There were some crew rotations. Mihaly accepted a permanent position serving on the Mp'wii, and later married Priz. Benadict requested a transfer and we were appointed a new transporter chief, Chief Volaris. Amelia Lee transferred from starbase 364 as the new deputy of engineering. She is an expert in reactors. We also received a new deputy medical officer called Alala, and security officers called Bain and Xander Luciano.

There was then a formal ceremony to transfer Captaincy of the Luna to Zevin. We were then given a mission to resupply a federation outpost on Tanghal IV. The outpost was an archaeological expedition lead by Janic Stoltz to investigate a long dead human like civilisation. It had been dead for 10000 years after dramatic climate change turned the planet into an ice ball. The exploration team had just discovered a seed vault in their last report. The full list of expedition members was:

Janic Stoltz, human, male, lead scientist and archaeologist
Symme, denobulan female, medic
Cund Blanch Call, tellarite male, engineer
Midri Miriam’s, trill, female, scientist
Tamar, trill, male, scientist
Tyssab Thilrerh, andorian, male, scientist
Abeana Morgath, betazoid, female, scientist

The Mp'Wii requested Kar'Tak to help with an outbreak of Lavidian flu the claimed to have on board. He transferred over to provide assistance with Captain Zevin. The Klingon second in command caused some problems with Kar'Tak which Captain Zevin delt with in a Klingon fashion.

It took five days at warp 8 to reach the Tanghal system. We entered orbit around Tanghal IV. The surface temperature was -52 degree and sensors showed the same temperature inside the outpost which looked to have been extended from the plans on record. There was no power from the outpost but a faint intermittent power signature from a large structure beneath the outpost which appeared to be a missile silo. We detected no intelligent life readings on the planets surface.

The away team consisted of myself, Kar'Tak, Vokaya, Wilson, Xander and two security. We had to wear environmental protection due to the extreme cold.

We materialised in a corridor with sealed doors at either end. The corridor had widows and we could see wind turbines outside. We made our way to the control room. The door would not open automatically due to the lack of power, and the wall panel concealing the mechanical actuator had been shot open with a phasor and broken. Scanner readings suggested it had happened about 3 days ago.

From there I went to the reactor room. There were signs of phasor damage on the walls and the backup batteries had been destroyed along with some of the reactor consoles. I requested replacement parts be beamed down and started removing the damaged parts of the reactor.

Dr Kar'Tak discovered the remains of Janic Stoltz who appeared to have been dead about three days. Body of Janic in a chair. He had been strangled by a power cable and an area of his head had been shaved round a wound. Sounds of machinery were heard from the North umbilical and the silhouette of some machine, tanklike in appearance and similar to early 21st century earth technology. It approached and we could see it was armed with a primitive rapid fire projectile weapon. It said In-n-n-n-truder, then shot Xander, almost killing him.

Wilson fired and hit the machines weapon, vaporising it. I then hit one of its tracks to stop it retreating. It went in circles for a while then stopped.

I received the replacement parts for the reactor and fitted them then restored power to the outpost. A face appeared on the undamaged monitors which I recognised as Janic. He said "They are all dead. What was that". Then there were sounds of the door to the seed vault opening and a low level murmuring of voices in the background. I went to control room to try to discover what was happening. I found no identifiable faults in the comms system, but someone had remote access to the system from the missile silo where the low level of background voices were coming from. I isolated one of the voices which ranted in hysterics "We are a lie, the bodies rot", then another voice. "Why did the upload fail, why can we not upload". I disconnected the remote access in the coms system. The audio went quiet then started playing at a much louder volume as the remote access was reconnected.

Xander and a security went to the seed room. A trail of blood lead away from the door. Another door leading downwards from seed room opened on its own and sounds of crying could be heard from the passageway beyond. They descended down the corridor. At the bottom a security camera swivelled round and started following their movements and a door opened. Xandar held up a message saying they were friendly. Beyond the door they could see a primitive computer bank. Xander entered more seed vaults which were still climate controlled. He heard a child's voice "please please you have to", then another door opened. A white tiled corridor could be seen beyond.

Kar'Tak and other security went to medical bay where they found the body of Cund. He had died of sepsis from an abdominal wound caused by a projectile weapon. Kar'Tak arranged for bodies to be beamed up for autopsies.

