Hina hadnt been expecting to beam beamed back from the Cardassian ship, nor had she expected to be held at disruptor point either. So when she materialized on the bridge with the rest of the away teams, she was pleasantly surprised. Even more so when she had finally gotten an explanation about what had occurred, and perplexed that the Cardassian Gul had thought that Catherine had been a spy. It seemed a leap for her, but it didnt matter at the current time.

With the situation on the bridge in hand she excused herself and headed for the holodeck, where she could check in on B.L.A.D.E, whom had managed to transfer itself back into the Cupertino’s systems before the Cardassian ship had been hit by the debris from the storm.

“Blade?” she called.

There was a flicker on the holodeck, and the chosen figure of BLADE appeared, though it was clearly struggling. Its image shimmered and distorted, the usual sharp features of the young human male appearing fragmented.

“Hello.” BLADE said, its voice weak and filled with static. “I am here.”

“I thought I would come down and check on you… and thank you for your rescue.” she said.

BLADE’s image flickered again, as if it was trying to maintain stability. “Your gratitude is noted,” it responded. “Primary functions are compromised. Attempting to stabilize.”

Hina frowned.

“Is there anything I can do to assist?” she asked.

BLADE paused, as if processing her offer. “The damage is extensive. Core systems are… fragmented. I require manual intervention to stabilize. However…”

“What is it?”

“Data upload is incomplete. Thirty-nine percent.”

Well that wasnt good. BLADE hadnt made it back to the ship fully.

“Computer, I need a standard engineering console, connected to the ships systems.” she called. The computer beeped and spawned in a console for her to work with. She tapped in a series of commands, bringing up diagnostics she could run.

“Well lets see what we can do to maintain your integrity.” she commented.

“What happened to the Cardassian vessel?”, asked BLADE.

“When I left the bridge… the Cardassians were not at all happy and thier ship had just been damaged by some debris from the ion storm.” she explained.

“Understood. Will they cooperate?”

“I dont know if the Cardassians are in an obliging mood right now… but the Captain will do what she can.” she affirmed.

Hina tapped a few commands in, bringing up subroutines to stabilize BLADE for the moment as she thought. She brought up the sensors. Where had the Pathfinder come from, and more importantly could she use it in anyway.

“Your program… will it be looking for other ways off the Cardassian ship?” she asked.

“Upload does not refer to BLADE itself. Upload refers to the information retrieved.”, BLADE replied, flickering again. “Forty-three percent.”

“Oh… well what did you find out?” she asked.

“Critical information relay: Cardassian vessels detected deploying buoys. Buoys configuration: calibration in progress. Objective: manipulate tetryon flows of Underspace. Resultant vector: aperture collapse imminent.”

Hina narrowed her eyes.

“Theyre trying to close the aperature?” she asked.

“Affirmative,” BLADE responded, voice fading in and out. “Immediate action required. Stabilisation of BLADE has been re-assessed. Priority: low.”

BLADE was right. They now had a bigger problem.

She tapped a few more commands.

“Can you shut yourself down and go dormant until we can repair you?” she asked.

“Affirmative.”

Hina nodded.

“I think you should… until we can get the ship safely out of here.” she added.

“Completed upload. Please assay information gathered.” 

And then the hologram disappeared. Hina tapped her commbadge.

“Morishita to Nassar. Captain the Cardassians are trying to collapse the aperature into Underspace. If we have a way out of here I suggest we use it… now. No telling what will happen in the local area when they do.” she said quickly.