Captain Jacob Hayes stood before the viewport as he stared into space where the rocks float. Asteroids in an asteroid field, where the listening post that the ship was assigned to happened to be in one of those asteroids. Thanks to a former Chief Engineer, any exterior structure of the listening post that would usually be visible has been covered in a blanket of camouflage. Holoemitters, as it were. The only thing that would give it away, is if you were staring right at the rock and witnessed a shuttle exiting the holo imagery and another going through it as it approached the station.

While Hayes continued to stare out into space, his ears listened for the hiss of the door. Each hiss was of the door opening or closing; as he counted each hiss, he knew when it opened and closed. The next one he heard was of someone entering the briefing room, and the following hiss was of the door closing behind them.

Astrid looked at her chronometer ‘Shit I am late.’ She thought as she sprung up for her position on the bridge. She had been on night bridge watch and had got caught up in some sensor readings. She made her way quickly to the briefing room straightening her uniform before arriving.

Hayes smiled lightly. “Thank you, Commander.” He patiently waited, which gave everyone plenty of time to get to their seats. Hayes would turn as he went for his chair to see just that. “I know many of you have questions, and I will do my best to answer them all in the new few minutes.” He said as he sat down in his seat and rested his hands together on the table.

“I am Captain Jacob Hayes, and this fine young lady here is Commander Astrid Fleming.” He gestured to Fleming with his open palm before placing his hand back on top of the other. “Unfortunately, Commander Streth has been reassigned for several reasons. The main being that he had something very personal come up from home. The other is because Starfleet Command has analyzed the mechanoid spider from your first mission here, the one that boarded the ship; as well as analyzed the data that your former Chief Engineer collected from said mechanoid spider. That led Starfleet to believe that there is much more going on out there than just the Breen.”

Hayes’s hand moved to hover over one of the table’s command panels and pressed a button to bring up a holographic display of the Breen Dreadnought. “That’s not what I wanted.” He smirked. “But it does bring up another point. When Starfleet received the reports about the mechanoid spiders being on board this vessel that you all dealt with last mission, it raised even more questions at command.” Hayes then pressed another button, and the holographic image of the Breen Dreadnought was replaced with an Excelsior-Class vessel. “There we go. This is the USS Romero. She was reported missing during the Dominion War and has not been found since. Until very recently. You see, that data that your former Chief Engineer extracted had the location of this ship. When the specialists dug deeper, they discovered these mechanoid spiders originated from that ship.”

Benjamin Jones frowned heavily. “Excuse me, Captain. When I was at Starfleet Intelligence, I saw nothing in the records of a ship going missing during the time of the Dominion War. At least, not the Romero.”

Hayes looked at Jones. “Not everything gets reported, Commander. And even if it had been, you were likely not high enough in rank to know about it.”

This bothered Jones, but he did not question it further.

Hayes then looked at everyone. “Does anyone have questions for Commander Fleming or for me?”

Looking a bit nervous seeing her previous experience with these spiders was not the greatest, Katsu sighed to herself “Were there any scientific anomalies to consider with the ship’s disappearance? Or is that classified sir?”

Hayes looked at Katsu. “None and no, Lieutenant.”

“If I were to speculate the crew of the Romero created these nasty little buggers,” Dr. Randall observed.  “Was there any indication of a Federation power source or technology in them?”

Joran looked around the briefing room at the senior officers he had slowly been getting to know since his rather dramatic appearance on the ship. The memory of the spiders sent a shiver down his spine and the thought of them possibly being created by star fleet officers didn’t sit right with him. Leaning forward he looked at the new captain and XO, “Sir, it seems strange to think that the crew would have created them even out of desperation at the height of the war. Though would that not be a secondary issue? They are a threat and need to be contained and eliminated given what we know of them.”

Lt. Vogler frowned not liking the implications, “That means it’s the expected origin point.  We should just blow it up from a distance and don’t go anywhere near the Romero.”

Hayes raised his hands to quiet everyone down. “I know it is easy to misunderstand when I say that the data indicated the origin of the mechanoid spiders came from the Romero. But no respectable crew of Starfleet would go as far as to create these things.” Hayes said as he looked at the Doctor, then at Joran. “They are indeed a threat; per indications of recent events that you all had experienced, they’ve already left the Romero. We do not know how many or where they’ve all gone, but it’s pretty clear that some Breen vessels have been infiltrated by these things.”

Hayes then looked at Vogler. “That would be the most logical and strategically sound plan except for a few things. One, we need to find out what happened to Romero during the war. Why did she disappear? Where exactly did these mechanoid spiders come from? And if the crew of the Romero created them, then in the ship’s logs would be a kill switch to all mechanoid spiders, including those we have not yet encountered.” Hayes then pressed a button for the holo display of the Excelsior-Class to disappear. “Starfleet specialists have also been studying the alloy that these mechanoids are made of. And to answer your other question, Doctor. No. Not a single Federation technology was located. But we have the schematics to upgrade our current phaser pistols and rifles so that they have a setting that will punch a hole through these spiders. Like in training, aim for center mass; that is where their core systems are located. Take it out, and the entire body ceases to function.

Astrid shook her head “We need to remember they’re innocent until proven guilty. Remember they’re Starfleet and we need to make sure we do this the right way. Don’t jump to conclusions before we know the truth.”

Hayes smiled. “Exactly right, Commander. As Fleming said, these are our people. We must investigate the Romero and find out what happened.”

Jackson sat quietly at the back of the room, listening to all the details of this mission. ‘Locating and investigating a starship that was, until now, missing. Interesting’ he thought.

“I am not liking where this is going,” Vogler responded. “If we go over there I want overwhelming force which means coordinating with the security department.   Last encounter was far too close for comfort.”

Joran shuddered as he suppressed a flash of memories of the spiders jumping towards them as they fought them off before jumping into space as the Breen vessel detonated behind them. He glanced at Volger and nodded in agreement, “You could say that again.” He turned to look at the new CO, “Will the Altai be accompanied by any other ships, we know the Breen are in the area and hostile, not to mention these spiders. Will one ship be sufficient?”

Hayes nodded his head. “All good questions.” He looked at Vogler again. “I have the utmost respect for the Hazard division. It usually is not an active one, but in cases like this, out here, it can be a difficult job.” He looked at Joran and everyone else. “We will be going alone, no escorts. The Romero was located on our side of Federation space. Now I know Breen have a tendency to violate our borders, but we do have eyes in the area, and so far, not a single Breen activity. They may be busy dealing with these spiders on their own.”

Hayes cleared his throat. He needed a drink as he licked his lips. “The Romero has remained in its current location for over a week since her return to Federation space. All long-range sensors at our borders did not detect her arrival until she was just magically there. Sitting still at her location for over a week leaves Starfleet to believe something is wrong. We may have to accept that the crew might not even be alive. And from the history of these mechanoid spiders, they should have taken control of the ship long before now. Something mysterious is going on; we are the closest ship out here by the border with the Breen, and you all have dealt with these spiders. We are the perfect ones for the job.”

Hayes looked at Vogler once again. “Once we arrive, we will conduct a full sensor sweep of the ship. We have also modified our sensors to detect the specific alloy that these spiders are made of. We have a tactical advantage. We will know where they are and how many there are, and our weapons will be modified to handle them much more significantly. In this case, Lieutenant, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel.”

“So, does that sound better to everyone?” Hayes asked.

“Sir, it doesn’t matter how it sounds. I will follow your orders.  You have my concerns and objections.  Now, it’s my turn to simply ask; when and how high shall I jump,” Vogler replied. 

Hayes looked at Vogler. “Actually, Lieutenant, it does matter.” He then looked at everyone. “Everything said here matters. To be perfectly clear. I will not jeopardize the entire security force of this ship. As I stated previously, we have the means to detect these spiders, where they are located, and how many. So once we are close enough to the Romero, we will run a full sensor sweep and determine our course of action.” He paused to let it sink before he continued. “If the numbers are overwhelming, we will destroy the ship.” He looked back at Vogler. “Lest not forget that I, too, am under orders.”

Hayes leaned back into his seat. “Get to your posts and prepare the ship for departure. Commander Fleming, have helm set course for the Romero at warp six. Then accompany Lieutenant Vogler in assisting her team and the rest of security in modifying our armaments with the new upgrade to deal with these mechanoids. If there are no other questions, you’re all dismissed.”

Hayes then snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot.” He looked at Jones. “I’m afraid we will not need you on this journey, Commander.”

Jones frowned. “Any reason why, sir?”

Hayes smirked. “Well, we need a commanding officer to remain on the listening outpost. Both Fleming and I won’t be staying behind. So I am keeping you on board with the command staff as my Second Officer. With that said, I need you to remain on the listening outpost and take over the conn until we return.”

“Sir, with all due respect, you’ll need all the sharpshooters you have.” Said Jones.

Hayes shook his head. “I have full faith in the Hazard Team and Security on board this ship, Mr. Jones. You should too.” Hayes then rose from his seat. “You have your orders, Commander. You best depart before we leave the system.”

As much as Jones wished to object even more, he refrained. “Understood, sir.” And with that, he left the briefing room and headed straight for the transporter room.

After a few hours of traveling at warp, the Altai eventually reached the location of the Romero and had dropped out of warp at a safe distance just to approach at half impulse. As the Steamrunner-Class vessel approached the Dominion War-dated Excelsior-Class vessel, they found the ship to be way off-axis, that is if there was some sort of standard, the Romero was listing almost all the way to the port, and the bow was slanted downward with the aft slanted upward. They could also visibly see that the main power was offline, as there was no interior lighting and all other visible light sources were dark.

Joran stabilized the Altai’s position bringing the steamrunner to a relative stop, 20 kilometres from the Romero. If there were any spiders he figured they would have a hard time making a jump of that distance. “Sir, we are in position, 20km from the Romero. I can take us in closer if you like.”

Hayes didn’t like the looks of it at all, as he stared at the Romero that was displayed on the main viewer, as he stood there in the center of the bridge, his left arm crossed over his chest, with his right elbow resting on top of it and his right hand stroking his chin. He was deep in thought, mainly due to the fact that he did have a slightly ulterior motive for this mission. Was he under orders to investigate this ship? Of course. But he had been informed that his third-year academy instructor had taken the Romero during his fourth year at the Academy. And his instructor was not authorized, nor did he make any request to take the Romero. Something was definitely going on, and finding the ship completely in the dark like this did not soothe his fears. He feared that he would never see his instructor again and that he would never get the answers he was looking for. He can only hope that his former instructor had left some sort of message to explain his actions.

Astrid looked over at the Captain who seemed to be in his own little world. She walked up to him and cleared her throat “Captain we have arrived at the Romero. What are you orders for proceeding?” She wasn’t sure why the Captain wasn’t paying attention, but it seemed to be a normal thing in hard situations. She had seen many officer do it. In fact she was sure she probably was guilty of doing the same thing.

Hayes blinked, then cleared his throat. “Right. Yes, of course.” He turned to look at both Ortiz and Katsu. “I want a full sensor sweep of the Romero. Katsu, look for the mechanoid spiders under the parameters that were given by Starfleet. We should be able to locate and pinpoint their location on board. When you get the data back, please put a holographic display of the ship here in the center of the bridge, with the location of those spiders. Please. Ortiz, I want full data on the condition of the Romero. I know she looks like the main power is off, so we won’t be able to establish a link to their main computer, but I just want to be certain.” 

Alton sat at the Ops console, diverting power to the main sensors.

Standing behind the console, Katsu took a deep breath letting the scans do its thing for the Romero. Her eyes locked onto the information that poured onto the console and narrowed slowly her eyes. Then looked at her Captain “We have fifteen mechs in their main engineering, ten at the bridge and so far I can see their power output is low indicating their in sleep mode” 

Michelle wasn’t sure why she had been invited to the bridge. She wasn’t a senior officer, and for the life of her could she figure out why the captain would want an anthropologist present. Awkwardly working the controls of her console she spoke up, “Main power, and auxiliary power appears to be offline. I don’t think life support is active either. I am reading no heat signatures anywhere.”

Staring out at the apparently lifeless ship Joran couldn’t help but shudder slightly, the sight of it reminded him too much of the Breen dreadnought and the horrors he encountered there.

Astrid looked over the crew and stepped up to speak “Excuse me, Sir, but I do believe we need to send a team over to see just what happened. Either the crew is dead or something else happened. I think it prudent we find out what happened. We wouldn’t like it if another Starfleet ship found us and did not a thing about it.”

Alton spoke up. “All scans show no humanoid activity on board, captain….which means they are probably all dead, sir. And I volunteer for an away mission to search the ship for possible survivors, sir.”

Hayes let out a heavy sigh at the last announcement of information. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt his fears and disappointment settle in. But he recomposed himself and cleared his throat. It was time for action. “No humanoid activity could also mean that there is no one on the ship. But you’re right. They very much could be dead. Escape pods?” Hayes requested.

Alton checked the scanners. “Captain. All escape pods appear to be accounted for.”

Hayes nodded his head. “Still leaves it open to being captured. But there is only one way to find out.”

Hayes looked to Vogler. “I’ll leave you and your team in charge of dealing with the mechs in Main Engineering of the Romero. Fleming and I will take a team to secure the Bridge. My suggestion would be to lure the mechs out into the corridors and choke them into a single line of fire. With the new upgrades to our hand weapons, we should be able to eliminate them with ease. Remember everyone. Aim center mass. Our weapons will punch through their alloy and their primary control systems are in the center of the mechs. Shoot it, and the mech is done.”

Cooper stood there behind one of the consoles on the bridge. “As you said, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.”

Hayes turned to Cooper and nodded his head. “Precisely. I want this mission to go smoothly as much as possible. Take no risks. Don’t go to them; make them come to you. Lure them into your advantage point and nothing should go wrong.”

Hayes then clapped his hands together. “Alright. Teams. Fleming and I will lead Alpha. Tel, Ortiz, and Jackson will also be on Alpha. Vogler and her team will be in charge of Bravo, where Randall, Katsu, and Cooper will also join. Questions?”

