.:Where True-Self Lies:.

[harbors_madness]

The large ship floated in near silent running around the furthest moon of the Sha'Kwai system. Its design might have been familiar, in the details, but the general shape of it was not the tentacled monster that had destroyed Vulcan months and months ago. It was like the tiny child of it, with echoes of the other ships it had consumed since its

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[hart_of_time]

John wasn't sure at first why he'd woken. His circadian rhythm had adapted for the planet's long day, and the sun was still up--by rights, he should have slept a few more hours. He rubbed his eyes, trying to bring himself into focus, and became aware of a new sound. It wasn't the strange little stream-dwelling creatures, or the fairy bears. It was something artificial.

As this fact insinuated itself into his sleep-dazed thoughts, he let out a whoop that sent the fairy bears fluttering from their nest in alarm. His wriststrap was beeping at him! Someone was answering his SOS on the same frequency. He punched a series of buttons, setting it to translating the signal into English, if it could.

[harbors_madness]

There was no translation into English, only a reply in pure digital information. The screen on his wriststrap flickered, and data came up without being requested.

It was reading the device, gathering what information it could from its unshielded systems. Such an odd device, systems of origin unknown.

[hart_of_time]

John stared at the device with narrowed eyes, and gave it a thwap, just to see if that would help. It didn't. "What the frakking fuck?" he demanded of it. That didn't help either.

It didn't seem to be giving him any useful information. Well, at the very least, he knew his signal had been received. Hopefully someone would recognize the SOS for what it was, or at least send someone to investigate its source.

[harbors_madness]

It beeped once, then the screen flickered.

Identification?

[hart_of_time]

He blinked. Whatever was on the other end of the transmission preferred text over speech, apparently. Too bad for them, the thing didn't have a bloody keyboard. He pressed the voice-transmit button. "I'm Captain John Hart," he told whoever-it-was. "To whom do I owe this honor?"

[harbors_madness]

The name did not match any know ident in the databanks. The reply came swiftly.

Narada

It then flickered back to blank before the next words appeared.

Signal unidentified.

[hart_of_time]

His universal SOS not being recognized didn't bode well for John being anywhere good. He fought down his irritation. "It's a distress call," he explained, as calmly as I could. "Don't suppose you could give us a lift, Narada? A spot of rescue would be pretty wonderful about now."

[harbors_madness]

Us designated more than one.

Number of organics?

[hart_of_time]

"Er, just me," he answered, unaware of the confusion his use of colloquialism could cause. "Unless you count the fairy bears." There was a thought--maybe he could keep them as pets? He did a quick count of the cubs. "There's seven of them. So eight of us, all together."

[harbors_madness]

Scanners focused closely on the organic's location, scanning.

System of origin? Affiliation?

[hart_of_time]

"Solar system," he told--it? Her? Him?--whatever it was he was talking to. "Earth, specifically. No affiliation. Used to be a Time Agent, if that helps, but the Agency and I parted ways a long time back. No pun intended."

[harbors_madness]

It responded to the unknown distress call. Its scanners, followed by its transporter, locked onto the unknown figure ident "Captain John Hart". It would further investigate the organic from the safety of its containment cells.

The transporter activated.

[hart_of_time]

The ride was considerably less smooth than his usual teleport. "Oi!" he called into the relative darkness, "it's generally considered polite to ask before teleporting a bloke!"

As his eyes adjusted, he could make out the glow of some sort of force field. On the other three sides, solid walls penned him in. John's heart sank. It seemed considerably more likely now that this Narada wasn't interested in being polite.

"Don't suppose you 'ported my fairy bears too," he muttered resentfully.

[harbors_madness]

There was a computerized voice that answered Hart's muttering. "The other organics scanned were native to Sha'Kwai. Would you prefer to return to planet's surface where you were found?"

[hart_of_time]

"Let's not be hasty," John answered quickly. "I'm grateful for the rescue, don't get me wrong, just..." He stretched out a hand, curiously, and lightly touched the forcefield. It crackled and he snatched his hand back. "Damn, that stings! Look," he addressed the darkness, "you don't have to keep me locked up, I'm not going to hurt you." Whatever you turned out to be.

[harbors_madness]

"Unknown organic. Containment is standard procedure. Unknown affiliation. State occupation." The darkness answered.