A little shorter than Ch. 1, but all my ideas spawned around a third chapter. That and a sneezing fit made things really hard to focus on.

When you serve aboard the Enterprise-D, the unexpected should be expected.

Thus, when Ensign Savero opened his eyes to a giant metal panther looming over him, he wasn't all that shocked. He'd seen weirder things - especially in the Holodeck archives of the Enterprise. Sentient tar monsters, interdimensional arms dealers, massive, sentient, starship-dwarfing crystalline entities. The Q in general…..A metal panther didn't rank too high.

The Ensign turned his head to look around, feeling as though there were a thick cotton pad wrapped around his senses. He was lying on his back on the rough asphalt surface of a parking lot. Nearby stood what looked like a military warehouse, though he couldn't see any vehicles parked anywhere nea-

Oh, no, wait, there was one. A…..hold on…..the use of fossil fuel vehicles had died out in the late 22nd century. So why would one be parked here? Some people collected them, sure, but they would never just leave them parked somewhere. Another thought bit through the film around his senses and occurred to the man. Why was there a 21st century jet parked in a ground vehicle lot?

And wait….they hadn't been anywhere near Earth….Ensign Savero twitched, and began to test his limbs. Arms….in pain. Probably broken, but not severely, at least. Legs…also in pain. One felt like it would never support him again, and the other felt oddly cold. He had a general sense of dampness about his neck and torso, and when he licked his lips and tasted iron, he concluded that was blood. Now add that to his dulled senses and splitting headache…Justin was no medic, but he suspected a very bad situation, medically speaking.

"Ravage, is our….'guest' awake?" A shrill, screechy voice pierced through the Ensign's haze and made him cringe. The panther turned from watching the strangely-dressed human with a curious gaze to growl in reply. The ground began to shake in a pattern much like footsteps, and an impossibly large shadow was suddenly cast over the prone human. Justin blinked and turned his head to look up….and up….and up.

Starscream smirked at the look of utter shock that drifted across the human's bloody face. Apparently he'd never seen a 40 foot robot before. "Don't' die on us yet, fleshing." He ordered. "You still have a job to do. But while you're awake…" Starscream knelt down, grinning as it seemed to increase the human's unease. "As far as my knowledge tells me, no Earth military uses such a uniform. Where did you originate from?"

After nearly an hour of fruitless searching, the remaining away team caught a break. Data managed to find Ensign Savero's comm signal, which gave the three a direction to focus their search. After another hour of following the signal, they came across a road. Here, Data paused, a confused look on his face.

"Captain," He began. "Since beginning our search for Ensign Savero, my tricorder has been reading familiar levels of sulfur oxides, carbon dioxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxides, and chlorofluorocarbons. These readings are similar to the levels in the first report filed by the United Nations of Earth on the levels of pollution in the Earth's atmosphere, and the effect it can have on humans. I am beginning to speculate that we are not on Saga I, nor any planet of that system." Picard watched as a 20th century Buick station wagon drove past them, a faint trail of white exhaust drifting from its tailpipe.

"Yes…that seems the logical option." Picard frowned. This wouldn't be the first time the Enterprise had encountered a problem with time travel and dimensional warping. However, their main concern was still finding the final member of their away team. Once together, they could consciously work on a way to return to the Enterprise. "Which direction is Ensign Savero's comm signal originating from?" He asked. Data turned back to his tricorder.

"Approximately four miles to the east, sir." The android reported promptly. "At our current rate of travel, it will take us approximately thirty-four minutes and fifty-eight seconds to reach him." Worf growled quietly.

"If he has not tried to contact us by now, then he must be incapacitated." He pointed out. The Klingon paused in thought. "…we may want to hurry, Captain."

"Agreed." Picard straightened his uniform front and looked down the road. A few tenths of a mile away, he could see an old Earth road sign, proudly proclaiming "US 99 East". That was the direction they needed to take, and also left little doubt as to their location.

Strange...the Enterprise had been nowhere near Earth. He wouldn't be so surprised had they been transported back int the past of Saga I, but Earth's past? Maybe it was because many Enterprise crewmen were from the planet...but just as good a number were from different systems entirely. That couldn't be it. Perhaps Q had a hand in this, then? It wouldn't be the first time the omnipotent alien had decided to have some fun at the expense of the Enterprise crew. But then, why hadn't he showed up already? Q always liked to appear as soon as possible to mock them in their predicament. Picard mentally shook off these thoughts. He could worry about them later, when his entire away team was together.

About fifteen minutes into their trek, a line of cars drove past them. Quite a varied line of cars, Data noted quietly. Two Lamborghinis, a police vehicle bearing the lettering "Oregon Highway Patrol", a semi truck, a Lancia, an ambulance, a rally car, various sports cars, and a yellow VW bug. The android wasn't entirely surprised when this last vehicle suddenly slowed, then pulled over to the shoulder. After all, he didn't have his emotion chip activated, so he couldn't feels surprised, correct? A young human male with brown hair and workbooks stepped out of the passenger side as the three Starfleet officers approached.

"Um….you three aren't, by any chance, looking for a fourth," He asked slowly, giving Worf in particular a very wary stare. "With a similar uniform, are you…?" Data nodded.

"That is correct. We are looking for Ensign Savero. Have you found him?" The young human sighed.

"Well…yes and no…"

Sorry this took me so long to get up. I have little to no control over my attention span. XD