Pushing open the door, Ustrano was struck momentarily immobile by the scene in front of him. The door had opened near the center of the southern wall of a 70 by 30 foot room. The western wall was completely dominated by some kind of altar. Above the altar was the triangle symbol that the crew had seen in the throne room on the level, above. On the altar lay the remains of a chained human skeleton. A suit of armor with a shield and two-handed sword were hung on a specially contrstucted stand in the southwest corner of the room, near the altar. To either side of the altar were huge stone braziers which illuminated the room in an erie crimson glow. Pools of colored light danced in irratic, patternless waltzes around the room. These pools eventually made their way toward the altar, growing brighter the closer they got. As they reached a certain proximity, it was as though the altar sucked them in. As each pool was absorbed, the altar momentarily glowed that color, and then streams of acid were shot from the altar at the symbol. As the symbol drank the acid it, too, glowed brighter. On either end of the altar, misty humanoid forms could be seen, hovering as if watching over the ceremony. Two crystaline shapes seemed to be on patrol in the room. These had the forms of giant scorpions made out of crystal. The sense of Evil in the room nearly overwhelmed the Velvattian, but he managed to rouse himself and move aside so that the rest of the party could enter the room. M'Dral moved in towards the center a bit more than anyone else and one of the pools of light danced over the floor, beneath her. She collapsed to the floor, screaming in agony. The others rushed to her aid as the pool, oblivious to its affect on the Benzite, continued its dance, towards the altar. Mantron and Sperr helped the Ops Officer to her shaky feet. "I'm O.K.," she managed to say, "but watch out for those spots of light!" "What now?" asked Mantron, awed by the spectacle before them. Before anyone could answer, the party's presence seemed to have been detected by the room's other occupants. The two crystal scorpions scurried towards them and the misty forms drifted away from the altar - towards the party. The most surprising thing was that the skeleton which had been lying on the altar, suddenly sprang to its feet and, as it spread its arms wide, the armor, sheild and sword from the armor stand teleported onto its body. "That's the key," Seetamyn said, pointing at the skeleton. "He's been focusing the energies in this room into the portal. If we can kill him, the ceremony will be ruined and the Elder God will remained imprisoned." Banjo gripped his scythe tightly, "I'll take care of him. The rest of you see if you can keep his friends off of me," and he walked forward to meet his foe. Seetamyn, M'Dral and Pish moved to the rear as Thog, Ustrano, Mantron and Sperr moved forward to confront the other four creatures. Ustrano and Mantron quickly launched "Webbing" spells at their enemies. The webs passed through the misty monsters with no effect, but they did cover the crystal scorpions. Before the two crewmates could congratulate each other, however, the scorpions glowed briefly and then seemed to phase right into the rock. Sharing a glance, the two spellcasters braced themselves for the mist creatures' attacks. They need not have bothered. A misty, hand-like appendage seemed to emerge from each of the two monsters which flashed down at Ustrano and Mantron. Their hastily raised weapons were as effective as their armor in warding off the blows - which was to say, not at all. The mist 'arms' passed right through their bodies without hinderance, leaving the two heroes writhing on the floor in unimaginable pain. Sperr and Thog stepped slightly closer together to face this intangible foe but the mist monsters simply stood there. Sperr and Thog advanced to close with their opponents and were taken by surprise as the two crystal scorpions emerged from the floor, behind them, and sent their stingers whipping forward. Sperr managed to twist away from serious injury, right into one of the mist monsters, and he, too, collapsed in agony. Thog never had a chance, the crystal scorpion attacking her sent its razor-sharp stinger completely through the Klingon. Impaled on the monster's stinger, Thog managed to crash her sword down on the back of the creature, snapping off the stinger and sending the beast skittering away. The second one, recovered from its failed assualt on Sperr, turned to threaten Thog with its pincher- claws. Thog desperately tried to raise herself off of her knees, using her sword for leverage, but there seemed to be no strength left in her body. Sperr, seeing his lover threatened, even through his pain, managed to throw his sword at the monster, snapping off one of its pincher-claws. The beast turned towards the now defenseless Shuttlebay Chief. Seetamyn had managed to regain some of his strength and stepped forward, casting a spell. A wall of stone appeared between Sperr and the advancing crystal scorpion. However, this wall would not stand, long. Seetamyn had manifested the wall at a 45 degree angle and, even as it was materializing, it was falling on the scorpion. It landed on it with a resounding 'crash', shards of crystal scattering everywhere. Mantron and Ustrano had, by this time, managed to shake off the effects of the mist monsters' attacks. Ustrano flipped one of his halberds at the wounded scorpion, pinning it to the floor. It began to phase into the stone and away from the weapon, but Mantron let loose a "Stone to Flesh" spell at it. It appeared that it