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The Group-Written Next Generation Story

You can also read the previous TNG stories written here, entitled Tomorrow's Enterprise and Renegades.


Homecoming

(The title was suggested by Falbe)

Guinan looked at the planet which filled the view through the Ten Forward window, and decided there was something familiar about the blue clouds and the two large craters. She filled the Samerian Sunset Wesley ordered and set it in front of him. "Do you know what that world's name is?" she asked him. "We've been here before, haven't we?"

"No, this is the first time the Enterprise has been to this system. I think the Captain called it Eronon 3, but the natives have another name. I forget what it is." Wes grinned sheepishly. "I probably couldn't pronounce it anyway."

Guinan reached out to tap the glass, but Wesley blocked her hand. "Let me do it," he said. "That's why I love ordering these things."

Guinan began to turn away. Suddenly remembering where she had seen that planet, she spun back to face the window and accidentally knocked Wesley's drink from the counter. The glass smashed across the floor and the liquid flared orange for a few seconds. Excited, she asked, "Wes, do the natives call that planet Tres'byaniegh?"

"I think that's it. Quite a tongue-twister, isn't it? What's wrong?"

Without responding, Guinan hurried out of Ten Forward and down the hall toward the bridge turbolift. Riker, Troi, LaForge, and a security officer passed her, heading toward the main transporter room. She caught up with Captain Picard stepping from the turbolift. "Captain, I would like to ask permission to join the away team to the planet's surface," she said.

"That is a highly unusual request, Guinan. May I ask why?"

"My family visited this world several centuries ago. After we left, some records were destroyed and we lost track of where this planet was. I was never able to come back. There is someone very special to me living down there."

The Captain heaved a deep sigh, and shook his head. "I see that you have personal reasons for wanting to go down, but I can't allow it. The Federation hasn't made contact with this world yet. The away team is beaming to a cloaked observation deck, and no one will interact with the indigenous population."

"Captain, if I beam down wearing appropriate clothing, I know I can blend in and contact him easily. I'll tell no one about the Federation and I won't break the Prime Directive."

Picard hesitated, looking concerned. Finally he straightened, and tugged the hem of his uniform. "Guinan, if any other civilian on board asked this, I would refuse without a second thought, but I know that you can be trusted completely. You may go, but I will insist that Worf come with you to ensure your safety. He will be in a cloaked suit, so no one else will know he is there. Remember, absolutely no native is to learn how you arrived here, including this 'special someone' you wish to see."

"Don't worry, Captain. We Listeners don't give away secrets."
--Argus Skyhawk

Two hours later, on the planet's surface, Guinan and a cloaked Worf arrived in the middle of a forest by transporter.      

"Mlgtn'fazul't," called out Guinan.      

"Asi'Gnnn'gdf," said an alien that stood 4 meters tall and resembled an ape.      

"How are gnnn'MIgtn'lab and mIgtn''Gnnn'opp?"      

"They are doing fine.  In fact, they have their own grandchildren now."      

"Have I been away that long?" asked the El-Aurian.      

"25 tablets.  Where have you been?" asked the alien.      

"On a great journey... observing the stars."      

Worf, who was witnessing this exchange, felt his mouth drop.  Guinan was treading on dangerous ground.  In all the time he had known her, she never had such a large lapse in judgment.      

"Will you join me for dinner?" asked the alien.  "You need to meet the new members of the family."      

"Yes.  I will join you in 19 tops.  I must prepare.  Alone."      

The friend stated, "We still live in the same hut.  It is a different shape now, but I am sure you know the way.  You always did have a great... memory."  With that, the alien walked away.      

Worf said, "Nice body.  That sounded very friendly to me.  Who is this family?"      

"Mine," said Guinan.
--Lee Jamilkowski

Worf and Guinan walked about an hour looking for the hut. "Do you know where you're going?" Worf asked.

