The first challenge of setting up a bait and switch on the Hirogen was finding the Hirogen. It took four hours after the mission began, the shuttle Percival fluttering about Endeavour’s hull like an anxious house pet, before there was a crackle over the shuttle’s cockpit comms and Airex’s voice came through.

‘Hirogen located. Sending you the scans.’

Lindgren kept most of her focus on the pilot’s controls, only glancing over at Caede and his display as the files were sent over. ‘Thanks, Commander. We’ll get to work.’

It was not Airex who answered, but Kharth, voice taut. ‘Remember that if it gets hot, you get out of there. You’re just a distraction so we can get a good first strike in.’

‘We’ll be careful as we can,’ said Lindgren, ‘while we deliberately try to get Hirogen to hunt us. On our way now. Percival out.’

Caede glanced over as Lindgren killed the comms and pulled the Percival away from Endeavour’s flank. ‘She seems nervous.’

‘Kharth doesn’t like anything outside of her direct control. Don’t read too much into it.’

‘I don’t need her approval or support.’

‘You commented,’ she pointed out wryly.

Caede’s gaze flickered from her to his controls, then up to the canopy, the swirling maelstrom of the stellar nursery making it like they were flying into candy-flecked fog. ‘Let’s get the job done.’

They could not see the Hirogen on the shuttle’s sensors, but Airex had observed the target for a time, locating it and mapping its movements so he could send them a best prediction of where it would be once they intercepted. Within minutes of flight that felt like laborious hours, Caede spoke, breaking the tense silence.

‘That’s close enough. Activating the modifications. Time to turn into Skippy.’

‘Right.’ Lindgren gave a light smile. ‘Think like Skippy. What would Skippy do?’

‘Get itself immediately into trouble and need saving,’ he grumbled.

‘Good news is this is exactly the plan, Centurion,’ she said sweetly. She felt the controls of the Percival shift as the power systems fired up, adjusting their sensor profile, emissions; anything that would make them, through the fog-of-war of the stellar nursery, look not like a Starfleet shuttle, but flesh and blood.

‘Adopting Flight Pattern Skippy,’ Lindgren continued in that light voice. ‘Time to act like a farm animal that thinks, but isn’t sure, there’s lunch out there.’

She heard Caede smother a scoff, her lips curling even more. Their movements became less deliberate, more drifting; more in line with a being that absorbed energy from the nearby protostars and lived in the shadows of particle clouds.

They flew, and drifted, and for a time, nothing happened. Lindgren kept her jaw tight, didn’t voice any doubts because she knew Caede would leap on them. Surely the Hirogen would come for them. Surely they were nearby, surely Airex’s calculations were correct. Surely, at worst, Endeavour wouldn’t move until the Hirogen had taken the bait.

Then, just as Lindgren was prepared to consider speaking up, Caede’s voice came like a whip-crack.

‘Incoming!’

Oh, thought Lindgren as her body took over and she moved the shuttle with a greater urgency. They’re hunters. Of course we didn’t see them coming.

She still had to fly like a cosmozoan rather than break into a barrel roll, and thus kicked the engines for a burst of speed as, from out of a nearby particle cloud, the Hirogen ship emerged. They must have made some modifications of their own to mask their presence, and she just hoped it wasn’t enough to hide them from Endeavour. They had coiled themselves tight and small, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The good news was that there was no weapons fire yet; they were not in range, though they were closing. That meant their subterfuge was almost certainly intact.

The bad news was that the Hirogen were coming for them, fast. And hunters rarely let their prey escape.

‘We can’t let them get within a good visual range,’ Lindgren said quickly. ‘Give me more power to engines.’

‘You think I’m made of power,’ Caede grumbled. ‘Cutting non-essential systems. You get a boost.’

Weapons fire flashed distantly past them, and her breath caught. ‘Testing us. Gauging our reactions.’ But she was meant to be a cosmozoan, not a seasoned pilot, and banked away in response, like a living being might.

‘They’re still gaining on us,’ he warned.

‘Come on, Endeavour,’ she muttered. ‘Where are you?’

