As the security chief turned away, a mocking laugh sounded from the other door. He didn't need to turn to see the face, he knew exactly who it was. "Loose something, Falthgood?"

"I'm not in the mood, Lockwood." he said as he turned to her anyway. "Don't push it."

"Me, push?" The Trill walked fully into the room and shook off her rain coat. "would I ever do such a thing?"

Zach put his hands behind his back, and watched the woman without saying a word. He had already busted her down once, he knew he could do it again if he wanted too. Right now though, he was thinking he would much rather kill her and be done with it. She smiled all the broader a few moments later, "Oh, I guessed wrong... Did you loose *someone*, Falthgood?"

The mask which had been his face thus far thought he morning started to crack, and her smile faltered when she saw what her words had caused. Without any warning, he crossed the distance that separated them with his large steps, and grabbed her throat with his huge hand. "Why?" he said sweetly as he squeezed and she let out a tortured breath. "Do you know something about it I don't?"

He squeezed a little harder, his anger and grief starting to come through. She beat at his arm uselessly, but couldn't break loose of his death grip on her. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and only turned his head enough to look over at the hand. It was huge, and hairy. "Grandpa," he said in a pleasant, yet entirely fake, tone. "Welcome to the party, I was just about to find out if Ms Lockwood here had any knowledge about my son's whereabouts."

"You know as well as I do that she couldn't tell you now, even if she knows." the very heavy bass voice from behind him said. "If you kill her, you will not only find out if she knows anything, but you will end up in prison as well."

Zach considered that for many moments, then let her go as her face was starting to turn purple. "Of course, Grandpa. You are right, but..." His grin was evil in the extreme. "I will only ask once, and if I don't get the answer I like, Melina... Well..."

She was coughing, and the eyes that looked at him from the floor where she had crumpled were full of hate. "I..... Don't....... Know....... Anything..... B*stard!"

"Nope, I didn't like that answer." he replied a moment later. He was just reaching over to tap his badge when that same hairy paw covered his own fist. Grandpa was the only person that could do that, as large as Zach was. He took a breath, "I would let go, Gramps." he said quietly.

"You wont have me killed or my memory erased, Zach." the Chameloid responded, "Don't even think about it. And to her, she could be right."

"I doubt it." he said, hissing slightly.

"Well then, lets find out, shall we?" The Chameloid shifted slightly behind him, and he heard a channel being opened. "Security to headquarters."

Moments later a couple security crewman walked in. The Chameloid nodded to the woman on the floor, "Take that woman in and question her on the disappearance of Ian," the beast said. Both looked over at Zach, who closed his eyes and nodded slowly. Melina screamed at both of them, curses and promises and many other things, but she was dragged out in either case.

After a few moments, the Chameloid released Zach's hand, and took the form of the wizened old man. "Get a grip on yourself, Zach..." he said, "This will not help your son."

On the Nimitz, Trying to Figure Out What Is Going On (Burial Grounds)

(USS Nimitz - Personal Quarters - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 2118)

"You will get a hold of yourself, and you will do it now." he said sternly. "You are no longer under any of the rules you were once under, you are a simple research scientist. Only a few people know what you have been in your past, and the largest handful still alive are on this ship now, but wont say a word unless they are tortured. So get a grip, this is only a vision of the past, not a glimmer of the future."

With a bit of resolve he opened his eyes again, and stood. He had a date, and he hated being late. He grabbed a couple little things from his desk, small gadgets he had been working on earlier, along with a PADD he had downloaded from the Science lab, and walked out.

(USS Nimitz - VIP Quarters, 'Grandpas Quarters - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 2125)

The 'old man' looked at Zach in shock, but Falthgood simply pushed passed him into the Quarters. He tossed the PADD onto the bed and turned slowly. A moment later he pushed a button on one of the homemade gadgets he had brought, and tossed it on the bed as well. It was a scattering device, it would confuse internal sensors enough that their conversation would go unnoticed, but not enough to alert the internal alarms.

"You, Lockwood, Johnson, Baltrav, T'Jonen, Xenit, Paltrav and Ooolish." he said, "Archaeologists, all in Ancient Advanced Civilizations with a particular interest in their technology. He crossed his arms, "Sevelick, Herbrandt, Wilson, Jackson, Lilu and Varinat. All former Starfleet officers with Engineering degrees, half of which worked under me in the Reverse Integration Technologies program, all now have Archaeological degrees...either earned or granted for their years of work with the T'Kon, Ichon or Iconian civilizations."

He waved his hand, "Plus a slew of others, for a force of 50... One of the most comprehensive groupings of Archaeologists ever to hit the public scene, if this gets out. But even more then that, behind the scenes and knowing the skills of at least most of you, this is one of the most impressive groups ever assembled. There are more minds attuned to Ancient Technology then has probably ever been gathered before. I cant help but think that I would be included in this group if I hadn't taken myself out of the crowd."

