The first faint light of dawn was just beginning to show and the away team made ready to move. Teila heard rustling in the bushes and had his phaser out and pointed at the sound in an eye blink, his three companions following his example. They lowered them again when they heard the scouts identifying themselves. Johnson and Stiles came into view, holstering their weapons. "All's quiet, Mr. Teila. There's some sort of building just the other side of this hill, but not a soul in sight."
       "Did you scan the area?"
       "Yes sir. Some local wildlife, but no humanoid life forms."
       Stiles knelt and sketched out a rough square in the dirt. "This is the building," tapping inside the square. He made some marks on the square's outline naming each as he went. "Door. . . window. . .window. . .door. . ." He looked up at Teila expectantly when finished.
       Teila studied the map for a few moments then looked at each member of the team in turn. "It is time to go." He led the way.
       Their approach to the building was quiet and unopposed. To Teila's surprise, the door was unlocked. Johnson stepped through the door and scanned the interior quickly. "No life forms, sir."
       Teila nodded and waved them all into the building. "See if you can find anything to indicate who sent the launch signal, but be careful what you touch." The team moved off in pairs.
       Several minutes of searching left them with no real clues other than that this structure apparently served as a computer facility. The almost complete lack of chairs indicated that the person or persons working in this building either did not require any seating arrangements or that they did not spend much time here. Teila was about to bring out his tricorder to begin scanning the computers themselves when a thunderous roar followed by the sound of phaser fire erupted from the other side of the building. He grabbed instead for his phaser as he and Greig sprinted for the source of the sound.
       They skidded to a halt and Teila took in the tableau spread before him in a glance. Johnson was on the ground with Stiles cradling her head. Both of them were covered in blood as was the floor, beyond them, slumped in a heap, was a man in local dress. Behind him, the other door to the outside stood open. Some sort of firearm lay on the floor against the wall. Teila stepped forward, motioning the three standing crew members to take up defensive positions. "Hadrian, this is Teila!"
       "Go ahead, Mr. Teila."
       "We have been attacked. Lock in and 're'are to trans'ort. We have two. . ." He paused as Stiles looked up and shook his head. "Correction, we have one crewman down and wounded as well as an unconscious 'risoner." Teila grabbed the firearm, gathered up the local man and motioned everyone into transport positions.
       "Locked in on your signal, Mr. Teila."
       "Energize." The away team sparkled and vanished.

       Much too soon, Gwen woke to the sound of her intercom beeping insistently. Eyes gummy and mouth dry, she forced her brain into a semblance of coherency. ~~If you're going to stay awake when you should be sleeping, girl, expect to pay the piper~~ "Ap Owen here."
       "Captain, the away team is beaming up momentarily. Mr. Teila reports one wounded crewman and one unconscious prisoner."
       Gwen was suddenly awake and aware of a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. ~~Merciful Dian Cecht, let the wounds be minor~~ She forced herself to keep her voice calm. "I'm on my way. Transport them directly to Sick Bay. I'll meet them there."
       "Aye sir."
       She threw on her uniform, but didn't bother to pin her hair up. Heart in mouth, she headed for Sick Bay and made the trip in record time. Coming through the door, she could see her First Officer sitting in a chair, his feathers looking a bit on the bedraggled side. She glanced around the room to see four more crew from the away team looking similarly disheveled. Stiles looked a mess, but was sitting unassisted at least. ~~He can't be really hurt if nobody is fussing at him~~ The sixth? Johnson was missing. Gwen spotted Dr. K'rell coming out of the examination area. "Dr. K'rell, how is Johnson?"
       K'rell sounded serious. "She has a projectile wound to the chest with some internal bleeding that collapsed her left lung. I was able to stop the bleeding fairly quickly and the lung has re-inflated. She is stable at the moment and I will go in later to remove the projectile."
       Gwen could feel her heartbeat slow to a more normal beat. "What about the prisoner?"
       "The man was stunned by phaser fire and is unconscious at the moment. I took the liberty of doing a complete medical exam. No other injuries or illnesses that I could find. However, he does have a computer implant in his brain."
       "Implant? Do you know what this implant does?"
       "Not yet, Captain. It will take further study by someone more conversant with such things. I do not want to remove it, however, until the relationship between him and it is discovered."
       "All right then. Keep him sedated and isolate him from any type of electrical signal, in or out. Until we find out what's going on, he is to be considered potentially dangerous."
       "Yes sir. I will need assistance to rig an isolation field for him."
       Gwen keyed the intercom. "Captain to Engineering."
       "Engineering, Mikos here."
       "Mr. Mikos, we need an isolation field capable of blocking any electrical signal set up in Sick Bay as soon as possible."
       "In Sick Bay?"
       "Correct."
       "I'll get my people on it right away, Captain."
       "Good. Report to Dr. K'rell when it's ready."
       "Aye sir."
       Gwen turned back to K'rell. "Let me know as soon as you have the isolation field up and working."
       "Yes sir."
       She gathered Teila and the rest of the away team up by eye and led the way to the conference room.