We all met with Xander who had found the way into the missile silo below.

Scans showed it extended 14 floors down. The power supply had strengthened and was no longer intermittent but there were still no life signs. We all descended down the white corridor into the silo. There was a stench of decay and rotten food, and we saw more security cameras in the ceiling tracking our movements. The food had been stored in stasis but power had been interrupted about three days ago. A lift door opened and another door nearby lead into a service corridor winding upwards and downwards. Inside the lift all the levels were listed:

1 Control centre
2 security
3 general store (here)
4 medical bay
5-10 residential suites
11 library and classrooms
12 recreation
13 hydroponics
14 pumps and septic.

Xander detected 3 sets of tread marks from a drone leading downwards in the service corridor so the door was welded shut with a phasor. We then took the lift up to security.

When the lift door opened we saw three more of the tracked drones in the room. One challenged 'produce identification'. Vokaya ordered everyone to destroy their weapons. Wilson fired and destroyed the weapon on one while Vokaya jumped on another and melted it with acid. The last drone opened fire on Vokaya, critically damaging him, and Dr Kar'Tak rushed to treat him as I destroyed the 3rd drones weapon.

Landru reported unusual readings from the life support systems on the Luna. It failed momentarily with a strange message "my apologies" briefly on her console. Then on the console a message slowly appeared "we have your away team!".

I challenged the two remaining drones that they were defective and to submit for repair. They replied 'Are you an approved engineer of Tanaco enterprises'. When I replied yes they returned to a service area at the centre of the room. At that point the intercom hummed and said "apologies, our drones do not always obey, come to the medical bay to treat your injuries." Then there were more voices laughing. My tricorder started to emit a whistling tone, and started to overload, so I threw it away quickly before it exploded.

The voice on the intercom then said "please make your way to the medical bay, I am impatient". Wilson found a security card marked 5-10 on a table, but when he reached to pick it up a voice on the intercom said "naughty, naughty" and a blast of electricity from the table electrocuted him and knocked him unconscious.

Kar'Tak rushed to treat him. Kar'Tak then attempted to contact the Luna without success. On the Luna we later found out started experiencing their own problems, with someone contacting them pretending to be Wilson then strange technical failures.

We went to the medical centre where a little robot came out of the office. It seemed to want me to go into the room with it. Wilson started moaning and crying, and the robot went and patted him on the head. I asked it directly what was going on and it pointed to a terminal on the desk in the office. The terminal had no power so I tried powering it from my phaser.

I was successful and the terminal lit up. It said loading and a bar moved slowly across the screen. Eventually it said "welcome to Tanorcor enterprises. Please enter password." The robot plugged into an outlet and tapped on the keyboard. "WE ARE MONSTERS. YOU MUST DESTROY US PLEASE". Images of the missing personnel strapped to medical chairs in level 5 then appeared on the screen. The robot looked scared. The screen went blank then man appeared on the screen with a title 'PROMOTIONAL VIDEO'. It then started playing a recording:

The robot went to the bookcase and pressed on the floor. The bookcase opened to reveal a lift which it entered. We all followed and the lift descended to level 5. There was an enormous server tower at the centre of the room, and the missing personnel could be seen strapped to chairs. They were dead and had wires connecting their craniums to the server tower. A humanoid mechanical robot was inspecting the corpses. There were also many rows of stasis pods in the room, which our scans had misidentified as missiles.

Tricorder scans identified the server tower as a quantum computer, very sophisticated compared to the other technology in the bunker. It contained a vast consciousness and the implants in the outpost personnel were mind transference devices. The server was the source of the power readings we had detected but the power was failing. The outpost personnel had died three days ago from brain haemorrhaging. The stasis pods were malfunctioning and contained only dead bodies. The occupants had transferred their personalities into the quantum computer and gone mad.

The voice on the intercom started making demands. It wanted to transfer its consciousness into our bodies. I asked the little robot how it could get what it wanted and it indicated a terminal screen. There were discussions with the voice. We offered to restore its power but that did not satisfy it. It only wanted to inhabit our bodies. When we told it of androids it started being interested in the possibility of android bodies.

The little robot typed "do not trust, insane" on the terminal. Wilson mind melded with the little robot and found it contained the mind of small boy. The boy had been uploaded last and was still independent. It warned the other minds were insane and would attempt to take our bodies over anyway.