must have been particularly vunerable during its phasing, because it seemed to melt into a jelly-like ooze. Mantron and Ustrano then rolled apart, towards the walls of the room, the mist monsters left between them. They each loosed a "Fireball" spell which impacted on the creatures. When the smoke cleared, the mist monsters were left in the center of the room, seemingly unharmed. Sperr had moved Thog back to the east wall where Pish was tending to her with another of the wonderous healing potions. M'Dral stood guard of them although she doubted if her puny arrows would do much damage to any od these opponents. Sperr, after making sure there was nothing further he could do for Thog, retrieved his longsword and moved forward to join Seetamyn, Ustrano, and Mantron who were regrouping. "Any thoughts?" asked Mantron. "Too bad we can't just blow them away," growled Sperr. Mantron, Ustrano and Seetamyn looked at each other - it couldn't be that easy, could it? Figuring 'what the heck' the three each cast a "Hurricane" spell at the mist monsters. The three spells conbined in unpredictable ways, creating winds of over 300 kilometers per hour with shears and opposing currents. The mist monsters were, literally, blown to shreds. When the spells' duration had expired, there was nothing left of their opponents. Meanwhile, Banjo was having the time of his life. He had closed with the skeletal warrior, his scythe at the ready. The man of bone had stood there, unmoving until suddenly bringing his sheild forward. A bright light shot forth from the shield, striking Banjo's eyes and blinding him! <> he thought, <> as he simply absorbed the ruined orbs and extruded a new set. <> Banjo leapt and brought his scythe around in a wicked curve. The skeletal warrior caught the blow on his sheild and brought his own weapon down in a deadly overhead blow. Banjo flowed away from the sword and extruded a pseudopod out of his body to punch the warrior in the skull. The yellow glow coming from the warrior's empty eyesockets flared red, momentarily, as anger flickered at his consciousness. Banjo and the warrior danced across the room, trading blow after blow. Banjo, as often as not, would finish up a combination by punching, slapping or otherwise annoying the warrior. Finally the yellow glow was completely replaced by red and, discarding his sheild, the skeletal warrior went into a berserk fury. He rained down blows faster than the eye could follow, but his every attack was met and returned in kind by the Changeling. After one particularly violent exchange, two of the monster's ribs were sent flying as Banjo performed a backflip over a wild sword-swing and brought his scythe around too quickly for the warrior to parry. From then on it was all but over. With every exchange, Banjo cut off a bone here, or a bone there. The skeletal warrior, now completely off-balance and desperate, launched himself at Banjo, discarding his sword, which he now lacked sufficient bones to grasp, biting at the Security Chief. Smiling, Banjo allowed the creature to get a good mouthful of his 'flesh.' With barely a thought, he then expanded that 'flesh' inside the warrior's mouth, exploding his skull and finishing the battle. With the destruction of its guardian, the altar seemed to know it was finished. The colored pools of light, which had disappeared when the skeletal warrior had jumped off the altar, suddenly reappeared. This time they didn't dance around, however. The pools all came together in a massive, prsmatic display, merging into a pure white beam that impacted the symbol on the wall. Suddenly, everything was bright white. The intensity of the glare was almost more than the victorious crewmembers could stand. And then it began to dim. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the glare lessened. It became apparent that the light had a source. That source was a pinpoint of pure, white energy in the middle of the room. As the intensity continued toi subside, the energy source took on the appearance of a small ball, floating in mid air. The Sixth and final Sphere of Power was theirs. Seetamyn stepped forward and claimed their prize and, as he touched it, the eight weary warriors found themselves back on board the Menagerie. B1 and B2, who had assumed command when the senior staff had vanished, turned from their Science Console as Mantron, M'Dral, Banjo and Seetamyn materialized on the Bridge. Apparently Sphere Six had a sense of humor, as they were as still outfitted in their medieval garb. Seetamyn checked in with Sickbay, Main Engineering and Shuttlebay One to verify that everuone, had in fact returned. Doctor Pish informed him that Commander Thog had materialized with her, in Sickbay, and that she would be keeping the Klingon down there for observation. Pish also requested that the Captain come down for a checkup at his earliest convenience, since he, too, had sustained serious injuries while on this Quest. Seetamyn assured her that he would drop by as soon as he was able. Taking his seat, he turned to Mantron and ordered, "take us home, for good,Lieutenant." "There is no need, Sir," Mantron replied, surprised. "We are already back in the Omega Configuration!" "We never left it," chimed in the Bynars. "What do you mean?" asked the Vulcan. "After the Fifth Quest, we came through the return portal just fine. As soon as we fully emerged, however, the eight of you just vanished. We put the ship into a standard orbit, as you had always done, before, and awaited your return. The Fifth Sphere made its way down to where it was they go and we have been waiting here for five days."