"The bearings will come back to me," Guinan said with a puzzled look. "Wait... Ohh, this way," Guinan reconized the path.

"Took you awhile," Worf mentioned.

"If you live as long and acculumate as many memories as I have you don't always instantly remember things quickly," Guinan stated.

***

"How are you doing Gnnn'MI and MIgtn?" Guinan asked.

Gnnn'MI was the acceptable short form for Gnnn'MIgtn'lab.

   "Actually I've been better, but it is good to see you" gnnn'MI Replied. Guinan nodded slightly.

"Where have you been all this time?" mIgtn asked.

Guinan pictured what worf grin would be if she could see him through the cloak suit so she thought the answer carefully. "On a personal odyessy" Guinan replied intentionally leaving the answer ambiguous.

"One time or another we all have to go on an odyessy" gnn'MI replied "Where are you staying?"

"I'm not sure yet," Guinan responded.

"Stay with us then," Gnnn'MI answered.

Guinan couldn't help a nostalogic feeling that came over her as she looked upon the primitive world she once called home.

"I wouldn't impose like that," Guinan spoke.

"You wouldn't. We have spare room," said Gnnn'MI.

"I'm going to prepare dinner," said MIgtn and then headed for the rear of the hut.
--Falbe

"That's very generous of you," said Guinan. "I've been meaning to ask you, does Aryon still live near here? I really want to see him."

Migtn stopped where she was and Gnnn'Mi looked at the floor. After a long hesitation, Gnnn'mi spoke. "I was afraid you would ask that. Aryon disappeared a year ago. They say it was the secret police."

Guinan's heart sank. Her legs were suddenly weak, and she had to sit down. "Do you know why?"

Migtn shook her head.

***

On the observation deck, Geordi and several of his engineers frantically removed and refitted pieces from the cloaking device. The cloaking field was weakening, and if they could not repair it pronto, the whole deck would have to be beamed away. "Good thing both suns are going down," Geordi mumbled to Riker as he hurried past. "We're probably faintly visible from the outside."

"Too late," said Troi. "That child down by the village, he's looking at us. I think he sees something."
--Argus Skyhawk

"Great," Geordi and the other engineers replied. The notion of the observation deck being visible gave them even more incentive to increase the pace fixing the cloak. About four minutes after the last sun set, the full cloak was restored.

Geordi looked over to Troi and asked, "Is the boy still out there, and do you think he knew what he saw?"

"No, he just left, but I sensed confusion and also something odd, almost as if he had a telepathic ablity and didn't know it," Troi replied and paused. "I don't we have to worry about him."

"As long as we can keep the cloak field working."

***

One Day Later

Picard stood on the east wing of the observation deck, and noticed a child looking in his apperant direction. Picard was puzzled; Geordi assured him that the cloaking device was operational.

Picard wasn't too worried. Deanna Troi joined Picard at the view on the east wing. She too saw the child. Picard saw her face change. "What is it?" he asked.

"That's the boy that I saw yesterday when the cloak device was starting to fail. I wouldn't worry about it, Captain. He's just curious of what he may have seen as we would be in his place."

"I just hope no one else saw the observation deck yesterday."
--Falbe

Suddenly, sensors went off in the observation dome.

"Riker to Picard. Sir, we've picked up a Ferengi vessel in the area. And it looks like they are beaming down crewmembers to the surface."

Beverly Crusher turned around after looking at a monitor and responded, "So much for the Prime Directive."

"Beam me up, Will," said the captain.

After having transported aboard, Picard walked to the bridge. After arriving, he told the young tactical officer to hail the Ferengi ship.

The tactical officer stated, "The L'Grat is under temporary command of Quark, who is the bar owner at the Cardassian mining station Terok Nor in the Bajoran system."

"A bar owner? In charge of a trading vessel?" Jean-Luc shook his head and signaled for Quark to be put through.

"Hello, captain. I will be with you in a minute."

