“Morishita to Nassar. Captain, the Cardassians are trying to collapse the aperture 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,” Morishita said quickly.

Saffiya’s eyes narrowed as she processed the information. “Understood. I need you back here.”

She turned to her crew. “Lieutenant Silveira, I need you to scan the area and identify the Cardassian buoys and their configurations. We need to understand exactly what they’re doing and how we can counter it.”

Silveira nodded and began working at his console. “Scanning now, Captain.”

“Good. Ensign Leski, plot an escape route through the aperture. We need to be ready to leave at moment’s notice.” 

Leski’s fingers moved over the navigation controls. “On it.”

Nassar then turned to Lieutenant Vargas “Lieutenant Vargas, I need you to devise a way to recalibrate the Cardassian buoys. We need to cause a chain reaction that will disrupt their entire network.”

Vargas nodded, her mind already racing through the possibilities. “Aye, Captain. We’ll couuld adjust the tetryon flows to create a feedback loop. If we can synchronize the buoys’ frequencies to resonate with the natural oscillations of Underspace, it should trigger a cascading failure.”

“Prepare that.,” Saffiya nodded. “But wait with it. We will set a timer. We need to ensure the chain reaction starts just as we make our escape.”

“The Cardassians won’t like that at all.”, Vargas muttered.

“Sadly, I don’t care.”, shrugged Saffiya.

Together with the Cardssians, because she had no intention of just leaving them stranded here. Yes, they probably had it coming, but still. 

“What’s the plan, Captain?”, asked Sydin. 

“We already offered help, and that does not change. With the damage they sustained, they won’t survive. Our science team has previously come up with a way to move through the aperture, but I considered it too risky because it would compromise our shields. Now I dare to hope we already encountered the biggest threat out here, and with the potential collapse of the apertures, I believe it to be worth the risk.” 

Sydin nodded. Her opinion on Nassar had changed over the past few hours. 

“I have some additional information on the piece of debris that hit the Cardassian vessel.”, noted Silveira, who seemed to have worked on both simultaneously. 

“Let’s hear it.”

“It belongs to the USS Mariner.”

Saffiya sighed. She knew nothing of the ship or the crew, and she could only hope they were okay despite missing part of their hull.

“Remind me to send them a gift basket and a thank you card.”, she said, deciding that she would simply assume the rest of them was still in one piece. 

“Captain, we’ve set the parameters. The feedback loop will initiate in five minutes. That should give us enough time to clear the area.”

Saffiya nodded, satisfied with the progress. “Excellent work. Sydin, I need you to keep an eye on the Cardassian ship. If they make any sudden moves, I want to know immediately.”

They hadn’t exactly been cooperative so far, but now most of it made sense. Their weird stalling tactics, their eagerness to keep away teams – in particular their Engineers – on the ship. It still didn’t entirely make sense to Saffiya, but she supposed that Cardassians, too, were just people. People who got stressed and acted out of character. 

“Aye, Captain,” Sydin responded, her eyes glued to the sensor readouts.

“Transfer to shield configuration to Gul Dan,” Saffiya instructed, her voice calm and steady. “Let me know when we can get moving.” 
 

((Sickbay, USS Cupertino))

Nichelle’s team made excellent progress, which was quite pleasing to see. One didn’t need to be an empath to sense the tension and apprehension, but this were to be expected and didn’t affect the work done by doctors and nurses. 

Doctor Duran’s injuries were severe, but the old Cardassian was tougher than she seemed – which was probably why she was serving on a military vessel. 

Nichelle had taken a liking to her, and was relieved when the woman regained consciousness. 

“Welcome to the Cupertino, I guess.”, Nichelle said in a light tone, helping the Doctor to sit up and offering a reassuring smile. 

Doctor Duran winced as she adjusted her position “Thank you, Doctor.” She looked around. “It’s.. nice?”

Nichelle grinned. “It is. How are you feeling?”

“Sore, but alive,” Duran replied. She glanced around the sickbay, taking in the sight of the bustling medical team. “You’re running a tight ship here.”

Nichelle nodded. “We try our best. And I hear the Captain is working with Gul Dan to get us out of here, so you will be able to return to your ship soon enough. In the meanwhile, the drinks are complimentary, so are the painkillers.” 

Duran hesitated, her eyes darkening. “What about the Zorkal boy?”

Nichelle frowned, then understood who she was referring to. “He is alive but still in critical condition.” There was a long pause. “And I can see the injuries didn’t come from an explosion. Or at least not all of them.”

There was another pause, then Doctor Duran replied, lowering her voice. “No. They don’t.” 

“Looks like he was beaten.”, said Nichelle. 

Duran took a deep breath. “One of the guards was… particularly eager. It’s out of character to go against orders, and Gul Dan clearly stated to only detain him.”

“Detain him? Why?”

“He blamed him for the escape of your away teams. Especially Lieutenant Vargas”

“Oh so he is the one pretending that she was a spy?”, Nichelle asked lowly. She wasn’t at all pleased with that. 

“He told Gul Dan that she was half Cardassian. That was all. He might have been… more.. upset than he should have been as he relayed this information., but…”

“But?”

“I will admit, I don’t know specifics. But DNA is run through our databases and immediately communicated back to Cardassia. They must have found something that required Gul Dan to keep her on the ship.”

Nichelle rubbed the bridge of her nose. She would deal with that later. Her silence gave Doctor Duran an opportunity to continue her thoughts.

“They might kill him if he gets back there.”

“Kill him? For a mistake that wasn’t even his?”, Nichelle asked incredulously. 

“He replaced our Chief Engineer. He didn’t detect your program.”

Nichelle’s mind raced. It was one of those moments where differences in their cultures became evident. Starfleet would never punish someone for such a perceived failure. It shouldn’t be her problem, but it… was. Because the young man was her patient, and she always protected her patient. 

“Doctor Duran,” Nichelle said quietly, “I won’t send him back if his life is in danger. What if he… doesn’t make it.”

“What do you mean?”, asked the other Doctor, very well aware of what Nichelle meant. 

“Maybe my reports say he didn’t survive. It’s incredibly busy here, people can be overlooked, or patient files contain errors.”

Duran’s eyes widened, and then a smile formed on her lips “It’s risky, and a very Cardassian approach. I like it.”

“We’ll need to create a believable scenario and ensure the records support it. I’ll handle the medical side, but I’ll need you to corroborate the story when the time comes.”

She should inform the Captain, but Nassar had other things to worry about right now. Such as making sure they didn’t all die. 

“If you are able to help with the injured, I would appreciate it.”, she said eventually. “Knock yourself out, plenty of people who need help.”

“Won’t they mind a Cardassian helping them?”, the Doctor asked. “I imagine they would want one of your doctors to help.”

“Can’t always get what you want.”, shrugged Nichelle. “And I am getting really tired of this… conflict.”

Within the Cupertino’s crew, with the Cardassian ship, and on a larger scale, with Cardassia in general. History was in the past, and if they ever wanted to move forward, they had to do that in little steps such as letting each other help when help was required.