Ensign Lasel was reassigned to the Cessna and joined my engineering team. Captain Decker received orders to enter the Shacklebury expanse to explore and chart the region. We had been there a few days when we received an alert from the long range sensors of a Tetrion burst from the planet Optera IV. Captain Decker ordered the ship to change course to the Optera system which a federation survey team had surveyed 40 years ago. A scan of the system showed it consisted of 6 planets. Scan. The Tetrion bursts were occurring in repeated patterns with local responses and the frequency was increasing. The universal translator did not have enough information to determine if it was communications.

We entered orbit of Optera IV which was a habitable planet and the core was experiencing regular inversions which was causing Celanagen crystals to form. A very unusual situation as Celanagen crystals are normally only in found in subspace. Sensors detected a mysterious power signature in a desert, and enormous concentration of Tetrion bursts from a vast cavern and tunnels in the substrata of planet, and localised readings near a mountain peak. There was also a blind spot near the planets core reflecting the sensors which could indicate something being shielded.

We beamed down to the surface near the power source. The readings were coming from a tall tower bristling with electronics. Mala sensed two lifeforms nearby in emotional distress. Suddenly an orange bubble, a force field 10m in diameter emerged from the ground with a large insectoid creature inside. Another of the creatures burrowed up near the tower and started circling it. A Tricorder scan showed the tower was causing the force field and there was a control panel on the outside of the tower.

The creature approached when I got its attention by banging rocks. While the others distracted it I went to tower. It was made of an alloy of Tritanium ore. Behind the panel was an Alien computer console. I scanned it with my Tricorder and decoded it. As I did so, another force field erupted from ground, and the rest of the away team narrowly avoided being caught in it. I used the control panel to disable both force fields. The aliens groomed each other then moved off, turned towards each other and started to emit pulses of brilliant light. A Tricorder scan showed was same Tetrion emissions and the creatures exoskeleton was made of Celanagen crystals. The creatures seemed to be undergoing a major change in their biology. They curled upon ground and cracks appeared in their exoskeleton which they began to shed. Beneath they appeared the same but with wings on their backs. The wings hardened then they flew off towards the mountain.

The tower was drawing energy from the planets core, and had an advanced array of sensors keyed to Celanagen. It appeared to be about 100 years old and intended to catch the creatures. Hur'krel returned to the ship and worked on an inoculation to the Tetrion radiation while I worked with the rest of the engineering team to detach the power couplings and disable the tower. We then returned to the ship for the inoculations and to attempt to decode the Tetrion pulses. Mala adjusted the universal translator to construct a syntax matrix while I constructed a circuit to attach to a Tricorder which would convert the Tetrion bursts to a form that could be translated.

We then beamed down to a rocky ledge on the mountain where we found cracked and empty egg shells, and mucus trails leading to a cave. Part of the ledge had given way. The Tricorder received a message 'help' and I detected a Celanagen Lifeform reading from below the ledge. I beamed down to it, finding it was stuck on its back. I used my Tricorder to communicate I would help it then beamed it to the Cessna for Hur'krel to treat its injuries. I then took it back to the planet where I found the away team was in a cave with 2 adults and 12 other young of the creatures. The one which had been rescued joined them, then one of the adults said 'home' then lead the young into tunnels deeper into the substrata towards the cavern.

We beamed down to the cavern which was filled with a kaleidoscopic light from crystals, and hundreds of motionless creatures. The Tricorder reported lots of social talk then 'it's time to leave'. The creatures all started moving so we beamed back to the surface to watch them emerge. Captain Decker reported an unknown ship approaching and multiple energy signatures identical to tower were now being detected on the planets surface, suggesting many of the creatures were being captured. The others were flying up through the atmosphere and headed into space. We beamed back to the Cessna where we found five of the creatures heading towards the ship. I quickly patched my Tricorder into the deflector dish and warned them to keep clear.

The alien ship approached, and the Cessna was contacted by a Captain Caladock of the K.E.S KoFalgen, a collection vessel of the Kavian expedition force, and we were told to leave. The KoFalgen launched shuttles down to the surface. Some of the creatures had turned back and were caught in tractor beams from the KoFalgen. They were transmitting Help. The KoFalgen seemed to be using Tetrion power. There was a further discussion with Captain Caladock who claimed the creatures were unintelligent. I transmitted proof they could communicate but they refused to examine it. Captain Caladock said their whole civilisation relied on Tetrion radiation and the harvest had to continue. The KoFalgen started getting more aggressive when we did not leave and opened fire.

After a brief exchange of fire we damaged their shield generator and they surrendered. We then beamed the creatures which had been taken back off their ship and the Kavian captain beamed on board the Cessna to discuss terms. We demonstrated we could communicate with the Opterian's and forced the Kavian and Opterian's to talk. The Opterian's needed to return home to a Tertiary subspace manifold through a tear which formed when they focused their Tetrion emissions on the crystals, but were being stopped by the Kavian device in the centre of the planet which prevented the tear forming. They finally came to a Deal, where the Opterians would supercharge the crystals before they left and would return every 20 years to recharge them, giving the Kavian's a source of Tetrion energy, and the Kavian's would shut down their device and return all the captive Opterian's.

