“Decks 1 through 10 are secure.” Ensign Athena replied to the call from Operations Chief Tir.  The power had kicked on ten minutes prior, and there were scattered reports of intruders coming in as the systems reset themselves.  The Damage Control teams were finding their third and fourth wind as they swarmed the damaged sections.  Decks 11 to 28 remained below them.  Engineering had been told to arm themselves if whoever had decided the Douglas was worth messing with showed up.  Her teams had been split up into groups, clearing one deck at a time.  As they found survivors, they found officers who joined their mission – medics, engineers, and operations- who were helping speed up the process.

“Group 1 and 2 – clear the Jefferies tubes on either end.  Group 3 – let’s take the turbolift.’  And so it went. Deck 11 was a wasteland of damage, and a few injured were patched up or sent back through the maze to Sickbay.  Deck 12 was much the same.  Deck 13 was another story.  Athena waited for the two teams to slip out of the Jefferies Tubes, and they immediately picked up signals that were not part of the Douglas crew.  They communicated through earbuds they’d snagged on their way out of the security office.

“We’ve got three in this corridor.  Tricorder is coming back…Devore.”

Athena scrunched up her nose in disgust.  If they were in Devore Imperium Space, that meant the Delta Quadrant.  And she was not a fan.  “Understood.  Group 2?”

A moment passed, and then a whisper, “Three here too.  They’re looking for something.”

The security chief grumbled, “I don’t give two shits what they’re looking for or why they’re here.  They need to get the hell off my ship.”

Her assistant chief, Ensign Pioneer, whispered, “Is this the part where we hit back?”  There was a hint of his impish humor laced in the words.

“Goddamned right it is.  Let’s stun ‘em.  No need to upset the Devore anymore than we have to – we still gotta get out of this hellhole.”  They moved quickly in response to her order, and the sound of phaser fire echoed down the hallway as loud shouts were followed by crashes to the deck.  She inspected each of the downed Devore, “Strip them down and secure everything that isn’t clothing.  Lock ‘em in the brig and guard the hell out of them.  At least the brig’s working.”

They continued to work downwards, tagging injured and reporting status updates through the bridge.  Other teams had reported finding evidence that the Devore had been through the upper decks – ransacked offices, and phaser fire exchanges were filtering in as the power surged through the ship bringing life back from the dead.

They had finished with deck 20 when engineering called in a desperate voice, “McKee to security—we’ve got company!”

Athena ordered her entire team to follow her, and they scrambled down the decks, the terror in the deputy chief’s voice pushing them to move even faster.  They tumbled out of Jefferies Tubes and the turbolift, dashing towards the sounds of a firefight near main engineering.  Ensign Athena crouched at the corner of the corridor, looking at the two Devore guards at the door and hearing the blasts of weapons fire from within.  “Group 1 and 2 – take ‘em out – we can’t wait.  Group 3 – covering fire as we take the doors.”

McKee was fighting for her life inside engineering as the four Devore blasted away at her position and those she had found covered.  Those who hadn’t moved fast enough lay groaning at the feet of the invaders.  The leader shouted, “Get them out of there – we need this ship.  This engine room is where we can take over and run it.  Advance on them, you fools!”

The three other Devore lieutenants nodded and began to charge their targets, blasting at them until some of them broke cover under fear and fell with a shout as they cut them down.  McKee found herself in a back corner with nowhere to go as a Devore officer stalked her, weapon raised, “You gave us quite the trouble, Starfleet.  I’m going to enjoy torturing you for information.”  

Elizabeth grunted as she shifted her body, “That’ll be the day.”  The small phaser she’d grabbed slipped out from behind her back, and she fired, sending the surprised degenerate flying back, crashing into a console.  She got up to move but found the Devore leader pointing a weapon at her.

“We usually take prisoners, but you’ve broken every rule in our book for outsiders.”  He clicked the setting on his blaster, “Now, you can die.”  

