Ad Astra :: Star Trek Fanfiction Archive ^{Beam me up, Scotty.}

Chapter Text

“For what it’s worth, Captain, I’m thankful for your visit. I don’t believe the Ferengi will give us any more trouble now that we know what they were up to.”

         Michael and his away team had returned to Eagle empty-handed.

He had left Brax and his accomplices in McLaughlin’s care and even though no official charges against them were filed, it was obvious that their search for ancient artifacts was over. For McLaughlin, this meant that things on Deleana IV would finally go back to normal, maybe even improve. Michael on the other hand couldn’t help but feel that this expedition had been fruitless. He had dismissed the idea of returning to the underwater city after Armstrong and Xylion had made clear that it would take weeks to uncover potentially helpful information from the ruins.

         “I’m glad I could have been of help to you, Commodore,” he said. He was sitting at his desk looking at McLaughlin’s image on the screen in front of him. Even as he spoke, his mind was absent.

         “Again I’m sorry that you didn’t find what you were looking for. Please feel free to return any time,” he said. “Hopefully under better circumstances.”

         Michael offered a little smile. “Thank you for your hospitality, Commodore. Perhaps I’ll take you up on that someday.”

         He nodded. “Good luck, Captain. McLaughlin out.”

         The screen went dark and Michael leaned back in his chair.

         “Leva to Captain Owens.”

          “Go ahead, Commander.”

         “Sir, we might have found something here.”

         He stood and headed straight for the exit of his ready room to enter the adjacent bridge. “What do you have?”

         Leva was standing behind the operations console looking at a computer readout. He turned to the captain. “We have identified three ships leaving this system within the last thirty minutes,” he said. “Two of them were freighters on scheduled departure times.”

         Michael's interest was immediately piqued. “And the third?”

         “A small short-range shuttlecraft,” said Leva with a smile. “We have managed to isolate its warp trail.”

         “Good work, Commander,” he said. Their luck appeared to be changing.  Chances were good that Jungo had made his getaway on that shuttle. If they could catch him, a lot of questions could be answered.

         “Set a course to follow that trail and let me know as soon as you find anything. I’m due for an appointment with Mister Xylion.”

         Leva acknowledged and Michael left the bridge to head for the science lab.

*        *        *

When Michael entered the main science lab on deck five the first thing he noticed was how empty the room appeared compared to his previous visits. There were only a handful of scientists and technicians present, mostly sitting at computer consoles, studying readouts, or working on simulations.

Xylion and Armstrong sat by the main console in the middle of the room while DeMara was standing close by, concentrating her attention on a handheld padd.

         Michael sought her out first. “How’re you doing?”

         She looked up. “Wenera fixed me right up,” she said and subconsciously touched her forehead where she had been injured earlier and where now no sign of the wound remained. “Treated me for a concussion but said I’m good to go.”

         He responded with a skeptical look.

         “Fine,” she said, “She wanted to keep me in sickbay overnight for observation but I managed to talk her into a week of light duty instead.”

         “You should be in your quarters resting.”

         She frowned. “You mean the way you should still be in Doctor Wenera’s care?” she said and then shrugged. “Can’t fault your officers for following the example set by their captain. Besides you need me here. I can help figure out what we’re looking for.”

         Michael knew she had given him little to argue about. Yes, by dismissing the good doctor’s recommendation to stay in sickbay he had unwittingly set an example for his crew to emulate. And yes, he needed her insights into the Hyterians and this mysterious artifact they had left behind, especially since he was already down one officer.

         Fortunately, Edison was well on his way to making a full recovery according to Wenera’s latest report but even so, DeMara’s science background remained extremely valuable considering the stakes.

         He nodded slowly. “Light duties, then,” he said and then headed over to where Xylion and Armstrong were working.

         “Gentlemen, are we making progress?”

         Both of them turned their seats to face him.

         “Not much, I’m afraid,” said Armstrong. “It’s not for a lack of data. We’ve collected quite a bit across the various sites we’ve collected. But much of it is either not relevant, or still eludes us until we can establish a more reliable translation matrix.”

         Michael looked around the room. “Where is the rest of your staff? Don’t tell me you’ve given up already.”

         “My department has been working on the Hyterians for an extended period without interruption. To avoid exhaustion, I have ordered the majority of my staff to take time for rest and relaxation,” said Xylion.

         Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Commander, do you honestly believe that giving your people time off will get us any closer to finding this artifact?” he said making it clear that his question was but a rhetorical one. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we are dealing with some seriously determined competition here and I’m pretty damn sure they’re not pulling over to take a break, waiting for us to catch up to them.” Michael had not noticed how loud his voice had become, not even when all the work in the room came to a sudden standstill and everyone turned to look at the clearly agitated captain.

         DeMara stepped next to him and gently put her hand on his shoulder. “We’re all tired. We’ve been working on this non-stop for days. A fresh perspective might make us find something we overlooked,” she said in a soft, disarming tone of voice.

         He considered her calm purple eyes for a moment and felt her calming effect almost immediately. It was only then that he realized how frustrated and angry he had been. And above all else, how tired he truly felt.

         He nodded slowly and then looked back at Xylion. “I suppose you’re right.”

         The Vulcan acknowledged with a small facial gesture but chose not to reply verbally.

         Armstrong tried to redirect Michael’s attention to the screen.  “We have found something that you might find interesting, however,” he said carefully.

         Michael looked at him expectantly.

         The archeologist turned to face his computer console and began entering commands into the workstation. “We have been able to decipher some of the Hyterian texts we found that concern their physical attributes. It is not much but we were able to create an approximate image.”

         The main screen in the center of the room cleared to display an image of an alien being. It was a tall and slender figure with talon-like hands and long bony legs. Its diamond-shaped face possessed almost no features. It had a narrow almost symmetrical mouth with no lips, two bright shining eyes but no nose or any ears to speak of. The creature had brown leathery skin and not a single sign of hair.

         Michael took a step toward the screen. “That’s not quite right,” he said under his breath.

         Armstrong was puzzled. “Sir?”

         “Make her skin a couple of shades darker and give her blonde hair,” he said and then turned to face the young science officer. “Straight blonde hair down her back and make it thick like … like feathers,” he added and turned back to the image before he could respond.

         Armstrong entered the modifications with little hesitation and shortly after the image on the screen changed accordingly.

         DeMara stepped next to him. “What is it?”

         “Give her a white robe that covers her entire body except for her head,” said Michael.

         The image shifted once again.

         Michael was looking at a figure that he had seen in his most recent vision. It wasn’t an exact replica of the specter-like appearance but it was close enough. Her distinctly shaped face had stuck with him ever since he had first laid eyes upon it. Even now he could hear her voice in the back of his head.

         “That’s it. That’s what she looked like.”

         “That’s what who looked like?” DeMara said, but Michael was too focused on the image to pay her any attention.

         When it was clear that he was not going to say anything further, Armstrong cleared his throat. “Sir, I’m not sure I understand—“

         “Circle of Commencement,” Michael said, interrupting the archeologist when he remembered the only words he had ever spoken that he had actually understood. “Does that sound familiar? Did you come across that in your research?”

         Armstrong looked at him for a moment and then at Xylion. The Vulcan’s face remained nearly expressionless. He turned back at Michael and shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

         Michael found the stone artifact Edison and Nora had retrieved from the asteroid station. It sat safely under a protective glass shield on a small podium. He approached it and focused on the piece of rock. It was remarkably similar to the one he had held in his hands only a few short hours earlier.

         “Commander,” he said but didn’t take his eyes off the podium. “You were right about what you said earlier. You and your team deserve some R&R for all the hard work you’ve put into this lately. I want your entire team including you and Mister Armstrong to take a break.”

         “Right now?” said Armstrong, his voice echoing his surprise.

         Xylion rose to his feet. “Sir, I do not require rest at this time. But I will instruct the rest of the team—”

          “Last time I checked, Vulcans need to sleep, too,” he said, not giving his science officer a chance to protest. I expect you to follow your own best advice. Get some rest. Eat something, get a workout, go meditate, do whatever it is you do to recharge your batteries and you may come up with a fresh perspective on things yourself.”

         Xylion nodded and gestured to Armstrong and the remaining science personnel to leave the room. After a few moments, only Michael and DeMara remained.

         “That goes for you as well, Dee,” he said after realizing that she was making no move to follow the others.

         Instead, she took a defiant step forward. “I’m not going anywhere. Call security if you want me out of here.”

         He sighed. “You’ve got a real stubborn streak, you know that?” he said and turned back to the artifact.

         “Look who’s talking.”

         Michael deactivated the locking mechanism of the transparent dome that covered the stone artifact. “Whatever happens,” he said as he placed the dome to one side, “whatever I say or do, don’t interfere.”

         “What are you doing?” she said, concern creeping back into her voice.

         “Just trust me on this. Please.”

         He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and reached out for the artifact until his fingertips touched the smooth stone.

Nothing happened.

He opened his eyes again and curiously looked at the artifact in front of him with surprise. He reached out for it, taking it firmly into his hand, and lifted it from the podium.

