The ship had received its orders to get ready for the Typhon Frontier, no surprise there, as most of the crew from the Jaxartes had experience from that region. Sazra was already in the room as she looked outside the window, seeing how other ships were getting ready to leave or arrive at Deep Space 17. The senior staff started to get into the room and take their seat. 

Turning around, Sazra looked at everyone. They were already conversing as if nothing had changed since their last meeting at the Jaxartes. It gave some form of calmness for her as she took a deep breath and walked to the table, “Alright, let us begin with the meeting at hand, all. That means PADD off Commander Valerio. You can do your reviewing of the latest tech updates after the meeting.” 

“How did you….” Adrián shrugs and puts the PADD down, “Fine, I will do it afterward, but this is a violation of my privacy” He shakes his head in disapproval.

“You call it a violation, but you never shut up about it, Commander, so it is only a given period that we know when they publish the next engineering magazine,” Silina winks at him. “Captain, the floor is yours,” She said, ignoring the glare of Adrián.

Giving the nod to Silina, “It was already confirmed by presumption, but Starfleet Command has given us the order to resume our duties within the Typhon Frontier. There we will continue the stellar mapping of the region as best as possible. While the Jaxartes has done 5% of the mapping for the last 7 years. Damascus will significantly boost this operation, and honestly, I look forward to seeing the results. This mission will take as long as we need and be regularly docking at Deep Space 17 as this will be our home base like last time.” 

“Can we avoid doing any escort missions for any species? The last time was a headache, which is a light definition of that mission,” Adrián points out “I rather go back to dealing with born stars and dangerous nebulas than deal with that again.”

Leaning back in his chair, “That makes two of us, Commander” Rami spoke, “To fill in our new members, we had to do an escort mission for the RFS and that when south when the Broken Wings came in, knocking and capturing our Captain. We had to work with the RFS to rescue our Captain from their hospitality,” Rami shrugs.

K’Nala looked a bit, blinking at everyone, “What is RFS?” She asked.

“It stands for the Romulan Free States. We had some dealing with them in the past. I want to remind everyone here that we are no longer on the Jaxartes and that we need to remember that we have new members here that do not know our stories” Sazra stared at the two.

“Yes, sir” Both Adrián and Rami spoke at the same time.

“Now, before we leave the docks to go towards our destination in the Typhon Frontier. Update on your departments, please. One at a time” Sazra looked around the table. 

It was quiet for a second as Kossaal started, “Well, the medical department has got itself ready for the journey ahead. We have received the last medical supplies, and all our staff are in and working as we speak. The crew medical examinations are being done currently, so if one of you has not yet done it, please report to sickbay as soon as possible. That is all from my side” 

“Then I shall go next,” Rami spoke up. “Security personnel is all accounted for and reported in. Armory checks have been done, and I got the green light from the quartermaster. The weapon systems received an update from Engineering and look good. Our shield systems were also tested and are operational.”

The Caitian Ensign nodded when Rami was done, “The ship navigational systems arrre active and checked. They arrre fully operrrational, and I have not seen any engine problems. We are ready to go frrrom a navigational perrrspective”

“Science has conducted various tests with the long-range scanners, and everything has been updated to Starfleet standards that are known as of this date. The scientific supplies are accounted for, and the staff prepares for the voyage. I do wish to note that my department consists of a large scale of specializations open to be used in the Typhon Frontier” T’Path nodded to Adrián to go next.

“Right…” He looked at everyone, “The ship is in perfect condition. We had to update various systems to see that everything was running smoothly. Thought I do not see any future issues to come. We got our supplies, and everything seems to be in order.” His eyes went to Silina. “Take it away”

Silina nodded, “The operational status of the ship is all in the green. Deep Space 17 stands ready for our launch of the mission. Crew morale is good, and I have not received any complaints regarding our mission ahead. As promised, I instructed the various people to steam themselves ready for what they potentially would expect at the frontier. Everyone is in high spirits and looking forward to this voyage”

“That is good news, this means that everyone is prepared and ready for our new adventure,” Sazra said with a smile, “Now, let’s get down to business and discuss what we….” The communication line opened up “…Mmm Sazra here?” 

“This is the bridge. We got an emergency broadcast from the Task Force 17 Commanding Officer”

Sazra narrowed her eyes and looked at everyone at the table, “Put it through towards the Conference Room” Sazra ordered.

“Understood, Captain” The bridge communication cuts off as a new one comes in.

“To all ships of the Fourth Fleet, this is Fleet Captain Erill’Yun Mek, Task Force 17 Command. Vice Admiral Beckett has made you aware of the unstable situation in the Delta Quadrant’s Gradin Belt. You will have by now also seen reports of Blood Dilithium spreading throughout the region. Further to Admiral Beckett’s orders, I implore all available starships to rendezvous at Starbase 38 by 0800 hours, stardate 24000111. From there we will proceed through the Barzan Wormhole to the Delta Quadrant, and we’ll get to the bottom of this. Mek out.”

While listening to the message, Sazra crossed her arms as she remembered the reports on the Blood Dilithium. The problem seems to have exploded into a severe crisis if they order the starships to rendezvous on such short notice. The message got quiet at the end as everyone looked at each other, and then they all looked at Sazra “Well change of plans I guess” Sazra shrugged. 

“What are your orders, Captain” Adrián spoke quickly up.

Sazra looked outside the window seeing starships that were known to be part of the Fourth Fleet to quickly get active and then looked back at them “Lieutenant T’Path and Lieutenant Th’shrithel get everything from the…” She looked at her side panel, “USS Merevek, they know everything that is known about the situation there. Find out what we can learn from it and not repeat any mistakes that could affect the health of our people.” The two nodded and stood up leaving the room quickly “Commander Valerio get the ship ready for launch and do what needs to be done” 

“Yes, Captain” Adrián stood up and left the room as well.

“Lieutenant Shew, update your security staff on every hostile species in the Delta Quadrant. Reports indicate we are entering quite a chaotic part of space” Rami nodded as he stood up and left the room “Ensign K’Nala get the ship ready for launch and plot a course for Starbase 38, the launch window is 15 minutes.” She jumped up and left the room to get her first orders out quickly.

“Commander Ruslanovna, get the crew in the ship. The emergency launch is in effect.” Silina nodded and walked as last out of the room. Sazra took a deep breath and stood up walking to the window “Well, you just got to wait a bit longer” She tapped the window seeing already undocking from Deep Space 17 to leave as per the order that was given. 

Staring out the window, Sazra finally spoke up “Computer ship wide broadcast” A bleep came as confirmation that the ship wide communication was now available and active “This is Captain Praugol. The USS Damascus and our brethren have received the call for action from the Fourth Fleet command. We are launching the ship within 12 minutes to travel on the maximum warp to Starbase 38. Get your affairs sorted and report to your designated department to start your duties. Praugol out” The channel cuts off.

Now more ships were jumping into warp to join up at Starbase 38 “Time to head out. I guess” Sazra walked out of the room and made her way towards the bridge where most of her senior staff would be present. She had to admit that she was not expecting this to happen. But Starfleet has that magnet to attract danger when possible. Not so long ago, they were involved in a large storm.

Bridge – USS Damascus

Walking onto the bridge as some officers saluted her arrival, she waved it to return to their duties. Sazra walked to her chair and sat down. This chair was new in her experience, and she was used to the Jaxartes chair. Well maybe this upgrade was a good thing “Status” 

“Ship is ready to go” Silina spoke as she sat next to Sazra, looking at the panel of her chair, “Deep Space 17 has granted emergency launch. We are also receiving further orders from Starbase 38 that we are assigned to scientific duties within Delta Quadrant. Further orders shall be received in Delta Quadrant or at Stabrase 38” 

Nodding to Silina “Ensign to us out’” Sazra orders sitting back in her chair. 

“Yes, Captain” K’Nala taps a few buttons at her console as the Damascus clamps are released, and construction bees pull away from her. The ship lights turn on as the engines start to purr “Moving us away frrom the DS17” The Damascus moved out of the docks and into the open.

“Let’s go, Ensign, maximum warp!” Sazra spoke loudly as the Damascus jumps to warp to start their journey to Starbase 38.

The Damascus jumped out of warp while arriving at the Barzan System. There, the Damascus crew would quickly notice that it was pretty busy. The bridge crew looked out as they could see the different sizes and shapes of ships flying near Starbase 38. Sazra took a deep breath as she was not expecting such a view in her lifetime, “Captain, Starbase 38 is sending the request of the CO and XO for the transport over to the starbase to start the briefing of our assignment. They have no room at this current time for any ships to dock due to the current traffic. If we require supplies or any repairs, they ask us to go to a nearby starbase or outpost as the docking list is too long,” T’Path spoke, looking over her shoulder to the Captain.

Giving a brief nod to her, “Thanks. Inform them that the XO and the Captain are on their way to the base at the designated transport pad. Get Commander Valerio to the bridge as he is in command of the ship while we are away” Sazra stood up from her chair and walked to the turbolift entering it after Silina did. “Transport Room 1″ The door closed as Sazra tried to relax a bit.

“You still dislike crowded spaces, don’t you” Silina looked at Sazra as she was leaning against the back of the turbolift. She could see from a distance how uncomfortable Sazra was before they even entered the system. 

“Stop reading into my body language, please” Sazra didn’t turn to Silina for that. “Sometimes I wonder if it is wise to have my former ship’s doctor as my right hand. You know way too much about me” Sazra smirks at that. “But maybe that’s also a good thing about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer.”  

Silina looked up at the turbolift ceiling and hummed a bit. “Well, if I were your enemy, you wouldn’t be getting out of this turbolift in one piece” Silina looked at Sazra with a grin. “You would be lost without me, Captain.” 

Not taking that bite, Sazra was saved by the doors opening, and she was quickly moving towards the transporter room, where the Transporter Chief nodded to their arrival. “Sergeant, you received the location. Please get us to that spot in one piece” She walked onto the pad, followed by Silina, and turned around to face the Chief.

“Yes, Captain, two beam over to Starbase 38” He moved his hand forward as the blue light was seen while the two command officers get transported to Starbase 38.  

Starbase 38

The area changed around for Sazra to the transporter room of Starbase 38. “Welcome to Starbase 38, Captain Praugol. Commander Woraten will be delegating your assignment to conference room number 8. Please make your way towards the designated area ma’am” The ensign waved his hand to the door.

Nodding to her, “Thank you, Ensign,” while Sazra and Silina both walked off the pad and exited the transport room. They both immediately get overwhelmed by the number of people that are there. Discussing the upcoming missions, the potential riches that await in the Delta Quadrant, and some Ferengi already busy trying to sell trinkets of this event. Sazra could feel the pressure on her chest as she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her look at her side seeing Silina standing there “I…am okay” 

“You don’t look like you are okay, Captain” Silina was concerned as she knew her old friend’s troubles. “Just stick close to me, okay?” Silina suddenly took the lead and moved forward through the crowd, pushing some people aside gently. “Excuse me.” 

The two made their way through the crowd as Sazra suddenly got a Ferengi jumping in front of her, making her take a step back, “Hello there…. Captain,” He had gazed a second at her pips, “You look like you’re about to get your assignment. Good, you want to remember this faithful event of treasure and riches waiting on the other side?” The man didn’t give a chance for Sazra to react, “I got the perfect trinket for you, don’t listen to the others that offer you this…this is the deal of a lifetime, I swear.” 

Then the Ferengi looked at his side, seeing Silina holding a hand on his shoulder, “I advise you now to choose your words very carefully. Because we are not interested in your fake metal trinkets that are not even your advice price worth.” She raised a finger to get him to be quiet, “And I swear I will inform Security if you keep going on…now get away…” The Ferengi growls and walks away as Silina keeps an eye on him, then looks back at Sazra “Do I need to get you a leash…?” 

Looking with a not-so-impressed facial expression, Sazra shrugs “I appreciate your step in on that, but I would love for you to stop doing such phrases in public” Sazra noticed a few officers staring and muttering about them. “People will get the wrong impression of your bad jokes.” 

Looking around, Silina laughs softly, “Right, you are right. I shall try my best to refrain from such comments in public” Silina continues to walk. “The room is ahead” She points in a specific direction that did have some other command officers walk into a room and a Commander welcoming them. Silina stops at the door. “Captain Praugol” She points at Sazra, “And Commander Ruslanovna of the Damascus reporting as requested.” 

The Bolian Commander looked at them both, “Welcome, I am Commander Woraten, and I shall give you the debriefing. Please take a seat” He waved into the conference room to some already placed seats. 

Sazra nodded to the Commander while passing him by and already saw quite some officers sitting and talking to each other. Sazra sat down next to Silina, who was already conversing with her neighbor. She was a social butterfly sometimes, and Sazra envied that. Looking at the screen ahead, she saw the blood dilithium image that was also in the briefing from the command. That crystal had some nasty working on telepaths, and it was a concerning factor that could affect her crew and even herself.

“Please be seated. I will start this briefing, so you all can return to your ship. The gate will open in a few hours, and we want to make use of it as much as potentially possible,” Woraten spoke as he moved himself to the front of all the people “I will repeat myself, I am Commander Woraten, Science Officer in service of Starbase 38 and various other projects. I have been asked to give you their assignment within Delta Quadrant. Foremost is that the main task is to investigate the sudden appearance of the blood dilithium” He raised his hand “before you ask, no, I don’t have further information about what you already received from command. The idea is that the science ships will go into the field and get those answers. Meaning you all.”

Silina looked quietly at the Commander as he explained everything, while Sazra was already considering the potential assignments Damascus could do for Starfleet in the given situation. Both the room was overall quiet and focused on the briefing that was given. 

Looking at the crowd, the Bolian nodded, “Right, assignments. If you hear yours, please take the PADD and move along. If you have questions, you can send it to Starfleet Science for further instructions. I am here to give them out and not explain them. USS Fleming, you are assigned to the borders of Chaotic Space. Your assignment is to see how this anomaly affects this area. Please be careful.” He reached out to the PADD as two people stood up, and one of them grabbed the assignment walking out of the room “USS Madison, you’re to report to the Hazari system, a rocky planet that has been impacted by the blood dilithium. Investigate this planet and find out why this planet got affected in the first place” A single person stood up and grabbed the PADD from Woraten, giving the nod to him while walking away.

Woraten looked down at the list, “USS Damascus. You must report to an asteroid field near Malon Cooperative and Devore Imperium. There are high readings of the anomaly, and Starfleet Science is convinced to get some rich information from this location about the blood dilithium” Both Sazra and Silina stand up walking to Woraten as Sazra grabs the PADD, the Bolian holds it for a second, looking into the eyes of Sazra “Fair warning Captain, the Devore Imperium has been acting quite hostile to any Federation vessel. Starfleet attaches an additional order for this assignment if they are hostile and nearby. Retreat as soon as possible to Markonian Outpost” 

“Understood, Commander, thanks for the warning” Sazra finally got the PADD out of the Commander’s hand and nodded to him as both Silina, and herself left the room. When further away, Sazra finally spoke, “Why is Starfleet even considering exploring so close to hostile space” Sazra shrugged, looking at the PADD information “Are we ready for this?” 

Silina looked at Sazra and smiled softly, “We are more than able to survive the borders of such hostile space. Starfleet knows our history. We have survived quite a bit, and hell, you survived a Romulan Deluxe Resort” Silina pointed out as they both made their way back to the transporter pad. The starbase was still very busy and people were still rushing around to get to their assignments.

“Stop reminding me of that, it is not like I went there on volunteering status you know” Sazra tried to not show her irritation about being reminded of that mission “Do a simple escort mission. It is easy they said, you be done in three days they said” Sazra shrugged again.

Walked into the transporter room, “Well, it does define you as who you are, Captain. You got more cranky after that mission for sure” Silina laughed stepping onto the pad as she saw Sazra turning around on the pad also “Ensign beam us back to Damascus” The ensign gave a nod to them as he activated the transporter seeing the two commanding officers get transported away with a  bright blue light. 

The Damascus crew was busy getting everything ready for their upcoming mission. Yet, at this current time, only the Captain and XO would know what would happen. Sazra and Silina were walking through the hallway, arriving back at the ship from the transport room and making their way to the turbolift. “Oh, this mission going to be a pain….” Sazra mutters, waiting for the turbolift to arrive, “There are so many flaws that could backfire upon us” 

Noticing the irritation of her Captain, Silina just gave her a nod in response, “The thing we need to keep in mind is the telepathic sensitive, which includes you also, Captain” The tubrolift arrived and opened its door as the two entered the lift “Conference Room” Silina spoke out.

“I know, that is one of the things that I don’t like. Starfleet knows that telepathies are sensitive to the Blood Dilithium. Yet they want us to go there led by a telepathic sensitive person?” Sazra couldn’t understand why Starfleet would do so. She rubbed her eyes as the whole case was giving her a headache already, “Perhaps our daring actions in the Typhon Frontier are now our undoing”

Smiling at that, “Well, you are known to be an overachiever, Captain” Silina threw out a tease as the door opened. Feeling that burning stare of Sazra she quickly made her way out of the lift and to the conference room.

They both arrived in the conference room, seeing the rest of the staff sitting there. Sazra was still shaking her head at the remarks that Silina had made. “Alright, let’s get this over with” Sazra walked to her seat and sat down as Silina took her side, and everyone looked at her “Well, we are going to get into the warrior’s den to investigate the roots of this event” She placed the PADD down.

“Meaning…” Adrián looked like he was fishing for more information and only received a cold glare from Sazra “What are we up against…”

“Malon Cooperative and potentially the hostile Devore Imperium. The grid that we are going to is dangerous close to these people. So Starfleet Command has given us the additional report to retreat if signs of danger,” Silina pointed out bluntly as she sat back in her chair, “So Lieutenant Shew, are we ready against such hostile forces?” 

Rami looked at the data shared a second ago and then looked at Silina, who asked him the question about the current situation: “In a space battle, we are not able to take on the fight with them. That is the fact of the matter. We are still a weak ship regarding combat. If they boarded us, we could handle ourselves for a certain amount of time, but we need backup eventually” Rami was realistic in the matter. When it came to combat, Damascus was heavily outmatched. He took a deep breath, ”What is so important that a ship outgunned is going to be sent to the enemy’s gates?” 

Silina looked at Sazra who was looking at the PADD information “Captain…” 

Taking a deep breath as Sazra looked at Rami “Starfleet Command is sending quite a bit of science vessels out there. So we are no exception. That gate out there is the real problem. When we are there, we are cut off for the given time from Starfleet in Alpha, and Beta Quadrant” Sazra looked outside, seeing the various ships “Additionally, Starfleet is worried that the anomaly has potential factors that it might hit home. If we can verify the cause, the root of this problem or event, we might learn how to prevent it from swallowing worlds.” 

“Swallowing worlds is not yet confirmed, Captain” T’Path suddenly spoke out, “But I do have to agree with the Captain’s statement. We must find out what is happening out there and the potential dangers it brings. I advise you to grab a sample and put it in a containment field level 3 to withhold its additional effects for further investigation.”

Giving the nod to T’Path, “I appreciate it, but I will only beam over such rock to my ship if we can guarantee the safety of those on the crew that are telepathic. I don’t want them to suffer under any conditions that the rock is given us. Doctor, what can we expect on that front?”  

Kossaal looked at the Captain and then at the others, “ Well it is quite fascinating what it does. So to sum it up from the reports of the USS Merevek. A telepathic person will experience a deep sense of foreboding, and the following symptoms intensify; paralyzing fear of all attempting to communicate with other people. Patients state to hear violent, disembodied voices that they only hear, and they are aggressive. Additionally, the person will experience aggressive outbursts and might attack fellow crew without remorse. But the final one is a bit vague. They start to show interest in sabotaging the ship’s system. Which doesn’t make much sense.”

Everyone was a bit quiet from the briefing on the effects. “Right, meaning that if our telepathic crew show any symptoms, they are to be put in their quarters under close surveillance,” Sazra said, seeing Silina looking at her and giving a brief nod to her in confirmation. “That would also mean that if I am affected by whatever this is, I am deemed unfit for duty. Commander Ruslanovna will take command of the ship, and I will confine myself until my symptoms are gone again.”  

A 3D image appears in the middle of the table as Silina takes the lead. The image would represent the asteroid field: “Grid 168 is close to the Malon Cooperative and Devore Imperium. Long-range scanners indicate that this grid has been severely influenced by the anomaly. Starfleet doesn’t want us to take the risk of going towards one of the given star systems there but go towards a random asteroid field that was impacted by the known anomaly. Our mission is to go in, keep our distance, investigate the anomaly and its effects on the asteroid and pull back to Markonian Outpost. No funny business. We get the data and get out of there,” Silina sounded quite serious.

Adrián was listening carefully to the debriefing as he looked then to Silina. “There is a sidenote to this all. We have no data on the anomaly’s effects on ships. I will focus on that to see if my engineering team can figure out that data. No worries, I will not advise anything dangerous that could put us in a tied spot,” He pointed out. 

“Good, Ensign K’Nala are you able to navigate through these fields of asteroids? It might be tricky, and if so no shame is given and Lieutenant T’Path can help you” Sazra looked at the Caitian, whom was looking curiously at the 3D image.

“I can fly thrrrough that field with ease, Captain” K’Nala eyes looked at her Captain, “I will plan additional escape routes to get safely out of therrre if needed.” 

Nodding to her, “Good, get your departments ready. The gate will open in five hours. We will travel with the rest of the fourth fleet towards Delta Quadrant. When arriving, we will set warp to our destination immediately. Security gets up to date on the given powers near our mission area, I rather am prepared than be surprised at what they might throw at us. Medical, learn as much as you can about the given symptoms and see if you can counter them or isolate them. Science will focus on getting the data from the grid we are investigating, and Engineering focus on the effects on our ship by this new anomaly. If you need help, do ask for it, we are not in a competition to see which department is better. Now let’s get ourselves that data, shall we?” Sazra ordered as she looked at everyone at the table. “Dismissed” With that said, everyone took their stuff and left the room to prepare for their new mission. 

Five hours later – Bridge

The crew at the bridge were getting ready for the signal to travel through the wormhole. “Starbase 38 is sent the latest information batch. Reports indicate the spreading of the blood dilithium to be going faster then expected. Devore presence has grown in various regions but our mission is still a go” Rami spoke.

When suddenly, some looked at the screen seeing the gate opened up “We have confirrrmation of gate opening, Captain” K’nala spoke looking at the data coming in. Ships started to move “We arrre thirrrd wave to go in, Captain” 

“Get ready for gate jump, everyone. This will be one big adventure for sure,” Sazra said with a grin, leaning back in her chair. When the second wave entered the gate, it was the turn of the third wave to enter, and various ships formed, including the Damascus. 

“Signal from Starbase 38. Confirm wormhole traffic,” Rami spoke as more ships exited the wormhole filled with dilithium “Well, those Ferengi are having a field day for sure…” Rami complained softly to himself. 

Silina looked at Rami with a smile, “They see profit, they shall grab it, Lieutenant. That is how their society is built, and if these sudden appearances of dilithium will help them profit then they shall take that given chance to get it” She winks at him, seeing him shrugs at the commander’s reaction.

Damascus moved forward into the gate with the other ships as a flash hit the bridge briefly as the ship got pulled through the wormhole to travel to the other side.

Ships started to exit the wormhole as the third wave arrived at the given destination, Delta Quadrant. Damascus arrived as one of the last of the wave. Ships jumped to warp to start their journey to get their riches, save people or find out what is going on with that blood colored and glowing dilithium. Damascus gets into position and jumps into the dark space with a flash.

The ship was traveling through space after a sudden alternation in the navigational course and now heading to Markonian Outpost. The bridge was relatively calm. Sazra was looking at some data of the latest intel that Starfleet got from the Gardin Belt. Silina was helping K’Nala at her console to understand the new navigational maps of the sector. Thought Sazra noticed Silina was struggling with the many questions the young Caitian had. Sazra looked at her side, seeing Adrián and T’Path talking to each other about the latest scientific findings about the blood dilithium and how it might impact the ship’s systems. Her eyes went to Rami, who was focused on getting the ship’s security systems ready for any potential encounter with the Devore. Sazra could only imagine the amount of pressure on that man’s shoulder, knowing that an encounter with the Devore would be a battle of charms, not knives.

A console beep went off as K’Nala looked back at Sazra “Captain we arrre arrriving at Marrrkonian Outpost per yourrr request” She looked back at her console as Silina went back to her chair next to Sazra. “Jumping out of warrrp now” Damascus jumps out of warp and into the space of where Markonian Outpost was. Many Starfleet ships were there already as they moved closer to the outpost.

“Hail them,” Sazra requested, leaning back in her chair.

The screen changed, seeing the station security on the view screen. “This is Markonian Outpost. What can I do for you, Starfleet?”

“This is the USS Damascus. Task Force 86 of the Fourth Fleet ordered to deliver our personnel for assistance to Markonian Outpost,” Sazra said, noticing already some glares at her, but she tended to ignore them. It was sudden for them to hear such a change.

“Ah yes, Captain Takato has informed us about your officer’s borrow regarding our station’s problems. We appreciate your contribution towards the safety and development of our station. You are welcome to dock at number 2. Markonian out” The screen changed back to the outpost.

The bridge went quiet for a moment as Sazra finally broke it. “Helm, get us to docking port 2. Commander…” She looked at her side at Silina, who shrugged and nodded at her Captain.

Silina taps on her PADD as two bridge members get a beep on their console, “Lieutenant T’Path, Ensign Vaani, you are hereby temporarily reassigned to the duties onboard Markonian Outpost. You will be followed by other members of Damascus for this assignment.” Silina shrugs at giving out the orders, but this all happens quickly.

A few hours earlier—Ready Room

Walking into her ready room, Sazra puts down a PADD and leans at her table, looking at the door and waiting on someone to arrive. A soft smile appeared on her face when Silina walked into the room, “We got a priority call, and you still late?” Sazra teased as she saw Silina roll her eyes at her, “Computer, answer the hail and redirect it at the holoprojector in this room.” 

A bleep came as a female figure appeared in front of the two as her stern Asian eyes looked at the two. The woman had her hands behind her back and pips of Captain at her neck, “Captain Praugol, Commander Ruslanovna, it a pleasure to meet you. My name is Captain Ryoko Takato. I am the new Task Force 86 Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of the USS Wakaba. I see some questionable looks from you both, which is understandable.” 

“What can we do for Task Force 86, ma’am” Sazra replied as she crossed her arms over each other.

“I am here to state a change in command. Fourth Fleet is quite occupied with the operations in Delta Quadrant and sees that the USS Damascus is a more valuable asset for Task Force 86 than 17,” Ryoko explained to them both.

Silina shrugs. “That doesn’t make much sense, Captain. TF17 is designed for exploration and discovering the unknown. That is precisely up the alley for Damascus. If I remember correctly, TF86 is more designed for border control, a counter effect for Damascus by all measurements.” 

Ryoko nodded softly to that, “A keen observation there, Commander. I applaud you for knowing the chain of command and designated duties of our task forces within the Fourth Fleet. But to be more precise, our duties are more than that. We do manage Starfleet’s border defense and counterinsurgency operations. We monitor criminal organizations operating within the Triangle region and assist operations in different sectors that are marked troubling.” 

Looking at the two, Ryoko continued explaining, “Furthermore, we assist local governments in preventing and combatting criminal activities. But the last one is the one that kinda applies to you as well. Well, your history speaks chapters, so to speak. Our last duty is to develop and maintain relationships with local governments and communities, which Jaxartes did in her time.”

Thinking about their various first contact and cooperating operations, Sazra couldn’t deny that “But the Damascus is not Jaxartes Captain. We are purely scientific ship, and we are required to go out there and search the unknown,” Sazra pointed out bluntly, “That is the statement Starfleet Command gave and attached to this ship. We are not a ship of war. Not only that, but we cannot contain criminal activities or react to that.” 