I challenged the voice that we needed to repair its power supply first. It then demanded we restore its power. I said it would need to provide access and a panel opened, giving me access. Inside I found a backup server with the mind of Janic Stoltz and the separate consciousness of the boy. I convinced the entity to allow us to transfer Janic's consciousness to the ships computer. I then deliberately overloaded the quantum computer while 'restoring power' and the whole computer shut down. A bright white light rose from the little robot. We sensed sadness, relief and a desire to be with us.

We were able to beam up to the Luna. Kar'Tak worked to restore Janic's body and restore his consciousness. The boy creature was introduced to Mercury. Mercury said he had no wish to be a parent and suggested Wilson care for it.

Kar'Tak succeeded in recovering Janic who seemed confused. He thought he was on the Enterprise and in the past, and Kar'Tak had to sedate him.

We were told to drop Janic at the nearest outpost for therapy then continue mapping the expanse.

We spent a month mapping systems and other phenomena in the Shackleton expanse. No class M planets or life forms found until sensors detected something at extreme range in deep space near the Albani system. We moved closer and found a geodesic dome, about 10km in diameter, which appeared derelict but had an internal breathable atmosphere. It was moving slowly at sub light speeds. No lifeforms were detected by sensors. A forest filled the dome, and there were solar sails below. The forest appeared sick except at the centre, and a bio electric field was causing Ion interference from the dome. It was over 10000 years old and projections of its course showed it came from outside the milky way galaxy, probably from one of the magellanic clouds. It would have had to pass through the galactic barrier and had sustained damage consistent with that passage. It used biological computing with regenerative abilities and was currently repairing itself. It had no warp ability and used bio digester technology to create fuel, as well as being capable of photosynthesis.

Myself, Wilson , Alala, Vokaya, and two security were sent on an away mission to investigate. We could only beam to the edge of the forest due to the Ion interference. On arrival we heard insect noise around us. The Interference degraded our tricorder scans but no animal life signs were detected. The trees were sick and dying, and showed signs of wood boring pests affecting the trees and causing a large degree of sap loss. The trees were generating the bio electric field and causing the Ion interference. We estimated the forest had only days before it died. There were unusual flowering plants with purple stalks and a seed pod the size of an adult human at the base of the trees. Our tricorders were unable to penetrate the seedpod.

Alala approached a seed pod and the purple stalks started to sway then strike the petals creating music, like the sound of a hammered dulcimer. Vokaya approached to touching range and the pod opened revealing a humanoid shape made of vines and flowers. It started to stand up and the music changed, causing another five seed pods to open. The humanoids were actually a botanical life form and the pods acted as a stasis and birthing chamber. The music was not being caused by soundwaves, instead minute chemical compounds in the air were being interpreted by our bodies as sound.

The life forms ignored us. The music changed again and they moved towards a structure of vines and leaves. Flowers on the head of one of the creatures started playing an accompaniment and the vines parted allowing them to enter the structure. Several minutes later the creatures exited the structure with stone tools and started tending the forest.

Alala flew into the forest to scout. She found a clearing with a standing stone about 2.5 Km in.

Wilson touched one of the lifeforms attempting a mind meld. It turned towards him and the music changed, very loud and more threatening. He sensed surface thoughts. The creatures were connected to the trees. They felt pain and loneliness, and he realised the trees themselves were sentient. He tried to convey that we meant them no harm and a creature indicated Wilson enter a seed pod.

Wilson entered the pod. A shoot inside the pod moved towards Wilsons neck then burrowed in and connected to his central nervous system. Alala scanned and detected Streptomyces in his bloodstream. The shoot retracted and Wilson then left the pod. He said:

Alala addressed it and said we wanted to help and did not bring the borers. The Luna reported the dome had raised a shield and we would not be able to be beamed out. Wilson said we were to follow the interface and not interfere. We would have the opportunity to present our case. Wilson then walked into the forest and we followed.

We approached a clearing with a mound. There was a door into the mound made of white vines. 'Wilson' said 'do not desecrate what is inside, it is important to us'. Tricorder scans showed the Stone to be 10000 years older than the dome itself. The stone had engravings of two spiral galaxies on its side, and the mound had something buried inside.