“Uh… sir,” Michelle started.  “I have a question.  What good is an anthropologist for on this mission?” She was terrified,  and didn’t want to admit it.  She had heard the encounters the crew had with the bugs and she wanted nothing to do with them.

Alton responded. “One question sir…standard weapons?”

Feeling the fear crawling up her spine, Katsu looked at her new Captain “Sir two things, my surname is Oka, and you are calling everyone by their surname. Second….does a science officer be required to deal with ….these mechs?”  Katsu looked concerned. 

Hayes smiled. “All good questions. I apologize, Oka.” He made sure to get it right. “I must have missed that in your file. As for you and Ortiz. We need to learn more about these mechs. Why are they hostile? What is their intent? Their true origins, were they made by us or by someone else? Did they come into existence on their own? All those answers are on that ship, whether in the logs or perhaps we’ll find another dead mech to study. Hook up to the computer and scrounge through the data. The one Starfleet analyzed was built here, in the Alpha Quadrant, and its data on their existence, who made them, and where they came from, didn’t exist in its data banks. That seemed rather odd, especially since they came from this ship, as far as we know. Starfleet does not believe that the crew made them. I don’t believe they made them. So they came from somewhere, and the answers are on that ship.” Hayes pointed at the Romero on the view screen.

“We are explorers first. Exploring and learning about new cultures is what we do. But the safety of everyone in this quadrant or this galaxy also takes priority. Learning more about them gives us an advantage of either trying to negotiate peacefully or gives us a tactical advantage when negotiations fail or do not apply. Listen to your team leads, and you’ll be fine.” Hayes told Oka and Ortiz before he looked at Alton.

“Standard weapons, modified to deal with these things. Shoot center mass, and you’ll punch a hole through their vital systems, and they will cease to function.” Hayes explained. “If that sounds good to everyone, Alpha Team will meet in Transporter Room One, and Bravo Team take Transporter Room Two. Gear up. Alton and Cooper, make sure you bring some power packs to power up the consoles when we get to our designated locations.”

Cooper nodded. “Aye, sir.”

Joran spun around from the con and nodded, “Works for me, the less of these spiders things the better I say.”

“Sir, I would like to assign Bravo Squad to your group,” Vogler said offering half her team to protect the captain.

Hayes smiled. “I appreciate the concern, Lieutenant. But your team will be dealing with five more mechs than mine will be. Long as we make them come to us, we have the advantage and we will be just fine. Everyone has their orders, let’s get it done.” With that, Hayes led his team into one of the turbolifts to transporter room one.

For a brief, the corridor was illuminated by the glow of the transporter beam as it deposited the five silhouettes in EV suits. Soon, flashlights from rifles flicked on and illuminated parts of the corridor of wherever the rifles were aimed at. One took out their tricorder and began to scan the area. That one was Captain Hayes.

“Been a while since I tinkered with one of these things.” He said with a chuckle.

“It’s like riding a bike sir,” Michelle quipped her eyes darting around. “I’m sure it will come back to you.”

Joran stifled a chuckle as he looked around the eerily empty corridors; “When in doubt you can always hit it with a hammer sir.”

Jackson kept his finger near the trigger of his phaser rifle as he kept sweeping the weapon around the area, looking for targets.

Astrid was close with the group using the amount of training she had with clearing ships to watch for any surprise that would be coming for them. She had to make a joke in what the Captain had said “I mean you can always throw it down and scream, though in the current atmosphere I would not recommend that second part.”

With the jokes aside, Hayes closed the tricorder and turned in one direction. “Scans show that the mechs have not noticed our arrival. This is our opportune moment to set up an ambush point. Chief Tel, I hope you brought the package.” Hayes asked as he began to lead the team through the corridor.

“That would leave us in a pickle won’t it sir,” Tel said with a laugh as he patted the bag containing the power unit and data storage box on his back. “Anyone got any idea on where to set this up?

“Maybe we should get to the bridge, sir, determine the situation, and if the mechs are active on the bridge, deploy the weapon then, sir,” said Jackson.

Hayes made a face as he was thinking it over. “That could work but there’s five of us and ten of them on the Bridge. If we lure them into a corridor like this, we’d be narrowing their path right into a line of fire. They’re active, they just don’t perceive us as a threat…yet.”

Astrid shook her head though the thoughts of the group was great she knew that the best option would not be a direct approach. She had not experienced these mechs, but from reports she knew they were not something to be trifled with. “I recommend going to the observation lounge on Deck 2 that should give us the starlight shot we need to the deck above. And it will help as a great staging point for the mission ahead.”

Hayes stopped before a jefferies hatch and then turned in his suit to look at the team. “Glad to have you here, Commander. I think that’ll be our staging point. We flip over the table and use it as a cover. Can even brace against it to stable our aim, and improve accuracy. With the trap just in front of the table, they would come down the turbolift shaft and would have to enter the corridor that leads to the observation room. Be a turkey shoot.”

“Now we could use the jeffery tubes or we could see if the turbolift shaft is clear, which ever be easier to reach deck two.” Hayes proposed, curious as to what his team will choose.

“With these EVA suits I would think the turbolift shaft would be best,” Michelle suggested. “Jefferie’s tubes are cramped as is.”

“She’s right,’ pointing to Ortiz. ”We would run the risk of tearing our suits in the shaft. Trying the turbolift is better.” Jackson replied.

Joran shrugged, “The turbolift shaft makes more sense, with artificial gravity down we can walk right up it. Also offers us more space to manoeuvre if we find something unexpected.”

Hayes smiled as he led the way to the nearest turbolift junction. “Glad everyone is on the same page. Helps build teamwork.” It was not far from the jefferies they had stopped at, so Hayes pulled out the device that demagnetizes the doors. He stuck it onto one of them, pressed a few buttons and the doors split apart as they were released. “Mr. Tel, if you’d be so kind as to grab the other half.” Hayes pointed as he pulled the device off to stash it in his tool kit before he grabbed his half to pull the door open.

Joran nodded as he stepped up to the door and grabbed hold of one side, “On three?” A moment later they both pulled and the door slid open allowing them entry.

Hayes checked his tricorder real quick before he gave the thumbs up. “Still no movement from the mechs. Strange how they seem so docile than the last ones you folks encountered. Nevertheless, best for us to hurry and stage our choke point. Shouldn’t be too far to get to deck two.” Hayes smiled and then gestured to the open door. “After you ladies.”

“Sir. I think I should take the lead. Can’t have anything happening to you, sir.” mentioned Jackson.

“As you wish, Lieutenant.” Said Hayes.

Following Jackson, Joran adjusted the pack with the equipment he was carrying and made his way through the doorway, phaser at the ready. Knowing that the spiders were on the derelict ship kept a constant feeling of unease going through him.

Jackson kept his rifle pointed upward, as he floated up in the turbolift. He made sure to keep an easy ascent for the others to match. His tricorder was set on automatic, scanning for any activity from the spiders.

Astrid fell into the group just as had been discussed with her rifle drawn. She slowly made her way up the turbolift hearing the groaning of the metal in the what seemed to be abandoned ship. She looked up above her keeping the Captain in her sights. Her job felt like she needed to be a bodyguard and she had no issues with it. She liked being able to protect others. 

Michelle was the last to move into the shaft as she followed closely behind the others not wanting to be separated  

Hayes followed along with everyone up until they made it to the door to deck two, where he placed the device on the door, unsealed it, and with help, pulled the two halves of the door apart. Once through, they made their way to the observation lounge.

“All right troops. Let’s get these tables flipped over to use them as cover and extra stability so that we don’t miss our shots. Not that I’m saying you all are terrible at aiming, just want to make sure this doesn’t go south. I want no mistakes.” Hayes ordered. A lot to ask but as Captain, he expected a lot and he was going to put that to the test with his new crew.

“You can say that about me sir,” Michelle quipped.  “I barely passed phaser qualifications.”

“Mr. Tel, go ahead and plant your trap just in front of the doorway…in the corridor…and be ready to activate it on my mark.” Hayes told Joran. “And Miss Fleming. You’ve chosen the place for us to make our stand, how shall we deploy? Everyone aiming down through the tube,” Hayes gestured towards the corridor as the ‘tube’. “Or staggered so if any of them make it through the doorway, we have someone ready to pop it?”

Michelle stood out of the way letting the more experienced officers do their thing ready to execute any order given to her.  She never envisioned being in this situation when she joined Starfleet.  She thought she would be on some lab or on some distant planet excavating a ruins. Yet, here she was. Standing on a derelict ship playing commando. Life truly is strange. 

Tel looked at Hayes and nodded, “Can do Sir.” He turned and made his way to the door, checking the corridor, phase compression rifle at the ready, before he moved forward. Kneeling down he unslung the satchel from his shoulder and placed the device within on the floor. He glanced back into the observation lounge, “All set to activate on your orders.”

Astrid looked around and nodded “I am set and ready for whatever plans to attack us, Sir.” She drew her rifle in a professional manner and smirked. If there was one thing she liked it was taking care of the enemy, though sometimes that caused issues with command

“I recommend a staggered approach, sir. There will be enough of us at the front to probably take many of the spiders out if they attack, sir.” Jackson replied.

Michelle’s palms were wet with sweat holding the unfamiliar phaser in her hand. “Which means what exactly, ” she asked Jackson. “Or just dumb it down for me and tell me where to stand and when to shoot.”

Jackson moved her to a spot near his location. “2 basic settings, stun and kill. Stay behind the table, just raise your head and arm. Aim down the length of the weapon. If you think you have a shot, touch the fire button. I will do what I can to try to cover you. Questions?”

Michelle simply shook her head.  She knew enough to be dangerous, and she intended to direct that towards the bugs. “Understood sir.”

Hayes nodded his head. “All weapons to kill. The programmed settings to punch a hole through the central section of the mech spider, won’t necessarily work with stun.” He informed them as he got into position behind a flipped table, resting the rifle grip on top of the edge, aimed toward the door way. Once Hayes was certain everyone was in position and ready, he looked to Tel and gave a head nod. “Do it, Mr. Tel.”

Joran nodded as he knelt down and flipped open the access panel entering the activation command, “Timer set for 15 seconds.” He stood up and quickly made his way back into the observation lounge and behind one of the overturned tables. Shoulding his phase rifle he exhaled and waited. 

For a while, nothing. Then the sounds of the mech spider’s legs tapping and clanking against the turbolift shaft echoed and the sound grew louder by the second. The bait was working. It grabbed the attention of the mech spiders from the bridge and brought them right into their trap.

“Here they come!” Hayes notified his team. The second Hayes saw a spider crawl through the doorway and into the corridor, he opened fire. One single phaser bolt contacted the abdomen of the spider and pierced through. The entirety of the mech itself crashed onto the deck, lifeless.

A second after Hayes opened fire the doorway erupted in motion as the mechanical spiders crawled into the observation lounge from all sides of the doorframe. Phaser fire followed as the spiders advanced into the room. Jorna sighted down the phaser and calmly fired taking aim for their centre of mass. Not every shot connected and they moved closer to the officers.

Michelle aimed,  fired and missed one of the spiders.  Trying again, she missed again.  On her fourth try she connected with a spider that wasn’t even the one she was aiming at.  But the shot was still effective and the spider fell to the deck with a clunk.

Jackson fired his rifle at any available targets. He kept an eye on Ortiz to make sure she was safe. Jackson targeted several spiders that were crawling along the ceiling. He dropped them quickly, then had to replace his power pack. 

Astrid didn’t know what to expect until she saw the mechs heading their way. She drew her rifle close and begin to lay down fire with pinpoint accuracy taking out every spider she took a shot at. The group was like a well oiled machine though the spiders kept coming with what seemed to be no end. She replaced the power pack and began to fire again making sure to target any of the mechs that were close to the group. 

For what seemed like it was going to go on forever, the last mech was blasted by Jackson, right after Fleming took out the second to last mech. But just to be certain, Hayes looked over to the two officers. “Fleming. Jackson. Count the bodies and check the corridor. There should be at least ten of them.”

“Aye sir.” Jackson responded. Holding his rifle at the ready, he left cover and started counting the destroyed spiders that attacked them.

Astrid had kept a mental count in her head while she murdered the spiders with no remorse. It was a normal thing for her to try and keep track “I took out 10 and with everyone else I think we had about 25 to 30, Sir.”

With that news, Hayes sighed with relief. He ejected the nearly depleted power pack from his rifle before inserting a fresh one, and then he shouldered his weapon just to take out his tricorder. “Scans show all clear. Good work everyone.” Hayes looked at Ortiz. “Especially you, Ensign. Not bad at all.” Hayes then looked at Tel. “Go ahead and pack up the data device. Won’t be needing it anymore.”

Michelle looked a little flushed from the excitement,  “Thank you sir… but could we not do that again?”

Joran nodded and shouldered his weapon before stepping into the corridor. A few moments later he stepped back into the observation lounge with the data device packed back in its satchel, “All pack and ready to go sir.”

Jackson also wanted to congratulate the ensign on a job well done, so he gave her a ‘thumbs up’ sign.

Michelle gave him a nod.  She didn’t feel like she had done a good job, but she had helped she guessed. 

Hayes led the group back to the turbolift shaft where they made their way to the bridge by traversing just one deck up. Once on the bridge, Hayes looked around while aiming the torchlight from his rifle at various points of the bridge. He had kept a mental note about the number of mechs they took out, Altai‘s sensors had only picked up ten, even the tricorder. So either coincidentally they both need to be recalibrated or some mechs were in a dormant state, like standby mode at the most minimum power level they can go to avoid detection. He only hoped that Bravo Team did not get overwhelmed by their planned ambush.

“Room is clear. Mr. Tel, hook up the power pack to the navigational console. I want to know where this ship has been for the last twenty years.” Hayes ordered. Hayes then activated his comm link. “Bravo team, hope you are all doing well. Alpha team has cleared out the bridge and we are beginning our investigation. How goes restoring power?”

“We’re in engineering sir.  The damage seems pretty bad down here. We’re working on getting the lights on, but,” Vogler’s voice over the comm paused.