The stern look on Ryoko’s face didn’t change, but she was amused by the conversation. “The last duty that our task force has to do can be seen as a gray area,” Ryoko thought for a second, “Science is needed everywhere, Captain. So TF86 will not restrain you from staying at the borders, but your ship’s weakness is also your disadvantage to travel out there. We will not take your ability to travel to Typhon Expanse and stop your scientific mission, but administration-wise, you are now bound to our TF” 

They did not agree to much about this sudden change, but it was a change they couldn’t object to at any moment. “Alright, thank you for informing us about this sudden change, but this could have waited until we arrived back?” Sazra was quite direct with this Captain and slightly rude as she was still annoyed about the sudden change. 

The rudeness is something Ryoko let her pass by, “Right now, you are about to travel to a hazardous area that contains data that Starfleet desperately requires. We need to understand Blood Dilithium, what causes them, how did grow so fast, and what its impact is on us. However, you overlooked something or completely ignored it, which I hope you didn’t do” Ryoko narrowed her eyes. “If I am correct, Damascus has about 80 souls onboard, of those people there are at least 14 telepaths and 5 sensitive to telepathic abilities right?” 

Silina nods “Yea we do…” She confirmed the Captain, but was somewhat confused about the whole ordeal.

“While I understand that 5 of them are still on board, why are the other 14 still on the Damascus? You do know the effects of Blood Dilithium on telepaths? You know that Devore Imperium will attack any ship that has telepathic on their ship, right?” Ryoko tone was a bit harsh and yet annoyed at the same time.

They both looked at each other as Sazra looked at Ryoko. “We do know about the effects of Blood Dilithium. But we were assured that the effects were not that severe, and if members showed symptoms, they would be confined. Captain, we don’t expect to see Devore ships at our grid.” 

Ryoko placed her arms over each other, giving that lecture pose and looking at them both, “I had the hopes you were not that naive to forget your most important duty. To protect your crew from potential harm. So I will do this. I order Damascus to make a turn, set course towards Markonian Outpost, and place your telepathic officers there for a temporary assignment. They can help out the station with various tasks that need to be done by Starfleet. Understood?”

“Yes sir, but I have an additional question,” Sazra gave a follow-up. “My Chief Science Officer is Vulcan and thus categorized as telepathic. I don’t have a Chief Science during missions by your orders.” Sazra was having trouble with the idea. Maybe she would get an exemption out of this order.” 

Her eyes went to Sazra and Ryoko still had that harsh look. “You should have thought about that before entering the delta quadrant, Captain,” Ryoko shrugs, “I believe your records state that you are a graduate in the science yourself. So put two hats on. Do your chief’s duties in her place” She raised a finger at Silina, who wanted to object, “Be happy that I allow your Captain to stay on this mission. She is, after all, telepathic sensitive, which is alarming by all means. But Starfleet Command needs Captain Praugol in the field due to her extensive experience in science to get the job done.” 

They both nodded to Ryoko. “We shall set course to Markonian Outpost and deliver our officers, Captain,” Sazra confirmed the orders given.

“Good, that will be all for now. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out” Ryoko saw no response from either of them and confirmed to herself that there were no questions at this time. Good luck, Captain” Ryoko looked at Silina, “Commander,” The communication broke off when Ryoko gave a gentle wave as a command to stop the communication. 

“What do we do…” Silina said after the Captain had disappeared.

Sazra sighed and tapped her combadge “Praugol to K’Nala, set course to Markonian Outpost. Sazra out,” The link cuts off before the Ensign can reply. “We follow orders, even if we dislike them” Sazra saw the stars shifting in direction, meaning the ship had altered its course. “Even if I don’t like it, it seems we underestimated the magnitude of the Blood Dilithium effects” Sazra wondered how severe it would be. “Get a message ready for sending out, Commander.”

For a moment, Silina was hesitant to respond and wondered if it was worth their time to fight these orders. But Captain Takato did speak the truth, and the safety of their fellow crewmembers was their priority. “I will inform the doctor also about the severity of the case” With that, they both left the bridge to resume their duties. 

The Damascus was en route to their assigned destination, where they were to use their ship’s advanced equipment to get the job done. Get the information on what Blood Dilhithium was, how to prevent damage to telepathic people, and how to mine it safely. A boom in much-wanted dilithium was needed within the Federation. But the Federation was not the only customer who wanted to use such a resource.

Looking at the information a few times, Sazra sighed and leaned backward. There were so many question marks when it came to this assignment. Why risk going all out for just some dilithium? If the reports of various reports were correct, there would be enough for everyone in all quadrants. Well, that was a bit overestimating the growth, but Sazra’s eye fell upon the data again. Starfleet was putting a lot on the line for this, but the curiosity side of her wanted to understand why this was all happening and why now. She suddenly felt something cold against her cheek and moved away from it, looking at it.

A drink was in front of Sazra as Adrián smiled, “You are doing that thing again, Captain” He placed the drink on the table next to her. “Getting attracted to the unknown as a magnet, ignoring everything and anything around you” He sat down on an empty seat. “I know that with T’Path gone, you are the designated Chief Science Officer again. But it doesn’t mean that you have to do everything yourself.

Looking at him, she noticed other officers in the lab as well that were working harder than usual. Was it because she was there? Was it because she entered the lab earlier, greeted them, and sat down to work on this assignment? Now she felt terrible about the whole ordeal. These people didn’t know her so well yet, yet she sat down, “I know…” Sazra muttered, taking the drink and a sip of it. “Ice coffee, are you trying to get on my good side for something?” 

He grinned a bit and just shook his head. “Not at all, but good that you noticed the problem” Adrián saw the glare earlier. He knew Sazra well enough to know what she was thinking after working all those years, yet there were moments when he was surprised by what she said, what she thought, and how she reacted. “So far, the reports from the Fourth Fleet are pretty much the same. They don’t know how the blood dilithium reacts on the ship. Some civilian miners have already gotten the dilithium without any danger. However, there are some vague rapports.”

“Vague rapports?” Sazra looked down at the information where the red glowing blood dilithium was shown, “I got to agree with the reports of many science officers out there. This dilithium is not impacting the ship or its system, but it is affecting the crew.” 

Giving the nod to her as he crossed his arms.” The vague reports state that a mining convoy went to the more dense area. Their logical thinking is not far off. Go to a denser area, and you might hit the jackpot by fishing in bigger prices.” 

“I hear a but coming” Sazra briefly looked at him.

“Yes, the but” He scratched behind his ear for a moment as Adrián resumed, “The but in this whole idea was that they didn’t expect the anomaly density would also increase in those areas. From what I understand, Markonian Outpost has alerted all species to stay away from the area we are heading for” Adrián played with his own fingers while looking up at the ceiling. “Some ships didn’t return from that grid, and those that survived were severely damaged to their hull. The Captains of those ships didn’t talk about what happened, but whatever happened there went terribly wrong.”

Giving a soft nod to him as Sazra took another sip of her drink “That does sound troubling and also explains why you are so focused on finding out what happened to their ships. So what did you learn?” Sazra placed the drink again and swiped the data to the right side.

“While we were at Markonian Outpost, I looked around to find any information that could help us in the given situation. But many of the crews that docked at this outpost kept it to themselves and only warned me to stay away from that cursed location. When I had a chance to check the hull from one of the ships, I was surprised as to what I found”. He turned his attention to Sazra, who he saw putting her hair behind her ear, and found himself staring at his Captain. What was this sudden look that she was giving him? He noticed two Ensigns looking at them and quickly giggling away, making Sazra look up.

“Did something happen?” Sazra looked her side to Adrián. “You were saying?”

Adrián shook his head, “Maybe they saw something funny. The ship hull was ripped apart, and the damage looked quite severe. The weird part is it was not external damage,” Adrián shrugged, “It was internal, as if something ripped open the whole hull, and I guess they managed to get out of there alive.” He was somewhat concerned about that prospect, “Before you ask what the possible reason could be for that, I have no idea.”

The possibility that something was out there, the effects of those anomalies? Was there potentially a source for this all? How far was she going to go to get that answer? Sazra leaned back from her console again and sighted, “The possibilities are pretty long, we honestly don’t know what we are dealing with, and I feel like we are just hitting the tip of this all. Telepathic that are driven to madness when being too close to those anomalies. The lust and greed were noticeable at Markonian Outpost. Everyone was happy that this had happened. People would cross the galaxy to ease their greed.” 

“Being a philosopher with me right now, Captain?” Adrián smiled a bit.

Sazra lifted her shoulders as a sign of the unknown. “I don’t think there is much to it, but this same lust does not drive Starfleet. At least, I hope they are not. I don’t want to have something similar to the Liberty incident. We are en route to an unknown and dangerous location for answers,” Sazra wanted to make a point.

“The answer to other problems, solutions. Like those worlds that are getting consumed by these crystals for unknown reasons. People are getting killed by merely being close to it….that does bring up the question, Captain” Adrián narrowed his eyes a bit, “Are you able to resist the madness lurking out there right now?” He was concerned over her, maybe overprotective since the Broken Wings faction kidnapped her. 

Looking at Adrián with an intense stare and eventually looked back at the information, passing her eyes on the console, “The doctor will keep an eye on my status, attitude, and behavior. He is trying to learn everything he can about this contamination and how it might affect me. As I said in the briefing, if my ability to command is compromised by whatever this crystal is doing to people like myself, then I shall be confined to my room, and Commander Ruslanovna takes command.” 

He shrugged as he looked around the room at everyone working in the big lab. “I think we both know it will go to the limit to convince you to stand away from your chair, Captain. But you told us this, and we shall perform within the given order” Adrián stood up and stretched. “We are still about 3 days away from the location. I still have tons of work to read from ships that did encounter potential issues with the crystal itself.”

Not looking at him, Sazra just nodded as confirmation to his statement, “There are a lot of things we still need to investigate, leads to looking at, and data samples to process.” She tapped her finger at the long, written, detailed reports as she could hear Adrián leave. She spoke up, “Will we survive this…” She bluntly spoke, realized what she had said a second later, and eyed the other people who didn’t pay much attention to her, and a feeling of relief hit her. She was not heard by others, as that would make her standing as a Captain seem wrong.

“Why would you say something like that” A soft reply came back from Adrián, who was looking at her with some disappointment in his eyes that now met with Sazra. “We have survived quite a bit over the last 7 years, Sazra….I think we will survive this under your guidance without any problem.” 

It was somewhat reassuring to hear those words from not only one serving under her but also a dear friend, “Thank you, Adrián,” She replied softly to him, giving the nod. “Thought please address me as a Captain in the presence of other officers,” Sazra bluntly pointed out as she aimed her thumb at a few of them, “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.” 

Adrián blinked a few times and was surprised at the reaction “Right, yes, sorry, Captain” he replied a bit too formally “I better get going” He nodded to himself as Adrián turned around and exited the lab.

The room became quiet again, sometimes some brief muttering between two officers, as Sazra had been looking at the console for a while now. She needed T’Path here, a second person that could understand her train of thought and debunk everything that wouldn’t make any sense was something she desired. But what was she going to do right now about it all? The possibilities of what was waiting there were getting vaguer with every rapport that came in from Starfleet. Was the anomaly ripping ships apart? Was the area unstable? Was there a creature? Are the Devore making use of the area to test weapons? Anything right now was possible, and Sazra was sending in a strong scientific ship but weak against any attacks into the den of a targ. It made her feel insecure as a scientist. It made her feel irresponsible as a Captain. 

Were they really ready for whatever was waiting out there?

Only one more day to go, and they would arrive at the grid, where the Damascus would perform their routine investigation into what is potentially the find of the century. Sazra had been spending the last few days in the science lab and trying to cover the work that T’Path was supposed to do and, at the same time, also do her obligated duties as a Captain. Now she finally had some time to relax, sitting on the couch that had a beautiful view of the stars passing by. Her feet were on the couch. Her shoes were off. Having a PADD in her hands, she was lost in her thoughts of everything that had happened. The door chime went, and Sazra sat up for a second from her pillow position and looked at the door. She straightened up her hair as the door chime went again. “Yea, yea, come in,” getting her hair right as she was not expecting anyone.

The door opened as Silina walked into the room and saw that the room was slightly darkened. Her eyes fell upon Sazra on the couch. Silina blinked at her. Seeing her Captain in a relatively defenseless position stopped her thoughts for a second. “Am I coming at the wrong time?” She made already a gesture to exit the room.

Sazra raised her hand and shook her head. “No, I am just getting comfortable while reading these latest rapports. Don’t worry. I will take a break after this,”. She lowered her hand and placed the PADD at her side, “What can I do for you?” getting her feet on the soft floor to sit up better and face the Commander. “I know you have been going around the clock with some of my duties, so before you begin…sorry for that,” Sazra shrugged.

Letting a smile go for a second, Silina gave her a nod. “You better be sorry, but I know you are doing quite a lot, and it is my job to lift that burden from your shoulders as well as possible. You still have that mindset from back on the Jaxartes that you have to do everything on your own”. Silina walked to her and sat down at an empty spot beside her, “But you are not alone. We are here to help you. Be it old or new crew. This is our duty.”

She didn’t feel uncomfortable looking at Silina, who sat beside her. Sazra had her hair messy. Her jacket was on the chair, and her clothing was a mess. Her shoes were on the ground as if she looked like a teenager who came home and didn’t care anymore. But in her case, she was so drawn to the information she didn’t even notice. Yet, with Silina here with her, she felt comfortable and at ease.

“So…your silence is admitting to the problem?” Silina preyed on Sazra with narrowed eyes and a lecturing pose. 

Nodding to Silina, “Yes, I have the tendency to get back into my old habits. But it is good to have friends that know me well enough to notice these deviations in my behavior and correct them when needed. ” Sazra leans back on the couch, letting her head hang to the side to look at Silina. “Being a harsh teacher is not your style, Silina” It was a long time since she named one of her friends by the name and not by rank. But there was no crime committed right now, right? No one was there to notice this time of weakness. 

Shaking her head, “Always too late to see what is happening right in front of you, but that is how you are….” Silina looked at her PADD and shrugged, “Reports are all over the map, ships disappearing, conflicts arising, people getting wounded. Delta Quadrant is too much for us; we are outgunned and outmatched and will not win this battle of attrition. What did we get ourselves into now?” Silina was not quite here for a report, but more to vent her feelings about this operation. 

Sazra looked up at the ceiling as she could see the reflections of the stars passing by. “We are here to maintain order, to help out where needed, and to explore the unknown” Sazra smiled, thinking about her adventures. “As we did at Typhon, we both know the vast amount of things out there and still out of our grasp. We want to learn and understand the surrounding universe” She smiled. So many things had to happen: “Remember when Adrián burned his ass by sitting on an active plasma conduit.” 

“Oh please, it took me weeks to let him stop whining about his ass still hurt. While the burn was not even that severe, to begin with,” Silina finally smiled. “Or when Rami fell into the same bait of a trap again by grabbing supplies at the docks.” 

Sazra placed her hand on her face, shaking her head, “Don’t remind me. That took me weeks to get cleared with the docking personnel. Deep Space 17 will kick my ass if I ever let him on those docks again” She lowered her hand while on her face and smiled. “Or T’Path not understanding human traditions like Christmas and such…what was it again what she said about that?” 

“Uhmm, It doesn’t make sense to believe in a man in a red suit and a bag with presents. It would be very suspicious if someone with those descriptions were walking on the starbase” Silina repeated what she remembered as they both laughed about it. “If Rami had not stopped her after Adrián pointed at that Admiral trying to do a Santa Claus act, she would have gotten kicked to a brig”.

Nodding to that, “Ahh, those were an amazing time. We learned so much. Seen so much, and now we are actually still doing what we all loved so oh so much” Sazra looked up again, thinking back at all the good memories.

Looking at Sazra, who was lying there as her smile faded, “But when you were away from us when the IRS took you away. We were scared, and we were restless and divided. Where Adrián screamed his mind out of what to do next, I had to keep it to myself. I had to stay professional and deal with it” Silina struggled since everything went down. “So much happened, and I never realized what you meant ….to us” Looking back, Sazra was still staring upwards.

“I consider everyone’s feelings during that time, being a prisoner of the Romulans. Getting their lovely treatments sometimes literally shocked me. I did what I had to do to prevent diplomatic instability. People could get hurt if they knew what was with those numbers. But you know, in that time and everything went down, I kept holding onto one thought”. She paused for a second, thinking about those memories where she was bleeding on the ground, “I kept thinking about every one of the Jaxartes. Is Adrián not wounded again, does Rami know to keep a close eye on the systems, would T’Path ever be able to figure out what socializing was….and would you figure out what I felt for” 

When Sazra wanted to finish her sentence, Silina leaned forward and kissed Sazra’s lips with her eyes closed. The drips of tears fell onto Sazra face as Silina moved her hands on Sazra’s shoulder to pull her closer to her. Silina wondered if she would accept this, was her kiss in prison a fake one? An act of desperation to feel loved again after going through such an amount of torture and brutality. She felt connected to her after that, and Silina felt distant, growing more and more. Every time she wanted to address the issue of what had happened in that prison, Sazra would avoid the topic and talk about something else. Now she couldn’t escape it any longer. She had to confirm it, ‘Just do something…’ She thought.

She felt the drips of tears on her face and the warm lips of Silina on her own. Sazra looked with big eyes at the sad Silina, who had her eyes closed. Lifting her right hand, her eyes looked at every inch of Silina as her hand finally touched the side of Silina’s cheek. Letting her hand slide through her long hair and placing it on her neck, she gently pulled her towards her and slowly closed her eyes, accepting the kiss.

It took a good few minutes before the passionate kiss was over, and their lips separated as both opened their eyes to look at each other. Silina had no idea what just happened as she felt the warm hand from Sazra slide off her neck. But her gaze was still locked on Sazra, who looked so defenseless, “I had to confirm. I felt you were avoiding me after we did kiss back at the prison, and it felt awkward. I wanted to know for sure. I wanted to know how you felt if you hated me after that and” 

With a quick lift and a pull from her hand that she placed back, Sazra kissed her again and pushed her down on the couch. She lifted her head, looking at the surprised Silina. “You talk too much, Commander…” With that said, she resumed her kiss, and was now calmer, warmer, and more pleasant as Sazra unzipped her jacket, letting her take the lead in this new turn of events. Sazra had been burning with her emotions and feelings for years, so she acted on an impulse back at the prison. She thought she would die, and her final moment was when the one she cared so much about was there to say goodbye. But she didn’t want to leave the stage without expressing her feelings and what Silina meant. 

Letting Sazra take the lead, Silina could feel, with every kiss, the passion and gentleness of Sazra. Was this burning passion always there? Did Sazra always desire her? Sazra was always a person of the rules, protocols, and being formal. But maybe this was her way to escape her true feelings. She must have felt so alone all this time. Memories of old missions pass through Silina’s mind, making it more apparent how much Sazra cared for her crew and her. Silina felt the kisses on her neck suddenly stopping when the combadge went off.

“Bridge to Ruslanovna, we require your presence at the bridge” 

Sazra sit up and was sighted in a response of disbelief and disappointment, looking outside and trying to catch her breath. She was too much into it, and she let it all go. At that moment, did she go too far?

Silina took a second to gather her thoughts of what just happened to her and sat up and quickly stood up, pressing the combadge “Yes…Ruslanovna here,” She said, out of breath, trying to get her uniform correct again and her hair in shape.

“There are some systematic problems, and we are informed to ask you to look at the systems. Commander Valerio had just gotten off his shift and went to his quarters for the night. Are you alright? You seem out of breath, Commander.” 

“I am perfectly fine, don’t worry about me. I will head to the bridge in a second. Ruslanovna out” The communication cuts off as Silina stands there frozen and still processing what just happened “I ….well…you heard” 

Sazra shrugged again and nodded “I heard yes, I still got a rapport to get through” Sazra rolled her eyes and wished she tapped the PADD that she had laid aside. 

Nodding to that, “I will ….we will talk later on,” Silina said walking to the exit to get out of the situation, still no idea what just happened.

“Commander….” 

Silina stopped and turned back at Sazra, holding up her PADD, and nodded to her as she walked back to grab the PADD. But Sazra had another idea in her mind as Silina suddenly found her pulled towards Sazra, who quickly stood up and took advantage of the gravity by pulling the PADD to her. Silina looked at her as her lips touched those of Sazra.

Pulling away from Silina’s lips, “We will talk later on. Go get back to your shift Commander” Sazra gave her soft smile as she saw Silina nodding nervously and leaving the room. Sazra sat down on the couch and let her body fellow backward. Her head turned outside to the beautiful stars passing the window, and a little smile appeared while her hand was placed above her heart. She finally did it. She finally expressed her hidden love for her best friend. 

The journey took some time. They had been in Delta Quadrant now for more than a week. The crew did their regular duties by taking in as many long-range scans as possible. All the information and the extension of the bloom were recorded and sent back to Starfleet Command. Every type of data that could help get the answers were most welcoming in these troubling times.

Walking onto the bridge, Sazra nodded to an Ensign and gave back to her “Status report” She finally gave the order walking to her seat as Silina rose from her chair, and the two met eyes for a brief moment. Sazra felt the warmth of her chest seeing her smile as Silina blushed and gave her a nod to sit down in her chair. Sazra took a moment and then sat down in her chair.

“We will be arrriving at the grid within 5 minutes ma’am” K’Nala spoke swiping a few buttons up on her console “All systems arrre in the grrreen”

Silina looked at her side “Captain, the crew has been working overtime to prepare for this mission. We will be arriving in a hostile area, but rapports indicate that Devore Imperium and other ships are avoiding this grid due to the intense density of the anomaly. Starfleet Command believes that we are relatively safe”.

Nodding to her XO “And if we are not? Ensign, are we able to retreat immediately?”

The Caitian looked over her shoulder with some doubt in her eyes, “The system is quite a hazarrrd by itself. Unknown anomalies can pop up everrry second. We need to carrrefully maneuver thrrrough it, it’s like a minefield?” K’Nala shrugs, “So pulling the Damascus out will be challenging, to say the least, therrre will be a lot of impacts on our hull just to get out of it safely”

“Alright, Lieutenant Shew, is the Damascus able to get herself into safety, and will the shields hold?” Sazra was asking the more critical questions. Sazra wanted to know if they were really ready for an encounter, escape and get to safety within the possible given time. 

He was focused on the console and shrugged a bit, “The systems are green, the shields are good, and the hull can take a pounding. But don’t jump through a minefield without considering that the ship won’t get damaged. The shields can hold out as long as needed, but when that battery is down you will have a fight with Adrián” He looked at his side to Adrián who entered the bridge.

“Fight with me?” He blinked a bit “Why would you get in a fight with me?”

Sazra looked at him “We are doing a check-up on all systems and departments. Lieutenant Shew is a bit of a critic regarding our shielding and hull. It won’t be able to take a long pounding if we need to make a quick exit” Leaning a bit against her chair, “So Commander, is the Lieutenant right about that? Can the Damascus not take the pounding, or can we pull through?” 

He looked at Rami for a second and then crossed his arms over each other, “Basically, he is right. While we are not Orbeth, we are not Akira either. This ship is built and designed for the purpose of scientific missions, and if we get into combat, it is basically run with your tail behind your leg’s situation”. Adrián looked around a bit, seeing some worried faces, “But to come back to your original question, we will be able to survive the potential escape. Just give me a sign ahead of time, so I can boost the shields a bit” 

“We are arrrriving at the location, Captain” K’Nala spoke, looking at the screen as the Damascus jumped out of warp and into the grid they were going to spend most of their time. It looked on the screen as a chaotic place, with asteroid fields as far as the eyes could see. The red glows of blood dilithium were visible across most of the asteroids, and anomalous were visible by large red circles engulfed with the asteroids. It was so beautiful that you almost forget what kind of danger was lurking from there. 

A piercing shot of pain hits Sazra’s head for a brief moment, forcing her to close her right eye, “So what you are saying is that we need to be careful. Glad to know that. But when we need to pull out, I depend on all of you. I depend on K’Nala’s navigation skills, Rami’s shield handling, and Adrián’s magic hands in engineering” She noticed SIlina looking at her as she shook her head slightly.

“Understood, I will keep this boot afloat. We better start getting some readings from those asteroids” Adrián walked to a console and stood next to another officer helping with his readings. “Ensign K’Nala I will give you a green light as soon as I know if its safe or not” 

“Yes, Commanderrr Valerrrio” K’Nala replied, halting the ship’s movement. 

Leaning a bit to her side, Silina looked at Sazra “You felt it right?” She looked concerned at Sazra “You have to go towards the doctor to ensure you are not compromised for this mission. Don’t make me pull out the xo card on you” She narrowed her eyes slightly.

Sazra could not escape the keen eyes of Silina, and looked back at her, “It was just a piercing pain for a brief second. If it keeps up, then I will go and get the doctor to investigate my head. You don’t have to pull out any cards to get my attention, as you fully had that already”. She gave her a wink, noticing the blush coming back on her cheek as Sazra looked at the screen, taking a deep breath. It was a stunning image for sure. 

Looking away from Sazra and sitting back in her chair, she was overwhelmed by the flirting behavior of Sazra, but they did accept their feelings for each other. Maybe she needs to talk to her about doing such behavior in front of the crew. Silina felt a bit uncomfortable with the sudden tease, but at the same time it was pleasant as well. Silina looked at her side and saw a young man struggling with the console, “What is wrong, Ensign?”

The Ensign looked up in the direction of Silina and quickly noticed the other officers also looking at him, “I….I am unsure, Commander” He nervously said “I am getting a reading from the asteroid field of an SOS signal, and I am not sure if it is really there” 

Walking at the Ensign side, Rami looked at the readings and tapped a few times, “The broadcast signal is weakened or jammed… I can’t pinpoint the cause of this signal, but there is definitely an SOS signal coming from the asteroid field, Captain”. Rami concluded and looked at the Ensign “Good catch there, Ensign Davids” He smiled softly at the young man. 

Sazra nods to the Ensign “Well done” while looking at the screen “Commander Valerio, can we?” 

“We can’t, but I am running the required scans to make sure we can” Adrián stated “Ensign K’Nala move forward, half impulse. Rami us forward scans to detect the potential dangerous of those anomalous” Looking at his side “Ensign David, send the area of the SOS to Ensign K’Nala and resume operational duties” 

“Yes sir” Both K’Nala and David replied 

“On it, the scans need to be recalibrated for that kind of usage, but…..” Rami taps a few times on the console, “There we go…” He was now able to see what was ahead of them as the Damascus started to move forward deeper into the grid.

“Commander Ruslanovna, get onto one of the science consoles and help out with the range scans to pinpoint the signal,” Sazra orders as she was helping now Adrián with the checks of the outer hull. “Commander Valerio, the outer hull is holding. The density is not strong yet. What is your recommended range?”

“I would say….30% and then do a check what the systems say in regard to pressure” Adrián tapped onto his console trying to keep the ship’s stats in few with the most recent data. 

Meanwhile Silina had walked towards the science console and started to pinpoint the signal “The closer we get, the better view we have on the signal Captain. The SOS is on repeat and the computer is now translating the whole message for us” She taps a few times “The id of the ship is civilian, transportation of people. We are not close enough to get the readings as to how many yet” 

Sazra looked at Silina for a second then back “Put the message on when done in translating” Then a muffled dark male voice came on the speakers of the bridge as Sazra looked up to listen more carefully. 

“This is the Red Lunar, we are in need of immediate help. The ship is stuck in one of the newly formed blooms of the red lotus. We required immediate help. We got 120 souls on our ship, I repeat, we need help!” The message repeats itself after that again.

Then Silina spoke up, “Confirmed, the Red Lunar has 120 people on board. The ship is stuck in an anomaly….but the ship hull is ripped apart and damaged severely” The view screen changes to the damaged ship that was stuck near an asteroid. 

“That ship got some beating to it, but I have to admit that I never saw an anomaly do something this severe to the ship. Captain, I would urge to go to yellow alert just in case” Adrián advised, looking puzzled at the screen and trying to understand what happened to the ship. 

