For such a small ship, the cramped surroundings of the Thyanis engineering bay were bustling with activity. Around half a dozen personnel were busy making last-minute adjustments to the equipment and ship systems before her impending voyage. Space in the tiny room was at such a premium in fact, that some crew members stood shoulder to shoulder or even physically climbing over each other to complete their tasks. 

While the room was small it was packed with equipment and stations to adjust and monitor every station on the ship. The room was essentially an open-plan alcove, adjunct in parallel to one of the main corridors on the deck; the absence of any doors saved space and complexity while alleviating some of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the room by making it feel larger than it was. 

From entering the engineering bay from the main corridor one would find themselves standing in the ‘control room’ section which was fitted with a wide range of wall consoles and a table console. All of these interfaced with the ship's various systems but were also capable of being transferred to either the table console or the bridge; to allow full control by a limited crew.

Towards the aft wall; the room was divided in half by rails and the necessary seals for the emergency containment blast door. This allowed the Warp Core compartment to be isolated from the rest of the ship, and if necessary ejected overboard.

Finally on the aft wall stood vertically; the Warp Core itself. It was in appearance, a miniaturised version of a core you might find on a Galaxy-class vessel. 

As if the room was already at capacity, one further individual crossed the threshold from the corridor and into the control room. His red uniform caught the eye of everyone, yet they were too focused on their work to give him but a quick glance. “Excuse me," he said, hopelessly trying to get someone to stop working for a moment to give him directions.

“Excuse me there crewman!” he repeated, with more urgency.

“They're all busy!” a voice carried across the room, originating from near the Warp Core. “And unless you can work a Hyperspanner, you're probably in their way.”

Harris Tan stepped forward and peeked into the core compartment, looking for the source of the voice that had just addressed him.

“Speaking of Hyperspanners, could you do me a solid and pass me one from the table?” the voice requested.

Harris looked behind him and picked up the only object he could conceive of matching that description. It was a heavy object with a pistol grip and a data screen attached at a right angle to its barrel. He approached the core, again looking for the voice that was speaking to him but all he could see was an empty compartment and various tools and pannels strewn across the deck. 

“Little to the left.” The voice said prompting Harris to move to the starboard side of the compartment. “Sorry, my left - Port side.” 

Harris complied and moved to the Port side of the room, he had now by this point managed to peer around the back of the Warp Core, he still could not see anyone and began to consider the possibility that his sanity might be departing.

“And down below please.” 

Harris glanced at his feet, he could see a dark-skinned hand reaching out from the crawl space below the foot of the Warp Core; the palm opening and closing a couple of times to indicate it wanted Harris to hand over the tool. 

He obliged; the hand quickly retreated back out of sight, only to reappear a fraction of a second later and toss the tool that Harris retrieved - onto the deck. “That is a Duotrinic probe, and your shoes need a lick of polish Lieutenant Commander!” The voice fed back.

“Well, Im no engineer. I fly ships, I don't mend them… as for my shoes Im in a real hurry here so can you just tell me where I can find the commanding officer?” Harris retorted, feeling somewhat insulted that a common grease monkey had passed a comment on his dress.

“Listen carefully Commander, number one; the commanding officer expects standards aboard this ship, number two you wouldn't know flying If someone drew it out for you and number three…” The voice paused, as Harris grew impatient and insulted for a moment until his taunt's face surfaced from the crawl space. “You're lookin' at him." emerged Wallace Jones - the Commanding Officer Harris was looking for.

“WALLACE!” Harris exclaimed with the joy of greeting an old friend, extending an arm to help the Lieutenant Commander up to his feet.

“In the flesh, though I meant what I said about the shoes.” Jones chuckled, wiping the sweat from his fore-had with an oily rag.

“So you're my new C.O.,” Harris asked with a smile, “How long has it been? Ten years?” he added.

“Nine, but who's counting? sorry for the mess but as you can see, we are quite busy here.” Jones responded, making his way over to the table station.

“I didn't think that such a small ship needed so much maintenance?” Harris asked, his face still broadcasting his joy.

“She doesn't, but she's been mothballed for nearly a year and needs a little touching up…” Before Commander Jones could finish his sentence he was interrupted by the chirp of the ship's Comm system

‘Bridge to Lieutenant Commander Jones’

Wallace reached to activate his Comm badge but suddenly realised he was not wearing his uniform jacket. He turned again and tapped a few keys on the table console to perform the same action.

“Jones here!”

‘Sir, Priority message from Commodore Ekwueme’

“Thank you, route it here please” 

The bridge officer acknowledged Wallace's request and within seconds the recording played on a small screen at the head of the table. Harris observed Wallace's reaction and detected an immediate change in his friend's attitude as the message ended. “Everything okay?” he asked

“Looks like we may have to postpone this little reunion,” Wallace replied; a little look of concern on his face. “Commander Im going to go clean up. Please assemble the senior officers on the bridge in fifteen minutes." He ordered.

“Aye sir!” Harris wasted no time and made his way back into the corridor towards the ladders. This was one of the other quirks of the Raven Class that amused Harris; no turbo lifts. With only 4 decks, such a complicated transportation system was overkill; instead, there were 3 sets of ladders, fore, mid, and aft that provided effective transport to all decks. It was an antiquated feature but simple.

Wallace watched as his new first officer began his duties in earnest, he was concerned for a moment that the assignment he had just been handed might be too great of a task for his little ship and small crew. But seeing how his second in command carried out his order, without hesitation and without debate; reassured him that he was merely underestimating what a well-selected crew were capable of.

“Computer, replay priority message, audio only,” Wallace commanded as he stood shirtless over the sink, scrubbing the last remnants of engine grease from under his nails.

‘Good morning Lieutenant Commander, I hope this message finds you well as you’re settling into your first command and Im sorry I can’t afford you the opportunity for more discourse.

As you well know, the crisis in the deneb sector is heating up fast and we are running out of available ships to spare. I know I promised you and your crew a straightforward humanitarian mission to start you off, however, I’m going to have to throw you in at the deep end sooner than expected. 

You are to make your way to the Gamma Coronae Borealis system post-haste. You’ll find a small research outpost orbiting the primary star at the L5 Lagrange point.

This station has not responded to the evacuation order and I am being instructed by Starfleet Intelligence to send someone as a priority. Further information on your mission parameters is attached with this transmission, I’m sorry we couldn’t have this chat face-to-face but time is of the essence, and with the majority of the fourth fleet engaged on the front line, you and your crew have drawn the short straw. Good luck commander, your ship may be small but she has a capable crew; I’m sure you’ll rise to the task. End Transmission

Wallace absorbed every word of Commodore Ekwueme’s message; like a school child preparing to write his first book report. He paid close attention to every sentence, every infliction in the Commodore’s voice all with the hope of preparing himself to deliver a briefing to his crew and carry out his orders to the letter.

As he retrieved a fresh duty jacket from his suitcase he reflected on the sparsity and compact nature of his quarters. Although he and the XO had the only staterooms on the ship, it felt like a little bit of an exaggeration to call them such; for he was stood in little more than a 12ft x 9ft cabin, with room enough for a single bed, a small desk against the wall and a small coffee table and armchair in the corner. There was a single manually operated slide door at one end of the cabin, which offered a small washroom facility and a latrine but nothing more. ‘At least it’s got a window.’ he thought to himself as he straightened up his jacket and insignia in his reflection that was cast upon the glass.

Just before stepping out into the corridor, he took a small lint brush from the desk and made sure to erase any stray fibers from his arms and trousers. He gave particular scrutiny to his shoes, and seeing that his face reflected upon them was sufficient for him to check them off his mental list.

Wallace stepped out of his cabin into the corridor, the main bridge was only the deck above and thankfully his quarters were towards the bow of the ship. Despite its size and apparent lack of any creature comforts, he considered the Raven class a marvel of modern Starfleet ship design. It was designed to be absolutely practical with the space available, every inch of the ship was designed with purpose, functionality, and efficiency in mind. It was only 36 steps to the ladder that would take him to the deck above. However describing it as a ladder may have been a little misleading to someone unfamiliar with the vessel, it was more like a very steep set of stairs, with a hatch at the top and some cable for handrails.

As his head peaked above the floor of the deck above, Wallace could see the doors to the main bridge in the same trunk as the ladders. This appeared again to be an efficiency & space-saving measure, as the ship was so commonly crewed by so few officers; it was always a likelihood that someone would have to leave the bridge quickly and make their way to another area of the ship to perform some other duties.

He took one final deep breath; his last moment of displaying weakness before beginning his command in earnest and with one final step he triggered the automatic door mechanism and stepped out onto the main bridge

“COMMANDER ON DECK!” Master Chief Catterick bellowed as Wallace made his appearance in the aft section of the room. “At Ease!” Wallace replied as he surveyed the room and his crew members.

The bridge itself wasn’t particularly interesting; A single command chair in the center, integrated CONN and Helm just in front of the view screen at the bow, and various crew stations along the port and starboard walls.

He was however particularly proud of his senior crew for this mission and he had every faith in their abilities:

Master Chief Martin Catterick – Chief of the Boat & Operations Officer. A sort of chip off the old block he was an experienced engineer and operations officer who had the trust of the junior crew. But hardly anyone could understand his thick cockney accent at times.

Dr Mollia Xan – Chief Medical Officer & Science Officer. Probably the smartest person in the room at any given time. she was a joined Trill with decades of experience passed onto her from her Symbiant.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Olivia Garcia – Chief Tactical & security officer. A bit of a loose cannon at times, but she had a fierce reputation. She didn’t suffer fools and followed orders like a true soldier. Definitely would not recommend getting into a bar fight when she was on duty.

And finally, Wallace’s old friend from a previous tour of duty – One of the best fighter pilots he had ever had the pleasure to serve with, though Wallace would never admit it to his face for reasons of personal pride. Lieutenant Commander Harris Tan – Executive officer & Flight control officer.

They were not just any crew, they were his crew and despite the rough accommodation of the Thyanis and most of them being asked to perform dual duties; not a single one made any complaint or objection to the posting. It was true that this was not an Odyssey-class ship but Wallace hoped that every one of them had some reason to want to serve here, even if it was simply to follow orders. He hoped that in the coming weeks and months, they would all grow to love their little ship and make it their own.

Wallace approached the center chair, stroked its faux leather headrest, and took a moment to permit himself a smile at achieving his first command. Sure it may not be an assignment to brag about to his academy buddies at a reunion, but it was his first command, and as the saying goes: ‘You never forget your first…’

“XO. Status report if you please,” Like a switch was flipped, Wallace immediately turned to the task of commanding his vessel.

“Sir, all Starbase personnel have disembarked, the enlisted crew have reported for duty and the dockmaster has provided a ready signal awaiting your request to depart” Commander Tan replied, standing to attention to make his address.

Wallace looked around the room, he realised none of his officers knew what to expect from him at this time and they were probably going to make themselves uncomfortable to make first impressions count. He felt a short speech was in order to allay any misplaced feelings of anxiety his senior officers might have prior to departure.

“When I look around the room, I see a few fresh faces looking up to the man who gets to sit in the big chair and call the shots. Let me make one thing clear from the start. You are my crew… but this is our ship, and each and every one of you has a voice on my bridge. There is no such thing as a perfect Captain, or a perfect human being. We each do our very best to shape the future of our endeavors but nobody is infallible. You all have the benefit of working together on a very small vessel with an even smaller crew, which means that I can afford to relax some etiquette that would be inappropriate on larger vessels.

I only expect two things. Number 1: Carry out your duties to the best of your ability, and in the finest traditions of the service; maintain high standards. And Number 2: When In this room, do not be afraid to speak up, make suggestions, and get involved in the decision-making process.

I am asking a lot of each and every one of you on this tour; the least I can do is respect your experience in your individual fields and put my trust in you to guide me to make the right decisions. Just as long as you respect the final decision of whoever sits in this chair, whether that be me or one of you. Understood?” Wallace scanned the room for agreement and was met with nodding faces and a unanimous “Yes sir!” from everyone.

“Groovy, in that case; XO you have the honor of getting us underway.” Wallace nodded as he took the center seat for the first time, crossed his legs, and adjusted his jacket by pulling sharply down at its base.

Harris acknowledged Wallace’s command and began operating his console with precision, dispatching the departure request to the dockmaster and preparing the ship for launch. The view screen burst into life and displayed the space doors of the starbase slowly opening to reveal the velvet noir backdrop of interstellar space beyond its threshold.

As soon as the clearance was given, Thyanis detached from her mooring and began a  graceful glide towards the exit breaching the veil of space for the first time in over a year. Her class was named after a large Avian, and she was happy to live up to that namesake flying free of her port and into her true domain; ready to spread her wings once again.

“Clear of Spacedock sir, what’s your heading?” Harris asked as he swung his chair backward to lock eyes with the C.O.

“Come to Port, heading 295 mark 69. Set course for the Deneb sector – Maximum warp!” Wallace commanded interlocking his fingers and leaning back into his chair.

“Course plotted and laid in…” Harris responded and an awkward silence followed.

“Course plotted and laid in Commander…” Harris repeated.

“Harris, what are you… a parrot? This isn’t the Enterprise, You’re the Helmsman and the XO; think you can decide for yourself when to step on the gas? Or should I write you a memo?” Wallace casually quipped with a slight grin on his face.

Harris just chuckled, turned back to face the viewscreen, and suddenly feeling a lot more relaxed he punched the engage command on his console and watched the calm field of stars against a black sky turn into a violent blue light show; announcing the return of the USS Thyanis to the cosmos as she punctured the threshold of the light barrier.

There was complete silence in the ready room from the collective of senior staff members as each of them assimilated the briefing they just received. It was difficult to fathom how the Dominion had overrun the Deneb sector, or how the Breen suddenly Just jumped back into bed with them. But what was particularly unsavory was Starfleet Command’s position on the crisis.

“If this is what Command is calling a border skirmish, I wonder what they actually consider an invasion force.” Lt Garcia chipped in.

“The real criminals are the FNN reporters. I mean, aren’t they supposed to report the news objectively? This horse crap has ‘cover up’ written all over it!” Harris added.

Wallace stood up from his chair and almost bumped his head on the slope of the bulkhead as he did. Like every other compartment on this vessel; his ready room was little more than a cupboard with some comparatively large windows. He turned his back on his colleagues, who were using any flat surface in the small office as a chair and he gazed out across the bow of his ship.

“Okay people, Show of hands…who here actually has real combat experience,” he said, whipping his head back around to tally the results of his poll.

There was a brief period of procrastination as everyone avoided being the first to raise their hand, but in the end, only two hands went up – Harris and Chief Catterick.

“Fine let’s get real…” Wallace sat back down, “Thyanis is not a combat vessel by any stretch of the imagination. She can defend herself but ultimately any engagements are going to be a case of return fire and jump to warp…maybe even find someplace to play hide and seek.

You’ve only just met your XO, but we served together on the Tomcat and I can vouch for ’em…we had a few tough scrapes let me tell you but somehow, and it pains me to say it…he always trapped his bird on the deck safe and sound.”

“True, but I have to admit, I closed my eyes for the scary part.” Harris butted in with his dark humor. Nobody laughed.

“The point is, yes it’s a warzone. But our orders are just to potentially evacuate some scientists. That’s all…we ain’t looking for a fight, but if the fight comes our way…we do what we have to to stay alive and high tail it out of there…live to fight another day.” Wallace said firmly, trying to reassure his crew as he simultaneously played the role of mother; serving of fresh round of coffee to everyone from the large silver pot on his desk.

“I think it’s important to remember that some of us didn’t sign up to fight a war, we all knew it could probably happen but when it’s all said and done, Starfleet wasn’t founded to be a military power.” Dr Xan proposed as she gracefully accepted her re-fill.

“You’re right, and let’s face it, no one ever conceived a conflict on the scale of the first Dominion war…until it happened.” Harris seconded the doctor’s proposal.

“Valid point, I don’t know anybody who joined to ‘kick ass’, and this isn’t a conscripted service. We are all here by choice but I also have to consider that I can’t just drop everyone off at the nearest starbase just because there’s a war on…” Wallace acknowledged as he took a sip of his coffee. “And if I’m honest, you don’t sign up to be a pacifist either. We all had to go through basic weapons training and tactical scenarios in training; it’s not our primary mission but it is a part of wearing the uniform,” he said.

“I’m just concerned about how some of the crew are going to cope with their first sortie, especially the younger enlisted,” Xan expressed her concerns. She was not a counselor by any means but as Chief Medical Officer she took her responsibility to crew welfare with the utmost seriousness.

“Now you’re certainly raising a concern every Commanding Officer shares, but the truth is there is no solution to the problem, the crew will have to learn to cope but we; as senior officers need to be able to support them and lead them by example,” Wallace explained with conviction.

“On a Larger ship, you might get away with calling yourselves the Junior officers. But on Thyanis You don’t have that luxury, we are all going to have to pull through this together as a team. And hopefully, this is just a mission to ring the doorbell and wake up some professor who forgot to set his alarm.” With that, Wallace reached behind his desk and retrieved a collection of PADDS, and began handing them out to the crew. Wallace was mindful that this briefing was dragging on and he needed to move the conversation along so they could all get back to their duties.

“Now from an engineering standpoint, I put together as much information on the Regula class station I could find, and also a little background history on Oppenheimer Station itself,” Wallace presented.

“Oppenheimer? As in the nuclear bomb guy? Well, that’s reassuring, next you’ll be saying the chief scientist is called Doctor Frankenstein or something.” Harris flippantly added to the conversation.

“Apparently the name is a joke or something but yeah, as in J. Robert Oppenheimer, destroyer of worlds etcetera. And no monsters as far as I’m aware, but it is anchored inside a dense particle cloud at the L5 Lagrange point around the primary star.” Wallace said, concealing the fact that the name also sent chills down his spine.

“What’s a Lagrange point?” Chief Catteral asked.

Wallace could see that Xan was itching to answer, after-all her previous host was an expert in astrophysics. He turned to her and gave a subtle nod in her direction as if he was granting her permission to geek out.

“A Lagrange point is a phenomenon of orbital mechanics, where the gravitational forces acting between a parent object and an orbiting planet for instance, create regions of stability where the gravitational forces acting on a third- smaller object are at equilibrium.” Xan took a moment to sip her coffee, while she enjoyed the subject matter, she knew that this concept was going to require a bit of explaining to laymen.

Harris then interjected, “In theory, the third object, for example, a starship can anchor at a Lagrange point and maintain a stable orbit indefinitely, without needing its own propulsion.” As an experienced pilot, Harris was intimately familiar with all the nuances and intricacies of orbital mechanics; the truth was, however, he was secretly intimidated by Xan’s knowledge, yet he yearned to be acknowledged by her and felt the overwhelming urge to show her that he wasn’t just some ‘Stick Jockey’ who knew how to pilot a starship.

Xan sent an overt scowl in Commander Tan’s direction ‘How dare he steal my thunder’ she thought to herself when she noticed that Tan was gearing up to make another statement on her behalf. Just as he opened his mouth, and took a breath to speak, she took back control, “That’s a Very overly simplified explanation Commander, but yes you are technically correct” Xan was overwhelmed by a pit in her stomach after speaking over the XO like that. Though she had every right to do so, she instantly had mild regrets that she might have come off as rude or desperate to Impress the room; she sincerely hoped however that she did not offend the Commander and on a personal level she did find his attempt to get involved in explaining then subject oddly surprising for a fighter pilot turned XO.

“The trouble with Lagrange points, however, is that they are rarely a perfect equilibrium, and trying to anchor something as big as a station there can add a number of variables to destabilize the effect.” Xan closed her statement, satisfied she had explained the topic with enough detail for the common audience.

“But the station is stable Doctor, In fact, records show it was actually left abandoned for over seven years between 2374 and 2381.” Wallace respectfully added, having registered the exchange between her and his first officer.

“Then it’s quite possible that this particular example could be entirely unique, especially if you say it’s surrounded by a particle cloud-” Xan paused suddenly and performed some brief mental arithmetic before finalising her statement, “Actually it’s a mathematical impossibility over that length of time. The variables grow exponentially with every single particle in that cloud, and over time; that should have been enough to push the balance of the station out of equilibrium!” She couldn’t quite contain her excitement and she suddenly couldn’t wait to find out more about the station and why it managed to survive so long.

“If we get time Doctor, ill be sure to ask for the whistle-stop tour, but right now we have more pressing matters to attend to, Everyone I want a full report on your department’s preparedness for this mission. Doctor that means Medical for you, as we don’t know if we will be receiving casualties.” Wallace exerted just a little of his authority to steer his team back onto the mission at hand, while he also was curious about the station’s past, he needed his crew to prioritise the mission at hand.

“LT Garcia, if you could run a tactical work-up on the Jem-Hedar fighters and also the smaller Breen vessels if we have an encounter we should be prepared,” Wallace instructed.

“What about the larger ships?” Garcia asked.

Wallace nodded silently for a moment and conceded the point.“If we encounter any of them we’re in big trouble, but your right see if you can come up with something to give us a tactical advantage just in case.”

There were various other assignments on the agenda which Wallace handed out to his crew, and also made it clear that he would be working in engineering for the majority of the voyage; trying to squeeze every bit of capability out of his little ship.

The senior crew over the course of the next few minutes and their Commanding Officer’s direction, became laser-focused on the tasks before them. It would be days before they reached their destination and every second could mean the difference between having the upper hand and forsaking the security of the mission.