Then a new voice joined in, “Lieutenant Erdian here, sir. Preliminary attempts with the battery cells have failed. We’ve discovered a magnetic anomaly on or near the warp core.  I have a few working theories on its existence. We’re attempting to circumvent it and use the remaining protons in the core to cause enough matter/anti-matter reactions to restart the computer core.”

“I’m no Engineer, sir,” Vogler stated, “I’ll have to take the Chief’s lead on this one.  He’s speaking Greek to me.”

“Lieutenant Erdian Jaso? You have impeccable timing. From the sound of it, you wouldn’t be able to get near it in our current state.” said Hayes surprised that his new Chief Engineer made it but glad. More eyes on the problem, the better.

Cooper’s voice chimed in. “With our magnetic boots, I wouldn’t recommend it. But if we get the auxiliary power generators online, we can restore life support and artificial gravity.”

Hayes thought about it for a brief moment. “Do it. We’re just here for the data on what happened to this ship, we don’t need to completely revive it. Keep me posted, team. Hayes out.” Then he terminated the link.

Without further adieu, Joran knelt down by the navigation console and worked his way under in. He opened one of the small access ports so he could gain access to the internal circuitry, “Should have the console up in a few moments.” Pulling out the power pack he connected it and a moment later the internal workings of the console lit up before him, “Got it, now to connect the data storage…” 

Once the data storage device was connected he slid out from under the console Joran pulled himself into the chair and pulled up the nav logs initiating the download. As the last two decades of logs became to download Joran began to scan through them, a frown spreading across his face as he did. “Sir,” he said turning to look back at Hayes, “These logs make little sense. There is twenty years’ worth of data but I do not recognize any stars or astronomical features here, with the exception of the most recent data. I will need to run the data through our computer to make heads or tails for it.”

Hayes frowned in his helmet and shook his head. “Mr. Jackson, see if you can help Mr. Tel sift through those logs.” Suddenly the lights began to come on, first dim and then slowly growing brighter to the default setting over time, followed by the consoles coming to life.

Hayes smiled. “Looks like Bravo Team managed it. Give a minute for life support to restore proper atmosphere before taking your helmets off.” Hayes informed them as he went to explore the bridge a bit, starting with the console at the rear behind the Captain’s chair. He remembered some Excelsior‘s had this bridge configuration, shortly after Enterprise-B had it first.

Hayes approached the console and then frowned when he saw the configuration of the controls. They seemed familiar but he couldn’t put his finger on them. He stood there directly at the console and examined each and every control and readout. And then it came to him. “What the hell were you doing, Jim?” Hayes said to himself before activating his commlink.

“Hayes to Bravo Team. Check the main access panel if you can, if you see anything in there hooked up, do not touch it!” Hayes warned with more seriousness to his voice than he’s ever put into.

Jackson continued to help Tel with the logs. There were a lot of them to go through. Then he heard the captain shout and looked back. “Captain?”

“On it captain!” Vogler responded. “What’s this about?”

“I wasn’t planning on unplugging things just yet, captain. Is there something we should be looking for?” Came from Jaso.

“Just tell me when you find it,” said Hayes, being a little vague. He stared at the console before him, disbelief in his eyes as he began to reminisce about his junior year at the academy.

“Found it, Captain,” voice came from Cooper.

Hayes was not certain whether he should be relieved or concerned but he knew he needed to hurry. “Don’t touch it! I’ll be right there.” But before he could even make two steps towards the turbolift, the console he had been standing at came to life. He returned to it to see that a set of coordinates were being entered and power was being transferred to the device. “No no no!” But before he could contact Bravo Team, the console notified him that the device was engaged. At first, there was a tingling sensation in the hands and feet that slowly made its way throughout the body. Then there was a sudden but gentle jolt beneath their feet before the tingling sensation disappeared altogether.

Hayes heard the navigation console and other consoles bleeping warning notifications all over the bridge, but he knew what happened. “Don’t bother checking. We’re not where we are supposed to be.” Jackson and Tel would be able to confirm that while Hayes watched as the console before him indicated that the device had powered down. “Damnit, Jim!”

The cargo bay on the twelfth deck was illuminated briefly by several columns of light from a transporter beam which dissipated as soon as it appeared. One of them was a security officer, with his rifle charged and the torchlight from the rifle active, illuminating the area. One of them pulled out a tricorder to begin their scans and that one was Chief Petty Officer Cooper.

Cooper looked from her tricorder at Lieutenant Vogler. “The spiders in main engineering haven’t moved an inch since our arrival. Safe to say they don’t seem to care at the moment.” She stored her tricorder and picked up the inactive data storage device. “Got our bait right here, ready to go on your order.” The plan was to find a good choke point and activate the bait. Since these spiders seemed so eager to gather new data since that attack on the Altai, it seemed like a sound plan.

Astrid glanced around the cargo bay.  “The bay doors create a natural choke point and we can hold the high ground from the upper level catwalk.  Unless they can bore through bulkheads we’ll have the back wall to protect us from attacks from behind.”

Feeling her handshake she placed her other hand on it to calm down and lets the tricorder do its work “The low power emission on these decks might be the cause of it. If we activate any console it might trigger these spiders to activate” Katsu felt unease at this whole operation and has flashbacks from her previous encounter. 

“I believe that’s the point.   I’m open to suggestions.  If you think there’s a better location for this encounter I’m all ears,” Vogler said.

Cooper noticed Katsu and smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Relax. We got the best Hazard Team in the quadrant. We’ll squash these bugs real quick. Besides, we won’t be touching any consoles. We have the bait to make them come to us when we are ready.” She spoke softly with a wink before she looked at Vogler. “I believe in your tactical judgment, ma’am. I can place it in the center so that we can surround the bait, and get them right when they least expect it.”

“Make it happen,” Volger ordered.  “Hazard team spread out on the catwalk.  Doc you find a quiet place to hide.  I hope we don’t need you, but I sure as hell want you going down either.”

Randall nodded. He had basic weapons training at the Academy,  but he hadn’t qualified since.  He knew which way to point the phaser and that was about it.

As everyone moved into position, Cooper set down the storage device and pressed a few buttons to prepare it. “Alright. It is ready to go.” Cooper said before she moved to get into an advantageous position herself. She then held out her tricorder, ready to hit the trigger to activate the device. “On your mark, ma’am.”

Astrid nodded, “Make it happen.”

Cooper nodded back to Vogler, looked down at her tricorder, and pressed the button. The device soon came to life and began to emit the energy reading that it was designed to do to grab the mech spider’s attention.

It was quiet at first. Astrid could just hear her breathing in her suit, and she consciously forced herself to relax.  Then on the distance in the stale thin air of the ship came the mechanical whirring and clicking of the bugs.  “Be ready,” she announced to her team as she raised the phaser rifle to her shoulder. “Hold your fire until my command.”

Cooper put her tricorder away and took cover behind some storage crates with her left arm resting on the crate, left hand gripping the rifle grip, aimed directly at the doorway of where she hoped the spiders will come from. Though she periodically looked at the maintenance hatch every few seconds.

“Look alive folks,” Vogler announced as she brought her phaser rifle to the ready.

Suddenly a single bug burst into the cargo bay.  Astrid held her fire, and she felt sweat running down her forehead,  which she couldn’t wipe away in the helmet. Then there was the main body of the bugs.  As they got bunched at the entrance the ones behind crawled over top of the ones in front.

“Fire!” Astrid ordered as she squeezed off a well aimed shot striking the first bug bursting it onto pieces. 

Cooper took a deep breath and held it as she tapped the trigger, launching a phaser bolt that smacked into the deck just in front of one. She cursed under her breath, focused, and fired another shot that smacked into the chest of the mech that ended its life.

Astrid and the rest of the Hazard Team opened up fire.  At this point they were getting the hang of combating these things and most of their shots were effective.  One by one the robotic nightmares were destroyed.   

Moving to Katsu Astrid placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder.  “We should save one for study. Any idea on how disable one of those things?”

Cooper happened to overhear Vogler talking to Katsu. She stood up out of cover while making quick adjustments to her rifle and then commenced rapid fire on a single mech. Her aim goal was to take out the legs and with the succession of rapid fire at the settings provided by Starfleet Command to decimate the alloy material these things were made of, she was successful. Good thing they don’t bleed, or it would have bled out from the loss of limbs. This tactic of course depleted her power pack, which forced her to eject it to insert a fresh one. She could only hope that was the last mech she disabled and not left herself open to an attack.

“Clever trick,” Vogler said approvingly. She ejected her power cell and replaced it with a fresh one, and returned her attention back to the bugs.  She made two quick shots destroying two bugs crawling up the bulkhead.   Stepping to the edge of the catwalk she started firing down on them as the started climbing up the supports. 

Cooper shrugged her shoulder. “Just wanting to get this done. Did we take out fifteen of them yet?” Cooper asked but the answer was given when Vogler shot a few more.

As the last of the bugs fell the cargo bay silent nobody moved.  The intensity of the firefight had shifted to the realization of the carnage and danger they had been in. Glancing around Vogler shouted, “Okay, people let’s get to Engineering.”

She swung over the edge of the catwalk hooking her boots around the handrail and slid down to the maindeck of the cargo bay.  Scooping up the now very much functional but harmless bug that Cooper had disabled she shoved it into her pack where it protested, but couldn’t do anything about it.

The petty officer sat in the pilot seat of the shuttlecraft that had just dropped out of warp. They adjusted their course towards the Altai while they could very well see the Excelsior-class vessel, the Romero, floating there with no power to speak of. The petty officer looked over their shoulder to see if the two officers that they were transporting were awake or paying attention but nevertheless, per training and policies, they still felt the need to state the obvious. “We are on approach to the Altai, sir.”

Jaso nodded to the pilot, “Thank you Petty Officer.” He looked at the approaching ship. “It’s a bit bigger than I thought it’d be.” He gathered his things. ”Please notify Command that I’d like to get into Engineering and get underway.”

The petty officer gave a brief nod before they returned their attention to their controls and opened a channel to the Altai. “Altai, this is Takayama. I have your chief engineer on board. Submitting the transfer orders now.” The petty officer initiated the data transfer and patiently waited for the reply.

“Takayama, data transmission received and reviewed. Please approach shuttle bay one for landing. A security officer will be on deck to relay further instructions. Altai out.”

The petty officer frowned and then shrugged before they readjusted their course. Soon the shuttlecraft would be landing on the hangar deck of shuttle bay one and as stated, a security officer was patiently waiting. Soon as the rear hatch opened, the security officer wasted no time.

“Excuse me, sir. The Captain left instructions for when you arrived. He needs you to gear up in an EVA suit, your standard away team mission gear and to transport over to Bravo Team. Bravo Team’s mission is to reach Main Engineering and attempt to restore power to the Romero,” The security officer reported. “That is all the instructions say.”

“Understood.” Said Jaso. Quickly stopping at Main Engineering, Jaso grabbed standard away team gear. He walked to the Transporter Room carrying his EV suit. After attaching his suit’s helmet, Jaso stepped on the teleporter pad, and nodded to the operator, “Energize.”

Astrid peered around the corner her phaser rifle preceding her.  So far all the corridors had been thankfully and disturbingly empty.  Where was the crew?  Did they abandon ship?  If so what had happened to them afterwards?   And what of the bugs? Where did they come from?  Did they get them all in the cargo bay?

She could see the doors to main engineering at the end of the corridor.   The massive sliding doors sat partially ajar like the power had went out as they were sliding shut.  “Almost there. Move out,” she said to the rest of the team.  Her half of the Hazard Team had taken up the rear protecting the rest. 

The Xinidi-Reptilian and one of her closest confidants approached. “That was too easy boss,” Korel said.

Vogler fell in line with the group, Korel at her side. “I agree. Hopefully, we just got a milk run.”

“They don’t pull us out here to do milk runs,” Korel observed.

“Korel my friend, I sincerely hope you are wrong.”

“Altai to Bravo Team Leader. Chief Engineer Jaso has arrived and is beaming over now. Also, we do not detect any more of those mechs on sensors. It appears both teams have eliminated the threat.”

Cooper shrugged a shoulder. “Let’s just hope that there ain’t any lying around dormant.”

Suddenly the corridor was illuminated by a transporter beam appearing just down the corridor. Then the moment it had appeared, it was gone, depositing a silhouette.

When the transport cycle finished, moving from bright to low light caused Jaso’s eyes to squint. He looked around the group of officers. Jaso moved to the closest one. “Lt. Erdian,” Jaso said, offering his hand.

“Chief Petty Officer Cooper,” She held her gloved hand out to shake Jaso’s. “Normally I am handling all operational duties on the listening outpost but Captain insisted I help restore power to this ship. I do have quite a bit of knowledge on Excelsior-class ships but having a Chief Engineer will certainly make this go a lot quicker.”

“Excellent Chief, I need a sit-rep. I only had a cursory reading of the mission brief. The ten minute read to the transporter room didn’t provide much information, something about spider mechs?” 

Astrid stepped forward, “That’s what we are calling them. Lieutenant Astrid Volger,  Hazard Team.  Glad you are here Chief.  I got one of them bugs in my pack if you want to study it later, but for now we need to get basic systems up. Anderson front and center!”

A Hazard Team member pushed through the crowd of officers, “Yes Boss?”

“Lieutenant Erdian, this is Crewman Harland Anderson.  He’s a trained combat engineer,  but aside from Chief Cooper he’s going to be your engineering team. The rest of us are a bit… well…” She glanced around, “Inexperienced.”

Jaso turned to the three, “It’s good to know I have a team, regardless of their skill.”

“With the three of us and my knowledge of Excelsior-class vessels, we should get this baby back up in no time.” Cooper smiled.

Jaso opened his tricorder, checked the readings, and spoke to Cooper. “I’m grateful for your knowledge; I haven’t been on anything bigger than a Nova-class.” He closed the tricorder and picked up his engineer’s kit. “Let’s get to work, lead on.”

“Right! Let’s get the power on.” Cooper smiled.

Vogler indicated with a nod of her head, “Move out people.”