“I had the same idea, Commander Ruslanovna. Please do so. Lieutenant Shew, open a channel to them,” Sazra orders as the light changes to yellow. Sazra heard the channel open up “This is Captain Praugol of the USS Damascus. We are here to provide aid to you, Red Lunar. Please hold on as we are making our way to you right now. Damascus out” Sazra looked around “Alright people get ready for a rescue operation, we need to get them out” 

The yellow light was flashing as the tension on the bridge was high. People were focused on navigating through the different anomalous, visible by the glare of red glowing light and the sudden burst of blood dilithium spreading over them. The sweat was hanging on the eyebrow of Ensign K’Nala, who tried her best to navigate through this maze of potential death traps. The Damascus moved slowly through the field, missing most asteroids as it made its way toward the Red Lunar that was getting into their view. 

“The readings of the sudden blood dilithium burst are fascinating” Sazra looked at the readings. “These state that the burst is related to the coexisting anomalous”. It was like Sazra got drawn to her scientific side “They also state that there is a different degree of gravity well depending on the size of the anomalous. Commander Ruslanovna please note that we will investigate these gravity wells after the current assignment”. 

Silina’s narrowed eyes met up with that of Sazra, who looked puzzled at her back “You doing that thing again…” She points at the screen where the Red Lunar is on “Priority rescue mission, Captain. Focus on the task at hand and don’t get distracted by what is around you” 

“Yes….you are right, Commander” Sazra said in an apologizing manner as if someone had taken her candy away from her, “The status on the Red Lunar, please”. Sitting back in her chair as if she were annoyed that Silina put her back in her responsibilities again. Though she hated the fact more than Silina was right about it. It was her duty as a Captain to stay focused on the mission at hand, and on top of it all, she was the one that ordered the rescue. Her eyes looked at her side after hearing the sound of two Ensigns giggling, who snapped to focus back on their work when noticing their Captain’s glare. 

Adrián moved from one console to another to check on most systems and then looked over his shoulder to the captain wanting to roll his eyes at her behavior, “The Red Lunar is in bad shape. Shields are down. Engines are not active. No weapons present, and life-support is barely hanging” He looked at the console where he saw the ship’s scans and shrugged. “But something is bugging me about the state of the ship, Captain” 

“The state of the ship? What is weird about it?” Sazra looked now at the Red Lunar, seeing it not move due to the asteroid holding it in location. 

“Well, their communication system seems wrecked up, but yet the SOS system was able to be sent out” Adrián looked back at the screen “It does not make sense” He turned to another console. “What if…”. He taps on the console and looks at the screen. “Doing a trace of the SOS beacon”.

The bridge crew saw the marker of the search patron going over the screen. The only one that was not paying any attention was K’Nala, who carefully navigated the Damascus between three asteroids that made it very narrow to get through it. The tracker stopped above the Red Lunar on the asteroid.

“Enlarge the location” Sazra stood up, seeing the image getting larger and showing a device nestled into the asteroid. “Can someone explain to me why there is an SOS beacon on that asteroid and not the ship”

The Damascus slowly moved deeper toward the transport ship. “Scans indicate that it is Devore’s design!” Rami quickly yelled. “I highly advise you to go change to red alert!” But it was too late. A large explosion from the right side came as something detonated from it. The shock wave quickly hit Damascus at its side and pushed it harshly to the side. The bridge crew gets thrown off balance and pushed around like dolls. The ship makes a severe hit into the other asteroid and scrapes into the side, coming to a halt as sparks fly off the now damaged side.

“Bridge check…” Silina spoke up.

“Valerio check” Adrián managed to stay on his feet by grabbing the side of the console he was working on. “Doing a system-wide damaged check” He quickly got to work to get a full detailed report on the damage that Damascus had received. 

Getting on her feet, Sazra was thrown to the side and felt her ribs when hitting another console and was thrown over it “Praugol check, get medical up here” 

“Drata check. We need medical assistance for Davis” The Bolian was kneeling next to the Ensign.

“Shew check. I am doing a sector-wide scan. Commander Valerio can you give me a boost on the scanners” Rami got back on his feet as well but was not injured as he managed to keep the blow of the impact to a minimum. 

“I can give you a slight boost. Got to rearrange the plasma conduits to give you that. Ensign Drata when medical is here, take my console to take over”. He quickly moved to the turbolift as the door opened, seeing the Andorian doctor there with a nurse “Good timing, we got one down and some light wounded.” 

Kossaal nodded and entered the bridge with his nurse as Adrián disappeared from the scene when the doors closed. 

“K’Nala check…arrrg my head” The young Caitian was thrown off her chair and made a bad hit with her head onto the ground. 

A nurse kneeled next to her to inspect her head. “Please stay where you are. You got a head injury which could be severe” The Caitian didn’t resist and followed the given orders.

“An explosion from our side caught us by surprise. I am sorry, Captain, I didn’t notice the contraption to be there” Rami concluded as he saw the short-range scans coming in. The asteroid at their side was showing marks of the explosion, “We have hit the other asteroid quite heavily” 

Sazra sat down in her chair and looked a bit annoyed at Rami. “Give me a damage report, anyone?” She noticed the doctor at her side checking her health. “I am fine, doctor” She was not in the mood to deal with him right now, and just wanted to know what the situation of the Damascus was. 

“The reports are flowing in” Drata looked at the console that he had taken over from Adrián after the nurse got to him to take care of Davis. “The left side has received a beating. Outer decks were damaged significantly. Left engine is offline as it shows external damage.” 

Silina followed up “We got no fatal injured, but I believe the doctor is needed back at sickbay, seeing we got 20 wounded so far” Silina looked at Kossaal.

“Don’t worry about them. The bridge crew is our priority right now, and the sickbay is covered by skilled and lovely nurses who know what they are doing” He finished up his cans of Sazra ribs. “You got a bruised rib. You will manage” He walked to Davis and shrugged, “We better get him to sickbay, nurse?”

The nurse looked up at him. “Bridge crew is cleared for functioning doctor. Ensign Davis needs medical attention right now.” Getting a nod from the doctor “Three to beam to sickbay” The three disappear from the bridge.

 “Captain, I am receiving reports that we have something on the front right side of the hull and growing” Drata pressed a button to show it on the distorted view screen. The blood dilithium was on the hull and slowly growing onto the Damascus.

Sazra shrugged at what she was seeing. “Ensign K’Nala full reverse using the one engine we have left operating.” 

“Yes Captain” She taps onto the console as the ship starts to make the noise of cracking metal being pulled apart “I am getting a lot of resistance from the asterrroid. We are deeply stuck in there” K’Nala tried again as the ship cracked again. 

Drata looked at the information. “Stop! If you keep going like that, we will lose four decks. The sheer force of the engines is ripping the hull’s integrity!” 

“Stop the engine….” Sazra orders, looking annoyed at the screen, she was baited into an obvious trap, and her neglected not to noticing it was on her. What would humans say in these times? Curiosity killed the cat? Whatever a cat was “How long do we have to get out of that situation” 

“On the route, it is going right now. The blood dilithium will consume the hull within a few hours. We have to get into environmental suits and get out there to cut the hull plating of the Damascus and free the ship that way. But it will take manpower.” Drata suggested.

“Blowing it off is not an option either. The dilithium is too unstable. We could do more harm than actually save ourselves out of the situation” Rami was not amused with the situation. He felt the weight of the guilt of being in this situation on his shoulders. 

Sazra nodded, “Commander Ruslanovna, work with Commander Valerio to get onto that hull. While I want to help you all on the deck, a mere…15% shield is protecting my sanity right now” Tapping on the console at her side. “So I don’t think you two would agree with putting myself in danger if I would do that….meanwhile, Ensign Drata work with the engineering teams for the repairs of the ship.  Lieutenant Shew gets the ship’s defensive systems online. While there might be a ship out there that needs our help, we put our own lives as a priority first” 

Letting a brief sign of relief be seen on Silina face she quickly snapped back into duty “I will be right on my w…” She stopped by a sudden interruption.

“Captain we are receiving a hail from a Devorrre Imperrrium ship….” K’Nala stated. 

Sazra shrugged and took a deep breath, “On screen” The screen changed, seeing the dark interior of the bridge from the Devore vessel.

 A man stood there with a slight smirk on his face “Good day Starfleet. I am Marvok the Captain of this glorious vessel of the Devore Imperium. And you have volunteered in participating in our experiment in the name of our great imperium. We appreciate your contribution to our research projects all over the quadrant” He clapped his hands. “Now we don’t want to wait any longer, let the experiment begin” The communication channel closed.

“Great, now we are dealing with them. What experiment did we get ourselves volunteering in” Rami looked at Sazra.

Sazra looked at the screen with annoyance, “I don’t know, but I am not sticking around to wait on that. You got your orders all. Get going! Lieutenant Shew, keep an eye out for them!” She points to the screen that shows the Devore ship getting slowly closer to them. 

“Captain! Get a medic now!”

Mmm, those voices, where are they coming from? They keep addressing me….I am right here, you know.

“She is not reacting! Check her breathing and pulse!”

Stop yelling at me. I can bloody hear you. Why is there such a bright light? It is blinding me. Can someone turn the bridge lights down? Or maybe it is coming from outside?

“Shields are down! The Devore is not doing anything?” 

Ah, that is some good news, the Devore being the pain in the ass as they are right now. But what are they thinking? What are they up to? It is such a mystery for sure, but knowing their records, they are up to no good. 

“Doctor, please tell me what is going on with her. Her pupils have turned red, and she is not responding to anything?”

Is that Silina? Girl, you don’t have to worry about me. I am wonderful. Right? Wait, why can I not move? What is happening to me? Where am I? Help? HELP!

Planet Trill – Unknown forest

In a blink of an eye, the scenery had changed. Trees meters high, blue skies as a fresh wind hits her face. Sazra blinked a few times. What is she feeling? That tickles feeling at her ears as she turns her head to the left and sees a field of grass. Was she not on the Damascus a second ago? What is going on?

“Wake up, lad, no time to rest” A young girl came from Sazra’s back.

Looking confused and directly at the sound where the voice was coming, her eyes met those of a young girl “Who…who are you” She sat slowly but kept her eyes focused on the young girl. She stood there with her hands behind her back, looking curiously at her, “Where am I?” 

“Now, don’t insult me. I am curiosity myself” She winks at Sazra. 

Taking a better look at her, she dusts off her clothing only to stop midway and notice she is wearing traditional Trill clothing, “This is impossible. This can’t be. I was at the Damascus” looking back at the girl as Sazra now get flashes of memories, she closes her eyes. She grabs her left eye as a surge of pain goes to her. “Argg…. What is going on!”

“You are remembering who you are, what you are, and it’s coming hard” The young girl said rather cheerfully. “Embrace it. Let it come”

Planet Trill – Market Unknown Location

The pain slowly faded as she opened her eyes and lowered her hands, only to notice that they were now in a busy street of people. Sazra looked around, there were shops with clothing hanging outside, food ready for sale, and market people trying to bait the people into their shops, “We are at Trill. Why are we here?” Her eyes fell upon the young girl who stood there, “You are me when I was younger?” 

She points the finger at her, “Bingo, you are sharper than I thought. Makes it easier to explain” She giggles as she starts to walk, placing her hands behind her back. “You see, this is your history, who you are, what you are” The girl turns around. “That makes you interesting. That makes you a possibility” she continues her walk with a half spin back to the front.

“Wait, what do you mean….” Sazra walked after her “Care to explain what is going on? Why am I he…mom…” Sazra stopped in her walking. In front of her, she saw her mother with her younger self looking over some goods of books. Sazra saw herself begging for the books to her mother. 

“You were interested in the unknown from a young age. Your mother supported this endeavor. It made you who you are today” The girl spoke, standing next to Sazra, looking at the whole ordeal being cast in iron. “So if your mother didn’t intervene, you would never be in the Delta Quadrant, interesting.” She hops to the door next to her as it closes slowly.

Sazra broke her focus and looked at her side. “What do you mean by that? How do you know that I am in Delta Quadrant?” She quickly walked through the door only to find herself in a new location. 

Mellstoxx III – Starfleet Academy

Sazra’s eyes gazed around, seeing young cadets walking through Starfleet Academy. The sun was high up. The people were cheerful. Some students rushed past her as they were late. 

“You were popular and yet distant. A model student and yet not many friends. Have you lived with the idea that studies would make or break you?” A more young adult voice came from Sazra’s side. 

“What…” Sazra looked in the direction of the voice and saw herself again, a young student in her senior cadet uniform. “What is going on? Who are you, and why are you probing my memories?” Sazra felt afraid and yet curious at the same time. What was she dealing with here?

The young cadet pointed in a specific direction, “You seem interesting and open-minded for anything that might cross your path. You don’t take a no for an answer. That is how that happened.” 

Her eyes followed the direction of where her younger self was pointing at. Sazra saw once again herself. In the distance, she saw herself jumping in the air celebrating something, “I received the news that I was accepted in the Raven program. A daring adventure was ahead of me” Sazra saw Silina hugging the other Sazra, who was happy and only noticed now that she was blushing. “Heh, it is funny. I never understood the concept of love until she did that to me, she hugged me, and I felt like my heart was going to pop out.” 

“It was her that shaped who you are today, taking over the torch from your mother. Fascinating” The young cadet gave a soft smile. 

USS Jaxartes – Bridge

Sazra didn’t have the time to change around, as she had already noticed that she was on the Jaxartes bridge in the back. “Why am I on my old ship?” She looked at her side, seeing herself with the teal uniform leaning against the wall.

“You are qualified, more than we expected. I am a reflection of you. Species tend to understand better what they know. Giving us the ability to screen them” Looking back at Sazra “You are pulled into a situation with your crew that you didn’t want to be in, in the first place, right?” The ship shakes a bit.

“The Liberty is gaining on us!” Rami yelled as he focused on the controls of his system. 

“Vance, this was the time that Vance shot us out of warp, and if it were not for the Discovery, we would have been killed by that maniac”. Sazra said, focused on the screen “What do you want from me? Who are you?” 

“Well, you are struggling with yourself. The ways of communication are not compatible with others. It takes a lot out of them. But we are not there yet. We want to know more about you, what makes you tick, ahhh that looks interesting”.

Planet Delta Velorum – Broken Wings Prison

Sazra turned to her side, seeing the shape of everything change once again to the dusty and cold area. Sazra’s breathing became heavier and faster, “Get me out of this…” Looking now at a guard with a helmet on that shook its head, pointing in a specific direction. Sazra shrugged and followed the direction only to see a severely broken down humanoid shape on the floor, “Why do you bring me to the location I wanted to forget”.

“It is here where you became cold, daring, and distrustful of others. It is here you lose who you truly are” A distorted voice came out of the helmet. “Your mind is full of guilt, pain, and grief of what happened to you right here”.

Her glare was cold. She looked at the motionless body beaten down by the Romulans of the Broken Wings. She bold her fist as her lips were shaking, “I might not have been here for long, but they showed their ways to pull out the information in the most savage ways you can think. I…you know them already, seeing my memories. Please get me out of here” 

“You almost broke under the immense pressure they were putting you under. They wanted to get some simple coordinates, and you refused to give it to them. Why” The voice was creepy in every sense to the memory that Sazra could remember.

Closing her eyes as she could hear herself on the ground starting to cry, and it got into her bones “Get me out…” She slammed the door next to the guard’s head and looked with vicious eyes “Get me out of here….if I had given that information, the possible consequences would be endless. Those people would be dragged into another civil war, and the lives of millions would not outweigh my life!” Tears started to form in her eyes. 

The room became dark as the guard faded into the darkness. “Unexpected, fascinating, and yet worrying.” The voice echoed all around Sazra “When the time comes, lower your walls and embrace it” The voice faded away as Sazra would slowly fell, as suddenly, it all moved quickly.

Sickbay – USS Damascus (current time)

Sitting up on the biobed, Sazra felt her heart beating very fast as if she had been running a marathon while trying to breathe slowly. She noticed a nurse rushing to her bed but chose to pull off the wires on her head and wanted to get off the bed. 

“No, no, no, Captain, please stay on the bed” The nurse pushed Sazra back. “Doctor Th’shrithel! She is awake!” 

Noticing some ruffling sounds from her side, Sazra looked at her side and saw Kossaal rushing to her bed. “I am fine, doctor. Please let me get back to my duties. You got better things to worry about. What is the status of the other crew members?” 

Shaking his head, Kossaal pushed her back onto the bed. “You stay here, Captain. You collapsed on the bridge and didn’t respond for nearly two hours.” He checked her eyes. “The red pupils are gone, don’t know if that is good but some of your veins popped from the huge amount of stress on your body” He got a scanner to test her head again.

“What are you talking about, I was two hours out cold?” Sazra was trying to puzzle herself. What was going on? Did she mess something up? “I remember that the shields …went down, and I woke up right here” 

“You were hit by the sheer amount of the blood dilithium force the moment the shields dropped. If you were a fully telepathic Captain, I would be dealing with nothing but a plant at the window, unable to speak or think for itself. I highly advise Commander Ruslanovna to back away from this area as fast as possible or keep those damn shields up if she wants her Captain back in one piece” Kossaal was not amused with the situation. “Medical scans stated that the more dense the area is conveyed with this blood dilithium, the heavier the symptoms get. Well, we are at the source of it, and it is burning hot here. Now we got some of that crap on our hull and growing, consuming the Damascus!” 

“Thank you, doctor, for your update, I feel like I am more needed on that bridge” Sazra noticed the blood on her uniform and checked her face, not noticing any pain. “Who’s blood is this?” 

“Yours, Captain. The bridge crew found you bleeding from your nose, ears, and slightly your eyes. We feared permanent damage to your eyes as your right eye pupil was red. We don’t know what the cause is, but we can’t find any damage other than that your brain and body were under great amounts of stress” The nurse spoke with some concern in her voice. 

Looking at her, Sazra nodded and lay her head down, knowing when she was defeat “When can I get back on duty….”

“If it was me, not until we are out of the system. But it seems you are highly required to get us out of this situation” Kossaal grabbed a device and placed it on Sazra template. “This will protect your brain from whatever is going on for a good 20 minutes. If the shields are not backed up by then, you have a problem. You are dismissed after 30 minutes of staying here. I just wanted a final check. I better report back to the Commander about your status” Kossaal nodded to his Captain and walked away, tapping the combadge “Doctor Th’shrithel to the bridge”

Engineers were doing their best to regain the bridge consoles damaged by the impact. Other officers were monitoring everything that was going on out there. The Devore ship didn’t make any movement and stayed in its original location, just staring at the two ships in desperate need of assistance. It was noticed that any outgoing communication was unable to get out. Were the Devore blocking their signal somehow? It didn’t help, and the crew had to endure this without their Captain. Morale was dangerously low, the ship was damaged, and the blood dilithium slowly consumed the Damascus. Time was running against them.

“Status report” Silina, still annoyed with the apparent trap they didn’t see. But she knew how heavy this was weighing on Sazra. She could see it in her eyes when it all had happened. 

“The hull is being consumed by blood dilithium. We are pulsing on it to slow it down. But it is a temporary solution, Commander. We need to get on that hull to cut the hull free” Adrián was by far a fan of the idea, but his care and focus was the ship’s current condition. It needed to be solved as soon as possible.

“I know, Commander Valerio, but I am not sending any of our crew members out onto the hull with a Devore ship pointing its weapons at us” Silina countered him on the argument and rubbed the side of her head. “So please give me a solution that doesn’t involve them to send them to potential deaths” 

Rami shrugged, “Technically, they are not aiming their weapons at us as of this moment. They are just looking at us as if they are waiting on something” Rami felt the sudden death glare Silina and made the call to not look at her. “Shields are barely holding, we got about 7%, and we all know that we don’t want that shield to be lowered” 

Taking a deep breath and looking at the screen, “So you are saying that we send either people on the deck to start cutting the dilithium or we will have a serious problem within…” Silina looked at Adrián for a reaction.

“Two hours tops, then the internal systems will be in danger. We need to make a choice right now, Commander. If we wait any longer…” Adrián didn’t finish his sentence as he glared at his side to the turbolift seeing Sazra walking onto the bridge”…Captain?”

Coming to a stop and looking at everyone, Sazra felt like her head was hit by a shuttle. “Then a choice will be made, Commander Valerio. What is the status of the Devore?” Sazra observed seeing everyone looking back at her as she made her to her chair, seeing Silina looking at her. “Well?”

“Ah right, Devore is dormant. It doesn’t do anything at this current moment. No weapons and even engines seem to be shut down” Rami repeated in his previous report and was just amazed that Sazra was standing there “Are you alright, Captain?” 

“I am wonderful, slight headache. Thank you for asking” Sazra didn’t break eye contact with Silina, who slowly rose from the Captain’s chair. “We need to get started immediately on the hull. Commander Valerio get your best engineers that are qualified or experienced with working in low gravity” Sazra saw Silina raise her hand and narrow her eyes a bit “Commander?”

“Belay that order, Commander Valerio. Captain, with respect, but you just got out of a severe injury. When the shields dropped, you dropped as well to the floor” Silina’s hand gesture kept high and made Adrián stay in his position. “Are you fit for duty?”

Sazra put her arms over each other “I am excellent, Commander Ruslanovna, and last time I checked, I didn’t need to put my medical responsibility to you. I already have a doctor in service to do that. Now time is ticking. Would you please let me resume my duties and get this ship to safety?” The annoyance of Sazra was visible in her facial expressions. 

Lowering her hand, Silina slowly shook her head. “No, I will not allow you to resume your duties. While I am no longer your Chief Medical Officer, I am your Executive Officer. The disadvantage for you is that I know how to detect when a person is unfit for duty. Captain, you are unfit for duty. You, of all people, know that you require to stay in sickbay and rest. We are more than able to take up this problem ourselves” 

“That sounds like disobeying a Captain” Sazra snaps back “Are you sure you want to walk this path, Commander? We both know how that went down last time?” Looking over her shoulder to K’Nala “Nothing personal Ensign” Looking back at Silina.

“None was taken, Captain” K’Nala said a bit awkwardly. 

Silina felt the anger boil in her as she tried to remain calm and took a deep breath “Lieutenant Shew, call security to the bridge” She had her eyes locked at Sazra “You are currently unfit for duty, Captain. You are no stadium to make any choices because you are affected by the blood dilithium” 

“On it” Rami quickly replied as he tapped onto the console to call up some security officers to get up to the bridge immediately.

“Good, then we can get her to the brig for disobeying her Captain. Are you seriously thinking I am compromised because of the blood dilithium? Really Silina?” Sazra shook her head in disappointment, “I needed right here, don’t expect me to stay put in a bed that could be used for another wounded crew member. I am bloody fine!” Sazra raised her voice out of frustration and placed her hands on her hips, and walked to the screen, looking at the whole ordeal that was brought upon them. 

The security team arrived and stood on standby, “We were requested?” One of them spoke.

“Please escort Captain Praugol to her personal quarters and place a guard at her door. By direct order of myself, the Executive Officer. Under the presumption of being mentally compromised by the effects of the Blood Dilithium” Silina shrugged at giving the order against her friend, her Captain, her love interest. She had to keep her chin up and hold a strong pose in front of the crew. 

The security team moved to Sazra as she turned around, and they stopped “This is absurd. I am not affected by the blood dilithium. You are making a mistake here, Commander” Sazra looked at Adrián, who was looking pretty uncomfortable about the entire situation, “Are you going to let this happen, Commander? Or are you going to help me get her to the brig for distrusting her Captain?”

His eyes snapped to attention as he heard the mention of his rank and looked at Silina, who was frozen by what was just said. Then looked back at his Captain “I….support the order of the Executive Officer as Chief Engineering Officer and Second Officer of this ship. Please take Captain Praugol to her quarters” He saw Silina looking at him surprised and the cold glare of Sazra at him. He just betrayed his Captain in a conflict of a chain of command. But in his heart, he knew that this was the best choice. 

The security team moved in on Sazra as each took a side at her, “Please do not resist, Captain and follow us to the turbolift” 

Sazra bit her upper lip for a second and started to walk. She didn’t say a word. Sazra ignored Silina and Adrián, walking to the turbolift that opened up and entering it, with the security team moving in with her. Sazra turned around, looking into the bridge.

“Captain…” Silina managed to get out of her as she looked at Sazra, who ignored her as the door closed. The bridge was so tense that a knife could cut through it. Trying to hold her composure, she looked away for a second “Commander Valerio, get a team of engineers who are….experience with low gravity environments into suits and get that crap off our hull”

Adrián wanted to comfort her but was unable to do this at the moment, “Yes, sir” He nodded, walked to the turbolift and waited for it to return. When it returned and opened up, he entered it “Engineering” The door closed and took off.

“Everyone stations, we got to get this ship ready to get out of that asteroid the moment we are free. Lieutenant Shew keeps an eye out for any action on that Devore ship. If it moves an inch, I want to know of it” Silina was trying to get back into the rhythm, but even she had to admit that her mind was somewhere else. She was afraid that she had ruined now everything. She taps her commbadge “Bridge to Sickbay”

“Sickbay here” 

“Why was Captain Praugol released from the sickbay?” Silina was trying to figure out what was going on. Why was she on the bridge in the first place? After being exposed to blood dilithium radiation. 

“She told us that she would go to her personal quarters to rest. Is everything alright?” 

“She didn’t do that, but it is handled. Bridge out” Silina wanted to curse but kept it to herself. This was not going to end well for either of them. How Sazra reacted was unfamiliar to her, she was not herself. That cold gaze of Sazra was printed into her head. 

Rami looked at the screen of his console “Commander” he suddenly spoke, getting the attention of Silina “It moved an inch, the engines are getting active, and it’s moving closer to us”

“Commanderrr, they arrre hailing us again” K’Nala looked at the console seeing the notification.

“Just great, open the channel. Let’s see what they want” Silina replied, annoyed, and sat back in the Captain’s chair. A chair that felt quite uncomfortable right now. 

The channel opened as the Devore Captain looked with a smile to Silina. “Oh my, where is your Captain? Is she affected by the blood dilithium? Is she a dirty telepathic? Well, that makes my job much easier, and you know I feel less guilty about what I am about to do” 

“This is Commander Ruslanovna. I am the Executive Officer of this ship. The Captain is unwell and taken to sickbay. We are not part of any experiment, as you mentioned earlier. We are merely trying to save this civilian ship” Silina shrugged at the idea of doing this but had no choice. “We do require any assistance you can provide. It seems we were struck by something big” 

“Ah, don’t play stupid with me, Commander. I would advise you to say the truth. We placed those mines there for we predicted that Starfleet would interfere in their good and attending nature to provide aid to a weaker animal” The Captain shook his head. “Enjoy the show, Commander it will be the last you will see” The communication channel dropped as the Devore ship fired a single torpedo at the asteroid.

“Brace for impact!” Silina yelled out.

Rami shook his head. “It is not aimed at us! It is aimed at the asteroid” He aimed at the screen. The torpedo hits the asteroid and explodes right at the core of the blood dilithium. With a brute force of power, Damascus has pushed away from the asteroid. The hit was not as bad as the crash, and everyone could get back onto their feet. “Why would they hit…the asteroid” Rami was confused.

“Look” K’Nala points at the screen as in front of the Damascus, a large mass of blood dilithium starts to move, starts to shift. It formed into something larger made out of pure blood dilithium crystal “What is that…”

Silina stood up from her chair and looked in horror at the screen “That….can’t be. They were not seen since 2364, driven away by the Enterprise. That is a Crystalline Entity” The large crystalized, formed entity moved now onto the civilian ship to start its feast. 

The quietness was anything but soothing to any heart on the bridge. They looked with horror at the screen as they saw an asteroid size red and white colored Crystalline Entity being formed by the remnants of an asteroid. The lights had changed to red as the ship responded to the impact as an immediate danger had occurred. But this danger was massively underestimated. The entity was defeated before by the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise. But the Grissom-class ship was not made for combat, let alone face a massive planet-eating entity. 

“That is indeed a Crystalline Entity, Commander” Drata confirmed everyone’s fear “It is infused deeply with the blood dilithium. However, the way it moves is unnatural to our records. It should stay in one form, but this one can move freely from its standard form.” 