Main Bridge – 02:36 Hrs

The night shift aboard a starship is a surreal experience for several reasons. Firstly crew members went to work just as everyone else was going off duty and going to bed, these would be the same people who would come relieve you in 12 hours.

Second, there was always a strange sense of calm at night despite there being no day and night cycle to tell the time by, with the majority of the crew asleep the ship was noticeably quieter, and without dozens of crew members accessing consoles all the time, she almost seemed to be asleep herself.

Nearly a week into her voyage, the USS Thyanis was no different and the night shift was a perfect opportunity for more junior officers to obtain command experience as the highest ranking officer typically performing night duties was Ensign.

More senior officers had their rotations as well however aboard this vessel, the CO was keen to allow younger officers a taste of command where possible. 

On this night there was a particular sense of a relaxing atmosphere as the entire ship was run by just 4 crew members – on the bridge, an Ensign and two Petty officers, and in engineering a single crewman who was writing reports.

With all the preparations for her mission now mostly completed, the night watch was more ceremonial than an actual duty – policy required certain stations to be manned at all times, however, tonight the three officers manning the bridge had chosen to pass the time with a game of cards.

“Are Humans and Trill even biologically compatible, I mean can you imagine if they had a kid together, the poor thing would have spots all over.” said the petty officer 3rd class as she dealt up the next hand to the group.

“Sure they are, I even heard of a Trill and a Klingon getting their freak on once. Now that would have been an ugly baby let me tell you” the Ensign said, taking a sip of his coffee as he inspected his cards. ‘Dammit, Two pair again!’ he thought to himself

“I dunno guys, I just don’t see them as a couple, Isn’t she like a hundred and sixty years old or something?” said the 2nd class, organising her cards into suits and trying her best to stop her antennae from letting the group know that she was on track for a possible flush.

“No, that’s just her Symbiant. The Trill actually have fairly similar lifespans to humans, she just inherits some memories and experiences from past hosts.” The ensign corrected, tossing a small blind into the pot.

“Wait. what if her past host was a dude, does that mean she likes both?” the 2nd class asked inquisitively, her antennae perking up sharply as she proposed the question and tossed her big blind into the pot.

“I’m not sure exactly, maybe she does but who are we to judge….why think you’ve got a chance?” the 3rd class said as she dealt the community cards onto the floor.

“Nah, it would never last, and I’m not sure she’d dig the whole four distinct sexes thing” 2nd class responded, her antennae drooping although her expression turned to a smile as she saw the Ensign place a relatively small bet compared to the last game. ‘ha, I bet he’s got junk again.’ 

“You do realise it’s the 25th century not the 21st right? no one is saying you have to get her to agree to Shelthreth. If she’s what you’re into, then you go girl, have a little fun. The worst that can happen is she can say no… am I right?” the 3rd class chipped in, both the conversation and the betting pot with a substantial raise.

“I hate to break it to you but I think that ship has sailed, it’s only a matter of time, I bet you anything that before the end of this mission, the C.O has to drag them both into the office to discuss the ‘birds and the bees’ and Starfleet policy on the subject” the Ensign chuckled, as he immediately folded upon seeing the dealers sizeable bet.

“Seriously, do you really have to crush all hope for her just like that, yer know for an Ensign you’re pretty irresponsible” 3rd class made her challenge.

“That’s Mr. Irresponsible – Sir to you, Petty Officer. Besides you should have seen him, he was all over her like a rash and she was lapping it up. It’s a done deal if you ask me.” The Ensign bragged as he climbed up to his feet to get some more coffee.

The gossip continued as the ensign left the game. He just about registered his Andorian tactical officer suggesting that she needed to find an excuse to get down to sickbay on the next rotation when he happened to glance at the tactical console on his way to the replicator. He was still half listening to the two petty officers giggling in the background but his attention was rapidly drawn to an indication shown on the display that he wasn’t familiar with. He had no real experience with tactical but everything in his gut told him that this particular part of the display shouldn’t be flashing red.

“Hey……Should this console be flas–”

Engineering Bay – 02:36 Hrs

The lone crewman sat at the head of the table console with a PADD in one hand and typing away at the other, cross-referencing his data and interpreting a logical prediction of the EPS output to fill in his report. He sat in complete silence, listening to the soothing hum of the engine core and enjoying the subtle vibrations it sent through the air to tingle the fine hairs on his pointed ears.

He had been working non-stop for several hours now and he didn’t intend to leave his post any time soon, despite being invited to partake in the social gathering on the bridge, the young officer found it Illogical to engage in recreation during his rostered duty shift. Besides, he could focus much more intently on his work without the distraction of the additional noise his collages like to make when discussing topics of inter-crew personal relationships.

His solitude began to fade as the faint clunk of footsteps began to clunk through the engine hum. ‘Curious.’ He thought to himself as he raised an eyebrow, he was not expecting his colleagues to visit him in engineering.

Again the rhythm of the warp engine behind him was interrupted by the piercing selection of keys on a display panel, followed by the unmistakable drone and whistle of a replicator being operated. ‘Most curious Indeed.’ he again permitted himself a thought away from his work.

Choosing to ignore the distraction he continued analysing his data and chose to file the unexplained noises as one of the other junior crew members obtaining a late-night beverage. This was a logical conclusion as some of the Junior dormitories were on the same level as the Engineering bay, and it would be an inefficient use of one’s energy to make the journey to the galley on deck 2, which was also at the front of the ship.

“How are those EPS calibrations coming along crewman?” Wallace asked playfully as he stood leaning against the forward bulkhead, half in and half out of the engineering bay; still wearing his pyjamas and now nursing a steaming cup of coffee.

“Captain!” The crewman stood to attention upon immediately detecting his superior officer.

“It, Lieutenant Commander, or Commander ‘slash’ sir if we’re being informal.” Wallace corrected his subordinate.

“Understood sir, I was merely following Starfleet protocol which states that the commanding officer of a Starfleet vessel may adopt the title of captain reg–”

“Regardless of rank…I know, but until I feel I’ve earned that title let’s just stick with Commander or Sir for now please.” Wallace finished the crewman’s sentence to save himself the lesson on Starfleet regulation 1257 paragraph 4 subsection 8.

The crewman engineer simply raised an eyebrow and then began to Investigate the reason for the Commanding Officers’ arrival. It was clear that the CO was not on duty due to his attire, his quarters were also on deck two, near the mess hall. He would have had to pass at least four Replicators in order to arrive at the Engineering bay. Logic dictated that this was his intended destination, however, the reason for the CO to attend the Engineering Bay in the early hours of the morning was a complete mystery and any hypothesis he could come up with seemed completely Illogical.

“I couldn’t sleep, and sometimes I come down here to think.” Wallace decided to put his Vulcan crew member out of his misery and give him an answer that he was clearly trying to identify.

“Very well sir, however, might I suggest a chamomile tea as a suitable night-time beverage instead? The caffeine content in your coffee sir is likely to interfere with–”

Wallace interrupted the Vulcan again by raising his hand to indicate he should stop speaking. He then simply raised his mug to be parallel to his palm, and in a smooth motion; altered his gesture to begin pointing at his mug. “De-caff.” he simply said, smiling.

“That would also be an agreeable choice, sir.”

“Well I think I might stop by the bridge on my way back to bed, just wanted to take a stroll down here and clear my head, Carry on crewman!” Wallace replied as he began to turn towards the ladder at the end of the corridor.

On his way down to the ladder he decided to check the time and work out how many hours of sleep he could squeeze in before having to be on duty at 06:00. He reached out and accessed one of the consoles on the corridor wall and read the clock readout in the top right corner. 

02:38:23

Wallace logged out of the console and slowly began his turn towards the ladder once again, lifting his mug to his face and taking a refreshing sip, and counting out his steps.

‘18,19,20,21,22–’

Quarters of Garcia & Xan – 02:37 Hrs

With limited space on the ship, only the two most senior officers had private rooms, with many others having to either share a double bunk or be assigned to a multi-bunk dormitory.

Garcia and Xan were not an exception and were currently sharing one of the double bunk rooms aft of deck four. They were also only down the hall from the junior officers’ quarters but they would both have almost to go the entire length of the ship to reach the bridge. This was fine by Garcia and Xan because this route would take them past their respective departments en route. Garcia would be able to pass the armoury and holding cells and Xan would have an easy route to the Sickbay and science labs directly above their cabin.

Garcia awoke from her dream feeling a building pressure in her bladder, ‘ugh, that’s it, no more Raktajino before bed’ she thought as she slid herself down from the top bunk and staggered into the incredibly tiny wash-room which was barely large enough to stand up in. It was supplied standard issue with an integrated lavatory and sink to save space.

She spent around a minute passing her relief before quickly washing her hands and climbing back into bed. She glanced at the clock before she intended on rolling back over to sleep.

02:38:24

Her preferred technique was to listen to the drips of water from the sink and count them off to sleep.

‘One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…..four Missis–”

A sudden and violent shock wave ejected Garcia from her bunk, throwing her against the wall and depositing her on the floor at the base of Xan’s bunk. This was accompanied by a shower of sparks from the dim night lighting on the ceiling of the room but followed a few seconds later by all the lighting returning to full illumination and the piercing screech of the Red Alert Klaxon

Garcia shook off her daze after being thrown across the room and screamed out loud, “What the Fu–” her voice, drowned out by the recurring Klaxon

Immediately as she felt the warmth of a small amount of blood running over her eye and down her cheek, she performed a quick damage assessment of herself and self-diagnosed her injury as superficial.

Meanwhile, Xan ripped her privacy screen open and lept out of her bunk, startled and disorientated. “Red Alert? What the hell happened.”

“I dunno, felt like a photon torpedo to me!” Garcia shouted straining her voice to be heard over the deafening noise.

“I’d better get to sickbay, you’d better get to the bridge!” Xan yelled as she threw on a nightgown and a pair of gym shoes before sprinting out the door, followed closely by Garcia; barefoot and wearing only some silk shorts and a T-shirt.

Engineering Bay – 02:39 Hrs

“Bridge REPORT!” Wallace screamed as he dusted himself off and nursed a fresh scold to his right hand.

No response

He was about to repeat his command when he was interrupted by an ear-piercing and blood-curdling scream coming from the Engineering bay only 10 feet behind him. He could see the flickering glow of flame reflecting on the wall and thick black smoke flowing out of the bay and into the corridor.

For whatever reason fire suppression systems had failed to activate and he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach as he momentarily contemplated the danger of a fire in the Engineering Bay.

Rushing to his feet he launched himself down the hallway towards the danger and as his view of the bay opened up, he was horrified to see the young Vulcan crewman completely engulfed in flame having been ignited by a plasma conduit that had ruptured directly above where he was standing.

Flailing his arms and screeching like he was possessed by some sort of demon, the young crewman was clawing at the walls and consoles, anything in reach in a desperate and panicked attempt to put out the flames.

Wallace quickly ran over to a nearby maintenance panel; retrieved a hand-held fire extinguisher from its bracket and began aiming at the crewman. He discharged its full contents and extinguished the pour soul with as much urgency as he could deliver.

The Vulcan; severely burned and charred slumped forward and fell lifeless onto the deck. Steam and smoke were still flowing from his body and his uniform still smouldering.

Moments later the Computer began to react to the fire in engineering and began an isolation sequence. Wallace looked over his shoulder and watched in horror as force fields erected along the open wall of the engineering bay and the thick blast door began raising from the floor to seal off the two halves of engineering and isolate the core.

Wallace was helpless to stop the sequence, he tried to override it but as it was an emergency procedure, critical to ship survival; he found himself locked out.

The door sealed and trapped him inside the control room with a raging plasma fire above his head, now rapidly consuming the oxygen in the room.

“Bridge!, Anyone, Come In!” Wallace screamed again, before turning his attention back to the wounded crewman. Taking two fingers he searched for a radial pulse, He felt a slow thump, weak but it was definitely there. Wallace now realised their only chance was to find a way to beam out of the compartment before they both suffocated.

“Wallace to Doctor Xan, Medical Emergency In the Engineering Bay.”

A second later Xan responded, sounding out of breath and flustered. “Xan here, Im just arriving in Sickbay I’ll come down!”

“No time for that, get me a Site-to-Site emergency transport now!” Wallace demanded.

Main Bridge – 02:40 Hrs

Arriving at the doors of the main bridge Lt Garcia tried to activate the automatic door sensors however they failed to open. There was debris strewn all over the carpet outside, and various cables hung down from the ceiling. Considering the amount of damage, she was worried that the bridge might have de-compressed and that the doors might have been sealed automatically to maintain the atmosphere on the rest of the ship.

“Lieutenant, what the bloody-el is going on!” a raspy cockney voice shouted from the ladder.

Garcia turned to see Chief Catterick trying to climb the ladder whilst nursing his left arm in a crude sling made from the fabric of one of his trouser legs. 

“Chief, I think we’re under attack and I can’t access the bridge, Think you can help me get inside?” she asked, ignoring his injury for the moment.

“Try the manual release!” he said as he emerged onto the deck.

“What if the bridge has been vented?” she asked.

“If the bridge was vented, we’d all be dead by now. Those doors aren’t air-tight, probably just a malfunction”.” Martin re-assured the Lieutenant as with his uninjured arm he removed a panel from the bulkhead adjacent to the door and began actuating the manual release handle.

Garcia pulled with all her strength to slide the door open, just enough for her to slip her slender form through the gap.

Having gained access she surveyed the surroundings, it was dark and the only light was provided by the Red Alert signals along the walls and a small fire near the center chair. The air was saturated with smoke and she could feel her throat burning as she took down lung full after lung full, causing her to cough uncontrollably.

“Anyone here, Sound off!” she pushed through the discomfort to call out. She could just about hear some feint groaning and sobbing from across the room in between the blaring of the klaxon. 

Behind her, Martin had just entered the bridge and immediately got to work to improve the environment. He could already recall the layout in his sleep and made his way over to the engineering console and with a little adjustment he managed to bring the lights back up and begin venting the acrid smoke from the bridge by re-routing some power to life-support.

It took about a minute, but as soon as the smoke cleared both officers were shocked to find an injured Andorian Petty Officer 2nd Class pinned to the floor by one of the main support beams that had come crashing down on top of the card game.

Garcia rushed in to help, she was barely conscious and struggling to breathe as the mass of debris that sat on top of her broken body was slowly killing her.

“I NEED A PHASER!” Garcia screamed only to be handed one by the young Ensign who, upon regaining consciousness had already leaped to his feet and retrieved one from under the Helm console.

Garcia wasted no time slicing through the thick metal, deciding it into smaller pieces that the three crew members could lift off the injured young woman.

Tan was the next to arrive on the bridge and without hesitation stepped in to help free the Andorian officer. He was followed shortly by Wallace who had a look on his face of determination having survived his ordeal in engineering to assume command and control of the situation. As soon as the crew member was free he instructed Chief Catterall and the Petty Officer 3rd class to take her to sickbay whilst he assembled his bridge crew at their stations.

“Report!” he instructed, stamping out the small patch of flames near his chair.

“Sir we were hit by a spread of Photon Torpedoes from aft, warp drive is off-line, Hull integrity is at 87%, shields were raised automatically but I’m having trouble with the sensors” Garcia responded, assuming the Tactical station; she began fighting with the computer to reboot her sensor suite.

“Commander, It’s a little fuzzy but I’m sure I’m detecting another ship out there” Harris reported.

Wallace acknowledged his officers, A state of solid determination flooded his mind, Who had attacked them and why? He desperately wanted an answer for this unprovoked attack.

Main Bridge – 02:45 hours

“Sensors coming back online in three, two, one,” Garcia reported as she glanced between her console and the view screen.

The snowstorm of static suddenly cleared revealing a clear picture of the cosmic backdrop ahead of the Thyanis. There was an object moving in the distance, apparently circling the crippled vessel.

Wallace stood arms folded, stroking his goatee with one hand, “Magnify.” He ordered, prompting Harris to initiate a command on his console.

As the Image cycled briefly between settings their attacker came ever more clearly into view until Garcia correctly identified its silhouette. 

“That’s a Plesh Tral Raider, must be on a scouting mission.” She said, thinking out loud

“I doubt even the Breen are crazy enough to send a lone ship this far into federation space, maybe it got separated from its squadron.” Harris theorised as he spent a free moment scraping some soot and debris off his console screens.

“Garcia, give me a tactical analysis!” Wallace instructed, he was curious as to why the raider didn’t finish them off, they were almost dead in the water and an easy prize for the slaver race.

Garcia didn’t waste a second, commanding her console to direct a sensor sweep toward the Breen ship. “Sir, the Breen ship is also damaged, Im detecting her weapons are charged but her propulsion appears to be off-line. She’s just adrift.” She returned the results of her scan.

“Could it be, there’s another ship out there?” Wallace asked with a concerned look on his face. The Thyanis might be able to go toe to toe with one heavy raider, but not a second ship regardless of class or configuration.

“I doubt it, sir, sensors show that the damage to our ship was caused by the Breen, but it looks like they damaged themselves too,” Garcia reassured the commander, with an expression on her face that broadcast out loud that she was itching to return fire and finish them off.

“Probably forgot to account for the difference in our warp field geometry when they opened fire, it could have potentially reflected some of the warheads back towards the Breen ship…we might have just won the lottery!” Wallace pondered the situation for a moment and approached a moment of clarity as he came up with a plan. 

“Garcia, weapons hold, do not fire unless fired upon, I want to save our ammunition for a more serious engagement, Harris start moving us away, three-quarter Impulse. I’ll be down in engineering to see if I can’t get us back to warp before reinforcements show up.” 

Wallace was about to head out into the corridor when the Ensign who he had left in charge of the night watch stopped him, “What can I do sir?” 

“I think you’ve done quite enough!” Wallace snapped, pointing at the deck of poker chips and cards strewn across the deck. “Keep out of my sight!” Wallace added as he stormed out the door. “Harris, you have the bridge!” he yelled back from the corridor

The young Ensign stood there, shell-shocked and full of guilt, the commander was absolutely right. It was his responsibility to run the ship overnight, this all would never have happened if he did a better job.

Harris clocked the look on the Ensign’s face and decided to step in after the commander left. “You can start by clearing up this mess, then we’re gonna need that engineering console manned for when the C.O needs to restart the warp engines.”

Sickbay 02:45hrs

Dr Xan raced franticly to save the life of the young Vulcan crewman. He had suffered full-thickness plasma burns across 2/3rds of his body and he was currently circling the drain. The alarm on the bio-bed suddenly began to scream, signaling that the battle to preserve life was being lost. 

“Damn, I’m losing him!” She said out loud. “Computer, activate EMH!” she commanded.

The Emergency Medical Hologram began to materialise before her eyes. A collection of photons caged by forcefields into the likeness of a bald man in a teal uniform. “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” The EMH said with a welcoming but professional tone.

Dr Xan performed a brief handover to the program and instructed him on what procedures she needed him to perform. 

Like a well-trained but understaffed team, they did their best to bring the young Vulcan back from the brink of death. But their efforts were in vain and sadly despite a valiant display of medical intervention, the young officer passed away peacefully. 

“Time of death, 02:55.” Dr Xan pronounced life extinct with sad infliction on her voice, disturbed by the age of the young man, and the manner in which he met his demise.

There was barely enough time to disconnect all the equipment before Chief Catterick and the petty officer 3rd class walked in, carrying the young Andorian 2nd class between them. 

“We need help here!” the 3rd class screamed as they dragged the severely injured woman into the room.

There was no time to waste; with only the one main biobed, they needed the space. Dr Xan initiated a site-to-site transport and beamed the now deceased Vulcan into the mortuary next door and initiated a quick sterilisation sweep of the bed. 

No sooner had she finished, the enlisted officers placed the young Andorian on the bed, she was screaming in pain at this point but also struggling to take a full deep breath. She was wearing out quickly and losing her own battle with the reaper.

Xan administered some pain relief and then the EMH got to work performing a head-to-toe assessment with a Tricorder, “fractured ribs, internal bleeding, tension pneumothorax, ruptured internal organs.” The program reported

Xan recognised that internal bleeding was the most threatening issue, and the fact she was bleeding into her chest cavity was also likely the cause of her breathing difficulties.

“Laser scalpel!” Xan Instructed the EMH to hand her the instrument. She then made a small incision in the left side of the Andorian’s chest wall, allowing her to drain the excess blood from her chest and relieve the pressure.

After a display of medical and surgical skill lasting about 15 minutes, Xan managed to stabilise the Andorian, but her infirmary was not equipped to deal with all of her injuries.

Dr Xan approached Chief Catterick who was busy being treated for his own injury by the EMH

“Chief, it’s not good news I’m afraid,” Xan said with sadness in her voice. “Her injuries are quite serious, she’s stable for now but I’m afraid she is going to need medical care that we just aren’t equipped to deal with, ordinarily id ask Commander Jones to divert us to the nearest Starbase, but that might not be possible due to our current mission”

Martin stretched out his arm, testing its range of motion after the EMH reset the bone and repaired the damage. “The ship’s a bit knackered too, we might need a starbase after this anyway,” Martin suggested, glancing at the young Andorian; unconscious and linked up to almost every medical instrument in the room.

“If that’s the case, she might have a chance but with every hour that passes her chances of survival decrease dramatically.” Xan had a solemn look on her face, she had already lost one patient and she was staring in the face of death again only minutes later. Losing patients was part of being a Doctor, and something she expected to encounter at some point. The thing she found most troubling was the age of the two crew members, she found it such a senseless waste of life, cut short by a conflict that should have been concluded decades ago.