Cooper turned towards the half-open massive sliding door, which luckily was enough for them to slip through in between with their EVA suits on and she took the lead. She waved her rifle around, with the torchlight being on that is, to get a good look around before locating the main engineering console in the center. “There it is. Well, hard to miss usually.”

Cooper removed the power pack she was carrying like a backpack and set it down beside the console. “Let’s see. The first thing to do is connect this power pack to the console, and see if we can coax auxiliary power online.” Cooper mainly spoke out loud, not to anyone in particular while she took the cable from the pack and opened up a panel in the main console. Once she inserted the cable plug right in, she flipped the power pack on and stood up to watch the main console come to life. “All right! That’s a good sign. Now to send some power to the backup computer to gain access to the basic commands and then determine if we can bring auxiliary power on or not.”

Crewman Anderson looked over his shoulder from a bank of panels, “Batteries are completely dead. I hope there’s deuterium because we’re going to need it for the auxiliary power generators.”

Jaso was about to give a warning, but by the time he turned around the batteries were depleted. “Those batteries are great for a single console, but not to much for jump starting a computer bank. Still,” he did some quick calculations in his head, “it should have kept the console on longer than that.”

He opened his tricorder, “I’m getting some weird magnokinetic energy readings. I can’t get a lock on the source.” Jaso opened up his kit and pulled a tool from it. He threw it and watched it turn end over end in the air. Suddenly the tool made a sharp right turn and picked up speed. It had a series of slowing down and speeding up, before landing with a clink, on the side of the warp core. “Bingo! I found you.”

Cooper frowned at what the Lieutenant was doing and then raised her brows when she saw what happened to the tool. “Oi vey.”

“That shouldn’t be possible. It’s almost as if its magnetic shielding has failed and coalesced into a micro gravity well. But that warp core has been cold for nearly twenty years.” He thought a moment, staring off in the distance. “The protons would still be present though, even if they aren’t conducting the matter/anti-matter reaction anymore.” He turned to his team, “I think we just found our power source. We can’t start the core, but maybe we can syphon power from a reaction. It wouldn’t take much, a couple maybe.”

“It’ll be tricky, we’ll have to go in dark. Any power or magnetism will by drained by the well.” He turned to Vogler, “Lieutenant, can you get us over there? As low tech as possible?”

She nodded, “You needing an escort? We can do that.”

“Something like that,” Jaso said. “I’m thinking something similar to a spelunking rig. I don’t trust our momentum once we get close to the anomaly. We’d be sitting… floating? ducks once we got out there. There’s no telling how it will affect our mass difference. It could be negligible or,” he pointed to the tool still stuck on the core, “we could end up like our little friend there.”

“I think our EV suits are as low-tech as we’re going to get, sir,” Cooper mentioned. “Unless you got some non-magnetic tools.” She smirked.

“Chief I’m less worried about the suits than our mag boots. Though it will be nice not to worry about dropping a tool.”

“Bravo team, hope you are all doing well. Alpha team has cleared out the bridge and we are beginning our investigation. How goes restoring power?” The voice came from Captain Hayes.

“We’re in engineering sir.  The damage seems pretty bad down here. We’re working on getting the lights on, but,” Vogler glanced at Jaso for a preliminary report.

Jaso clicked his comm, “Lieutenant Erdian here, sir. Preliminary attempts with the battery cells have failed. We’ve discovered a magnetic anomaly on or near the warp core.  I have a few working theories on its existence. We’re attempting to circumvent it and use the remaining protons in the core to cause enough matter/anti-matter reactions to restart the computer core.”

“I’m no Engineer sir,” Vogler stated, “I’ll have to take the Chief’s lead on this one.  He’s speaking Greek to me.”

“Lieutenant Erdian Jaso? You have impeccable timing. From the sound of it, you wouldn’t be able to get near it in our current state.” said Hayes over their commlinks.

Cooper nodded her head in her helmet. “With our magnetic boots, I wouldn’t recommend it. But if we get the auxiliary power generators online, we can restore life support and artificial gravity.”

“Do it. We’re just here for the data on what happened to this ship, we don’t need to completely revive it. Keep me posted, team. Hayes out.” And there was a brief chirp of the comms link terminating.

Cooper looked over at the main central engineering terminal. “Perhaps we can coax the generators online from our little power pack here. Or maybe…wasn’t there a mission report of a starship transferring power to another?”

Jaso began to speak when the communication link terminated. “I wasn’t attempting to restart the core…” he said to no one in particular. “But that does sound like a fun challenge.” He turned to Cooper, “So we’re clear Chief, when I said low tech, I meant deactivating our mag boots too.” He took a long look at the warp core and walked to the engineering terminal. Jaso tapped on the dead terminal in thought. ”Wait, I think I have an idea.”

Cooper smirked at his comment and shrugged in a joking way after he had made it clear to her.

“I need a three-way conduit with a diversion valve” He called out, his voice echoing through Main Engineering. Jaso was met with blank stares. “It’s a piece that looks like this,” He made a shape with his hands. The team dispersed to search.

Jaso turned to his engineering team. “We’re going to set up a relay system with the battery packs. Daisy chain them together with the diversion valve leading to the main generator.  Overload one of the packs, and send a pulse through the chain. It’ll work like a centrifugal turbine, collecting residual power from the dead batteries as it circles. When enough kinetic power is collected, we divert it to the main generator. I’d need a minimum,” he counted the math on his fingers, “of three battery packs, but no more than five.”

“Split the difference perhaps and go with four?  I’m not sure how many tries we’ll get before we burn out the packs,” Anderson suggested.

“Good idea Crewman. If things go the way they’re supposed to, we won’t have another try. We also won’t need one. If things work out. But it’s a smart idea to save at least one for a safety measure.”   

Crewman Korel approached with a device in his hands returning from a storage locker, “This the valve you are looking for?”

“Let’s take a look,” Jaso said, turning the valve over a few times. He walked over and pulled a tool out of his kit. He tapped it against the valve, causing it to ring out. Jaso hummed along with the ringing until he harmonized with it. “The resonance is a bit off, but this will do nicely.” He brought it over to the team.

Jaso made the final connection and looked at the relay, “Well, I’ve built cruder… Good job team!” He walked over to the battery pack, “Setting power output to 136%. Anderson, watch the diversion valve. When the power level reaches 44%, divert it to the generator. Anything less will be too weak. Cooper, watch the terminal to make sure the power goes where we want it to.”

Pressing the power button, the battery began to vibrate and heat up. Its power was released to the next battery, and the next, until it completed the circuit several times.

As the energy built up Anderson switched the valve to the main generator as the chief had ordered.

Cooper kept an eye on the terminal but the moment she heard him mention the valve, she knew what idea he had in mind. She remembered having to do this to a few other starships before. “There it goes!”

Jaso watched as the raw power sparked into the generator, bringing it to life. He walked over to the terminal that had sparked to life. “Nice job Chief,” Jaso said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Tapping his comlink with a smile, Jaso said, “Erdian to Hayes, we restored auxiliary power. It’s not much right now,” he looked at the console display, “Critical systems, artificial gravity, and… 22% LCARS access. We’ll continue to work on it, but I’d recommend not pushing the computer core too hard until then.”

“Hayes to Bravo Team. Check the main access panel if you can, if you see anything in there hooked up, do not touch it!” Hayes warned with more seriousness to his voice than he’s ever put into.

“On it captain!” Vogler responded worry etched on her brow. “What’s this about?”  She watched Jaso hoping he was overhearing this.

Jaso joined Vogler’s search and tapped his comlink. “I wasn’t planning on unplugging things just yet, captain. Is there something we should be looking for?”

“Just tell me when you find it,” said Hayes, being a little vague.

After she had left her equipment on the main terminal and deactivated her mag boots as she entered the warp core chamber and headed towards an access panel that was not completely shut. She noticed it the moment the lights came on and made her rather curious. She grabbed the lip of the panel and swung it open to find a strange-looking device hooked up. Cooper tapped her comlink, “Found it, Captain.”

“Don’t touch it! I’ll be right there,” said Hayes.

But in mere seconds of a time, a mech spider that had been dormant and hidden from sensors had dropped down from the ceiling and landed on one of the consoles. It had come to life the moment it sensed power was restored to the ship and began to complete its task. Which was to hook itself up to the console its hand landed on and begin transferring power to the device. Cooper saw the device come to life and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the spider. She turned in place and pointed at it. “Stop it!” But it was too late. The second someone raised a rifle at it, the device activated.

On board the Altai, at the operations station, T’Pel had kept herself busy by cataloging the standard stellar debris and space phenomena. She had also recalibrated and ran diagnostics on the ship’s sensors, keeping them at peak efficiency to Starfleet’s standard. She had also pinpointed their exact location between both the Breen and Federation borders. She even calculated their distance from their current location to the listening outpost, Starbase 72, and Earth. She was just in the process of calculating the distance to Vulcan when a warning cropped up on her display. T’Pel turned in her seat and looked at the Lieutenant at the con. “Sir, sensors have picked up an unusual energy signature coming from the Romero.”

Lieutenant Bradley pushed himself out of the captain’s chair and approached her station to take a look himself. “What kind of energy?”

T’Pel returned her seat to face her console and began to analyze the data. “Analyzing it now.”

Bradley turned to look at the coms officer. “Hail the Captain’s team.” But the coms officer was distracted by what they saw on the main viewer and then pointed. Bradley turned back around to face the viewer and saw that Romero was gone. “What the hell? Where did they go?!”

“They did not leave by normal means, Lieutenant. The warp core was still offline, warp drive was not possible. Impulse engines were not engaged,” T’Pel reported.

“Playback to just before Romero disappeared,” Bradley ordered.

T’Pel brought up the recording on the main viewer and dialed it back just as requested and then played the recording. Now they all saw, some of them for the second time, Romero disappearing in a flash. At first, it looked like lines were streaking across the hull and then it just blinked with a flash of light. Then T’Pel’s console notified her that it completed the analysis. “Sir, the energy signature. There is a trace of proto-matter.”

Cooper was the last one to exit the turbolift and stepped onto the bridge. Everyone had been called up by Captain Hayes, apparently, an explanation was about to be given, which in Cooper’s thoughts, it better be a good one. With the issue with the warp core, she had to scan the device on the other side, as close as she could get to the access panel behind the wall and glass that separated the operations of main engineering and the warp core chamber. And the results of her scans had her troubled.

With life support restored throughout the ship, Hayes had given everyone the option to remove their EV suits. Starfleet has improved on them being less bulky over the years but it was still a layer of gear that could get exhausting for some and cause perspiration for others.

Hayes looked at Jaso. “Good to have you with us, Lieutenant.” Was what he chose to start the conversation. “Admiral James Hatfield. He was my third-year instructor at the academy. During my second year, I learned quite a bit about piloting a starship, how propulsion systems worked, warp drive, all the calculations, and the risks,” Hayes gestured to Jackson. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“Yes I do.” Replied Jackson. “The Admiral had gone missing by the time I was at the Academy, but his legacy still lived on.”

Hayes continued, “During my third year, I decided to learn much more about these engines, see how they ticked much more closely. Get down and dirty with the rest of them.” Hayes smirked at Cooper and Jaso before he took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. “With the concerns of a war breaking out with the Dominion, it became rather crucial to finding ways to breach through the lines. Hit vital targets, shipyards, supply depots, anything and everything to cripple the enemy and end the war before it even began.”

Hayes cleared his throat and got to the point. “Admiral Hatfield and I worked together on creating a new type of propulsion system. Of course, we had other project team members but we had come up with the main workings of the device. We called it the Skip Drive. The idea behind it was to use the very edge of a system’s star gravity well, which depending on the star, can be quite vast like the Sol System, smaller or larger. It was to use the gravity well, combine the energy behind the starship and propel it to another star system, where the same device would use the arriving star system’s gravity well to stop the ship, like a fishing net. See, we knew that there were some star systems that had a straight path to another system, some spanning many light years and this drive was able to traverse that distance in a matter of seconds where it would take hours or days with warp drive.”

Jaso was left reeling from the calculations that required. “There are stories of some captains, notably Kirk, using the slingshot effect for time travel. The theory seems sound enough.” He frowned, “But basing a whole propulsion system on it? That’s simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.”

Joran let out a low whistle, “Damn, that would change things, a functional FTL jump drive.”

Cooper chimed in. “Sounds like something too good to be true, sir. Clearly, it didn’t work otherwise we would have had an entire fleet appear in Cardassian space, able to strike and destroy vital resources of the Dominion and end the war, as you said.”

Hayes nodded his head with a heavy sigh. “It failed, yes. This ship was the ship to initially test the drive. But it was a wild, wild theoretical idea. We were grasping for hope and luck that it would work but there were a few people who had been on starships longer than most of the team, all said that the math didn’t add up and it was doomed for failure. When the test began, the drive failed to use the star system’s gravity well as we had intended and just shorted out. So Starfleet did what Starfleet did best to any projects that failed miserably. They buried it.”

Fleming chuckled where it could be heard as she gestured to the ship “Clearly it didn’t fail because we’re standing on the bridge of one now.” Astrid was a creature of saying what was on her head and in this case the obvious was way too apparent.

Hayes shook his head as he stared down at the console behind the captain’s chair. “No. Not at all. After I graduated from the academy, I hadn’t had much contact with Admiral Hatfield. The war had begun and you all know the details. Many lives were lost, and many ships were destroyed. Complete bloodbath. Many of us thought we would lose the war but somehow we pulled through.” Hayes tapped in some commands on the console and shook his head. “I don’t know what that spider did but the device will not power back up.”

Cooper chimed in once more. “I don’t think we should. At least, not until we have a better understanding of how it works.”

Hayes looked at her. “Fact is, it wasn’t supposed to work. And it certainly did not work as intended to its design.”

“The navigation logs seem to be valid. We know that time travel works. Kirk did it, and Sisko did it. No reason we shouldn’t be able to it as well.” replied Jackson.

Cooper opened her tricorder and handed it over to Hayes. “Maybe because of the fact that your professor added proto-matter to the matrix.”