Silina had no idea what to do. Next, the ship was in no shape to battle such a creature. What were the Devore planning on doing with that creature? Sazra was a liability due to the intense effects of the blood dilithium, and there was the matter of a civilian ship with 120 souls on board that was going to be consumed by the Blood Crystal Entity. Silina blinks for a second. Did she think up a name for this new form?

“The ship shields have dropped to 3%, the hull on the front is barely holding it out, and our engines have taken a severe hit. We are dealing with ship-wide injuries and crew members trapped in collapsed areas. Commander, what are your orders?” Rami looked at her.

At the same time, Adrián had returned to the bridge. He made himself aware that a shock like that would mean a few things. One, the ship is free, two the ship is in danger and three the bridge is in total chaos. “Did the Devore attack us or…what the actual….is that what I think it is” He points at the screen.

“That is a Crystalline Entity formed from the asteroid that was just broken apart by the explosion of the Devore ship’s torpedo” Drata confirmed again. 

Looking at Drata, he pats him on the shoulder. “Thanks, Ensign. You can loosen up. Fear is normal” Adrián noticed a change in his behavior or, instead, his body language.

“Yes….sir” Drata said, trying to calm down a bit by breathing a few times in well.

Adrián walked to Silina’s side and placed his hand on his hip, “Well, Commander, what are we going to do about this? We got a few options….” In his eye corner he saw Silina frozen. Was it fear? Was it the sheer amount of being in command? Was this the pressure that Sazra had been feeling all these years? He poked the side of Silina. “Commander, stop choking. You are looking bad for the others,” He whispers to her.

The words of Adrián managed to get Silina back to her senses, and she looked at her side to him, seeing him look at the screen. She bit her lip and looked back at the screen. “What are the options, Commander Valerio?” She suddenly spoke, making everyone look back at her. 

“That is more like it” He whispers with a smile. “The options are, option one, we fix the ship, ignore the civilian ship and get the hell out of here. Option two, we use the engine we have left, and I get to work as fast as possible to get mister Shew some power to combat that shiny red crystal…or.” He didn’t like the idea, but there was one final option that he knew she would disagree with the idea he had in mind. 

“Or what?” Siilina looked at her side once again and now with narrowed eyes.

Looking back at her, Adrián swallowed for a second. “Or you get Captain Praugol to do what is needed. We both know that she is the most creative one among us all. She will find a way to get us out of this situation” He shrugged and crossed his arms. “We might have made a mistake by sending her to her room” He raised a hand before Silina could give a proper reply. “Yes, you were right that she is under the influence of the blood dilithium. She might have been a tad aggressive, but below that, she worries the crap about every single one of us.” 

Was that right? Was her mind clouded by what Sazra was trying to do in the first place? Silina looked down at the floor, trying to figure out what was happening. Then she realized what Sazra was saying earlier and looked up. “Now, time is ticking. Would you please let me resume my duties and get this ship to safety?” A sentence that Sazra spoke while on the bridge. “Oh no…” Silina walked to the turbolift “Commander Valerio you have the bridge” 

He blinked, looking at how she walked away and stepped into the turbolift “Where are you going?”

Silina turned around and looked at him, “To fix a mistake, fix the ship, Commander. We are running out of time. Deck two” The door closes.

Meanwhile – Captain’s Quarters

The room was dark. The ship was just hit by an enormous shockwave. Clothing on the floor that fell out of the basket and photo frames were spread on the ground near the wall. The room was a mess due to what had happened. But at the window, Sazra was on her knees with her eyes closed. Trying to breathe calmly, trying to regain her focus. 

“They betrayed you” A familiar voice came “They turned their backs on you the moment that they saw you were affected by the blood dilithium. Are you just going to allow this to happen? You worked your whole life for this, and now you let them take it away?” 

Letting a breath out “I am a liability. Silina did her job well to confine me” Sazra tried to remain calm, but her feelings were more a mess. Did something change? She could only assume now.

“Liability? My baby girl is not a liability. She is an excellent Starfleet Officer that made our family proud” 

“I am talking to you now” She sighed and opened her eyes as the reflection of the outside hit her eyes. The red pupils had returned as Sazra looked at a woman standing in the dark. “My mother is not here. She is at Trill, which means that you are a part of my imagination. You are the cause of my liability to this crew”

Another voice enters the room. “This is not how you speak against your mother” A male figure in the dark stepped forward. “Is this what became of the Praugol lineage? You call yourself a Starfleet Officer? Look around you. Your ship is not even able to defend itself so small, is it” The figure crossed his arms. “Go back to Trill, and maybe you will find a husband for yourself that deems you worthy” 

Her eyes cold red eyes glared in the direction of the darker male voice. “You are the last person I want to hear right now in mind head, father.” She slowly stood up as Sazra cracked her neck. “Because last time I checked, you died in that for that forsaken Dominion War” 

The man growled a bit under his voice “Does that mean you have to disrespect your father like that? Child you have no idea what you are doing or dealing with here” 

“I am dealing with a Crystalline Entity, it seems” She looked over her shoulder outside seeing the large entity being formed “That is affected by the blood dilithium. It potentially got baited here due the high density of the anomaly that formed the red crystals in the first place” Her facial expression was still cold “But it doesn’t make sense why the Devore is right here”

“Child, are you really that blind? In this waking nightmare, where all dreams come true. Your search for control, a way to pull through. When you are in love, you were in tears, to smother your fury and banish your fears. Do you still hear his scream? They have taken his soul, to these gods you can’t pray. They can break you, but not the blood-made promise that was made” 

Sazra looked back into the room, seeing that the two figures had disappeared. She shrugged and placed her hand on her hand “I am losing my mind” She muttered to herself as the door opened, and Sazra could hear footsteps walking in and the door closing.

“Captain, we need you” Silina was standing there, heavy breathing as she took a step back seeing the red eyes glitter in the darkness as they looked back at her “Captain?” 

“I heard you the first time, Commander. You are right. I am a liability to the crew due to the effects of the blood dilithium. I presume the shields have dropped?” She said calmly as Sazra looked outside at the creature now fully formed and moving to the civilian ship.

“How did you know…?” Silina was amazed by the observation of the dropped shields.

Sazra pointed at her eyes “These are red, no? I have reflections here. It is the only logical explanation, and my headaches have surged back” She shrugged a bit on that last one and lowered her hand. 

It was difficult for Silina to get a grab of the given situation, “We still need you, Captain. The ship needs you. The crew needs you. I need you” She lowered her head, struggling with herself “I was wrong, I ignored what you were trying to say, you were struggling with the effects, and I saw it as a compromise of your ability to command. But you were trying to get us back to safety, something I failed on doing so” She wanted to cry and now understood the amount of pressure Sazra had to endure as the Captain. 

Without making much noise, Sazra had made her way to Silina, who was talking to herself and placed her hand on her cheek, lifting it gently up. She looked with her red eyes into Silina’s “You talk a lot you know” Sazra gave her a soft smile and kissed her lips briefly “You are the one that kept me sane. I would have lost myself if I didn’t have you on my side and how you acted on the bridge is how I expect you to act. Keep in mind, you are my xo, and your primary concern is the crew members of this ship. If I am out of order, I expect you to put me back in line. Just don’t let it go to your head” She winks at her letting her hand go of her cheek.

“I…yes I will remember that. It is a lot all” Silina felt the warm blush on her face.

Nodding to her “I know, I have difficulty keeping those inner voices out of my head. But I do know what I have to do. Do you trust me to do what needs to be done?” Sazra looked now with warm and caring eyes at Silina. 

A lot has happened, and she did just confirm that she was hearing voices but her eyes locked onto that of Sazra “I do…” She mutters shyly.

“Good, let us go” Sazra moved from her side, and the doors opened having the security team raising their weapons “Oh please” she pushed a rifle aside and pass them to make her way to the turbolift. 

Silina quickly followed “Let her pass” giving out the order. 

Silina had dismissed the security team as the two had rushed to the turbolift to get as quickly as fast as they could to the bridge. Damascus was in severe danger, and the crew did whatever they could to keep this boat afloat. Tapping her foot on the ground, Sazra had her arms crossed, waiting for the turbolift to arrive at their deck. “Why is this even taking so long.” 

“Don’t be grumpy, Captain. The ship is transporting essential crew throughout the ship to get things going. The engineers are working overtime right now to get the left engine back to operational standards” Silina pointed out, but she knew that the ship engines were not the only issue. The front decks were evacuated after the collision, the shields were barely holding, and that was all for their new ship. It made Silina shrug thinking about it.

The ship’s internal structure was cracking as the sound of metal having difficulty ignoring the spacial anomalous was difficult. The two looked around to see where the sounds came from, “She will make it, don’t worry about her. She has the same strong spirit as that of the Jaxartes. Plus, the same crew,” Sazra didn’t look at Silina while saying that. 

Looking back at her Captain, she noticed the difference in behavior, but her core was still as caring and trustworthy as strong as always. Silina gave a soft smile and didn’t reply to that. They would make it out of this situation, even if they had to pull all the tricks out of the box to get it done. Looking at the turbolift that opened the doors “There she is.” They both entered the lift Silina turned around she gave out the order to the computer “Bridge” the doors closed and while it started to move it suddenly with a shock came to a stop. 

Sazra looked around, seeing the red lights flashing slightly, “I didn’t expect the ship to be this damaged from the shockwave” Did she underestimate the whole ordeal that happened? Or did the effects of the blood dilithium make her blind to what had happened?

“Ruslanovna to bridge, what is wrong with the turbolift?” Leaning against the side, Silina shrugged, waiting for a response. 

“Valerio here. What do you mean, what is wrong with the turbolift?” 

“We stepped into the turbolift from deck two and were on our way to the bridge, the system just shut itself down. Can you take a look at it right now?” Silina had Sazra in her eye corner, wondering why she was so calm. Did the blood dilithium have its effect again?

“I am on it. Why did you not just take a ladder to the bridge? You know the systems are wonky now with the chaos going on. I will try to reboot the system and see what happens. This shouldn’t take long, Valerio out” The signal was cut. 

“Well, at least he got some nerve to talk smug against a superior officer” Sazra had her arms crossed over each other and leaned against the back of the turbolift. The two of them were now stuck there, unknown how long this would take. Time was running against them, and of all time, they got stuck in there. Thought Sazra had to admit, deep inside, she didn’t mind being stuck here. 

Silina placed her hands behind her and rolled her back against the turbolift wall. “Yes, he has become somewhat more arrogant and thinks every challenge can be dealt with” Silina smiled at the idea. “But that attitude got our previous ship into one piece. Starfleet did a number on us back then to give us a ship that was barely worthy to even fly out of docks” She shook her head about the whole experience.

“Well, it was also a lesson from Deep Space 17 that the raven program was not a given something. People had to face the fact that those in command needed to step up their game and perform beyond their boxed-in duties.” Sazra’s voice remained calm. “But I do have to admit that when I was at those docks, I saw the ship’s condition. I was at a loss. I wanted to give up right there as I only wanted to explore the universe and help science to know the galaxy a little better.” 

Giving a slight nod to Sazra’s story, Silina could only recognize the entire start of their adventure, “When I arrived at the docks for the first time, I didn’t know the ship’s status. But at first, I thought you were pulling a joke on me with Adrián when you showed the Jaxartes. But when I saw the motivation in your eyes, I knew at that moment that I signed up for an adventure of a lifetime.” 

That made Sazra look at her. “Well, my motivation came partly from having the people around me that believed in me. That believed in my great scientific assignment. Without you, Adrián, Rami and later on, T’Path. I would never have found that newborn star in a heavy, stormy plasma nebula.” 

“Don’t forget the civilization and first contact we had to perform there. Those people had no idea what had happened outside their bubble of protection. But we were able to provide them the required care and help to make them move outside,” Silina slammed at the side. “What is taking him so long”

Sazra let out a laugh. “Is it that bad to be stuck in the turbolift with your Captain” She smiled at her. “With the woman that loves you” She had no control over her bluntness. Usually, Sazra would never say something like this. Was the blood dilithium really affecting her so that her personality would change? But at the moment, Sazra wasn’t shy, and she was straightforward. 

Silina looked at her, and a slight blush came on her face “I don’t think it is the time to talk about such a topic Ca…Sazra” She felt slightly uncomfortable by the sudden directness of Sazra “We need to focus on getting back on track. Getting to that civilian ship and somehow stopping that demon from eating us all away” Silina was quite concerned about the whole situation.

“I know, don’t worry, my focus is still where it needs to be. The thing is, I can’t get that kiss of yours out of my mind. You do know how soft your lips are?” Sazra giggled and knew she had to stop seeing Silina blushing more and looking away. “Alright, I will stop, but you need to keep your mind focused, relaxed, and calm at these times. Without that, you are deemed to freeze up, to make mistakes. There are some great Captains out there that taught me that lesson.” 

It took her a second to calm her racing heart, but she finally looked back at Sazra. Her red eyes were even more attractive than her usual eye colors. Was she falling for Sazra or her badass side? Silina then narrowed her eyes a bit. “How are you feeling right now? The shields are barely 3%, and you have your red eyes back. How bad are the effects of the blood dilithium for you right now?” 

Rolling her eyes a bit as she let her head hit the wall of the turbolift “Well, the constant pressure on my head is one thing that I dislike. I notice that I am changing my behavior. I do tend to be more aggressive in my acts. But for some reason, I am more myself than ever” Sazra looked back at Silina. “It might be that Trill is only telepathic sensitive. We might experience it differently regarding someone that is fully telepathic. I bet that if T’Path were here, we would actually see her dancing on the tables singing some weird ass song” 

Letting out a small laugh, Silina nodded to her “I do have to agree that it would be interesting to see happening. T’Path was never a person to express her feelings well. Yet, whenever you two were into a scientific discussion, you could see the passion in her eyes. She enjoyed every conversation she could have with you concerning science.” 

“She is a rather odd one on that field, but I do admit that I miss her as a science sparring buddy. Two brains hitting each other to get the right conclusion. Thought” Sazra shrugged a bit. “The fact remains, Captain Takato was right that it would not be a caring choice if we let telepathic on this ship. Look at me? I am a walking liability that you and Adrián both confirmed. What if T’Path were here right now? She would have been in the same pain as me, no, I think even worse” Sazra felt the guilt building up in her. The feeling was more vital than normal “I was already distracted when I entered that field. I should have noticed it was a trap and requested aid from Starfleet. I placed you all in harm’s way!” She wanted to continue but…

Her arms of Silina got around Sazra and pulled her towards her chest. “Stop. Your emotions are being driven by the blood dilithium forces out there. They will put you on edge, they make you quicker angry, and they make you more directly with us. I understand now more about this anomaly because of you. But I am also grateful as it showed me you have the same feelings as I do. You show that you care for this ship and crew” Silina let her fingers go through that of Sazra. “You were not the only one at fault when entering that asteroid field. I should have noticed it as well, and Adrián should have noticed it as well. Everyone on that bridge was at fault, and you should never…” She looked back into Sazra’s now teary eyes. “You should never undersell yourself ever again. You are an amazing Captain, and this crew needs you” Without a warning, Silina kissed her on the lips taking the lead. 

Sazra felt the warmth of her lips, these sweet fluffy lips that she enjoyed so much. She wanted more, but their moment was broken off as Silina pulled away when the lights turned back on. Silina let her go and wiped the tears away “Thank you…” Sazra mutters as the turbolift starts to move again. 

Turning around as the doors opened, they both saw Adrián standing there “About time, Commander” Silina walked onto the bridge and saw the reality on the screen. The entity was now at the civilian ship and slowly taking it apart “It seems we are running out of time”

Looking back at Silina “You are welcome?” Adrián shrugged and then looked at Sazra, who passed him “Welcome back, Captain, I am…” 

She raised her hand at him “Not a word, not right now” Sazra said, getting Adrián quiet immediately. She stopped at the side of Silina and looked at the screen “Get the doctor to the bridge. Commander Ruslanovna… started the evacuation of the USS Damascus. Ensign K’Nala program the escape pods a safe passage through the anomaly field” She saw everyone directly looking at her in pure shock as her focus was on the screen. 

“Evacuate the Damascus? Are you out of your mind, Captain?” Adrián was, as always, blunt and direct about the given order. But his concern was valid, and his concern was very valid. The ship would lose all of its crew in this critical moment when all hands were needed on deck. Now their Captain, a person that is affected by the blood dilithium was now ordering them to leave the ship. What was her motive? What was her idea to combat this situation?

Sazra finally broke her lock away from the screen and turned her head to Silina. She took a deep breath “Do you trust me, Commander?” Sazra was calm and focused on the task at hand. But she needed her Commander at her side right now on this. This was the ultimate test. 

The bridge kept a tense vibe during the ordeal of the domino disaster. The Captain had ordered a complete ship evacuation, and her senior staff resisted this idea. For valid reasons, the most obvious one is that their Captain was under the influence of the blood dilithium effects. The affection made the captain liable to give her crew reasonable commands. The other reason was that the ship was in quite a bad shape after being hit by an explosion and a shockwave that made the Blood Crystalline Entity appear. 

There was a particular standoff at the bridge. Adrián had just announced that the order was crazy. It would place the crew in unavoidable danger or at least the ship’s state. Other crew members were looking at the showdown that was about to happen. Sazra was looking at Silina, who had conversations about personal and professional degrees with her Captain. 

“Well?” Sazra finally broke the silence on the bridge. “We are losing time. The civilian ship is not going to hold out any longer” She looked back at the screen where the devastating power of the entity was being shown upon the civilian ship. 

Looking over her shoulder to Adrián, Silina shrugged slightly and then looked at Sazra, who remained calm and kept her eyes locked onto the screen. “Listen to your Captain, Commander Valerio. She gave a direct order if that doesn’t help you.” She looked back at him. “Then I repeat that order, evacuate the Damascus now” Silina narrowed her eyes. She had made her choice to this time not repeat the same mistake and back up her Captain. 

“Are you out of your mind?” Adrián couldn’t believe what he was hearing now. “You are seriously backing her up with this crazy idea? The ship can be repaired. We can’t send our crew away without a proper explanation here!?” He was not going to break his stand, in his opinion. He wanted to know what Sazra was up to. He needed to be sure that it would not be suicidal. His attention went to Sazra. “So Captain, tell us your idea, or else there is no evacuation, and yes, I will go to freaking court marshal if I have to. We deserve a proper explanation here!” 

“Hehe, I told you he became a rebel over the years” Sazra mutters loud enough for Silina to hear. She nods to herself and turns around so that her red eyes meet that of Adrián. Taking a deep breath, “Alright, you desire validation of my idea. The current situation is fubar, which means we are in deep trouble. Commander Valerio, you have already figured out the options in this situation. We fix the ship and get out of here, or at least attempt and hope that either the Devore ship or that crystal demon behind us won’t hunt us. Which, spoiler alert, will happen” 

Taking a second to continue, “The second option you already presumed also use our last fighting ability and strength to save that transport. But we all know that this ship was not built for war. So it is a miracle we are still standing in the given situation” She raised three fingers with her right hand “But there is a third option. You all had noticed what happened to me when the shields dropped. What you all didn’t know is that I had a …” Sazra tried to find the right word for it “….an episode of illusions and flashbacks of my memories. In those episodes, a being was part of it, showing great interest in who I am, what I can” 

“Are you going to tell us now that you had a weird ass dream and want to evacuate the ship because of that?” Rami was confused right now.

Silina looked at Rami “This would be the moment to keep quiet, Lieutenant, let your Captain talk” Even thought Silina had the same concern and questioned herself. She wanted to know what else Sazra had experienced and how this tied in with the overall idea or plan. 

Shrugged at that comment and command, Rami nodded to Silina. “My apologies for my interruption. Please continue, Captain.” 

Giving a brief nod to Rami “Right, thank you. It might sound crazy to you all, but I am sane enough to ID if something in my head is my own. This being was profiling me and even started to show interest in me. The last line it spoke was that I had to drop my walls and embrace it all” Meanwhile, Sazra had already dropped her fingers. “The scientific side of myself and what is left of my reasonable and logical thinking came to one conclusion. I need to drop the shield and accept the full might of the blood dilithium. That is why I asked the doctor to the bridge to moderate me” 

Everyone was quiet for a brief moment as Rami shrugged. “But you might die if we do that, Captain” It was a vital and painful reality. “The last time it happened, you blacked out and were gone for a few hours.” Some bridge crew nodded to the same concern they also had. “What help does it take if you evacuate the ship, you black out, and no one can help you? You need us here” 

Sazra looked at Rami with her red eyes, she felt the waves of pain surge pierce in her head, and she knew what she was asking of them.  I understand what you are saying. That is why I am asking only a handful of officers to remain here. Because I believe that the moment the shields are dropped, that monster out there” Sazra points at the screen where the Blood Crystallized Entity was. “Will notice me and approach the Damascus full force to get to me. That means that you all need to be off this ship. If I can avoid unnecessary deaths, I will make that order any day” Sazra made that point very clear to all of them. 

There was a certain calm and relief through the bridge for an unknown reason. Even Adrián looked more relaxed. He knew now that their Captain was, in her core, still their Captain. He nodded to himself. “Alright, I will volunteer to stay here” He made up his mind. If these were the final moments, then he is at his Captain’s side. They had seen too many things together.

“Thanks, Adrián” Sazra said, giving him a nod. “I can see in your faces that you all wish to stay here, that my words convinced you. But you have to know that my mind is unstable, I am compromised, and I don’t know what will happen when the shields go down. So I want to keep it limited to three people that stay here” Sazra looked at Silina. “Commander Ruslanovna” Seeing Silina gave the nod to her as a confirmation as her head looked back at Adrián “Commander Valerio and Lieutenant Th’shrithel will stay with me. Lieutenant Shew, you will lead the evacuation of the crew when out of range of the grid. You will send out the SOS signal to Starfleet so that the survivors of the Damascus will be rescued if things go south here.” 

He wanted to protest against the idea, but he knew that Sazra had this already planned out. “Alright, I will take them out there. But you better get back for us as this is our new home” Rami smiled at her and started to tap on the console. “The command” He spoke, looking at the command team. 

“Computer, start the evacuation, direct order of Captain Sazra Praugol. 5-Sigma- 22-Alpha” Sazra spoke, looking around, only hearing a bleep. 

“Commander Silina Ruslanovna, support the order of Captain Praugol, 88-Delta-134- Bravo” Another beep came. 

“Lieutenant Commander Adrián Valerio, support the order of Captain Praugol, 71-Gamma-15-Omega” The final beep came as the alert started to sound through the ship to evacuate the ship. 

“Computer designated leader of the evacuation team is Lieutenant Rami Shew. The people that remain onboard the Damascus are Commander Ruslanovna, Commander Valerio, Lieutenant Th’shrithel, and myself” The computer bleeped again in confirmation. Sazra took a deep breath and nodded. “Commander contact the doctor to get his ass up here before he is in the escape pod” Everyone started to leave the bridge as Sazra looked over his shoulder to K’Nala “Ensign?” 

She stood there with her hands over each other, looking sad at her “I ….wish to stay at yourrr side Captain” She spoke nervously.

Turning around and placing her hand on her shoulder, “While I believe with whole my heart that you belong on the Damascus. I believe your story shouldn’t end here if things go south here” Without a moment to give her to respond, Sazra pulled her to her and embraced her. “Your aunt will be proud of you for standing up like this. I am sure of that. Now please go to the escape pod and make sure you are safe” Sazra whispered to her, and then let us go. “Don’t forget to implant all the navigation points. hurry”

Seeing K’Nala rushing off the bridge as Rami stepped into it at last and closed the door, “Good luck” he managed to state before it closed. 

The three stood on the bridge for a moment to realize how quiet it had now suddenly become. The crew was about to leave, and then the game was to proceed. The door opened, and the Andorian stepped onto the bridge. “Would you mind telling me why we are staying here on the ship while everyone else is going to the escape pods?” Kossaal moved onto the bridge, placing down his bag of equipment.

“We will execute a dangerous task that requires your medical expertise. See this as an opportunity to learn what blood dilithium really does to a person of telepathic sensitivity” Sazra looked at Kossaal with a serious facial expression.

“What are you talking about? We all know by now that your last attempt was almost suicidal” Kossaal crossed his arms, not amused with the Captain’s suggestion. 

Adrián shrugged “Sadly. She is not suggesting it. She is about to do it. The moment we drop the shields, the Blood Crystalline Entity will shift its attention to us, then the civilian ship will be safe” Adrián blinked and looked at Sazra. “What will happen then?” 

“Well, I need you guys to moderate my medical status, the Damascus status. I will ask a lot of you….I know, but I require you guys to buy me time. This time I will go full into the potential of this entity’s mind…if it has one” Sazra looked at the screen where the monster was still feasting “Time is running out for them” 

Silina looked at the screen now as well “So basically, we are the black sheep”

A crew member pops open an escape pod and guides some Damascus members into it before entering himself to lock the door. With a large bang, the escape pod gets launched, followed by another and another and another. The pods left from the back of the Damascus into a precise formation and together away from the Grissom-class ship that was their home for a short while. The ship was getting out of view from the small window of the escape pod as a concerned voice came up “Sir, are we going to be alright?” 

Rami stood at the window seeing his ship drift away, and his friends left behind. He was frustrated and sad and yet could keep his cool. He looked over his shoulder and gave a comforting smile as he took a seat. “Listen to me, Ensign, and listen to me well. I will vow this promise to you, we shall return to Damascus, and we shall see her glory once more” He raised a finger. “Because I have served at the side of Captain Praugol for years now. She will ensure we have a home to return to.” 

The crew member seemed more relaxed and looked at him with curiosity. “Could you tell us more about Captain Praugol? Did she really start her command at a Raven-class ship? Did you guys encounter anything too much for you?” So many questions were popping up as others joined in this campfire talk. 

He lifted his hands to calm them down. “Alright, I will tell you the tales of the Jaxartes. The ship is indeed a Raven-class ship, and we have encountered problems that were too big for us to handle. But we managed to do it” He started to tell the story while his mind was not in the escape pod but with his friends on the Damascus bridge. They were going to face a dangerous creature with the Devore lurking. But deep inside, 

USS Damascus – Bridge

The bridge was awkwardly quiet. The red flashing lights were still going as the sound was cut off. Kossaal placed a monitor device on Sazra’s template. “Can I say that this idea is still very reckless? You might be telepathic sensitive, so the effects are not as severe as a Vulcan would experience. But the sheer amount of blood dilithium that is present here and also now a Crystalline Entity that is tainted by the blood dilithium is going to do a lot to your body, Captain” 

“Duly noted, Doctor. But as I already explained to you, the other two options are no options either. Or do you find a withdrawal from here that would lead to the potential capture of our crew by the Devore an option?” Sazra didn’t look at him as she sat in her chair, looking at the screen. The civilian ship was barely holding itself together and time was running out. “Are you done?” She asked sharply of her doctor. 

With one final press, the monitor device gets activated as Kossaal shrugs while backing off from her. “All done here, I will be monitoring your body during this phase. With the lack of information. I have no idea what will happen to your body, but as said, it will be put under a lot of stress, and I will abort if I see it as unfit for your health Captain.” He pointed out his medical knowledge and grabbed the tricorder setting it up for this idiotic plan. 

Giving the nod to him, Sazra looked at Silina, who stood at the tactical console and pressed a button “Sazra to Valerio, Adrián get the engines back operational as fast as you potentially can. I know I am asking a lot of you right now. But I know you…” She was interrupted.

“I know, Sazra, I know I can do it. The ship engines will be operational, and you better treat me to an R&R on some beach planet. I think we all deserve that after this mission” Adrián voice echoed on the communication.

Letting a smile go for a moment, “I will get you your beach planet day off, Commander. Good luck with the repairs, it will be a bumpy ride after this” Sazra had no idea what was going to happen, but it was not something she was particularly looking forward to. 

“Thank you, and Sazra….good luck. Whatever happens, get back to us. Valerio out” The communication cuts off. 