Martin was moved by the show of emotion from his senior officer and decided to prescribe a little pain relief of his own, “Hey love.” he said softly, gripping her attention.

“You did everything you could, and so much more. They are lucky to have you as their Doctor, just keep fighting with them and I’ll see what I can do about getting the skipper to turn us around.” Martin re-assured the good doctor, he was used to providing guidance and support to the enlisted rates more often than not but the situation seemed In need of some kind words to boost morale.

“Thanks Chief, but whatever you do; it needs to be fast,” Xan smiled

“Wallace to Chief Catterick.” The C.O’s voice blast over the ship’s com system

“Go ahead, Sir.”

“Chief, when you’re done in sickbay I need you in Engineering!”

“On my way, Commander,” Martin slid himself off the stretcher and decompressed his spine.

“Listen Doctor, No promises but I’ll do my best. And you should know that if things don’t go as planned, Petty Officer Zymia would probably want to know that it was you who tried to save her before the end,” he added, gesturing over at the young Andorian on the Bio-Bed.

As the leader of the enlisted crew, Martin made it his job to keep up to date with scuttlebutt and even the fledgling crushes of his junior staff. He treated them all like his family and by disclosing this small piece of information he hoped to give the young petty officer the strength to keep fighting, should she begin to slip away.

Engineering Bay 03:45hrs

Wallace and Chief Catterick had been performing surgery of their own for the past half an hour. The damage to the Warp Drive was much more severe than they had first realised and even with a few more capable engineers now on hand to assist them, progress was slow and the prognosis was not good.

“MOTHERF–” The crash of a hyperspanner being flung across the engineering bay saved the innocence of the younger crewmen from registering Commander Jone’s cursing in its entirety; he emerged from behind the Warp Core kissing and soothing a scrape on the back of his left hand.

“Commander!” Martin stepped in to help, It was not out of concern for his C.O’s welfare but more a respectful scalding to remind the commander that such outbursts of emotion from the senior crew were Improper in a battle situation.

Wallace realised he had let his potty mouth slip, and raised a hand of apology to the rest of the engineers working in the control room. Engineering was still the only place on a Starship he felt he truly belonged, and the news of the first casualties aboard his shift weighed heavily on his soul.

“Sorry Chief, the Thyanis seems to be fighting me,” he said, regaining his composure.

“She’s a stubborn ol’girl, she’ll survive. I won’t permit anything less” Martin said, placing a supportive hand on his comrade’s shoulder.

“I’ve never met a ship before that I couldn’t fix, but right now it feels like she doesn’t want me to help her Chief. I know she’s just a machine and that sounds crazy!” Wallace explained.

“On the contrary, it shows you care,” Martin responded, “If I may be so bold, however, the ship has half a dozen engineers, but what the crew needs right now is a Captain.”

The Chief was right, Wallace had only spent 5 minutes on the bridge since the attack, and while he had every faith in his X.O. to take command. It was his command and he suddenly felt like he had abandoned his post.

“You’re right, I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with this one.” Wallace accepted, knowing that his place was on the bridge and not getting covered in grease behind an engine. “Yer know, I thought that a C.O. that got his hands dirty would earn the respect of his crew,” he added.

“And you’ve done that, but now might be the time to delegate some of that responsibility, sir,” Martin advised, wise beyond his years.

“Commanding officer to the bridge!”

The X.O’s voice broadcast over the intercom, almost like the ship had been listening in on their conversation, and prompted Wallace to be summoned back to his post.

“I can finish up here,” Martin reassured the Commander that his engine room was in safe hands, giving Wallace the confidence he needed to return to the bridge.

“She’s all your’s Chief, take good care of her.” Wallace picked up a rag on his way out of engineering and wiped his hands and face of sweat and grease before breaking into a light jog toward the ladder. Ascending to the command deck his gait changed as he approached some other crew members standing to attention as he passed. He walked with purpose but did not run and for the first time since leaving port, he felt solidified in his position as Commanding Officer.

Main Bridge 03:50hrs

As soon as the doors slid open all eyes turned aft to see Lieutenant Commander Wallace Jones power walk with confidence into the center of the room. The young Ensign who had earlier been the target of the Commander’s frustration attempted briefly to find the words to explain himself before being silenced.  “Save it, Ensign. Man your post!” Wallace said with an authoritative tone that was absent of any rudeness or aggression.

“X.O. Report,” Wallace instructed as he took the center seat without hesitation.

“The Breen ship seems to have made its repairs and is on a pursuit course, we can’t outrun them and they are closing fast.” Harris briefed the C.O whilst also focusing on maintaining course and speed.

“Bring us about to intercept, Garcia, arm photon torpedoes and ready phasers.” Wallace gave his orders with such steadfast confidence that it took the bridge crew by surprise, for just an hour ago the intention was to flee and now it looked like they were well resolved to engage the enemy and hold their ground.

Lt Garcia made herself busy preparing the ship for her battle, sheilds were back up to full strength but despite knowing the Thyanis could pack a punch for its size; their opponent was still a considerable threat. “Weapons ready sir, at your command!” She announced.

“Engage!” Wallace commanded as he planted himself in the center chair with the grandeur of a king mounting his throne on the eve of war.

Harris began his intercept offset by about 40 degrees until they approached the employment range. An old tactic used by fighter pilots was to avoid head-on intercepts in favor of other geometry to control the closure rate and reduce the effectiveness of some less advanced enemy sensor suites. At the last moment, he banked the ship left and began a hard pull into the vertical, avoiding the first volley of disruptor fire from the enemy ship while giving Garcia an easy first shot at the underside and stern of the enemy ship.

“Direct hit, on their ventral and aft shields, they are maneuvering for another pass,” Garcia reported, unable to contain her exhilaration caused by the action unfolding before her.

“Attack pattern Theta – Four, Harris keep them defensive, Garcia try to cripple them!” Wallace ordered, analysing the battle from his chair-mounted display.

The Thyanis while bulkier than a fighter was still an exceptionally nimble vessel, and she responded well to the maneuvers required of her. 

With great skill and anticipation, Harris performed a textbook Split-S and lined the Thyanis up to take another devastating shot at the Breen’s stern. Her phaser arrays found their mark, puncturing the rear shields of the Breen fighter and allowing the warhead of a following photon torpedo to detonate on impacting the starboard engine.

Despite the next-level piloting, the Breen ship successfully landed a couple of shots on the port nacelle causing further damage.

The skirmish raged on, each ship wrestling for the offensive position at the merge, shot after shot exchanged; both ships taking damage.

“Sheilds down to twenty-five percent! Commander, we are too evenly matched!” Garcia reported, dodging a shower of sparks from the ceiling light above her head.

“Bridge to engineering, Where’s my Warp Drive Chief!” Wallace asked desperately.

“No luck yet sir, I need maybe ten more minutes!” The chief responded over the communication system.

Wallace began to consider his options, a retreat was still off the cards, and fighting was going to destroy both ships. Surrender was beginning to look like a viable option.

“Sir, Proximity alert there’s another ship warping in!” Harris yelled as it seemed the situation had just gone from bad to worse.

Wallace braced for the inevitable, a second Breen vessel spelled doom for the Thyanis, “Prepare to abandon ship…” he said solemnly.

“Erm..sir that might be premature, the Breen ship just retreated…and we are being hailed by the new arrival” Harris reported confused, as was the rest of the bridge crew.

“On screen.” Wallace stood and approached the viewscreen, curious to address their apparent saviour. The moment the image appeared before him he spontaneously recalled a line from an ancient childhood nursery rhyme ‘My what big ears you have’

“You Hew-mons never learn, Rule of Acquisition number One hundred twenty-five: You can’t make a deal if you’re dead”

“Commanding Officers Log: Stardate 78175.8. I have never been so thankful to gaze upon the ample Lobes of a Ferengi. It seems we owe our salvation and gratitude to the impeccable timing of one Daimon Tal; whose arrival in search of a greedy fortune seems to have sent the Breen Ship into retreat. Of course, the Ferengi seldom provide a service for free; therefore I have agreed to let the Daimon on board to discuss his price.”

C.O. Ready Room – USS Thyanis – 04:30 hrs

LT Garcia escorted the short plump Ferengi officer into Commander Jone’s office, whilst she was grateful for the Daimon’s role in ending their battle with The Breen; she did not trust the Ferengi one bit and was therefore armed with a hand phaser, holstered at her hip.

“Captain! Are your turbo-lifts out of order? I had to climb…Ladders just to get up here, how barbaric!” The Daimon said as he greeted his Federation allies, though he saw them more as a mark to be exploited of course.

Wallace chuckled, “It’s Lieutenant Commander actually, and there are no turbo-lifts on my ship, a little exercise is good for the soul in my opinion anyway.”

“No turbo-lifts at all?” Tal brought his hands together and began fiddling with his thumbs to try and contain his excitement about the prospect of maybe being able to profit from this journey after all. “If you’re interested, I know a guy who can hook you up… for a small broker’s fee, naturally,” The Daimon opened negotiations with a smile, bearing his sharp fangs.

“Daimon, I appreciate you have profits to be made, but we are on a very tight schedule, and as you probably already know The Dominion has allied with The Breen again, so can we cut to the chase…I’m guessing you’ll be wanting something in return for scaring off our attackers?” Wallace set the record straight and folded his arms in a slightly defensive posture. He was not over-thrilled about being in debt to a Ferengi, but he couldn’t deny that had the Daimon not shown up when he did, he and his crew might be on the way to a Breen slavery camp by now.

“Now now Captain, rule of acquisition number two-sixty-four; ‘Never rush the closing of a deal, especially when you’re the one who stands to profit from the transaction.” Tal pointed out as he took a seat on the other side of Wallace’s desk.

Both Wallace and Harris gave each other a glance of scepticism, if the Daimon was being honest then this would surely be a galactic first for the Ferengi.

“Okay, Daimon… I’m all ears,” Wallace opened his posture and prepared to listen to Tal’s peddling.

Daimon Tal recognised the commander’s mildly offensive play on words but decided to take it in jest, for he had an agenda that transcended inter-species relations. “All in good time Captain, for now, I’m willing to lend you and your crew a little friendly assistance… In good faith that the next time we meet, you might return the favour.”

“Don’t play games with me Daimon, you clearly want something!” Wallace was growing impatient, a feeling that was only being aggravated by the faux position of friendship that Tal was clearly presenting.

“Very well – I can see you’re a busy Hew-mon, Captain, how about you present me with an inventory and I’ll see what you have to offer.” Tal grinned with anticipation, an expression that only further made his hosts uneasy.

“I’ll have it transmitted to your ship, but I’m sure you’ll appreciate Thyanis is not exactly a ship of the line, we may have very little to offer that we have the authority to trade” Harris warned the Ferengi.

“Everything has value, I’m sure we can reach a beneficial agreement…for both parties” Tal smiled, standing and leaning over the desk with an outstretched hand, the other slipping below its lip.

Wallace initially remained still but was prompted to bat away the hand of Harris whose naivety led him to forget the well-known proverb ‘Never shake hands with a Ferengi’

Tal bowed his head and made his way to the exit, where Garcia was waiting to escort him back to the transporter room. As the door sealed shut, Wallace took a sigh of relief and reached under his desk, feeling around he discovered the product of the Ferengi’s sleight of hand attached to the underside of his desk where the Daimon was sitting. Retrieving it he brought it up to his eye level and examined it.

“A subspace transceiver?” Harris said in surprise.

“No, a decoy made easy enough for us to find, so we might miss the real one.” Wallace corrected his X.O. 

“I’ll get security to head him off…” Harris said as he reached for his Comm-Badge

“Belay that! Let him go, but when he’s gone… Have security do a full sweep for other devices” Wallace ordered as he handed Harris the device.

“Shouldn’t we at least question him? He’s clearly up to something.” Harris asked, examining the device for himself

“Oh I’m counting on it, No doubt the Daimon will find something useless to deprive us of in the meantime…so, we play into his reuse… and be prepared to spring the inevitable trap.” Wallace smiled cunningly. “Once The Daimon has concluded his business with us, plot a course for Farpoint Station, I want to be underway as soon as possible.”

Harris acknowledged his orders and made his way out onto the bridge without further question as Wallace swiveled his chair to face the window and focused on the Daimon’s vessel off the starboard bow, putting his feet up against the wall and interlocking his fingers behind his head he began thinking about the events that had transpired this morning. 

He was exhausted after the stress of his first combat situation and having barely slept for the past 24 hours but his mind turned to the solemn duties he would have to attend to in the coming days, the loss of any crew member was difficult enough, but his first as Commanding Officer was even more difficult to bear. “Computer, list the next of kin for Crewman Savok,” he commanded as he reached for a PADD to draft his first letter of condolence.

“Commanding officers Log – Stardate: 78193.3: After our encounter with The Breen, Thyanis has made her way to Farpoint station for some minor repairs and resupply before we push on to the Gamma Coronae Borealis system. We will only be here for a matter of days but the downtime is giving me and the rest of the crew some time to reflect upon this current conflict and our losses.

Our battle with the Breen reminds us that the Deneb sector is indeed a region of the galaxy in turmoil, yet in the coming days, we must push deeper and be prepared for the heavy price of doing so.”

“Dr Xan did all she could, but it’s up to the surgeons at Farpoint now, she tells me that there’s only a one in three chance that Petty Officer Zymia will ever walk again… That is if she can even survive the procedure.” Harris solemnly gave an update to Wallace who was busy reviewing the casualty reports from the opening weeks of the crisis and barely reacted to what he had to say.

 “Chief Catterick is now rostered as Chief Engineer as you instructed, he says that despite the beating we took from the Breen he can have us underway in twelve hours…” Harris glanced over the top of his PADD at Wallace who appeared completely zoned out reading the display on his computer.

“Sir…?” Harris said as he tried to throw his friend a rope back to reality.

Wallace shook his head to wake himself up and realised he had missed entirely what Harris had said, “hm, Yes, thank you!” he responded before falling back into his trance.

Harris reached forward and deactivated the display, it was the only thing he could think of doing to bring Wallace back into the room for one of his famous Pep talks. When he pushed the button, Wallace jerked and sat back in his chair as if he had just woken up from a bad dream. “You’re just one Captain, you can’t save everyone!” Harris said, looking his friend directly in the eyes. “C’mon Wallace, let me in. What’s got into you”

Wallace massaged his face, stretching out the bags under his eyes. He then got up and walked over to the replicator, ordering a fresh pot of medium roast. “Yer-know, I was just nine years old when the Dominion War began. All I can remember from back then were the casualty reports from the front line… day after day, week after week it seemed like another friend at school lost a father, a mother, or a brother,” he recalled as he poured the contents of the pot into the two cups on his desk.

Harris didn’t quite know how to reply to this statement, he himself was too young to remember, but having flown in combat himself he knew the price of war and could see that this troubled his friend’s mind. 

“I just don’t know if I’m up to this Harris,” Wallace said as he took his seat again, feeling the warmth of the coffee penetrate the walls of his cup, “How many more letters of condolence am I going to have to write? How many more widows am I going to have to make before this crisis is over?” Wallace’s voice began to build in anger as he described his lament. “How many more good men and women am I going to have to ship home in pieces, before Starfleet acknowledges the absolute shit-storm that’s going on out here!” Wallace could only just keep himself from flinging his cup across the room, he instead slammed it down on the desk and allowed himself to be burned by a splash of steaming joe. He felt the pain but was far too angry to show it.

The C.O.’s burst of emotion took aback Harris, he knew that there was little he could say at this point to make things right. Wallace just had to vent and Harris was more than willing to accept being the release valve.

“Those were good people we lost, and Starfleet won’t even admit to their families exactly what happened!” Wallace added as he stood up again and began to pace behind his desk.

“What are they saying happened?” Harris asked, keeping his questions brief so as not to interrupt his friend’s chance to vent.

“Officially… They are labeling it as an ‘engineering malfunction’, They’ve even withheld my letter of condolence to keep any mention of the involvement of a hostile power out of it!” Wallace disclosed with disgust, “Part of me can get behind downplaying the crisis to the public, after all… there are billions of people in this sector, and the last thing we want is a panic… but this?… this is completely out of order!”

“You’re right, It stinks!” Harris agreed, putting down his PADD and picking up his own cup to take a sip.

“What troubles me most, isn’t the apparent cover-up, it’s the thought of what’s going to happen next, what happens if the next time we go toe to toe with the Jem’Hedar. Thyanis isn’t a warship… you saw what happened to us with just a single Plesh Tral Raider… we just aren’t equipped for a prolonged engagement.” Wallace sat back down and took a sip of his coffee, his frustration settled for the moment as he broke down his thoughts to his second in command; thereby feeling the weight of his command become shared between them both.

“I don’t know about you Harris, but I don’t intend to end up as a footnote in next week’s papers ‘All hands lost to a warp core malfunction’.”

Harris saw his opportunity to feed back some advice and settle his friend’s mind, “Clearly there’s something more sinister going on in the greater fleet, but like you said we aren’t equipped to take on the entire Dominion ourselves… our mission isn’t necessarily combat orientated. We need to be prepared to fight but that’s not the goal of the mission,” Harris leaned forward and stabbed his finger into the table to solidify his point, “Our job is to get to Oppenheimer and get those scientists out of the warzone, that’s it!”

Wallace absorbed his friend’s advice, he, of course, knew everything he was saying was true but the pressure of his first command and the lack of support from Starfleet made him feel alone, he remembered the Admiral’s words attached to his orders ‘Trust only the Fourth Fleet’ but this did nothing to settle his anxiety. The majority of the Fourth fleet was busy engaging the enemy and pushing back the Dominion-Breen forces, their skirmish a few days ago showed him that this was not an impenetrable front line and there would likely be more isolated pockets of enemy vessels on the road ahead.

“This isn’t why I accepted this command Harris, I never thought I’d lose someone in my first week, I’m disgusted that I can’t even tell Savok’s wife exactly how he died. Or give some reassurance to Zymia’s parents that their daughter wasn’t maimed by a faulty E.P.S conduit!… If I can’t do that… how am I supposed to unify this crew to fight for their lives when the time comes…with the knowledge that Starfleet is content to feed their loved ones some cock and bull story about how they met their end!” Wallace activated his computer terminal once again and spun the display around to face Harris. 

“It’s not just us, look at the casualty reports from the rest of the Fourth… and look what Starfleet command is peddling to the families! This is public information, Harris! I can’t keep the crew focused on the mission if they think Starfleet is just going to disavow all knowledge of their actions! It dishonors their sacrifices and it makes us look like a bunch of damn renegades!”

Harris could sense the anger in his friend’s voice was building again, there wasn’t much he could say that would settle him either; the evidence was there in front of his face and he had to agree with his Commanding Officer’s concerns.

“How about we tell the crew what’s going on, they’re going to learn this information anyway from the news, maybe we need to feed them the facts and trust them to judge the situation themselves,” Harris suggested.

“The official casualty reports from the Fourth Fleet are classified, id be breaking a dozen regulations if I released them to the crew.” Wallace pointed out, again massaging his face whilst he worked the problem.

“Isn’t Starfleet breaking about a dozen regulations by misreporting the truth?” Harris asked, “There’s clearly a conspiracy here and it’s not like there isn’t precedent for it either, during the height of the Dominion War many captains decided to release the casualty reports to their crew, the transparency helped solidify them into fighting to protect something, it gave them a reason to carry on!”

Wallace thought about the idea for a moment, his expression changed almost revealing the cogs turning in his mind. “We brief the crew, show them that we are not the ones reporting this nonsense, and let them know that we will do everything we can to make sure that when the dust settles… we will make sure the truth gets out.” Wallace put forward a suggestion for his X.O. to scrutinise, hoping that it was the right choice to make.

“It’s only a small crew,” Harris pointed out, “I don’t think there is a person on board that doesn’t trust your leadership, and have faith that you’ll get them home safely.” 

“Be that as it may, they all grew up either living or learning about the fallout of the Dominion War. It can’t be easy to be facing that threat again, and knowing that all Starfleet is going to do is deny all knowledge of it.” Wallace proposed and took another sip of his coffee.

“No, it can’t be easy, but like I said, it’s a small crew. They’ve all worked with you the past week, you’ve taken an active part working in engineering until now… You’re not just the C.O. You’re every bit a colleague and a comrade to them, if they hear it from you I’m sure they will get behind you and follow you into hell and back if necessary.” Harris responded, attempting to embolden his friend with the reassurance that his efforts so far had not gone unnoticed.

“So you think it’s a good idea? briefing the crew about this?” Wallace asked sincerely.

“I think, if you tell the crew what you’ve just told me, show them that you are every bit as disgusted by Command’s lack of acknowledgment… I can’t see one person wanting off this ride… our mission is important and risky, everyone knows that… what they need to hear is that their C.O. has their best interests at the forefront of his mind. You tell them that and they will believe it!” Harris replied, attempting to reinforce his point.

Wallace took his friend’s advice on board for a few seconds, Harris could see that he was much more relaxed having been given the advice he needed. 

“Schedule a briefing, all hands in the port side mess by 1900 hours.” Wallace Instructed, stroking his goatee. “I’ll start by laying down my thoughts as you suggested, then it’s time I learned to trust the crew to make us proud.” 

“I’ll get right on it, and for what it’s worth, I think anyone would be shaken by the situation you find yourself in… I personally think it makes you human…not weak,” Harris said as he got up to leave. He truly felt for Wallace, it was a cruel twist of fate that found him with his first command during this crisis and he did not envy the cross which his friend was apparently having to bear.