Joran had returned to scrolling through the navigational records but stopped when Cooper mentioned proto-matter. “Isn’t that stuff highly controlled and dangerous? As in Genesis project and exploding planets dangerous? I’m no engineer but putting that in an engine matrix would either give you a huge amount of power or make a spectacular explosion.”

“Sometimes both Chief,” Jaso replied. He gave it another thought, “Actually, all the time. Like I said, fascinating and terrifying.”

“So…” Vogler started, not fully understanding the exchange.  “Do we have a choice not to? And where exactly are we?”

Alton started pressing on the controls. “I’m having the ship’s computer locate any nearby star that it recognizes, to give us a point of reference.”

Hayes stared at the tricorder with the reading of pro-matter in the results of the scan and shook his head. “We had theorized the use of proto-matter but as Mr. Tel said dangerous stuff. Plus Command wouldn’t authorize it.” Hayes closed the tricorder. “This means, Admiral Hatfield took this ship out without approval and the test of the drive with proto-matter was unauthorized and done out of sheer desperation.” Hayes looked at Alton. “The drive should have been connected to the navigation systems. That mech spider brought us somewhere, so there should be coordinates in the logs.”

Alton’s console beeped. “Captain. The ship’s computer has detected a star cluster that is in the memory banks.” He reviewed the findings. “This can’t be right.” He turned to look at the captain. “Sir. According to the computer, we are no longer in our galaxy, we’re over a million lightyears from the nearest Federation outpost.”

“Wait,” Doctor Randall announced, “Out of our galaxy? Is that drive even capable of doing that?”

“I’m sorry, did you say a million lightyears?” Jaso said, turning away from the Engineering station. “It shouldn’t be,” he said to Randall, “yet here we are. Wherever, ‘here’ is. This ship is just a box of surprises.”

Cooper shook her head. “Definitely shouldn’t be. Proto-matter certainly caused some unique reaction to the drive to make it do this.”

“We’re definitely going to need some proto-matter now,” Vogler added a frown on her face. “Or we best just get comfortable here in this galaxy… No offense I’m not sure I want to help populate a colony with you people,” she said in a weak joke.

Alton looked over at Vogler. “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get home.”, trying to calm her down.

Hayes looked at Alton. “Luckily with the navigational logs, we should be able to return to our previous location by inputting the coordinates into the system and engage the drive. Unfortunately, the device is out of proto-matter, correct?” Hayes looked at Cooper.

Cooper nodded her head with a sigh. “It looked like the containment in the drive unit was capable of holding enough proto-matter for a few jumps. This was the last of the few jumps. Lucky us. But we might be able to locate nebulae with proto-matter or an asteroid…something.”

Hayes nodded his head and looked at Alton and Tel. “Investigate local star systems in the range of our sensors.” Then he looked at Cooper and Jaso. “Looks like I’m going to need you two to bring the warp core online. We’re going to need to travel by conventional means to get what we need.” Hayes looked at everyone else. “Those who don’t have assignments, find something to do. I got personal logs to read.”

“Sounds good, Captain,” Jaso replied. He turned to Vogler, “I’m going to need to borrow Anderson for a little while longer. He’s a pretty solid set of hands.” He turned to address the bridge, “If anyone wants to learn the finer points of cold starting a 20 year old warp core.” Jaso smirked, ”And some great Bajoran curse words, I could use some help in Engineering.”

Vogler nodded, “He’s all yours.”

Joran looked over at Alton after he slipped into the seat at the navigation console, “Divide and conquer Lieutenant?” As he spoke he began to bring up the previous navigation logs and sensor reads to highlight priority targets, “I figure Proto-matter should be a top priority in the search right?”

“Yes, and I’ve already started a long-range search pattern looking for any indications of Proto-matter that might be nearby.” 

Joran nodded, “Works for me, I have the computer running a scan through the sensor and navigation logs to see if there are any indications of it there. Should find something soon.”

Hayes looked at everyone and then nodded his head. “All right then. Fleming, you’re with me.”

Cooper followed Jaso and Anderson. “Better make sure the auxiliary generators don’t burn out with all this running equipment.” She smirked.

The doors of Main Engineering hissed open, reminding Jaso of what was recently left. “It’s good to see the doors still work.” Jaso said, entering into Main Engineering. “First things, first. Anderson, see if you can get main power on. The auxiliary power cyclers are working for now, but they’re still fragile. Cooper, try to dig up schematics for the warp core and check the status of the impulse engines. Let’s see what we’re working with.” He looked up at the imposing core. “And I’ll figure out how to stop that,” Jaso said, pointing to the tool still stuck to the core.

Cooper smirked at the tool before she found herself an empty station and began to pull up the work that was requested. She filled one screen with the schematics of the warp core, and then she filled up the screen adjacent with diagnostics on the impulse engines. Cooper then turned in her seat to look at Jaso. “Looks like the warp core was programmed to shut down. Rather curious.”

“So it looks like the magnetic shielding was concentrated into one spot. And that created the gravity well.” Jaso said to himself, staring at his tricorder. He pushed a few buttons and scanned. “It looks like the well is… fascinating. I think this might be easier than I thought, theoretically speaking.” Pulled away from his thoughts, he turned to Cooper, “Programmed to shut down? Because the maglocks around the core were failing?”

Cooper looked through the logs and shook her head. “Possibly, or stop the spiders from activating the Skip Drive?” She went through other logs real quick. “Seems that they even set the auxiliary generators to shut down too.”

“That explains why the auxiliary power was down as well.” The more Jaso learned about them, the more he wanted to tear apart the mechanical spider they’d saved. “It still doesn’t explain how they got here. And if their target was the Skip Drive, whoever programmed them knew about it too.”

“It looks like the power was rerouted to the propulsion systems,” Anderson reported from his console. “Way more than they’d need for conventional operations. I think if I work with the power couplings, I can stop the power drain. I’ll be back!” He excitedly jumped up and disappeared into a Jefferies tube.

Cooper smirked at how excited Anderson was. “I remembered when I was like that. Just something about getting your hands dirty.” She shrugged. “Anyways. What do you need to get the core back online?”

“He’s probably excited to not just stand around holding a plasma rifle.” Jaso looked at his tricorder, “First order of business is to reestablish the maglocks around the core. If we fire it up without them it’ll, at best, cause an emergency shutdown. At worse, we’ll see a beautiful matter/antimatter cascade explosion… right before everyone on the ship is vaporized.

Cooper smirked. “Would be the last thing I’d like to see before going.” She snorted at her joke.

He made a wide circle around the core with his tricorder, “The readings are fuzzy, but it seems to be operating on a low EMF. It’s not enough to cause damage to the tool, just… hold it in place. So it’s not enough to cause a thermic effect, like the old days of micro waves.” Jaso refocused, “The gravity well is turning, just very slowly. What we need to do is find a magnetically similar resonance frequency, that rotates in the opposite direction at the same velocity. That should, in theory, cancel it out, scatter the well, and reset the maglocks. If we’re lucky, it will scatter in a pattern that will create its own magnetic shielding we can use to establish the maglocks. I’m not optimistic about that.”

Jaso closed his tricorder, “I’ll need something conductive… copper maybe.” He snapped his fingers, “Actually, the battery packs might have most of everything we need.” He walked over to the console next to Cooper. “I’m going to set the computer to scan the gravity well to locate the frequency and velocity ranges.”

He walked over to the battery pack and carefully began dissembling it. “Anderson! How’re the conduits coming?”

“It’s a tangled mess in here, sir. But I think I… got it!” As he exclaimed this, the consoles around Main Engineering began lighting up with diagnostic screens. Jaso laughed, “Cooper, begin running a ship-wide diagnostic and check for power fluctuations.”

Jaso tapped his combadge, “Erdian to Hayes: Captain, main power has been established. We’re running a diagnostic to see how well it sustains. Still working on the core.”

“Fantastic news, Chief! I’ll leave you to it, so as to not distract you from the rest of your work,” said Hayes before there was a chirp that the com was disconnected.

Cooper went over the data from the diagnostics and shook her head. “There appear to be no fluctuations in the power grid. Which indicates no damage. In fact, not detecting any damage on any systems or hull plates. Whatever happened, happened real quick before there was any chance of combat.” Cooper crossed her arms and frowned. “In fact, since we got on board, we haven’t seen any scorch marks of any kind. Did the crew even try to put up a fight? Or is there a side effect we don’t know about from this Skip Drive?” She wasn’t really asking anyone, just toying over theories and assumptions but very few clues to find the answer that they needed.

“It’s a possibility,” Jaso said, taking a piece of shielding from the battery pack. “If there was no signs of struggle, then there was no struggle to be had.” He set down his tool and picked up a pair of clamps. “But the question is… why,” he said with a slight grunt. Jaso withdrew the clamps with a small circular device attached. “Ah yes, an electro-magnetic stabilizer. That will do nicely,” he held it up with the pride of discovering a lost treasure. Jaso set it down next to him. 

“If the crew didn’t put up a fight, maybe they wouldn’t… or couldn’t.” Jaso gestured absentmindedly with his tool as he spoke. “If they were attacked by a friendly, they might have hesitated. Or,” he continued dismantling the pack, “it happened so fast, they didn’t have a chance to react. Which would make your Skip Drive theory that much more credible.”

Anderson crawled out of the Jefferies tube. “Can you guys find something conductive, maybe copper wire? As much continuously as you can find.”

Cooper pushed herself to her feet from her seat and went in search of what Anderson needed. She even left main engineering to go into a storage compartment, where some rattling and other sounds of things being tossed around could be heard before she returned to give Anderson as much as he needed. Then she made her way to Jaso to see what else she could do to assist. “It’s strange that we returned to deep space. If the spider mech took control and engaged the Skip Drive, you’d think it would return to the last position this ship went to in this…wherever it is we’re at. The mystery of this ship just continues.”

“That’s a good point,” Jaso said, cranking down a part to his makeshift device. “But if it didn’t have a navigation device it wouldn’t be able to. Hand me that piece there,” He took the part from Cooper and attached it. “I suppose it reflexively could, but that implies some sort of neuro-reflexive-transmitter system.” Jaso paused, “Now I really want to tear one of those apart. All I have is speculation until I can get my hands on one. And that Skip Drive…” He had stars in his eyes, “I could spend half my life examining that.”

Jaso took a step back and look at the device, “Anderson, do you have any of that copper left?” he shouted.

“Aye, sir!” Came the snappy reply and Anderson again reemerged from the Jefferies tube. He threw the roll to Jaso, who promptly caught it.

“Coil a little bit of copper here for conductivity,” Jaso said, wrapping it around some wires and attaching one end to the output and one to the power input. “And… done!” he collected his tools and put them back in the kit. “I was wrong before, this has to be the crudest thing I’ve made.” He eyed his Frankenstein machine: A box about a half meter squared with handles on either side, the electro-magnetic stabilizer on one face, and a protuberance extending 8-10 cm beyond that, ending in a claw-like mechanism arranged triangularly.

“Okay, let’s get set up,” He put the device under one arm, and opened his tricorder. “I’ll get as close as I can without getting this sucked up by the well. Anderson, Cooper, find something to brace it against, both fore and aft. I’m not sure which motion we’ll get. I’ll plug it in,” Jaso said, picking up the power cable.

Nodded her head and followed Anderson’s lead in making sure they have something to brace it with.

Jaso finished attaching the power to the main computer. “Yeah, that looks good,” he walked over and tested the bracing. “Anderson, get to a terminal and get full sensor scans on everything. I might want to recreate this later. Cooper, watch the power readings. We’re entering no man’s land here.” He turned on the machine and it began to hum. Jaso hummed, harmonizing with it. The claw on the machine started to slowly turn. 

“Firing the anti-mag beam now!” He pressed the trigger buttons on the handles. The device let out a warbling noise. “Give it a little more juice Cooper.”

She watched as the device came to life but immediately returned her gaze back to her displays to see where the power level was and when she heard his request, she pressed the power slider and pushed it up just a little bit. “Little more juice, coming right up!”

The warbling got louder and the claws began to illuminate as they turned faster. The machine slightly slid back, pushing against the braces. Jaso smiled as they held firm. A small beam emerged where the claw points met and touched the tool, still stuck to the warp core. “Contact with the gravity well, reversing polarity now!” Jaso said, pressing a button on his tricorder. The device bucked against the bracing. “More power!” Jaso shouted like a mad scientist over the cacophony of noises from the device. It started to shake violently, and Jaso feared it wouldn’t hold.

Cooper couldn’t believe the strange contraption was working but she has seen pretty crazy things before, all she could do now was let the madman do his work and give him more juice as requested by pushing that slider up some more. “Amping it up!”

And then he saw it. Out of the competing magnetic forces, the gravity well presented itself. Fully visible to the naked eye. It was almost beautiful in its simple, destructive nature. “By the Prophets, it’s so beauti-” Suddenly a loud pop reverberated through Main Engineering. “Everyone, down!” Jaso yelled just in time to hit the deck, and for the device to go sailing over his head. He covered his head as the stuck tool shoot across the room like a bullet. And all was quiet.

“Is everyone okay? Jaso shouted, his voice carrying throughout Main Engineering. 

Cooper raised her head from behind the console and looked where the device went. “Yeah. Sure. Don’t know about the bulkhead over there though.” She smirked.

“I’m good, I was already mostly protected up here,” Anderson called out.

Jaso rose to his feet and watched Cooper and Anderson do likewise. ”Tell me you got all of that!” Jaso excitedly said to Anderson.

“I did sir, every second.”

“Good, download the scans so we can take them with us. And see if you can,” he paused, turned, and found the machine thrown across the entirety of Main Engineering. “Sadly, there’s nothing to salvage of that.” A click from the warp core and a beep from the console turned his attention. “Well, would you look at that… ‘Maglocks: Engaged’. We got lucky after all.” Jaso tapped his combadge, “Erdian to Hayes: Good news Captain, we should have warp core access in about an hour.”

“Great news, Chief! We’ll be meeting up back on the Bridge after you’re finished down there,” said Hayes over the intercom.