A flash of light made him stumble backward. He was no longer in the science lab. Once again, all his surroundings had faded away to make room for an endless white nothingness. He felt different. He looked down and saw that he was still holding the stone artifact but his hands had changed. They had become slender talons. His skin had become darker and his arms and legs much thinner. He had become Hyterian.

He couldn’t move, he was glued to whatever ground he was standing on. When he looked up again, a familiar figure had appeared in front of him. She glided toward him, singing to him. And once again he couldn’t understand.

         “You’re Hyterian,” he said and surprised himself by the words coming over his lips. They sounded like his own but they were off somehow as if he was speaking a theretofore unknown language.

         She stopped and looked at him curiously. Her song paused for a few seconds but then recommenced.

         “I don’t know what it is you’re saying. You’re trying to tell me something but I don’t know what it is.”

         She slowly raised her arm and pointed at the stone artifact he was still holding.

         Michael lifted it. “The Circle of Commencement?”

         The creature moved her head sideward. “Circle of Commencement,” she said in her musical voice.

         “Yes!” he exclaimed, euphoric about understanding her words. “But what shall I do with it?”

         The creature closed the gap. She extended one of the three talons that made up her hand and touched his. He felt a strange cold sensation shoot through his body. She simply smiled at him. Her song stopped.

         “What do you want me to do?”

         She didn’t reply.

         “Tell me what you want from me.”

         Her smile persisted even while she began to fade away.

         “No! Don’t go! Tell me what you want me to do!”

         “Michael!”

         He opened his eyes and found himself face-to-face with an obviously upset DeMara. It took him a moment to realize that he was back in the science lab. He turned away from her and slowly set down the artifact he was still holding. “I’m sorry.”

         She needed a moment herself. She had observed him go into some sort of trance after he had picked up the artifact. She had remembered what he had said about not speaking to him so she had stood still while he remained motionless for a few moments. Then he had begun to whisper to himself. He had turned around, a glassy look in his eyes, and started yelling at her. It was at that point that she hadn’t been able to bear her silence any longer.

         “What’s happening to you?” she said and took a careful step closer. “You’re scaring me.”

         Michael didn’t answer, didn’t even turn to face her.

         “You’re having some sort of hallucinations, don’t you? The same thing happened to you on Deleana. Twice.”

         He picked up the protective dome and secured it once again on the podium, covering the artifact.

         “Xylion said that he found you nearly unconscious on the ground. You could have stopped Jungo but he got away. He got away because you’re not well.”

         He whipped around. “It’s not a sickness,” he said. “At least I don’t think it is.”

         “Then talk to me. You can’t just keep this to yourself. Something is going on with you and it’s time you let somebody in on it,” she said. Michael sat down on the steps that led to the upper part of the science lab. “I’ve been having visions ever since I came back from our dig site on Hyteria.”

         She followed suit and sat on a chair opposite.

         “At first, they were just dreams. Nightmares, I thought, but then I started to get them during the day and while I was on duty. Even when I was around others. I didn’t pay it too much attention at first. I thought it was something that would go away after a day or two.” He shook his head. “It didn’t,” he said and looked up and right into her purple eyes. “They are somehow connected to the Hyterians. I know it sounds crazy but they’re talking to me, trying to tell me something.”

         She didn’t say anything. Instead, she simply looked at him for a moment. She had known him for too long to be willing to believe that he had gone insane. On the other hand, she couldn’t completely disregard the possibility that whatever he had contracted could have affected his mind as well as his body.

*        *        *

Nora Laas was sitting at a table in the upper part of the Nest, facing the large panorama windows that were on the other side of the spacious crew lounge. Lif Culsten was lending her company and enjoying a late lunch.

         “So I hear your trip to Deleana IV was quite eventful,” he said and took a bite from his salad. “Ensign Rei told me that she heard that you entered a colony of outlaws and that you got into a firefight with about two hundred infuriated Nausicaans,” he continued and then paused just long enough to take a sip from his karvino juice. “I told her that surely that had been an exaggeration,” he added and laughed. “Ten’lar in astrophysics said that there were at least eighty Klingons down there as well. I told them both that they shouldn’t believe everything they hear coming through the grapevine. I know this Pacifica City was a bad place and that you barely got out of there in one piece but there is no way you faced two hundred Nausicaans, right?”

         Nora did not reply.

“Of course, I’m not implying that you couldn’t have handled two hundred Nausicaans and eighty Klingons,” he said hastily when she refused to comment. “It just seems a rather unrealistically high figure, that’s all.”

         The reason the security chief hadn’t answered was because her entire attention seemed to be focused somewhere else.

         Culsten turned his head and noticed Barrington Spooner sitting at a table across the room, deeply involved in a conversation with a couple of female crewmembers. Judging from the chuckles and laughs emanating from that table they were having a pleasant time. Culsten turned back to his own table and continued eating his salad. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

         She threw him a puzzled look. “Huh?”

         “Spooner. He’s an all right kinda guy but he’s got nothing on Commander Edison,” he said with a smile.

         Nora took a sip from her neglected drink that was sitting in front of her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said after a few seconds.

         “Right.”

         Her glance wandered back to the table at which Spooner was sitting.

         “How come we’ve been sitting here almost fifteen minutes and you have barely said one word?”

         She looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. She didn’t quite know why but he was beginning to annoy her. “Listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard but there is absolutely nothing going on between me and the first officer.”

         “Okay,” said Culsten and cheerfully chewed on his food. “Whatever you say.”

          “Just because I’ve been spending some time with him doesn’t mean we are involved in any kind of romantic way. The entire notion, quite frankly, is preposterous. He’s my superior officer which would make any such relationship entirely inappropriate. Now, we do have a very good working relationship but that’s all. People need to stop reading anything into that.”

         Culsten just stared at her, not having expected such a heated response he was now at a loss for words.

         At the other side of the room, Spooner had gotten onto his feet and was now heading for one of the exits.

         “I don’t even know why I’m having this conversation with you. I have to go,” she said and stood up to discreetly follow Spooner out of the lounge.

         “Great talking to you, too,” he said to himself and then returned all his attention to finishing his lunch.

*        *        *

He couldn’t quite account why exactly he felt so anxious about sitting in the captain’s chair.

         Perhaps it was because as fourth-in-command, he didn’t get the opportunity to do so very often outside the night shift. Or perhaps it was because he had been given command while they were actively chasing down a lead to find what could turn out to become one of the most powerful objects in galactic history.

         Or it simply may have been that the spicy hasperat soufflé he’d had for dinner didn’t agree with him.

         Whatever the reason, Lieutenant Commander So’Dan Leva couldn’t quite deny a certain apprehension as he oversaw a mostly quiet bridge.

         He was too much of a consummate professional to allow any of the younger officers around to pick up any clues as to his true thoughts.

He couldn’t, however, avoid jumping ever so slightly upon hearing Ensign Lance Stanmore who was manning ops in Deen’s absence when he piped up suddenly. “Sir, it’s … it’s gone.”

         It took but a moment for the veteran tactical officer to rediscover his inner calm before he smoothly stood from the chair. “What is gone, Ensign? Be more precise.”

         “The warp trail, sir,” Stanmore said. “It was there a moment ago and then it simply disappeared.”

         “Nothing simply disappears,” said Leva. “They must have disengaged their warp drive.”

         “But there is nothing here,” protested the young beta-shift operations officer. “No planetary systems, no bases, not even a stray asteroid.”

“Mister Waldorf, take us out of warp. Full stop.”

         “Full stop,” acknowledged Petty Officer Waldorf and entered the necessary commands into his console.

         Seconds later Eagle came to a halt.

         The doors to the bridge opened and Culsten entered. He quickly proceeded to his station and relieved Waldorf. The shift change took place without the need to exchange words. Culsten accessed the logs on his station and within seconds he was fully up to speed of what had transpired in his absence. “Sir, sensors are picking up a disruption in space forty-five thousand meters off our port bow,” he said.

          “On screen.”

         The image on the main viewscreen shifted but the change was so miniscule that an untrained eye would have missed it.

         “I don’t see anything,” said Leva once he had focused on the image for a few seconds, “Magnify.”

         The view screen changed resolution but again the change was barely noticeable.

         “Are you positive you have a sensor contact?”

         Culsten quickly double-checked his readouts. “Positive, I’m running a level four sensor diagnostic now.”

         “Sir,” said Trinik, the Vulcan ensign who was in control of the tactical station. “The disruption is moving toward us.”

         “Yellow alert.”

         “This is no disruption,” said Culsten. “It’s a starship with some sort of sensor deflection shield.”

         Before Leva could give another order, Eagle was hit violently by an unknown force. The lights as well as most of the computer consoles fluctuated. The red alert klaxons came to life automatically.

         “What’s going on?” Leva said.

         “We have been hit by an unidentified weapon,” said the tactical officer. “I am registering system failures all over the ship.”

         “Shields?”

         “Are up,” said the Vulcan. “But the unknown vessel is within the shield perimeter.”

         “Sir, I’m not sure if the sensors are right but if they are I’m detecting heavy transporter activity,” said Stanmore.