The screen went blank and Picard stared at it for a few seconds before sitting down in his command chair. The tactical officer suddenly said, "Five Romulan D'deridex class vessels, decloaking in orbit of the planet."
--Lee Jamilkowski

Guinan, what is so special about this planet? Picard thought to himself, I intend to find out.

***

"What’s going on?" Guinan asked as she saw the mass of people frantically running in the streets.

"The T'RALS are coming!" the old man spoke, terrified. Guinan jogged her memory of when she was last here.

"T'Rals? As in part of the myth?" she asked him.

"Yes, one of the little ones spotted them through a telescope, I must go." the old man replied. Guinan had a gut feeling about what the T'Rals that the little ones saw, but explaining it to them may add to the chaos.
--Falbe

Guinan ran to the house of the village chieftess and knocked on the door.

"Come," said Krin'Top'z.

"The TRals.... tell me about them... all you can," Guinan requested.

"They came to our world 160 tablets ago...."

With that, she heard the tale.

The bartender hit her communicator.

"Guinan to Picard."

"Yes, Guinan?"

"I spoke with the chieftess, an old friend of mine. She knows about the T'Rals. Otherwise known as..."

"I can take a wild guess here. The Romulans."

"Yes, but actually, the Vulcans. Pre-Surak. Which means, the Prime Directive should not apply."

"I agree. But with have big problems. A Romulan fleet just arrived. And a Ferengi transport."

"One second, Captain," the bartender responded.

She turned to Krin'Top'z and asked, "What do you know about the dfkd'sdl... the big ears?"
--Lee Jamilkowski

***

"Incomming Message from Starfleet Command, Captain" Data spoke up.

"On Screen" Picard Replied. A Full Admiral Appeared on the viewscreen, Picard reconized him to be Admiral Hansen.

"I have disturbing news Captain" the admiral started. Picard faced dropped a bit. the admiral paused a second then continued, "After your Report about combined Romulan and Ferengi presence in the Eronon system, Starfleet Intelligence uncovered Several Transmissions from the Romulan Star Empire. A Large Number of Ships were stolen from there fleets, enough to go on a major offensive, the romulan government has listed them as regenades, and has gone to full alert."

"So are we on Invasion alert" picard asked

"I'm afraid we are, and im dispatching the uss. Lexington and uss. Hood to your position" admiral answered.

"Patrol the nearby systems for Romulan Activity" admiral stated

"Admiral what about Eronon3" Picard replied rather aburtly

"The Prime Directive" he replied picard wanted to let the admiral know what guinan just uncovered but he need more proof.

"You have your orders , admiral out"
--Falbe

***

"Captain I lost track of the away team" Obrien sounded desperate as he frantically worked the transporter console.

"How did you lose track" Picard replied via communicator.

"The radiogenic fields in the polar regions have destabilized and are now flooding the planet." Obrien answered.

"Keep trying to get the away team up" Picard replied.

"May suggest something?" Obrien asked.

"By all means, what is it?" Picard replied.

"You have better chance of finding the away team if you take a shuttle craft down for a atmospheric flight." Obrien replied.

"That’s not an option, for all we know a shuttle craft might alter there culture in some way, keep trying to beam them out." Picard replied.

***

Picard stood on the bridge trying to decide the next step.

"Data tell me what you know about the Radiogenic fields in the planets polar regions." Picard inquired. Picard was grasping at straws that there was some how a connection between the Romulans and Ferengi presence and the radiogenic fields...
--Falbe

***

Quark wiped his brow under the hot sun. Even the bulky air cooler he had beamed down to the planet wasn't enough to keep him cool. 'The worst thing about archeological digs,' he thought, 'Is that you have to spend so much time outdoors.'

"Ferengi," an approaching Romulan said in a loud but dignified manner, "We are no longer in need of your services. I suggest you return to your ship and leave while you still have a ship."

"Just a second," Quark replied, quite insulted by the Romulan's tone, "What about my payment?"

