First Officers Log:  It has now been almost 19 hours since our Captain mysteriously vanished, down on the surface of New Alberta during what was meant to have been a routine away mission. Despite the area being covered in an ankle deep layer of snow there is no visible sign of a struggle, accident or him having moved from the sight he beamed down to, at all. It’s like he’s just vanished!  Then we have the old man and a young girl, neither of which appear to should have been there. Both were witnessed by three of the crew, yet also look to have disappeared.  I can’t believe they’d all have the same collective hallucination.  The other thing that makes no sense is that for a fraction of a second there appeared to be multiple life signs of the captain down on the planet’s surface and one here on the ship itself, before he vanished completely. This whole thing is both bizarre and perplexing.

Currently teams of crew and locals are scouring the mountain for clues, whilst from orbit we use every imaginable type of scan we have at our disposal, in the hope of spotting something.

This ship as already lost one Captain and a First Officer under strange circumstances.  I really don’t want to be facing that again. To say I’m worried is an understatement.

            **********

Lieutenant Lyanna Stuart got up out of the chair in the officers mess and headed for Science Lab 2; which had been converted into a sort of operational command centre.  Ensign Cho was running things with the help off crewman Appleby.  The large table in the middle of the room currently had a real time topographical map of the mountain and parts of the surrounding area.   As the young Korean received incoming messages from the various search teams, the two of them would update the information on the map.

“Team 3 have completed their search of grid 17.” Cho called out, just as the Lieutenant walked in. “Nothing to report. Moving on to grid number 18.”  Appleby tapped the centre of that grid twice on the map, turning it purple, indicating a completed area before moving the three of spades to the adjacent grid.  Lyanna noted the different playing cards representing the various groups hunting for their missing captain.

“What’s the coffee cup indicating?” She asked politely.

“It indicates I’ve been drinking coffee. Ma’am.” Appleby replied sheepishly, realising he shouldn’t be leaving a hot drink on top of sensitive equipment.  Though when he took a sip from the half full cup, he realised how cold its contents had actually got.  The Orion shook her head, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t do it again.”

Another two teams reported in and two more areas where added to those that had now been thoroughly investigated. Neither appeared to reveal any clues.

Stuart left the two of them to their work.  She should insist they take a break, but no one wanted to stop and rest whilst their captain remained missing, least of all her.  Heading back up to the bridge she bumped into Torf who’d not long beamed back on to the ship.

“You look shattered.” The Betazoid said with a hint of concern.

“That good!” She half smiled back. “How come you still fit and awake.  You’ve been as busy as the rest of us?”

“Looks can be deceiving.” He offered in way of reply. “I’m feeling it just as much as anyone else.”

“I hear you went down into the town.  Discover anything useful?” The lieutenant asked as they walked on.

“Described the guy to some of the locals.” Torf paused as they entered the bridge. “Jérôme Bruyere, he went missing some nine years ago.  He was the last person to occupy that cabin and one of eight people who all disappeared on that mountain. With gaps of between eight and fourteen years”

“And the girl?” Asked Stuart taking the captains seat.

“Céline Dubreuil, or so some old woman thinks. Which is impossible; as she disappeared 98 years ago!”

The Orion turned sharply and looked right at him. “How can this woman be sure?”

“She’s her sister.” The Betazoid let out a sigh. “Every inch of that mountain was covered back then.  Bodies have never been found.”

“Any idea how long they searched?”  Lyanna asked.

Torf couldn’t give an answer to that question though. “Coincidently these disappearances happen around the time of a meteorite shower. Just like the captain!”

The name of that girl was still spinning through her mind as she thought about going down to the planet’s surface herself.  Dubreuil, she’d heard it before.  Then a flash of realisation; she had the same name as the Mayor.  did the colonists know more than they were letting on, but where just going through the motions of a search for the sake of appearances, whilst knowing full well Devron like those others wouldn’t be located.  

The chair buzzed and a light on the panel attached to the armrest. “Stuart here.”

“It’s team 6.” Came Cho’s voice hesitantly. “They’ve found a body.”

            **********

Lieutenant Devron stood in the snow, he wasn’t sure how long he’d been there or the distance he’d covered.  The sun had set and rose again, that much was clear.  But no one could see him, save for the young girl Céline whose hand Jason was currently holding. He was the invisible man. 

She’d apologised for what she’d done and hoped he’d forgive her despite what lay ahead.  It was her roll to seek out the replacements for those who had died previously; though why she had this task she didn’t know.  She was the only one the woman she called the witch, had kept alive. Céline had chosen Devron, not because the girl felt he deserved the same fate that had befallen the other, but because this young Starfleet office looked like a survivor, and just may be this time there was a chance to end the nightmare.

Céline had told him all about this wonderful place she’d been in, full of friendly dragons, unicorns, rabbits and the Eldeerox; a strange cross between elephant, deer and fox.  Clearly a creature of pure imagination, created in the mind of the girl herself.  Of cause these creatures had spoken to her and kept her company, whilst she waited for the next task the witch required her to perform.  Céline was the first of those that had been taken by the witch or at least that’s how she’d always seen the thing that had taken her as.  The fate of the others she had no clues to; just they were no longer part of world she’d been in.  All she knew was she’d been sent out to find another.

Jason had seen the search teams; approached their members and shouted at them.  But as the girl had informed him, he was invisible and couldn’t be heard either.  When he’d placed a hand on the shoulder of Tholakath and the Cardassian had shuddered, he thought for a moment there was a slim chance, but the Ensign just shrugged it off and carried on walking.

A half hour later they came across another team.  He recognised crewman N’Quith in this group who was with three of the locals, two men and a woman. The two men had just entered a small cave carrying torches.  Several minutes passed before one of them rushed back out, turning to the young crewman.  “Send a message, let them know we’ve found a body.”

Jason looked down at the young girl. “Who have they found?” He asked her.

“I’m not sure.”  The young girl replied with a tear in her eye. “I didn’t realise she sent any of the bodies back.”  He grabbed him tight.  “Remember what’s real, she will create a world for you to be happy in, and if you accept that world she will take everything you are. She is evil remember that.  I’m just a tool of hers and I must leave you now”

The girl was gone, or had she ever really been with him, was this a dream, nightmare or what.  Devron entered the cave and soon found the second local crouched over a body, the body of a man he recognised; it was the old man from the cabin appearing not much different to how he’d looked when Jason had seen him there. Jason knelt down placing his hand on the dead mans chest, but didn’t create any sort of indent in the man’s clothing.  Like his body wasn’t part of this world anymore.  Was he dead, was his lifeless body out there just waiting to be found like this one?  How many other souls roamed this mountain; how many others had fallen victim to the as yet unseen witch.  Was there any chance of escape or rescue, or was his fate already sealed from the moment he’d arrived.

A voice on the breeze blowing into the cave caught his attention.  It wasn’t a member of the search team, it came from elsewhere.  The world around him started to ripple and waver, losing all coherent form, colours blending together to form a wishy washy grey.

“Are you with use?” Came the voice, a voice he knew but couldn’t place in the hazy fog of his mind. “Jason, can you hear me?”