Sazra eyes were still locked at Silina as she took a deep breath “Let’s get this over with, shall we?” Looking back at the screen, “Commander Ruslanovna, lower the shields” The only measurement that was protected from the heavy influence of the blood dilithium. Sazra honestly didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but this was the only path that she could take to confront whatever was out there.

“Why are you so sure this will be working, Captain?” A question suddenly popped that halted Silina from pressing the button as Sazra and Silina looked at Kossaal “We have no insurance that this will not upright drive you mentally mad. If that happens, I have no idea to how I will be bringing you back. But it seems you are very solid in your idea, why?” 

It annoyed her a bit. They were on the verge of doing something very tricky and dangerous. But the man kept asking questions even if they were valid from a medical standpoint. Sazra shrugged and looked back at the screen “Because, in my intervention with whatever entered my mind, they told me to drop my walls and embrace it. Plus as I stated before. I know for sure that this being was not of my own making. It had nothing to do with my memories, and the behavior was different” Sazra leaned her head against the chair pillow “But to be honest, Doctor, you can see this as a live experiment. A volunteer experiment where you can witness what actually blood dilithium of this amount of exposure does to a telepathic person. Commander Ruslanovna, there is no time. Lower the shields” 

Silina didn’t wanted to do this, she would see her Captain, her friend, her first true love being tortured. She looked at the screen and saw how the large entity was slowly destroying the ship and the asteroid that it was stuck on. Hearing the command she nodded “Lowering shields, good luck Captain” She press the button and saw the now 5% shields drop down and power redirected to a different system. 

The red glow that was pushing against that of the blue shimmering shield of the Damascus finally broke through onto the hull.  Sazra felt the intensity build up as the red light entered the bridge. She grabs with one hand her head as her right eye closes with the number of pain surges going through her head. The monitor on her template gave dangerous high readings. The blood dilithium was overloading her senses, and her ability to think straight and logically. All kinds of emotions raced through her.

“Captain the spikes are going overboard, I need to break this mission off right now!” But before Kossaal could do anything, he saw the left hand of Sazra raise as a sign to not interfere “This is bloody madness” He muttered to himself. 

The waves of pain became heavier as figures started to appear on the bridge. Her mother, her father, Captain Vance, and other figures of her Starfleet Academy time. “Argggg” gritting her teeth as Sazra tried to process what was happening. 

“She is not worthy of the Starfleet rank” Her father spoke disapprovingly.

“Come back home dear, you belong at our house. I will make you some nice food, and I met this young man for you that would be a perfect match as your husband” Her mother spoke in a concerned voice. 

“She has no friends. Look at her” Some cadets pointed at her “She will never make it out there” 

Sazra could feel the blood dripping out of her nose slowly “Please….go away” She pressed harder on her head, feeling the surges hitting her whole body. 

“You are no Captain, you are just a lackey that is in service of Starfleet. You could have done so much more if you just accepted my offer to back the hell off. But no, you are responsible that K’Nala’s aunt is dead. You whisper the voices in her head to resist my authority and pay for it with her life. That blood is on your hands, Lieutenant,” Vance voice came over to her.

“PLEASE GO AWAY!” Sazra screamed with pain and frustration in her voice, placing now both hands on her head. 

“I need to cut this off, Commander. Raise the shields!” Kossaal barks out the orders while kneeling at Sazra’s side. 

But Silina walked to the other side of Sazra “No, she needs to do this. But she needs to know that she is not alone” She placed carefully her hand on the shoulder of her Captain “You can do this, Sazra, remember. Let the walls go, embrace it” 

Sazra’s pure red eyes looked at Silina. Fear and sadness were seen in her facial expression, but she slowly nodded and looked back at the bridge. The moral support from Silina did get her mind back on track, ignoring the immense pain that felt like her head was being torn apart. She had placed her hands on the chair and let her mind slowly open up. Sazra suddenly stopped moving.

The head monitor was showing Sazra’s vitals getting lowered “She is stabilizing. What happened” Kossaal checked her body and then looked at her eyes “Her eyes have changed again. They are now vaguely red as if she is blind” Kossaal was both terrified and fascinated about what was happening right now to their Captain. “But somehow she is stable Commander, you better keep an eye out on that monster” 

Silina already walked back to the console and gasped for a second then looked back at the doctor “The entity has stopped its attack on the transport. But it is now heading towards us” The large red, and white Crystalline Entity had indeed stopped its wrecking power on the transport ship and was making its way to Damascus. 

The brief wave of wind let the leaves move from left to right. The smell of oak wood and plants was all around. Bird-like creatures were chirping and flying around. Sazra opened her eyes and felt as if she had hit a cargo container with the severity of her head pain. Her blurry vision got sharper as she noticed her left eye was different. It was not mechanical and more organic. She narrowed her eyes to make the vision sharper. Sitting up slowly, she saw that she was on the ground of a large branch. 

The surrounding was quite a stunning view. The atmosphere was light purple beyond the red and blue leaves. Other branches were coming from the one she was lying on, making Sazra look more around her. It was only then she noticed that she was laying some path made out of a tree branch. She took a deep breath and nodded slowly to herself. “It seems I have made the right call.” 

“You have” A child’s voice came from Sazra’s side. 

Looking immediately at her side, Sazra saw a young girl sitting on a branch. “You were the one that invaded my mind?” She wondered where she was and if this was the cause of it. 

“We might have played a part in it, but basically, it was the only way to get someone in here” The girl waved her hands around. “Welcome to the mind of a… How did you call it again? Crystalline Entity?” She snaps her fingers. “Yes, that are the words.”

Sazra felt in disbelief that she was actually in the mind of such a giant creature. “The questions for me right now. Why am I here right now? Why does the entity desire to have contact with a telepathic, and who are you” Getting on her feet, she had difficulty getting her balance. Something felt off about this realm or dimension. What would one call a dream world such as this?

For a moment, the girl didn’t answer and had that expression of thinking about what to say next. Wiggling from back to front with her feet as she noticed Sazra having difficulty staying on her feet. “Hmm, yes, that is the problem. There are various factors to consider in the current situation. You are perhaps the first being to ever be in the space mind of a crystalline entity. We believe there was an android before this that had somehow connected with one of our brethren. So maybe you are the second if you count that android” She nodded. “But your brain is organic. Your processing is different. Your way of creating data from point a,” she lifts the right hand, “to point b” lifts the left hand, “is different by itself. So we can only calculate that you will have a good few moments to stay here. Hmm, yes, we have to hurry” She hops off the branch and jumps into nothingness. 

Quickly moving forward to the edge, looking downwards, “Wait, what happened?” She then noticed the child next to her looking over her shoulder downwards and back quickly off. “How did you….”

Looking away from the downward back to Sazra “Well, you were looking down there. Perhaps you were seeing something fascinating” She placed her hands behind her back as her brown locks covered her left eye. “You are fascinating Captain” She stared at her for a moment. “That being said, back to your questions. We desire to contact someone that can process a way of communication. We do not use machines or metal to communicate with each other. We are beyond that. It’s so barbaric to share communication with that kind of level” She giggles and starts to walk past Sazra. “That being said, it also poses a problem. Because we are so advanced in our communication, we cannot contact minor and underdeveloped creatures” She pointed her hand to Sazra. “Like yourself” She waved her hand to follow her as she continued her path.

Sazra followed her and ignored the insults of being minor and undeveloped beings. “So why do you desire to contact us then?” She was doing her best to keep her balance but had difficulty adjusting. Sazra stopped, noticed some red leaves dropping, then turned to her left to see a rotten branch fall down from their side. 

The girl was looking at the same branch that fell, and she looked sad with a tip of frustrated. “Because we were lured into here by our greed. You know our history. We devour planets, asteroids, and well ships like yours to feed our needs and ability to travel” The girl continued her walk. “But this blood dilithium, as you call it was a blooming source of infinite possibilities. We could silence our hunger for good with this kind of quick-growing resource, and we were lured here.” 

“We? There are more of you hiding around?” Sazra stated with a slight concerning tone in her voice. If there were more creatures like her in the area, then Starfleet would have a problem. 

“Not quite, we defer ourselves as one being, but we are not she or he in your limited thinking capacity. We are more than that” The girl didn’t turn around and walked slowly over the branch. “But we shall continue the story. The blood dilithium did flourish throughout various sectors, and we calculated that we required a source to comprehend our desires. However…” 

“You were wrong” Sazra spoke, coming to a stop and seeing the girl stopping now and looking over her shoulder. “The spacial anomaly and the density make it difficult to navigate through it. Seeing how it affects me, I could only imagine the severity that this density affects a creature like yourself. You were overwhelmed by it, right?” 

The girl looked up for a second and then turned back forward to continue her walk “To let our arrogance get the better of us, but yes, you are right. We were not participating in the possibility that such a spacial anomaly would have much effect on us. The density had a problem, it blinded us, and we were numb by this. Fear kicked in, and we attacked anything near us” She stopped at a broken branch and pointed down.

Sazra looked down at the broken branch, and the main tree was visible now through the light purple fog. It was now visible to her that the tree was sick and had a red rash covering various locations as an infection slowly killing the tree “You are dying?”

“If we probed your mind correctly, this is what happens to telepathic beings. We are consumed by whatever this blood dilithium is. We might be an all-knowing being. But even this is beyond our scoop of realization of what is happening. Our reactions are getting unpredictable, and it got worse with the arrival of that ship we are unable to find” 

Nodding to that statement, “Devore, they are holding some leverage to you. To try to control you and weaponize you against their enemies?” Sazra could only conclude this “But what are they doing to keep you in place? What is this leash?” 

“Blood Dilithium” The girl spoke with a grudge of frustration. “They have some device to amplify the usage of the crystal that could not only blind us but steer us as well. We receive a certain amount of pain if we go in a certain direction” Looking at Sazra “We need to get these shackles off us. So we can leave this place for good. Our interest in the blood dilithium or this part of space has lost our taste of interest.” 

Crossing her arms, “I can see why,” Sazra concluded, “But that doesn’t explain what you want me to do. I am not even fully telepathic. How is this even possible?”

“Your species is telepathic sensitive as your doctor had mentioned. This means you cannot receive the full force of the amplifying force of the blood dilithium. To simplify it, the source of the force is not the blood dilithium. The blood dilithium amplifies whatever is coming out of the spacial anomalous.” 

That did make more sense in the bigger picture, as the blood dilithium shouldn’t have had such severe effects on her brain while doing this mission. Did Starfleet make a calculation error in assuming that telepathic sensitivity would not be affected? Sazra shrugged a bit as suddenly the tree shook severely, which made Sazra drop to her knees to get a better grip. “What is going on!” 

The girl looked up. “Our internal thinking is being damaged more and more. We need your help to free us from these shackles” Her eyes followed another branch falling. “We require you to fight in here and out there” The girl looked at Sazra. “That weapon will help you free us from these shackles.” 

“What weapon?” Sazra looked to her right side, seeing a pocket with a phaser. “How….” Looking back and trying to get back on her feet after the shaking stopped, “What am I supposed to do? This is not real!”

A smile appeared on her face. “This is very real, not fiction. This is not a dream, as you might have presumed. You are really in the space mind of a crystalline entity. You require removing these shackles, and we can regain our strength to withstand the brute force of the blood dilithium.” The girl points to the beginning of the branch closer to the tree, where a red-purple-looking pus is formed. “Make your way up the tree, Captain. We shall await you there” With a brief wind, the girl disappeared in red and purple leaves off the branch. 

Taking a deep breath as Sazra shrugged, grabbing the phaser out of her holster. “Great, why am I getting myself in such impossible missions” She started to walk at the pus. “Wait, she said that I am not in a dream world. Does that mean I can die?” Sazra felt a certain fear settle in her as she shook her head and aimed her phaser. “No time to second doubt myself,” Firing at the pus. It took a good few seconds before it turned gray and cracked into ash. It opened a new path for her to resume. 

The Andorian doctor kneeled before Sazra’s numb body, trying to keep track of her health. “I don’t know how long she will hold out on whatever connection she is on. But if she keeps this on for longer than 30 minutes, she will have permanent brain damage” Kossaal was cursing in a muttering sound. He wiped away some more blood from Sazra’s nose and placed the medical scanner at her nose. “The veins are taking a beating in her body from the amount of stress she is experiencing. I might have to pull the plug….” 

An exhale came from Silina’s direction. “That is a no-go. It will be for nothing if we pull out the Captain right now. Whatever she is doing, we get the attention of the big boy making his way to us. For some reason, it is attracted to telepathic. Even though Sazra is only a sensitive telepathic, it is enough to trigger that entity to go for us” Silina taps her combadge “Ruslanovna to Valerio” 

“Valerio here,” a brief reply came back.

“We got a blood crystalline entity en route to our location. ETA states it will be here in 2 minutes at its current speed. What is the status of our shields or the ship itself” Silina was concerned about the health of Damascus. Her mind was distracted as in her eye corner, Sazra was not moving, and that also occupied her mind. 

“Are you joking with me right now? I am not laughing” A deep sigh came over the communication. “The Damascus is not doing great. I am doing my best to get the engines back up by redirecting power lines as well as possible. But this bird is not going to be going to warp speed without additional help from my engineers. We basically put on those escape pods. The hull can hold out for a few minutes, but no longer than that.” 

That was not a lot, but Silina didn’t have a plan B to follow up if this was going to fail. Putting the shields back up might be their only saving. Silina had pulled up the information of the Enterprise’s encounter with the crystalline entity, and shields could hold the creature back. “What is the status of the shields?” If the shields were functional, they might be enough to hold out longer. But it was not going to function as a plan B. They would be able to hold out but only extend their own lives.

“The shields’ generator is busted. The ship is running on a backup generator. If needed, I can redirect the shield’s power conduit to boost our shields. Give or take, it would be between 20 to 25%. Keep in mind it means I have to get the energy from somewhere else.” 

That would be enough. Silina had already pulled up the ship schematics. “If we redirect the power of life support on various decks that are not functional right now. Would that be enough energy to boost the shields without hitting the engines?” Engineering was not her strong side, but she threw ideas against the wall to see what would stick.

“That would be enough to uphold the shields. Then again, I have no idea what the physical difference or strength is between a normal crystalline entity and this one. It is a 50/50 chance that it might work. I have to continue down here. I will keep you posted, Commander. Valerio out” The communication lien broke off.

At the same time the communication dropped, Silina saw another explosion nearby that made Damascus shake-up. “The entity stopped…” She mutters, seeing the data coming from the console. “The origin of the torpedo is from the Devore ship” Silina was puzzled by the whole ordeal. Did the Devore manage to control this creature by shooting random torpedoes? She felt like being at a disadvantage in a sports match “What is goi…” 

“Commander, whatever they did, it impacts the Captain as well. I have an elevation of stress shooting up” Kossaal pushed the shin to the side, “And her right ear is bleeding” Kossaal placed the medical scanner onto it to do a treatment immediately. “This confirms that whatever happens to that entity is now linked to the Captain. We need to stop this madness.” 

Concerning eyes were now locked onto Sazra as Silina had to make a choice. Only to be reminded that Sazra did ask her to trust her. But on the medical side, she agrees with Kossaal observation. This idea was going too far, and she needed more guidance than ever. Then her console started to bleep as her eyes diverted to it and shrugged. “Well, fix her up. The game is about to start” She tapped onto the console. “They are hailing us. Ignore whatever they are saying, doctor. They have the power to keep this monster at bay, so if I can keep them talking, the Captain has a better chance to finish whatever she is doing. And you have less work to fix her up” 

“25 minutes Commander, that is all she has and all we have until her brain is too damaged.” Kossaal pointed out once more while Silina walked past him. 

Taking a deep breath as she placed a timer on the console to accept the call. Silina looked at the screen as Marvok appeared once again on the screen “Captain Marvok, I am Commander Ruslanovna. The Executive Officer of this vessel. What can I do for you?” Silina tried to stand before Sazra and Kossaal as well as possible and remain calm. 

“Commander, it seems that a lot has happened on your ship. I see the ship’s bridge is more of a mess than it should be. Plus, our ship has registered that there are now escape pods further away from your ship” The man kept relatively calm and had a rather uncomfortable smile on his face. “It seems the creature has been drawn to you for some reason” He tapped the side of his chair. “Would there be a chance that you are holding a telepathic on your ship?” 

Silina tried to ignore the apparent conclusion of Marvok’s “That is a keen observation, Captain. But our ship has received significant damage from the hit with the asteroid and additional damage from the explosion of the other. Now we are in a rather tied spot due to the condition of our ship. For safety reasons, we concluded it was best to evacuate the crew, and the senior staff stayed behind to manage the systems. Seeing we got a large blood crystalline entity in front of us. Their safety is our priority. As for your last question” Silina scratches the back of her head. “That is a rather big presumption. We of Starfleet know the effects of blood dilithium on telepathic. It would be foolish to bring them close to such a dense area. We care for our people if they are telepathic or not. So if you desire to know it so badly….we left them behind for their safety.” 

The Devore Captain spits on the ground in front of him and points his finger in the direction of Silina “Working with such filthy beings is a curse by itself. You should have placed them on a ship and sent them to a place like this. It would have been a service for our people and the galaxy to get rid of them!” Marvok calms down a bit. “But you are lying to us, this creature is sniffing out telepathic, and when one opens its mind, it somehow detects it. We have been testing the rage of this creature since the great blooming happened, and you can see the results all around you” 

It was already concluded in an earlier report that Rami had given Silina that there were a lot of derelict ships around and near the density. When long-range scanners could detect it, additional of the arrived survivors of the civilian mining convoy came back severely damaged. Starfleet only could conclude that the cause was the spacial anomalous that did the damage. But having the blood crystalline entity here would explain the enormous accounted derelict ships. Silina was dealing with sadistic people for sure. Watch in the distance to see how this creature was devouring its prey. “That is a curious thing to say, Captain. There can be many reasons for the creature to attack any ship. Our scans indicated that there are no telepathic on that transport ship, so your conclusion is debunked” It was a bluff that Silina had to work on. Her face was a poker face as good as she could.

Marvok shook his head slightly with that same devious smile on his face. “No, Commander. We guide the creature in specific directions with our new torpedo. Give it a nudge in a certain direction. That is why you are still alive. We stopped it from reaching you. Now give us your telepathic sitting behind you and get onto your last escape pods to leave the ship behind. This is Devore Imperium’s newly expanded area. We are impounding that ship to pay the fine for your crimes”

The situation was getting out of hand, but Silina needed to buy more time as she looked carefully over her shoulder at the two of them. She saw an approving nod of Kossaal that her Captain was stable, but time was running out. Looking back at Marvok “Our Captain is being treated right now by our ship’s doctor. She is feeling unwell from the recent hit of the exploded asteroid. The doctor can confirm that she cannot be moved to the escape pod due to her injury….right doctor.” 

A shrug came from behind Silina as Kossaal stood up and stopped at the side of Silina “I am Lieutenant  Th’shrithel, the USS Damascus Chief Medical Officer. I can confirm that Captain Praugol has received a severe injury to her head. And to be direct with you, Captain Marvok, Marvok, was it right?” He looked a bit puzzled and shook it off. “Well, whatever it is, you distract us from me performing my duties. I would ask you to call back at a later date. Like 20 minutes or so, we can discuss this impounding or surrendering thing then” With that said, he nods to Silina and moves back to Sara’s side. 

“As you heard, the Chief Medical Officer needs to do his work. My Chief Engineering Officer is doing his work on the ship to keep it not from falling apart. So in the end, if you can wait 20 minutes, it will be to your benefit as the ship will be more operational” Silina had to continue on Kossaal’s bluff. 

Marvok crossed his arms and shrugged. “Fine. You get 15 minutes” The communication cuts off as the image changes to the live feed of the large entity that was dangerously close.

“15 minutes is even better because then the Captain might have a brain left to use” Kossaal was not amused. “You are welcome, Commander, that I continued on that bluff.” 

Silina had to take a few deep breaths and nodded. “Yea, thanks. Let us hope the Captain has more luck on whatever journey she is doing” Silina looked back at the screen and narrowed her eyes. “Was the color of the entity not darker red?” She remembered clearly that the color was blood red, but some areas now seemed to be lighter in red “What is she doing”

Leaning against the tree, Sazra took a moment to breathe heavily. Where she was, was unknown to her. There was no scientific answer to it. Besides, she had no tools to debunk any theories in her head or what she had learned in the academy. The gravity was different, but after a while, she got used to it. Perception of time was another factor that she had difficulty grasping. How much time had passed already? She had no clear answer to it. 

The tree was, by its magnificent view, quite visibly sick. The branches would break off due to rotting, and the leaves were changing colors. Sazra didn’t know if purple or red was the wrong color. She could only assume that red was a link to the blood dilithium. She managed to make her way up the path and clear the pus that was in her way with her weapon. 

But her body was also taking a toll. She knew that something would come at a cost while in this realm. Sazra felt her life force slip away, if that was the right word for it, as the climb became more difficult. The girl who had welcomed her at the start was not part of her memories. She didn’t recognize her. It had been a while since the last time she appeared until Sazra felt a wind and looked at her side, seeing the girl there. 

The girl looked wounded. Clothing ripped and out of breath. “What is taking you so long? Work faster. The vessel is taking a beating at us” She coughed up some purple blood into her hands and looked up as another branch fell. “You need to hurry. We are losing control” 

Sazra wanted to question her, but the condition of the being in front of her was far from healthy. Taking a deep breath and then walked to her, placing the girl’s arm around her neck and lifting her back on her feet to start walking again. “Hold on” 

“What are you doing? We don’t need help from a lower species as yours to walk around in our of space mind” The girl had a difficult to resist the support that Sazra was providing.

“Stop this nonsense, you asked for my help, and here I am” Sazra felt the pain surge in her head as she continued up the path. A large and thick pus vein looking was blocking their way. “You are not alone, not anymore” She raised her weapon and fired at it. The pus was resisting the strength of the phaser. But Sazra kept pressing it and focused on her task while holding the girl up. “We might not be as evolved as you are. We might not be able to think as you can. But the Federation and Starfleet are on a peaceful exploration to help where we can. To seek knowledge and get closer to understanding the universe” The pus finally gave in, and it colored gray as it turned into ash, breaking slowly down. 

The tree slowly recovered itself as a few cuts of the girl disappeared. “You are different. Many people that came to his space ran away. Feared us as we destroyed everything on our path. But we were not in control. But you had many chances to run, yet you chose to turn your crew away, stay until no longer possible, and even follow our advice to come here with all risk involved.” The girl looked at Sazra, who was still supporting her “Why?” 

It was a curious question. The suggestions that the girl spoke of were valid. She considered every option, even sacrificing the Damascus to blow up right in the mouth of this being. Letting go of a deep breath as she pushed on the steep path upwards, “Many things could have been done, yes” Sazra confirmed. “But you have looked into my mind. You know exactly why we are here.” Sazra felt the gravity become heavier and sweat roll down her neck “I came here to understand, to find answers as to why the blood dilithium came. How did it flourish? What are these anomalous? Are other creatures, beings, or species being affected by it? There are many questions that I, as a scientist, want to get these answers.” 

The girl’s eyes were locked on Sazra, who pushed them both up. “But what if the answers you are looking for were never found? You only found death and destruction? Why did you not run from it? What purpose has it to help out when you or your ship cannot do anything?” 

A smile appeared on her face as Sazra’s red eyes looked at the girl. “That is where you are wrong. We might be small. We might not have the most advanced weapons in the galaxy. But we are smart, we are creative, and we are helpful” She looked back up the road. “Sure, we have moral and ethical problems, but I know my crew, even if some are new to it. I know they will find an answer. They will manage without me while I am obligated to help a person in need of help. ” 

Looking in the same direction of the path, the girl looked puzzled, trying to understand what she was told “It ….it doesn’t make much sense. You don’t know us. Your people are afraid of us. Your people tried to destroy us.” 

Giving a slight nod, “To be afraid is not to know what you are facing. Humanoids, or basically any kind, will react in fear to the unknown. But as a Captain and scientist, I am challenged to explore the unknown, understand it, and embrace the potential darkness. Our first reaction is to protect what is valuable to us, as what you protect is valuable to you” Sazra finally reached the top and placed the girl at the side, kneeling next to her. “But as a good friend of mine once said. Do you provide aid if a person is your enemy in a war and is mortally injured? The answer is yes because, for a doctor, the person on the table requires your aid, and all ethics, culture, history, or thoughts do not belong don’t that table.” 

“Am I your enemy?” The girl leaned against the branch and looked at Sazra’s red eyes.

She narrowed her eyes as Sazra looked over her shoulder, seeing an enormous manifested pus with veins crossed through the edges. “At this moment, you are the patient, don’t that table, you require aid, and I am here to provide it. Your enemy is my enemy. We shall stop the meddling of the Devore, whatever they are doing to you or anyone” She stood up and took a deep breath cracking her neck. 

The tree shook again as Sazra did her best to keep her stand and lifted her weapon at the manifested pus. “One step at a time” She looked at the girl and smiled. “Who knows, we might be friends in the future.” Sazra looked back at it and fired her weapon, slowly walking to it. The tree started to shake heavily, the pus was resisting it, and Sazra could hear the girl behind her scream out of agony and pain. But Sazra knew that this was part of the healing process. This had to be done. The closer she got to the source, the more it resisted. She saw the blood dilithium forming over the veins and slowly to the large pus. “Not today”

USS Damascus – Bridge

“The Devore ship sends a message that the time is up. They will intervene….” Silina shrugged at the announcement and looked at Sazra, who was still not back to them. On the screen, the entity started to move again to them as its giant crystalline tentacles reached forward to the hull of Damascus. Silina looked at the screen and took a deep breath knowing that this would go sound very quickly. “If we activate the shields now, everything will be for nothing….” 

“It doesn’t matter if we wait any longer than we don’t have a Captain at all” Kossaal looked with concern in his eyes at Silina. “She has less than a few more minutes, and I am already reading damage on her brain. We need to stop this, I don’t think we want to have a Captain as a vegetable” He looked back at Sazra and checked her pulse as the ship shook violently with the tentacles. “I can’t wait any longer” He grabbed his injector and adjusted the measurement of the doses, and pressed it on Sazra’s neck.

Silina walked quickly to her side. “It might have been too early. She might not have fixed the issue!” Another violent jolt goes through the ship as the upper hull cracks slowly by the large crystalline entity force. It was slowly eating away the metals. Silina looked at Sazra. “Come back to us, Captain.” 

Ignoring the comment about being too early, Kossaal knew that if he waited even longer, there would be no brain left. He looked over his shoulder, seeing the blood dilithium faster growing onto their hull as he blinked and stood up, looking at the screen. “What is going on with the entity?” He comments as the large blood crystalline entity color started to change in various locations, the solid red color was fading away.

Space-Mind

Still firing her weapon and getting closer as the crystals began to show cracks “We are not going to give up. We always find an answer. We are Starfleet, and I shall not give up ON YOU” The surrounding started to become brighter as the red pus slowly turned gray and broke down. Sazra lowered her weapon when there was no refusal possible. She looked behind at the girl who was still wounded on the ground and gave a smile. “We help each other” 

The girl was still breathing heavily and looked back at her. “Give us a target. The blood dilithium still makes us blind. But vibration is the solution to pinpoint them” She looked helplessly at Sazra.

Sazra only smiled and nodded briefly as she disappeared from the space-mind realm. 

USS Damascus – Bridge

Kossaal and Silina were looking at the screen when they suddenly heard, “Fire a torpedo at the Devore ship….” Both of them looked back at Sazra, seeing her point her finger at the screen to the Devore 

“Captain” Kossaal immediately returned to her side and checked her vitals. “Stay still. You have experienced a long-term telepathic bond with an unknown creature” He grabbed his tricorder, did everything that was needed, and noticed that she was still aiming. “You better shoot that torpedo, Commander”.

Rushing to the tactical console, Silina activated the weapons system and got a lock. “Firing now!” The hull was covered by the giant crystalline tentacles wrapping around Damascus. Two blue lights push out of the Damascus just before it gets covered by the crystalline.