Vokaya asked if we could go inside. 'Wilson' said we could do so if we did not desecrate it, then clarified as not interfering or touching what was inside. One of the creatures tapped on its head to make music and the vines parted allowing us access to the interior of the mound. Inside was a sarcophagus made of organic materials and covered in white flowers. Within was a mummified corpse of a non botanical humanoid creature.

We continued into the forest, entering the area where there were more healthy trees. We scanned and detected intermittent life form readings. The Bio electric field was generating negative ions which were protecting the trees. There were lifeforms which existed in a state of extreme acceleration but the negative ions were slowing them down and making them detectable by our tricorders intermittently. The humanoid plant creatures started stomping on the ground trying to squash insectoid creatures about 7cm long that were becoming visible. Vokaya got 'help me' through his universal translator from one of the insectoid creatures that was about to be crushed. Vokaya quickly grabbed it and it said 'thank you'. Alala then performed a focused scan on the creature and determined it was addicted to the sap and was suffering from a neuro degenerative disease.

Offers were quickly made to the creature to find a way to give them an alternative to the sap and it agreed that they would stop feeding for a short while. They were called the Jihan Ju.

Wilson then lead us to a crumbling ruin almost covered by foliage at the centre of the forest where there was a tree with a humanoid face. Its eyes opened as we approached. The tree spoke through Wilson. It wanted the presence of the others explained. Vokaya explained we would try to find an alternative to the tree sap for the creatures. The tree said it understood we were not the cause of their problems and announced it had found their new home at last and that repairs would be completed soon. It agreed to lower their shields so we could help. At the same time the dome changed course towards the Albani system. We calculated it would be able to arrive there in about a month. The ships library had an old planetary survey report that indicated Albani prime was inhabited by a bronze age humanoid civilization.

The Jihan Ju originated from an asteroid field at the fringes of the galaxy. Generations ago the neuro degenerative disease had hit them and they began to die. They found the dome when it passed through their system and discovered the sap which slowed the disease, so had infested the dome.

The first tree requested a power transfer to charge their superlumal drive so they could get to their chosen new planet. I was told to study their systems to facilitate this while the Luna went to Albani prime to find out more about the civilization there. While they were gone I worked out the transfer rate required.

At Albani prime a short range transmission was picked up from planet at irregular intervals. Kar'Tak, Lilya, Wilson and Stadi disguised themselves as locals and beamed down. The away team met some locals who wanted to exchange stories. They were told a story about a cave that sang, though it had not done so for a long time. They also talked about visiting a library, though the way they talked it is likely the library was a person. They were taken to the cave by a girl where they found what looked like a half buried seed pod. On its side was a window, through which something could be seen inside. It looked like a small red leafed tree. It was very old.

The girl was disappointed it was not singing, but it started emitting music when Wilson touched it. The music was similar to what we heard on the dome. Kar'Tak surreptitiously scanned it and determined it too was a bio mechanical transmitter. Scans showed the pods biology was comparable to the planets other life and had antibodies to a weaponized biological agent. There were similarities to the mummified remains we found on the dome. The seed pod and the first tree had common DNA. The mummified remains were a blending of 2 species, the humanoids from Albani prime and trees from another galaxy. The blending may have made the trees sentient.

The Luna returned a day later and I organised a transfer of power to the dome.

I was told the Dome sailed through the cosmic streams. The power I had transferred would allow them to sail the fastest stream. I installed sensors to study their drive system.

It took two days for the dome to reach Albani prime. Kar'Tak tried removing the Streptomyces from Wilson but was only partially successful and Wilson suffered trauma from the disconnection.

Through my studies of their technology I determined it required organic components to operate the domes superlumal drive system.

The Dome landed in the valley where the away team found the seed pod and dissipated into water vapor. The trees sunk their roots into the soil and the gardeners emerged and started working. The Albani inhabitants started moving towards them. The Luna monitored a speech from the first tree:

“This alien yet familiar soil has awakened ancient memories within us. Millennia ago, your people journeyed among the stars. One of them, an astronaut, woke us to consciousness. He is within me, even now, and so he is a part of all of us. He came from this valley. He carried its memory across galaxies. He taught us about the people who lived here, who loved their forest like they loved their children. When our own world died, this love called us here. There are too few of us left to be called a forest but with your tender care we may yet survive. If you welcome us, care of us in our time of need, if you let us thrive and flourish, we will provide you shade and fruit. It has been so long, so very long since your kind sat beneath our branches in peace. Let your little ones climb upon our limbs as they would your backs, and we will cradle them always.”