Zach paused, "Tell me what the hell is going on."

Grandpa considered him for many moments, "I began telling you earlier, before,"

Falthgood cut him off with a hiss, "To Hell with her, Ill have her killed if she gets to be to much of a pain, I still have that much pull. Continue on, you were saying about a ship..."

The Chameloid considered him careful for a long period of time, then licked his lips. "You realize the constraints we are working under, the conditions of secrecy and the level of paranoia, correct?"

"I worked under them for a long period of time." he responded.

"These are more then your typical black projects. We don't even have all the information yet, and we are the ones supposed to be studying these things. Has that ever happened to you before?"

Zach considered that carefully, "Only once, and it turned out to be a false alarm."

Grandpa moved to the side, and pulled out a small, very compact PADD from his briefcase. He looked at Zach, then tossed it over. "That never came from my hands,"

"Officially, I don't think we can even be connected, Gramps." Zach responded as he moved to a chair. "Most of my Starfleet past is buried under ten levels of officialdom and security clearances." He sat down without another word, and began to read.

He didn't know exactly how long he had been reading, but he was brought out of the PADD and sketchy diagrams by a general announcement by someone named Aragorn. =^=Now hear this! Now hear this! This is Admiral Aragorn, temporary commanding officer of this vessel. I wish to inform you that we have just embarked on a highly classified mission. At the moment I cannot divulge any other information, but will inform all senior staff at a later time of the specific mission objectives. Until then, Starfleet, me, AND your beloved Captain Rivers will expect everybody to do their duty. Also note that we have a number of civilians on board who should be best described as troublesome. I hope I can count on everybody to decrease the likelihood of any regrettable incident. However, if you feel that you cannot perform your duty because of said civilians, contact me or Mr Shrek, who is responsible for the security of the civilians. Let me finish by stating that it is unlikely that ANY ship would have had such an important mission as the Nimitz now has. I am sure that you will be worthy of the trust put in you by Starfleet Command. Aragorn out.=^=

Zach looked over at Grandpa, who had pulled out his own PADD and had been making notes. "Aragorn ? He wasn't one of our usual operators."

The Chameloid chuckled, "Besides the fact you have been out for several years and there are new faces, you are right. He had his name on the list for a while for a find out in the middle of nowhere.."

"Oh yeah, right.. I remember his name now."

NRPG: You can figure that part out if you either read the really old Compiles, or if you are an original Nimitz'er like Adrie and Liz

• chuckles* (Or you happen to know some really old Nimitz'ers and talk history with em, like me..LOL)

RPG: Zach tapped the PADD for a few moments, then passed it over. "Heavy stuff." he said, and stood. "Probably best if we aren't seen together again for a while." He picked up his gadgets and the PADD he had brought, then licked his lips. "I only hope all that is true."

He turned without another word, and walked out the door. This time around, he did have to talk to the Captain. He tapped his badge, "Falthgood to Rivers, have a moment?"

On the Nimitz, Describing Reverse Technologies to Captain Rivers (Burial Grounds)

(Planets Surface - Base Camp - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 0157)

It wasn't as though he had been trying to hide his approach, but he silently cursed at the look that crossed her features when he had first startled her. He moved himself into a source of light so she could see who it was, then stepped forward again into the relative comfort of the shadows. Dark stories were best told away from the light, they helped hide the face of the teller, and oft'times made what was said that much more believable, since the Night was when all manner of nasty beasts roamed, the one time when a person could really believe in things like black magic, curses and sorcerers.

"Captain," he said lightly as he finally came to a halt. He watched her briefly for a few moments, then looked up at the stars. "It was... A most interesting day."

(reply: Rivers)

He took a deep breath of the night air, and let the slight cool brush across his face as he contemplated everything he was going to say. If she was to believe him, then there was very little he would actually be able to hold back. He wasn't in any of the old programs he had once been affiliated with, but he still took his oaths seriously. And though it had devolved into something ugly, the ultimate work and goal of the reverse engineering group and archaeologists really did have the best interests of the Federation at heart. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he said "Tonight is a lovely night, the end of a horrible day, but I'm afraid I must add a chill lest we all get too comfortable in what appears to be the end of the storm." He took a breath, and looked back down at her. "In the last week, you have heard many ghost stories. Half told tales with weak explanations and only vague references. I sympathize, lack of information is one of my largest pet-peeves. So, let me be blunt and tell you a tale that you won't be able to confirm through any official sources. The moral, I'm sure, you will be able to guess once I am done."