As Harris left the room, Wallace glanced out of his window at the planet below and his thoughts turned back to his preparedness for this command. He was touched by Harris’s sentiment but it still didn’t put to bed; his concern for the mission ahead. He knew how to lead his crew, and he now had a plan for doing so. 

Wallace knew he had to be prepared to lose more crew, but he hoped that they would be fortunate enough to avoid a further confrontation. He was pleased that he had the privilege of a rather unique command, but he would have given anything to be commanding a Galaxy class vessel right now or at least something more capable at swatting a few Jem’Hedar fighters.

Main Bridge – USS Thyanis

“Approaching the L5 Lagrange point Commander, switching to maneuvering thrusters,” Harris reported as he skillfully piloted the Thyanis into position 

“Excellent, let’s try hailing them,” responded Wallace, eager to try and make contact and fastrack the evacuation.

“Erm…No need sir, we are receiving an incoming transmission ourselves,” said Harris

The bridge officers all took a quick glance at each other, checking that they were all feeling the same sense of relief. “On Screen,” Wallace commanded as he stood to get a better view.

As Harris opened the channel, the view screen turned a sinister blood red, there was definitely an image of a person there but it was heavily distorted and plagued by static artifacts. The audio was equally as unreadable and no one on the bridge could make sense of any of it.

“Oppenheimer Station, this is the federation ship Thyanis, Do you read?” Wallace attempted to make contact, hoping this was just a glitch in the comm system. “Try to clear it up a little!” he directed to his bridge crew, hoping someone would have the skill to do so.

“It’s no use, signal strength is at one hundred percent, it’s possible the station might have a malfunction with their communication equipment,” Harris replied, one hand on the helm as he glanced back at his C.O.

“Bring us to transporter range” Wallace immediately ordered, if they couldn’t communicate ship to ship then they would just have to beam aboard and speak face to face. 

“ENGINEERINGTOBRIDGE!”  an almost unrecognisable voice came over the intercom, high pitched, squeaky, and speaking so rapidly it sounded like a recording played on fast forward.

“Chief is that you? What’s wrong with your voice?” Wallace asked, confused and only able to identify Martin Catterick by his distinct accent.

“YESSIR…OURCOMM’SS….TOBE MALFUNCTIONING…GETTINGREPORTS….OVERTHE…..NEEDTOTAKE……FORDIAGNOST….”

“Get a team on it Chief, then meet me in the Transporter room,” Wallace replied, “Garcia you’re with me, Harris you have the bridge!”

As Wallace and his escort made their way aft Tan took the center chair and allowed a junior pilot to take the conn, Dr. Xan remained at her science station busy typing away on the console and scratching her head.

Deck 4 – Engineering

Chief Catterick closed the channel and from the table console sent the ship’s communication equipment into a diagnostic mode before collecting a Tricorder, toolkit and giving his parting instructions to a nearby ensign.

“Run a level 3 diagnostic and see what you can do to fix the bloody coms Ensign, and keep an eye on that injector imbalance, if it looks like it’s gonna breach the threshold limits, shut the core down,” he instructed with authority.

Martin was no stranger to ‘gremlins’ mucking up a ship’s systems, while it was rare for ships to experience multiple malfunctions simultaneously he had to take into account that the ship was still not 100% from their battle with the Breen and did not yet consider it a cause for any great concern.

As he packed up his things, he made his way out of the engineering bay and caught a glance of the Commander and LT Garcia coming down the ladder at the end of the corridor. He decided to wait for them and discuss the issues en route.

“What’s happening with my ship Chief?” Wallace asked with a concerned look on his face

“Not quite sure sir… She took a real beating as you know and it could be we missed something at Farpoint, but what’s strange is all the malfunctions started in the last five minutes.” Said Martin as the trio made their way down the corridor.

Meanwhile – Main Bridge

“You think this cloud could be what’s causing the communication problem Doctor?” Harris asked as he gazed at the viewscreen; he could just about see the station coming into view through the dust, old Regula class with some minor modifications.

Xan was still busy frantically typing away at her console, she was so focused she didn’t even hear the X.O’s query

“Woah…now that’s the stuff of nightmares.” The junior officer at the helm said out-loud prompting everyone to take a look at the viewscreen.

As the dust cleared, an imposing and sinister image became apparent – Oppenheimer station, as if the name didn’t trigger nightmares itself; it appeared blood red. Every window, every navigational beacon, the main shuttle bay even the ordinarily white hull shared a deep sanguine hue.

“It’s just the dust filtering the light crewman, hold your course,” Harris instructed not overly concerned.

“NO… It isn’t!” Dr. Xan said out loud, her first word all morning.

“What?” Harris retorted.

Xan began a multi-spectral scan of the station, she hoped with every fiber of her being she was wrong but she kept working and blocked out all other distractions around her. Moments later, her fears were confirmed and she reported her findings, “Sir, I’m reading gravimetric distortions along with increased curvature of space-time,” Xan replied, using her symbiant’s past expertise and astrophysics to guide her theory.

“Gravimetric Distortions?…Space-time? What are you saying?” Harris asked, confused as ever. He was a skilled pilot but he simply did not have the aptitude to piece the puzzle together for himself.

“I’ve been picking up strange readings since we entered the system, Im saying it’s not dust… The light from the station…It’s Red Shifted!” Xan explained, glancing up from her console only to realise that no one truly understood what she was trying to explain. She had to put the fruit of her observations in plain English.

“There’s got to be a quantum singularity on board that station, it’s the only phenomenon that would explain these readings!” Xan added.

Harris took a few steps over to the science station to observe the data for himself, he may have been somewhat of a layman when it came to astrophysics, but he could read a computer display and interpret the data. “Wait… A quantum singularity?… Do you mean a Black Hole?” Harris asked, becoming even more confused.  “Surely that can’t be right, I mean shouldn’t the station be imploding or something?”

“Not necessarily, If the singularity is small enough it might be contained, the Romulans use the same technology in their warp drives.” The Doctor replied, still trying to resolve some of the data herself. 

“It’s the only explanation that fits… The redshift, the communication problems… I think what we are witnessing are the effects of General Relativity.” She added.

“I’ve seen plenty of Romulan ships, and I’ve never seen one with readings like this,” Said Harris.

“No, you’re right… which means this one isn’t properly contained!… The Romulans use a precisely calibrated graviton matrix to contain the relativistic effects of the singularity to the core itself, It would appear that whatever matrix the station is using isn’t functioning properly.” Xan paused for a moment, she recognized that the effects of relativity increased exponentially as they approached the station, as did the moment of gravity. 

Suddenly her voice broke with a cry of urgency, “Sir! we need to recall the away team now!”

Harris wasted no time, he tapped his comm badge but only received an error chirp. “Coms are down…Get down there, Molly!” Harris ordered, trusting that Xan had good reason to be concerned.

Deck 4 – Transporter Room

The trio of officers approached the entrance to the transporter room, discussing the parameters for their away mission. Commander Jones entered his access code into one of the wall consoles and unlocked a small phaser armory concealed behind one of the walls that lined the corridor. He handed out sidearms to his colleagues before collecting one of his own, it was of course protocol that away teams should not leave the ship unarmed unless the landing zone was confirmed as secure.

“It’s times like this I wish we had a bigger crew,” Wallace said as he holstered his phaser to his belt.  “Thyanis is only small but I know how much love and care it takes to maintain her Chief.”

“Probably just some teething problems sir, like I said she did take a beating when we engaged the Breen,” Martin replied as he checked his weapon’s power cell for proper charge.

The three officers proceeded through the doors with Martin approaching the transporter console, Wallace and Lt Garcia making their way directly onto the pad.

“Hmm, I guess the transporters are also on the blink,” Martin said as he tried to plot a path for the transporter beam and input proper landing coordinates.

“Should we take a shuttle chief?” Garcia asked, always nervous and skeptical about transporter travel. She never could get used to the idea of essentially being vaporised and trusting a computer to put her back together exactly how she was.

“No, I’ve got it. Just need to boost the annular confinement beam.” Martin proudly replied, “Setting energisation for fifteen seconds.” Martin engaged the program, sliding his fingers along the console to trigger the transport sequence before jogging the short distance to the pad himself to join the away team.

The countdown ran its course and Garcia braced herself as she felt the sensation alike millions of tiny ants crawling over her skin as her body deconstructed and her consciousness was about to be briefly suspended for a nanosecond.

The doors suddenly burst open as Dr. Xan stormed into the room only to be horrified to see the away team partially de-materialised. She ran to the Transporter console and began desperately typing away to abort the transport sequence.

The only thought in her mind at this moment was the guilt she would feel if she was unable to save their patterns from being captured and scattered by the intense gravity of the Singularity, and how the away team knew nothing of the danger they were in.

As soon as the last trace of the away team disappeared from the pad, the room illuminated again and their patterns re-emerged from thin air – though still phasing in and out of cohesion.  

Xan struggled to re-integrate their patterns, she only had a basic understanding of the equipment and was using all her past experience in science and physics to bridge the gaps in her knowledge.

“DAMMIT!” she exclaimed slamming a fist down on the console in frustration. 

Tears began to well in her eyes as she felt powerless to save the away team, she watched in disbelief as the remains of their patterns slowly began to fade, knowing that in a matter of moments, they would slip from her grasp and be lost forever.

Just as her hope was about to deplete, she noticed the available power to the pattern buffer was being enhanced remotely; probably from the bridge. Not wasting a nanosecond she re-initialised the materialisation sequence and felt the lump in her throat dissolve as all three crew members began to appear before her eyes.

Wallace was disorientated at first, for a moment he had a sensation of being outside the ship looking down on his crew from another plane that he could not describe, it was a surreal out-of-body experience that was unlike anything he could explain. In the moments after the transport concluded he regained his balance and noticed the Doctor rushing towards him with a medical Tricorder.  

“Doctor!, What the hell just happened?” He asked, still trying to fight the queasiness the transport sequence had caused him.

“It will take some time to explain, for now, I need to get you all to sickbay for a full workup!” Xan kept her explanation brief, her Tricorder was reading some residual effects of the transporter that she wasn’t sure how to interpret and right now her priority was the health and wellbeing of the away team. Explaining herself would have to wait.

Meanwhile – Elsewhere in the system

The wide-lobed Ferengi plunged his hand into a wriggling bowl of Tube Grubs and collated a thick handful of the unpalatable creatures before shoveling them into his mouth and devouring them whole; he smiled at the satisfying after-taste on his pallet but also an equally joyful sensation of the small worms wriggling their way down his oesophagus.

“Daimon, the Hew-mon vessel appears to have dropped out of warp. What are your orders?” reported a subordinate helm officer, turning in his seat to meet his master eye to eye.

“Position us above the north pole of the nearby planet, we can use its magnetic field to conceal us from their sensors!” Daimon Tal commanded, his body language unable to hide his excitement, and his mouth almost drolled at the thought of all the Latinum his customer had offered for completing this task.

“Pek, You have the bridge, It’s time I reported on our progress to our buyer!” Tal said as he almost skipped across the room to his office door, sealing himself inside as he approached his extravagant desk and opened a channel on his console.

The screen was dark and there was only audio but Tal didn’t care to gaze upon the face of his buyer. It attracted too many liabilities and allowed him a defense of plausible deniability should the F.C.A ever decide to conduct an audit of his affairs.

“Ferengi! – What do you have for me?” 

“The Federation vessel has arrived, How would you like me to proceed?” Tal enquired, picking his fangs for the remnants of his meal.

“Isn’t that what I’m paying you for Ferengi?… Do whatever is necessary but remember; I want my merchandise intact and the scientist alive! And under no circumstances is the Star-fleet ship to leave the system… They have served their purpose, now take care of them Daimon!”

Tal couldn’t contain a nervous laugh, “Now wait a minute, we never agreed to…”

“What we agreed, is that you would deliver the technology to us without any Federation complications… The Starfleet ship is a complication that we cannot afford, eliminate them! Or you will find that the terms of our bargain will alter further!”

“It’s not that simple, If I open fire on a Federation ship, I could lose my license… or worse, Start a war!” Tal pleaded, his expression turning ever more concerned.

“In a few months, the Federation will be of no consequence to you, and you can retire a wealthy little Ferengi!.. Now see to it and do not contact me again until you have what I need!”

Tal submitted he didn’t like the idea but the prospect of his fee was too great to ignore, “As you wish…”

“Remember Tal: Victory Is life!” 

Dr. Xan finished administering her tests, finding the away team to be in mostly good health. She had detected some minor signs of cellular degradation, most likely caused by her chaotic attempts to snatch the away team’s patterns back from the grasp of the singularity’s gravity.

Alas, this was nothing a simple infusion of an off-the-shelf cellular stabiliser could not remedy and she went about administering a dose to each of the three away team members by way of a hypospray.

“You might find you experience some mild aches and pains for the next 12 hours, and a strange metallic taste in the back of your throat… this is normal and absolutely nothing to worry about,” she said, reassuring her patients.

“I’m sure we can handle it, Commander Tan tells me that we owe our continued existence to your quick assessment of the situation Doctor!” Wallace said, attempting to impart some gratitude to his Chief Medical Officer & Science officer.

“Did he now?” Molly locked her eyes with the X.O. across the room and chose to display him; a warm smile.

“He did, but you’re going to have to explain it to me again, now my head is a bit clearer,” Wallace added, having barely assimilated her shotgun briefing on the way to the sick bay.

“As soon as we dropped out of Warp, I started picking up some odd readings coming from Oppenheimer Station. At first, they seemed to be sensor glitches but as we got closer to the station I realised they were building in intensity.” Xan stepped over to a nearby trolly and picked up a PADD she had prepared whilst her scans of the away team were progressing.

“The readings I picked up, coupled with the strange behavior of the ship’s communication system lead me to consider an alternative explanation, and I concluded that the only model that fit all the variables exactly… was general relativity.” Xan handed the PADD to Commander Jones and began pointing out her annotations.

“Here’s a full breakdown but in a nutshell, There has to be a naked singularity aboard the station, one that isn’t properly contained so the effects of its gravity such as time dilation and redshifting of visible light extend outside the station… Had I not reversed the Transporter sequence, you would have materialised so close to the event horizon, that gravity would have scattered your molecules before you could properly coalesce!” she reported humbly.

Wallace flicked through the data on the PADD and began putting the pieces together in his mind, “So we can’t use the transporters, what about a shuttle?” He asked, looking between the doctor and his X.O. for answers.

“Theoretically possible sir, but it sure would be a bumpy ride.” Harris contributed, before allowing his ego to take over, “You’d need a skilled pilot to navigate the gravitational distortions, but I could do it no problem.” he bragged.

Wallace glanced at his X.O. over the top of the PADD, detecting the child-like desperate plea to be included in the away mission as if Commander Tan was holding a giant sign that said ‘Pick me.’

“Relax Harris, I wouldn’t trust anyone else to fly it,” he said, deciding to fuel his friend’s ego a little. “You and Dr. Xan get set up for pre-flight, I’ll have a security escort and an engineer meet you in the shuttle bay,” Wallace instructed, deciding that his own brush with death was enough excitement for one day.

“There’s one other thing sir!” Molly butted in just as Harris was getting up to leave. “The time dilation effect grows stronger the closer we get to the station.”

“What sort of an effect are we looking at Doctor?” Wallace asked, trying to search for the appropriate page on his PADD

“I’ve calculated that it’s currently at a twelve-to-one ratio between Thyanis and the station, so for every hour we spend over there, twelve will pass on the ship… This effectively makes all communication impossible, and it’s probably why the initial hail from the station was unreadable.” Xan explained.

“Understood, your priority then is to locate whatever is generating this singularity, and either contain it or neutralise it so we can restore communications. I don’t like the idea of being out of communication if the Jem’Hedar shows up.” Wallace said, his concern was evident in the tone of his voice. 

Shuttlecraft Corvus – 11:30 hrs

Harris maneuvered the small type 6 shuttle out of the bay with expert skill, it was not much smaller than the bay itself and the moment that he crossed the threshold into space, he could feel the effects of both the Lagrange cloud and the gravity from the nearby station fighting against his inputs to the controls.

Sat up front with him was Dr. Xan and in the rear compartment, two ensigns assigned as a security detail sighted in their phasers as the engineering technician sat quietly, trying to concentrate on keeping his lunch down.

The shuttle swung around the port nacelle of the Thyanis and began its bumpy approach to Oppenheimer with Harris wrestling with the controls constantly. Despite having to constantly adjust their heading, he barely broke a sweat piloting this small vessel and was almost tempted to perform some acrobatics and show off to his co-pilot.

He was both pleased to spend some time working with her but also felt a sense of concern for her safety on this away mission.

“We are approaching the ergosphere, gravimetric sheer is increasing; adjusting inertial dampers to compensate,”  Molly announced as she monitored her data.

Harris cracked a discreet smile seeing Molly work, his fondness for her was growing with every moment he was in her presence. “Can I ask you a question sir, off the record?” Molly asked, unable to contain her curiosity for much longer.

Harris was busy working the controls, but he was able to spare enough concentration to indulge in a little light conversation, “shoot,” he said.

“Back on the bridge, when I told you that we needed to recall the away team, how come you were so quick to trust my judgment?” Molly asked.

“What do you mean?” replied Harris

“Well, I’m officially the C.M.O, The captain only asked me to fill in as science officer because we were short-staffed. I expected to be challenged or at least asked to explain myself, but you didn’t do either of those things and just sent me down to the transporter room. Why?” Molly stopped typing at her console and swiveled her chair to look Harris in the face, genuinely curious why he placed so much trust in her so early in the mission.

Harris struggled to find the words to describe his thoughts at the time, he knew his reasons for trusting her were derived from his personal feelings, but he couldn’t express this to her right now. “We’ve spent a lot of time together the past few weeks, I guess my gut just told me to trust you,” he responded, trying to remain professional.

Molly was a little skeptical about Harris’s answer, she had spent the same amount of time with every other member of the senior staff, but she still felt that Harris placed an unusual amount of trust in her compared to everyone else.

“But I’m a Doctor, not a scientist. If Chief Catterick told you that you needed to lock phasers and open fire, would you have trusted him in the same way?” She asked, trying to chip away at Harris and get him to tell her the truth.

Harris couldn’t deny that he allowed his feelings to guide him, this was not proper protocol and perhaps may have been an error in judgment during any other situation, Molly had a point. “No, I wouldn’t…But you’re a joined Trill.”

“What’s that got to do with it?” Molly followed up, feeling she was getting closer to an answer.

Harris stuttered for a moment, he realised this interrogation was about to put him in a difficult position, he wanted to tell her the truth but it felt inappropriate to do so in the present company. Harris looked Molly in the eyes and made a deliberate glance toward the back of the shuttle to signify he was becoming uncomfortable talking in front of the ensign’s

“You know what… It doesn’t matter, But thank you for trusting me… it means a lot.” Molly ended her pursuit and refocused on her tasks at her console, having registered Harris’s almost adorable reaction to being put under the microscope, she smiled having obtained as much information in what Harris didn’t say as what he did.

“Approaching the main shuttle bay, given the time dilation I think hailing them is a waste of time… no pun intended” Harris announced as he plotted a landing trajectory.

Molly tried to contain a quiet giggle as Harris was clearly still recovering from her uncomfortable line of questioning. 

The shuttle gracefully crossed the forcefield of the main shuttle bay and touched down softly in one of the vacant landing pads, as her systems spooled down the ramp at the rear and deployed fully; allowing the two security escorts to exit first and secure the landing zone. 

They were followed moments later by the rest of the crew who all took a moment to observe The Thyanis through the massive open shuttle bay door. She was holding the position with her bow pointing roughly toward the station, and much like Harris and Molly had observed on the bridge, the effects of gravity were now causing a blue shift in the visible light spectrum.

Molly deployed her tricorder and began to scan for the source of the gravimetric distortions, “Im reading the strongest concentration to be roughly five decks above us, we should look for a command console and try to narrow it down some more.” She suggested.

“Alright, everyone with me,” Harris assumed command and rallied his team to get to work, “Remember for every hour we spend here, it’s twelve on the Thyanis!” 

Oppenheimer Station

The true mass of the engineering blast door became suddenly evident as Harris assisted the ensign from the security detail in lifting its dead weight. The door had failed to open under its own power and although the manual release may have disengaged the actuators and interlocks, it still required old-fashioned elbow grease to open.

“Grab a wedge, Now!” Harris strained himself to say as he felt himself fatigue. 

Molly grabbed a piece of debris at her feet and wedged it into the gap created by the two officers, effectively holding the door open just enough for the away team to slip through.

Harris took a moment to catch his breath, their progress moving through the station had been slow. Many of the internal systems had been shut down to divert power to the equipment operating the singularity. The most concerning thing so far was that they had yet to encounter a single scientist or crew member from the station. Not even a body.

Molly began scanning the area, trying to pinpoint the gravimetric distortions. “Looks like there’s another chamber on the far side of engineering, It appears to be the source of the distortions and it’s also where all power is currently being routed,” she said, closing her tricorder and taking a glance at Harris who appeared to be struggling with some discomfort.

“Want me to take a look?” 

Harris stretched his back and felt it decompress with a satisfying crunch, “Nah, ill be fine. Just overexerted myself, that’s all,” he said before clutching his lower back again and crying briefly in pain.

Without hesitation, Molly waved her medical tricorder and took a look at the problem, “Looks like you’ve pulled a muscle, take a seat before you make it worse…doctors orders!” Molly opened her medicine bag, selected an analgesic, and loaded it into a hypospray. 