The Luna Returned to surveying. Dr Kar'Tak cured the Jihan Ju of their addiction and the neuro degenerative disease. Wilson received therapy for his recent trauma. The Luna was then given orders to return the Jihan Ju to their home asteroid belt. The Pinacon belt was the largest asteroid field known in the Shackleton expanse. Admiral Hanson gave us an ancillary mission to investigate unusual properties of the Pinacon belt. It contained materials which had a near infinite resonance at the sub atomic level suggesting the material originated from many alternate realities. We were requested to take samples.

Stardate 49021

It took three days to reach the Pinacon belt. I spent the time studying info about the dome ships drive systems. When we arrived, the Jihan Ju left the ship and returned to the asteroid field. Quantum interference inside the asteroid field was affecting sensors. The asteroids were denser nearest the centre of the belt, and the centre was also where the quantum interference was coming from.

Liyla was ordered to pilot a shuttle to collect samples. She took one of the new type 8 shuttles we had received when last at starbase 364. Kar'Tak, myself and Vokaya were ordered to accompany her. We received an alert from the sensors. Strange lights appeared ahead of us then darkened and hull of a starfleet ship appeared ahead of us. It was a type 8 shuttlecraft that had been damaged by an asteroid impact. The Luna determined it had the same registration as the shuttle we were in but resonated at a different quantum level. It was theorized that it had travelled through a quantum fissure from a different quantum reality. No lifeforms were detected on board.

Liyla docked with the other shuttle. Suddenly an asteroid came towards us from nowhere, but Liyla fired thrusters and managed to move from its path. The other shuttle was on emergency power and had minimum life support. We entered the shuttle where we found the conn section had suffered extensive damage. We managed to retrieve the log. It showed we were recorded as being on the shuttle which had been hit by an asteroid. The crew had tried an emergency beam back to their Luna but the quantum interference scattered the signal, killing them.

The shuttle reported an instability in the warp core, and that a warp core breach was in progress. I quickly fixed things while the others argued about evacuating the shuttle, then fixed the impulse engines. Liyla then took both shuttles back to the Luna, but both shuttles took damage from gravimetric sheer on the way. Wilson came down to inspect the shuttles, then collapsed and had to be rushed to sick bay. He reported to have had an image of a metal container, a transport for race called the Medusans. The vision had come as some sort of telepathic contact.

We then went back out in a shuttle to the centre of the asteroid field where Kar'Tak and Liyla performed an EVA to retrieve the samples.

They had a lot of problems getting to the asteroid to take a sample, then as they were taking a sample the asteroid was hit by another causing more problems. They finally collected a sample then called for me to pick them up and take them to the next sample location as they were unlikely to make it on their own based on the EVA ability they were demonstrating. They collected a second sample but an alarm sounded.

Sensors were detecting the area we were in was resonating at a new quantum frequency. We appeared to have passed through a quantum fissure into a different quantum reality and sensors could not pick up the Luna nearby. Suddenly a phasor blast from a nearby asteroid narrowly missed Liyla. Kar'Tak quickly headed back to the shuttle craft but hit his head as he entered, damaging his visor. I rushed to stabilize him, but as I did so another shuttle appeared from behind an asteroid and fired. Luckily it missed and I rushed back to the controls.

Liyla maneuvered towards the asteroid from where the fire originated. She saw several figures and succeeded in grappling one. A taller figure said to cease fire and identified themselves as another Kar'Tak. There was also another Liyla who had a bad facial scar. There was agreement for everyone to stand down. The other shuttle landed on the asteroid to collect its crew and I did likewise. They came from a universe that had been overrun by the Borg and only a few pockets of resistance remained. They were looking for sculpture technology which could shape reality. They wanted to eradicate the Borg from every reality.

They provided information on how to compensate for the quantum interference and I made the modifications to our shuttle. We then started scanning the asteroid field for the sculpture base. After some time the other shuttle indicated they had detected it and we headed to the location.