Cooper let out a sigh of relief and folded her arms across her chest. “That was intense. Oh, and by the way, I believe our Hazard Team Leader, Vogler has a legless spider mech in her pack. Just thought I’d mention it since you sounded eager to look inside one. When Beck was around, he and I did open one up and the insides were…so strange. So many glowing tendrils, writhing and wiggling as if the thing was still alive despite being struck by such a massive electrical shock to shut it down. But when they were fully exposed to air, they tried to hide inside what was left of the exoskeleton, and the violet color they emitted changed to something like orange or ochre.” She shook her head. “If they weren’t hostile, they would be quite beautiful to have around.”

“Fascinating…” Jaso said, entranced by the visual of Cooper’s words. “The more I learn about these things, the more excited I get.” He pushed buttons on the console, “Anyway, let’s get this warp core started.”

“Diagnostic complete,” Jaso reported. “Everything’s looking green, nice job team. I’ll make engineers out of you two yet.”

“No thank you sir,” Anderson replied, “I’m happy with my spot on the Hazard Team.”

“Just something to think about Petty Officer,” Jaso smirked. “All right, let’s go meet up with Captain Hayes on the Bridge. Anderson, I’m leaving you in charge. Don’t break anything until I get back.”

Cooper smirked. She could go into detail about how she used to be part of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers before joining the Altai but she will just save that for another day and followed Jaso to the nearest turbolift.

Joran Tel sat at the navigation console scrolling through the logs the computer had recorded while the sensors combed the surrounding regions for any signs of proto-matter. As he was thinking of it, he had to admit that this new jump-drive was spectacular based on the logs. It had taken the Romero farther than any federation ship had gone before and that include Voyager’s fabled trek through the delta quadrant in the 2370’s. He chuckled under his breath, ‘The delta quadrant is our backyard, this is a whole new galaxy, I guess we win who went the farthest…’

The computer chimed pulling his attention back to the logs and the search results it had just produced. “Hmm,” he grunted as he scanned the results. “The ship definitely found proto-matter according to the logs but the locations are not recorded within the current region. It is possible that they weren’t looking for it so it wasn’t logged. That said there is a class-1 nebula about 10 light years from here, proto-matter has been known to be found within them. Could be worth a shot.”

Alton ran a double-check of his findings. “I was hoping we’d find something closer, but, as you said, proto-matter has been known in class 1 nebulas.” Alton thought. “Let’s bring it to the captain for his approval.”

Joran nodded while looking through the navigation files, “It is a start for sure, once the systems are fully restored we can see if the long-range sensors can detect it in the nebula, save us the trip if the conditions are not correct.” As he continued to scroll through the navigation logs for this region he paused when an odd reading appeared. “If we are going to the captain we should also mention that the last time the Romero was here they detected another ship in system, the file is incomplete but there was definitely another ship.”

“Yes, I agree, he should be made aware.” Alton glanced around. “We can both go, our replacements are here. You game?” Alton rose and waited for him.

Jordan nodded, “Can do.” With that he stood and made his way to find the Captain.

Hayes stood on the bridge as he looked at everyone who had returned from their assignments. Hayes looked to Jaso and Cooper. “Good work on getting the warp drive back online.”

“Thank you, Captain. It was… an explosive time. I’ll relay your thanks to Anderson. I left him in charge of Main Engineering until I got back. He and Cooper turned out to be quite the engineers,” said Jaso.

Hayes smirked and nodded his head. “I’m just glad you were able to make it before we ended up here.”

Hayes then looked to everyone else. “Those who searched the ship, did you find any bodies? Anything that would give us a clue as to what happened to the crew?”

“We know, from main engineering,” Cooper chipped up. “That none of the escape pods were launched.”

“Perhaps the bugs…” Astrid swallowed uncomfortably, “ate them. Well, not exactly ate them, but used their bodies as raw material to replicate.”

“Or,” replied Alton, “they were taken away by whoever programmed those spiders.”

“For what reason?” Vogler asked. “There are only two reasons for that.  A benevolent action,  but given how aggressive the bugs are that seems unlikely.   That leaves some sort of prisoners.  Either as POWs, slaves, or… lab rats.”

“Could be,” Alton responded, “that the makers of these spiders felt that no one could examine them because they would either be destroyed in battle or they were programmed to self-destruct to avoid capture, or, they felt that knowing who created them didn’t matter.”

Hayes let out a heavy sigh. “Then we may have only two conclusions. They are either, A: Alive, and prisoners to some being or beings. Or B: Dead. Twenty years is a long time for anyone, and if they are alive, they would need serious therapy.” He shook his head.

“How about finding more proto-matter?” Hayes asked.

“Wouldn’t proto-matter give off a unique resonance signature,” Michelle spoke suddenly.  “Perhaps we could scan for that signature.  It would still be a needle in a haystack,  but it might make the needle a bit easier to find.”

“Exactly, that is why Mr. Jackson and Mr. Tel were given the task to find us some proto-matter for the drive,” Hayes smirked and winked at Michelle before he looked at the two gentlemen and waited for their report.

Alton spoke up. “Tel and I reconfigured the sensors to scan for proto matter. We picked up a signal, but there’s a problem.” He turned and looked at Tel.

“’Problem’? What sort of problem?” Vogler asked suspiciously.

“I was about to ask myself,” said Hayes.

“Well twofold actually. First the good news, the nav-logs show that the ship has encountered protomatter but not in this direct vicinity. The first issue is that local space came up negative but there is a class-1 nebula about 10 light years from here. Protomatter has been know to occur naturally in such locations. The second possible issue is that the logs showed that when the ship first appeared here there was another ship in system. The files are not clear but I would think they made contact.” Explained Joran.

“Here we go  again,” Vogler replied.  She was already running through the Hazard Team members making mental notes of those who would be ready for another away mission.   The whole team was getting battle weary, but some were handling the stress better than others.

Hayes looked at Vogler, “Relax, Lieutenant.” He gave her a head nod to assure her that the use of her team may likely not be needed as he looked back at Joran and Alton. “So we’re looking at a possible contact, with what may be where the spiders came from.” Hayes took a brief moment to think it over. And it was brief. “Set a course for the Nebula,” Hayes then looked at Jaso, “What is the recommended speed we should use in an attempt to reduce our EM signature as much as possible? I would love to run the ship under silent mode but at warp…”

“The ideal speed would be impulse,” Jaso replied. “The EM signature would dissipate fast enough for it not to be a problem. Beyond that, the slower we go, the less of a signature we give off. The average cruising speed of an Excelsior-class is Warp 7,” he thought a moment, “I could rig a rotating EM modulation that would run us pretty quiet at half that.” Jaso stared off into space as he went through the calculations, “I could push it to 4.2, but it’ll take some work. Anything beyond that would be risking the core and I’d have to shut it down.”

“Get it done.” He looked back at Joran and Alton. “Plot the course, and the speed the Chief recommended.” Hayes then looked back at Jaso and Cooper. “Then rig the ship for silent running but have us prepared to go to full battle stations.”

“Understood,” Jaso replied. “If that happens, I’ll need as much lead-up time as you can give me. It won’t be as easy as flipping a switch.” He tapped his communicator, “Erdian to Main Engineering: Anderson, salvage as much of the anti-mag device as you can find. Cooper and I are on our way back.” He tapped to close the channel. Jaso turned to Hayes, “I’ll need about 20 minutes to set up and test it, sir, stay on impulse until then. All right Cooper, once more unto the breach.” He said as the two of them left the Bridge.

Joran nodded and began to plot the course as ordered.

Fleming took her cue and smiled at Vogler. “With the time we have, go get your team settled in somewhere. Get some rest, and after that, have them prepared for damage control if possible. How familiar are you with the tactical station?” Fleming asked Vogler.

“Yes, Commander,” Vogler responded to Fleming not exactly feeling at all that confident in the command team’s reassurances. “Tactical?  Ma’am, I am certified as are all officers in my career track, but I have never actually manned the position.”

Maec approached the captain. “Sir, what are we going to do if we happen to encounter the ship and some of the former Romero crew are still alive?”

Hayes shook his head. “I would rather we didn’t encounter the ship that may be housing an unknown number of these nasty things. But if we did and if, big if, any former crew of the Romero is still alive, we are not equipped to conduct a rescue mission.”

“Condemn them to death, sir?” Maec asked.

“Not to burst your bubble, Ensign but it’s been over twenty years. They’re likely dead already,” said Hayes.

“But shouldn’t we know for sure Captain?” Vogler asked. “No one left behind.”

“Captain. maybe they barricaded themselves in a room. Had weapons to shoot the spiders. Aren’t we going to even try to see if any of them are still alive? If that was us, I would hope that there was someone coming to rescue us, sir.” said Alton.

Joran listened to the conversation as it unfolded. He agreed with Hayes that the chance of finding any survivors was virtually zero but if they were presented with the chance to find out what happened it could be worth the risk. “Course is plotted in sir, shall I engage impulse engines until Lieutenant Jaso confirms the warp drive is ready?”

Fleming looked at the Captain then at Joran before she gave a nod. “Do it, Chief.”

Hayes rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment to collect his thoughts before he answered his crew’s concern about his decision. “Lieutenant,” He looked at Alton. “Whichever room they locked themselves into, unless they had unlimited access to a supply of food, nutrients, they would have been dead in weeks, a month tops. And depending on the environment they were in, it would take weeks, maybe several years for a body to decompose into a skeleton.” He paused and looked at everyone. “It has been over twenty years since this ship disappeared and returned to our galaxy. If they were captured the instant this ship arrived in this galaxy, the chances of them being alive are very slim and if they are, they would either be suffering from malnutrition, or serious trauma, be so incoherent that even trying to rescue them would put you, folks, in danger and right now, you are all my responsibility and it would be irresponsible for me to send any of you to your deaths for a crew who may very much be dead already.” Hayes paused for a moment longer to let his words sink in before he had one final say. “No escape pods launched. So they were either captured or beamed off the ship somewhere. We don’t have transporter logs, so they didn’t beam off of their own free will. The only chance that they would be alive is if they managed to escape their captors, found some planet to hide on, and created a whole new life. If by some chance we find that planet, then by god, yes, we’ll beam them up and get the hell out of here. Now you have your assignments, and recommendations,” He looked at Vogler and then at Fleming, a gesture that Fleming had given Vogler and her team a chance to rest. “I suggest you get to them.”

Fleming knew rest was needed but though the others went to rest she knew she had to stay present regardless of how tired she was. She looked at her team and motioned them to go rest while she took her seat next to the Captain rubbing her temples. 

The travel time at impulse would have been months to reach their destination. But once Jaso and his team did their magic, they were able to travel at warp four for at least six hours to make it to the nebula. As soon as the ship dropped out of warp, could visibly see all the lights in the windows, along with the exterior lighting, all dimed to complete darkness. Power was reduced, and only the basic systems and the required systems were needed to continue.

Hayes had forgone sitting in the captain’s chair, as he felt uncomfortable in sitting in the seat that belonged to someone else. Instead, he had stood there between Alton and Joran, just a few steps back as he stared at the nebula on the view screen. “Bring us in, Chief. Let’s get our proto-matter.” Suddenly, Hayes heard an alarm notification going off from Alton’s station.

“Scanning.” Alton paused. “Reading as unknown, sir. Stand by…” His head popped up. “It’s a massive vessel, sir, and our sensors recognize it, sir!”

“Can the nebula hide us?” Hayes asked Alton. Hayes could only think that the reason the ship’s sensors recognized the large vessel, is because this ship had encountered the vessel before. Likely the vessel that took the former crew.

Alton scanned the nebula as they approached the system. “High magnetic interference, captain. Should mask our readings, as well as theirs.”

“Get us in the nebula, Chief! Punch the impulse engines if you have to!” Hayes ordered as he went over to the center chair and hit the button that patched him to main engineering. “Mr. Erdian, going to need you ready to switch us back. We’re going to try to hide in the nebula first but if that fails, we’re going to need something to defend ourselves.”

“Understood sir,” Jaso’s voice came over the intercom. “Give me all the time you can. I’m going to have to purge the EM radiation afterward, so we’re going to glow like a supernova on sensors. Counterproductive to hiding I know, but it’s either that or losing the core. We’ll also lose warp while the core cools down.” A brief pause, “I have an idea on the defensive front. Try not to rock the boat too much… it’ll require some finesse. Erdian out!” And the comm clicked.

“Entering nebula in 5..4…3…2…1,” Alton reported. As they entered the nebula, the lights on the bridge went out, and the emergency lights came on.

With the loss of sensors from the high magnetic interference of the nebula, they had no idea that the vessel entered the nebula right after them. The massive vessel was interested in the Romero, likely curious as to how it returned and why it was running again. Which may put the entire away team in danger.

Hayes had paced back and forth between the left and right railing on the bridge as he tried to think of a way out of this. As his thoughts sifted through the list of events that occurred, he remembered that Alton had scanned the alien vessel before they entered the nebula. “Mr. Jackson. When you scanned the vessel. Did you locate any comm badges or any humanoid life signs of our own? Or any life signs at all?” He asked. He also realized they never implemented the sensor modification that the Altai had to scan the Romero for the spiders. Supposedly they could have used the data from the tricorders to modify the Romero’s sensors to pick up the spiders but at this point, it didn’t matter. The sensors had recognized the ship, which meant that it was the reason the original crew went missing.

“Captain. I’m not reading any life signs or commbadges.” Alton reported.

“Well, that answers that,” Doctor Randall replied relief in his voice.  While he didn’t relish the death of the Romero crew he also didn’t like the idea of what an assault on that ship would mean.

Hayes sighed heavily, with a lack of care for what his crew may think. He was annoyed and frustrated with the situation. “Computer, show us a visual of the unknown vessel before we entered the nebula.” He requested and the view screen blinked to show the massive ship. It had a large bulbous center with what looked like many eyes that could be view ports, three lines that intersected and met in the middle, kind of a mouth perhaps, along with what looked like four legs, maybe more. It had several pillars in the center, sprouting up from the bulbous center, and looked like it had a tail. “I need everyone on your toes and to keep an eye on the sensors. They may be limited in this nebula but anything, and I mean anything, that comes on sensors, notify immediately. Even if it’s just a damn cloud of vapor.” He looked back at Alton. “Are you able to locate the proto-matter while we’re inside the nebula?”