         “We are being boarded,” Leva said. “Sound general quarters. Intruder alert. Prepare to defend yourselves.” He had already located the closest arms locker and approached it swiftly.

         Stanmore shook his head. “Internal communications are down.”

         Before Leva could reach the locker, a figure materialized practically right in front of him. Leva instinctively jumped aside. Just in time to avoid an energy beam that had been aimed at him.

The man who had fired was a tall, dark-haired human wearing civilian clothes. Leva reached for the man’s rifle and harshly pushed back it into his stomach, causing the intruder to double over in pain. He then ripped the weapon right out of his hands.

Without missing a beat, Leva used the rifle as a bludgeon and struck the attacker across the head with it. The man collapsed into a heap on the floor.

It was only then he realized that at least four more individuals had appeared on the bridge. At a quick glance—and that was all he was able to afford—they weren’t of any one species and wore no uniforms. They were mercenaries.

         One of the attackers, a bulky, blue-skinned Bolian, had materialized at the back of the bridge. He had quickly knocked out a crewman who was working at the back and then opened fire at Stanmore at ops at the front of the bridge. He took the blast to his right shoulder and then dropped out of his chair, avoiding a second shot that blew out his console in a rain of sparks.

         Another human attacker had appeared near the viewscreen and next to the conn. He had raised his rifle to fire at Culsten. But the mercenary had not counted on the Krellonian’s lightning-fast reflexes.

         Culsten grabbed hold of his console and jerked it forward, driving it roughly into the attacker’s side.

         He then leaped out of his chair and threw himself at the dazzled man and wrestled him to the ground.

         The third intruder had also appeared at the back of the bridge.

         Ensign Trinik at tactical had reached for a phaser attached under the console with little delay and opened fire at the massive green-skinned Orion.

         But the weapon had been on its standard stun setting, not delivering nearly enough punch to knock out the two-meter-tall warrior. The man stumbled but instead of falling over, the man just smiled with apparent amusement.

         The Vulcan readjusted the setting on the phaser but by the time he took aim again, the Orion had already stepped up to him and simply slapped the weapon out of the ensign’s hand.

         The next blow was aimed at his head and connected with such force that Trinik nearly flew over the tactical console. The Orion’s massive hand took hold of the slender Vulcan’s throat and effortlessly lifted him off the ground.

         He laughed as he began to tighten his hold in an attempt to choke the Starfleet officer to death.

         To his credit, Trinik never lost control of his extremities even when his eyes threatened to close.

         Through impressive willpower, he slowly raised one of his arms until his hand rested on the Orion’s shoulder.

         The mercenary was far too amused with his apparently impending victory that he never stopped to consider the Vulcan neck pinch.

         It wasn’t until he found his body going limp that the Orion realized what had happened. His eyes went wide and he dropped like a sack of stones.

         Culsten in the meanwhile had won the upper hand in his own fight. During the short struggle, he had managed to climb on top of the attacker and punched him repeatedly in the face until the mercenary had passed out.

         He grabbed his opponent’s rifle and then rolled off him. When he got back on his feet, he noticed that the only threat remaining was the Bolian who had already disposed of Stanmore and was now taking aim at Leva.

         Culsten brushed his long silver hair out of his face, took aim, and squeezed the firing stud. The Bolian didn’t even see it coming and went down quickly.

         Leva offered Culstne an appreciative nod.

         Culsten mirrored the gesture and then slowly approached the Bolian to make sure he was out of the fight. He used the rifle to poke him a few times and found him unresponsive. But something rolled out of the unconscious man’s hand and right up to the tip of Culsten’s boot.

         He looked down at the ball-shaped device curiously.         “Lieutenant!”

         Leva had already recognized the device.

         Culsten looked down again. Too late did he realize what he was dealing with. He turned away to find cover but by then it was already too late.

         A bright flash of light was followed by a violent shockwave that ripped him clear off his feet.

         The world around him went dark just a heartbeat later.

*        *        *

“So let me get this straight,” said Louise Hopkins, looking up from an engineering station with a smirk on her lips. “The captain kicked you out of your own lab?”

         It had been a busy day for the chief engineer as several routine system diagnostics were due and the engineering section was currently undermanned. Many of her people had been reassigned to assist the science department ever since Eagle had discovered the remains of the long-lost Hyterian civilization. It had made her job considerably more difficult.

She understood the significance of the discovery and had to come to appreciate it even more after her visit to the alien space station. She still marveled at the things she had seen over there even if the harrowing experience had put her off trying to visit any other Hyterian locations for the time being.

For Louise and her team, the personnel reassignments also meant extra shifts in engineering to turn in their reports and finish essential maintenance diagnostics on schedule. 

She couldn’t quite help but get a small amount of glee from the fact that the chief science officer had now been placed into a similarly frustrating position.

Schadenfreude was not a noble emotion but it was a surprisingly comforting one.

         “I believe it is an adequate metaphor,” said Xylion while he worked on a nearby station. After being asked to leave by the captain, he had decided that the best use of his unexpected free time was to join Louise in main engineering to assist with her backlog of work.

“There is something I don’t quite understand.”

He aimed an expectant look at her.

“Surely the captain knows that as a Vulcan you don’t require as much rest as the others. Why would he order you to stop working as well considering how important it is that we find this artifact first?”

         “That is a perfectly valid question, Lieutenant. I have been considering the captain’s possible motivations but have not yet reached a satisfactory conclusion.”

         She left the console she had been working on and approached the Vulcan. She made sure nobody was in direct earshot before she spoke again. “You know they say that the captain has been acting rather strange lately, ever since he collapsed on the bridge for no reason. Some think he might have caught the Urodelan flu. What if it is something more serious than that?”

         “I have noticed the changes in the captain’s behavior as well. However, I have seen no indications so far that it is endangering the safety of the ship or crew.”

         “Maybe it isn’t him. Maybe it’s you,” she said and returned to the console to continue her work. “You do tend to have an effect on people sometimes.”

          “Please elaborate.”

         She turned, giving him a puzzled look.

         “What kind of effect do I have on people?”

         She mentally chided herself for having said what she had thought out loud. “It’s nothing, really.”

         But Xylion's curiosity had clearly awoken and he stepped away from his workstation and approached the chief engineer. “I am curious to know how you perceive my relationship with the rest of the crew.”

         “I don’t know what to say,” she said and returned her attention to the console she was working on. “Everybody considers you to be a resourceful officer and a skilled scientist.”

         “That would be an entirely appropriate perception.”

         She sighed.

         “You are suggesting that there is more?”

         She realized that he was not going to let this go. “You’re also third-in-command on this ship. It may take more to command than being a good officer and a great scientist.”

         “Are you questioning my adequacy as second officer?”

         She quickly shook her head. “No, not at all,” she said and moved on to another workstation. “I’m just saying that perhaps you need to… I don’t know.”

         “You are not being very forthcoming.”

 “Okay, this might be hard for a Vulcan but why don’t you try to lighten up a bit? Socialize with the crew more, be less direct and more, you know, friendly?”

         His facial expressions were near puzzlement. For most of his life, he had lived and worked among Vulcans. He had returned to his home world after he had graduated from the Academy because he found emotional species too unpredictable and sometimes downright irritating. Until now he had never considered the possibility that he could be the one causing the irritation.

         Without warning Eagle shook hard enough to cause Louise to lose her balance and fall to the floor.

         Xylion who had managed to stay on his feet quickly walked over to her and helped her back on her feet.

         “What happened?”

         “I do not know.”

         They did not have to wait long for an answer to her question. Within seconds several intruders appeared in engineering. They didn’t waste any time and immediately opened fire at the surprised technicians.

Assistant chief engineer Fernuc was hit instantly and collapsed to the floor. Lieutenant Katherine Smith was luckier as she managed to find cover behind her workstation just in time to avoid being struck by an energy discharge.

         Xylion grabbed Louise by the back of her uniform and unceremoniously pushed her into an adjacent maintenance access room. He leaped into the room after her and quickly sealed it off by using the manual override.

         “What the hell is happening?”

         Xylion ignored her and walked to an auxiliary computer console.

         Louise in the meantime moved back toward the sealed door. “They’re taking over my engine room.”

         “That seems to be a logical conclusion,” he said while trying to activate the console.

         “We have to do something,” she shouted and reached for the door panel.

         “Do not open that door, Lieutenant.”

         “But we have to do something,” she said, almost pleadingly. “We can’t just let them do this.”

         Xylion took a few steps toward the engineer to ensure that she would not try to reopen the door leading into main engineering. “I agree but we do not know who we are facing. At this time, we are clearly outnumbered and outgunned. Returning to engineering now would be a mistake.”

         “Do you suggest we just hide in here,” she said, angrily. “Do nothing?”

         “I suggest that our best option at present is to stay in hiding until an opportunity presents itself. I also implore you to keep your voice down so we remain undetected.”

         Louise didn’t like what she was hearing. She was upset and at the moment she couldn’t even think straight. Things had happened too fast and too unexpectedly and the full implications hadn’t quite sunken in yet.

