Doctor Phoebe Andrianakis found herself alone in a darken room.  Only moments before she’d felt someone grab her from behind and also Lieutenant Devron take hold of her arm.  Neither of them was with her now.  Her combadge was also missing.  The room smelled of old age, of unkempt and neglected furniture.  The mustiness assaulted her nostrils; it reminded Phoebe of the squalid conditions she’d encountered soon after the Asia earthquake in 2398, when she’s arrived as part of the World Health Organisations Disaster Team.  Thousands of people had been forced to abandon their homes, finding shelter where they could.  A relatively small number had been killed by that point.  Then the breach of a dam, caused by one of several aftershocks; the resulting flood had swept away one of the main encampments.  No one knew how many lives had been lost by the secondary disaster; the answer might never be known.  Certainly not every one of the bodies had been recovered.

Her eyes slowly became more accustomed to the light, picked out little details of her surroundings.  There was a red door in front of her, bunkbeds to the right and a desk just behind her; though no chair.  She remembered what the Vulcan Commander had said about his capture and the ship he’d been held prisoner on.  This was indeed the same vessel.

Andrianakis sat herself down on the lower bunk, doing her best to ignore the smell and the dusty feeling of the mattress.  She tried to focus her thoughts, feeling her way around the ship with her mind.  But her thoughts were being blocked.

It was somewhere around twenty minutes later, before the door hissed open, light flooding in from the corridor outside; in which three figures stood.  Two were armed; they looked like the Pelcaza, the Commander had described.  The third unarmed member of the group took a step forward.  “It’s been a while.”

The Doctor recognised the voice, yet it took a moment to process.  It didn’t make sense, she could feel the thoughts of a totally free mind, not one controlled by a malevolent entity; no this was the clear crisp voice of someone with total free will.

“Lei!”

Lei Rahs the Trill pilot of the rescue sub Sea Quest, member of the MRT Atrago’s crew and best friend took another step forward. “One and the same.”

“But why are you willingly doing Helgeshran’s bidding?  Andrianakis asked.

“How little you know.” The Trill mocked.  “I was on board the USS Kinshasa when that idiot Harper took us to far in!”

Andrianakis did a quick calculation; that ship had gone missing in 2265; they’d discussed it in a staff meeting the last time they’d been here. “That was a 137 years ago.”

“And several bodies ago.” The Trill looked at the back of her own hands and chuckled menacingly. “Did you really care about this one?”

“Yes, why shouldn’t I?” The Doctor questioned.  The person before her did not act or sound like the Lei Rahs she remembered.  The times they’d spent together talking and laughing.  Had that all really been just an illusion, a mere act?

“Because in truth; she never really existed.  At least not in her own right” Lei Rahs looked right into Andrianakis eyes.  “It’s always such a wonderful thrill claiming a new body; and an even bigger pleasure fooling everyone, especially you.”

The Symbiont by the name of Rahs did not gain a new host in the same manner as others of their kind; not since their encounter with Helgeshran at least.  Since then they’d resorted to kidnapping suitable replacements when the time came to it.  A couple had tried to fight, keep control of their own thoughts and minds, but Rahs knew how to suppress them.  Only near the point of their death once Rahs was safely inside a new host, would any of them know freedom once more.  It was so short, full of anger, remorse and despair.  Such sweet torture watching them; die whilst looking at them with new eyes.  Lei had become her host three years before crossing paths with Andrianakis.

“What are you going to do with me?” Phoebe asked.  She’d tried reading the minds of the Trill standing in front of her and the two guards, but was unable to sense anything from them.

“Helgeshran wishes to see you in person.” Lei Rahs answered. “You intrigue him.”

“I’m just an average doctor, you know that.”

“Oh, you’re far from that.  It’s why I was put into a position to watch you up close.” The smile was cold, as cold as those empty eyes. Adding as if she had an idea what the doctor was thinking. “And if you’re worried about Lieutenant Lover boy.  He’s fine for now.”

“What about the rest of the crew?”

“They’ll be dead soon enough.”

Andrianakis felt the anger welling up inside her, she wanted to lash out, but at the same time was still scared of becoming something no better that the thing she’d soon be facing.  Why had she been picked for this task? Surely the Continuum had plenty of individuals with the skill and power to defeat Helgeshran.  Her mind touched something, another mind.  It was connected to the entity, but in a different way.  It was what had been blocking her from focusing on anything within the ship, yet had been so subtle; she’d only noticed it when her anger had momentarily lashed out.

A vaguely humanoid figure presented itself in her mind, tall slim, dressed in pale grey robes, hood pulled up covering the head and obscuring the face.  But when the figure turned to face her directly, Phoebe gasped in the realisation that they had no face; just a blank featureless curve.  Commander Salan had referred to them, when their minds had been connected; the Faceless Ones.

Though he’d never met one, the Vulcan’s future was somehow linked to them.  No, that wasn’t right, he had met them, only he hadn’t realised it at the time.  They projected an image that anyone looking at them would believe was real.  It had been one of them who’d grabbed her; the same one who’s image was in her mind.

“You’ve sensed the Kenós; or one of the Faceless Ones, as some call them.”  The Trill smiled. “They exist to project and inforce the will of Helgeshran; both here and far beyond his reach.”

“They find new recruits and keep everyone in line.” The Doctor commented soberly.

“That sums it up pretty well.” Rahs replied.  “Now it’s time for us to part company, again.”

The Trill slipped a small handheld device from a pouch at the back of her belt and pressed one of the buttons that covered the lower half of the simple flat oval object.  Phoebe Andrianakis felt the telltale tingle of a transporter beam beginning the process of disassembling her molecules.  Before it would have hardly registered, but now with her heightened senses, the doctor could feel every part of the process.  It was a strange concept to grasp.

As her body slowly faded from the room, she focused all her mind on one last task; and was rather happy to witness the woman standing before her, holding her left cheek; having been slapped round the face by a thought.

Moments later, Andrianakis found herself standing on the flattered top of a rocky outcrop.  In front a rocky cliff with a narrow opening in it.  There was a sheer drop of possibly hundreds of metres behind and also to her left.  On her right Lieutenant Jason Devron; his uniform shirt ripped off one shoulder and another tear across the chest.  He staggered, clearly having been beaten up in the few minutes they’d been apart.  Phoebe rushed over to him, as the young man dropped to his knees.

Her medical skill kicked in as she checked over Jason’s many injuries.  Normally without any medical equipment, phoebe would have been able to do little more than offer comfort.  But things were different now; she felt her finger tips tingle as her hand glowed a soft warm orange.  The scares and the bruises faded to nothing with each gentle touch.

Clapping came from the direction of the opening.  “Not bad for a beginner.”  Helgeshran stood there in human form, but over two metres in height; wearing robes and sporting a thick bushy beard, like an ancient Greek; though glowing green.  “Of cause if you join me, you could be so much more.”