The Romulan pulled a phaser on him.

"Never trust a Romulan," Quark mumbled to himself, "That little voice kept saying, 'Never trust a Romulan.'"

"Good advice. You should listen to yourself more often."

"Wait a minute," Quark realized, "You can't vaporize me. I still have the map. You'll never find what you're looking for without the map."

The Romulan's left hand moved to take the small folded map from Quark's back pocket while he kept the phaser trained on him with his right. Quark smiled sheepishly.

"Get back to your ship, Ferengi."

Quark nodded.

***

Laforge, Troi, & the rest of the personnel stationed on Eronon III watched with anxiousness @ the Romulan search party outside. 30 minutes ago they lost contact with the Enterprise due to a Romulan dampening field. 25 minutes ago they lost main power to the observation post when the deefman conduits burned out. Auxiliary had kept life support & the cloak running but nothing else.

Lt. Commander Margaret White, the CO of the observation post whispered to Laforge, "Do you think they see us?"

"Seeing isn't what I'd be worried about. We're perfectly invisible, but we were in such a rush to finish repairs that there's still a slight leak in the barota tubes. Their scanners might be able to pick us up. Do you sense anything, counselor?"

Troi shook her head, "I can't tell."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
--The Borgified Corpse

*****
Romulan soldiers moved towards the observation post. They knew that the platform's sensor array would be down, they knew that the platform would be running at auxillery power, they knew the platform would be vulnerable. But most importantly, they knew the location of the platform. And they slowly moved towards it.
*****

Guinan tapped her combadge. Nothing. She tried again, nothing. Worf in his cloaking suit tried his communicator. They had lost contact with the Enterprise. They were all alone. "What else do you know about the T'Rals."

Guinan's friend looked at her feet and sighed. Then she leaned forward and looked from side to side. She wispered, "There is a thing outside of town. It is supposed to be concealed, we think, but it is visible to us. They came, acting as though they were travelers from another villiage. We shared our knowledge, as we do with all people. Then they left us, quickly, as if they had many things to do."

Guinan's face contorted with fear. She tried to control her breathing, and when she did, she gasped, "how long ago was that!"

"One Tablet ago, why?"

Guinan hit her combadge again, and it didn't work. She felt a tingling sensation and the realization finnally hit her. She quickly said "THANKS" to her friend, then she dissolved into the transporter beam.

*****

"O'Brien to Picard," O'Brien said.

"Picard here," the captain's voice came through over the communicator.

"Captain, I've broken through the interference! I'm beaming up all crew members still on the surface!" O'Brien said excitedly as he worked the tranporter controls.

"What about Guinan?"

O'Brien smiled at Guinan as she matierialized on the transporter pad. "She's hear, Captain!" Picard sighed.

"Tell her to come up to the bridge, Picard out." Guinan stepped off the pad and the crew from the platform matierialized. O'Brien was thrown against the wall. Torpedo hit! he thought.

"Picard to all crew! Red Alert! All hands to battle stations! We are under attack by Romulan Warbirds! Repeat! All hands to battle stations! Senior officers to the bridge! This is not a drill!"
--MAWrems4

"Suggestions?" Picard asked of his crew.

"Only one," Riker said, "Retreat. We don't stand a chance against 2 Romulan warbirds, let alone 5." Captain Picard hated to turn his tail & run as much as any one else on the bridge but unfortunately they were hopelessly outnumbered. He nodded his head,

"Agreed. Ensign Crusher, set a course out of here. Heading 102 mark 47."

"102 mark 47. Aye sir. "Captain Picard felt the bridge lurch slightly before the inertial dampers had a chance to compensate.

"Romulans do not appear to be in pursuit," Data reported from ops.

"Well, now what do we do?" Riker asked.

Captain Picard thought a moment, "What about that Ferengi ship? Data, is it still in intercept range? "

Data did a few split second calculations, "Yes sir. At warp 2 we will intercept it in 6 seconds."