Frustrated, she leaned against the door and slid down to the floor.

*        *        *

Laas had followed Barrington Spooner to deck seven, the location of his quarters.

The first thing she had noticed was the fact that there were no guards following him even though the captain had explicitly ordered to have him escorted at all times.

She had no idea how he had managed to get rid of the security detail but she was determined to have a word with them later. It was completely unacceptable and she would make sure that somebody would get reprimanded over this oversight.

But for now, she felt that the situation might provide her with a golden opportunity. Spooner was up to something and if she caught him in the act, it would be easy to convince the captain to have him locked up in the brig for the remainder of his stay onboard.

         As she had suspected, Spooner was heading back to his quarters. He was in a hurry and from what she could tell, he seemed concerned. He kept looking over his shoulder, trying to make sure he wasn’t being followed. But he wasn’t doing a particularly good job at it and for somebody who had honed her skills of shadowing a target during a brutal guerilla war, it wasn’t difficult to remain undetected.

He reached the doors to his quarters and disappeared inside. She contemplated to follow him but that would mean to let him know that she was spying on him.

She didn’t get much more time to consider her next steps. The ship shook hard suddenly and the lights in the corridor fluctuated. The alert klaxons began howling and the hallways lit up with dark red colors.

Her first instinct was to follow protocol and head for the security office from where she’d be able to get a full report on the current situation. She turned to make her way to the nearest turbolift but froze instantly when she heard the distinct sound of weapons fire. It was coming from inside Spooner’s quarters.

She quickly made it to the doors and instinctively reached for her hip to draw her phaser only to find that she wasn’t armed. Up until a few seconds there hadn’t been any reason to carry a weapon.

         More noises were coming from inside the quarters.

Somebody was yelling, followed by a loud thud and the sound of smashing furniture. Without wasting another thought Nora entered the security override code into the door panel.

She braced herself as the doors parted and then carefully slipped inside.

 Besides Spooner, there were two others in the room. From their weapons and clothing, she could tell that they were mercenaries or possibly pirates roaming the galaxy trying to steal valuable cargo to sell them to the highest bidder. Attacking a Federation starship seemed a rather bold move.

One of them was lying on the floor, surrounded by shards of glass and what remained of what had once been a coffee table.

The other was a tall and intimidating-looking human man with tattoos covering most of his body and part of his face. He was holding a rifle, threatening Spooner who had retreated into a far corner of the room.

Laas had a good idea of what had happened. The mercenaries had surprised him; he had managed to take out the first but had not counted on the other attacker. Neither Spooner nor the mercenary had noticed Nora enter the room.

         “Come on Spoon, tell me where it is and I promise you I’ll make it painless.”

         “You kill me and you’ll never find it.”

         The attacker smiled and raised his rifle. “It’d be worth it.”

Laas quickly considered her options. She could not reach the incapacitated mercenary’s weapon undetected. If she wanted to intervene, she had to do so the old-fashioned way.

         The man with the rifle increased the power settings on his weapon. “I wish I could say it was nice knowing ya.”

         Laas was out of time.

         She charged the mercenary so quickly and so silently that he didn’t spot the threat until it was already too late.

         She tackled him low and at full speed, bringing them both to the ground instantly.

         As soon as she hit the floor, Laas rolled to her side, trying to find the man’s rifle he had dropped.

It was out of reach.

And her opponent had recovered from the tackle surprisingly fast. He was already back on one knee.

She decided to try and finish this quickly and followed up with a blow to his head. It connected with such force that his head whipped around as if it was trying to dislodge itself from his neck.

But he took it without going down.

He turned to face her slowly, his lips cracked and bloodied. “I’m going to make you regret that, girl.”

         She rolled her eyes. “If I had a slip of gold-pressed latinum for every time I’ve heard that.”

         And yet he caught her by surprise. He was back on his feet in a flash and within seconds Laas found herself pinned against the wall.

         It was a short-lived victory. She found his kneecap and he went down hauling in pain after her boot nearly smashed the sensitive body part.

         She straightened her uniform. “Had enough?”

         His eyes burned with uncontained rage. He was not the kind of man who took being defeated by a smaller opponent lightly. And he wasn’t going to give up, that much was clear when he tried to struggle onto his feet again.

         He managed one unsteady step.

         Then he was cut down from behind by a phaser blast.

         He fell face-first onto the carpeted floor, not unlike a mighty tree being cut down in the forest. But this time he remained there.

         Laas looked to the other side of the room where she found Spooner holding the other mercenary’s rifle.

“I had things well under control,” she said, annoyed.

“You’re welcome.”

“From where I’m standing, it’s you who should be thankful,” she said and took a step toward him. It was only then that she realized that the rifle was now pointed at her. She froze. “And that’s how you plan to repay me?”

         He lowered the weapon. “I’m extremely thankful, Laas. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I don’t think I’d still be standing here. I guess I had you figured all wrong. You do care after all.”

         “Don’t flatter yourself. While you’re on board this ship, you’re under my protection just like everybody else,” she said and then noticed the silver suitcase at his side. His priorities were pretty clear. He had gone to retrieve the case before he had intervened in the fight. “Is that what they came for?”

         He nodded. “And I’m afraid this is where we’ll have to part ways.”

         “You’re not going anywhere.”

         Spooner seemed to be thinking that over. “Tell you what. How about you join me? My smarts and your skills, I think we would make a great team. I’ll let you in on all those secrets you folks are so eager to uncover and I even split my profits with you. Seventy-thirty?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said and moved closer.

         He raised his rifle again.  “Sixty-forty? I promise we’ll have fun together.”

She already knew how this was going to play out. “Listen to me, if you do this, there won’t be a place in this galaxy you will be able to hide. No matter where you go, I’ll find you.”

         “In that case, I’ll look forward to seeing you again.”

         “You won’t enjoy it,” she said, already resigned to what was going to happen next. She knew she was fast. Not fast enough to avoid a phaser though.

The energy beam struck her square in the shoulder even as she tried to dodge it. Her eyes opened wide just before she lost consciousness.

He was at her side to catch her before she could fall to the floor.

He picked her up and carried her across the room to place her carefully on the couch. Spooner knelt next to her and gently turned her face toward him.

         “For what it’s worth, I really didn’t want to do this. I wish you had just said yes,” he said as he considered her peaceful face for a moment.

         He stood, quickly grabbed his suitcase, and hurried out of the room.

*        *        *

For Eugene Edison, the sudden attack on Eagle had been a very painful experience. 

He had awoken from a long and restful sleep. His strength had finally returned and he couldn’t bear lying down and being generally useless for one second longer. He desperately needed to stretch his legs and find something productive to occupy his mind with.

The fact that his overprotective doctor was nowhere in sight had encouraged him to try and escape her clutches. Make a run for it, as it were.

He had been in the middle of attempting to swing his legs over the edge of the bed when the ship suddenly jolted hard from side to side.

Gene immediately lost his balance and fell face-first onto the unyielding sickbay floor. The pain from the impact made him gasp out loud and he rolled to his side.

Under normal circumstances, getting up again wouldn’t have been much of a problem but he still felt weak from the internal injuries he had sustained and so he decided it was for the best to stay exactly where he was until he was sure he had gathered enough strength to try and pick himself up again.

         Doctor Wenera entered sickbay from her adjacent office and noticed the first officer on the floor. She couldn’t quite keep a smirk off her face. “Do I need to restrain you to your bed to keep you from falling from things?”

         Gene aimed the doctor an annoyed glare. “Your jokes are killing me, Doctor. Literally,” he said. “What happened?”

         She shook her head and walked over to him. “I have no idea.”

         The lights dimmed for a few seconds and some of the computer displays turned themselves off with only the emergency systems staying online.

         “Now what?” she said as she reached out for the first officer.

         “Edison to the bridge.”

         There was no answer.

         She helped him sit on the bed and gave him a worried look when the bridge was not replying to his call.

         “I better head up there,” he said and got onto his feet.

         Wenera didn’t protest but stayed close to make sure that he could stand on his own.

         But before they could even reach the doors, they parted to let an upset young crewman rush in. He had a nasty-looking cut on his forehead, covering his face with blood. “We’re being boarded,” he yelled. “They’re on Eagle!”

         “Who is?” Gene said.

         But the crewman never even got the chance to reply.

An energy blast coming through the still-open doors struck him in the back. His eyes opened wide before he fell forward and collapsed right into Wenera’s arms.

         The shooter revealed himself a moment later. The short and angry-looking Dopterian entered sickbay with his rifle at the ready.

         At about the same time Leila Adams, Doctor Wenera’s head nurse walked in from an adjacent room, startled by the sounds of weapons fire. “What’s going on?”

         Too late did she notice the intruder.

         The Dopterian, startled himself, turned and fired at the nurse.

The shot had been rushed and missed Adams by about a fingerbreadth.

The young woman screamed in surprise and dropped to the floor.

The shooter sighed with annoyance at his lousy aim and then took proper aim to finish the job.

“Hey!”