Alton checked his scanner. “It’s very deep within the nebula, sir. Plus, I’m reading gravitational shears on our course. We go in, we’ll be in for a very dangerous journey, sir.”

“That ship doesn’t look friendly, ” Vogler commented manipulating the tactical station.  “The nebula is interfering with the targeting sensors and I’m having trouble generating a tactical readout of the ene… unknown ship.”

Hayes looked at Vogler. “Might as well call it what it is, Lieutenant. The ship’s sensors recognized it for one reason. This ship encountered it before, which means it was likely responsible for the disappearance of the original crew.” He took moment then smiled at her. “Do what you need to do to practice with manual targeting. I want you at your best.”

Vogler looked at Hayes, “We do.  I passed manual targeting during my certification, but barely. However, right now is not the time.”

Hayes then looked at Alton and Joran. “You two do your best to navigate around those shears. Get us in so we can get that proto-matter and get the hell out of here.”

He then raised his voice for everyone to hear. “The original crew must have sent this ship back to our galaxy for a reason. They were also likely the ones who powered the ship down. The spider mechs did not activate the drive until we restored power. So clearly they do not know how to operate our technology all that well. Nevertheless, the original crew didn’t want to give these mechs a chance to analyze and recreate the drive to make it back to our galaxy. So our main objective is to keep them away from this ship, keep them from getting their claws on this drive. So we must do everything we can to ensure that.” Hayes told them, as he thought ‘Even if it means ramming this ship directly into one of those shears or overloading the warp core.’

Hearing what the captain said, made Alton gulp. But if it meant that our galaxy was safe, then let’s do it!

Joran scanned the console in front of him taking in as much information as he could on the surrounding nebula and the gravitational shears before them, “I can keep us away from them in here without too many difficulties. Those shears will complicate it but we could use them to our advantage. They are larger than us and looking at the vessel I do not think it would be too maneuverable. Perhaps we could bait them in?”

“A grizzly bear is bigger than me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to walk up to him and poke him in the eye and hope I can out-dodge him,” Vogler quipped. 

Joran smiled at that, “If you did that you wouldn’t have me piloting would you?”

“Even you have limits Mr. Tel,” Vogler observed.

Hayes smirked, “Now now, everyone. So, what exactly can we use to bait them in? Ideas?”

Alton turned in his chair to face the captain. “It seems that the only thing that attracts the spiders would be…a living person, sir.”

“I can simulate human biosigns,” Dr. Randall suggested, “But wouldn’t our lifesigns on the Romero also do the trick?”

Hayes listened but he already knew what would do the trick. Still, he was curious if his first officer was on the same page with him or not. “Ms. Fleming. What do you think we should do to lure them in?”

Fleming shook her head at the remark “These spiders respond to more than just lifesigns its their programming they look for any foreign signal hence why when we go near them they attack. They have been coded to attack invaders. So I think the plan would be bait them to run straight into the shear believing they are attacking us.”

“What about a probe?” Doctor Randall suggested.  “I can simulate the lifesigns, and I’m sure you can simulate whatever signal you need.”

“The simulated life signs would have to be mobile, sir.” Jackson looked at the captain. “The spiders might not be able or programmed to attack non-moving life signs, sir. Plus we should also find a way to simulate detectable weapons fire. Combined, that should surely attract their attention.”

“All sound like fantastic ideas,” said Hayes. “But I think everyone is forgetting something. As I had mentioned earlier, the original crew sent this ship back to our home galaxy for a reason. They sacrificed their chances of returning home by sending this ship away.” Hayes paused to let it sink for a moment before he continued. “They want the drive. It’s the only way that massive ship can get to our galaxy and cause all sorts of chaos.” Hayes pressed the intercom button to main engineering. “Hayes to Engineering. Would it be safe to bring that drive back online?”

“Without protomatter, it won’t work. So turning it on won’t really do anything,” Cooper answered.

“Just need it to be bait for our large friend out there. Mr. Erdian, think you can fake a protomatter signature with the drive?” Hayes asked.

“I’m not sure what it’ll do when I turn it on, but as Cooper said, it should be benign,” Jaso’s voice said over the comm. “I might be able to-” Pause. “It’s possible to put something together.” Jaso paused, “Let’s hope our friend is unintelligent enough to fall for it. In the meantime, I have a surprise. I rigged up some torpedoes with the residual EM radiation left over from the core purge. They can be launched as a sort of stun grenade or deployed and remotely detonated like an EMP depth charge. Whoever is running Tactical should see them registered as quantum torpedoes. There are 10 of them in total. I’ll run some scans on the drive and start working on the signature. Erdian out.” The comm clicked off.

Hayes began to chuckle with a shake of his head. Then he turned to look at Vogler. “Run some combat simulations on your station, and get yourself familiar with manual targeting. And if we happen to find a good ol’ nasty shear, then perhaps save some of those torpedoes and use them as mines. Whichever you feel is the best, but I still want you familiar with manual targeting, because I want to unload as many photon torpedoes we got into that bastard.”

“Got it Cap,” Vogler said already frantically entering commands into the terminal.  Not only was she not familiar with the tactical station it was several generations out of date, and an interface she had never worked before.

Hayes then turned and looked at Jackson and Tel. “Gentlemen. Find us a shear to sit next to.”

Joran smiled as he listened to a plan come together, “With pleasure sir.” He quickly pulled up the sensory feeds on one of his console displays and scanned through the date quickly. “Lieutenant Jackson, I am seeing what appears to be a rather intense gravitational shear approximately ten thousand kilometer’s from us on a bearing of 311-mark-47. It might do the trick can you confirm?”

Jackson checked his station, ran the numbers that Joran gave him, and after 30 seconds, replied. “Position confirmed, sir.”

Astrid Vogler looked up from the console, “Torpedos loaded, phasers charged, and I have a target lock… I think.”

“Just do your best, Lieutenant. It’s going to be as big as a barn, so hopefully you don’t miss with,” He teased since it was pretty massive, and missing with manual targeting would be interesting but wouldn’t blame her. They have plenty of torpedoes…

After waiting for what seemed like an hour, the view screen was changing perspective every ten seconds, giving them the best 360-degree view they could get. It was when the picture of their port-aft came up when they saw the nose of the ship emerging from a cloud of the nebula. Hayes pressed a button to lock the ship on the view screen. “Mr. Tel! Adjust our heading so our aft torpedo launcher is lined up!” Hayes then looked at Vogler. “Soon as that ship lines up with your crosshairs, fire away! Hopefully, its current momentum will keep it on course towards the shear while Jaso’s EM torpedoes do the trick.”

Joran smiled, “With pleasure.” His hands moved rapidly across the console and the image on the viewscreen began to shift as the ship began to line up. “Five seconds to optimal firing position.”

As the ship moved into position Vogler started firing phasers to aide her in targeting. The energy beams went wide at first as she frantically adjusted. Finally she dialed the weapons in and triumphantly she smiled and launched a full spread of torpedoes,  loaded and fired again.

“Torpedoes away Captain!” Vogler announced.

Jackson monitored the torpedoes as they exploded onto the ship. 

“Erdian to the Bridge,” came Jaso’s voice over the intercom, sounding slightly irritated. “I cracked the code for the protomatter signature. I think. The Skip Drive wasn’t very forthcoming in revealing its secrets, but I can be… persistently persuasive. Hopefully, we won’t need it any time soon.” Pause. “There will be a delay when you activate the signature. I have to manually tweak the bivalent frequencies to stay within certain parameters. I’ll watch for the signal request. Erdian out.” The comm clicked off.

“Roger that,” said Hayes as he watched that monstrosity of a ship continue to approach them. “Mr. Jackson, plot us away from the shear when the enemy ship gets close enough. Mr. Tel, be ready to move the ship so that we don’t get caught in the gravitational shear.” Hayes ordered and then looked at Vogler. “Keep firing those torpedoes, use up the ship’s quantity if you have to.” Which could be a full compliment or perhaps the former crew had used some earlier.

“Escape route plotted, and laid in, captain. Ready to engage at your command.” Jackson reported.

“Punch it, Mr. Tel,” Hayes ordered.

“With Pleasure!” Joran said as he adjusted the ship’s trajectory. With a press of a button, the impulse engines flared to live and the Romero rapidly moved away from the shear.

“Aye sir,” she replied as she loaded another spread and fired. This time they went wide flying harmlessly into the void. She swore not even attempting to conceal her frustration as she loaded another round. She fired again, this time several impacted the hull of the mech ship.

While they pulled away from the shear, Hayes watched the mech ship on the viewer continue to head towards that said shear, unable to pull away. It was only a matter of minutes until that shear began to rip the mech ship apart. But at the very last second, the mech ship began to pull away while a large chunk of it was torn right off of it. One would think with that massive structural damage, the ship would have catastrophic overloads and just erupt in various different sizes of explosions. But it didn’t. What it did do, however, was head back the way it came from, retreating.

Hayes took a deep breath and sighed heavily with relief before a smile crept over his face. “Good work people. Mr. Jackson, plot our course carefully so that Mr. Tel can get us to the protomatter.” Hayes looked at Vogler with a grin. “Good shooting. You can stand down from weapons.” Hayes then pressed the button on the chair. “Mr. Erdian. Well done with those torpedoes. Get your team ready to grab that protomatter. Hopefully, the transporters will work in here.”

“Understood, we’ll put together a containment device,” came Jaso’s voice. “I’ll see what sort of radiation shielded containers we have in storage. Erdian out.” And the comms clicked off.

Jackson nodded. “Plotting a course, going to take the most direct route.” His fingers flew across the panel. “Course laid in, captain.”

“Proceed, Mr. Tel,” Hayes ordered.

Joran nodded, “Course locked in, we will be there momentarily.”

“Thank you sir,” Volger replied exhausted.   While she physically did very little the stress of the situation was incredible.  She was not at all comfortable with this station.  It wasn’t her place and she felt like she didn’t belong here. Like a kid sister following a much older sibling. 

As they began to get closer to the protomatter signature, something astonishing appears on screen, a rogue planet. With a slight curious frown on his face, he looked to Fleming. “Commander, as soon as we’re close enough for the sensors to work properly, I want a full scan of that planet.”

Astrid nodded and immediately began scanning what she found shocked her. “Uh Sir we have a habitable planet with a breathable atmosphere. It also looks like there are life signs and they’re human, but I can’t say 100% because sensors are spotty because of its location in the Nebula.”

She stopped for a minute and paused before looking back at the Captain. “That is also where the protomatter is at.” 

Hayes’ curious frown deepened then scratched his chin in thought. He then pressed the button on the chair, “Bridge to Engineering. Mr. Erdian, will the transporters work in this nebula?”

“I’m getting a lot of interference in the system. I wouldn’t recommend it unless I could somehow boost the signal, perhaps by getting as close as possible to the source.”

“Hazard Team can be ready in ten minutes with a shuttle sir,” Vogler offered hoping to get away from the tactical station.

Hayes looked at Vogler. “Do it,” then he looked up at the ceiling. “Mr. Erdian, your team is going with Vogler. Get ready to secure that protomatter.” Then he looked back at Vogler. “Find out if our sensors are not faulty. If those are human, I want to know.”

The shuttle touched down gently on the planet’s surface. After confirming the atmosphere was breathable, as sensors originally detected, the crew made their way out of the shuttle. Jaso opened up his tricorder, “I’m reading those life signs about two and a half kilometers northwest.” He turned to Vogler, “All right Lieutenant, this is your wheelhouse.”

“Ingraham and Grant scout ahead.   Korel you have the rear, I’ll take point.” Nodded to Jaso with her phaser rifle held in a down, but ready position. “You have the bead on those lifesigns lead the way.”

Jaso nodded acknowledgement, took the lead, and let the tricorder guide the way. He took stock of the phaser at his hip. It didn’t have the range of a rifle, but it was comforting nonetheless.  

Vogler studied the Tactical Eye Display which was tied to the tricorder on her belt feeding her information from lifesigns,  to power cell status on her rifle and environmental conditions. “All is clear for at least one klick ahead.”

The crew walked for the better part of twenty minutes and Vogler’s commbadge chirped, “Grant to Vogler, we see smoke up ahead. It looks like a village.”

“Get go where you can observe the village and hold position,” Vogler whispered. 

“Understood, Grant out.”

“We may not be welcomed,” Vogler said. “Who knows if the original crew are even alive. It could just be their kids who have never known anything but this place. That’s assuming the life signs are even human.”

“Agreed,” Jaso said with a nod. “If it is in fact the Romero crew, they may not want to come back. Thirty years is a long time to settle somewhere.” A few minutes more and the village came into view. “Either way, let’s be on our guard.

“I always am, but it’s good to know that’s where your mind is.” She approached a stand of trees where Grant and Ingraham were hiding. Kneeling next to Grant,  “Anything?”

“It’s quiet.  Saw a couple of kids and adults doing chores. They are human… at least they look human.”

Vogler looked over her shoulder at Jaso, “How do you want to play this? Strolling into town with armed soldiers will make an impression good or bad, nothing in between.  I say we establish sniper positions for cover and just you and I enter.  There’s danger in that, but with just two of us they will feel less threatened.”

Jaso nodded, “I like that idea. There wasn’t any civilization around, so they might mistake us for invaders and start shooting. Position your men accordingly.”

Vogler shrugged out of her pack. Opening it she withdrew an tablet sized PADD and a black box about the size of a fist.  Opening it there was a tiny drone.  Removing it from the box she switched on the four tiny propellers and tossed it skyward.

The village was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall. The area directly around the parameter was cleared of trees and brush making an unseen approach impossible. “Who ever chose this site knew what they were doing,” Vogler commented as she watched the video feed from the drone.  I’ll have to put the snipers in the trees to see over the wall, and it will have to be a long shot. Any closer we risk exposure.”

“Long shots are better than nothing. It’ll have to do,” Jaso said.

“Grant, Korel come over here on the double. 