"Mr. Crusher, set a course, warp 2. Let's see if Mr. Quark is more cooperative now that he doesn't have his Romulan fleet to back him up." With the Enterprise-D's superior size & engines, Quark's ship soon found it's escape trajectory blocked. "Open a channel, Data."

"Channel open, sir."

"This is Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise. Prepare to be boarded." Captain Picard rose, pulled at the bottom of his shirt, and made his way to the aft turbolift. "Number One, I want a 2 man security detail to meet me in transporter room 1."

"With all due respect, sir," Riker challenged as Picard got halfway up the ramp, "I don't think it would be a good idea for you to beam over there under the present circumstances."

"Perhaps, but right now I need answers and I have a feeling that Ferengi is our best option."

"Sir..." "Those are my orders."Riker took a deep breath, as if swallowing his pride, "Yes sir."Captain Picard felt the turbolift swoosh down several decks. After a sudden halt the doors opened to reveal Guinan standing merely inches in front of him. She took 1 look straight into his eyes and he knew what she was going to ask. She knew he was going to the Ferengi ship and she wanted to come too. Under normal circumstances, he would have said no to her just as Riker had said no to him. But just as he dismissed Riker's concerns, Guinan found a way to override Captain Picard's sense of reason. Without saying a word to each other, they both knew it was settled. "Whither thou goest, I will go," was a quote Guinan was fond of using with Captain Picard. It was what she first said to him when they first met and he allowed her to run the lounge on his ship. Ever since that point, he had a feeling that he couldn't explain. As if they had met before sometime in the past...or the future.Guinan led the way down the hall to the transporter room while Captain Picard followed, almost without thinking. ***

"Oh hell!" Quark thought to himself, "Fisrt that Romulan stiffs me on my payment, now this." He felt a sudden jolt, "Oh great! Now they've got me in a tractor beam!" He saw three humans in Starfleet uniforms and an El Aurian woman standing at the doorway. "This is an outrage!" he yelled, "I demand to know--" then he realized the reason for the stone cold expressions on the humans' faces.

Standing behind each was a Romulan officer pointing a disrupter at the base of their neck. And then Quark saw a sight he really didn't want to see, Colonel Sutak.Sutak took out the 'map' he had taken from Quark earlier, "'Yamok sauce, kanar, Cardassian bison steaks...' This isn't a map it's a shopping list." Sutak made a small gesture to two of his men who grabbed Quark by the jacket.

"Hey hey! Don't rip the suit." Sutak thrust his hand into the opposite pocket he had chosen before, and again produced a folded sheet of paper. He unfolded it this time to make sure it was the map. It was. He smiled and made a gesture to his men to let the Ferengi go.

"Well, since I got what I came here for, I suppose my Federation 'friends' and I will be heading back to my ship." Sutak hit a communicator on his wrist, "Sutak to D'mera, 11 to beam up." Quark was glad to see Sutak, his 6 men, & the 4 Federations disappear in that green swirl of light. Quark would have wagered he'd never be happier to see anyone else leave.
--The Borgified Corpse

***

"Commander," Data reported, "The Romulan ships are splitting up."

"Which way are they going?" Riker demanded.

"2 are returning to Eronon III. The other 3 are moving out of the sector and have just cloaked."

"What about the Ferengi ship?"

"Its shields & engines appear to have been damaged by the Romulan attack. They appear to be adrift."

A small smile appeared on Riker's face, "I think it's time we got those answers Captain Picard was looking for. Mr. Worf, lock on to that Ferengi bartender & beam him into the brig." Riker's smile appeared to be catching as Worf proved.

"Aye sir." It was becoming obvious that neither of them particularly liked the Ferengi. Riker was out the door and in the turbolift before Worf could say, "Transport complete."
--The Borgified Corpse

What happens next? You decide. Write a sentence, write a paragraph then send it to me and I'll post it so that others can add on to what you have written.


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