         The intruder turned to find the source of the voice. But even before he could take notice of Gene Edison, he had to try and dodge the incoming beaker that was flying through the air and directly toward his head.

         He was too slow.

         It smashed against his forehead, causing him to stumble backward. The liquid it had contained now dripping down into his eyes.

         Gene didn’t let up. He quickly stepped up to the distracted mercenary and punched him hard in the face, causing him to topple. But even as he fell, he managed to hit the triggering stud on his rifle.

         Gene never had a chance.

         The proximity of the blast pushed him away from the Dopterian, and slammed him painfully into the bulkhead where he slid down to the floor.

         The mercenary jumped back up onto his feet after he had realized that the tables had turned and approached the semi-conscious Starfleet officer. “That was pretty stupid, human,” he said and changed a setting on his weapon before he pointed the emitter cone at his head. “This is it for you.”

         The merc had failed to notice Wenera who had used the distraction to retrieve a device and then quietly moved up right behind the Dopterian. Within a heartbeat, she had brought the hypo up to his neck and emptied its content into his bloodstream.        

The powerful sedative took immediate effect and the man lost his motor skills instantly. He watched with disbelieving eyes as his rifle simply slipped out of his grip. Then his legs gave out and he gracelessly dropped to the floor. Moments later he was out cold.

         Wenera stepped over the neutralized intruder and knelt next to Edison. She opened a medical tricorder and ran a quick scan. What she found was not comforting.

         “Leila,” she said, turning to her nurse. “Prep the surgical unit. We need to perform an emergency procedure. Double time.”

*        *        *

“I want my engineering room back.”

         Louise Hopkins had placed both of her palms against the door separating her and Xylion from the occupied control room as if she meant to push them open by force.

         She needed to get the intruders out to regain control of the ship and ensure that her people were all right. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the slightest idea how to accomplish this feat. Planning counter-terrorist operations were well outside her range of expertise.

         Xylion hadn’t said much over the last minutes they had been hiding in the small maintenance access room. Instead, he had worked at an auxiliary control console with little interruption.

         The Vulcan’s silence had only added to her aggravation. Predictably, he had remained calm and collected, showing not the slightest sign of irritation or frustration over their situation. She was thankful, of course, for his quick actions. He had immediately understood that if they had stayed when the intruders attacked, they would have ended up as prisoners or worse. He had wasted no time on second thoughts and facilitated their quick and undetected escape.

         Louise wished his tranquil demeanor would somehow rub off on her but in truth, she found that it only added to her frustrations. She had wanted to yell at him to take charge and find a solution to their problem.

         She took a deep breath instead.

         “As long as these people are holding main engineering, they’re basically in control of the ship. We need to find a way to remove them and we have to do it now,” she said, surprising herself by the firm tone in her voice.

         “I cannot establish a comlink with the bridge or any other part of the ship,” said Xylion without looking away from the console. “My initial and admittedly brief impression of the intruding force leads me to the conclusion that our chances of success in retaking main engineering without additional assistance are less than three point four percent.”

         “Goddamn your logic.”

         He turned to face her, raising one of his eyebrows.

         Her face flushed and she immediately regretted those words. She didn’t know exactly where all this anger had come from. She was usually the quietest voice in the room and not prone to expressing her frustration in quite such strong words. But then again, she had never been placed in such a position either. Her engines and everything that went with them were probably the one thing in her life she held most dear. Now she had been forced away from her natural habitat, her home. It was a completely unacceptable set of circumstances.

         “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,” she said and avoided eye contact. “It’s just… we have to do something. As long as these people hold engineering Eagle is in serious danger.”

         “I am open to suggestions, Lieutenant.”

         She sighed heavily. The one thing she didn’t have were suggestions. She turned back to face the door and focused on it so intently one might have thought she could look right through the solid material. The truth was that she had never been a particularly brave person. Especially not when dealing with the unknown. She’d walk into a burning warp core without hesitation if she knew she could fix it but she couldn’t fight off a dozen armed mercenaries.

And then the beginning of a thought crossed her mind. “We can’t force them to leave but what if they had no choice?”

         “Please, elaborate.”

         She turned to face him. “What if we could fake an emergency? Something that would appear so dangerous that they would have to evacuate immediately?”

         “What kind of emergency do you propose?”

         “I don’t know,” she said and sighed. “A coolant leak perhaps, a containment failure,” she added but began losing faith in her own idea even as she spoke. As an engineer, she could think of no way to make the computer believe such a scenario. And if the computer didn’t buy it, neither would the intruders.

          “We do not have the means to initiate a simulated emergency from here,” said Xylion, spelling out what she already knew to be true.

         Louise leaned against the wall. Disillusioned and deflated.

         “However,” said Xylion, “it would be possible to cause an actual emergency.” He turned slightly to focus on a very specific spot on the opposite bulkhead.

         She followed his gaze and realized what he was looking at. Behind that wall plate ran one of the main power lines that led to the warp core.

         Her eyes widened. “That would be suicide.”

         Xylion did not answer.

         Her mind was racing. She did not want those invaders in her engineering room or on Eagle for that matter for another minute. She realized that the captain would probably rather destroy the ship before surrendering it. But she could not make that decision and the last thing she wanted was to lose Eagle. She looked at him. His facial expression was as neutral as ever. It was impossible to know what he was thinking.

         “If we were to overload the main EPS manifold the warp core will become unstable within a few minutes.”

         Xylion simply nodded.

         “Eagle would be destroyed,” she said.

         “Correct.”

         Louise walked over to the computer console almost shoving Xylion aside. She began entering commands into the console but she found that many were not accepted due to the limitations of the auxiliary unit. She didn’t let that slow her down.

         “What if,” she said. “What if we eject the warp core before the overload reaches critical levels? With any luck the sudden drop of temperature and pressure will prevent the core from breaching and we’ll be able to salvage it afterward.”

 “We will not be able to eject the core from here.”

         “I know,” she said and turned to look at the Vulcan. “We’ll have to do it in engineering. We’ll sneak in–they won’t even notice us in all the confusion–we eject the warp core and afterward, we can activate force fields to lock them out.”

         Xylion took just about a second to think over her suggestion while she anxiously awaited his judgment.

         “It is a sound plan. We should attempt to implement it as soon as possible.”

         A smile came over her lips. For a mere second, she believed that Xylion was trying to return it but even before she could be sure he turned away to access the EPS conduit running behind the bulkhead.

*        *        *

“Owens to Bridge, come in.”

         There was still no response. For minutes now he had tried to contact the main bridge unsuccessfully. The ship had been hit by something and power had started to fluctuate throughout the science lab. Michael had known immediately that an outside force was at work. But that was all he knew for sure. The fact that communications were down was not a good sign. Something or someone was disrupting ship operations for what reason he did not know.

         The doors were jammed shut, trapping them inside the lab. DeMara had managed to get one of the consoles to work and tried to access the sensors to see what was happening.

         He joined her. “Any progress?”

         She shook her head, her fingers tirelessly dancing over the control panel of a flickering console. “I’m trying to get access to the external sensors but whatever happened to Eagle, it is causing havoc to all systems.”

         He sat down in a chair next to her. “Theories?”

         “It seems clear that we have been affected by an outside force. I cannot tell if the cause is natural or artificial in nature,” she said without interrupting her efforts.

         “Considering our mission, I think it’s a safe bet we’re dealing with an attack.”

         “Pretty bold assaulting a Starfleet ship like this,” she said. “Wait, I think I’m getting something.”

         The screen in front of her shifted to show a view of the space surrounding Eagle. The image was distorted by static but just clear enough to reveal a small ship sitting close to the outer hull.

         Michael recognized it immediately. They had encountered the ship once before and at the time it had escaped.

         “How the hell did they get so close?” said Michael and stood. “I should have been on the bridge.”

         “Considering their rather unconventional style of attack, I doubt that would have made much difference.”

         He shot her an icy look and she decided to let it go. “Do you think we may have been boarded?”

         “Try to access internal sensors.”

         She nodded and went to work. “I can’t access the main sensors but I can monitor the internal sensors for this section.”

         The screen changed to display a schematic of the deck they were on. Two blue dots were representing the two of them. Not far from their position six gray dots appeared, moving slowly toward their position.

          “They’re coming this way,” he said and turned to look at the Hyterian relic. “They‘re after the artifact.”

         “That makes sense. These are the same people who were after Spooner presumably to learn whatever it is he knows about the Hyterians.”

         “There is no way we can fight off six of them without weapons,” said Michael and walked over to the only exit. The door mechanism was dead but with enough effort, it would have been possible to push the doors open.

          “They’ll be here any second,” she said and looked at him. “What do we do?”

         Michael looked around the room, desperately trying to find something to use as a weapon. Metal piping coming out of the wall caught his eye. He quickly walked over to it and began tearing it off.

         She stood. “You must be kidding, there are six of them.”

         Part of the pipe came loose. The meter-long piece was made out of a light metallic alloy but was strong enough to cause some serious damage.

Michael took a practice swing with it. “What do you suggest we do?”

She took two steps toward him. “I don’t know but getting out of here would be a good start.”

