It was with a great thud that Lucy landed on the ground.

she landed on the back in more soft mud that broke her fall, she coughed and coughed after having kept her breath and still mud had found its way into her mouth, and her lungs that had been pressured for air graved for the lost oxygen.

She was blinded in mud and tried too weep it away from her eyes, which turned out to be more then difficult as her hands was as muddy as the rest of her.

She was literately covered in a 3 centimeter thick layer of mud, and it was everywhere, her ears, her eyes, her nose, under the clothe and on her skin.

She looked up in the ceiling and the force field which was constructed only too carry precisely that amount of weight the mud weighed, any overweight would fall through.

the lair had been used by smugglers who was chased by the law enforcement, they simply just dropped it in the mud hole and claimed it would be lost forever, then too go back and pick it up. Lucy had enhanced the force field herself when it was about to break down for the first time.

She remembered one of the travelers telling he had used the exact same kind of escape once, and that he would never do it again, Lucy completely understood, not only was the process uncomfortable and frightened, but the mud was in places she didn't even knew she had.

Looking around the place hadn't been used for years, and judging from the constantly small drops of mud dripping, the force field needed another enhancement.

Lucy didn't care too waste time too loose herself in nostalgia, there was only one thing on her mind at that very moment, to get back to the ship, having the longest shower in mans history and dry clothing. Dry clean clothing!

unfortunately, both the mud and the cave was filled with signal blocking sensor blocking any form of scanning and communication, so it was with a very tired feeling that Lucy crawled towards the exit, up and out.

At least one thing was easy and clear in the climb, the only light source in the cave came directly from the exist, so she was completely sure she was crawling the right way, but everything else sucked hard time.

Her vision were blurred by the mud, and it constantly annoyed her as it made its presence clear all over her buddy, including her hands and feats that constantly slipped in the slippery mud, stones felt loose under her hands and feats causing her to fall constantly.

Dust kept flying straight into her face, and attached itself to the mud covering her face and body.

At last as she was out of the cave she let out a big gasp too fill her lungs with fresh air.

It was not far from the exit that the fake mud hole was, Lucy only had to look to her right, and bite her lip as the three klingons was still there, taking a relaxed stroll around the hole while laughing at their own luck, and her own crew members was gone.

Lucy slid down behind the boulder too hit herself from the klingons. as she fumbled with her hand under her blouse in a attempt to find her communicator before she realized it had been destroyed by the klingon.

She slammed her fist into the ground in annoyance, this was without a doubt the stupidest thing she had ever done, and that was saying something as she had done a lot of stupid things in the past, she was wet, cold, defenseless, alone without the opportunity of making her presence or identity known too anyone on the god forsaken planet, and unable to contact her ship which might thought she had passed away. And on top of that, her stomach didn't really seem to agree with her exotic romulan dinner as she started too fell a slight nausea.

Great, fantastic.. absolutely brilliant.

Lucy turned her head slightly as she rose a bit on her legs to see if the klingons were still there.

damn.. it didn't seemed at all like they felt like leaving, what where they doing?

She shivered lightly as the coldness of her body temperature degreased because of her soaked wet state.

Never before in her life had she been so miserable, and it was all her own fault.

What a mess, to be true, she didn't remember the names of one single of the klingons, but she remembered their faces, and she remembered what she did, only.. she didn't regret it, not even know. right know there was only one things she regretted, to pull that stupid stupid escape maneuver

At last the Klingon seemed too break up, and they headed back to the city, unfortunately, due to the wide open wasteland, Lucy couldn't stand up as she would be in plain sight, so she would have to wait all until the Klingons reached the city.. and they took their time, as they just strolled with a slow pace over the rocks, and the shivering Lucy just prayed out in the air that they would hurry up, or better yet, someone from the ship beaming down too give the location an extra check so she could come up, but her prayers weren't answered in neither prospect, and as the Klingons finally reached the outskirts of the city and disappeared from sigh, the dark had started to find its place into the waste land.

The travel too the city seemed too take forever, as Lucy's body started to fall into numbness because of the cold, her visual blurred, she wasn't sure if it was because of the dark or because of her own miserable state.

At least she too reached the city where she leaned against the first wall she encountered in discussion, the sun was already completely down and bleakness sat in over the wasteland, she looked out on the country and vaguely recalled a memories of thinking it was the most beautiful thing she had known, right know it just looked dead, cold and ugly, just like anything else on the planet.

Her mind moved forward, she had to make contact with her crew mates somehow.. what would they do? where would they go.

The Golden Bore, of cause, she simply had to go up there, pad one of the people on the back and have them let her be transported onboard.

Only.. she didn't knew where there would be an inn called the golden bore? she had never heard of it before.