(reply: If desired)

He pulled over one of the camp chairs that was close by, and sat his over-large frame into it. It creaked ominously, then settled into silence as he folded his hands together and looked *nearly* eye to eye with his CO. "You have heard, no doubt, that Starfleet has within many black organizations. Or, if not black, at least not official. In fact, you and your crew were volunteered into just such a project, something quiet and filled with paranoid secrecy. It was in such a world that I worked for many of my most productive years in Starfleet. Reverse Engineering Technologies, that was the official name under which my particular group worked. And it was true enough, at the start I was one of a dozen individuals exceptionally adept and ripping apart near anything and figuring out how it ticked. Good enough, in fact, that we were often paired with archaeological groups to work on advanced civilizations that went the way of the Dodo long before our ancestors were walking upright, or even living out of trees."

Zach tapped his fingers together a couple times, "After a few years the creator of the group left and I worked my way up the hierarchy, eventually achieving the Field Command, whereas the creator himself achieved Flag Rank and continued to oversee and assign us to wherever we might happen to be needed. And, the paranoia grew. We learned things that the Federation shouldn't have learned for generations to come, our political enemies started poking around with a very practiced eye, and the paranoia grew even more. What started as a simple group designed to figure out the secrets of the ancients turned into a special intelligence unit, attached to both an equally secretive group of selected xeno-archaeologists and the most trained Security force that this Man's Starfleet ever conceived. We became blacker then black, and precious little of what we unlocked ever has seen the light of day since." He took a deep breath, "Death, be it foreign or domestic, was not a stranger to us after a little while. The creator of the group achieved more and more power inside Starfleet, and the moral regulations covering our actions grew more and more lax as time and our success went on."

He looked down, and practically whispered. "By the time I had reached the height of my power, I could have had nearly anyone in the Federation simply disappear for asking the wrong question, and not a trace of him would ever be turned up by Starfleet Intel or Security. I was in charge, I used the power very lightly, only when our ultimate security was indeed at stake. But some in our little clique, and within the group of archaeologists that I most often worked with, grew to like that power a lot. The ultimate power of life and death, the power to give a word and have an entire ship disappear simply because it had been used in some of our more sensitive probes. Many ships listed as Lost in Action or Missing will never be found, or will be found sometime later only in pieces."

"Understand, Captain, We did much good. The price-tag, however, was often horrendous. And, the political aspect got worse with every passing year." He frowned, "The internal intrigue was such, that one of the group did away with my own son, for some reason I have never yet determined. I had lost my wife a couple years before to some obscure jungle virus that popped up on one of our digs, I met her in the same service, you see."

He leaned forward, "It took much to pull out of the group, everything from handing over a Captains commission in favor of Lieutenant Junior Grade... To having my entire service record purged and rewritten to account for the missing years." He smiled, ever so slightly, "Your fine SFI agent wondered allowed what he might find if he were to investigate me, Ill tell you what I didn't tell him. If he tried, he would have a death warrant signed for him less then four hours after the request was tendered and received. And the person signing it, most likely, would be Doenitz himself. Why?" He trailed off, a dry chuckled the only indication that he was still there. "Why, is the best part. Even many years removed, I'm still bound in its secrecy and paranoia. Under orders and oath not to breathe a word of what we did, what we found and what methods we used."

He sobered, his forced aire of humor abolished in a moment with utter concentration and seriousness, something highly unusual in what she had seen of Zach. "I don't know the reason behind the attempted sabotage of the ship. But, Captain Susan Rivers of the USS Nimitz, I can tell you this with utter certainty. We have seen far to much here, we know now what the archaeologists above were sent here to study. And that makes us a threat. There are many circles in Starfleet, Black as night, that wouldn't be anywhere above making sure the Nimitz and her crew are only a footnote that includes the words 'missing', 'duty' and 'sacrifice'; in some future Starfleet text given to read at the Academy."

On the Nimitz, Zach Remembers the Past (Mystery Train)

(Milthra IV - Project Headquarters, 'Artifact Room' - Commander Falthgood - 1500)

-^-It's been two months Zach,-^- the figure on his screen said. -^-I want results, not more analysis, Commander.-^-

"Admiral, if we operate it now, we will be operating half blind and..."

-^-And I don't care, do it, use the data you accumulate to further your experiments. Doenitz out.-^-

The Commander closed his eyes and sighed. He was already missing the days when he had just been a lowly scientist, this was his first project in command and it was already giving him an ulcer. He sat back as a hand wrapped itself around his neck. "Zach," the voice said, "You don't have much of a choice here."

"I know love," the Scientist said. He stood and turned, looking down at his five and a half foot wife. He bent down briefly and touch foreheads with her, then strode out of the door of his office and onto the main floor of the research facility. It was an old temple, as best as the archaeologists could determine. It wasn't the facility that had interested Doenitz, nor Zach... but the wonderful things it held.

