Chapter Eight: The Paths of Fire and Smoke

 D'arko tapped the communicator in his command chair.

"Final report, Chief?"

"Aye, Sir. Engines are all at maximum efficiency and the computer core is... well, connected. It's still early to say if it's fully stable as yet."

Captain D'arko's right antenna twitched in mild irritation. He knew his Chief Engineer was doing his best with the strange and, frankly, stubborn new system, but the fact that it kept disconnecting by unknown means was starting to become a very stale joke.

"Acknowledged. Hail Serenity, onscreen."

The main viewer flashed to life displaying Captain Dracony Windfall on the bridge of Pendragon's current sister ship, the U.S.S. Serenity, a newer Pathfinder-class. 

Anyone not familiar with the two ships' class histories would have found the pairing of an Akira-class with a Pathfinder to be humorous, as the basic Akira frame was over fifty years old at this point. Starfleet engineers, however, had determined that, for tactical purposes (as the mission definitions of the Akira tended to be), the Akira design was tremendously robust and could easily be upgraded as systems improved. For this reason, the class continued production, largely unchanged aesthetically, though all internal systems were kept current. Pendragon, herself, was only slightly older than her sister.

"Serenity here, Pendragon. Are we ready to get started?"

Captain Windfall was young. Merely 24. Until the recent trouble with the Klingon Empire and the Hur'q and the Iconians, a Captain that young would have been laughably absurd, but, desperate times, as they say.

"We are when you are, Captain.Hope everyone's packed, because we won't be back for a while."

With that, communications cut and Serenity made way for the wormhole, shrinking in the distance before the brilliant blue-white maw opened up from black space and swallowed the tiny ship whole.

"Communication from Deep Space nine, Captain."

"On screen."

"Pendragon, you are cleared for passage through the wormhole."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," the Andorian replied to the station's Operations officer,"Pendragon underway. And, Lieutenant, kindly inform Mr. Quark that if he ever tries anything like that with any member of my crew again, I'm going to let Commander Klortho finish what he started. Quark will know what I mean."

The Ops officer blinked.

"Uhhh... Acknowledged Pendragon. Deep Space Nine, out."

Da'mi'en allowed himself a sly smile. 

"Mr. Song, lay in a course for the wormhole, warp 3."

"Warp 3, aye."

"Let's go."

The Pendragon smoothly entered warp toward the location Serenity had just vanished into. As brilliant as the entrance was from a distance, when it spun open directly in front of him, the sheer spectacle of it was enough to take almost any rational thought from him.

In an instant, the main viewer stopped showing regular space as everything surrounding the ship became streaks of blue and white, globules of brilliant light coruscated about in a dance of ordered chaos. 

Without warning, sparks exploded from the control panels on D'arko's chair. Emergency alerts began sounding and main lighting cut, sudden emergency lighting flashes being the only thing to cut through the dark.

D'arko tried to shield his eyes from the shower of sparks with little success. 

"Tactical! Report!"

No reply came. 

"Engineering!"

Still nothing save the beeps of the alarms.

"Helm!"

The incessant, rhythmic beeping still the only response

D'arko scanned the bridge. In the miasma of flashing red, blue, blue, green, and yellow lights (on a red alert?) no one else appeared to be moving on the bridge. It was as though he'd suddenly found himself in some museum display.In his confusion, it took him a moment to realize the sounds of the alerts were... a bit off.

Kind of...

Jazzy?

"Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plumb..." Klortho's deep baritone was suddenly singing next to the Captain.

"You came around and everything started to hum..." Lieutenant Song joined in.

"Still it's a real good bet the best is yet to come." The rest of the bridge crew suddenly joined in.

"What in Kraz?" D'arko asked the air.

In the blink of an eye, he was no longer on the bridge of the Pendragon, but in a damp, steam-filled, cobblestone street, crowded by ancient buildings and bustling with people dressed in what looked like Victorian-era Earth garb.

One of them turned to face him as all the people stopped in their tracks.

"It is new," the strange person said, "It does not belong with us."

"I... don't understand," D'arko stammered.

Another of the strangers spoke.

"It cannot remember, but it can never forget. It seeks... information... data...answers."

"Yes. I seek answers. Where am I?" 

A sudden jolt of electricity fired itself into the Andorian's chest, stunning him.

"We do not speak of the Duth."

The word began a simmering anger in the pit of D'arko's stomach. His fist began to clench despite his desire to remain calm. He wheeled around as a hand clamped on his shoulder, shocked at the man now in front of him.

It was a Starfleet captain; a human with dark skin, a goatee and shaved head. His uniform was about thirty years out of date, but it was immaculate.

"Be easy," the strange officer said,"They haven't quite learned polite conversation yet."

"What's going on? Where am I?" D'arko asked.

"Not really an accurate question. Not really a where or a when. Just a question of 'if'."

"What? Who are you?"

"I'm..." the unknown Captain began,"Well, I suppose I am. Or I was. Or I will be. Does that make sense?"

D'arko shook his head, his antenna almost flailing trying to make sense of his surroundings.

"Of course," the other captain continued, "Linear. It's been a while. You are in the Temple. You are on a journey. The answers are out there. The data. It can't find the data..."

"What are you talking about? What's...

The other captain cut him off.

"Take a look. It's in a book."

A sudden flash of white light filled D'arko's eyes and he was suddenly back on the bridge of the Pendragon as it entered regular space. All the sounds and lights were as usual.

"We've entered the Gamma Quadrant, Captain," Lieutenant Song said from the helm station.

D'arko sat in stunned silence for a moment.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Starr asked from tactical.

"Uh... Ahead warp 3, heading 293.2 mark 8. I'll be in my ready room."

Upon entering he ready room, Da'mi'en D'arko noticed, on his desk, an old paperback novel that had never been there before. Cautiously, he picked it up and examined the cover.

It had an illustration of a man in Victorian earth garb, wearing a dear-stalker hat and smoking an old pipe. In script lettering, the title read "The Song of the Kosst Amojan, a Sherlock Holmes Adventure by Benny Russell"

D'arko sat at his desk, not having any idea what was going on, but he did understand one thing: the game was afoot.