He shook his head. “I’m not going to run away. Not on my ship.”

“Michael,” she said softly. “Consider the odds. Six mercenaries, most likely heavily armed against the two of us, and that … stick.”

He looked at the improvised weapon and then back at her. He hated to admit it but she was right, of course. But he was sick entirely at playing the victim. He desperately needed to be proactive for a change.

The odds not being in their favor didn’t bother him as much as the idea of putting DeMara into needless danger. He knew she was a decent enough shot with a phaser but her unarmed combat skills were nothing to write home about and certainly not sufficient to take on half a dozen armed pirates.

“There is a Jeffries tube access in this room,” she said “We can easily slip out of here before they manage to open those doors.”

He lowered his weapon in resignation. “Take the artifact.”

She gave him a skeptical look.

         A noise outside the door caught their attention. Somebody was trying to pry it open.

         “Now, Dee. You’ve seen what happened last time I touched it,” he said as he headed for the maintenance access hatch.

         She acted quickly. She walked over to the stand, removed the protective dome, and carefully took the stone piece before joining him.

         The invaders’ efforts were beginning to show results. The two panels parted just enough to create a narrow gap.

Michael opened the hatch and gestured for her to crawl inside.

She hesitated.

“I’ll be right behind you.”

She nodded and climbed inside.

Michael took another look at the doors. Numerous thick fingers had reached through the gap and were trying to force the two halves open. And successfully so. It was going to be a matter of seconds until they had gained entry.

He turned away and slipped into the Jeffries tube.

*        *        *

Louise had always been at her best when faced with tough engineering challenges and attempting to blow up the ship without it actually blowing up was one of the toughest she had ever attempted.

Surprisingly, it was Xylion who spurred her on. She found him to be the ideal partner for this undertaking. His pragmatic approach and deep scientific knowledge did not come as a surprise but his encouragements and fresh ideas that smoothly complemented hers she had not expected.

For a short while she came to enjoy their efficient working relationship so much that the fact that they had set out on an undertaking that could easily be their last had slipped her mind entirely.

“That should do it,” she said as she finished reconfiguring the final circuit within the cramped Jeffries tube.

Xylion sat beside her and quickly inspected her work. “Interesting. Your attempt to reroute power from the auxiliary EPS grid has improved our chances of reducing a fatal warp core breach by twelve-point five percent.”

She rubbed her hands to clear them of dirt and grease. “I wouldn’t have thought of this if you hadn’t suggested the auxiliary grid in the first place.”

“There will be plenty of time to congratulate ourselves for our ingenuity later,” he said as he began to head for the ladder that would lead them back to the small room adjacent to main engineering. “It is time to implement the plan.”

“Right,” she said and followed him. “Maybe we should try to run another simulation,” she added as she followed him down the ladder.

“I don’t believe that to be necessary. The outcome of our plan hinges on our ability to eject the core within seventy-two seconds. As we do not know what exactly to expect in main engineering, a simulation would be of no further assistance.”

They both stepped back into the small room.

“I don’t like it.”

“You should not overly rely on computer simulations, Lieutenant. There are always unpredictable factors one must contend with.”

She gave him a little smile. “And that coming from you of all people.”

“I am not suggesting that simulations are not invaluable. However, overreliance on them may lead to a false sense of security.”

“Maybe,” she said as she stepped to the console that would be able to start the sequence they had prepared. “But usually it’s people who are unreliable, not computers. That’s why I tend to prefer machines.” She shot him a look over her shoulder. “Present company excluded.”

He gave her a nod.

She focused on the controls in front of her. “All right, once I initiate the overload we have about thirty seconds before the computer detects the malfunction and will sound a general warning.”

         “Thirty-two seconds.”

Louise took a deep breath and then entered the necessary commands. “Here goes nothing.”

         Xylion walked over to the door that led into the engineering room.

         Once she had made sure that the computer was processing her request she turned away from the console and got herself ready.

The next few seconds seemed to last forever. Her mind was racing.

It was only then that it truly dawned on her what she had done. She had willingly set events in motion that could lead to the destruction of Eagle and her own death. One mistake, being just a few seconds late would mean the end of eight hundred souls.

And it was all going to be her fault.

Suddenly this plan seemed like a terrible idea. She glanced at the console behind her. There was still time to stop this, she thought. She could still find another way out of this.

         Alarm klaxons interrupted those thoughts, followed by the calm feminine voice of Eagle’scomputer: “Warning, critical warp core instability detected. Warp core overload imminent. Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate.”     Louise's heart felt as though it had stopped cold. Those were the kind of words that haunted her in her nightmares. The kind of words she had never wanted to hear.

         There was no going back now.

         Xylion waited only a couple more seconds and then stepped up to the doors and easily pushed them open.

         They were greeted by a choir of panicked voices.

         At least two non-uniformed persons ran by, too distracted to notice the Vulcan and the chief engineer as they hurried for the closest exit.

         Louise had to go in the opposite direction.

         She gathered all her courage and stepped into main engineering.

         The automatic safety systems were already releasing a thick white fog-like cooling substance to slow down the warp core breach in process. It had the side effect of drastically reducing visibility which in this case worked in her favor as it added to the chaos in the room.

         The mercenaries were clearly at a loss as to what was happening and most had decided that sticking around wasn’t worth the risk. Most of them were desperately looking for a way out.

         The Starfleet technicians who had been taken hostage scrambled to their feet and to the nearest computer consoles to find out what had happened and what could be done to stop it.

         Hopkins of course knew exactly what needed to be done.

         She found the angrily pulsating warp core still visible through the thickening fog and approached it.

         “Warning, warp core overload imminent.”

         She managed just two steps before she was roughly grabbed by a massive Nausicaan pirate, easily two heads taller than her.

         “What have you done?” he cried angrily. He didn’t appear particularly interested in a reply. Instead, he shook her very much like a child would handle a doll.

         Louise tried desperately to free herself but she might as well have tried to pry open a duranium vise, so forceful was his grip.

         Xylion provided the distraction she needed to slip out of his grasp.

         “Go,” he said while the angry mercenary focused his attention on the Vulcan.

         She hesitated.

         “Now!” he managed to say just before the Nausicaan attacked viciously, the blow causing him to be thrown across the room. And he wasn’t finished yet.

         Louise didn’t want to leave Xylion but she knew she didn’t have a choice. He had intervened to allow her to get to the controls to eject the warp core. And if she didn’t get there in time, Eaglewas doomed.

         She turned away from the ensuing struggle with great difficulty and continued for the warp core but found it difficult to stay focused with all the distractions around her.

Adding to that, the cooling fog was now so thick it was nearly impossible to make out anything far or near. She had always believed that she was so familiar with her engineering room that she’d be able to get around blindfolded but she had never put that theory to the test. Until now.

Twice she nearly ran into other armed mercenaries but luckily, they were too concerned with their own safety than to worry about her.

When she finally made it to the controls, she froze.

One of the armed soldiers was already working on them. He turned to look at her. “You, what the hell is going on here? How has the core containment field been destabilized?”

She couldn’t believe her bad luck. There just had to be one tech-savvy engineer among the pirates.

He pointed his rifle at her. “Tell me how to stop this or I’ll blow that pretty head of yours all over your damned ship!”

*        *        *

After six meters the constrictive Jeffries tunnel merged into a small service room that also functioned as a junction for various horizontal and vertical crawlways.

“The bridge is four decks up,” said DeMara and pointed at a vertical shaft.

But Michael wasn’t paying her any attention. Instead, he had remained at the opening of the Jeffries tube they had climbed out of, intently focused on the hatch that led back into the science lab.

         He had purposefully left it cracked open. Now he was certain he could hear the voices of the mercenaries who had forced themselves into the lab. One man, presumably the leader, was doing most of the talking and he didn’t seem happy.

         “We should go,” she whispered.

         “Something isn’t right,” said Michael, keeping his voice equally low. “I think they didn’t find what they were looking for,” he added and then glanced at the Hyterian artifact still in her hands.

         She held it up. “Even more reason to get this to safety.”

         Michael strained his ears. “I think they’re leaving.”

She shook her head when she began to suspect what he was thinking. “We can’t go back.”

         He nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go back. You take that thing up to the bridge and keep it safe.”

         His mind was made up and he tightly clenched the metal pole still in his hand as he crawled back into the conduit leading back to the science lab.

         The room had fallen quiet again, giving further credence to his theory that whoever had entered the lab had since left. He still approached the hatch with care, trying to remain as noiselessly as possible.

         He used the pole to carefully push open the hatch a centimeter or so.

         “How long will this take?”

         He froze.

         “I need to get access to the mainframe systems first. The transfer itself will take only a few minutes.”

         “Then hurry up. Starfleet ships make me queasy.”

         Michael moved closer to the hatch which was just wide enough for him to spy into the room.

         Two men had remained in the lab. A green-scaled, lizard-like Saurian with disturbingly large and bright yellow eyes was impatiently hovering over his comrade who Michael believed to be a young, fire-red-haired Xindi Primate, working at a computer console.