Caede swore in Romulan. ‘I’m not dying out here because someone screwed the timing -’

Then, far off their aft, the blip on the sensors that was Endeavour burst into view. Like an arrow shot high into the sky before it fell upon its target, the mighty ship tumbled through the stellar nursery, emerging from a thick gas cloud to set upon the Hirogen ship.

And now the real test began.

‘Light ‘em up,’ said Kharth, clutching the armrests of the captain’s chair. ‘Everything we’ve got.’

‘Torps away,’ confirmed Logan with a hint of delight.

‘Stay right up their ass, Helm,’ she instructed the Vulcan pilot Ensign Shiera. ‘Don’t let them shake us.’

‘They’re breaking off from their attack run on the Percival,’ warned Airex, ‘and trying to come about. It doesn’t look like they’ve quite figured out what’s happened; my surface scans haven’t broken our subterfuge.’

‘They can kill a cosmozoan later. We’re a big problem now.’

‘Uh…’ Kally’s uncertain sound wafted across the bridge. ‘The Hirogen Alpha has contacted us and would like to commend you on your adeptness in mastering your surroundings to turn the hunter into the hunted -’

‘Can you tell him to shut up? I’m trying to kill him here. Tactical, start stripping away engines on their aft-starboard side; they took a bit of a hammering flying through that particle cloud…’

Then the deck shook, and Kharth clutched the armrests tight. ‘Report!’

‘Clipped us with a shot from their aft torpedo launcher,’ said Logan. ‘We’re okay -’

On the sensors, the Hirogen ship moved. One moment they were right behind it, out of most of the firing arc of their weapons, the Hirogen preferring to face their prey head-on. The next, the vessel was spinning, almost as if they’d hit it, almost as if it was out of control.

Almost.

Airex’s voice came, crisp and worried. ‘They’re venting their starboard bussard collector -’

The flight conditions of the stellar nursery were difficult. Ships had to regularly clear out their impulse engines, clear out the dust and particles threatening to choke up their workings. It looked like the Hirogen had deliberately skipped at least one routine, only to vent it all at once, on one side only. It was enough to flip the ship, turning it into a mad tumble and forcing them to fire up their engines even hotter to avoid going into a completely wild spin. If unexpected for their pilot, it could have been devastating.

Planned, it meant the ship could, in the blink of an eye, spin around and bring all of its forward-facing weapons to bear on Endeavour. And fire.

‘Oh God.’ Lindgren’s eyes widened as her sensor feed lit up with the readings from Endeavour. ‘The power grid couldn’t take that…’

‘Their shields have collapsed,’ Caede confirmed, hands racing over his controls. ‘I’m reading hull breaches and failing systems…’

‘What about the Hirogen?’

‘That manoeuvre didn’t do them any favours; their starboard engine looks like it’s close to failing. But Endeavour’s in no condition to get a firing solution on it, no shape to do anything about it.’

The Hirogen had stopped chasing them when Endeavour had emerged, and Lindgren had tried to get some distance from the fight to not be caught in the cross-fire. She slowed now, giving herself a chance to lean forward and study the situation. ‘God,’ she said again. ‘The Hirogen could finish them off. But they’re holding position. Why?’

Caede didn’t answer for a moment, his focus on his own controls. At last, he said, ‘We can be at the aperture in two hours.’

She rounded on him. ‘What?’

‘There’s nothing we can do here. Endeavour lives or dies, but that’s not up to us. If they die, I don’t want to sit here and wait to be next.’ His expression went cold when she opened her mouth to object further. ‘Not liking that doesn’t make it any less real. You can’t hope your way to an answer.’

‘We’re not leaving. That’s not an option.’

‘There’s no other -’

‘We haven’t even tried to think of another way.’ She jabbed a finger at the display. ‘You said the Hirogen engine might fail. Define “fail.”’

Caede stared at her for a moment. Then he turned back to his controls, scanning further. ‘It could overload,’ he admitted. ‘If put under any more pressure.’

‘Like being force to manoeuvre.’

‘How, exactly, does a tiny shuttle force a warship to move?’

‘I don’t know. But we’re not going to sit here and watch Endeavour die. Even if they go down, we’re going to sit here and try to come up with something different.’ She looked him in the eye, felt her heart thudding in her chest, and though his gaze was cold, he did not immediately object. Nor did he immediately move to help. ‘Got it?’