       Gwen listened intently as Teila reported the away team's findings and his account of the events that led to their hasty withdrawal. She turned to Stiles. "Mr. Stiles, you were the closest person to Johnson. What happened?"
       "She was watching my back while I was scanning some of the terminals nearest the door. We'd both turned to move on when she was shot. I never even heard the man come through the door. The first I knew we had a visitor was when he fired his weapon."
       "Did the man say anything?"
       "No sir. I saw Johnson go down and stunned him as soon as I had my phaser out. If he'd intended to say anything, I didn't give him the chance." Stiles ran his hand through his hair and Gwen noticed it was shaking slightly.
       "Are you all right, Mr. Stiles?"
       "Yes Captain, just a little upset." He motioned to his blood soaked uniform. "None of this is mine."
       Gwen nodded and touched his shoulder. "Good enough. Go get cleaned up."
       "Yes sir." Stiles departed for his quarters.
       Gwen looked at the rest of the team. "Any further comments or questions?" They shook their heads. "Dismissed then." She waited until they had all filed out then leaned back in her chair, her eyes focused on nothing in particular. ~~One person hurt and we STILL don't know what's going on. Hopefully, Johnson's assailant will have some answers to the questions once we can wake him up safely~~ A demanding growl from her stomach reminded her of another matter that needed attention. ~~The wolves are at the door. . . I'd best get some breakfast before I do anything else.~~

       She was about midway through her shift when Dr. K'rell called her to tell her that the prisoner had been successfully isolated. ~~At last, maybe some answers ~~ "Unaban, have Mr. Teila report to the bridge please."
       The bridge doors shortly framed the tall Skoor. "Mr. Teila, take the bridge. I'll be in Sick Bay interviewing our 'guest'."
       "Yes sir." He settled into the center seat.
       Very shortly Gwen was in Sick Bay looking at the sleeping prisoner. Dr. K'rell was applying restraints to the man's arms and legs. "Ready Captain."
       "Wake him up, Doctor."
       K'rell injected the sedative reversal and stepped back to wait. "It should only take a minute."
       True to his words the man began to stir a few seconds later, his eyes fluttering open. He started to raise his hand, then stopped, the movement brought up short by the restraints. He rolled his head around and he caught sight of Gwen and K'rell watching him. "Where am I?"
       Gwen stepped forward. "You are on board the Federation star ship U.S.S. Hadrian. I am Captain Gwenith Ap Owen. Your status right now is that of a prisoner for attacking my crew members, hence the restraints. Who are you?"
       "My name is Deelan." His voice broke in a sob. " I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't want to hurt anyone."
       "If you didn't want to hurt anyone, why did you do it?"
       "I had no choice, I had to do it. They were intruders. Inic made me go there to protect itself."
       Gwen started at the name. "Who IS Inic? We are here because a person by that name asked for help."
       "Inic is the computer network."
       "Inic is a computer?"
       "Not one computer. Inic is many computers, the network itself."
       "You say that Inic 'made' you go and shoot my people. How can it do that?"
       Deelan grimaced. "I'm a Netech. About five years ago it was discovered that we could do a better job of troubleshooting the network if we had a cerebral implant. It allows us to tap into it and find problems much more efficiently than simply using a keyboard. A year ago we found out the bad part about it. The implant works both ways." He looked pleadingly into Gwen's eyes. "The network is alive, Captain. It's not just an assembly of machines anymore."
       "So what is going on. He . . . if it's alive and aware we can't really call it 'it' . . . said that 'They' were killing him. Who are 'They' and how are they 'killing' him?"
       "They refers to us . . . me, you, people in general. A living computer is too risky to have around. They're too unpredictable. We started a systematic dismantling of the network a little over a year ago. That's when Inic started taking over us Netechs. Due to our implants it can move in and MAKE us do things, even if we don't want to do it. It's been making us defend its primary facilities. We can't even arrange to have ourselves locked up securely. Inic won't let us allow anyone to capture us." He looked quizzically at Gwen. "How did you manage to capture me?"
       "You were stunned and right now you are being isolated from any incoming or outgoing electrical impulses."
       "That makes sense. An insensible body can't respond to any signals."
       "Deelan, did you arrange for the missile launch the other day?"
       "No, never. I would never do such a thing. Inic must have managed to find a channel to the missile silo."
       "Do you know why Inic did it?"
       "Somebody must have tried to mess with the mainframe in Vilard and the Netechs there couldn't stop them." Deelan gave a strangled laugh. "How else does a computer network make people stop taking it apart when it doesn't have any hands? It was going to lose the facility anyway. Taking the people out with it means they won't be around to mess with it again." Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "It's turned into a monster Captain! It's got to be stopped before it kills again! Please, take out my implant while you have the chance so it can't use me anymore! Please . . . " His lips mouthing the last word over and over, he began to sob raggedly.
       Gwen pulled K'rell aside and spoke quietly. "Can you remove it, Doctor?"
       K'rell's answer was slow. "Yes, but it will be a very delicate operation. There is a chance it could kill him or leave him incapacitated."
       Gwen moved back to Deelan's side. "Deelan. Dr. K'rell says that he can remove the implant, but that it will be a difficult operation and 'could' kill you or leave you disabled. Do you understand?" Deelan nodded. "Do you want him to do it anyway?"
       Deelan nodded again. He forced the words out between gasps. "Yes! Take it out! I don't want to be a puppet anymore!"
       Gwen exchanged glances with K'rell. K'rell nodded. "I will start preparing for surgery immediately, Captain."
       Let me know when you're finished." Gwen left Sick Bay with her thoughts in turmoil.