         They were both so focused on the monitor, they didn’t notice when he crept out of the hatch and then slipped back out of view behind a bank of processing units. He had left the hatch once again slightly ajar.

         He used the metallic pole to tap against the nearby bulkhead.

         The Saurian instantly pulled free his blaster and turned to look toward the source of the unexpected sound.

         “Stay here,” he hissed to his comrade and then slowly moved toward Michael’s hidden position. He found the opened hatch and leaned down to investigate. It was then that he felt something tap him on his large shoulder.

As a Saurian he was generally not one of the more graceful beings in the cosmos. He turned very slowly and by the time he realized the danger it was already too late.

“Get the hell off my ship,” said Michael as he swung the pole like a baseball bat, aiming it squarely at his head.

If his target had been human, the force of the blunt object might have caused the skull to crack but in this case, it was just about sufficient to cause the lizard-like man to stumble and then fall onto his back. He lost consciousness before he had hit the floor.

Keenly aware of the second intruder in the room, Michael rolled away and as it turned out not a moment too soon.

A phaser blast whizzed past his head, close enough that he thought it had singed a few hairs.

He found the Saurian’s weapon even while he was still completing the roll, grabbed it firmly, and came up firing.

He was right on target on the first attempt.

The Xindi went down hard.

Michael had no time to look over his handiwork. He jumped back onto his feet and headed straight for the doors.

He heard the footfalls even before he had reached them.

The human woman running into the room, alerted by the commotion, did not wear a Starfleet uniform and that alone was enough reason for Michael to fire again.

She collapsed before she had even set one foot into the lab.

He hardly paused for a second as he continued to the doors. Pushing himself against the bulkhead, he leaned out into the corridor just far enough to make sure no other enemies were standing watch nearby. When he was satisfied that the air was clear, he grabbed the mercenary blocking the threshold by her arms and pulled her inside. Then he went back to the manual door release to once again shut the panels tight. It wasn’t enough to keep anybody out permanently but it would buy himself some time if he needed to escape again.

Only then did he allow himself to take a breather.

“You certainly clean up well.”

Michael turned to see that DeMara had emerged from the Jeffries tube and was now looking over the three bodies he had left in his wake.

“I got lucky.”

         The Saurian was beginning to stir. Clearly, his skull had been even thicker than Michael had expected.

         “This one is about to come around,” she said.

         He stepped closer. “There should be a pole lying on the floor somewhere.”

         She shot him a you-got-to-be-kidding-me look.

He regretted the words as soon as he saw her face. He knew, of course, that as a Tenarian, raised on a peaceful and harmonic world, she abhorred violence and the notion of hitting an already injured person went against everything she believed in.

But perhaps the real reason she was so shocked was because it was supposed to go against everything he believed in as well. And normally it did. But it was difficult to argue with the adrenaline that was still coursing through his veins and the satisfaction from fighting back against the people who had dared invade his ship.

         He walked closer, took aim at the big green reptilian—having made sure the weapon was on a stun setting—and fired.

         From the frown on her face, it was clear that she was not happy.

         “What?”

         “You might have wanted to ask him a few questions first.”

         Michael looked down at the now slumbering Saurian and realized that she was absolutely right. But the thought had never even occurred to him. Now that anger and adrenaline were slowly subsiding, he could see the wisdom in her words.

         He ultimately shrugged it off. “He’ll come back around.”

         “In the meantime, we might get some answers from this,” she said as she took a seat at the console the Xindi had been working on. She found that he had attached some sort of external device to give him unrestricted access to Eagle’s memory databanks.

         Michael joined her. “What were they doing?”

         “Transferring data.”

         “About the Hyterians?”

         She nodded. “It would appear that way. They have established a link between our computer core and theirs. My guess is they’re trying to supplement their own information by downloading from our database.”

         He studied the screen. “Is the link to their computer core still intact?”

         She operated the console. “Yes.”

         “Time to turn the tables,” he said. “Copy whatever they’ve got to our database.”

         She nodded and went to work.

         “Warning, critical warp core instability detected.”

         He looked up. “Now what?”

*        *        *

“You’re the chief engineer,” the mercenary growled. Apparently, besides having a basic understanding of starship engineering, he could also read the rank insignia on her uniform.

         “Yes,” she said and surprised herself with how firm her voice sounded, considering that the man was pointing a phaser rifle at her face, not to mention the warp core a few meters away was about to unleash all kinds of hell in just a few seconds.

         “Good,” he said and stepped away from the station. “Shut this off, now.”

         She didn’t know where the sudden courage came from but she defiantly crossed her arms in front of her chest instead. “I won’t do anything until you lower your weapon and surrender. You shoot me and we all die.”

         She watched with satisfaction as a panicked expression crossed his face.

         Her apparent victory didn’t last long. He spotted another crewmember, a young woman cowering on the floor, and roughly pulled her up onto her feet only to point his rifle at her. “You will stop the breach now or I’ll execute her,” he said and changed the settings on his weapon. “And I mean execute.”

         “It can’t be stopped.”

         “Warning, fifty-five seconds to warp core breach.”

         “I don’t believe you,” he said, his voice breaking slightly now that he had come much closer to a sudden and violent death than he had expected. He practically stabbed the frightened crewmember with his rifle. “I’ll kill her and then go on killing everyone else on your staff until you find a way.”

         And he was going to do it, she could tell.

         “All right, all right, nobody needs to die here. I can try to eject the core but I’ll need her help.”

         He hesitated for a moment and then grabbed the crewman by her arm and slung her toward Louise. “Get to work.”

         She caught her easily. “Prepare the core for ejection,” she said.

         To her credit, the young officer immediately went to work, now that she had been given a direct order by a superior.

         Louise turned to a computer station to initiate the sequence but within seconds she felt the phaser rifle jab her painfully into the back.

         “I’m watching you. Any tricks and you’ll be the first one to go.”

“Warning, thirty-five seconds to warp core breach.”

But Louise couldn’t concentrate with the deadly phaser pushed into her back and the frightened pirate was not letting up, on the contrary, the pressure was increasing and she was getting the distinct impression that he would pull that trigger, no matter how this was going to end.

And that realization paralyzed her.

“Get rid of the damned core, now,” he yelled and stabbed her again, this time so hard she moaned in pain.

“I can’t … not like this.”

But he wasn’t interested and only jabbed her harder

Then the pressure was gone.

Surprised she turned to look over her shoulder just in time to see his blank eyes looking back at her. A hand was resting on his shoulder.

It belonged to Xylion who stood right behind him and watched as he lost consciousness almost instantly and then dropped to the floor. He looked back up at the chief engineer. “Do you require assistance?”

         “What kept you so long?”

         “I was detained,” he said and wiped green blood off his face.

 “Warning, fifteen seconds to warp core breach.”

          “I neutralized the threat and my injuries are minor. I suggest we concentrate on completing the ejection of the warp core,” he said and moved smoothly next to her to get access to the controls.

         She nodded. With the distraction gone, her fingers were now flying over the console.

         “Warp core is standing by for ejection,” he said.

         “All right, hang on, everyone. Ejecting, now,” she said, pressed one final panel, and then took hold of her console.

         Xylion did the same.

         Behind them, the tall blue column that was responsible for providing the entire ship with the massive amounts of power it required, dropped with a loud swish until it was completely gone.

         “Ejection competed successfully. Sensors confirm that all matter/antimatter reactions within the core have ceased. There is no apparent damage to the reaction chamber,” said Xylion.

         “I’m setting up force fields around engineering and other sensitive areas of the ship now,” she said, and then when she was satisfied that everything had gone according to plan, she turned to look at Xylion at her side, a large smile plastered on her face. “We did it.”

“So it would appear.”

         “I have the overwhelming urge to kiss you, Commander.”

         He cocked his eyebrow. “I would suggest you suppress that particular urge, Lieutenant. It could be construed as an inappropriate gesture.”

         Her smile grew wider.

         “We should immediately reroute all command functions to engineering and attempt to reestablish communications with the bridge and other parts of the ship,” he said and then, when Louise refused to react, went back to work himself.

         She just couldn’t manage to wipe that smile off her face and she didn’t even care if anybody else had noticed. Surprisingly the usually stoic Vulcan had not explicitly stated that he believed kissing him was an inappropriate gesture, merely that it could be interpreted that way.

         The thought wouldn’t leave the back of her mind even as she began to check on her engineering room and her shaken-up staff.

*        *        *

So’Dan thought he had things under control. At least the few things that he actually could control.

         Only moments earlier, he had made the difficult decision to evacuate Eagle when the computer had detected a warp core breach in process. Unfortunately, the ship-wide systems blackout had made it impossible to alert the rest of the crew.

         The disaster had been averted in the nick of time, though he didn’t know how or why.

         In fact, at this point, he knew very little since most basic functions were still unavailable.

         Two bridge officers had been injured during the attack. Ensign Lance Stanmore had been shot by what had turned out to be a low-intensity phaser blast and was already on his way to recovery.

         Lif Culsten had stood just a few short meters from a stun grenade when it had gone off. He was still unconscious but apparently not seriously injured.

