With things just getting interesting she knew what she had to do, only she would be the one to speak with this portal in hopes she can get it to drop the field. “I need all of you to go back to the entrance,” Adams said as Jeesa was about to pipe up before being cut off with the Captain putting her hand in the air to stop her. “I will call you to return, I need to be the only one to speak with this portal.” She added as Jheria raised an eyebrow at her statement.

“Do you really think that is a good idea? What if it is hostile?” Jheria asked as Adams looked at her with a soft smile trying to be as reassuring as she possibly could under these conditions, “I understand your concerns Commander, I believe it is the best solution if I were the only one here at the moment. If it were to wake and see all of us it could trigger defenses thinking it was under attack, and I don’t want that.” Adams replied back looking at the three of them.

“I might be able to convince it to lower the forcefield and allow us to fix the beacon, but I need to do this alone to minimize anyone else getting hurt.” Adams said as they reluctantly nodded, “I’ll call you once I am done.” Adams said as they all started to walk back to the entrance before Adams called out to Jheria. 

“Oh, Jheria if you could get the two engineering officers down here we are prepared, and make sure Dazra doesn’t do anything stupid and come down here.” Adams ordered as Jheria gave that nod of understanding, “also give her a gentle reminder that if she does it will be the last insubordination she ever does.” She said as they left Adams alone, she took a long deep breath to compose herself before she walked up to the portal.

Once she got close enough the portal seemed to come online, “Stop right there and identify yourself, trespasser.” Came the deep mechanical voice of the portal, “I mean you no harm.” Adams began as she had both hands in the air a sign that she comes in peace and means no harm as she stood where she was not daring to move any further. 

“I am Captain Makayla Adams of the USS Vesta, and with the United Federation of Planets, I come to you to speak about a situation that is at hand and hoping you can help us with.” She began as it seemed to peak the interest of the portal.

“Go on,” came the reply as she began to explain the whole situation that has been going on before she paused for a moment to catch her breath. “So you see, it seems that the beacon beyond that forcefield is malfunctioning as well as most of your consoles we found on the way here.” She said as she paused, “we are here to help restore those systems as well as restore the beacon to the vanishing point in hopes of restoring everything to the way it was and ending this crisis.” She finished as the portal remained quiet for some time as it seemed it was thinking.

“How can we be sure you’re not here to destroy us?” it questioned, which caused Adams to smile slightly as the portal asked a very valid question. “Well let’s think about this from a logical perspective.” She began taking a short pause before continuing, “If we wanted to destroy you, we would do so from orbit by just firing our weapons at the mountain that we are currently standing in causing it to crumble and I wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation with you right now.” She continued which had gotten the portal listening intently to what she was saying. 

“So, if we destroy you we would also be condemning everyone in this galaxy,” she said as the portal answered, “you do have a point” came the reply.

“That is not who we are, or what we stand for. We are explorers, not warriors looking to cause havoc, so we are here to help repair your systems and bring stability to the galaxy. You have my word that we will repair your systems, get everything working again, and then we will leave once we are sure everything is working properly again,” Adams said as the portal began to ponder whether it should trust her or not though Adams had made a compelling argument.

After what seemed like hours, though in reality, it was only a few minutes before the portal spoke up again. “Very well, I’ll let you pass so you can repair our systems. Once it is done you will leave,” the portal replied as it lowered the forcefield. “Agreed, I am going to call my most trusted officers to help me repair your systems,” Adams said as the portal acknowledged.

She tapped her commbadge, “alright you may return.” Adams said as she entered the area and looked around, breathing a sigh of relief as that could have gone one of two ways bad or very bad. A few moments later Jheria, Jeesa, Damir, and the two other engineers returned to find Adams inside the area where the forcefield was that was once blocking and the portal seemed to have gone back into a sleep state.

Jheria walked over to Adams who was looking at the beacon that sat in the middle, looking up seemed to be a medium-sized opening above them at the top of the mountain that was open with light shining through. “I take it you were able to get the forcefield down,” Jheria stated the obvious as Adams just nodded in return. “It took some time convincing the portal of our intentions but in the end, they are allowing us to assist as long as we leave once it’s repaired,” Adams said looking at the Commander.

“Right,” Jheria replied as they started to scan the beacon and the many consoles nearby. 

“I need you two to scan the consoles on the two levels as we came down here, see if they can be repaired, and bring me back your report,” Jheria replied as the two walked off.  Damir scanned the beacon while Jheria was working on studying the consoles that were fluctuating power. It would take some time studying the technology before they could begin to repair it. 

“It’s going to be a few hours before we can even begin to start repairs, one wrong move or part can cause a chain reaction we do not want.” Jheria said as Adams nodded, “do you think we would be able to replicate any parts or calibrate our own to work with their technology?” Adams asked looking at Jheria who just shrugged, “it’s too soon to tell, I’ll let you know once we get a full analysis.” Jheria replied as Adams nodded as she looked at the beacon once more, looking at the detail, and was blown away by it. 

“I am going to go check in with Tajir, we are late with our check-in and I don’t want him to worry,” Adams said with a slight chuckle as she headed to the entrance of the cave while the others continued their work of figuring out the technology.