Devore vessel – Bridge

The bridge crew celebrated as Marvok raised his hand, which got everyone’s attention. “Today, we have proven again that this creature is under our control. It does our bidding, and it shall be our solution to rid us of the evil telepathic beings that are a disease to our galaxy. Now with this Starfleet vessel gone! We can take this battle to their front door. Markonian Outpost is our next stop!” 

“Captain, the Starfleet vessel has fired two torpedoes at our location” An officer spoke, looking back at Marvok.

Marvok smiled and even laughed. “Let them hit us. Their puny torpedoes are no match for our shields!” He looked around. “Our shields are the warmth of the Imperium!” Everyone cheered with him. Meanwhile, the torpedoes flew through the debris, past the spacial anomalous, and arrived at their destination, hitting the shields and exploding loudly. But no damage was seen.

“See, I told you that their actions are meaningless. They are but a …” Marvok then got interrupted,

“Captain, the creature, it is moving?” The officer looked at the screen as the tentacles of the blood crystalline entity withdrew from the hull of the Damascus, showing the damage on its hull but still operational. It quickly started to move in the direction of Devore’s vessel.

The Captain narrowed his eyes “Fire all torpedoes. Show this creature who its master is!” He said in frustration as the red torpedoes got fired but easily dodged by the entity. With a forward leap, the crystalline entity wrapped its tentacles around the Devore ship “But …everything was so well calculated! Everything was supposed to be going by our side!” Marvok yelled in disbelief. 

Slowly the cracks were heard throughout the ship as the tentacles boosted its strength and the hull started to collapse. The entity started to eat the vessel deck by deck until an explosion was seen, marking the end. 

USS Damascus – Bridge

The three officers looked at the screen, relieved, worn out, and wounded. Sazra lowers her hand and lets her head rest on the chair. “I am so tired” She managed to get out as she let her head hang forward with Silina going to her side.

“She needs medical assistance right now” Kossaal spoke, but more words were fading away for Sazra. 

Escape Pods Bay

The crew had returned with their escape pods after receiving the clear message from Damascus. The crew returned only to see remnants of the destroyed Devore ship. There was no trace of the large blood crystalline entity. But the Damascus had taken a beating for sure. The impact of the asteroid beat up the left front. The left engine was barely operational, and the overall hull had the marks of giant tentacles trying to rip through it. The ship had seen better days, that was for sure. 

“Good grief it is good to be back but what happened to the hull?” A crewman spoke to another.

“Don’t ask something you don’t want to know. Get back to your post and get busy with your duties,” Adrián orders. “Engineers, you have a hell of a job awaiting you, but the main priority is to get the warp core strength back up! Now move!” Slamming into each other hands, Adrián greeted Rami upon his return “Good to have you back, Lieutenant, the situation might be at ease right now, but we are not out of the woods yet”. Adrián looked at K’Nala, who stepped out of her pod “Follow us, Ensign, we got a lot of work to do”  He saw her nod and walked to the turbolift.

“Would ya mind getting us, up-to-date, Commander?” Rami followed Adrián “We were unable to witness what was going on precisely, but one moment we saw the Damascus getting on the verge of being destroyed only to see moments later the Devore ship getting blown up. What the hell did you guys do” 

Walking through the damaged hallway as Adrián pats a few crewmen on their shoulders to keep morale up and continues his path “You want to long or short version, Lieutenant?” He walked to the turbolift and waited for it to arrive. 

“The shorrrt verrrsion Commander” K’Nala suddenly spoke, arriving behind them at the turbolift, making them look at her “If…possible. We have a lot of worrrk to do” She pointed out.

“What she said” Rami pointed at K’Nala with a facial expression of curiosity to the longer version, but time was not in their favor after all. 

Turbolift

They all entered the turbolift as Adrián had already turned around and waited for them to get in. Giving the sign to the crew members that wanted to enter also, “Please the next” They both nodded “Thank you, bridge” the Commander ordered as the turbolift doors closed. He took a deep breath “The short version is that Captain Praugol ordered us to lower the shields. Meaning that she would get the full fury of the blood dilithium into her body” 

“Is that not a suicidal wish right there? What if she had gone mad, wait did she go maid?” Rami was confused for a moment. 

Shaking his head, “No, it was possible it would happen. Our good doctor was at her side, well basically they both were” Adrián also in reference to Silina. He leans against the side of the lift “They both moderated the behavior of our Captain, while I was off to do get our ship systems back online. Which is by the way a hell if you have to do everything by yourself. The results were more tricky than expected” 

“How so Commanderrrr?” “K’Nala was curious as to what had happened to their Captain. 

He looked at the Caitian for a second and then back at the door “The Captain was out cold, but for some reason, I think managed to lay a connection with the entity. Whatever happened, she managed to stop it and ordered Commander Ruslanovna to fire at the Devore ship” 

“Fire at the Devore ship? That is useless, their hull plating is way too strong. I don’t even think we have the right torpedoes to get through their shields?” A tactical observation of Rami as he shook his head with the disagreement of choice in the given situation.

Bridge

The door opens up as they walk all onto the bridge “That is what you would think. Your conclusion is right, torpedoes had no effect on the Devore ship whatsoever. But…” Adrián was then interrupted by someone else.

“The explosions of the two torpedoes were enough for the Blood Crystalline Entity to locate the Devore ship. We can only make an educated guess that the entity was under the restraint of the Devore and being used as a weapon. But only the Captain would know so,” Silina spoke from the science console looking at them “Ensign get into your seat, do a checkup on engines. Lieutenant Shew, get to your seat as well” 

Adrián looked annoyed at Silina “I was telling them the story. Why do you need to ruin my moment, Commander?” He walked to his console and started to get the latest updates. “Before you are going to ask, I already ordered the engineering teams to get their sorry ass to work on the power grid” He pointed out quickly, seeing Silina already backing off. 

Giving a small smile to Adrián, Silina nodded at him “Thank you, Commander. Now we need to get our ship ready to navigate through this forsaken minefield. Are you up for that, Ensign?” 

Just sitting down, letting her fingers go over the console “I should be able to guide us out of the dangerrr zone, Commanderrr. It might be trrricky with most of the sensorrrs out of commission. But if I can work with shorrrt-range sensorrrs I will be able to do it”  K’nala was trying to get the latest updates on the computer navigational system.

“Not out Ensign, we need to go in” Silina spoke as moved her finger up on the console, sending her helmsman information “We still have a mission to do”

Looking over her shoulder and blinking a few times “What mission? We have to get out of this location?” K’Nala was confused about the statement from her Commander.

“That is not the case. Remember what the Captain said when we entered the area. We received that SOS signal from that transport ship. We might be beaten up, but if the Commander believes we can do this, we will need to tow out that ship and get it to safety” Rami pointed out. This was a standard routine for them. If someone is in need of help. Sazra was always ready to divert her energy to it. 

Her eyes went from Silina to Rami “But we arrre in a worrrse condition, we would be lucky to get out alive?” K’Nala fear was acting up, she wanted to survive this whole nightmare. 

Taking a brief sigh of relief, Silina waved her hand to Adrián who wanted to comment “Ensign, there is something you need to know. Our Captain, your Captain is a person that will take the extra light-year if needed to do what is right. She is the kind of person that will never ever leave anyone behind. We already know for sure that if we would get a good scolding from her if we would leave them behind” Silina smiled at her. “I know that the given situation is anything but ideal, but it is our duty as Starfleet Officers to try to help those in need. Just put yourself in their shoes, they had to go through hell and back”.

“How….is the Captain?” She finally asked what was on everyone’s mind. K’Nala had noticed that she was talked about as if she was not here anymore. 

“She is under the care of our good doctor,” Silina said in a sad tone that made no one else prey any further “Get the ship ready all. We have a priority task to do” She ordered and focused back on the science console in front of her. Her mind was down at sickbay where Sazra was fighting for her life. After the large entity had left the grid and Silina managed to get the shields back up, Sazra was out cold.

Sickbay

The beeping sound of heart rhythm was heard from the panel behind the biobed where Sazra was lying. Kossaal had been monitoring her health for a while now and inducing certain healing methods to get her body back to strength. But even Kossaal had to admit that his Captain’s body was hit quite severely from the severe stress the blood dilithium had produced over time. He noticed some of the nurses that had returned and coming to a halt, looking at their captain lying there.

“Stop looking, start working” Kossaal spoke up, still focused on the data “Captain Praugol has been exposed to extreme amounts of blood dilithium resonate and exposure. Her brain activity has spiked for at least 30 minutes, placing her body under extreme pressure.” Kossaal had to admit he was glad that the staff had returned. “I need two of you to aid me in repairing her veins. The rest will focus on the wounded that will return to us” 

“Yes, Doctor” The four medical personnel spoke up and rushed to their stations. 

They started to work on Sazra on various key points, the nerve system, the vital organs, and the brain function. Kossaal had to admit that his prime focus was the Captain’s brain searching for everything that was still in one piece. The brain had suffered quite a significant blow. The Captain’s ears, eyes, and nose were bleeding from the stress she had to endure from that connection. From a medical stand of point of view, was this totally crazy. She wanted to learn more about what kind of person his Captain was. He looked at the panel and narrowed his eyes a bit. She was, for sure, a hero in the given situation. Her drive saved them all, but at what cost “Alright, get ready. If you experience any problems, report them immediately, so I can assist you in your task. This will take a few hours, and seeing the ship is going to shake a lot, it will not be that easy” He started on his part, followed by the others that started their delicate work on their Captain. 

The ship had endured the worst-case scenario. To avoid combat at all costs was off the table. The warnings of Starbase 38 were lost after the first explosion had reached Damascus. Sparks were flying off the engine, and parts of the ripped open hull as the Capital of Syria flew through the asteroid field and avoided most of the spacial anomalous. Their target was the severely damaged transport ship that was the original bait of the Devore.

“Status report” Silina calmly sat in the Captain’s chair. A lot had happened in the last few hours, and she had to keep a specific image to the crew to keep them going. But in the back of her mind, she was not even on the bridge. She was at the bedside of Sazra, who had sustained a lot of damage from her connection to the entity. She still didn’t understand how it was possible that such a connection could happen. 

“The ship shields are up to 45% thanks to the brilliant work of Valerio’s engineers” Rami pointed out. “Weapons are still dodgy at best. Phasers work but not at total capacity. We still sustained damage to our torpedo tubes after that last fight. We got only one operational” Rami shrugged a bit. “Security is doing its best to secure various decks, I am getting them up to speed with Devore invading tactics from what we have learned so far from the fleet” 

“Speaking about the fleet, we have not heard anything from them yet, right?” Silina blinked, looking at Adrián to get her question answered.

Pushing a bit on the console as Adrián leans on it and exhales a breath of air “Communication on long-range is messed up. We are holding out on short-range communication. It was the very thing that we were able to get that communication going with that Devore ship.” Adrián would think for a second and wonder if the crystalline entity was involved in the damage portion of that part of the ship. 

“Forrrmerrr Devorrre ship, it is now space dust” K’Nala spoke up, trying to navigate slowly through the minefield of pain and agony. 

Silina gave away a small smile to K’Nala and just gave a nod of approval. “What is the repair status, Commander?” 

Adrián smirked at the Caitian remarks and nodded to Silina’s question, “The ship is in bad shape. I am not going to walk around the problem for this one. We have taken a beating from the earlier explosions, the impact, and the large crystalline entity that tried to devour us” He counted the issues up with his fingers. “But the power grid is getting back into shape, and we get a full 80% back to its original status. Because the left engine is busted up but a certain impact, I can’t give promises to full warp capacity. So advisable would be warp 6 and if we are pulling that bad boy…warp 4” He pointed at the transport ship on the screen that they were closing in on. 

“I take it” Silina confirmed the suggestion of Adrián and looked at the screen. Now it got more evident the severe damage the ship was taken. “What is the status of the tractor beam? Can we travel at warp with that on?” 

“The tractor beam is fixed and operational.” Adrián shrugged, looking at the transport ship. “But I want to make a few scans of that” He referred to the transport ship “Because I have the idea that the ship is not going anywhere in that current condition”

Looking at the screen also “Apprrroaching the trrransport ship Red Lunarrr”  K’Nala spoke as her eyes were locked on the damaged ship “I do have to agrrree with the Commanderrr. If we pull this ship out, I think therrree is nothing left to be pulled” 

She tapped on the side of the chair as her eyes scanned the ship in front of them. “What is the ship’s status?” Silina finally asked for an update on it. 

“Initial scans are giving out that their engines are out of order. These boys are not going to be fixed here” Adrián pointed out as an additional scan report came up on the edge of the screen. It showed details of the Red Lunar “As you can see, the ship has sustained significant damage to its cargo areas, the bridge is collapsed, and the engines are partly torn off” 

“Survivors?” Silina continued.

Rami followed up “From our original scans. We detected 120 lives. But after the crystalline entity did its work on it. I can only register 71 lives on that ship. Their life-support is getting dangerously low” Rami looked at Adrián who looked back at him. “We could try to beam them all over. Damascus can house 120 extra souls. I can have security help relocate them, and we could potentially house the decease in the cargo bay?” 

Rubbing her forward head as she placed her hands on her eyes while leaning forward. It took Silina a second to look up from her hands. “Alright, communication with the ship is impossible, right?” 

“The communication system has been destroyed on that ship. Even morse code will not reach them” Adrián shrugged as he enlarged the damaged area where the communication system was supposed to be. “The idea is plausible, but we have to keep in mind that if we meet those Devores again, we will have a serious problem and can’t help those that we are about to rescue” 

She nods to the conclusion of what her senior staff has to say. “Lieutenant Shew get a security team ready at the transport rooms. These people will be confused and scared when arriving. Ensign Drata takes over the engineering console. I want you to coordinate the transportation efforts and get everyone over. Even those deceased” Silina looked at Adrián. “Get those areas ready for survivors. When any of you meet their Captain or the most senior staff, send them to the bridge” 

“Understood. I will have a security team with the senior staff. Just in case we are dealing with another deception of trying to take over our ship” Rami walked to the turbolift and waited for Adrián to follow, keeping the door open. 

Adrián gave the nod and patted Drata on his shoulder. “Keep me updated, Ensign. I will get the areas fixed up for these survivors. Commander” He gave a nod to Silina and entered the turbolift as it closes behind him. There was a lot of work going to happen.

A few hours later

The transportation was going well and Silina did her best to moderate the area to see if any other ships were entering the grid. But with the long-range scanners still out, it was difficult to see what was going on at the edge of the grid or beyond.

“Commander, we have located the senior staff of the Red Lunar, and it is being brought up” Drata confirmed. “We are at 75% of the transporting” The Bolian ensign pointed out.

“Good work, keep it up,” Silina complimented him, as it was an excellent motivational boost for anyone.

Moments later, the door opens up of the turbolift. The security team stepped out followed by a Cardassian in civilian clothing. He looked pretty beaten up and met with the eyes of Silina. “Welcome to Damascus. My name is Commander Ruslanovna. I am the ship’s Executive Officer. I am sorry to have forced you to site-to-site transportation. But seeing the communications were down, and your ship life-support is damaged, we needed to put it into action” 

The man nodded “Shosa Irot, the Red Lunar’s First Mate. The sole survivor of the bridge crew” He shrugged as it was still painful to mention, “I was at the passengers when the monster attacked us and destroyed the bridge. My Captain died while trying to get in contact with your ship to warn you of the dangers. But somehow you guys survived” He looked around, a bit puzzled and seeing the damage that the bridge had received, “I thank you for the transportation and saving my people from this disaster” 

Silina had already stood up to face the man “That is what we are here for. The transportation is almost done and we shall be returning to Markonian Outpost. Our medical staff will take a look at your wounded and treat anyone that requires it” 

“I would appreciate it if you could transport our deceased as well” Shosa replied with another shrugged followed.

Raising her hand, “We already did so. They are stored in one of our cargo bays. The nurses are taking proper care of them right now.” Silina tried to reassure Shosa. “If you wish anyone to overview our work on the bodies, do tell, and I will order the nurses to wait until that person has arrived” 

He shook his head. “That is perfectly okay with me. Most of them are crew members of the ship.  Giving them the peace they deserve is their final wish” Shosa felt more relieved to know that his fellow members were given proper treatment. “If I might be so rude, where is your Captain? Is she …” 

“No, she is not death” Silina gave a soft smile. “She received many injuries during our arrival and is now under treatment by our ship’s doctor.”

“Commander, the Red Lunar transportation operation is complete. All members are now on the Damascus” Drata confirmed, looking at the Commander, who nodded back at him. 

“Thank you” Silina looked back at Shosa “Please report to our sickbay and see that you receive a full checkup. You have experienced a lot, and you deserve some rest” Shosa gave the nod to Silina as she sat back down in the chair “Ensign K’Nala, get us out of here” 

“Thank you again, Commander” Shosa nods to the other security officers that led him off the bridge. The Damascus turns slowly around to slowly navigate out. Was this mission going to be over? Will they reach the outpost safely? Those were the burning questions that hunted the crew. 

Once again, she felt the breeze through her hair and smelled the fresh wood and grass. Slowly opening her eyes, Sazra blinked a few times, seeing the sun cutting through the leaves and into her face. It took her a second to realize that she had returned to the place she was trapped in. “Not this again” She placed her hand on her head, slowly sitting up. It felt like the headache had not passed, one second, she was in the mind space of a blood crystalline entity, then back on the bridge of the Damascus, pointing at the Devore ship to give the fire command. Only to pass out again from the damage she had received from the connection. 

“Good, you are awake again” This time, an elderly voice came from Sazra’s side.

She looked in the direction the voice was coming from, seeing a middle-aged man with short black hair and a short black beard. Sazra had no idea who the person was that was now talking. Her dreams were giving her more concern every time she entered them. Now she was seeing people she didn’t recognize. “So the general question of the day is, who the hell are you?” Looking back as she placed her hand back on her head. 

“Well, you just came from our mind, so don’t insult us now that you have forgotten” He gave a soft smile crossing his arms.

Nodding slowly and placing her hand down, not turning her attention to him “Why are you still in my mind?” Sazra finally turned to face him, still sitting on the ground. She could feel the sun on her skin. “Do you need more help with something?” 

The man shook his head. “Your help in our mind space has been a great appreciation to us. We left the grid to reclaim our minds from the effects of the blood dilithium. But…” Looking like he was thinking for a second or two. “We noticed something was off from blood dilithium” 

Lifting her right leg and leaning on it still had her eyes locked on the man. “What are you talking about? You guys are pretty vague when trying to explain yourselves. Just get it out of your system and tell me what you find so weird about the blood dilithium? Because I don’t think I can sustain further damage to my brain from our connection” Sazra was not going to hold back from pointing out her concerns. 

But the man gave her a soft reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, our connection will not affect your brain. The radiation of the blood dilithium will, however. We believe your ship is trying to save the beings on that other ship. I don’t quite understand why they would endanger themselves even more” He was puzzled about it. “Does your species have a desire for a death wish?” 

She rolled her eyes as Sazra looked away, seeing the beautiful landscape in front of her. “It is our principle of life. If there is a possibility that we can help another, then who are we to deny such an opportunity? We will not ask for anything in return. We want them to be safe. So I am proud of my people that they are doing that” Looking back at the man. “But my question remains unanswered” 

“Ah yes, the question” He confirmed it. “Sorry, our curiosity has peeked thanks to your deeds. So we have questions to understand you better. But we are talking about the blood dilithium. We are now further away from this density and can isolate it” He waved his hand as a male figure appeared by a wave of his hand. “This is one of the formed thoughts. A consciousness trying to break through” He looked back at Sazra. “Like we tried, but different?” 

Standing up from the grass, Sazra looked at the man. At first, she didn’t recognize the species. “I have no idea what he is, where he comes from? Do you guys have an idea of what we are dealing with?” Sazra had no choice but to accept the presence of this being in her head, even though they were right. It didn’t hurt as bad as before. Maybe Damascus was moving away from the grid also? Did they succeed in getting the transport survivors?

“They are …classified as Brenari? They also have the telepathic ability and thus hunted down by these Devore beings?” He explained, looking at the Brenari. 

“The Brenari” Sazra repeated the words and crossed her arms. “I remember now. The Devore Imperium enslaved them for their telepathic abilities. They live near the borders of the Devore Imperium. They were prosecuted by them and mistreated” Trying to explain it “But what are they doing in those blood dilithium?” She realized what the being had said before. “Wait. You said their consciousness is trying to break through?” 

Nodding in confirmation, “This being is no longer alive. We can only feel its presence of energy resonating in those blood dilithium crystals. There are more” He pointed out.

“How much more are we talking about?” Sazra blurred out without thinking.

Within a second, the whole area was filled with all Brenari people. Sazra looked around at all the people yelling, screaming, and crying in pain and agony. They were young and they were old, male, and female. It didn’t matter as they were all there. It made Sazra have an enormous surge of pain in her head as she placed her hands against her head and fell to her knees. “MAKE IT STOP!” She yelled as if the sheer pressure on her cracked her head open. 

The people all disappeared as the man leaned against the tree. “We apologize. We were answering your question concerning how many there were” 

She rubbed her head and felt the pain fade away as Sazra took a few heavy breaths. “Next time, please consider a lower being’s mind is not the same as yours. We can’t process so many voices in our heads” The being didn’t respond to her complaint as she sat back on the ground. The amount of stress was gone from her head. “So, can you explain how they came in there….what happened?” 

“Their origin is unknown, but it seems their story is identical. They are all prisoners of these Devore Imperium beings” He was puzzled about something. “Are all Devore Imperium beings bad? They hurt these Brenari for having telepathic abilities. They kept us in control by blinding us and trying to control us to do their bidding” The man looked at Sazra with a neutral facial expression “Do they hurt your people also?” 

“Most likely” Sazra replied without thinking about it “The profile of the Devore people is based on the experience of a few of our vessels had with them. They are very xenophobic and will demand to search the ships while traveling through their space. The blood dilithium’s recent bloom made them expand their borders quickly. Making more of our vessels and civilians transport explain their travels” Sazra points at the man. “Like the transport ship you attacked, I know you did it out of your control because you were afraid and unable to sense your surrounding” 

The man shrugged. “We were acting on our instinct, yes, the Devore made use of that weakness of being overwhelmed by vast amounts of spacial anomalous. We were….in your terms, a living test subject” He showed frustration as an emotion. “We are angry about this…abuse, we think you call it?” 

“It is abuse” Sazra pointed out. “To your earlier question, if they find people with the ability of telepathic or the sensitivity to it like myself. They will be detained and impounded the ship, and the rest of the crew is free to travel back to where ever they came from. I left my crew members that have telepathic abilities. But honestly, I didn’t suspect that the blood dilithium had such an effect on me” 

“What are you going to do if the Devore is going to try to capture your ship and detain you?” The man looked at her with some curiosity in his eyes. 

Sazra raised his shoulders. “I am stuck in this place. Most likely, my Chief Medical Officer has placed me in a coma to minimize the effects of the blood dilithium. Thought the ship shields were most likely holding back most of the signals from those crystals. Wait, how can you even contact me or appear here?” 

The man smiled. “Because we made a connection before, we now can keep that connection on a specific distant active. We are still in debt to you for what you have done for us. If you are in danger, you can communicate with us, and we will do our best to help where possible” He looked at his side suddenly. “You are not safe in this part of space. These Devore beings are patrolling the area after our interaction with them earlier” 

Letting out a deep breath, “Great, don’t invade my personal space, okay? I don’t like these kinds of connections in general” Sazra heard the report about Devore ships being nearby. “If they intercept the Damascus, they will board the ship and find me. I am a liability to their safety!” Standing up and looking at him “Is it possible that you can wake me up?” 

Looking back at her “Wake you up? What will you do? The condition of your body is not good. But your exposure to the blood dilithium can make it easier for us to pinpoint your location. We are on our way” He confirmed “Please hold out and keep them at bay at any cost. We still have that debt to repay” The being transforms into a pile of leaves that blows through the wind.

“What about waking me up!?” Sazra shrugged as she blinked with her eyes and suddenly found herself looking upwards at the ceiling. “What the…” She mutters, feeling the surging pain in her head. “Yea, definitely back” She growled out of frustration as she got up and felt the pain through her body.

“Captain! You are awake?!” A nurse replied in complete surprise. 

On warp 4, Damascus was traveling as quickly as they could out of the newly conquested Devore Imperium space. Their destination would be Markonian Outpost, a safe haven where the rest of the fourth fleet would be stationed. Either coming back from their mission or ready to head out again. The bride was still a mess, and scars of the interaction with the Blood Crystalline Entity were quite present. 

“Is Commander Valerio getting any progression on that left engine?” Silina felt that the trip was taking too long. They needed to get out of here and fast. 

Rami shook his head. “Latest reports show that the engineering is making little progress. The left engine had taken a beating from that impact and the amount of pressure from those explosions. But also, those tentacles didn’t do us a favor” He taps onto his console as Rami shrugs at the severity of their situation. “How freaking long until we reach that outpost?!” 

The Caitian looked up “Sorrry, I am trrrying my best. The ETA is still 28 hourrss.” K’Nala spoke, feeling like she was getting punished for the slowness of the ship.

“Don’t be sorry, Ensign. The Lieutenant is on edge from the whole given situation. We are in a hostile area, and he is…rightfully worried about getting us to safety” Silina looked with harsh and disapproving eyes at Rami, who raised his shoulders. “He doesn’t mean to be blaming you. Right, Lieutenant?”

“Yea… I didn’t mean it like that” Rami followed up on what Silina was saying. The tension on the bridge was quite present for those trying their best to operate in the given situation. “The whole bloody mission was a mistake to start with” 

Leaning back in her chair, Silina rubbed the side of her head. “I can only agree with that statement, but we have also produced results on the other side. We manage to save the people on that transport ship, the Red Lunar. We learned quite a bit from the area itself, the density, the blood dilithium, and the effects” She points her fingers in the air. “Plus that it also affects large spacial creatures that devour planets for their greed or, most likely, they would argue to be fuel for their journey” Shaking her head, “If they even could communicate with any of us….”

K’Nala looked over her shoulder. “Well, actually, the one that did was Captain Prrraugol. She somehow manages to send that beast to the Devorrre and destrrroy it?” Quickly looking back at her console. She felt like meddling with a discussion that was above her pay grade. 

“That is something I, medically, can’t explain,” Silina pointed out and placed her hand on her head again. “Because record-wise, the only one that did communicate was an android. Who, by the way, was working for said Crystalline Entity” It was difficult to explain by itself. Silina was trying to wrap her head around the concept of connecting with an interstellar creature that could travel significant distances in warp and was the size of a moon or even a planet. 

“Commanderrr, I am reading signals on long-range. They are vague, but therrre is something following us!” K’Nala just announced, seeing the vague bleeps on her console. The signals were disappearing and reappearing. The young ensign could only acknowledge it as the problem from the damage they had sustained from their encounter with the Blood Crystalline Entity. 

Sitting up in her chair, “Red Alert” Silina was not taking any chances on the given situation they were on and pressed the communication tap. “This is Commander Ruslanovna. Battle stations, everyone. We have unidentified targets or targets on our tail. I repeat battle stations, everyone” Silina looked at the Ensign. “Get me an aft view now! Rami!” 

“On it damn it, the shields are only 49% back,  but we are by far in any condition to go into any battle. Play your cards, smart Commander. It might be your last” Rami announced while trying to reroute the energy to get more to shields and weapons. 

The aft view appeared on the screen as Silina slammed the side of her chair. “Frak, Devore patrol ships” She acknowledges it after seeing the shapes right in front of her. “They must have gone after us when detecting the multitude of explosions from the grid. Ensign, get me more juice into those engines” 

Swiping her fingers over the console, she felt on the verge of having a panic attack “Commanderrr, I am trrrying what I can to get morrre powerrr to the engines. But the left engine status is blocking me, and placing it on the right engine will overload herrr. We will not gain anything from that solution. Aside from Commanderrr Valerrrio giving me a lecturrre” 

The girl was right, given the situation that had developed. Silina shrugged and just nodded to herself. “Drop us out of warp. Let’s see what they want from us” She could hear everyone taking a deep breath out of fear. “We just have to talk ourselves out of the situation and break this bloody chain to get to safety” 

“Are you sure about this? These guys are ruthless and will board us even if we say no” Rami leaned on his console. “Plus, while we don’t have any telepathic crew members besides our Captain? What can we say about the people we rescued from that transport ship!” 