“Take five everyone,” Harris said as he gingerly lowered himself onto a chair.

The rest of the away team began to fan out and inspect their surroundings, leaving Harris and Molly almost alone for a moment. “You can drop the tough guy act yer know,” Molly said, as she administered the hypospray.

“What do you mean?” Harris asked curiously.

“Your back, I read your file… how come you never got treatment for it?” Molly asked, taking another scan.

“You read my file?”

“Doctor’s prerogative, now c’mon, why did you never get this treated?”

“You know why… six months in rehab, I’d have been grounded for nearly a year before Starfleet medical signed me off to fly again,” Harris began rubbing the base of his spine, he felt the drugs kicking in and soothing his pain.

“So what’s stopping you now? Medicine has come a long way in the last few years, you could be up and walking again in half the time.” Molly suggested as she took over and began to massage Harris’s spine.

“I don’t know, I guess I’ve lived with it for so long I’m used to the pain… Besides it hasn’t bothered me that much until today.” Harris jumped again as he felt Molly decompress his lower back a second time, a sharp pain ran up his spine and into his shoulder, and then all of a sudden he felt a great relief from his discomfort.

“Living with a broken back is no joke unless you get treatment for it, eventually it’s going to get worse,” Molly said, packing away her med kit. “Promise me you’ll think about it?” she added putting a hand on Harris’s shoulder and showing him a look of concern.

“Sure thing… but after the mission!” Harris replied with a smile.

“Commander, Doctor. You need to see this!” one of the ensigns yelled from the opposite side of the compartment. 

Harris made his way across the room with Molly following close behind, as their colleagues came into view, a gruesome discovery became apparent.

Leant against the wall were the remains of a corpse. It appeared ancient and skeletonised, though its uniform was Starfleet and of a lineage not more than a year old. Molly got to work taking some scans of the deceased. “Carbon dating suggests he died more than one hundred years ago… but the uniform…”

“The uniform is brand new, how can that happen?” Harris asked, looking concerned.

“We could be looking at some extremely localised time dilation effect,” Molly theorised, it was the only conclusion that made any sense in the circumstances.

“I thought you said the dilation was only twelve to one here?” Harris asked.

“I did, and it is, my best guess is that at some point, that ratio must have been much higher,” Molly replied.

“We need to get that door open, Ensigns!” Harris commanded the two security officers to start prising the door to the next room open, on this occasion he decided to give his back a rest and observe.

As the ensigns put all their effort into sliding the double doors, a small corridor was revealed with 5 further corpses, all skeletonised just as the Starfleet officer was, though these corpses were not human. They were Jem’Hedar. 

Meanwhile – USS Thyanis main bridge: 12 hours after the away team departure.

“Sir!, Proximity alarm, Im detecting an incoming vessel at the edge of the Lagrange cloud, but I’m struggling to get an I.D. due to the interference!” Lt Garcia alerted Commander Jones, suddenly breaking the monotony of their patient wait for updates from the away team.

“Red Alert, Shields up, Standby weapons!” Wallace instructed as he took the centre chair. 

The lights on the bridge dimmed and were replaced by a pulsing red glow accompanied by the piercing klaxon that signified a call to arms.

Garcia began configuring her console for battle, charging the phaser arrays and loading a torpedo into the tube. “Sheilds up, weapons ready sir!” She yelled over the deafening noise.

Wallace considered his options for a moment, he knew the incoming vessel could not be particularly large or else they wouldn’t be having much trouble identifying it, at the same time he knew that Thyanis only had a limited armament, and their battle with the Breen told him not to underestimate how easily they could be overpowered.

Reviewing his tactical display he noticed a number of pockets where the cloud density was much higher, and many were large enough to park the Thyanis inside.

“Ensign, take us into one of those dense particle pockets!” He ordered the helm.

As the ship glided into a nearby pocket, the dense cloud parted just long enough for the approaching vessel to be identified on the viewscreen, before once again being obscured by the dense debris and dust. 

“That’s a Ferengi D’kora class!” Garcia reported as she began a passive scan, “The warp signature matches Daimon Tal’s ship!” She added.

Wallace breathed a sigh of relief but did not permit himself to completely relax, ‘At least it’s a somewhat friendly face,’ he thought to himself. For the past few minutes he was terrified by the prospect that they were about to engage the Dominion for the first time, although not great news; he would take a Ferengi marauder any day over a Jem’Hedar cruiser. “Open a channel!” he said, deciding that ultimately, hiding away was unnecessary. After all – the Ferengi, despite their questionable ethics, were unlikely in his opinion; to open fire on a Federation vessel.

A chirp of the comm system signaled to Wallace that communication had been established, “Ferengi Vessel, you are approaching an installation under the jurisdiction of the United Federation of Planets, state your intentions!” Wallace said with a tone of authority.

“No response sir, the time dilation from the singularity might be causing the same communications blackout that we experienced!” said Garcia, her attention was then quickly captured by an alert on her console. “Sir the Ferengi are closing to transporter range with the station!”

Wallace spoke his thoughts out loud, “We need to warn them.” 

“I have an Idea sir,” Chief Catterick announced, “I might be able to re-establish two-way communications by using a phase compensation algorithm to align our carrier signal with theirs, it will take me some time to set up and it won’t be perfect.” 

“How long do you need, Chief?” Wallace asked.

“About three minutes!” Martin replied.

“Helm lay in an intercept course, put us between the Ferengi ship and the station, Garcia standby to fire a warning shot across their bow, lowest setting… I just want to get their attention and maybe get them to raise their shields!” Wallace gave his orders which the other officers wasted no time following.

“You’ve got about one minute, chief, work fast!” Wallace insisted.

Meanwhile – Onboard the Ferengi vessel 

“Approaching transporter range with the Hew-mon station Daimon!” Said the sharp-toothed helm officer as he gracefully maneuvered their ship’s hulk into position.

“Standby to energise!” Tal instructed, massaging his lower left lobe to soothe his anxiety.

“Daimon! I’m detecting another Vessel, closing fast!” Screamed the tactical officer.

There was no time to even react, a moment later Tal was shocked to see a phaser blast shoot across the view screen immediately followed by the Thyanis taking up a defensive position close to the station.

“Abort transport! Raise shields… I thought you said the Hew-mons had left…where in the name of the Nagus did they come from!” Tal barked in anger, his prize was within reach and the Federation ship was now standing directly in his way.

Before the embarrassed tactical officer could respond, an audio channel opened up over the Emergency frequency

“Ferengi vessel, This…Federation….Thyanis, do not….to….-ansport….station, repeat….attempt…..transport!”

The transmission ended abruptly as Tal gestured for his communications officer to close the channel.

Tal began rubbing his lobes again, he knew his instructions were to eliminate the vessel, but he was still uncomfortable with actually engaging them. While his ship was superior in every aspect, he was consumed with worry for his fortune if the FCA ever found out what he was about to do.

Meanwhile – Oppenheimer station

Molly took a scan of one of the deceased Jem’Hedar and compared the readings to the dead Starfleet officer. The carbon dating was identical and she established that all the bodies had expired at roughly the same time. 

“What are we looking at?” Harris asked, carefully stepping around the corpses to kneel down next to the doctor.

“Same readings as the other one, whatever happened though, it was quick, they’re all still holding their weapons.” Molly pointed out, it wasn’t initially apparent but it did appear that all the Jem’Hedar had died simultaneously and they were in the process of assaulting the next room

“We need to get in the next room before something like this happens to us!” Harris stated, as he approached and inspected the final door. 

Strangely this door had power, but it was locked from the other side. The control panel in the corridor had already been ripped from the wall and it appeared as if one of the Jem’Hedar was in the process of hot wiring it before they met their end.

“Ensign, give me a hand!” Harris ordered as he drew his phaser and used it to disable the door mechanism before forcing the door open.

The first thing that everyone noticed from the next room was the blinding light, more than a thousand stars combined; it was painful to look at. The next thing was the sound, a deafening mechanical roar that stunned the senses. 

The team pushed their way through into the chamber, trying to focus on their tricorders for guidance as their physical senses became overwhelmed.

Molly grabbed the arm of the engineer and dragged him toward the source of her readings. As she approached the console she felt almost as if she was being physically pulled towards the core of the room, though she could not see beyond the maelstrom of blinding light.

She felt her way along a guard rail to the engineering console and got to work along with her colleague to stabilise the device.

She was so overwhelmed she could barely think, the readings were off the charts but she managed to ascertain that the device in front of her was some sort of containment matrix for the quantum singularity.

Working mainly off instinct and a limited understanding of the technology she initiated what she believed was a shutdown sequence and watched as the display signaled the singularity was dissipating. Seconds later it evaporated completely and the team was left dazed and disoriented but with nothing more serious than a mild tinnitus.

The device itself was a large circular console that enclosed a metallic sphere mounted on a jumbled mess of pipes and conduits coming from the floor and the ceiling.

The room itself was almost bare apart from a couple of wall consoles and one other occupant.

Molly caught sight of a figure, sitting up against one of the walls much like the Starfleet skeleton in the other room. She rushed over to render aid. It was a human male dressed in a lab coat, though he was extremely elderly, wrinkled, and with flowing white hair. 

“He’s unconscious but alive!” She reported as her medical tricorder began alerting her to his advanced age and age-related health issues. “A few minutes more, he’d have probably ended up like the others.” She added as she administered some medication.

“And the singularity?” Harris asked as he shook off his stupor.

“I think I shut it down…” Molly took a glance over at the engineer who was still at the console, verifying. 

“Confirmed, once the system was shut down, the singularity quickly evaporated due to hawking radiation.” The engineer reported.

“We should contact the ship and get this man to sickbay.” Molly insisted.

“Agreed and I’m sure the old man will want to know about our Jem’Hadar friends…” Harris tapped to activate his comm badge. 

“Harris to Thyanis…”

There was no response.

“Away team to Thyanis, come in.” He tried again, but still no response.

“Molly?” Harris queried, wondering if the effects of the singularity had actually dissipated.

Molly was about to run a scan, but the moment she opened her tricorder she was distracted by the sudden appearance of three golden transporter beams, quickly coalescing into the forms of three short, ugly looking, yet well dressed; Ferengi officers.

There was a brief standoff as both parties were surprised to see one another, however as the Ferengi already had their phasers drawn, they seized the advantage.

“Drop your weapons Hew-mons!”

Harris Immediately recognised their leader as he begrudgingly surrendered, “Daimon Tal!”

USS Thyanis

There was a tense few moments after LT Garcia fired her warning shot across the bow of the Ferengi Marauder. The course of action was rather brazen but in the absence of any ability to communicate ship to ship, maritime law did permit the Thyanis to perform such a maneuver. It was universally understood as a signal to alter course or follow instructions.

As the helmsman positioned the ship across the bow of the Ferengi vessel, all eyes were on the view screen watching for any sign of a retaliatory response.

“Cheif!” Wallace said, prompting Martin Catterick to hurry up in restoring communications.

“Im working on it, standby sir!” Chief Carterick replied as he worked frantically to program his algorithm.

Seconds later an audio channel opened – signalled by an audible chirp. “Channel open sir!” Martin stated with a sigh of relief.

“Ferengi vessel, This is the Federation Starship Thyanis, do not attempt to transport to the station, repeat do not attempt transport… Please respond! Your away team may be–” Wallace was suddenly interrupted mid-sentence by his Tactical officer. 

“Sir, They closed the channel!”

“Try to get them back!” Wallace ordered desperately.

“I’m trying but they aren’t responding!” Garcia replied, looking concerned as she ran out of options to try and communicate.

Wallace stared at the view screen for a moment, he too was running out of options. They had already fired a warning shot, and for now, the Ferengi didn’t seem interested in picking up a fight. He knew that he couldn’t in good conscience follow up with a further act of aggression or risk starting an engagement for which they were woefully outmatched. 

“Sir, I think I can get their attention again with a couple of high-speed passes across their bow!” Said the ensign at the helm.

Wallace immediately liked the idea, it was far more likely to give off a message of danger than aggression and it would make the Ferengi think twice about approaching any closer, or risk a collision. “Perfect!, Do it Ensign!” Wallace ordered.

Engaging full impulse power the young helmsman started Thyanis on a collision course with the Ferengi’s bow, pulling hard into the vertical at the last moment and putting all her nimbleness to good use as he swung the ship around to line up with the marauder’s port side and hit the gas a second time to fly directly across her bow – port to starboard. He repeated this display of aerobatics a second time and a third but still, there was no response from the Ferengi vessel. 

Meanwhile – Ferengi Vessel

Daimon Tal watched the Thyanis dance around his view screen like an annoying insect, but while the rest of his crew flinched every time she burst past the bow of the ship; he remained resolute and unimpressed.

“What are they doing?” he stated rhetorically. 

“I think they are trying to get us to alter course Daimon!” piped up a junior officer, unfamiliar with the Daimon’s sarcastic tone.

“I grow tired of this! The Hew-mons want a fight, let’s give them a fight! Target their engines! Cripple them!” Tal ordered slamming his fist down onto the arm of his chair.

A second or two passed as his tactical officer hesitated. Tal scowled from across the room.

“Tactical!” He screeched. “Are your lobes filled with wax? Open fire!” 

“B..but Daimon…” the nervous Ferengi pleaded as he was reluctant to carry out the order.

In a display of gratuitous anger, Tal leaped from his chair and stormed across the bridge, shoving his tactical officer out of the way to man the console himself. He obtained a lock and let fly; a barrage of phaser fire aimed directly at the Thyanis

Several shots missed their mark by so far, it could have been suggested the Ferengi were blind. But eventually, Tal got lucky and landed a crushing blow to Thyanis’s starboard nacelle. The shock of the Impact must have startled the human pilot, as he misjudged his trajectory and scrapped along the face of a nearby asteroid that was cloaked in the veil of the Lagrange dust cloud. 

A couple more lucky hits collapsed the shields of the little federation corvette and routed them into a retreat. 

Tal smiled at his victory, with any luck he could claim to have destroyed the ship to his employer, and by the time they repaired themselves; he would be counting his Latinum.

The rest of Tal’s crew were stunned and in a state of shock. They were not privy to the exact instructions Tal had received, nor were they amenable to attacking an allied ship. Tal’s sudden display of violence both scared them and also enraged them, but not one of them had the fortitude to challenge their superior. Notwithstanding their feelings, they all remained silent and tried to forget what just happened.

“Now, bring us back into the transporter range and have a landing party meet me in the transporter room…” Tal said as he left the bridge. 

He was very good at acting like his actions were justified and showed little to no remorse in front of his colleagues, but as he approached the door, he found himself again playing with his lobe. As soon as he was out of sight of his comrades he dropped the act and began to take in the reality of the crime he had just committed. His only comfort was the thought that his sizable stake in this endeavor would purchase him some remote moon, far away from the federation; where he could live out the remainder of his days in peace with an entourage of barely clothed Orion slave girls.

Moments later – USS Thyanis

“Damage report!” Wallace demanded as he punched a piece of conduit that was venting steam out of his face.

“We took a bit of a beating, shields are off-line, and there is a hull breach in deck 1 Aft…Emergency force fields are active.” Martin reported, using his sleeve to quickly wipe some of the soot from his console.

“Casualties?” Wallace asked.

“Reports coming in now sir… five wounded, minor injuries…just a few bumps and grazes sir!” Said Garcia, breathing a sigh of relief. After the battle with the Breen, she feared the worst as she waited for the reports to load into her console.

“Helm. keep us tight, let’s use the debris and dust pockets for cover while we lick our wounds.” Wallace said, saying a brief prayer of thanks for their fortune in avoiding anything more serious.

“Garcia, Stand down to Yellow alert, but keep an eye on our Ferengi friends… If they want to beam onto the station, it’s their funeral…” He added, standing from his chair and making an approach to his ready room.  “Chief, with me please.”

Martin handed his console over to a nearby technician who took over coordinating the damage control efforts. He made his way across the room and joined the C.O. in private.

“Chief, I’m turning to you because you’ve probably got more service under your belt than any of us… And with my X.O. off-ship, I need someone to bounce some ideas off of.” Wallace said humbly.

“I’m flattered sir, but Lieutenant Garcia is the next most senior officer…” Martin pointed out, feeling slightly uncomfortable about the position that was being thrust upon him.

“I don’t give a damn about seniority or rank Martin!, I need experience, someone who’s been around the block a few times… who won’t quote me the rule book or give me a starfleet academy answer.” said Wallace, aggressively trying to cut to the chase.

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s a fine officer. But she’s barely got two tours, this is my first command…with a ship that’s woefully outmatched and I feel like I’m making all the wrong decisions!” Wallace admitted begrudgingly.

Martin took a moment to think, he hadn’t witnessed enough of the Commander’s command to draw a conclusion yet, but he knew what he needed to say, even if it might not be what his Commanding officer wanted to hear. 

“May I speak freely sir?” Martin respectfully requested which was met by a nodding gesture from Wallace that was about to green-light Martin’s assessment of the situation. 

“I’ve seen plenty of captains do a far worse job…Ultimately you’ve been dealt a bad hand, and you’re only acting with the mission and the crew in mind. If you don’t mind me saying sir, I think you need to stop worrying about making the wrong decision and start trusting yourself to make the right ones…you’re only human sir.” Martin said frankly, feeling his limbs turn to jelly as he departed from a lifetime of keeping his mouth shut to speak his mind finally.

As Wallace listened to his Chief engineer expand and conclude his statement, he felt emboldened to carry on leading his crew, he guessed that he just needed someone with the balls to give him a straight answer. 

“Thanks, Chief…I–” Before Wallace could continue speaking, he was interrupted by Lt Garcia over the comm system 

‘Bridge to Commander Jones, we are receiving a transmission from the away team”

“On my way!” Wallace replied, gesturing for Martin to lead them back onto the bridge.

Oppenheimer Station – Singularity Core.

“Daimon Tal!” Harris said as he lowered his phaser, “What the hell do you want!” he demanded to know. 

“Ah, Commander. How delightful that we should meet again.” Tal greeted with a sinister grin.

Harris didn’t believe in coincidence. He had his doubts about the Ferengi’s involvement during their first meeting a week ago, while he wasn’t entirely surprised to be staring at Tal’s substantial lobes again, he was both enraged and suspicious that he would appear just as he was unable to contact the Thyanis.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t shake you’re hand this time Tal.” Harris retorted.

“Spare me the witty Hew-mon banter Commander and step away from the scientist… slowly” Tal brought his phaser to bare in Harris’s direction, subtly threatening the use of force if the Commander failed to comply. 

There was no opportunity for heroics, the Ferengi had the upper hand, Harris gestured for his colleagues to step back. “Are you out of your mind Tal? You cant expect the Federation to let you get away with kidnapping one of its citizens!” 

As the Thyanis away team stepped back one of the Ferengi escorts approached the incapacitated scientist and performed his own scan. Alarms began sounding from his own tricorder, indicating that the scientist’s health was declining rapidly. The Ferengi turned to look back at his leader and gave a slight shake of his head to signal his findings.

“Take the Trill too… She’s a doctor, she can stabilise him en route!” Tal Barked, prompting his escorts to approach Molly and attempt to seize her.

“NO!” yelled Harris in defiance. He placed himself between the Ferengi and Molly in a chivalrous attempt to protect her. The situation escalated quickly as Harris struck the nearest Ferengi with an open palm strike before embracing Molly and trying to escort her to safety.

The away team security officers reacted quickly, drawing their phasers and exchanging fire with the Ferengi.

Tal had little patience left, he set his phaser to the maximum setting and fired at one of the young security officers, hitting him square in the chest. The beam of energy violently coursed through the young officer’s body, first igniting his uniform and then tearing apart his molecules. The officer let out a brief but blood-curdling scream of pain before being completely vaporised by the blast.

The show of force stopped everyone in their tracks, Starfleet and Ferengi alike. The Ferengi were again shocked by their Daimon’s violence, the away team was horrified having just watched one of their colleagues die most horribly.

“Enough!, I’ll go!” Shouted Molly, unable to bare the responsibility for more bloodshed. 

“Out of the question Lieutenant!” Harris ordered.

Molly turned to the Commander and stared him directly in the eyes, “Commander just trust me, I’ll be fine!” she said softly as she took hold of Harris’s hand for a moment, squeezing it in a personal gesture of affection.

Harris was speechless, his emotions were confusing him and overwhelming him. He felt a brewing anger toward Daimon Tal, and had to restrain himself from further aggression. At the same time, he felt his heart being torn apart by the prospect that Molly was about to be taken from him and he could do nothing to protect her. 

Molly stepped up to the tips of her toes and threw her arms around Harris, planting a brief but meaningful kiss on his cheek before bringing her mouth close to his ear and whispering a set of instructions. She discreetly slipped her tricorder into his hand before ending their embrace and surrendering unconditionally to her captors. 

Harris gave a gesture to stand down to the remaining away team members as they watched Molly be escorted at phaser point to the opposite side of the room. 

Tal grinned fiendishly as he signalled for his team to collect their prize. After setting up an array of pattern enhancers around the core, Tal contacted his ship and initiated the transport. 

As the Ferengi, Molly, and the scientist all began to dematerialise, followed a moment later by the apparatus at the centre of the room.

Harris locked eyes with Molly one final time, trying his best to remain calm as he watched her pattern fade away.

Meanwhile – USS Thyanis Bridge

“Sir, The Ferengi ship is powering its engines, they are making for the edge of the Lagrange cloud!” reported Lt Garcia as she maintained her sensor scans.