She caught herself in the last moment before she sunk completely down on the ground and straightened her back, well there was only one way to find out, she would have to ask for the way, it was as simple as that.

So she began working.. to find body who would help her proved more easier said than done, people automatically avoided her as she walked through the streets, probably because they thought she was some kind of bum because of her muddy state, when she finally got close enough to ask a man, he wrinkled his nose at her and walked away without further contact, she went through the same procedure around five times before finally the woman she asked took pity on her, but even then it weren't too much help, the elderly woman had never heard of a place called the golden bore.

As it grew later and the bars opened all the real scum started filling the streets, and all the good people had been smart enough to lock themselves inside of their home.

After having asks ten more people, where was only three had answered but didn't know where the golden bore was Lucy felt exhausted and extremely cold, she started seriously considering where she could get some sleep.

Only for a second her mind flashed too the little basement with a fire and some blankets in the outskirt of the town where she had spend most of her childhood, but the thought was dismissed even before it had been fully formed, that it still belonged to him was unlikely, and if it did it was reason enough to stay away, she had sworn never too acknowledge him again, and she would rather die than be captured by him.

The her mind wandered too the place where she and her sister ran where it all became too much, a place she knew still had too been there as she meet the owner just earlier today.

up under the ceiling at Jeroni's place was a nice little room, in the corner there would be really warm as it was just above the fireplace in the inn, she could climb up from the outside, Jeroni wouldn't have to know that she was even there, and then in the morning she could find a transmitter, it was a s simple as that.

Glad that she had found a solution Lucy found her way to Jeroni's plays, she was beyond exhausted and her eyes kept slip closed as she had to force them open again, only the thought of the warm corner kept Lucy going.

At last she was in front of the in and started slowly but steady too climb the pipe up to the window to the hall way, as when she had crawled through the window, Lucy simply kept walking all the way down the hallway till she reached the little latter on the wall, where she crawled up to the little room, above the city and above the smells, she had always felt save there.

As she popped her head up in the dark room she noticed the room had been arranged as if somebody lived there, A bad was standing in the middle of the all and a closet had been placed against the wall, a little table and a mirror was without a doubt what she saw also.

But fortunately there was no one there, Lucy got the rest of herself into the room, she walked over too the mirror to get a look of herself, but it was so dark that it only reflected a shadowy figure, she didn't dare touch the bed as it would be full of mud and a clear give away that she had been there, so she just found the corner she remembered so well, and yeas indeed it was warm as the chimney ran straight thought the wall too her left.

She curled together like a cat, shivering from the cold, it felt like forever before she stopped shivered just laying wishing for the warmth too find its way into her body, and at last. as an act of mercy her body grew numb and warm, and it was impossible to keep her drowsy eyes open, they demanded sleep and she was only happy to give in.

***

Upset was the best word to describes Gerrold's feelings as he beamed up.

It was all for nothing, they had all spend the last 3 hours or so, asking and searching for a place called the golden bore, and they had got too one crucial conclusion, there was no such place called the golden bore, it was a big fraud.

And what made him even more upset was the circumstances, the other team, only made up of senior officers had just beamed onboard and said that O'Hara was missing, probably dead. no explanation, no reason no nothing. only the name of some kind of inn and the name of a cult none of them knew anything about.

He was upset all right.

He was upset they in fact all was just a bunch of kids trapped together pretending to be a fine star fleet vessel, he was upset there was no adults to guide them, he was upset he didn't had more information on anything, and he was upset their first crew member likely be dead even before their first mission had really started, and he was upset that everyone knew from the beginning the mission was most likely to turn out to be nothing.

That they had lost that specific individual how pretty her smile might be had nothing to do with it, just that a ship full of kids only getting missions meant for the kids of star fleet as it shouldn't be dangerous, couldn't keep their own buts safe.

He already knew how the next couple of days was gonna be, they were going to scout a little for both that Steve Bilston guy and miss O'Hara, if they didn't get any word from O'Hara she would be declared dead, perhaps she was dead. Gerrold hated it when he didn't get a straight answer, and if they didn't found Bilston they would simply fly on. and out too their next unimportant child mission. he should never have accepted the job, he realized, and he only did it because it would ensure him such a quick promotion too fully commander, and then again he realized, every senior officer had probably just gained as quick and unlikely promotion just so star fleet could fill out the ship somehow.

He robbed his but knew he couldn't get too bed, he had dismissed Pascal who had gone too his quarters and he was now the only senior officer awake, he had to go to the bridge untill the captain woke up and was ready for duty.

He almost sighed hard and loud as the door opened too the bridge, and a little ensign sprang from the captains chair.

This ship was ridicules, he decided for himself, but nodded too the small bridge crew. "Carry on."

before he sat down in the captains chair and looked on the screen in front of him, out on the stars.