Looking at the screen, I saw the four Devore ships were closing in. “We can tell our Captain was injured during our scientific mission, which is not a lie. But you make a strong case regarding the transport people” Silina started to bite her nail, trying to think “We got to keep them safe at any cost. They already on to us….” 

“They arrre locking onto us!” K’Nala saw the alert popping up on her console “Commanderrr orderrrs!” 

“Drop us out of warp now!” Silina gave the command as the Damascus dropped out of warp. Sparks were flown off the Damascus from various locations. Seconds later, four ships dropped out of warp and closed in on the Damascus with their weapons charged to deal with their potential problem. 

Rami shook his head in disagreement and saw the popup comes up. “Their lead ship is hailing us. Bloody, think carefully about the given situation when saying something against them. Commander” He ended it respectfully, but the message was made clear on how much he disapproved of the given situation or made choice. 

She rolls her eyes at the harsh comment, “Lieutenant, I am well aware of the situation or predicament we are currently in. I am not in the mood for your lecture. Now put these people on the screen, and freaking let me do my job while you do yours” Silina was annoyed for sure, but not only because of Rami’s words. But the given situation was, in a way, weighing on her shoulders. 

The screen changed to the layout of the previous Devore ship they had met at the grid. In the middle, a Devore male sat back in his chair and leaned forward. “It seems that some species still have a brain when encountering the mighty Devore Imperium. An excellent choice to drop out of warp, Captain.” He said with a grin on his face. 

“What can I do for you, Captain?” Silina let out her annoyance and sighed “My name is Ruslanovna, and I am the ship’s Executive Officer. We have wounded on board our ship and are en route back to Markonian Outpost. So I do not mean to be rude to you or your fellow people. But we are on a rather tied schedule” Silina tried to explain it as well as possible. There was no lie in her sentences as she bluntly explained their intention to go where they needed to get medical aid and engineering support. 

The man shook his head slightly. “Well, you see, that is something I can’t allow you to do. You see, we recently expanded our mighty Imperium and laid claim to the blood dilithium. So we have to investigate every ship out there and see if they have stolen any of our values” He placed his hands over each other “So if you would not mind standing down, Commander. We will send over a transport team to investigate your ship, and if there is nothing to hide we will be off again” 

“We have nothing to hide. We were out here to do scientific research. As you might have noticed, it went wrong when we exited the grid” Silina was trying her best to find an exit in this dire situation.

He then leaned slowly forward on his chair, leaning on his knees, and placed his hands in front of him. “Now that is quite interesting, Commander. You see, we just received an SOS signal from that grid, the one with the large density of the anomaly.” His eyes narrowed, looking more serious. “You see when our battle group arrived at that given location. We found debris from a ship ripped apart” 

The tension on the bridge grew as people showed their worries in their facial expressions, but Silina kept calm “That sounds like a Devore affair, and we are explicitly told not to meddle with your affairs. I am sorry for your loss, but as you see to my ship, I need to bring my people to a safe location” 

The man laughed briefly. “You are very safe, Commander. You are surrounded by the best and bravest of the Devore Imperium. Now I am not going to request it again. Lower those shields and get ready to be boarded. If you dare to defy our orders, then we shall open fire, and we have no guilt whatsoever for those that trespassed our lands and defiled it” 

Silina looked over her shoulder to Rami, who shrugged. “We …” Silina looked back at the Devore captain and took a deep breath. “Will not comply with your orders. If you set one foot on this ship, we will defend ourselves until the bitter end. So if you want to fight, Captain, you shall have it” She cut off the signal and stood up. “Fire on them” 

“And what ship you desire to fire, oh glorious leader?” Rami said while shaking his head and getting the ship into combat mode. This was going to be a hopeless situation.

“I don’t f*cking care, Lieutenant. Just shoot them!” Silina replied, annoyed, and looked at the Ensign. “Avoid any of their shots, Ensign. I know I am putting a lot on your shoulders right now, but I need you to focus” She placed her hands on her shoulders. “You can do this!” Silina tapped her combadge while walking back to her chair as the ship made rough moves. “Bridge to Valerio, you better get me that bloody engine back online. You do not have much time!” 

“I presumed so much already, with the ship sharing its tears and cracks on the absurd moves! Keep them away from the Damascus, and I see you get your miracle. Valerio out!” 

“Just focus, be the ship, feel the flow” K’Nala muttered to herself, trying to keep her eyes on the surroundings and the sensors that showed her the whole images. The commander had placed her trust in her, so she needed to ensure that it would not be for anything. 

Bridge 

The ship made some crazy moves to avoid the incoming blast from the four Devore ships. They were unleashing everything they had to capture their newly found prey. Sparks flew off some consoles on the bridge as another hit smashed onto the shields. The alerts went off on the consoles “We are losing shields rapidly. I got 21%!” Rami yelled, trying to lock again on the next Devore ship to show them no mercy. Even though the battle was lost before it began, everyone in the Damascus knew that. The Damascus was not built for war, and the current condition it was in right now didn’t help either. 

“Tell me something I don’t know! Divide power to shields and weapons. But when Valerio gives the signal, switch it to engines so that we can get the hell out of here!” Another hit as Silina was almost slingshot out of her chair. “This is not a good day to die!” Silina said out loud to calm her own nerves in the given situation. 

“Shields are dropping to 13%” Another pulse of phaser shots was sent as visible on the screen, hitting the Devore ship. Rami shrugged, seeing that it had little effect. “Why did they not give us a bloody Galaxy-class ship!” 

“Because those ships also do not affect the enemy ship with that much” A lone scientist spoke out loud, trying to help redirect the shields in power flow. “Recent studies of these ships have shown that they are skilled engineers to put their priority to hull and weapons” 

Rami shrugged “If only we could get an SOS signal out” But those were damaged during the encounter with the Blood Crystalline Entity. With the final blow hit, not only came Damascus to a halt, the shields were now also down. “We have no shields anymore!” Confirmed Rami grabbing his phaser. “Bloody arm yourself as these people know no mercy!” 

Moments later, Rami’s words were still echoing into everyone as the truth was revealed right in front of them as a pack of Devore soldiers beamed onto the bridge. Everyone rushed to arm themselves and started to get involved in the fight. 

Engineering

The sparks flew around as another overload happened. “Get to that!” Adrián yelled, pointing in the direction of the console that was overloaded. “They bloody took out the main grid with their pounding of weapons” Adrián shrugged as he noticed the ship was getting overwhelmed, and the intruder alert went off “Arm yourselves now!” He quickly grabbed his phaser and kneeled, turning around and seeing some bright lights behind him as he shot down the first soldier. “Take them out!” 

Shots hit the metal as another Devore soldier hit the floor. “Ensign, get to the Lieutenant and give first aid!” Adrián orders as others take the fight to the invading forces trying to control the situation. Leaning against the console,, “We might be a small ship, but the small also matters” He pep talk to the other officers. “Fight for Damascus! Protect your colleague on your side! Fight for Captain Praugol!” Adrián leaned over the console and aimed, firing another shot and taking another Devore soldier down. 

The situation was getting grim by the second. The ship is damaged, the people are injured, and the rescued folk are afraid. They were now being invaded by the Devore soldiers, who had no taste in showing mercy to anyone resisting them.

Sickbay

“Captain, you should lay down!” The nurse almost begged to try to stop her captain from walking away.

Sazra’s eyes narrowed, and she looked at the nurse. “Stand aside, or I will make you stand aside. The ship is under attack, and I am in no mood to deal with medical protocols right now” Sazra pushed her aside as she wanted to walk to the door, but Kossaal stepped in front of her. “For crying out loud, doc, I have no time for this!” 

“And as your Chief Medical Officer, I disagree with your blunt statement. Do you realize we have performed a few hours of surgery on your brain?! You should be resting, not standing up, and get ready to enter the next battle!” Kossaal was spreading his arms. “You need to stay here and go back to your bed right now” He points with one hand toward where Sazra had come from. 

Taking a big breath as she suddenly pushed the doctor against the glass wall. Flickering red eyes came back into Sazra’s eyes as they looked directly at Kossaal. “I don’t like that you are trying to prevent me from doing my job. I am very much grateful that you put me together. But right now, my ship, crew, and every damn soul on this ship is in danger and my responsibility!” 

“But my responsibility is your life as well as any other on this ship, Captain” Kossaal was not going to back down. “Your eyes are flickering red, meaning the blood dilithium still affects you. You need to stand down and take rest!” Kossaal pushed Sazra’s hands down so that he could take the floor on his own strength again. “Now let go!” 

But she would not give in on this man with a slight attitude problem to any superior officer. “I will get out of that door” Her eyes redirected to the direction of the sickbay exit. “And you will be very wise not to interfere with my exit, or you will feel the wraith of those red eyes” She looked back at him and saw a certain chill go through him. She lets go of his uniform and straightens it out, then gives a soft clap on his cheek. “Good boy” 

Sazra made her way to the sickbay exit without Kossaal following her. The moment she opened the door, she noticed an armed person and quickly grabbed the person by his neck and pulled him into the sickbay. With a swing, she manages to put him to the ground. “To arms! They are here!” Sazra orders as she looks down at the Devore soldier and slams him a few times in his face until he is knocked out. 

It is a fraction of a few seconds. Soldiers tried to get into the sickbay as the medical staff had taken to arms as ordered. Some of the injured crew that was able to function took defensive positions also. Sazra had taken out two other Devore “ I am so freaking glad I took close-quarter combat in the academy” 

Bridge

Another soldier dropped to the floor as Silina’s phaser was still aimed. The bridge was cleared for now. “Get those shields back online!” She looked at Rami, who was wounded but still standing. “What is the ship’s status report regarding these Devore invaders?” 

“We are facing them on most key essential decks. They are in Engineering, they are at the Cargo bays, and now also at the Sickbay” Rami was breathing heavily, looking back at Silina. “Shields are out without Adrián getting the power back onto those systems” They were vulnerable, and being captured was now an ever more scenario. 

Narrowing her eyes as Silina lowers her phasers, “So we have to face the fact that this ship will be captured. We need to continue our struggle, and by any hope, we might be able to survive this whole situation. Computer” Silina heard the bleep “Put Damascus Protocol Lockdown to effect. By direct order of the ship’s Executive Officer, Commander Silina Ruslanovna” Another bleep came as a confirmation “88-Delta-134- Bravo” The final bleep came when the authorization code was given.

Every console changed its display to a lockdown logo and the word access denied. “This ship will not fall under their command. Starfleet has given us clear orders to do whatever is needed to protect the integrity of our organization. Meanwhile, we shall hold the line and give Commander Valerio the required time to fix up those engines” Silina lifted her phaser again. 

Some Corridor

A soldier slams onto the console. “This bull crap again. They lock the ship’s systems, sir” The man was frustrated with the given situation now presented to them. “The USS Ulysses also did this move when they were intercepted and impounded” 

The officer growls at that comment, “These insects dare to resist our control. How dare they insult us” He was not amused with the situation. “Find me that, Captain, and we can squeeze the information out of her. The bridge team is not responding, so we can only assume they are gone” The man noticed movement to his right. But too late as a phaser hit his side, making him drop to his knee as the second shot let him drop to the floor.

“Well, congratulations, you found the Captain.” Sazra fired again as other officers behind her joined up to open fire. “Take them out. I want this trash off my ship” She did notice her behavior being more aggressive toward the enemy. Was Kossaal speaking the truth about her behavior affected by the blood dilithium? Sazra noticed that her eyes were changing to red “Keep pushing!” then Sazra stopped, still with her phaser aimed high. She now saw a girl with black hair appear in front of her “You…” muttering in disbelief about what had happened before her. 

The girl smiled at Sazra. The other officers didn’t notice her. “We have come to complete our debt. But this is also seen in your terms as a guilty pleasure for what they have done to us” With that said, the ship shook heavily as everyone tried to get something to stabilize themselves. The girl looked up. “We have arrived. Let’s get started” 

Outside Damascus

The Damascus was surrounded by the other four Devore ships in their attempt to take control of their new price. But suddenly, a large Blood Crystalline Entity jumped out of warp hovering above the ships. It immediately started to open fire with the energy beams and tentacles grabbing two ships. The Devore ships started to spread out, those that could and opened fire upon the newly arrived target.

Bridge

The ship shook violently again as some of the Devore hit the hull while trying their best to avoid the large Blood Crystalline Entity attacks. But most of the attacks that were performed were stopped by the entity. The Devore acted in confusion. Why was this being protecting Starfleet? Why was it only attacking them? What has happened in that short time span and does Starfleet now control this being?

“What the hell is that thing doing herrre!” K’Nala looked at the screen and back to her console which was still locked “Commanderrr we arrre sitting ducks right now, we need the contrrrol back!”  

But Silina looked at the screen with horror seeing the creature above them. Her mind was trying to come up with any kind of solution as she grabbed her head trying to think of something to get out of this mess “Come on Silina, think of something, what would Sazra do?”

At that exact moment, Adrián enters the bridge and bunch a bit back seeing the large entity “That is not supposed to be there, Silina you got any idea of how to deal with that thing?” He moved to a console and noticed the lockdown “Great Starfleet policy going to screw us over. Silina orders?!” 

“I am a freaking doctor! Give me a second!” Silina yelled back, looking at Adrián “I am open for suggestions?!” 

“Well, you could start with getting us the….” The consoles all changed their view once again to normal status and everyone had access again as everyone looked confused at each other. Adrián blinks, looking at his right then to his left “…control back. You work fast” He redirects his attention to Silina.

Confused as well, Silina looked at the console at her chair being active “I didn’t do that?” She was the one that locked the ship down, and no one aside from herself should be able to release the controls. Then she looked up and realized the fact that there was someone that could release the ship’s controls “Bridge to sickbay! What is the status of Captain Praugol!” 

A female voice came back “The Captain is awake and has joined the battle against the wishes of the doctor. The doctor has followed her, Commander” 

With that reaction, Silina slammed the chair “Bloody stubborn woman” She was going to chew her up for this, but at the other side, it was a perfect moment “Get back to work, thanks for the update. Bridge out” Silina cuts off the communication as she looks at K’Nala”Ensign, get us moving and resume course! We can resume the course right?” Silina looked at Adrián.

“We can, and you are welcome! The ….that thing presented an opportunity for us to fix the left engine” Adrián spoke getting the status of the ship’s engine active “We should be good, but we can’t take much more of this ongoing battle. Warp 3 is what I can give you Ensign” 

“Warrrp 3?!” K’Nala shrugged and growled under her tongue which made Silina blink hearing that unique sound coming from her Ensign “I will get us out of herrre” The Damascus started to move once again and into the direction to leave the battlefield. 

“We got the large Blood Crystalline Entity following us. They match our speed. I have no weapons to deal with that” Rami shrugs, seeing the entity following them. 

Silina nodded to that. “Well, seeing that it is protecting us and taking the fight to the Devore. I really don’t mind right now” It was a matter of the enemy of my enemy being my friend kind of situation. Silina’s mind, however, was drifting away wondering how Sazra was doing “Rami status on the invaders?” Now being able to get those answers seeing that the systems were back online.

Rami was already scanning the console for the information “We got about twenty-five people on the Damascus. Security teams are sent to the designated areas to contain them. I am getting reports that we are slowly gaining control, but a bigger fight is going on in the hallways near sickbay” 

Hallways – Near sickbay

A shot impacts the wall and the searing sound is still present with the burning black spot now formed after the impact. Sazra’s eyes were looking at it as she was replacing her rifle ammo. “They are going to wreck up my ship if they keep this up” She mutters slowly shaking her head while her fellow officers are pushing the Devore invaders slowly back.

“The problem is that the ship is already being wrecked up Captain” A voice came from Sazra’s side. 

Her eyes divert to the direction and see Kossaal now leaning against the wall with a phaser in his hand “Doctor. This is not quite your field of expertise” She clicks her rifle to a close and aims over the barricade opening fire immediately.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me that” He replied as he fired and pulled back “I am just concerned about my patient. She has an attitude issue and is very stubborn, oh and a key factor is her red pupil eyes. It is just a slight side effect of blood dilithium. Oh, yea the one outside is big enough to interfere with her way of thinking?!”

Rolling her eyes as she took another shoot taking down a Devore soldier “Well I have no idea who you are talking about. By the sound of it, she is a brilliant young lady that stands up to protect her crew at any cost. Even at the cost of her own life” Sazra smirks and reloads then looked through the vizier to take aim again. “We all perform our duties differently doctor, I am for one not the kind to leave my crew in the dark while they are fighting for their lives” 

“Oh, are you not a saint” Kossaal mutters shaking his head.

“Did you say, something doctor? The loud noises…” Sazra looked with her red eyes at the doctor as another shot hit the barricade. 

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sazra “Just get this situation dealt with and get your sorry ass back to sickbay okay? There is a lot of work that needs to be done, and you are one of them” Kossaal fired again. 

“Yes, work has to be done” The black hair girl sat on the barricade looking in the direction of the Devore “They are taken control of your ship it seems. We can deal with it in style. But it means that your ship will get damaged even more” The girl looked over her soldier to Sazra who was looking back already “Better grab an air mask Captain and move forward alone” 

Sazra was not liking the idea but took a deep breath. So far the Entity was trying its best to repay its debt to her and if it could save the crew then who was she to deny it? Placing her rifle down, Sazra took a deep breath and looked at Kossaal while reaching out a hand “Give me that air mask”

The doctor looked at Sazra and then down at his air mask “Why do you need that?”

“Do you think I have time for your questions?” Sazra slowly gets up but still in full cover “Give it to me. I need to resolve this” Looking back at the Devore soldiers, there were about six of them standing there “A very unethical way I presume” Sazra feels the air mask and puts it quickly on her face “Thanks doctor, everyone stay here” She jumped over the barricade and moved to the front as the Devore soldiers looked confused at what was going on.

“Are you surrendering?!” One yelled.

“No, but you should place a wall up for your crew to be protected” The girl spoke standing at Sazra’s side and looking up at her “You have a few seconds”

‘Computer place an active force field behind me right now” Sazra orders as a blue force field appears before her crew “You better know what you are doing. This is my life you’re putting on the line, and I already am on the bad side of my ship’s doctor” 

The girl giggled “Don’t worry you will not be harmed. Hold onto something” 

Sazra quickly grabbed something on her side as the ship started to shake heavily as she looked upwards, seeing crystalline force its way into the hull “A hole breach?! That is your idea?” Sazra felt the pressure increase from the newly made hole as she grabbed onto the handle as well as possible. She noticed a man fly through the hole as the crystals closed the hole.

Dropping back on her feet, Sazra breathes heavily “You little….” She pointed her finger toward where the girl was standing, but she disappeared again “F*ck” Lowering her hand, she noticed the dropping of the crystal peddles and started to wave around her  “What the…” 

“Use the Captain, they will assist you in your battle against your invaders” The girl’s voice echoed through the hallways.

The Devore had little time to recover their position as they saw Sazra standing there with light blue and red peddles flying around her “What did you do? You filthy telepath!” A soldier tried to grab his rifle and wanted to shoot at her. But before he could, a stone was already in his throat. The others looked at how their fallen brother fell to the ground as they looked back, seeing the red eyes of Sazra intensify.

“I give you a chance to stand down and surrender, or you will meet the same fate as your colleague right there” Sazra did it the diplomatic way first. She at least wanted to offer the possibility to them. But in her head, she wanted to kill them with no remorse. Entering her ship and damaging it was beyond salvation. The soldiers, however, chose their surrender as Sazra shrugged “Computer lower the force field” The stones dropped to the ground when the force field dropped “Take them to the brig” Officers nodded to their Captain’s order as they quickly moved in to take them in. 

Outside

The Damascus engines started to push forward, trying to avoid as much of the enemy’s incoming fire as possible. The large Crystalline Entity had its crystal tentacles around a Devore ship squeezing it until it exploded. Two ships were left, and they were in bad shape. Without the further push, the two ships retreated quickly into warp away from the battlefield.

The battle was won, but they were not home yet.

The Devore ships had made their quick exit after a devastating defeat from the large Blood Crystalline Entity that came to the rescue of the Damascus. Meanwhile, the crew settled down and let the now-past event settle in. Damascus was still severely damaged after the events at the grid and now with the patrol ships. But life continued, and repairs were started once again. The bridge crew was tense as they could see the sizeable crystalline shape still hovering above their heads. 

“Commander, the entity is not doing anything right now. The moment that Devore retreated it stopped” Rami was puzzled about the whole ordeal and didn’t know what was wise in the current situation. Would firing upon this entity be wise? Or just a mark of sudden death. “We could make our exit right now” 

“That seems like the most reasonable idea right now. Ensign, take us to the maximum of warp we can handle” Silina orders as she sits back in the command chair.

“Yes, ma’am” K’Nala responded. She looked tired after the countless interactions over the past few days, yet she did her best to keep her spirit up. The same fatigue was present with the other officers. People were tired and needed a rest from these events. Pressing a few buttons and sliding one upward as the Damascus jumps into warp, “Warrrp 3.7 is the max we can do, Commanderrr” 

Silina nodded to that. “I take it. The status of the entity?” She looked over her shoulder to Rami.

“It followed us in the warp. It’s like stuck on us as glue” Rami shrugged and tapped his finger at the side of his console. “Should we do something about that thing?” It sounded stupid when he suggested it, and he rolled his eyes, wanting to take it back. 

“I wouldn’t advise you to do so.” A voice came from the turbolift as Sazra entered the bridge, followed by Kossaal. “The Entity has helped us more than once. Going to shoot torpedoes into it would make us no better than the Devore that tortured it” She stood on the middle platform, looking at the screen.

“Captain, what are you doing here? You need to go back to sickbay and recover from your interactions with the creature” Silina stood up, looking worried at Sazra. “We got everything under control here, you have done enough, and you might have saved us when I had to lock down the ship.” She was unsure that her act was correct, but handing the ship to the Devore was not an option either. 

Kossaal was checking on some bridge officers “I have been saying that since the moment she stood up from her bed and left my sickbay violently.” He nods to the Lieutenant and pats him on the shoulder, moving to the next. “But I tend to agree that her stubborn behavior has saved potentially us from certain destruction,” Treating a leg wound from the enlisted. “Stay still” He mentions to the enlisted. 

Lowering her head a bit as Sazra’s eyes looked slowly around the bridge seeing the amount of damage that was done to her bridge. She felt a weight on her shoulders from everything that had happened, but it was also the first calmness that reached her mind in a long time. It has already been more than 12 days since being in Delta Quadrant. Her eyes stopped at those of Silina standing there looking worried. Ah, she looked so beautiful. The thought crossed her mind as she let out a small smile. “Don’t worry about it, Commander. You have acted accordingly to Starfleet orders. The Devore is forbidden to seize control of our ships, and I think most Captains will take it to the extreme to prevent that at any cost” 

“We might have acted accordingly, but if you look back at our history of the last few days, we have broken at least a few rules out there” Adrián pointed out with a shrug followed. “I know we acted in pure desperation with the given situation, but will Starfleet value the same conclusion in our actions?” Adrián knew that he was discussing something more for the command structure’s ears. But somehow, this would concern every single one of them on Damascus. 

The bridge became quiet for a second until K’Nala turned her chair. “We did …what we had to do. Ourrr crrrew perforrrmed remarkably durrring the tense events of the last few days. We might have brrroken a few Starrrfleet rules, but it is for the sake of ourrr safety that we had to. Starfleet dictated that we had to pull back from the grrrid when therrre was dangerrr. But that also conflicts with ourrr standarrrds of responding to those that requirrre ourrr help. The Red Lunarrr requirrred our help. Yes, we made mistakes…but in the end, we saved them, and we had no idea what we would find out therrre. Starfleet doesn’t train us to fight a legendarrry creaturrre such as the Crrrystalline Entity! Especially being influenced by the blood dilithium,” K’Nala blinks, only now noticing that everyone is looking at her as her ears lowers a bit. “Sorrry if I spoke out of turn” 

Everyone was surprised at the sudden lecture that the young ensign gave. Sazra’s red eyes were slowly changing to their original color as she smiled at K’Nala “You don’t have to be sorry for speaking your mind, Ensign. I and the rest of us appreciate hearing your opinion” She waves slowly to the others at the bridge, smiling at her. “But while you are right, everyone did perform within the limited space they were given. We got the research data from the grid. We have scans from the area, which was our primary mission. We manage to hold our ground against the Devore with the help fo the Crystalline Entity” 

“We managed to save the transport ship people trapped by the Devore” Silina pointed out as she crossed her arms.

Taking a deep breath and shaking his head. “While I disagree with certain choices and opinions, we did get valuable information on the blood dilithium effects on telepathic people” Kossaal looked at Sazra for a second only to return to his duties of checking everyone. 

“We also managed to wreck our new ship after one mission. Damn, this is going to take me weeks to fix,” Adrián smirked and shook his head, looking at the damage report that came in. “But most importantly, your piloting skills saved our ass, Ensign” Adrián looked at K’Nala “You are of all of us, the MVP right now. Your flying made it possible for us to stay active. 

Everyone agreed and nodded collectively to each other with the statement, “I…am the MVP?” K’Nala felt her eyes tear up and began to wipe her eyes “I …I didn’t do much…I did only my job” She tried her best to stay brave and not cry in front of the whole bridge crew.

Kneeling next to the young ensign, Sazra placed her hand on her shoulder, seeing K’Nala’s eyes look at her Captain with watery eyes. “You did good, I have only seen you in action when entering the grid. And I agree that it was stunning work you did back there. Everyone did great out there, but you deserve this praise, and I believe Commander Valerio’s observation in this” K’Nala nodded to her as Sazra looked at the screen seeing a man standing there leaning against the wall next to the screen “Oh boy, you are here? What I told you on invading my head”

“We know we are not supposed to be in your head without permission. We slowly understand your social ethics.” The man replied while his arms were crossed over each other, “But we notice that there is no danger for this vessel” 

“You have noticed that correctly” Sazra stood up, looking in the direction of where the man was standing.

Silina shrugs, seeing no one in the direction of where Sazra is talking. “Captain, are you okay there?”

“Here we go again. She is talking to her imaginary friend” Kossaal said sarcastically. “It might be an after-effect from the connection with the large creature out there” He tried to get a reasonable explanation for this behavior, but even that sounded bizarre, to say the least. 

Rolling her eyes at the comments, “Please show yourself to them as well, or I will be getting a white coat when arriving at Markonian Outpost.” She shook her head and looked at the others looking at her with questionable eyes. 

The man looked at everyone on the bridge. “As you wish” Everyone, except for Sazra, suddenly grabbed to their heads as a piercing pain surge came to them, forcing them to close their eyes for a brief few seconds. Then the pain slowly faded away as everyone opened their eyes and only then noticed the man standing there. “They can see us now” 

“Who…what are you” Rami said quickly in a defensive position. He still could feel the pain in his head. “What did you do with us?” 

Kossaal narrowed his eyes, pointing his tricorder in the direction of the being. “Fascinating, it shows that there is nothing there, but there you stand” The doctor was curious about what had just occurred to them “How did you make this connection even possible?” 

The man looked at the Andorian with no change in his facial expression. “We have learned from our connection with the being named Sazra Praugol. Your methods of communication can be considered barbaric in our society. We are, after all, further developed than your minor species.” The man’s eyes looked at Rami “ We are the entity you see out there. This protection is what is deemed acceptable for you. As said before, we created a telepathic connection with the people on the bridge per her request:” He looked at Sazra.

“Well, that begs the question, why did you help us? Our history doesn’t show positive interactions” Silina rubbed her head and was quite blunt with the being.

