Treylana made her way back to sickbay just as Allan was cleaning up the surgical area. She looked over at the two biobeds at her sleeping crewmate and longtime friend and the young teenage boy who nearly had his whole life taken away from him. She didn’t fully understand the readouts, only what she had learned in basic triage at the academy, but everything looked positive.

“Hello Captain. Come to check on the patients? They will be just fine. Perhaps a bit sore for the next week though.” Allan said, slightly catching his captain off guard.

“That’s great news Doctor. Can I speak with the boy?”, she replied.

“I’d prefer to let him sleep, but I can allow a brief conversation.”

As Allan went to fetch a hypospray, Treylana moved closer to the sleeping teen. When she felt comfortable to answer any questions this boy might have when he woke, she signaled to administer the medication.

As the medication travelled through his system, the boy slowly began to open his eyes. As things came to focus and the grogginess wore off, he suddenly realized he was no longer in the cave with his friends and shot himself into an upright position on the bed, in shock of his now alien surroundings. The sudden movement caused some undue stress on his now mended tissues, he gripped his chest, near his shoulder in pain.

“Please, try to relax. You’ve been in an accident.” Treylana said calmly, trying to ease the boy’s tensions.

He looked up at her and at the man on the opposite side of the bed to her and noticed they looked nothing like he did. In fact they looked nothing like each other, though there were similarities.

“Y-y-you speak my language?”

“That’s difficult for me to explain under the circumstances, but suffice it to say we can understand one another thanks to some help. My name is Treylana. What’s yours?”

Still puzzled, he replied “Dotan. What happened to me? Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?”

“As I said, there was an accident. You and one of my officers over there, were in an accident in a cave. We brought you to our infirmary. We’ve treated your injuries. You will be just fine.”

“Can I see my mother and father?”

“We have no intention of keeping you here, but we would suggest that you get some rest and perhaps something to eat before we bring you to them. Can you tell us what you were doing in the cave before the accident?”

Dotan recounted the events that brought him and his friend to the cave that night and that they were just there to try and find other cool artifacts when they stumbled across the others in the deeper parts of the cave. When asked if anyone else knew about the cave, he explained that he and his friends lied about where they were going to avoid being denied the opportunity.

Treylana listened to every word in detail and then excused herself to speak with Allan privately, “Would it be possible to wipe his memory of the last several hours?”

“I don’t see why not. His people’s brains are wired similarly to most humanoid species we’ve encountered.”

“Good. We’re going to get him something to eat. Then as soon as his basic needs are taken care of, we’ll issue him a sedative and wipe his memory. I’ll beam down with him under the guise that I’ve found him near the caves. As far as his friends are concerned, when they see us, anyone they’ve told their story to will undoubtedly think they’re exaggerating. I’ll need your surgical expertise Doc.”

Before returning her attention to the teen, she called upon Sumiko and requested she beam back down to the cave entrance as soon as possible and set up a holo-emitter to make the cave entrance look like solid rock. She then offered to take the boy to the mess hall with the doctor’s approval.

Down on the planet, dawn was rapidly approaching. Tekris, Horom, Dotan’s parents and several of the other local townsfolk had been marching toward the caves where the boys said the incident took place, armed with whatever they could find to use as a potential weapon in case whatever took Dotan was still around.

At the same time, Treylana had just beamed down just outside the cave entrance with an unconscious Dotan, memory freshly wiped and ready to be returned to his people. It was one of the few times when spending so much time trying to stay fit paid off as she picked up the boy and put him over her shoulder. Taking a quick glance toward where the cave entrance where the entrance to the cave was supposed to be, she was relieved that Sumiko had managed to install the holo-emitter before anyone had arrived.

After several minutes of hiking, she could see the faint silhouettes of the approaching mob. As fit as she was, however, she attempted to wave to them with her free hand before collapsing to the ground under the immense weight she’d been carrying.

Dotan’s mother instantly recognized him as soon as they were close enough and ran to his side screaming, “DOTAN!”

“It’s a good thing you guys showed up. I don’t know how much longer I could have carried this young man.” Treylana said, hoping her disguise was good enough to fool them, ignoring the bellowing woman now kneeled at the boy’s side.

“Tekris and Horom here said that they saw my son vanish. Where did you find him?”

“I’ve been travelling for days from a town on the other side of the mountains.” Treylana began, trying to ad lib a hopefully believable fable, “When I reached this side a few hours ago, I found him lying on the ground passed out. I think he may have hit his head.”

“Was he anywhere near a cave? We were told there were some unusual goings on in some cave nearby. You don’t know anything about that do you?”

“I didn’t see one in my travels. Nothing but solid rock as far as the eye can see.”

“Well then, perhaps my instinct is correct and this whole ordeal is nothing but the wild imaginations of young boys. I wish to thank you for finding our son. Please let us host you for breakfast. It’s the least we could do.”

Treylana respectfully declined, explaining that her journey was very time sensitive and that if she was going to make it on time she needed to continue with her journey. Dotan’s father, while disappointed, countered telling her that if she changed her mind the town was East of their present location and any of the townsfolk would be able to direct her to their home.

She thanked them and advised the parents to have a doctor look at the boy and make sure nothing was wrong, even if she knew Allan made sure of it already.

She waited a while, feigning further exhaustion and needing to catch her breath, while the others picked up the boy and carried him back to town. As soon as they were out of sight, she signaled the ship to be beamed back.

There was still much to do before Treylana could call the mission complete. Restoring her physical appearance was one of them. Before she did that, she wanted to remove herself from the planet as far away as possible. That location was back in the Alpha Quadrant.

After stepping off the transporter platform, she made her way to the bridge with due haste. There were some odd looks from various crew members that had not been aware that she had undergone cosmetic surgery, but Phil, having been kept apprised of her activities over the last several hours, reassured the crew that she was in fact the captain.

“Helm, set a course for the Barzan wormhole, warp six. As soon as we’ve arrived in the Alpha Quadrant, alter our course to the nearest Federation repair facility. I’m sure Mr. Harrison would like to get the warp coils replaced as soon as possible.”

Acknowledging the captain’s orders, the helm officer plotted their course as requested, launching the ship into faster than light speed. Now all that remained was for Treylana to complete her mission briefing to Starfleet and pay a visit to sickbay.