The USS Kusanagi’s bridge was filled with tension as all eyes remained on the viewscreen, locked onto the strange vessel that had just decloaked. Its angular, unfamiliar hull design suggested an unknown faction, neither Klingon nor Romulan, yet clearly advanced and formidable.

“Open a channel,” Captain Ander Catalán ordered as he sat upright in his chair, preparing for first contact.

T’Prin gave him a nod, confirming the channel was open.

“This is Captain Ander Catalán of the USS Kusanagi. We are part of Hecate Squadron in service of Task Force 17 of the Fourth Fleet within Starfleet. We request clarification regarding your accusations.”

For a brief moment, silence filled the bridge.

Then, a cold audio transmission crackled through the speakers, its tone emotionless yet pointed.

“Starfleet has claimed something that does not belong to them. You are unauthorized to be aboard the Glasgow.”

The message was cryptic, vague enough to avoid specifics, yet loaded with veiled intent.

Commander Rina Davids leaned over T’Prin’s console, her brow furrowing. “Analyze their transmission. Look for potential weaknesses, inconsistencies, anything we can use.”

She nodded toward the security officer standing nearby, signaling them to stay alert. If diplomacy failed, they needed to be ready to react instantly.

At the helm, Lieutenant sh’Irath quietly prepped evasive maneuvers, should things take a turn for the worse.

USS Glasgow – Compromised Interior

Aboard the USS Glasgow, alarms blared through the failing corridors. The ship was actively resisting the away team, but now the situation had escalated.

From the shadows, a figure stumbled forward, emerging into the dim emergency lighting.

The security team immediately took defensive stances, phasers raised toward the unknown individual.

Slowly, the figure stepped into better lighting, revealing a Starfleet officer, his uniform torn and bloodied, his expression vacant and unfocused.

“No… they can’t… must defend… must flee… hide and roll under the bedsheet…”

He mumbled feverishly, shuffling past the security officers as if they weren’t even there, lost in his delirium.

Adan moved forward immediately, bypassing the security officers to assess the survivor’s condition. He ran a quick scan and frowned.

“Barely alive, but critical,” he reported, glancing toward Ebony.

“Can he talk?” Ebony approached carefully, keeping a wary eye on the man.

Adan adjusted his medical scanner, shifting slightly. “You can try, but I doubt you’ll get much sense out of him.”

Taking a breath, Ebony stepped in front of the officer, his tone firm yet controlled.

“Who attacked the Glasgow?” He didn’t ease into it, there was no time.

“What was the Glasgow doing here? What was its mission?”

The man didn’t react immediately, his gaze unfocused.

Then, finally, he muttered, “The Glasgow… yes… that’s where it is…” He nodded weakly. “It was carrying something dangerous…”

He shivered violently as his breath grew more ragged. “If they don’t get it… they’ll destroy the ship…”

Ebony’s expression hardened. “Who will destroy the ship? What was the Glasgow carrying?”

Before he could press further, the Glasgow violently shook, and an external force began overriding the ship’s systems.

USS Kusanagi – Bridge

Back aboard the USS Kusanagi, the high-stakes negotiation continued.

T’Prin’s fingers moved quickly across her console as an alert flashed in front of her. “Captain, detecting a data breach attempt. The hostile vessel is trying to hack into our systems. Countermeasures are holding… for now.”

Rina exchanged a look with Ander, her mind working through options. “Captain, if we feed them misleading data, we could stall them, buy time for the away team.”

T’Prin’s eyebrow arched slightly, betraying the smallest flicker of confusion at the suggestion.

Ander exhaled, thinking. “Quick thinking on the countermeasures, Lieutenant,” he commended.

Then, shifting his focus, he continued, “We have options here. We can continue negotiations, hoping to uncover more about their intent regarding the Glasgow and its cargo…”

He paused, considering the alternative.

“We could pretend to know nothing and try to misdirect them… or we can call their bluff, react defensively, and make it clear Starfleet doesn’t back down.”

T’Prin’s console beeped again. “Incoming transmission,” she announced. “They demand an answer. They want what’s on the Glasgow.”

Ander’s jaw tightened slightly.

They were running out of time.

USS Glasgow

The USS Glasgow’s emergency systems were failing, and the external interference was making it difficult to beam out.

Ebony’s fingers flew across the console, trying to override the ship’s emergency transporters. He heard the pained sounds of the survivors, gritting his teeth.

They needed to get out. Now.

“Any day now, Lieutenant,” Adan remarked dryly, his focus on stabilizing the two survivors.

Ebony barely glanced up. “I’m doing my best here!” His frustration spiked when the console suddenly locked up, flashing a security override warning.

“What the hell, ” He stopped short, his pulse quickening.

The Glasgow was self-purging its data.

A protocol had been triggered, one that erased all sensitive records.

“The ship is wiping everything,” Ebony announced. “Whatever did this activated the security protocol.”

Then, a figure appeared in the distance, mumbling something just as a violent explosion erupted behind them.

The shockwave sent a burst of blue light flooding the corridor.

USS Kusanagi

Back aboard the Kusanagi, the bridge crew watched in real time as the hostile vessel powered up its weapons, and fired.

The Kusanagi’s shields flared brightly as the blast impacted them, but the attack was not meant to destroy.

T’Prin’s voice was sharp. “Captain, they targeted our transporter systems. I’m losing the away team’s signal!”

Ander stood up instinctively, eyes locked on the screen.

“Lieutenant, do you have them?”

T’Prin’s fingers flew across the console, her normally calm expression tense. “Still trying to compensate…”

A second blast erupted, this time hitting the Glasgow directly.

Ander’s heart sank as the vessel ruptured, exploding into a debris field.

Rina’s console beeped urgently. “New transmission from the hostile vessel, Captain.”

She read it aloud, voice heavy with meaning:

“Return what is ours… or we take it by force.”

Ander stared at the screen, jaw clenched. He was trapped in a corner, forced into an impossible choice.

He could stand down and try to negotiate, or order a counterstrike, but the enemy had already fired the first shot.

Meanwhile, in the Kusanagi’s transporter room, the away team’s signal flickered, unstable.

T’Prin worked rapidly, trying to prevent them from being lost completely.

Would she be fast enough?