The man’s eyes looked at Silina when suddenly Sazra spoke up “Because I helped them being cut away from the effects of the blood dilithium. Their mind was stuck that the effects of the blood dilithium overruled their senses and made them blind to what was going on around them. The Devore somehow figured this weakness out and used it against them. They were testing their weaponry to see if they could control the being” She looked at the man, who nodded in agreement. “This was their way to repay the made debt of my help to them”.

Adrián leans at the console while looking at the being. “So why did they eventually attack the Damascus?” He referred to the puncture on a particular deck that was still crystallized. 

“To help me take control of the given situation of the invaders” Sazra looked at Adrián. “It was the only way for the entity to help us out there” Looking back at the man “But your debt is repaid. You can go if you desire so. I would advise you to leave before we enter the neutral zone. We know you are not hostile to us, but other species might think differently about it” 

The man nodded to Sazra. “We shall take our leave and take distance from you. But we feel obligated to stay nearby until your ship is safe from any danger. We thank you again for your assistance in this matter and breaking our chains from the blood dilithium” He looked at the others and bowed slightly as he disappeared in front of them.

Rami looked at the console seeing the large Blood Crystalline Entity take distance from their position “ They are indeed leaving our flight trajectory” It felt like a relief for him that the most significant danger had accepted their Captain’s advice to take distance from their ship “With our current status, how long until we arrive at Markonian Outpost?” He looked at K’Nala.

She turned her attention to the console and tapped “On the current speed, at least nine days until we arrrive at the outpost” 

“I will work on the engines with the material I have, but I will make no promises to get those engines back to specs. We have sustained quite some damage from those encounters” Adrián pointed out, already scanning the reports of damage.

Silina looked at Sazra once again. “I believe I can take it over from here, Captain” She smiled softly. “If you stay any longer, our doctor will suspend you from your active duty” 

“Now, that is an idea I will have to consider” Kossaal stood up from the last crewman and looked at them both.

“Alright, I get it. I will go back to sickbay” She raised her hands to admit defeat. Sazra shrugged and started to walk to the turbolift, followed by the doctor “Commander, you have the conn” Not turning around until she was in the turbolift and looked at Silina, who nodded to her.

“Aye, Captain, I have the conn” She replied, sitting back down in the command chair. 

“Sickbay” Kossaal answered as the tubrolift doors closed. 

Bridge

The Damascus regained speed back to warp 5 but could still not regain specific systems. The automatic report system to Starfleet would have been alerted most likely them is missing in action. However, the senior crew already considered the predicament they were in wouldn’t give Starfleet the space to send any ship out to do a search and rescue for any missing Starfleet vessel that was now operating in Delta Quadrant. 

They were still a few days out. Even with the regain of the new warp speed, it would take them at least four days to get back to Markonian station. The relief did reach the bridge crew when operations announced they were out of Devore Imperium’s newly expanded area. They were out of the danger zone, but the tension was still there, seeing how vulnerable the ship was. 

“We are still fourrr days out. If Commanderrr Valerrrio can repairrr the engines more, then we can be back sooner” K’Nala announced, seeing the calculations of the navigational system. “We arrre pretty much on clearrr courrrse, I don’t see any prrroblems right now with the vectorrr we are going at right now” 

“Stop butting in on the workload of Commander Valerio, Ensign” Rami spoke, shaking his head as he swiped another report away. “The man has enough on his mind keeping us in one piece as it is” He looked up at the Caitian pilot. “Focus on your own work and get us back home. If you feel you are not up to that, please dismiss yourself from active duty and let someone else do it?” He looked back at the console.

Some were looking at each other at the sudden harsh words from Rami. K’Nala had turned around and was surprised by this impulsive act of harshness and felt the preying eyes of everyone around her, even though command had praised her for her work. Being shot down by another senior member was harsh to hear “I didn’t mean it like that ….” She stuttered a bit to get the words out, trying to avoid eye contact.

Rolling his eyes, “Then you should reconsider your words more carefully, Ensign. We are on a timed schedule. People are tired, wounded, and grieving over the people we have lost during this mission. Consider their feelings before you speak out of turn again” Rami didn’t even look at the young ensign. 

“yes….yes sirrr” K’Nala felt her lower lip shake and looked insecure downwards, trying to keep herself together. She balds her hand feeling her eyes watery from this unsettling conversation “I am sorrry” She mutters. 

Before Rami could speak, Silina walked into the bridge from the Captain’s ready room and felt the heavy tension on the bridge by merely looking around. Silina’s eyes stopped at K’Nala “Care to explain why there is such a hostile atmosphere here?” Raising her hands slightly as an indication of being unknowing.

Before K’Nala spoke up, Rami quickly answered, “Nothing is going on, Silina, slight discussion on the bridge while performing our duties” Rami didn’t even bother to look at the commander. “We will have shields back on 57% by the latest reports. Commander Valerio has been outstanding in doing his job in recovering our systems to the required standards in protecting our ship” 

Silina narrowed her eyes while looking at Rami and then at K’Nala, who was on the verge of collapsing and cry a river of tears. “Ensign, what did you and Lieutenant Shew speak off?” She crossed her arms over each other.

“As I said, it was nothing to worry about…” Rami looked at Silina, who saw her right hand up. “Excuse me?” 

“I would like you to be quiet, Lieutenant Shew. I will deal with you in a second” Silina’s eyes looked cold at Rami and then back at the Ensign, who still was looking down. “Ensign?” 

Taking a deep breath and looking at the Commander with a few sniffs trying to hold in tears, “Nothing is going on Commanderrr. I was merrrely overstating my position on the brrridge” K’nala placed her hands over each other “I would like to be excuse forrr my duty at the brrridge ma’am” 

The bridge officers kept to their work, but even Silina noticed something had happened as she looked at a sergeant “Sergeant, what happened here? Please spare me the good talk of staying on someone’s good side. Because I can guarantee you that you will not like it to be on my bad side. What happened here” 

The man looked nervously from Rami to K’Nala and then back at Silina. “Ensign K’Nala expressed that we had reached warp 5 and if Commander Valerio managed to keep up the work, we could achieve higher and be home quicker. Lieutenant Shew pointed out that this is unacceptable behavior as Commander Valerio is busy enough with the work currently happening and asked Ensign K’Nala to keep her opinions of others’ work to herself. Commander” He briefly nodded.

“Ensign K’Nala, you are excuse of the bridge, walk it off and report back within the hour. Sergeant, take her spot” Silina’s eyes remained unchanged from the cold glare as the crew made the required changes. K’Nala gave Silina a nod and walked to the turbolift to exit the bridge “Lieutenant Shew, Captain’s ready room. Now” She turned around and walked into the ready room.

Rami doubted the order for a second, but he shrugged it off and followed Silina into the ready room. When the door closed behind him, he looked at Silina. “What is the deal here, Silina? I got enough work to do?” He was on edge, and everything showed it. 

Taking a deep breath as she leans on the desk of her Captain. She turned around. “First, I am your senior officer on board this ship and even the previous command. So address me with the respect of one? Do not ever call me by my first name while on duty” She raised her hand and shook her head the moment Rami wanted to speak up. “Oh boy, don’t dare right now. I am not finished” Seeing Rami back off, looking at her with questionable eyes. “Secondly, I care for every damn single person in that room and this ship to know the freaking burden of command to see when you need to shut up. From a medical point of view, this crew is on the verge of collapsing, and you being a smart ass doesn’t help”

Looking dryly at Silina, “Are you done?” Rami then spoke with some annoyance in his voice, “Because I have every damn right to speak my mind on that bridge. I am the Chief Security Officer, and sorry to say it, but you are not doing your job correctly” 

Making a fist with her hands and trying to remain calm, “I hope you didn’t just lecture me on my performance there, Lieutenant” She wanted to get it out calmly as possible. “But last time I checked, you are speaking to the Executive Officer of this ship. The second in command of this ship. The f*cking right hand of the Captain” She raised her voice. “You do not debate my orders on the bridge ever! You did it once, you did it twice, and this might be your strike if you continue” 

“Did I hurt your feelings…Commander” Putting a heavy tone on the rank name, Rami felt unjustified and cornered by this. “I can take this up with the Captain when she is ready to get back into command. It might be better for her to be back in that chair. Because every single time you messed it up and froze only to have Sazra save your sorry ass” 

“Get the f*ck out. You are dismissed from your duties until further notice. Lieutenant” She points then to the exit. “Dismissed” 

Some hesitation came from Rami, but he just nodded to her “I am excused from my duties and shall report to my quarters until further notice.” He confirmed the order that was given to him as he walked out of the ready room to let Silina alone. 

Taking a few deep breaths as Silina leans on the desk. “Bloody brat that he is” Placing her hand on her face to let sink in the situation that has started “I need to report this to Sazra. I have no idea how to deal with this situation. But everything seems to be on the verge of exploding any second” She leaned forward. “You shouldn’t have formulated so directly, Rami….. I also have feelings, you know,” Silina muttered and pushed herself from the desk, walking out of the office. 

Sickbay

“Doctor, I am doing fine. I don’t hear any voices or see any illusions in front of me.” Sazra confirmed once again, looking at Kossaal, who was still inspecting her.“ I am wonderful, I feel good, and I can return to duty” She tried her best to convince her doctor to let her finally go. 

Kossaal hums a few times. “Well, I don’t tend to agree with that statement. You were exposed various times to the blood dilithium. You have shown behavioral changes and could communicate with a telepathic being that overloaded your brain more than once.” He looked at the data coming from the tricorder and shrugged “But the diagnosis states you are indeed fine….still, I want to keep a close eye on you” 

“See, I can go back to duty” Sazra pointed it out, seeing Kossaal only shaking his head. “Come on, doc” 

“I believe you should listen to your doctor” Silina walked in and stopped at Sazra’s bed. “His medical expertise is now your core attention of orders. He is the one that can clear you back for duty” She looked at Kossaal “What is the status of our patient?” 

Sazra rolled her eyes. “Come on, now I got two doctors against me?” She wanted to throw a tantrum but slowly shook her head in defeat. 

Giving another hum as he checked the panel, “The brain recovery is going well. Most of the overloaded sections have returned to normal standards. She might experience some headaches over time, but in the end, she needs rest like most of the crew, it seems” Kossaal looked at his side to the Commander “We are getting complaints of over hours being the new way on the ship. People do need sleep, Commander” 

“Tell me about it….I am trying to shuffle with the shifts as I can, but it seems that rest is not in for it” Silina shrugged, crossing her arms while thinking.

Adrián now also walked into the sickbay. “Over hours is sadly the new norm for our engineers. I dislike it as much as you all lads do, but we need to keep this ship together” Adrián spoke with a specific tone of regret in his voice as he came to a halt at the Captain’s bed. “What’s up, Captain? You look like you lost another battle against your nemesis…the doctors” He points at Silina and Kossaal with a grin on his face.

“Shut up…I think I still have some blood dilithium effect in me to beat your ass” Sazra’s eyes narrowed, looking at Adrián and then at Silina. “What happened?” She asked out of the blue.

Letting out a sigh, “Rami…he has been acting out of line against my orders since we got out of that grid. I dismissed him a second ago from his duties after a heavily loaded discussion on the bridge against K’Nala” Silina shrugged, remembering the whole ordeal.

“Could the blood dilithium affect Bajorans also?” Adrián was curious if it did or not.

Shaking his head, “No, data has not shown any divided behavior from Bajorans. I am monitoring the crew now more closely after such heavy exposure to whatever was happening out there” Kossaal explained, looking at his PADD. “It can be the complaints that are piling up about being overworked. I got no clear evidence that his species is sensitive to behavior changes of long exposure to stress” 

“Whatever it might be, you acted correctly to dismiss him,” Sazra said calmly. “You both have been doing outstanding in taking care of the ship. But as far as I can give out orders, Adrián, please get your engineers to work in shifts now and give them the required space to recover their stamina. If they are out of commission because of fatigue, we have bigger problems. Silina, this also counts for you. Let Rami steam off before he returns back to duty” Sazra thinks for a second. “Let Adrián handle Rami after he is cooled down. The two have known each other longer and worked closely over time. I would want to do so, but a certain person won’t release me from my medical position right now” 

“That is a very keen observation, Captain” Kossaal said without looking at her and focusing on the PADD.

Sazra shrugged at that comment but took a deep breath. “Anyway, the other problem I have stuck in my head is my interaction with the creature. The Blood Crystalline Entity did invade my mind various times to get a connection working. That is my presumption, at least. Thought in one of the interactions, the entity showed concern with the radiation of the blood dilithium” 

Blinking a few times his eyes. “Concerns? What was the entity concerned with?” Adrián tried to follow the story as best as possible but had a hard time understanding how it was even possible for Sazra to make a connection with such a creature in the first place.

“The entity stated that the blood dilithium was making a noise, but not one. More the one” Sazra remembers how she saw so many people appear in her mind around her. “It showed me what it was trying to decypher for itself. It stated that it heard many voices, and when I asked for elaboration, it showed many people. They were Brenari” Sazra saw the pain and sorrow in their eyes. 

“Brenari?” Silina looked surprised at that information. “Are they not the ones that live at the borders of the Devore Imperium? Starfleet report stated that they are turned into slaves because of the Devore’s hatred against them?” Silina looked up for a second. “Are you saying that the entity hears the Brenari screaming from the blood dilithium?” Her eyes got redirected to Sazra.

“An interesting observation,” Kossaal finally looked up from his PADD. “It is known that the unethical of what the Brenari has to suffer under the iron fist of the Devore Imperium ruling. They are quite the savage, if not barbarians, regarding the Brenari. Another few reports stated the Brenari being killed just because of them being telepathic” 

Nodding to their analytic observation and dissection of what she told them “I tend to agree with you. I know that what the entity showed me is now a mere illusion. But we are in no position to go into an all-out war with these people either. Starfleet doesn’t have the material for it, and their ships are in way better position than ours” Sazra leans back on her pillow. “But doctor…” It caught Kossaal attention to look at his Captain. “Is it even possible, and this is a theory? That the Brenari are being massed killed and their psychic powers released into space to effect the friction of spatial reality?” 

He thought about it for a moment. “Not really. The idea itself is far-fetched in medical terms. On the flip side, we have limited information on the biological readings from any Brenari, so I actually can’t say for sure. But if we go for the theoretical side of things, the Brenari would affect their surroundings in reacting to telepathic interference. Meaning they should be quite strong, read your mind, and such. Then you need a few thousand if not millions of Brenari to release such energy in a brief amount of time” 

Sazra struggled with that theory and looked at Adrián and Silina, who both realized what this could mean. “If this would fit the bill, are we talking about the Devore Imperium performing genocide over the Brenari?” Silina said what everyone was thinking “We can’t turn our backs on this”

“We actually can, as I said. Starfleet is in no position to do anything or even confirm these claims. What is the ETA until we reach Markonian Outpost?” Sazra looked at Silina back, who was still struggling with the whole idea that was just put on the table “Commander?”

Silina snaps out of her train though “Uhh yea four days at warp 5 that we have no in our engines. Long-range communication is still out…”

“Not for long, if I can get things going as I am right now. We should have those systems back soon. But it will be another day until we are in range to get to the Markonian Outpost communication grid to get it working” Adrián pointed out. “I am trying to get all the juice out of the engines. But I presume we have to get the ship to a shipyard to get her fixed up. We might have to replace the whole left nano cell” 

Nodding to them both, “Alright, you got your orders from earlier. So get this ship back home in one piece” Sazra was not sure they could handle it right now with all the stress that was happening. 

“And get some rest, don’t make me use my medical powers on you both” Kossaal said with narrowed eyes looking at Adrián and Silina. “If any of you drop out, I got this one here that will jump out of this bed to get back to work. Don’t give her a reason to go back to work, alright?” 

Seeing Sazra grin from her bed “I know she is trying to find an excuse to get out of this bed. But don’t worry, we got this,” Silina pats Sazra on her leg with a grin on her face. “I will get some rest soon. I got to deal with a sad kitty” She walked off.

“And I guess I have to deal with some more systems and a hot head” Adrián shrugged at that and just walked away while nodding to himself.

Sazra wanted to get up and help them so badly. “And you get some rest, or I will revoke your command until we reach Markonian Outpost” Kossaal pushed her back and resumed his duties of wounded people that needed his attention. 

Her crew was suffering quite badly under the current conditions. Their captain could not resume her duties due to her medical problems. But while it was not showing, Sazra’s mind was already trying to piece together the issues together to understand the blood dilithium and its sudden appearance. She softly bites her thumb “Genocide” She mutters to herself. 

Bridge

The warp engines were pushed to their limits and could hold out at warp 6 for their travel to Makonian Outpost. The travel time was shortened to 3.5 days, and it would arrive at the outpost very soon. Sazra entered the bridge and cracked her neck, looking around. “Status report on our arrival,” She asked, finally being cleared by Kossaal for duty. Giving a brief nod to Silina, who vacated her chair and took a seat in her chair. 

“We arrre arrriving at Marrrkonian Outpost in a few minutes,” K’Nala confirmed their ETA. But after her interactions a few days ago, she has withdrawn from any other exchange. She told Silina everything was fine, but her confrontation with Rami did not make it any better.

“Good,” Sazra said “Starfleet response?” 

Rami looked up, hearing his signal. “Starfleet is happy to have heard of us. They were worried about our status. They report that they had no ship available to search out any missing ships due to the low resources available.” Rami was anything but happy about that report, but there was not much he could do about it. 

It was something that Sazra already had confirmed with her senior staff that this was a reason for Starfleet. Giving the nod to that briefing, “Thank you, Lieutenant, keep me posted” She leaned back in her chair and tapped her finger on the side. The Damascus then jumped out of warp and arrived near Markonian Outpost. “It is praiseworthy that we see something friendly and familiar” 

“They arrre hailing us, Captain” K’Nala saw the beep coming from her console.

“On screen” Sazra confirmed the incoming communication as the view changed to Captain Takato. “Captain Takato, it is good to see you after such a long period of time,” Sazra spoke, giving a shrug at that. “We need some urgent repairs” 

Ryoko had a worried expression on her face. “It is good to see you all in one piece back, Captain Praugol. Please dock with Markonian Outpost at their designated direction, and we can speak at the Starfleet office. I will order an engineering team to that dock to assist your crew with the required repairs” She took a deep breath “But for now, welcome home Damascus”

“Glad to be home. We will see each other soon” The communication line cuts off after Sazra sees Ryoko nodding to her. “All command staff with me for that debriefing” Sazra stood up and wanted to walk to the turbolift, but she stopped in her track and looked at K’Nala. “Ensign, you have the conn” A command that surprised everyone as she was not the senior officer on the bridge.

“Ma’am?” K’Nala looked confused at her.

Rami looked at Sazra. “Captain, I believe I am the senior officer on the bridge in the absent of the command team” He too, was baffled about this.

Sazra halted again before entering the turbolift and saw the glare Silina looking back at her. She gave her a nod and looked in the direction of Rami. “That is correct, but your attitude during this mission shows differently, Lieutenant. Act like a Starfleet officer, and I shall grant you that ability to command the ship. But for now, I would say suck it up and accept this relatively light punishment” 

“Captain, you are joking right…I was not wrong in my duties” Rami tried to defend his position in the given situation but he saw Sazra raising her hand at him.

“No, you might respect me as your Captain, and you respect Commander Valerio. But for some reason, you have had various issues with Commander Ruslanovna during this mission which could have put everyone in danger. I don’t want to hear it, be glad I don’t demote you for your actions” Sazra enters the turbolift and turns around. “Ensign get this ship docked. Transport room 1” The door closes. 

Turbolift

“Throwing me under the shuttle now?” Silina spoke up, looking at Sazra. “I have enough to deal with already, and having a fit with him doesn’t improve the situation. He will have it out for me now that you said that” Silina sighs at that.

Sazra tapped her combadge “Sazra to Valerio, report to transport room 1″

“Understood, on my way now. Adrián out” The brief confirmation came over the channel before it cut off again.

Leaning against the side of the lift, “I know you are worried about that, but we both know that Rami needs to be put in his place and get out of this child behavior that he knows everything. Hence, why he is still a Lieutenant and not have made any progression in his rank” Sazra pointed out the dossier of Rami. “He is a good officer, but his echo has grown over the years with us facing every danger that is known”

Letting her head lean on the back wall of the lift, “I know, but this makes it look like I am the cause of this problem rather than showing him that he is the cause of his own problems.” Silina looked at the light on the ceiling. “Well, whatever happens, we got to deal with it eventually” 

Sazra nodded in somewhat agreement with that statement. As the door opened, they both left and entered the transport room Adrián quickly followed into the room “Chief, get us to the Markonian Outpost. We need to get there as soon as possible” They stepped onto the pad, and before she realized it, she saw her surroundings change around her into the transport room of the Markonian Outpost. 

“Welcome to Markonian Outpost, Captain, Commanders” A friendly face nodded to them. 

They all nodded back to the woman. “Thank you. We need to go now” Silina pointed out, walking to the room’s exit and entering the main outside ring, followed by Sazra and Adrián. “The office is nearby” She walked in the direction where she knew the office would be.

Embassy Grounds Starfleet – Markonian Outpost

The group of the Damascus arrived at the office where Starfleet was allowed to set up shop for this extensive operation. It was somewhat chaotic due to the various officers discussing the situation in Delta Quadrant. Sazra looked at her side, seeing the status of the Fourth Fleet being rather dramatic, and saw quite a few MIA statuses “It seems that we are not the only ones that are being missed” 

“Not quite, no,” A voice came from behind them. Turning their attention to the voice, they saw Ryoko standing there. “We are quite some obstacles out there, but so far, I know is that Starfleet is holding their ground somehow” She looked at the same panel with names and shrugged. “Come, follow me” Ryoko walked to an empty office that was not very big but enough place for them all to be in. There was no window view. Well, there was one but made of a holographic live feed outside. 

“Cool” Adrián was looking at the window. “We had one of those on the Jaxartes” 

Ryoko took her seat and sat down. “Right, they are quite common these days” Ryoko turned her attention to Sazra. “Now I have read briefly your report of what you have encountered. We were suspecting that something like that dense was out there, but we have totally miscalculated the danger or even underestimated the strength of the Devore Imperium” 

“Underestimation is indeed the right word for this situation” Silina rubbed her face with her right hand. “I take it this is my part of explaining the whole situation” Silina lowered her hand “As I took command of the Damascus in the absent of Captain Praugol” 

“Her absent?” Ryoko looked from Silina to Sazra. “Why were you absent? Was it because of the blood dilithium?” 

“Yea, that was one of the reasons, you see, when we arrived at the grid. Even we were skeptical about the mission goals. Sure the Devore Imperium avoided it with the plague as it would be traveling through an anomaly minefield, or so we thought” Sazra shrugged at that.

Adrián’s pitch in “We arrived at the grid. We received an SOS signal from a civilian transport ship that was trapped in one of the anomalous. But upon further investigation, we found out that the ship’s communication systems were destroyed and that the signal was boosted to lure us in” Adrián looked at Silina to continue. 

“Yes, the asteroid field was rigged with mines or some explosives, but a solo Devore Imperium ship wanted to experiment on something. Our ship got severely hit, but that was also when I had to take command of it. We found out that the shields protect telepathic sensitivity from the effects of blood dilithium. But when the shields drop, they get the full wave of those effects. Captain Praugol was the only one on the Damascus that was telepathic sensitive” Silina crossed her arms “Captain Praugol passed out and was brought to sickbay”

“So what happened next?” Ryoko was carefully listening to the details.

“Our communication systems were damaged, the left engine was damaged, and we were fighting to stay alive” Adrián was wondering if he had forgotten something. “Then the Devore ship appeared, actually Captain Praugol collapsed after the Devore ship appeared, announce their purpose that we were part of their experiment, and they blew an asteroid up that formed into a large blood crystalline entity” 

Sazra raised her hand. “While that happened, the entity actually tried to communicate with me. At first, I thought I had lost my mind. But something was off in all those interactions. Something I knew for a fact was not me going crazy. The entity probed my mind to find a way to communicate with me and ask for my help” She looked at Adrián and Silina. “Our help” 

Raising both her arms “Wait a damn second, a Blood Crystalline Entity? Are you saying that the entity was affected by the blood dilithium?” Ryoko tried to understand the situation. It was quite a stunning development.

Giving the nod as a confirmation, “Yes, the Blood Crystalline Entity was affected by the blood dilithium. But the effects were too severe for the entity as it blinded it. The Devore was trying to find a way to control this entity and do their bidding. Captain Praugol found a way to communicate with it and help it find the Devore. She ordered me to fire a torpedo at the Devore” 

“That helped? Did you damage the ship?” Ryoko looked at them, waiting for an answer.

“Yea, the torpedo had no effect, but it was enough to create a vibration that made the creature find its position of it. They soon got destroyed by the entity’s brute force” Adrián pointed out with a shrug. “It was both fascinating and scary to see that happening right in front of you” 

Silina rolled her eyes. “Captain Praugol took another rest. I resumed command and ordered a rescue of the transport ship that had received brutal exposure to the brutality of the Devore Imperium and the entity. We have succeeded in the mission and returned home here” Silina raised a finger when Ryoko wanted to react. “But we were not out of the woods. The Devore Imperium had taken the location around the grid as their supposed new borders. A patrol group intercepted us and demanded to board us, it seems they didn’t know of the experiment that went on in the grid” 

“It was a dire situation. The ship got invaded by Devore invaders, which we still have some in our brig,” Sazra just reminded herself of them being there “They invaded the ship, and Commander Ruslanovna followed the protocol of such breach to lock all systems. However, I regained my focus again, and the entity was still in contact with me. They came to our rescue to repay their debt, saving them. We managed to regain control of the ship and flew off back to Markonian Outpost, where we now sit with you” Sazra shows a small smile.

Leaning a bit back in her chair, Ryoko shrugged. “It is quite the story, I will deal with the Devore prisoners, and most likely, they will be returned to the Devore Imperium. What they did was in their rules as a given, and they were within their rights to explore our ships. But the experience so far with them being…nice about it or not the intervene with our ships ethical forms is ….far fetched” Ryoko had been dealing with the Devore Imperium effects for some time now, and she was getting tired of it. “But I can surely say that Starfleet is glad to have you all back safely. In the name of Starfleet, I can say our sincere apology that your crew had to experience this all because we didn’t take all the risk in reviewing this mission” 

“That is an understatement,” Silina growls a bit at the explanation of Ryoko.

“Commander” Sazra intervened in Silina’s behavior as she noticed her being quiet. Immediately Sazra looked back at the Captain. “I am sorry, we are quite …stressed out with the whole ordeal of what has happened at that location or during this mission. If it is okay, we would like to have the crew we left behind to go back to the Damascus. We can use every hand in this” 

“Of course, I will give out the order that the remnants of the Damascus crew are free to return and help you out. I have Lieutenant T’Path here. She has been a great help with analyzing all the information that came in from the fourth fleet ships that are operating out there” Ryoko smiled at Sazra as they stood up and walked out of the office. “As said, I will take care of the Devore prisoners. They have acted beyond their ruling, and they will be sent back to the Imperium with a clear message” Ryoko stood there firmly.

“Good. If we need something, we will make it known. Thank you for your time” Sazra nodded to the Captain and started to walk away, only to be stopped seeing a Vulcan approach the command team. “Lieutenant,” Sazra smiled, seeing T’Path coming to a stop right in front of them.

“Captain, Commanders” T’Path placed her hands behind her back and gave them a respectful nod. “It seems I have missed quite a bit while the ship was out there?” 

Silina laughed as she placed an arm around T’Path “Oh girl, you have no idea. Let’s get you up to date with everything we have encountered out there” They started to walk as Adrián quickly followed them “The amount of data that we managed to get out of that grid will make you skip sleep for sure” Silina laughs.

Looking into the room of where Starfleet was operating in, I thought this was the end of their mission in Delta Quadrant. Damascus was in no shape to take on another expedition and needed to get repairs soon. Sazra looked around slowly as a red glow appeared in her eyes until her attention was pulled back to the group that called out for her and her color returned to normal “Coming!” Sazra quickly followed up with the rest.