It was all a bit deja vu for Kharth to pick herself up off the deck of the bridge. Emergency lights flashed around her, but it took a moment for the ringing in her ears to fade. Only then did the flurry of damage reports coming out of her bridge officers – the ones at their post – reach her.

We’re screwed, she interpreted, clutching the armrest of the XO’s chair. It was comforting, in a way, to reach for that seat. She’d barely come to think of it as hers before she’d been thrust at the centre chair. The chair where she’d had to assume command, make decisions. Make the decisions that were going to get them all killed.

‘We need to restore power,’ she summarised instead, voice hoarse. ‘What’s Thawn saying?’

‘It’s emergency repairs,’ said Athaka, an edge of panic in his voice. ‘Every second they’re not shooting at us is a second she has to make us less likely to die.’

Logan looked a battered mess at Tactical. He was injured, she could tell from his movements; either in his arm or his ribs, but he was favouring his right side. ‘They ain’t shooting at us. They’re just facing off against us. I don’t know why.’

Kharth swallowed. ‘Maybe he really does want my skull.’

The tiny bundle nearly obscured by smoke that was Kally piped up. ‘They’re hailing us again,’ she said, voice thick. ‘Do you want to answer this time?’

Every second they’re not shooting at us… Kharth took a step sideways, back into the middle of the bridge. She gave a small, awkward nod. ‘Patch us through.’

The face of the Alpha, Venor, filled the viewscreen. His expression was sombre, impassive, though she fancied she could see a glint in those alien eyes of something bordering satisfaction.

‘Magnificent.’

‘You keep saying that.’ Kharth swallowed bile. ‘You – what do you want from the hunt, Venor?’

‘There are only two things in this life, Kharth: the self, and the unknown. Some shy from it. Settle for what is safe. But only by facing the unknown can you know the self. That is the way of the hunter. To seek it out – and challenge yourself against it.’

It wasn’t just that Kharth knew she needed to buy time that she didn’t summon a sarcastic response that might cut Venor off. She could feel her knee quaver, nerves rising in her chest in a way they hadn’t since she’d walked the streets of Teros as a child. She had no sarcastic response to give.

Every second they’re not shooting at us… ‘I meant, what physically do you need. To destroy my ship? To kill us all? You mentioned trophies…’

Now Venor’s expression looked like it might fall. ‘Do not barter with me now, Kharth. Not after a hunt such as this. You have travelled many thousands of light-years, faced the unknown – and you have lost. Been bested by it. Face that with some dignity, for now, you know yourself. Even if only at the end.’ His lips curled, and now there was a glint of a predatory smile. ‘That is the only time we truly know.’

If now was when she finally knew herself, Kharth thought she might have preferred to die in ignorance. ‘Is it satisfying?’ she said at last. ‘To end it like this? Over comms? At a distance? Not seeing the life in my eyes go out in person? Not ending it with your own hands?’ The Hirogen boarding them was not ideal. But it was better than the Hirogen blasting them out of the stars.

Airex gestured quickly for Kally to mute. ‘The warp core,’ he hissed. ‘We eject it at them.’

Kharth stared at him. ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘We don’t need it to navigate Underspace…’

‘The blast will probably take us out, too.’ It was a terrible idea. But it was the only idea.

When Kally unmuted the channel, Venor was still talking. ‘…our way. If you will send yourself aboard, I will give you a dignified end. But we will still strip your ship apart as a trophy.’

‘That’s…’ Kharth swallowed. ‘Await my arrival, Venor. Endeavour out.’ She jabbed a hand at Kally to end the call, and rounded on Airex. ‘Are we really doing this?’

He gave a wild shrug. ‘I am absolutely open to alternatives.’

She turned to the rest of the bridge crew. ‘Then you better think fast, because if I’m not over there within a couple of minutes he’s probably going to kill us all. And if I do beam over there, you have maybe an extra couple of minutes he’ll spend killing me before he kills you all, so I’ll be really pissed if you only then come up with some genius -’

‘Wait.’ Airex stared at his sensor feed. ‘What’s…’

Kharth whipped around. The viewscreen had swapped over for the tactical sensor display, and she’d paid it little attention when all it showed was Endeavour and the Hirogen ship facing off – showed exactly how screwed they were. But now something else was on the feed, something that had been approaching gingerly. Something the sensors were telling her was a cosmozoan.