Standing in the middle of the room was a giant portal. As best as they could determine, it was the gateway to a stable wormhole, a wormhole that could be directed. That was the theory anyway, they hadn't been able to prove it one way or the other. They had been at it for two months, ever since the sucker had been found to be active even after nearly 40,000 years.

Zach crossed his arms and looked at it, there were so many possibilities. There were a couple people, Zach included, who thought the technology could be evolved into a portable unit. There were even a few theoretical equations that stated it might even be possible to load the thing onto a station and make a gate large enough for a ship to transfer through.

Assuming, of course, that this thing proved to be a gate of some sort and not an over-sized nightlight.

"Alright, boys and girls!" he bellowed into the room. "Warm up the machinery, prep the teams, it's time to ride this Mystery Train!" His grin was infectious, even if it wasn't entirely heart-felt. He wanted to send people through that Artifact, but there were too many unknown variables, it would be decidedly dangerous for whoever went through.

None of the probes they had sent through had done any good, the one thing they had noticed about the gate was it required some sort of biological entity to pass through. They had sent animals through, but none had ever come back... it was hard to make any lower life form walk back through a giant red gate. That meant human testing, unless they could come up with a convincing enough Android to fool the makers of technology so advanced that hardly any of the underlying theory was understood.

Zach found that possibility... unlikely.

Project Mystery Train was a perfect example of why he dealt with the paranoid security and blacklisting of this particular Reverse Engineering department, the technology was absolutely stunning. It's implications rocked Zach to the core.

After several minutes, three men in full gear walked up to the gate. Zach took a seat at one of the terminals, "Activate the artifact."

That was one of the things that he insisted upon until they knew exactly what the thing did, calling it 'The Artifact'. That was the only official name it had ever had. He put on a headset and closed his eyes for a couple seconds to steady his nerves. "Team one, begin when ready." he finally said. He smiled wanly, "Send a postcard if you find Atlantis."

He didn't bother looking up; rather he watched a sensor reading of the Artifact. The team members wasted no time, and with phasers up, they all stepped through after a very short hesitation at the Event Horizon. Zach folded his hands together as data scrolled on his screen. They had immediately lost track of the members.

Zach was about to stand up when everything around him began shaking. He grabbed the console by instinct as the temple literally rolled around him, stones fell from the ceiling and consoles began sparking. "What the hell?!" he bellowed.

His hands flew over the console as people began yelling data out.

"There is a subspace power surge coming from the gate!" someone with a feminine voice yelled from behind him. Zach confirmed that, there were waves of energy coming off the portal, and they were getting stronger. He thought quickly, "Hit it with tetryons, counteract the waves!" he yelled, "Before the da*n thing brings the temple down on our heads!"

It was all controlled chaos, men and women ran back and forth. Several more blocks fell from the temple, and many of the supports his men had placed groaned ominously. Zach kept a good hold of the console as the earth under him did another jump. Without any warning, the visible Event Horizon of the gate flared a malignant red, and something was spit out.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the gate calmed and the subspace waves subsided. Well before they had finished, however, Zach was out of his seat and running to the gate. What had been spit out was a single body, from the clothing, one of the three people that had walked in not more then a couple minutes ago.

The officer was lying on his stomach, there was much visible blood and his uniform was shredded. The weapon was still strapped across his neck, it laid to the side of him. His arms were sprawled, and his skin had a very strange hue to it.

Zach flipped the officer over, intend on giving aid. What he saw caused his eyes to widen in horror however; he fell back and scrambled away as quickly as he could on nothing more then instinct.

The man's face was a ruin; he looked like he had aged a hundred years, on top of the ruin it had received. Not only did he look old, but he looked like someone had taken a bat to his head. And that wasn't the worst of it.

Worms, or wormlike creatures, began slithering out of every hole in the mans head. His eyes, his nostrils, his mouth and ears. As if that were a cue, his whole body began wiggling, as if there were hundreds of alien worms under his skin, just itching to get out. Zach continued backpedaling, getting away from the body and portal as he bellowed, "Security, decontamination measures, destroy that body!"

He finally managed to get to his feet and get away just as a Security team came up and vaporized the body. He turned and leaned against one of the walls to catch his breath, and his aplomb. He shuddered several times, the ruined face and the mental image of worms pushing the dead-mans eyelids open to crawl out filled his mind and wouldn't leave.

"Sir, do you still want to hit the thing with tetryons?"

"Hell yes!" he said without hesitation. "There are still two other men in there, we can't risk them coming back. Shut that wench down!"

It was only a theory, but it was generally thought that overloading the gate would shut it down. Whatever hell it lead too, Zach didn't want to know, and at this point he didn't care how spitting mad Doenitz would be if it suddenly stopped working.