<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div><span id="ydp915d56bcdocs-internal-guid-f1873281-7fff-76b5-2853-04ce1c2ac3a0"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mission: The Flames of Purity</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Day: 16 </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stardate: 2445.09.16</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 10pt 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(USS Exeter – Engineering Conference Room – CSO Lt JG Erin Cortez – 0911)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Two points. One, Cortez is correct, we have no knowledge of what constitutes a “Pah-Wraith”. The only witnesses to one supposedly 60 some odd years ago are former Kai of the Vedek assembly Wynn who died in the fire caves and Captain Benjamin Sisko, who is listed as missing in action but presumed dead in the fire caves as well. So, hokey religions aside, we can’t confirm that they exist. Two, we also can’t confirm that they don’t exist, because we can’t rule it out,” Merek stated. “We should focus on what we can find out concretely. Agreed?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Agreed.” Erin replied succinctly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“We see the shield and the scattering field. We’d have to come in, outside of it, either by shuttle or transport in, and we also can’t bombard the shield from orbit to crack it, as we’ve got one life sign we can see from here, from your signal Cortez, we’re sure it’s the XO?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fighting down the urge to reply in a manner unbecoming of an officer, Erin took a deep breath and replied,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Absolutely positive. That signal corresponds with the tracker put into Lieutenant Bracken.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the meeting continued, it became apparent to Erin that the main directive of their group was to disable the energy source. The question soon became whether they would be able to disable it or whether it would need eliminating.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The scientist in Erin screamed at the idea of blowing up a device they knew nothing about nor the consequences of the action. What it would mean for the planet it was on. Would it destroy the temple that it was nearby? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The anthropologist in Erin was hoping that she would get a chance to at least explore the temple, scan the interior and make it back before they had to destroy anything but she also knew that the primary objective was stopping what ever was going on and rescuing their crew. Especially her close friend. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Georgia; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still, the thought of destroying a device which, after careful and controlled study, could have yielded some fascinating insights had given Erin a quandary. One that she would not discuss openly. She knew that she would follow whatever Lieutenant Merek’s orders were on the surface. That was her job to do that. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes, send this to the Captain. I’ll be available to brief him if he wants. In the mean time, be ready to head down, planetside. Tactical armour, type three phasers if you are comfortable, but you will go armed. And Vozi, you want to pick up some more of those mining charges we used on the asteroid base? They might come in handy if we have to go blasting in the mountains or blow up that thing. You’re all dismissed to prepare until we reach range of the planet, then there will be an announcement. Dismissed.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Erin nodded and headed for the door. ~Few things to pick up from the lab before we go down there. I hate the thought of carrying a side arm but orders are orders.~ she thought to herself as she left the conference room</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Reply any)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 10pt; padding: 10pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Posted by Jackie)</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div></span></div><br></div></div></body></html>