“What about the dampening field? Can we try the away team again?” Wallace asked, desperate for some good news 

Garcia tried to open a channel again and was relieved when a connection was established. “Channel open sir!” 

“Wallace to Away team! Please respond!” 

There was a brief moment of silence where everyone was on edge, waiting patiently for a return transmission.

“Tan here sir! No time to explain, you beam us up and get after Tal’s ship!”

The entire bridge was clearly relieved to hear the commander’s voice but Wallace wasted no time instructing his crew to carry out his first officer’s instructions.

“Helm, lay in a pursuit course, and engage as soon as the away team is aboard!” Wallace commanded, taking his chair again as he waited for confirmation.

“Transporter room to bridge, we have them!”

“Sir, the Ferengi ship has gone to warp!” reported the ensign at the helm.

Wallace remained focused and did not allow himself a moment to celebrate. “Now ensign, Maximum warp…Engage!”

Wallace assembled his senior staff in his ready room once again; the only place on the ship where he felt a briefing could be held in confidence and in relative comfort. He had already been given the news that his Chief Medical officer had been captured by the rogue Ferengi captain and his attention was now turned towards getting her back by any means necessary.

Harris activated the holo-emitters on the C.O’s desk and displayed the downloaded data from Oppenheimer’s computers and Dr. Xan’s Tricorder.

“This is everything we managed to get from the station’s computers about the device, It appears to be a small-scale experiment to explore the theory of harnessing the energy of a rapidly spinning black hole. The science team was close to a breakthrough before the station was boarded by the Jem’hadar.” Harris began breaking down the report from the Thyanis engineers who in the last few hours, had begun analysing the data.

“The device uses zero point energy to create an artificial singularity, then some sort graviton matrix is used to contain the singularity and its effects,” Harris added.

“But the device in its current form isn’t perfect, and it looks like the scientists only just got it working before the attack… the logs show that when the Jem’Hadar boarded, there was a cascade failure in the containment matrix, and the compartments closest to the core became subject to the effects of relativity, effectively causing time as we know it to break down.” Chief Catterick added.

“We found bodies, they were all in advanced stages of decomposition, and the only surviving scientist appeared to be over one hundred years old.” Harris said. 

“But what would Tal or the Jem’Hadar want with a science experiment?” Wallace proposed, concerned about the intent of their enemy. 

Harris switched the display to focus on the Tricorder data from Dr. Xan, “That’s where Molly’s scans come in… The core itself is a Penrose Sphere, it uses superradiant scattering to amplify a bosonic field. By design, It’s supposed to maintain an equilibrium but with a few modifications, the device could be turned into a weapon… In theory.” 

Martin leant forward to help the commander explain, “As long as the amplified energy is released in a controlled manner, it’s completely safe and the equilibrium is maintained… but if you reflect that energy back towards the singularity…the amplification is repeated, leading to run-away field growth and….”

The display then suddenly projected a simulation showing the core exploding, it was crude but everyone understood the concept. 

“What sort of yield are we talking about?” Lt Garcia asked.

“Depending on the size of the singularity, anything from the equivalent of a warp core breach, to a small supernova…. Scientists in the 20th century first came up with the idea, they called it a Black Hole Bomb.” Said Martin as he shut down the display.

“The presence of Jem’hadar on the station can’t be a coincidence, and I doubt Daimon Tal has any intention to profit from a new era of energy production… He means to deliver this device to someone who will unleash its sinister potential… That’s why he needs the scientist alive, he only gets paid if he delivers a viable weapon!” Wallace expressed his theory, putting the pieces together in his mind. “Thyanis won’t survive a direct confrontation with Tal’s ship, I need options… how do we even the odds?” He added.

Harris immediately put himself forward with some additional information, “Sir, just before Dr Xan was captured she told me to look for elevated Theta emissions, but the device presently doesn’t produce Theta radiation… Assuming Tal means to put her and the scientist to work on the device, she might try to sabotage it in some way.”

“The device needs vast amounts of energy to function, Tal would need to interface the device with his ship in order to use it and he can’t do that without allowing access to some engineering systems.” Martin pointed out.

“Chief, how long can we keep up with Tal’s ship before he goes out of sensor range?” Wallace asked, assessing his options.

“We’re running Thyanis to her limit trying to keep up, at warp 8.85 we can only maintain this speed for twelve hours before doing irreparable damage… Presently Tal is pulling away from us at Warp 9.2… I’d estimate about six or seven hours before they exceed our useful sensor range.” Said Martin, double-checking the math in his head.

“Sir if I may,” Harris butted in, reaching for the holo projector once again. The display materialised before the crew and plotted an extrapolated trajectory for both Thyanis and the Ferengi ship. “If they maintain current heading, they will likely pass through this region of subspace instability.”

“What do we know about it?” Wallace asked, intrigued.

“Not much, the USS Monte Carlo first encountered the region in 2376. Their report stated that they couldn’t maintain more than warp four without destabilising the warp field.” Said Harris while checking his PADD for data pertaining to the region.

Wallace stroked his goatee for a moment, deep in thought, “Computer, calculate the time to arrive at the sector highlighted on my holographic display, assumed warp speed is factor 9.2.” 

“At Warp Factor 9.2, Arrival after six hours, twenty-nine minutes, and fourteen seconds” The computer chirped.

“Now calculate the arrival of the Thyanis, Warp 8.85!”

“Seven hours, twenty-seven minutes, and thirty-six seconds”

“That gives us just under an hour’s difference, Chief I need you to do everything you can to squeeze as much as possible from the Thyanis’s engines, I need that gap down as much as possible!” Wallace ordered before turning to his X.O.

“Harris, scour the navigational database and see if you can cross-reference the Monte Carlo’s report with any other anomalies encountered in the past… Try and get me more information about what to expect when we arrive!” 

“I’ll get started right away!” Harris responded, standing from his seat and immediately making his way to the door.

“Garcia, start by analysing the recording of our engagement with Tal’s ship, Look for anything that might give us an edge the next time we meet, then start working on a plan to extract the Doctor and this scientist, When you’re done, link in with the Chief in engineering, I want options for neutralising this device if it comes to it!” Said Wallace, feeling resolute in his role as Commanding officer, to delegate tasks and get his crew working together on the problem.

No objections were made by any of the senior staff, they all accepted their orders and got to work without challenge or hesitation.

As they all left the ready room, Wallace turned to gaze out of his windows and lose himself in the beauty of the Thyanis’s warp field. His mind turned to Doctor Xan, and while he was deeply concerned for her safety; he also knew she was a tough individual with several lifetimes of experience under her belt. He knew he could trust her to make wise decisions.

Meanwhile – Tal’s Ship

“What’s taking so long Hew-mon?” barked the guard securing the room.

Molly had been working non-stop for the past two hours, trying to save the scientist’s life with only a limited med kit and instruments from the Ferengi sick bay that was unfamiliar to her. 

“For the last time, not a human… Im a Trill and this would go a lot faster if you stopped asking me that every ten minutes you ugly son of a–” She was silenced by the sharp crack of the Ferengi’s hand as he struck her across the face, bursting her lip.

“Enough!” a voice shouted from across the room, it was Tal. He had just witnessed his guard assaulting the prisoner and he was less than impressed. “Lay another hand on the Trill and I’ll see to it that you spend the rest of your days becoming intimately familiar with the faecal matter of a Klingon Targ!” He said as he scalded his guard for the beating.

Tal turned his attention to Dr.Xan, who was trying to wipe her lip of the blood her jailer had drawn. He picked up a dermal regenerator and used it to close the slight wound left by her beating, “There, I apologise for my associate’s loss of control. It Won’t! Happen again… will it?” Tal prompted the guard to make an apology.

“No Daimon, My apologies Miss!” Said the guard, shaking slightly in fear. 

“Spare me the charade Tal, You have no interest in my welfare!” Molly retorted in disgust at Tal’s display of faux chivalry.

“On the contrary my dear, I have no desire to see you come to any harm. I simply require your services and that of the professor here, and when I have what I need… you’ll be free to go!” Tal said with a sinister grin on his face, “That is… unless you desire to provide me with…additional services in exchange for some form of compensation?” Tal began placing his hand on the hip of the Doctor, where she immediately and aggressively struck it away. 

Tal laughed which prompted his associates to also join in like a pack of hyenas. “I thought not, shame really… I’m told the Trill have such delicate attention to detail that makes Oo-mox particularly… Soothing.”

Molly scowled in disgust, “If you lay one finger on me again, you’ll find out just how much attention to detail I pay to tearing those lobes from your thick skull!” she threatened.

Tal smiled again, he found himself aroused by the doctor’s tenacity, but he also respected that she was not his property, and although he enjoyed toying with her; it was a distraction that delayed his ultimate goal. “You have my word, Just revive the good professor as soon as possible and I assure you that your stay on board my ship will be largely uneventful,” He said as he turned to leave the room. 

Molly watched as the disgusting troll departed, leaving her alone with her patient. For the first time in hours, she was given some privacy and decided to take the opportunity to develop her plan to escape.

She reached into her med-kit, retrieved a Hypospray, and administered the drug to her patient, reviving him from his state of unconsciousness. 

The scientist was frail and spoke with a raspy and fatigued voice, “Where am I? Who are you?… The Core!” the old man spoke, before mustering all his strength to sit up in panic.

Molly begged the old man to hush and keep his voice down while she explained, “Sir, I’m from the Federation Starship Thyanis, Your station was attacked and we were kidnapped by the Ferengi.” she said, trying her best to explain the situation.

“Federation? Ferengi? My experiment?” the old man asked, panic still embedded in his voice.

“The Ferengi took that too, it shut down but it’s on-board this ship, I don’t know what the Ferengi plan to do with it but it can’t be good. ” Molly said.

“You shouldn’t have gotten involved, I knew the technology was too dangerous to keep, that’s why I tried to destroy it!” said the old man, quickly regaining his focus.

“Destroy it? What do you mean?… Mister?” Molly asked.

“It Doctor actually, Doctor Leon Sutherland PHD, and yes Destroy it! You don’t know what my research could do in the wrong hands!” Old man Sutherland explained.

Molly tried to think for a second, she knew the device created an artificial singularity but beyond that, she couldn’t see the usefulness of the device or how anyone would be remotely interested in it.  “What exactly does your device do? And why did you try to destroy it?” she asked, curiously.

“It’s an experiment, meant to prove the theory of the Penrose Process and try to extract energy from a rotating singularity, but it’s a two-edged sword… with just a few tweaks someone could easily turn the device into a weapon of devastating destructive power, that why I have to destroy it… When the Jem’Hadar showed up and attacked the station, I triggered a cascade failure in the graviton confinement matrix.” Dr Sutherland paused for a moment and readjusted his seating position for more comfort.

“It was meant to release the singularity and allow it to consume the station, now I see it only partially worked and I should have accounted for the relativistic time dilation.” He added, pointing out his aged and withered appearance.

“Penrose Process? You were experimenting with rotational superradiance?” Molly exclaimed, struggling to contain her admiration for her patient’s endeavor.

“Precisely, I see you are familiar with the sciences, Miss?” Sutherland asked.

“Doctor Mollia Xan, pleased to meet you, though it was my previous host who was the scientist: Jorek Xan,” Molly explained.

“Jorek Xan, as I recall, he was the Trill Science Ministry’s foremost expert on quantum mechanics was he not?” Said Sutherland, slightly awed to be in the presence of a renowned fellow in his field. He noted a nod from Molly as confirmation and continued to reminisce, “I was saddened to hear of his passing, but that means you understand how dangerous my research is Doctor.” 

Molly considered the possibilities, while she was no expert she understood the concept that Doctor Sutherland was proposing and knew that the reason such an experiment had not been attempted thus far was due to its inherent instability and catastrophic consequences for failure. 

“The Ferengi, don’t have any use for such a weapon. It’s only logical to presume that Tal means to deliver your experiment on behalf of someone else… we can’t allow that to happen, how do we stop it?” She asked.

“That depends, How much time do we have?” Sutherland asked. 

‘Commanding officers Log. Stardate: 78199.9: We have spent the past eight hours at high warp pursuing the renegade Ferengi vessel, which is currently in possession of the stolen energy device from Oppenheimer station. 

My Chief Engineer has been working tirelessly to push the Thyanis’s engines to the limit so that we can keep pace with our folly. 

I’m told that every safety protocol for the warp drive system had to be overridden, and all parameters have been pushed well beyond rated tolerances. 

Notwithstanding, Thyanis is a tough ship and she is so far; responding well to the abuse.

In parallel, my remaining senior staff and the crew at large have selflessly gone above and beyond to prepare themselves and the ship for what might indeed be; a one-way trip. I couldn’t be more proud of their devotion to duty at this critical time, or to call myself, their Captain.’

“Holding somewhat steady at Warp 8.92 and she’s still pulling away from us sir… Estimate five minutes until the Ferengi exceed our sensor range.” Harris reported, typing away at his console to try and smooth out the Thyanis as she shook in pain; having been pushed past her expected limits.

Thyanis was growing tired, and as much as she tried to hold herself together through the onslaught her crew was putting her through, she had little more to give and was starting to show signs of her fatigue. The droning of the warp engines could be heard in every compartment on the ship, in engineering; the roar of her warp core was so deafening that the crew had to be issued with ear protection.

Her hull was beginning to creak and crack as the immense stress from forces far beyond what she was ever designed to manage; began to weaken her stout robust frame.

“Bridge to Engineering, Chief, We are losing her! You’ve got to give me more!” Wallace called out over internal comms. He knew that his Chief Engineer would be cursing his name right about now, restraining himself from yelling back a quip about not being a miracle worker or being able to change the laws of physics.

“I can give you Warp 8.94 in two minutes, but sir, I am not joking when I say that she’s got nothing left to give after that!” Martin’s voice blared over the intercom, he was shouting over the strident growl of the engine, but his voice bore no signs of aggression or anger.

“I’ll take it chief, do what you can!” Wallace replied before gingerly making his way across the bridge to the tactical station, as to avoid being knocked on his backside by the ever more violent shaking of the ship. “Can we still detect their warp trail at this range?” he asked Lt Garcia as another change in the ship’s vibration caused him to lose his footing and grip the console for support.

“I’ve still got it sir, but it’s fading fast, If they move much further out of range the sensors might have a hard time resolving their signature against the background radiation.” She replied, holding onto the console herself to stop herself from succumbing to nauseousness.

“Do your best to keep them on scope, we can’t afford to lose them now!” said Wallace, trying to balance himself before making a dash back to his chair. “Harris, how long before they reach the anomaly?” he directed another question before taking his seat.

“About twenty minutes sir! And we’re probably ten minutes behind them!” Harris replied, not taking his eyes off the controls for a second as he put all his piloting skills to the test. 

Despite their overriding objective to recover or destroy the Oppenheimer energy device, he couldn’t prevent himself from placing Doctor Xan at the forefront of his mind. While he of course knew that the mission came first, the thought of not being able to save her pushed him into a state of mind where he became entirely focused on his flying. As such he kept the thought of her in the forefront of his mind with every minute course correction he made. 

“Engineering to Bridge, You’ve got 8.94!, but it’s going to be bumpy, and I’m not sure how long she’ll hold together!” 

“Great work Chief… Harris, step on it!” Wallace ordered as he said a brief Hail Mary under his breath.

Harris acknowledged his order and spammed the control to increase their speed, he watched the readout fluctuate back and forth as the engines struggled to stabilise and answer the helm. Warp 8.92, Warp 8.93, Warp 8.92, .93, .94. and Warp 8.93 again. 

“Buckle up!” he yelled, as he worked to re-align the warp field governor and try to stabilise their speed. By this point, what had been an unsettling vibration now felt like Thyanis was being tossed about in an Ion storm as the inertial dampeners consistently failed to keep up with the ship’s violent reaction to being pushed toward the edge of the laws of physics.

A short time later On the Ferengi Vessel

There was an uneasy calm inside the Ferengi cargo bay as Molly and Dr Sutherland patiently bided their time, working on the energy device, but slowly and carefully as to complete the minimum amount of work possible to avoid suspicion.

Molly had no idea if there were ships inbound to rescue them, but she knew that despite what Daimon Tal promised, the likelihood was that once her usefulness expired, she would more than likely be detained in the brig or worse. She had to keep working as long as possible to have the best chance of thwarting her captors plans. 

Fortunately, her knowledge of science and theoretical physics was something that was still of use to Dr. Sutherland and this gave Daimon Tal a reason to put her to work for a little while longer. She made herself look busy writing equations whilst still observing the guard’s patrols. Whenever she felt there was a window where she wasn’t being directly observed, she took a moment to discuss a plan with her fellow prisoner.

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up, it’s already been nearly eight hours and I think the guard is getting impatient,” she said hushfully. 

“I’m almost done with the modifications, just like you said it will look like a malfunction and start leaking Theta radiation, hopefully, they won’t want to take the chance of being turned into puddles of orange goo, and jettison her into space!” said Sutherland as he crawled out from under the device. Molly had done an amazing job regenerating his cellular structure, while he still appeared much older than 35 years of age, he had regained much of his mobility.

“Here, slip this into your coat pocket and keep it hidden.” Molly discreetly handed the Doctor a hypospray she had been hiding inside her uniform jacket.

“What’s this for?” asked Sutherland

“Arithrazine, it will help counteract theta radiation exposure, but I only packed one vial in my med bag so don’t use it unless you have to,” Molly whispered.

“If I recall correctly, this has to be taken under medical supervision, and what about you?” said Sutherland.

“I don’t think you wanna argue with me when you consider the alternative, and I think it’s far more likely Tal will send you to fix the device, It is your design after all,” she said.

 “You keep it, besides, you’ve already pumped me full of that hydro-corto-whatever, and I’d rather not be high as a kite when I’m trying to defuse a bomb with the explosive yield of a small star!” said Sutherland, allowing his chivalry to guide his decision making.

“It’s not psychoactive, and it’s not up for debate, Doctors orders!” Molly replied, almost forgetting they were under guard and allowing her voice to carry.

“GET BACK TO WORK HEW-MON!” a voice yelled from across the cargo bay.

Molly stood up and looked over at the Ferengi guard who was beginning to grow suspicious and had begun approaching them to inspect their progress.

“You’re taking it and that’s final!” Molly growled under her breath as she slipped the medicine into Sutherland’s pocket herself and went back to her equations.

Sutherland rolled his eyes briefly before standing up and beginning a simulation at the energy devices console. The display showed a perfect start-up sequence, establishing a quantum singularity, and then showed a text-book introduction of the bosonic field into the chamber. The display simplified the reaction for easy understanding and projected an approximation that showed the field gaining momentum as it orbited the black hole and reflected off the walls of the chamber like ripples in a pond.

The Ferengi observed the simulation for a few seconds and then, satisfied that the prisoners were still working, went back to his post.

Meanwhile – Ferengi Bridge

“Daimon, we are approaching the coordinates, but the Starfleet ship is still in pursuit!” reported the tactical officer.

“Reduce speed, Take us into the anomaly!” Tal ordered as he fed himself another hand full of tube grubs.

“And signal our buyer that we have arrived, hopefully, we can get this exchange done before the Hew-mons arrive!” he added, spitting pieces of his meal as he spoke with his mouth full.

“Message transmitted, Daimon, can I remind you that our sensors will be blinded inside the anomaly and we will be unable to power shields or phasers!” replied the tactical officer, concerned about the potential disadvantage they were willingly entering into.

Tal ignored his tactical officers’ report, he knew of the anomalies effects and was content to take that risk after all the Starfleet ship would also suffer the same effects should they choose to pursue it, and it was the specific instructions of their contractee to deliver the device to this location.

Tal keyed his arm console and cleared his throat, “Ehem, Attention my esteemed guests, my patience is wearing thin! What’s your status?” he playfully declared over the intercom. 

“We still need to work out a few kinks, I wouldn’t want to rush getting this right, you are asking us to make a bomb after all” Dr. Sutherland’s voice replied over comms.

“You have ten minutes doctor, then you’ll have to explain yourself to my contractee, for your sake, I hope you can give them good news… Ten minutes, tic toc!” Tal replied before closing the channel. He shovelled another handful of grubs into his mouth and shredded them with his fangs, humming a delightful melody to himself as he began to visualise the Latinum that would soon be filling his cargo hold.

Meanwhile USS Thyanis

“Sir, the Ferengi just dropped out of warp, they are entering the anomaly!” Garcia reported as she tried desperately to keep down her lunch that was being tossed about by the ship’s violent shaking. 

“Harris, E.T.A?” Wallace asked, also gripping the arms of his chair with such force, he could feel his fingernails puncturing the upholstery. 

“We will be on them in less than three minutes sir!” Harris replied as his hands danced across the console like a pianist skilfully composing a dramatic chorus.

“Steady as she goes!” Wallace ordered, then immediately realising that there could be nothing anyone could do to make their ride any more or less steady.

The Anomaly was a vast region of interstellar dust, debris, and pockets of variable density that cloaked larger objects that had wandered into the region due to gravitational drift. It was essentially a minefield of cosmic proportion that ensnared any vessel that was foolish enough to enter without extensive modification. There were derelict hulls of long-forgotten ships, drifting endlessly and long after their crew had perished after becoming lost in its clag.

Underpinning the entire region, was a weakening of the barrier between normal space and subspace which made navigation almost impossible to all but a few vessels.

From deep within the fog, approached a vessel that dwarfed the small Ferengi marauder. It slowly emerged like a leviathan from the depths and hovered with an intimidating posture off the Ferengi bow. 