‘Is that…’

Then the shuttle Percival, its systems still maintaining the subterfuge even at this proximity, slithered up off the aft of the Hirogen ship – and opened fire on its starboard engine.

At once, alarms went off, the Hirogen ship sent into a wild spin. Logan made a noise of pain as he dragged himself closer to the controls. ‘Direct hit – their engine’s overloading, their power grid’s going haywire -’

Kharth rounded on him, clutching the railing between them. ‘Shoot. Them.’

Perhaps they could have tried to save the floundering Hirogen ship. Perhaps they could have re-established control of the situation, offered them a surrender. Perhaps they could have taken such a risk – come to the far end of the galaxy, faced their own annihilation, and still found it somewhere in themselves to offer mercy.

She did not know if, at the end, Venor truly knew himself. But at his end, Kharth felt she knew herself a little better as she gave those orders, as Logan obeyed, as torpedoes streaked out from between the damaged Endeavour and the Hirogen ship locked in its fatal spasms.

But as the Hirogen ship exploded, as Endeavour shuddered at the shockwave, as Kharth held onto the railing tight and watched as their enemy finally, finally died, she thought she was okay having a little longer to live to keep on that journey of discovery.

Logan, visibly pained, braced himself against his controls. ‘They’re gone.’

But the Percival was hailing them, and Kharth turned as the viewscreen shifted for the tiny view of the cockpit and the jubilant Lindgren. Caede’s reaction could be summarised as ‘was also there.’

‘What the hell!’ Kharth exclaimed. ‘Percival, how did you not just get swatted like a fly?’

Lindgren beamed. ‘We’d hoped the Hirogen ship might not notice us.’

‘How?’ butted in Airex. ‘The modifications shouldn’t have stood up to that proximity…’

‘You can credit Centurion Caede for that, sir,’ said Lindgren.

Caede looked pained. ‘Interceding was definitely Lieutenant Lindgren’s idea.’

‘But I couldn’t have done it without you,’ she added sweetly.

A bleep went off at Tactical, and Kharth’s blood went cold when she turned knowing the sound of sensors reporting a new contact. ‘Logan?’

Teeth gritting, visibly sweating, he brought up the feed. ‘I don’t… wait. Surely not?’

‘Report,’ Kharth snapped.

Logan turned to her, eyes alight. ‘You ain’t gonna believe this. But that’s a Starfleet transponder comin’ our way. That’s the Liberty.’

‘It is!’ squealed a delighted Kally. ‘Captain Daragon’s hailing us, Commander!’

Lindgren and Caede were banished at once, the viewscreen shifting for the sight of the bridge of the Liberty. It was like looking from out of a cracked mirror into bright reality, the two bridges of near-identical design – but the Liberty was well-lit and, above all, intact.

Stood at his chair, Captain Daragon cut the clean figure of a Starfleet captain that would have made Kharth feel shabby even if she hadn’t just been through the wars. ‘Endeavour, this is the Liberty. Can we be of any assistance?’

‘Vor!’ Kharth spread her arms wide and beamed. ‘You almost have brilliant timing, Captain. It’s damned good to see you.’

‘Likewise. You look as if you need extensive repairs, Endeavour. We can assist with that, then get you back through Underspace and home.’

‘That sounds great. How’d you find us?’

‘Heya.’ A new figure leaned in from off-screen, and Isa Cortez gave a jaunty wave. ‘You thought I couldn’t find this ship from across the galaxy? I practically put her together myself, Sae. You weren’t getting rid of me that easy.’

‘I guess not.’ Kharth beamed, but then she saw both Daragon and Cortez’s expressions, saw the searching glint in their eyes, and realised they were looking for someone. Someone they expected to be on the bridge. Someone Cortez, especially, expected to be on the bridge.

Kharth’s expression fell. ‘Oh. Yeah. One more thing…’