The two crewmen trotted over, “Yeah Boss,” Korel said as he approached.  

“See this tree?” Vogler said pointing to the screen,  “I need you to climb it. Grant you climb this one.  Between the two of you you should have complete view of the village. Get to it.”

“Aye ma’am,” they said in unison and they dissappeared into the forest going opposite directions.  

“The rest of you take up a fixed position in view of the main gate. Be prepared to provide covering fire. We could be coming in hot.”

The remaining Hazard Team members simply nodded. They had too much training and discipline to cheer or shout so close to the enemy. Vogler nodddd to Jaso, “Hazard team is in position.”  She piloted the drone back to their position and it dropped into her hand.  Putting everything away she slung her pack over her shoulders again and snapped the belts into place. 

“All right, let’s head out,” Jaso and Vogler began walking the last ten meters or so to the village. As the front gates came into sight, a man in a guard tower drew a phaser rifle on them.

“Halt! State your purpose!”

Jaso stopped and put his hands up in defense. “I’m Lieutenant Erdian and this is Lieutenant Vogler. We’re from Starfleet.”

The man lowered his weapon, but still kept it at the ready. “I have heard of this Star Fleet. Some of the older members tell stories about traveling the stars.”

“The members of the USS Romero? We’re looking for them.”

“Yes, I will take you to our elder, T’prith.” The man yelled out and the gate began to open.

“That kid isn’t older than twenty, but it’s good to know there are still Romero survivors.” Jaso said to Vogler, “I’m still not fully convinced it’s safe though.”

“I ain’t much older,” Volger commented dryly as she discreetly affixed an explosive to the gate.  If things went sideways, climbing the wall sounded like suicide. They would need to get out and get out quickly. 

“Nor am I Lieutenant. My point is there are generations here, people are settling and have families. It’s nice to see life goes on and hope didn’t all together die.”

The two of them were led deeper into the colony to a cabin, somewhat larger than the rest. The villager stopped at the door. “We’ve informed her of your arrival,” and opened the door.

Inside was a Vulcan woman, weaving a cloth. “You are from Starfleet,” she said plainly. “If you are here to rescue the survivors of the Romero, you are 30 years too late. The crew that remains have built lives here. They will not leave voluntarily.”

“We have no intentions of forcibly removing anyone,” Jaso replied. “It’s clear you’ve all found peace, the ultimate goal of anyone. Just knowing you’re still alive is comforting to Starfleet and your friends back home.” Pause. “We also detected a cache of protomatter. We arrived on the Romero-.”

“You intend use the Skip Drive?” She raised an eyebrow. “Do not look so surprised. The captain told me about it on his deathbed. It is a very dangerous tool, one that is as volatile as the substance that powers it.”

“We intend to use it to get home, nothing more.”

“Very well. I will give you what you require to return home. I have been looking for a way to dispose of it.” The Vulcan woman set down her weaving and stood up. “Follow me.”

“We are prepared to help in anyway we can,” Volger added. “In whatever form that may be. Whether it’s clothing, blankets, and food, fusion generators, or taking those who want to join us back to the Federation.  Home.”

T’prith nodded, “We will make a list of supplies needed for the upcoming seasons. As for returning to the Federation, I anticipate few will. However, most will have letters to relatives to send back, myself included. The three of them reached the entrance to a bunker. “Insider you will find our remaining protomatter. If you were expecting a large cache, you will be disappointed. Over the decades, we have slowly been breaking it down. I will return with a list of supplies.”

“Understood, thank you,” Jaso replied. Jaso and Astrid went through the door and made their way down a set of stairs. He eyed the storage bunker and whistled, “This is impressive. With all the radiation shielding I’m surprised we could detect this.” He looked around, “She wasn’t kidding, it looks like there are only a few containers here.”

“Is that going to be enough?” Vogler asked skepticism in her voice.

“It should be enough for the Skip Drive. I think.” He looked around the storage area. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t know much about the technology. Even after dismantling parts of the Skip Drive, there’s not much I learned about it.” Jaso pointed to some containers. “Grab any with protomatter and put them at the bottom of the stairs and we’ll evaluate how many we have.”

Doing as she was asked she picked on the containers up and carried them to the stairs. 

Jaso surveyed the collected containers. “It’s not much, but it it’ll have to do. Let’s grab them, meet up with T’prith, and get out of here.”

Vogler nodded, “I would like to know more about these people, but I fear our time is finite.”

The two made their way to T’prith’s cabin. When they entered, the Vulcan woman looked up, “Your timing is impeccable, I am finishing up the list. They are basic items, but necessary.” He handed Jaso a PADD, “It also includes messages from the villagers to loved ones. Please ensure they are received.”

“We will.” Jaso took the PADD and looked it over, “This shouldn’t take long to gather. Did any villagers wish to return?”

“Some did, there are five in total. I had them gather at the front gate and await your departure.”

The two made their way to the front gate. Jaso handed the PADD to Vogler, “Can you coordinate the supplies and transportation? I’m going to talk to the villagers.”

Vogler glanced at the PADD, “Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Tapping her combadge,  “Vogler to Hazard Team meet me at the main gates.  We have work to do.”

Jaso left Vogler and went to the group of villagers. He addressed and informed them that they will begin the logistics of how to get them aboard the Romero. And to follow further directions given by Lieutenant Vogler and the Hazard Team.

Stepping away from the group, Jaso tapped his combadge, “Erdian to Romero. We’re about wrapped up here. We retrieved the protomatter and found the remnants of the Romero crew. Five have chosen to return to the ship, we’ll need quarters established for them. Vogler is setting up the logistics. Erdian out,” and Jaso closed the channel.

“Vogler to Jaso,” Astrid’s voice crackled over the com. “I have the five returning with us tucked away on the shuttle.  We are replicating the last of the requested supplies. As short range as we are I think the transporters should work. Once you get here we should be ready for departure.”

“Given the amount of people needing to be moved, I agree. I’m on my way, Erdian out.” Jaso tapped his badge to close the channel. He quickly closed the distance to the shuttle and ducked inside. “All right Lieutenant, let’s get back to the Romero.”

Vogler nodded to the ream pilot, and the engines fired up. Standing next to Jaso she spoke, “This was… interesting.”

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

–

The away team returned from the rogue planet with enough protomatter to fuel our way back home. While my Chief Engineer handled things in engineering, Lieutenant Vogler informed me of the situation down at the planet. Unfortunately, with no sign of the Admiral who commandeered this ship and the drive that was supposed to have been a scrapped project, I had to protest.

 

Now that the colonists got what supplies they needed, one being a way to communicate, I insisted to this Elder, T’Prith, that they would be the only ones out here and I made it extremely clear, no one from Starfleet will ever be able to return nor would they be able to call for help. After I made my objections, T’Prith made it clear that they understood the consequences and had chosen to stay on this planet years ago. There was nothing I could say to persuade them to return home with us.

 

Plus, T’Prith made a valid point. As very uniquely rare as this planet is, it is also in a very uniquely rare position inside this nebula where gravimetrical shears at several au’s away, surround the planet in some form of a defensive perimeter. So, unless the mechanoid species have smaller vessels than the massive one we had encountered, the colonists are in no danger. Perhaps, in many…many years to come, they will be able to form their own ‘Starfleet’ in this galaxy and enforce the same principles and values of the Federation. But that is a very long time coming.

 

With that said, I bid T’Prith and their colonists farewell and ordered Lieutenant Erdian to activate the device. In matter of seconds, we have returned to our galaxy and were only mere light years away from where we left the Altai. After we informed the Altai that we had returned and ordered a rendezvous point, there was one last thing I needed to do before we return this ship to the nearest Starbase….

Hayes stepped out of the turbolift onto the corridor. It took him a second to recognize which direction was main engineering and thus, he made his way there promptly. As he stepped into main engineering, he saw Cooper, Anderson, and Erdian. With a brief nod to Cooper and Anderson, he made his way to Jaso. “Chief, how are things going down here?”

“As well as can be expected. She runs pretty well for a decades-old ship. At least, once I got a hold of her she did,” Jaso smirked. “With a few more tweaks, Starfleet should be able to put the Romero into service doing something.” He patted the bulkhead, “Or maybe reuse her for parts.” 

Hayes nodded as he listened to the report before he took a took breath. “Let’s talk in private,” Hayes told him before he began to head to the corridor, just outside of engineering. He paused for a moment before he looked directly into Jaso’s eyes. “There is no way that we will be able to claim that the drive never worked and that we never went anywhere, not unless we were to erase all the logs and I was to order everyone to keep it quiet.” Hayes paused for a second. “So the only course of action that I can see, is to find a way to convince Starfleet Command that this drive is unsafe.” Hayes paused one last time. “Find a way to make that drive unsafe. A number of uses make it inoperable and unrepairable, something…anything.”

Jaso shrugged, “The fuel that drives it is borderline illegal. Most scientists won’t touch the stuff, the sane ones anyway. But I can accommodate that.” He yelled across Engineering, “Cooper, Anderson! I need the room.” Confusion crossed both of their faces. “Leave the room, that’s an order.” The two of them began to file out. He lowered his voice as he spoke to Hayes, “You might not want to be in here for this.”

When he stood alone in Main Engineering, he listened to the hum of the warp core. When it completed two cycles, he spoke again, “Computer, lock down Main Engineering per Starfleet Hazardous Testing Protocol until otherwise authorized by Chief Engineer Erdian Jaso or Captain Jacob Hayes.”

“Acknowledged.”

Jaso carefully detached the Skip Drive from the warp core. He eyed it longingly, turning it over several times, and letting the light catch it. Jaso sighed, “It’s a shame to let something so wonderful be destroyed. I could’ve spent years slowly unlocking your secrets. But the universe isn’t ready for you yet.” 

He set the device on the testing table, “Computer, initiate test protocol Erdian-28,” Jaso began cycling through the tests that would eventually render the device inoperable. He didn’t know all of its mysteries, but enough to be deadly.

Hayes stared out of the viewport towards the listening post as the Altai made its way to the docking port, just to be masked by the velvet blanket of the holographic system. When he entered his ready room, the first request he had for the crew was to take a long-needed break, enjoy what facilities they had available, and relax. Then his final request was to not be disturbed for a while, as he was expecting a call. As that had passed, the desk lit up and a holographic display appeared to show that someone from command was on the line.

“As expected,” Hayes smirked. “Computer, accept transmission.”

“This report here, Captain. It’s quite…miraculous. A bit farfetched as well, since the device suddenly no longer works. Is it really that dangerous?”

Hayes turned to face the man on the screen. “As my Chief Engineer stated in his report, Admiral. The device is extremely dangerous. We were lucky to return at all.”

The man sighed. “Breakthrough of technology such as this would have been extraordinary. But at the cost of another man’s life, and the crew of the Romero, as well as almost losing you and your team, Command has chosen to delete all information in regard to this device. We want no one, not the Romulan Free State, not even the Klingons, to build another one such as this.”

Hayes nodded his head. “A very wise caution, sir.”

“Good luck out there, Captain. Hope the Breen don’t give you too much trouble.”

Hayes smiled. “Thank you, sir.” And from there, the screen blinked, the man’s face replaced with the logo of the UFP. Hayes sighed, his smile faded away as he turned back around to look at the listening post. Although, he wasn’t looking directly at it, more past it, as his thoughts turned to their primary mission. The observation of the Breen. Hopefully, no more shenanigans and ‘spiders’ or other multi-legged creatures get in the way of their mission.

One can only hope.

Looking up from his PADD, Jaso surveyed the lounge. He smiled as he watched the crewmembers socialize. It was always fun to charge into a hectic situation and fight your way out. But it was also nice to take a breath once and a while. The band was performing a nice, jaunty tune. It was loud enough to be present, but not enough to be bothersome. He took a drink from his glass and turned his attention back to the PADD.

Astrid Vogler entered the lounge wearing snow pants under an oversized winter coat that was opened in the front. A pair of boots with their laces tied together hung over her left shoulder. As ridiculous as it looked with the rest of the outfit she wore a simple pair of black slip-on ballet flats.

Approaching the bar she ordered a drink and turned to survey the room and its occupants.

Jaso looked up and noticed the band had taken a break. He was surprised to discover Vogler was next to him. Jaso eyed her outfit with curiosity. “I didn’t realize it had gotten that cold in here,” he said half-jokingly. A brief pause for internalization. He’d never gotten the hang of humor, maybe something other than a bad joke. “Your outfit reminds me of Jalanda City in the wintertime.” He took a drink, “It’s a beautiful time of year.” 

“Lieutenant,” Astrid said. “Uh no, it hasn’t gotten cold in here.” Feeling suddenly self-conscious she shed the coat and set the boots next to her on the deck. “I was skiing actually.”

“Skiing?” Jaso said, intrigued. “I’ve never been. It looks fascinating, but I’m not sure I’d have the balance for it. I’ve never been good at winter activities I’ve tried. It’s hard to keep your balance when you can’t feel your hands and feet.”

“That’s where proper winter attire comes into play. But, I know that feeling all too well. I nearly died of hypothermia when I was sixteen cross-country skiing.”

“Is that so?” Jaso said with a raised eyebrow. He took a drink before continuing, “It’s hearing stories like that that make me never want to go out in cold weather. But nothing worth doing is easy, I guess.” He shrugged, “We all defy the odds in our own way.” 

She shrugged, “Never underestimate mother nature or my clumsiness.”

“I don’t,” Jaso said plainly. “I tend to-” a beep from his PADD drew him from the conversation. “not tempt forces beyond my understanding.” He said, half distracted by the PADD. “Cooper told me you kept one of the mech spiders. I know it’s largely irrelevant now, but can I take it apart? I’ll give it back when I’m done with it.”

“That was the point,” Astrid said with a smile. “It should be in quarantine storage.”

“Great! I’ll make sure to use the utmost precautions. I don’t want a repeat of what happened on the Romero.” He checked his PADD. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s an art installation on the station I’ve been meaning to see.” He drained his drink and set it on the bar. “But I’ve enjoyed this, hopefully we can do it again sometime.”

“See you around,” she said amusement on her face.