Tal felt intimidated by the image displayed on his viewscreen. The ship’s design was unlike anything of the Alpha quadrant races, but he could barely make it out through all the interference. 

“Hail them!” Tal commanded, swallowing a gulp of saliva to lubricate his vocal cords. He waited for a nod from his conn officer before making an opening statement.

“Greetings! On behalf of the Ferengi Alliance may I extend–” Tal was abruptly silenced as his buyer interrupted him.

“SILENCE FERENGI, DO YOU HAVE WHAT I WANT?”  a strident voice boomed over the transmission.

“In my cargo bay as promised, now shall we discuss payment?” Tal replied unable to contain his greed for wealth.

“THERE IS NOTHING TO DISCUSS, TRANSPORT THE DEVICE, AND THE SCIENTIST IMMEDIATELY, WE ARE SENDING YOU CO-ORDINATES” 

“Of course, without delay. But before I do, can we perhaps negotiate a little–”

“THERE WILL BE NO NEGOTIATIONS, TRANSPORT THE DEVICE IMMEDIATELY!”

“Now wait just one minute here, at least listen to my proposal!” Tal pleaded, trying desperately to buy some time for his prisoners to make the device fully operational.

“TRANSPORT THE DEVICE NOW FERENGI, YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE BEFORE WE TERMINATE OUR AGREEMENT AND OPEN FIRE!” 

The transmission ended abruptly, leaving Tal feeling exposed and approaching a state of panic. “Send the transport co-ordinates to the cargo bay, If they won’t listen to me, I guess ill just have to explain in person!” Tal said as he left the bridge.

Meanwhile – USS Thyanis

The crew felt an immediate sense of relief as Thyanis secured from warp, the shaking stopped and the deafening drone of the overstressed engines returned to the familiar low hum everyone was used to.

As the ship approached the threshold of the anomaly Wallace began preparing himself and his crew for what was to come.

“Harris, walk me through how we do this again.” He said as he walked over to the conn comfortably and with confidence in his balance for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

“The anomaly affects sensors, shields, and energy weapons, with any luck Tal will have the same issues, Garcia and the Chief modified the main deflector to discharge a short tachyon burst, we should be able to use it to ping and locate Tal’s ship without conventional sensors,” Harris explained.

“Sort of like sonar?” Wallace asked, trying to simplify his X.O’s explanation.

“Essentially, yes, but there’s a catch. We can only track bearing and distance, not speed or direction, and every time we ‘ping’ the Ferengi will likely be able to detect our location as well, for a moment,” added Garcia.

“We can use the triangulation to get as close as we dare, then we should be able to detect the residual tachyons passively when we are within five hundred metres, then we beam an away team over to look for the device and Molly. Said Harris, expanding his explanation.

“Great work, all of you! You’ve given us a fighting chance at turning this around, now let’s get to work! Battle Stations!” Wallace commanded as he resumed the centre chair.

The red alert klaxon sounded, signalling one final call to arms as Harris piloted Thyanis into the depths of the anomaly.

Ferengi Vessel – Cargo bay

Tal marched into the cargo bay, putting on his most impressive business coat and preparing himself to make the transaction of a lifetime. As he approached the device, Drs. Sutherland and Xan stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on the little Ferengi as he closed them down to inspect the goods.

“Ten minutes are up! It had better be working!” He barked as he adjusted his cuff links.

Xan and Sutherland looked at each other with a glance that between the two of them signified that they were ready to enact their plan. Sutherland stepped forward and gave his final report on the progress he had made.

“Well, I never designed it to be a weapon, but it should work, but we obviously couldn’t test it” said Sutherland.

Tal approached the device and placed his hand upon the cold metallic sphere and smiled. “Guards!, take the Trill back to the brig. As for you Hew-mon, I’m afraid I must ask you to accompany me to my buyers ship.” Tal said fiendishly.

Xan and Sutherland glanced at each other again, “And if I refuse?” He asked.

“Well you have no need for a Doctor any more, for her sake, that would be… unwise.” Tal gestured for his guard to raise a phaser at Molly’s head, there was no doubt about what would happen to her if he refused.

Sutherland nodded and complied, portraying a convincing act that his decision was based on concern for Molly’s welfare, and not that the two doctors had already agreed it in advance.

After a few moments Tal initiated the transport cycle, their patterns began to dematerialise from the deck and slowly faded away leaving Molly and her guard.

Meanwhile – USS Thyanis

“Garcia, anything?” Wallace asked, assessing the performance of their strategy.

“I’m having trouble getting a clear reading sir… there’s too much ‘noise’ being generated from Thyanis, the sensors can’t tell what’s the environment or contamination from the ship’s own signature.” She replied, frustrated. 

“Bridge to Engineering, I need you to power down the warp core and any non-essential system, everything but the thrusters, air, and sensors,” Wallace commanded.

“Sir, I wouldn’t recommend doing that! We ran her engines so hot, they need time to cool down and stabilise before we shut them down. If we do it now, there’s a chance we might never get them started again!” Martin responded over Comms. 

“Sorry Chief but this is mission critical, we will just have to take the chance, rig for silent running!” Said, Wallace. The prospect of losing all main propulsion permanently was deeply concerning, but he knew that the priority was stopping Tal and saving Dr Xan, all other concerns were secondary. 

Martin acknowledged and a few moments later the Thyanis’s lights and non-essential consoles either dimmed or shut off completely. Harris was only left with thruster power to pilot the ship, but this wasn’t a major problem as the idea was to coast silently through the anomaly, like a 21st-century submarine, hunting its prey from the shadows of the deep.

“Much clearer now sir, give me another pulse from the deflector,” said Garcia as she got to work trying to plot Tal’s location.

Wallace nodded over to the ensign currently manning the Ops station and much like an old submarine, there was now a noticeable ‘Twang’ sound that pulsed through the hull as the deflector discharged its burst.

Garcia remained fixated on her screen, she tracked the pulse on its outward journey and looked for any signs of the tachyons co-locating in any particular direction. As seconds turned to minutes she was still struggling to get a fix on the Ferengi’s location. Several pulses later and the bridge crew was starting to worry. Either the Ferengi had given them the slip, or they were so deep in the anomaly the tachyons had not yet reached them, and they had effectively shone a torch in a dark room to reveal their location.

Meanwhile – The buyer’s vessel

Tal and Doctor Sutherland had materialised into a similar-sized cargo bay, not unlike the one on Tal’s ship. It was dark, and despite calling out for a response Tal had yet to receive so much as a hello.

He spread out looking for an exit and trying to work out why no one had come to meet him, or the scientist. He gingerly navigated the room in the dark, his only source of light was a small flame from a Latinum-plated lighter he kept in his jacket; an item he always kept with him in case he intended to do business with a race that burned herbs for recreational purposes, as barbaric as that was.

In his haste to try and find an exit, he had completely forgotten about Doctor Sutherland. He turned back to try and catch sight of him again, but his lighter was too dim to reach more than a few feet in front of him. He stumbled backward, knocking over a crate that came crashing to the floor with an echoing thud. Regaining his footing he turned to see what damage he had caused and discovered a small metal box, approximately one foot by two feet which had spilled its contents across the deck.

Tal kneeled to inspect the contents; dozens of small glass vials filled with an iridescent white fluid. Tal picked up a vial in curiosity and examined its contents, it was somehow familiar but he could not quite recall where he had seen it before.  

Suddenly, his mind wandered back to a phrase his buyer uttered some time ago; a phrase he had foolishly ignored as it indeed held some significance. ‘Victory is life’

“Ketracel white!…. Oh no!” Tal suddenly put the clues together and realised he had been a fool all along. His greed had blinded him to the damage he was about to do to the quadrant, supplying the greatest enemy the alpha quadrant had ever known with the means to destroy thousands of worlds.

Tal felt sick to his stomach, suddenly disgusted about what he had done.

Tal scrambled to his feet, only to turn and scream in terror as his lighter flame illuminated the face of Doctor Sutherland who had been stood directly behind him the whole time.

“Doctor, we need to get out of here now!” Tal quivered as he reached for his communicator. Before he could reach into his pocket, Tal was overcome with the most curious sensation. He felt a building warmth around his heart that almost felt as if it was flowing and trickling down his chest and his back. He felt light-headed and noticed it was all of a sudden becoming harder to breathe. Tal looked down at his chest and brought his lighter up to cast some illumination.

Penetrating his chest, was a long gelatinous mass, he followed it forward and saw that it connected perfectly with the arm of the Doctor standing in front of him. 

Tal’s mouth began to fill with blood, rising from the back of his throat as he immediately realised he had been impaled. 

“Receive this reward from the founders,” Sutherland said with a smile; his face beginning to warp and change into a perfect replica of Tal’s own. “May it keep you strong”

As the lights in the cargo bay finally began to activate, Tal could just about see thousands of similar caches of Ketracel white stacked in rows upon rows. His final thoughts were of the millions of bars of Latinum he had been promised for the deal, he tried to imagine what it would look like in his cargo hold before everything faded to black as he fell into death’s cold embrace. The last thing he would see before losing consciousness was the inside of his own chest as the changeling removed the mass that he had used to impale him and assumed Tal’s form completely.

As Tal crumpled to the floor; slowly did approach a short Vorta male, bowing towards his god as a mark of respect. “Founder!, We welcome you home. Such a shame to have to dispose of the Ferengi, I was looking forward to keeping a pet.” he said, maintaining his bow.

“The Ferengi was incompetent as he was stupid, The Starfleet ship is still out there. The fool didn’t have what it takes to finish them, he was weak” said the changeling, adjusting itself to its new form.

“I can have the Jem’Hadar crush them Immediately great one!” said the Vorta, eager to appease his master.

“NO! Send me back to the Ferengi ship first and wait for my signal, I have something else planned for their captain!” Said the changing. 

Meanwhile – USS Thyanis

“Contact!, Bearing one-nine-six, mark, six-five!” Garcia announced as she read her display.

“Harris bring us to within five hundred meters, let’s get a positive I.D and finish this,” ordered Wallace as he keyed the small display on his chair arm.

“Bridge to transporter room, Standby for transport!” he broadcast over the comms.

Ahead of him on the view screen, though the picture was fuzzy and hard to make out, the shape and form of the Ferengi D’kora class came into view.

“Confirmed sir, it’s the Ferengi!” Harris reported, bringing the ship into station keeping.

“Transporter room, energise!” Wallace gave the command, sending a team of seven young officers into harm’s way once again.

Away team Beam-In Site

Having materialised in the main cargo hold, the seven security officers immediately assumed a defensive formation and scanned the room with mk1 eyeball, looking for any immediate threats to engage. They were alone, and there was no sign of the energy device, Dr Xan or the Oppenheimer scientist.

The team leader took out a Tricorder and began scanning for additional life signs, the device pointed him towards the port side of the bay where a heavy door blocked their path. On the other side, the device was detecting several Ferengi life signs; most likely guards.

“Breaching charge!” The team leader said as he signalled for his team to approach the door. The entire team moved as a unit, sweeping 360 degrees with their phaser rifles. Their tactic was speed and overwhelming force, there was little time for stealth on this mission.

As the breacher moved up and attached a small spacial charge to the door, the remainder of the team stacked up along the wall, waiting for the order to advance. The charge was initiated, and everyone felt the thump of the shockwave in their chest as the blast tore a decent-sized hole right in the middle of the door. The officer at the front of the stack followed up with a stun grenade and like a finely rehearsed and well-timed effort, the entire team breached the door moments after its detonation.

The team flowed into the adjoining corridor and took aim at the group of stunned Ferengi. Their fingers moved onto their triggers and compressed the pull to a point just shy of the simulated break point. 

“WAIT!” shouted one of the Ferengi; lifting one of the hands covering his lobes to signal a surrender. “Don’t shoot!… We surrender!” he said cowardly. 

“We do?” said another in confusion, before suddenly realising he was staring down the barrel of a phaser rifle and quickly changed his mind, “I mean… We do!… Don’t shoot Hew-mons…Please!” The Ferengi added, smiling awkwardly.

“Take their weapons.” ordered the away team leader before addressing the first Ferengi directly. “You’re holding one of our crew mates, where is she?” 

“If we tell, promise not to shoot us?” the Ferengi asked, appearing to sincerely believe that this was a possible outcome.

“We’re Starfleet, we don’t execute prisoners!” replied the away team leader.

With relief on his face, the Ferengi began directing the away team leader, “You want the main brig, go to the end of the hall, turn right!” he said.

The away team leader gave the order to move out, leaving the Ferengi disarmed. The team had no time to capture prisoners, likewise, Thyanis’s brig was only a small two-person holding cell, they simply had no other choice but to let the Ferengi go; at the risk of allowing them to alert their crew mates.

The short walk to the Ferengi brig was uneventful, the quiet was disturbing but no one could complain about the progress. 

The doors to the Ferengi brig slid open but before anyone could put their head past the door a phaser blast shot out of the threshold and into the wall. The team took up a defensive posture with two riflemen laying down suppression whilst a third took his time to accurately locate and engage the shooter.

The moment he saw a pair of huge ears crown above the jailer’s console, he gently squeezed his trigger and prosecuted the threat with deadly accuracy. The only sound that could now be heard was the dull thud of meat falling limp on a hard floor and the unmistakable sound of a phaser scraping across the floor.

The team moved forward and began searching each of the cells, but there was no sign of Dr Xan or the Scientist.

As the last of the team stepped into the room, the doors slammed shut and sealed.

USS Thyanis Bridge

“Away team to Thyanis, we’ve reached the brig, there’s no sign of Dr Xan or the Scientist. The Ferengi seem to have sealed us in, What are your orders?”

“Standby Away team!” Wallace instructed as he walked over to Garcia to work out a plan.

“Can we beam them out?” He asked.

“With respect sir… It’s a brig,” said Garcia, feeling it should be fairly obvious by the compartment’s very nature that it was shielded against external transporters. 

Wallace thumped his own head as if to acknowledge that he had just asked a very stupid question. 

Suddenly Garcia’s console started beeping. “Sir, we are being hailed by the Ferengi Ship… It’s Daimon Tal.” 

“On Screen!” Wallace could feel his anger brewing, but he needed to remain professional. Nothing would satisfy him more than to lay into the Daimon right now, but that would achieve nothing. 

The view screen initialised to show the likeness of Daimon Tal and Dr Xan on the Ferengi bridge. Tal was seated, whilst Xan was confined inside a forcefield. 

“Captain Wallace!”

Wallace knew his options were limited, he knew Thyanis couldn’t take on the Ferengi alone, “Surrender Tal!, this has gone far enough! I’ve already reported your crimes to Starfleet, and the Ferengi Alliance… Ships are on their way to take you into custody!”  

“Don’t try and insult my intelligence by lying to me Captain, we both know that the rest of the Fourth Fleet is days away!… but you are right about one thing. This has gone far enough!… Transport yourself to my bridge Captain, let’s discuss the terms of… My surrender, in person.”

Wallace gave a hand gesture to Lt Garcia to cut the audio so he could speak freely. 

“Something’s not right!” Wallace said quietly. 

“Why does he feel like surrendering all of a sudden? he holds every advantage over us!” Garcia said.

“It doesn’t make sense, Sir this is a very bad idea…” said Harris.

“Maybe it’s not…” Wallace contemplated, working up a plan in his head. 

“Have you lost your damn mind!” Harris jumped in with an outburst, “Even if it wasn’t against every Starfleet protocol, he’s clearly up to something, why the hell would he suddenly want to negotiate face-to-face?”

“I agree with Commander Tan sir, It has to be a trap!” Garcia pitched in her own opinion.

“Agreed, It’s clearly a trap, but I don’t intend to become its victim, my compliance might just push the Daimon into being too complacent,” Wallace said, stroking his goatee.

“Captain!..Sir… I must object!” Harris was lost for words, but he had no wish to see his friend wander so willingly into what was clearly a situation that carried an unacceptable level of risk.

“Noted Number One!, Thyanis to Away team!” Said Wallace

“Go ahead, sir”

“Is there any way you can get through that door?” Wallace asked 

“We’re working on overriding the mechanism, It’ll take some time but I think we can do it!” 

“Work as fast as you can, then proceed directly to the Ferengi Bridge!” ordered Wallace as he started making his way toward the exit.

“Wallace!” cried Harris, “Please don’t do this!” he pleaded desperately. He already had to prepare himself for the possibility of losing Dr Xan, he did not want to have to contemplate the possibility of losing another friend today as well.

Wallace stared at his X.O. and smiled at his concern, before nodding to Garcia to re-open the channel to Tal’s ship. “All right Tal, I’m coming aboard, but if my crew member is harmed in any way… you have my word that I’ll see to it you won’t see the inside of any jail cell… are we clear?” Wallace said, sternly and with resolve.

“Crystal! You have my word!”

“You have the bridge, Harris!” Wallace delivered his parting command as he stepped out onto the deck and towards the ladder on his way to the transporter room.

A short time later – Ferengi Bridge

As the doors to Tal’s bridge opened Wallace immediately set eyes upon Molly who was still confined behind a forcefield. He hesitated to cross the threshold as he was not yet able to see the Daimon. The room was dimly lit, and there were no other crew members at their stations. It looked deserted and that gave Wallace a pit in his stomach that forced him to approach with caution.

“Lieutenant, are you all right?” he asked.

Molly just kept staring, not reacting in any way to the appearance of her commanding officer.

“Lieutenant?” Wallace asked again but she still didn’t react. He drew his phaser and decided to enter the room cautiously, approaching the forcefield slowly all while keeping his head on a swivel and scanning the room visually for any signs of movement or any indication of an ambush.

As he reached the barrier, he looked his crew member directly in the face, “Molly!” he said firmly, trying to attract her attention.  

For a moment, Wallace was somewhat confused until he considered the possibility that he might not be looking at his crew member after all. With his right hand he took a leap of faith and reached out to touch the force field, only to find that instead of being zapped by its energy, his hand passed right through the barrier and through the arm of Molly as he tried to touch her. “A Hologram?” Wallace muttered. 

Wallace was distracted by the image just long enough to neglect his diligence in observing his surroundings. For he had failed to notice a shadow stalking him since he entered the room, just out of sight, in the corner of his eye where his mind would easily disregard it; a shadow that was now slithering closer and closer to him while he remained distracted.

Meanwhile Thyanis Bridge

Harris sat uncomfortably in the centre chair, waiting for any news from his captain or the away team, he couldn’t do anything but stare out at the abyss on the view screen; distorted by static and anomalous artifacts. 

His mind turned to Molly, and how it made him sick to his stomach that she wasn’t yet safely back on board the Thyanis, and what was worse, now he felt a similar feeling for his dear friend and Captain. 

He remained fixated on the view screen allowing himself to become mesmerized by the patterns emerging in the static. He longed to see a normal sky and put this mission behind him.

For a moment he thought he saw a feint purple flash, but dismissed it as another anomalous artefact created by the compromised sensor data. 

‘There it is again’ he thought to himself as he began to sit up straight and pay more attention to the particular part of the view screen. 

Once more he definitely saw a flash, unmistakable this time, this was no anomaly.

“Garcia, Is there any way to clear the view screen image up a little?” he asked, eager to try and get a better look at what was going on.

“I can try re-booting the visual sensor array, Might clear it up for a few seconds,” she replied.

“Do it!” Harris ordered as he now sat forward in the chair and remained fixated on the point of purple he had just seen.

As the viewscreen rebooted, the image became momentarily clearer. Through the dust and debris ahead of them Harris could just about make out the definitive shape of a large Jem’Hadar battleship and its opening barrage of disruptor fire heading directly towards Thyanis.

“Evasive manoeuvres!”

Ferengi Bridge

Wallace took out his Tricorder and began scanning for Trill life signs, Dr Xan surely couldn’t be far and he hoped to at least pick up her trail. As he took his first readings, his attention was drawn to the shadow lurking in the corner of his eye.

His head snapped around and he focused his vision, but nothing was there. He went back to checking his scan only to feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight as he realised that something was definitely moving in the room. He closed his Tricorder, returning it to his pocket as he began investigating more thoroughly. 

He approached the area he last saw the shadow with caution, his phaser drawn. He felt the pit in his stomach wrench with every step he took, as he could no longer ignore the feeling that he wasn’t alone.

As he approached one of the consoles towards the rear of the bridge, his eyes became locked on his own shadow; cast by the glow of the forcefield containing the hologram of Dr Xan. Following his own, only a moment later, was another distinct shadow. Wallace paused and took a moment to prepare himself. He knew now for certain that he was not alone in the room and whoever or whatever it was that was stalking him, clearly had no intention to engage in small talk.

He discreetly increased his phaser to a higher setting, just shy of ‘Kill’, and prepared himself to fight as the shadow moved closer and closer to his own.

At the same time – USS Thyanis Bridge

An initial impact of weapons fire from the Jem’Hadar ship rocked the ship, staggering everyone that was standing. The Thyanis had no shields and evidently, she was at a disadvantage because the enemy ship was somehow capable of using its energy weapons inside the anomaly.

“Defensive Pattern Epsilon Six!” Harris ordered as he instructed the Helm officer to take the Thyanis into a steep dive relative to the enemy, taking them deeper into the anomaly.

“How are they managing to track us so effectively!” he said, phrased more of a statement than a question directed at anyone in particular.

“I think it’s the tachyon pulse sir, we’ve become saturated due to our proximity to the Ferengi!” Garcia suggested while fighting the change in inertia as the dampers lagged.

“We need to put some distance between us and the Ferengi, over time our signature should dissipate!” She added. 