We returned to Starbase 364 for repairs which took 48 hours. During that time The Arkur, a Klingon bird of prey docked. Hur'krel knew the captain and the senior staff of the Cessna had to socialise with him and drink blood wine, a rather unpleasant concoction which is nowhere near the sophistication of a good Ferengi wine. When the repairs were finished we returned to our exploration of the Shacklebury expanse.

Our course took us near the Federation deep space research facility 39 and we established routine contact which proved rather less than routine when the person vanished in the middle of the transmission though the visual transmission continued. I analysed the footage and 1 frame he was there, next frame he was gone. The ships database recorded the facility as having 4 laboratory arms which were leased to private companies, and 3 levels in the central core, and it was manned by 10 starfleet personnel. There was interference from a Magnetic storm but Natala managed to pierce it and scan the station. No life forms were detected on board. It took us 5 minutes at warp 8 to reach the station.

I was part of the away team who transported over. It was not a smooth as the interference from the Magnetic storm affected the matter stream and I had a brief sensation of being in space. It was several seconds before I finally materialised on the transporter pad. Most of the away team were badly affected by the effects of the disturbed matter stream and needed to be treated by Hur'krel. Mala reported sensing no one nearby but tricorder scans picked up faint invertebrate lifeform readings from the northern research arm of the facility. I found a tap running in a washroom and there was a memo on a pad in the station managers office with a reminder to do the Tacheon micro mechanics lab inspection in the east arm (It was due to be done in about an hour).

There was no recent activity in the transporter logs other than our arrival. The last transport was cargo from a scheduled federation freighter 4 months ago. The engineering office console showed a power drain from the northern part of the station, possibly on level 3. The security office console was encrypted but Mala and Cuellas bypassed the security and accessed the system. The video logs showed that everyone on the station disappeared at exactly the same time.

We found from the outpost records that the four companies operating on the outpost were:
Bio/Genetic Research Inc.(recombinant DNA experiments on micro organisms)
Tachyon Micromechanics Ltd. (transporter engineering development)
Multiplanet Metals Inc. (zero-g alloy research)
New Amsterdam Gravitics Co. (gravity control systems development)

As we looked through the station records, we heard the noise of something falling in the cafeteria. When we went to investigate we found two creatures in the canteen, and a mess everywhere. The creatures were not being picked up on the station sensors, and a tricorder scan showed they were made of an unknown matter and energy combination which did not register as anything like known lifeforms. Hur'krel's scan with a medical tricorder showed it was some form of protoplasmic lifeform. They extended a pseudopod whenever anyone got close. Mala communicated with them telepathically and found they had a completely alien viewpoint which she found disturbing. It seemed to be asking if she was food, then lashed out with a pseudopod. A pulse of energy ran through the pseudopod into her body and had a stun effect. We closed the door to the canteen but the creature started oozing under.

The creatures were unaffected by phasors set on stun and they fired pulses of energy at us. Hur'krel hit one with his disruptor set to kill which did hurt it. They both backed off when injured, giving us time to use the turbo lift to get to level 3. We found the northern generator damaged and the ODN relays overloaded. The outer Hatch was damaged, and the generator room was in vacuum. One of the creatures was in the room and seemed to be feeding off the reactor. I suited up in an EVA suit with Mala. Natala thought it might be the heat from the phasor shots which had hurt the creatures, so we entered the power relay station with a plasma torch and it backed out of the station through the broken hatch. We quickly repaired the hatch then rerouted the ODN relays. We then restored the power but feedback damaged the main console. Meanwhile the rest of the away team had to fight off four of the creatures which had come up the turbo lift. One was killed, and two were beamed into space. The last retreated.

The creatures all left the outpost, merged together then moved away. They seemed capable of generating impulse power themselves. The unusual power drain was coming from the Tachyon Micromechanics lab. The door to the lab was locked so we beamed into the lab. We found a pad in conference room which had notes detailing concerns about a new transporter system drawing too much power, and lax safety interlocks. We found the new transporter which was still running. A cascade affect had defocused the beam and caused it to affect the whole station. The transport buffer had all the patterns stored and surprisingly they had not degraded. We rematerialized the lab administrator, and when that worked we rematerialized the rest of the outpost personnel. They were all suffering from neural shock and required treatment by Hur'krel.

I assessed the new transporter technology, then beamed back to the Cessna when the magnetic storm had passed. My conclusion was that it was not a properly managed project, with too many corners being cut and safety measures ignored. The Cessna was then ordered back to Starbase 364 to participate in a joint mission with the Klingon Bird of Prey "The Arkur".