       A couple hours later, Gwen sat in her ready room staring at one of the reports still awaiting her attention. It was the same report she'd been staring at for the past hour and it was no further along than it had been when she'd started it. Her mind stubbornly refused to attend to such a trivial task as finishing reports and kept returning to the far more important problem at hand. ~~Inic is a cold-blooded killer that needs to be stopped at all costs?. . . Inic is using the Netechs as slaves?. . . Inic is a tortured soul that desperately needs help?. . . What is the truth here?~~ Gwen massaged her temples with a weary sigh. ~~Hopefully, the World Council will be able to give me some more information tomorrow~~
       Her intercom beeped. "Sick Bay to Captain." She recognized Dr. K'rell's voice.
       "What is it Doctor?"
       "The patient's implant has been successfully removed and he is resting comfortably."
       "Excellent!"
       "He may experience some neurological consequences, but I will not know for certain just how much or what type until he recovers from surgery."
       "What did you do with the implant?"
       "I managed to remove it intact, as far as I can tell. I presently have it in an isolation field that should keep it safe until it can be studied further."
       "Thank you, Doctor."
       "K'rell out."
       ~~Finally, something is going right~~ Gwen turned back to the report ignoring to the urge to get up and immediately beam down to the planet herself. ~~Easy girl, you don't have all the pieces of the puzzle yet. Rushing in without all the information usually results in somebody getting hurt. Nobody is any danger right now, so sit tight and see what the World Council has to say~~ She focused her attention on the monitor in front of her.

       For once, the end of her shift had been a positive relief. ~~Dinner and some time alone with Cynedd would do me good~~ She passed Stiles on the way to her quarters. He stopped her. "Captain, may I speak to you privately?"
       Gwen nodded and motioned for him to follow her. Once in her quarters Gwen indicated a chair. "Have a seat, Mr. Stiles." She took one herself. "So what's on your mind?"
       She could tell that Stiles was uncomfortable. He was perching on his chair, not sitting in it, and there was tension in his voice. "Captain, is the current situation being caused by a self-aware computer?"
       "From what I can see, it is a very good possibility that Inic is self-aware. However, I'm not at all sure if the situation has been 'caused' by that entity. Why do you ask?"
       "It's the AI War all over again, Captain! Computers 'waking up', taking people over, and destroying things! Surely you know about that part of history."
       "Yes, my studies of Earth history contained accounts of that war."
       "Then you know how much devastation the AIs caused. This Inic has proven to be capable of the same kind of destruction. We know what Inic is. Wouldn't it be better to shut it down now instead of giving it the chance to wipe out more cities? We could spare Zeida what Earth had to go through!"
       "Parallel development of widely separated planets isn't uncommon, form following function so to speak, but absolutely identical sequences of events are nigh unto impossible. We may have a struggle going on here, but it is NOT the AI War. That sad event is over and done. While Inic has shown himself to be capable of great destruction, other than the one city, he's made no more offensive moves despite having ample opportunity to do so in the past day. It's a good idea to remember the lessons of history, but it's a bad idea to try to predict the future actions of an entity just because similar entities have done something similar in the past. Self-aware computers are not all of a piece. Mr. Stiles, you served on the Kongo long enough to have gotten to know Tathilan."
       "Yes I did."
       "Well, Unaban is the same type of creature. Would you say that Unaban is identical to Tathilan?"
       "No sir. Unaban is his own person."
       "I rest my case, Mr. Stiles. Same type of creature, but certainly not identical when it comes to personality. I think the same analogy is probably true for Inic. He may be similar to the 21st century AIs, but he's not going to be identical. We've been given conflicting evidence Stiles. It behooves us to go cautiously until we have all the facts. Knee-jerk reactions have a great tendency to backfire."
       "So we sit and wait?"
       "We sit and wait."
       Stiles nodded. "Thank you, Captain." He departed with a somewhat distant look that told Gwen he had a lot to think about.

Continued in Chapter III