Liyla flew fairly recklessly through the asteroids and we approached the battered remains of a space station ahead of the other shuttle. There was no life support running on the station which was in vacuum. It consisted of three spherical structures connected to a central hub. We all donned EVA suits and beamed onto the station.

There was a large computer terminal at the centre, and strange crystalline structures in concentric rings round the room we materialised in. A console and metallic helmet was connected to a chair by cables, and the helmet was made of an unknown alloy. Tricorder scans picked up a large pyramid crystal in the dome opposite the one we were in which was made of the same material as the crystalline structures. It had slight similarities to dylithium.

The other shuttle arrived and started investigating the station as well.

We studied the crystal pyramid and determined it was the power system for the station, but it would need charging before energy could be shunted to other systems. Liyla and Kar'Tak returned to the helmet while I maneuvered our shuttle through a hole in the side of the station.

The other Kar'Tak was trying to put the helmet on when he was hit by a phasor beam and stunned by Liyla, who then also stunned her alternate self. Kar'Tak then stunned my alternate self. Apparently they had decided our alternate selves could not be trusted and that shooting them was an acceptable solution.

I started firing the shuttles phasors at the crystal at low power. The crystal started absorbing the power and glowing. I then examined the control system while the crystal charged. The helmet room was labelled Sculpture apparatus. The other sections were labelled Generator and power, and archives.

The other shuttle had been locked, but Kar'Tak but I suggested provided the code he would have used and it unlocked the shuttle. Liyla then moved it to also help provide power.

When the power was fully charged we moved the shuttles back outside and used their shields to seal the hole in the station allowing us to restore life support. Liyla then put on the helmet but it did nothing.

I went to investigate the archives. There were engravings in the walls of hand prints which started to glow. I put my hand into one and the space station dissolved, being replaced by a display of miniature universes. A voice said beware it is easy to get lost in the quantum universes. A figure then appeared saying it was the custodian, an AI. It stated the sculpture apparatus could be operated by receiving a quantum imprint on my neural pathways. Liyla contacted me and the custodian somehow made her appear by me. She wanted the power and the custodian granted it to her without question.

The custodian gave me knowledge of an equation to improve the efficiency of quantum slipstream technology and how to replicate latinum. That will be my last laugh at the Ferengi who thought I was no use at business, who needs business when you can just make money when you need it. I contacted Kar'Tak and suggested he could get medical knowledge from the archive.

Liyla was wearing the helmet and suddenly there was a power drain, she screamed then collapsed and Kar'Tak detected no neural activity. He gave emergency treatment and succeeded in reviving her, barely. Her Borg implants had provided just enough support to allow Kar'Tak to revive her. The alternate quantum reality copies of us had disappeared.

I later learned there had been changes on the Luna. The Borg were part of Federation and some of the crew were Borg. They had been with the 'Lunar' from the alternate quantum reality which also disappeared. They somehow contacted our away team using technology provided by the Lunar, and warned a Species 8472 ship was approaching. They said we were allied with the Borg and at war with species 8472. The ship attacked and the Luna was damaged in the fight.

I adjusted the helmet to be usable by Vokaya as it was felt his brain structure was most suitable to the attempt to revert the reality changes Liyla had desired. Unfortunately there was an energy overload into Vokaya, badly shocking him and requiring Kar'Tak to administer emergency treatment to him as well.

I quickly reassembled the helmet and Liyla put the helmet back on after Kar'Tak gave her a neural suppressant to suppress her subconscious in an attempt to prevent it from affecting the reality changes. Reality changed again. Liyla had attempted to restore the realities, except that of our alternate selves. She did not restore reality completely. On the Luna, the Borg and species 8472 disappeared, but Wilson was back to being a Commodore. Grey was alive, and Grey and Armstrong were back on the Luna. Zevin was not on board and Wilson the captain again. Zevin was the commanding officer of the USS Titan, the Luna’s sister ship. Jellico was a Jr Lieutenant in Cartography and the ships computer had a male voice.

Liyla then used the helmet to create a quantum fissure back to our own reality. We gave orders for the station to self destruct after we left. We went through the fissure and rendezvoused with the Luna. The whole asteroid field was destroyed when the station self destructed. No one seemed to be upset at the fate of the Jihan Ju.