“Helm, full impulse, get us away from the Ferengi ship!” Harris Immediately ordered.

The helm officer acknowledged as he increased the ship’s speed to maximum, though now she was being bombarded by tiny bits of debris that sounded like raindrops bouncing off the hull.

Another volley of disruptor fire grazed the hull, the Jem’Hadar were becoming less accurate by the minute, suggesting that their plan was working.  After a few minutes, the weapons fire ceased completely and there was a brief moment of calm while the crew worked out their next move.

“Suggestions?” Harris asked openly, hoping that someone would have a brilliant idea to give them the edge in this fight.

“The tachyon pulse will still work sir, but we will have to be much more conservative if we want to stay undetected. We also need to keep moving to avoid the Jem’Hadar Tri-angulating our position.” Garcia mentioned, “Now if I could only work out how they managed to get their targeting sensors to work, I might be able to give you a chance to shoot back.” She added.

Harris reviewed the situation for a moment, then, in a sudden moment of clarity, an idea presented itself to him. “Maybe we don’t need to,” he said calmly.

“Sir?” Garcia said, not quite understanding the Commander’s statement.

“Fighter pilots in the 20th century had a similar problem because their engagements took place at such long ranges, the primary weapons at the time were stand-off missiles that could use the launching aircraft’s radar for initial guidance but then switch to its own, internal guidance as it approached the target.” Said Harris, with as much enthusiasm as a school history teacher.

“How does that help us?” Garcia asked curiously.

“Would it be possible to modify a few torpedoes to emit their own Tachyon pulse?” Harris asked. 

“And what, turn them into homing torpedoes? Sure!, but we wouldn’t be able to control what they hit when they start tracking!” replied Garcia, trying to suggest that it wasn’t a great idea.

“We won’t need to… how long?” asked Harris.

Garcia did the numbers in her head, “Ten minutes to modify the guidance package, another five to reprogram the firmware… call it twenty minutes,” she said.

“Have Martin meet you in the magazine to assist you, I want two torpedoes modified and ready for launch in that time, then I want you to prep me two more!” Harris instructed, hoping that the Chief could help speed the process.

Lt Garcia nodded as she made her way off the bridge, handing her console over to another crew member but not before giving them a crash course on how to work the Tachyon pulse.

Harris then approached the Ensign at the helm and began delivering a lesson of his own, “Okay ensign, I’m going to talk you through an old Fighter tactic called the F-Pole manoeuvre…”

Meanwhile – Jem’Hadar Bridge

“The human ship has disappeared from our scope, they are going deeper into the subspace anomaly, do we pursue?” the Jem’Hadar first queried his Vorta superior.

“Follow them at one-half impulse and keep scanning for Tachyon emissions.” The Vorta responded, removing his visor so he could speak to one of his colleagues; a female Vorta.

“Have you reviewed the design of the Oppenheimer device?” He asked his colleague.

“We have, the design schematics are now stored in our data banks, and we should have no trouble building a second device, the Trill woman seems to have attempted to sabotage the prototype, but the Founder managed to provide us with sufficient information to reverse her alterations… we now have a fully operational prototype for deployment!” The Vorta scientist replied, smirking with pride at her work.

“Excellent, well I say that now is as good a time as any for a test fire. Go and prime the device, and inform me when you are ready to deploy!” The Vorta superior commanded.

Ferengi Bridge 

Wallace turned sharply and aimed his Phaser, but when he did so, he found that there was still no one there. “Enough games Tal!, Show yourself!” he shouted, growing tired of the pathetic nature of the Ferengi’s teasing.

While Wallace was still looking to the front of the bridge, behind him crept up a mass of grotesque fluid that quickly assumed the form of the Ferengi Daimon.

“As you wish Captain!” the changeling spoke as the Ferengi Daimon.

Wallace, startled by the suddenly manifesting voice turned again and pointed his phaser directly at the Daimon.

“Your weapon won’t work Captain… I have erected a dampening field around this room.” The changeling said as he began pacing.

“What have you done with my crew member Tal!” Wallace asked, frustratedly.

“She’s safe and unharmed I assure you.” replied the changeling, forming a smile with the facsimile of a mouth it had replicated.

“I want to see her now Tal!, release her, then you can get down to whatever business you have with me!” demanded Wallace.

“You are in no position to demand anything from me Captain, such a human trait… to believe that one is superior to everything else, ignorant of your shortcomings and vulnerabilities.” the changeling retorted.

Wallace began to recognise that the way the Daimon spoke was slightly off, unlike the Ferengi he first met a few weeks ago. It was almost like he was speaking with a completely different person.

“Who are you?” Wallace asked with some trepidation.

“Ah, finally, you are beginning to put that squishy little brain of yours to good use!” the changeling chuckled as it finally felt the time was right to reveal itself.

At first, the changeling considered reverting to its gelatinous form but instead thought that assuming the likeness of Commander Jones would be far more impactful. The changeling began to morph, replicating Wallace down to the finest detail.

Wallace wasn’t as surprised to encounter a changeling as he thought the creature might have hoped. If anything it made more sense to him that the Daimon was an agent of the Dominion all along, curiously he felt his faith in the wide-lobed beings moderately restored as he learned that his foe had been an imposter.

“There never was a Daimon Tal was there?” Wallace suggested.

“There was… Up until a short time ago, when I killed and replaced him. He was as gullible as he was greedy… not like you Captain…no, you are truly a uniquely resilient specimen.” the changeling spoke, assuming Wallace’s voice. Behind its back, the creature began to form a sharp spike with its hand, preparing itself to deliver a surprise, fatal attack when it was done amusing itself.

“I do mean this when I say, it’s a shame to have to end your existence Captain.” The changeling suddenly struck out, attempting to stab Wallace through the heart but missing and piercing the display of a nearby console as the commander dove out of the way just in time.

Bolts of electricity arced around the changeling’s form as it screamed in pain, unable to maintain its form as the energy from the console coerced through. After a moment or two, it managed to retrieve its appendage, now completely gelatinous it quickly regained its composure in pursuit of its prey.

Wallace had managed to make his way across the room to a command console and had gotten to work trying to disable the dampening field. He knew he didn’t stand a chance against the changeling unarmed, he needed his phaser to have any hope of survival.

Just as the changeling freed itself from the arcing console, Wallace managed to isolate the correct subroutine but didn’t have time to proceed any further, as the changeling was now bearing down on him ready to strike again. Wallace briefly recited his last rites and braced himself to be struck down. 

The changeling wrapped its grotesque form around Wallace’s neck, choosing to asphyxiate him rather than risk damaging another console and injuring itself. The creature felt satisfaction as it began to feel the joints in the commander’s spine pop under the pressure; a delightful appetiser to the main course of crushing his bones.

Wallace flailed his limbs in an involuntary response to his trachea being crushed, he couldn’t breathe and the build-up of carbon dioxide in his blood was forcing his body into a state of panic, along with the pain of the increased blood pressure in his head; he clawed at the changing instinctively as the only rational thought that went through his mind was the worry that his head might simply explode under the pressure before he passed out from the strangulation.

His vision began to fade, colours at first, and then his sensitivity to light as he began to slip away into unconsciousness. 

As the commander’s fate appeared sealed, a petite hand adorned with eloquent brown spots picked up where Wallace left off and deactivated the dampening field from the console. She then picked up the commander’s phaser, set it to its highest setting, and fired at the beast.

“Let him go you ugly son of a bitch!” Molly screamed as she let off a second shot. She too was wounded, nursing a broken arm and a nasty head wound. Alas, she had just enough spunk left in her to fight back with a ferocity that would arouse a decorated Klingon warrior.

The creature released its grip on Wallace, not a gesture of obedience, but distraction as it was affected by the phaser blast, if not wounded.

Wallace gasped uncontrollably as his air supply was restored, he felt an immediate recovery and as fresh oxygen reached his brain he regained his vision and sense of awareness, but needed a moment or two to regain his composure.

Molly kept firing keeping the creature at bay as the doors to the bridge opened again and in flowed the away team; rifles aimed. They quickly assessed the situation and began opening fire on the changeling.

The combined volleys of phaser fire sent the creature into a frenzied panic, it clawed out and screamed as each blast injured it further. It was in distress but the phasers were not having enough of an impact to kill it.

With the last of its strength, the creature slithered itself into a nearby air vent and fled the room looking for a place to recover.

“Sir, are you alright?” said Molly as she limped her way over to commander Jones.

With a painful raspy voice, he managed to force out some words, “I’m fine, Took you long enough!” he jokingly said as the away team moved in to provide first aid.

“That…thing came back from the Jem’Hadar ship, Sir they have the energy device!” Molly said with concern in her voice.

“Wait….what?…Jem’Hadar?” Wallace sounded surprised.

“You didn’t know?” said Molly

Wallace shook his head, “Got to warn….Harris!” he said, coughing.

One of the away team members immediately took over the communications console but found the Thyanis to be nowhere in range. “Okay, I’ve got bad news and really bad news,” he said.

“Out with it Petty officer!” said the team leader.

“Sensor logs show, Thyanis broke away from us, pursued by the Jem’Hadar ship… and I’ve just been locked out of the controls… I think our changeling friend is still in control!” the petty officer responded.

A short time later USS Thyanis Bridge

“Bridge to Torpedo Magazine, Give me some good news Olivia!” Harris said as he stood next to the helmsman who himself was still trying to retain the walkthrough the commander had given him.

“Torpedo one is in the tube, I need another couple of minutes to finish up on torpedo two,” Garcia responded.

“Good work, Tactical give me a tachyon pulse, single ping! Helm get ready!” ordered Harris, looking forward to kicking some Jem’Haddar butt. 

“Ping initiated!” responded the tactical officer as she focused eagerly on her screen waiting for a return. “Contact! 3-3-5 mark 2-1-0 – Seventy-Five Thousand Kilometers!” she added a moment later.

“Helm, off-set that bearing forty degrees to starboard, three-quarter Impulse!, Tactical repeat tachyon pings every thirty seconds!” ordered Harris. So far so good he was confident his tactic would work against their foe. The was designed to make it harder for the enemy to track their position, as lateral movement would reduce their closure rate and make them appear to be moving slower than they were.

“Range now forty thousand kilometres, They’re taking the bait!” said the tactical officer a few moments later, not hiding her excitement.

“Helm come to port eighty degrees, increase to full impulse!” Harris ordered. Changing their direction was the next step, adding a little confusion to the mix as they closed the distance from a different direction.

“Range now twenty-five thousand!” reported Tactical. 

“Come nose on at fifteen K, fire at Ten!, then skate 1-8-0 degrees and cease all further pulses!” Harris instructed, taking the centre chair and preparing himself for a wild ride.

“Garica to bridge, two torpedoes locked and loaded!”

“Fifteen thousand Kilometres Sir!” the tactical officer said one final time.

“Now Helm!”

As Harris gave the order the helm the ship entered a steep 90-degree bank to starboard, using maximum performance to point the nose directly at their target. As soon as the turn was complete, the tactical officer signaled their weapons employment distance of 10,000km and Harris ordered her to fire. 

Two torpedoes one after the other left the tube at high velocity, before taking their own 45-degree offset course into the vertical. Meanwhile, Thyanis rolled inverted over her central axis in a full rotation to port and performed a high-performance dive into a ‘split S’

On the bridge, the tactical officer, in addition to trying to hold onto her lunch was busy scanning for the Jem’Hadar ship and also monitoring the torpedo’s guidance system.

“Torpedos are ‘Pit-dog’! Sir!” she said, butchering the phrase.

“That’s ‘Pitbull’ Ensign, It means the torpedoes are guiding themselves! Nice try though. Keep an eye out for anti-matter explosions!” Harris corrected, despite this being a deadly serious engagement, he was amused that the younger crew were eager to impress by using the correct terminology he tried to teach them.

Meanwhile – Jem’Hadar Battleship Bridge.

“First!, I’ve lost the Thyanis’s Tachyon signature, they’ve disappeared again!” one of the Jem’Hadar bridge crew reported.

Before anyone could respond, an alarm sounded at the tactical station. 

“Incoming Torpedos!, They’re right on top of us!” yelled the Tactical officer moments before being flung across the room by the shockwave that propagated through the ship when the first warhead detonated. 

Without shields, they were vulnerable and the sheer velocity of the warheads caused catastrophic damage to the Jem’Hadar vessel upon impact.

The Vorta in charge of the bridge was killed instantly by a falling support beam, which, crushed his head like a melon. Several other Jem’Hadar soldiers were either maimed or lay deceased following the blast, as command now fell to the surviving Jem’Hadar first.

“Damage report!” the First requested aggressively

“Disruptors are offline, Hull breaches on almost all the upper decks!” replied Second as he unceremoniously kicked a dead Jem’Hadar out of his way.

‘Cargo bay to the bridge! what’s happening!’ The voice of the female Vorta blared over the internal communications.

“Starfleet has managed to disable us! I will instruct the pilot to ram our ship into their vessel!”

‘Stand down Immediately!, any more damage could destabilise the human device, I have already begun the initiation sequence, a singularity is forming….take us to the edge of the anomaly immediately we must transmit our data to the remainder of the fleet!” The Vorta ordered.

First stood torn between his engineered instincts to obey the Vorta and his engineered instinct to crush the enemy. He ordered internal comms to be disabled and decided to disobey and set his ship on a collision course.

“Victory is Life!” he called aloud.

“Victory is Life!” replied the remaining Jem’Hadar on the bridge in one, unified statement of defiance. They could not in good conscience turn their backs on a fight, they were bred for only one purpose, to fight and this is how they chose to end their existence.

Moments later – USS Thyanis

“Registering two good hits… sir!, the Jem’Hadar ship appears to be still moving, Distance: twenty-seven thousand kilometers and closing!” reported Tactical, her joy suddenly turning to a more serious expression.

“Helm, recommit on the Jem’Hadar warship! Offset forty degrees to starboard, engage at fifteen! Tactical, increase tachyon pulse intervals to twenty seconds, let’s make this next hit count!” said Harris, eager to deliver a crushing blow. As the bridge crew carried out his orders, Lt Garcia transmitted again over the intercom. 

‘Garcia to bridge, I’ve got you one more torpedo in the tube, but we’ve encountered a problem with the next, I need some time to prep a new warhead’

“No time Lieutenant, one will have to do!” Harris replied as he oversaw the bridge crew in delivering the killing shot.

“Fifteen thousand Kilometres!” reported Tactical. 

“Nose-on again Helm, Tactical, Fire when ready!” Harris ordered.

For a second time, Thyanis maneuvered like a fighter half her size and launched a follow-up photon torpedo. The warhead behaved exactly as before where it pitched up vertically before going active and crashing back down on the Jem’Hadar ship’s dorsal section directly hitting the command centre and sending another shockwave through the ship.

Her hulk began to drift for a moment, rolling over as if she lost the ability to control her pitch and yaw. She began to tumble bursting into flames as plasma fires erupted from her hul like fireworks.

Moments later she began to disintegrate but only briefly before imploding in on herself. A blinding white light consumed her before she was torn apart by the gravitational forces that birthed a monster from her hull – a self-sustaining black hole, it consumed the debris from the ship and immediately began feeding on the surrounding environment of dust and stellar material.

On the Thyanis bridge, the crew was able to recognise the destruction of the Jem’Hadar ship but the interference on the screen made it difficult to make out what was happening beyond that. Despite this Harris had grown used to trying to make out the image behind the static and began to form an image in his mind of what he should be seeing.

“Is that a…” He began to ask

“Black hole, yes sir! responded Tactical. The moment the singularity formed, the anomaly’s subspace interference began to dissipate, and the crew soon began to realise that sensors were beginning to pick up more data as the black hole consumed more matter.

Harris felt a fool for not considering it, the Jem’Hadar must have had the stolen energy device aboard their ship, there was no other explanation.

“Sir sensors are coming back up, I have the location of the Ferengi vessel… They’re too close to the event horizon to escape under their own power!” reported the tactical officer.

“Can we tractor them away?” Harris asked.

“Thyanis is too small it would be like an ant trying to move a rock on its own!” she said with a disappointing tone. 

“Sir, there’s another problem!… I still can’t get shields back online until we clear the dust cloud, but the black hole has begun accelerating the surrounding matter into its orbit. If we don’t get out of here soon sir, Thyanis will be cooked by the friction generated by the accretion disk!” she added.

“Tan to Catterick!” Harris said as he tapped his com-badge.

“Martin here, go ahead”

“Chief, we need the warp engines back online as a matter of urgency!” Harris Instructed.

“I had a feeling, I’m already working on it, but like I said to the Captain, there’s a chance the injectors might have welded shut as they cooled.” 

“Well, you better un-weld them chief, because if we don’t get warp power soon, we’re going to be getting very intimate with a black hole!” Harris stressed.

“Duly noted sir… Miracle coming up sir, aye!” The channel closed, which Harris took as a sign that the Chief was now aware of the urgency and working on the problem without delay.

“Helm, lay in a course for the Ferengi Ship, Tactical try hailing the away team and the captain!” Harris commanded as he became entrapped at the beauty and the horror of the image that was now appearing on the view screen. As the static faded away he watched in awe as the black hole continued to feed on the surrounding environment, it was only small at this point, but it was growing at an alarming rate.

Meanwhile – Ferengi Bridge

The away team watched in horror as the Ferengi view screen began to resolve an image of the black hole forming ahead of them. They were locked out of almost all controls and were unable to even get sensor readings to the bridge. 

“Molly!, Tell me that’s not what I think it is!” Wallace stated, hoping his science officer would correct him.

“Okay, That’s not what you think it is sir…” Molly replied, trying to stay light-hearted in the face of a pretty dire set of circumstances. “The Jem’Hadar ship must have tried to activate the energy device, but it shouldn’t have allowed a self-sustaining singularity to form… my best guess… they reversed my sabotage but were destroyed while the device was powering up!” she added.

The situation was not Wallace’s best day at the office. He was trapped on an alien vessel- that they couldn’t control, being pulled into a black hole with a murderous changeling running about the ship. Just when he was about to suggest something, his com-badge chirped.

“Thyanis to away team, come in Away team!” The voice of Lieutenant Commander Harris Tan had never been so soothing to anyone in the room, everyone looked out of the view screen and was immediately filled with joy and pride as their ugly little ship suddenly looked a whole lot more beautiful as it approached.

“Jones here! We’ve got Molly! Nine to beam up!” Wallace croaked through the rasp in his throat. He had never been so relieved to hear his X.O. tell him to stand by for transport.

Thyanis Bridge – Moments later

Wallace entered the bridge to a round of applause as he safely delivered Molly back home. She was a little beaten up and was still nursing an injury but she had decided to show her face on the bridge before taking herself down to sick bay and having the EMH patch her up.

“Harris! What is it with you and the centre chair? You nearly kill me in a transporter accident last week, now….this!” Wallace quipped with a smile on his face as he pointed to the viewscreen.

“Glad to see you’re alright captain!” Harris smiled as he gladly handed over the captain’s chair back to its rightful owner. As he stepped away his eyes met Molly’s once again and his heart skipped a beat. 

Without hesitation, Molly threw her good arm around the back of Harris’s head and planted a kiss on his lips. “For a moment, I didn’t think I’d see you again!” she said.

There was an awkward moment as everyone on the bridge witnessed this display of affection, but nobody could say they were surprised.

“Mister Tan, Take the helm if you please!” Wallace said, smiling that he had just gained an enticing talking point for his next poker game.

“Yes sir, Sorry sir” Harris composed himself.

“Garcia! Begin beaming the Ferengi survivors into the cargo hold! Erect a level ten security field around the compartment, including crawlspaces and air ducts, I want it completely isolated! Then post an armed security detail at the door!” Wallace ordered he knew he was taking a risk beaming the survivors on board, he had no idea how many might be changelings but his conscience wouldn’t let him condemn them all to die.

“Transport complete, security fields are in place!” Garcia reported. 

Satisfied that he had done his duty, Wallace gave the order, “Harris get us out of here!”

Harris engaged impulse, warp drive was still offline, but it became obvious that even at full impulse, the gravity of the black hole had become too great to escape. 

“No use sir, we can’t escape the black hole’s gravity, we’re being pulled in!” he said, desperately fighting his console for more power to the impulse drive.

“Engineering to bridge, Sir I need just a few more minutes to get the warp engines back up!” Martin’s voice boomed over the intercom.

“You don’t have a few minutes Chief! We need those engines now!” Wallace yelled, the situation was now becoming desperate as the monster depicted on their view screen began to fill more and more of the field of view.

“Standby bridge…”

The seconds ticked by and the view screen was now a majority black.

“Warp power at your command!”

“GO GO GO!” Wallace ordered desperately.

Harris instinctively reached over to the engage command and punched it so hard with his finger, he nearly cracked the display screen.

Everyone was gripping onto something like their lives depended on it, clenching their behinds as an emotional response until, to their relief, the viewscreen switched forward and displayed to everyone in the room; the familiar violent blue light show that preceded the manifestation of the warp field 

A unanimous sigh of relief cast across the deck as everyone released the tension in their bodies and truly relaxed for the first time in days.

“Warp two and holding sir!” Harris reported.

“Great work!…everyone…I couldn’t be more proud of you all!” Wallace commended, taking a moment to shut his eyes, for the first time in days.

“How about you go get some rack time sir, I can take it from here!” Harris offered, seeing that his commanding officer was exhausted.

“And risk another interstellar catastrophe? Not on your life commander… Im staying right where I’m from now on!” Wallace smiled in jest as he folded his arms and got comfortable.