His smarmy grin sent a shiver down her spine, and something..clicked.  Her mind flashed. McKee set her feet and pushed herself at the creature, intending to take him down even in death. “I’ve had enough of youuuuu!!” she shouted, but a phaser blast aimed square at the leader sent him crashing to the ground and herself sprawling over him in surprise. She rolled to a stop and looked up, the concerned face of Ensign Athena staring her down.  “Athena!”

The Bajoran pulled her up, “McKee.  Damned Devore.  We’re working the rest of the decks – it looks like this is as far as they got.”  She watched as her team checked on the injured and gave her the high sign.  No fatalities.

Elizabeth felt her breath return to her as she processed what had just happened.  “That means we’re in the Delta, doesn’t it.”  She had heard the stories told by the old crew of the Mackenzie.  It had made her sick to think of all the terrible evil lurking around this galaxy’s dark corners.  “We can’t catch a break, can we.”

Athena shrugged, “We’re alive. You got the Douglas living again, and we just punched the Devore invaders in the mouth.  Catching a break is relative in my world, lieutenant.  We’ll finish cleaning the decks – I’ll leave an officer with you to ensure you’re secure.” She stood at attention and departed with most of her groups.

McKee turned to face her engine room, sighing.  She’d been doing that plenty in the last 12 hours.  She didn’t expect it was going to stop anytime soon.  “Let’s get this place back in working order.  Again.”

“This makes no sense.”  Sadie Fowler sat on a biobed in the expanded medical ward, thankful the main power was back online.  The PADD she was working on was connected to a portable console she’d managed to get operations to send her while she recovered from her injury.  She’d nearly inspired Doctor Reid to sedate her if she didn’t stop trying to get out of bed, and Fowler had relented, accepting her fate for now.  Captain Halsey stood beside her bed, having delivered the PADD and data sets.

“It may not make sense, but we know where we are.  Far edges of the Delta Quadrant and deep in Devore Imperium space.  Your team is working through the data we salvaged from the sensors and computer banks.  Whatever it was, it threw us hard.”

Sadie shook her head, “It makes sense where we are, but…how we got here makes no sense.  Voyager got tossed out here by a caretaker – something we knew little about.  We know a little more, but as far as we know, there’s none out here.” Even as she said it, she wondered about the reality.  What was really out there in the unexplored and unknown edges of the Delta Quadrant?  That thought unsettled her.

Halsey gave her a look, and she returned it in the same measure.  He explained, “We know so little of what goes on behind the lines of the Devore Imperium – they keep secrets better than any species I know.  They’re brutal because they’re intentional about securing their way of life.  Who’s to say they don’t have something hidden in the back room of their borders that can do just that?”

Fowler didn’t have an answer.  He was right.  She asked, “If they did – why did they wait until now to play around with it?  If it snagged us, we’d be in a lot more trouble with a lot more Devore onboard.”

He shrugged, “Who says they waited?  Who says it’s the main Devore government?”  He grumbled in response to her rolling her eyes at him, “I don’t like playing Devil’s Advocate anymore than you do, Sadie, but in the absence of a good solid scientific explanation, I’m having to reach for the unbelievable.”  He held up his hands in apology, “That wasn’t called for; I’m sorry.”

She gave him a nod of thanks, “Well, if I could, I would, but you know Jordan.  She’s stubborn in ways that make me take notes.”

He smiled for the first time since all hell had broken loose.  It felt good, “She’s the Chief Medical Officer.  I gave her the job, so don’t look at me to do your dirty work.”  He thought about how to make this work and came up with an idea, “I can get your team to meet with you here until she clears you – get a holographic display for you to work through it with them?”  She nodded, relieved at his suggestion.  “Good, give me fifteen minutes.”

She leaned back against the pillows.  Whatever had brought them here might come back.  That thought gave her pause.  The Douglas had already taken a thorough beating.  She wasn’t sure they could survive another ride through hell.