         “If I’m reading this right, and there is a good chance I might not, I think somebody just stole a shuttle,” said Stanmore who had since returned to his damaged station.

         “You think?” So’Dan said.

         “Internal sensors are fading in and out but it looks as if shuttle bay two is reporting an unauthorized manual shuttle launch,” he said.

         So’Dan stood and walked over to ops. “Who would steal a shuttle now?”

         Stanmore shook his head. “I don’t know but there is nothing I can do to stop it.”

         “Sir.”

         So’Dan turned to face Trinik. The Vulcan was standing next to where Culsten was sitting. “He is regaining consciousness.”

Realizing that there was nothing else he could do about the stolen shuttle he redirected his attention to the young Krellonian helm officer who was slowly opening his eyes.

         “How do you feel, Lieutenant?”

“Like I’ve been run over by a steamroller.”

         “Close. You were catapulted halfway across the bridge. It looked as if you broke every single bone in your body.”

         “It sure feels that way,” he said and tried to stand.

         “Easy,” said So’Dan and steadied him. “I’m not sure you should be on your feet again. There isn’t much you can do at the moment anyway.”

         “Don’t worry, Commander. We Krellonians are known for our dense bone structure,” he said and took a step. It turned out it was one too many and he nearly collapsed had it not been for So’Dan catching him. “On second thought, maybe those stories are slightly exaggerated.”

         “You should rest.”

         He nodded. “I might as well do so at my post.”

         So’Dan offered a small smile, admiring his sense of duty. “Trinik, help him over to his station.”

         The Vulcan nodded and carefully led Culsten back to the helm.

         It was then that the computer screens all around them stabilized, returning to their normal operating status.

“Sir, we’re getting power back,” said Stanmore. “It appears engineering managed to wrestle back control and drive the attackers out. They’re transferring command protocols to the bridge now.”

         “Finally, some good news,” said So’Dan.

         “Captain Owens to bridge.”

         So’Dan felt relieved to hear the captain’s voice come over the speakers. “This is Commander Leva. It’s good to hear your voice, sir. Are you all right?”

         “Lieutenant Deen and I are fine. We’re in science lab three. What is your status?”

         “The bridge is secured and engineering just restored power—“

         The bodies of the mercenaries they had captured were beginning to dematerialize.

         “Sir, the invaders are retreating to their ship.”

         “We’ve established a data link with their main computer to transfer information relevant to the Hyterians. Try to keep Eagle in range of the mercenary vessel for a few more minutes.”

         “Understood, sir.”

         “I’ll be on my way to the bridge shortly. Owens out.”

         “The mercenary ship is moving away,” said Stanmore.

         The viewscreen had come back online as well and So’Dan could see the small ship up close now. It was turning away from Eagle.

         “Ensign Trinik, raise shields. Bring weapons online.”

         The Vulcan nodded and quickly proceeded to the tactical station.

         “Mister Culsten, plot a pursuit course. Stay with them.”

         “Yes, sir,” said the helmsman and began operating his console.

         “Shields up, weapons are at your disposal,” said Trinik once he had reached his station and entered the necessary commands.

         “Target their engines and fire at will.”

         Eagle opened fire at once. But the small ship was maneuvering too fast for Eagle to land any effective hits.

         “They’re moving away,” said Culsten while he tried to adjust Eagle’s speed.

         “I’m reading a power surge in their warp engines,” said Stanmore.

         “Photon torpedoes, now.”

         Eagle fired and three bright projectiles crossed the viewscreen, homing in on the mercenary vessel. It jumped away a mere second before the torpedoes would have ripped their engines to pieces, leaving them to find nothing but empty space instead.

         “Follow them,” said So’Dan and stepped closer to the screen, the urge to get some sort of retribution for their cowardly attack spurring him on.

         Culsten set out to do just that but immediately realized that there was no way for Eagle to stay with them. He swiveled around in his chair with frustration written all over his face. “We can’t.”

         So’Dan gave him a puzzled look.

         “Our warp core is floating around two kilometers off our starboard bow,” he said and then turned back to look at the now empty viewscreen. “We’re not going anywhere.”

*        *        *

With the exception of first officer Eugene Edison, all the senior officers were gathered in the briefing room on deck two.

         Michael who had called for the meeting entered the room and quickly took a seat at the head of the table. Not much time had passed since the mercenary ship had escaped and there were still several questions to which he had no answers.

         He turned to Xylion. “First of all, good job, Commander. Without you taking back engineering we would probably still be under siege.”

         The Vulcan nodded. “Thank you, sir, but the credit must go to Lieutenant Hopkins. It was her plan and her initiative that led us to successfully drive out the attackers,” he said and looked at the chief engineer.

         Hopkins blushed slightly. But she also smiled. So much in fact that it became infectious.

         “I will make sure that your actions will be noted in my log. What is the current status of our warp drive?”

         “We’re in the process of retrieving it as we speak,” she said. “From our initial scans, there is nothing to indicate any serious damage. With any luck, we have it up and running within the hour.”

         Michael nodded and then turned to the chief medical officer. “Casualties, Doctor?”

         “Besides Commander Edison, none.”

         “None?” said Leva surprised.

         Wenera nodded. “Our attackers, whoever they were, used non-lethal force only. We have several people who have been shot but their weapons were set to a stun mode. I’m treating a few crewmembers for mild phaser trauma and bruises but nothing serious.”

         “I guess they did not want to risk killing Starfleet officers. They knew that they would be hunted down,” said DeMara.

         “That doesn’t make it all right,” said Michael angrily. “They attacked and boarded a Federation starship and stole from us. It is entirely unacceptable.”

         “I’m sorry, sir, but there was little I could do,” said Leva who clearly felt that it was his fault that the mercenaries had boarded Eagle in the first place. After all, it had transpired under his watch. “They used a cloaking device to fool our sensors and then got close enough to activate some form of disruption beam that deactivated most of our systems.”

         “I reviewed our sensor logs,” said Xylion. “It seems as if their tactic was well planned and executed. It appears unlikely that we could have prevented the attack.”

         Michael sighed. The news didn’t change the fact that he felt that he should have been on the bridge when the attack had taken place and he had a hard time forgiving himself for not being there. He might have been able to do something that would have stopped them even if he couldn’t think of anything specific he could have done that would have changed the outcome.  “You did all you could, Commander.”

         Leva nodded but didn’t reply.

         “I’m afraid I have more bad news,” said Nora. She had been quiet and unusually reserved so far, seemingly paying little attention to the briefing.

         “What is it?”

         “Spooner. I let him escape.”

         The officers in the room turned their attention to the Bajoran security officer.

         “It was entirely my fault,” she said quietly to herself, her glance cast low.

         “What happened?” said DeMara softly.

         “I followed him to his quarters. Two of the mercenaries were waiting for him there. They were going to kill him so I intervened but he— “

         “He what?” said Michael when she didn’t continue.

         “The bastard betrayed me,” she growled angrily. “I saved his sorry butt and he shot me.”

         For a moment nobody spoke.

         “You did the right thing,” said DeMara. “You couldn’t just let them kill him.”

         “Yeah? Well, I’m not so sure about that anymore.”

         “Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of him,” said Michael.

         “I hope so, I really do,” said Nora and leaned back in her chair again. Michael had a pretty good idea of what she was going to do when she met Barrington Spooner again. He suspected that Spooner was not the only reason for her bad mood.

Before the briefing, Doctor Wenera had shared the news that Edison had been badly wounded during the attack. Due to his previous injuries, his condition was now quite serious. She had performed an emergency operation but he had not yet regained consciousness.

She had told Michael and the others that the next twenty-four hours would be critical and that there was nothing else she could do for him now but wait and hope that he recovered. Nora had seemed especially devastated hearing this. As was her wont, she had chosen to express her feelings as pure anger.

         “Dee, how do we stand on that data you downloaded from the mercenary vessel?” said Michael, deciding to move on.

         “We managed to download at least half of the content of their computer core before they jumped to warp,” she said. “I think we really struck gold this time. We’ve obtained a map that corresponds to the star charts that we found on the Hyterian colonies.”

         “The mercenaries possessed a part of the map the Hyterians left behind. Using the fragments we had already collected, we were able to extrapolate a possible location for a Hyterian colony of significant importance,” said Xylion.

         “Significant how?” said Michael.

         “We are not sure yet,” DeMara said. “But the name of the colony is mentioned in several texts we’ve been able to translate and it appears to be more prominent than the other locations we have visited.”

         “Where is this colony supposed to be?”

         “In the Heredes system,” Xylion said. “At warp nine we could reach it in eight hours and twenty-four minutes.”

         Leva turned to Michael. “The mercenaries also accessed our computer core. It is quite possible that by now they’re aware of this colony as well.”

         “And that means that they’re already on their way there,” said Michael. “Mister Xylion, Lieutenant Deen, I want you to keep working on the data you collected and I expect a complete briefing at fourteen hundred hours.”

         The two officers nodded.

         “Let’s get that warp core back online, set a course to Heredes, and make your speed warp nine point five. Dismissed.”