Deck three, section twenty-one, was one area of the Odyssey that didn’t have much—just crew quarters. At one end of the corridor, Hunsen stood with Lenjir, Keli and Jisaraa, and their hostages sat on the floor. 

“My dad won’t let you get away with this,” Theo snarled at Hunsen with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Hunsen looked at the McCallister boy. “You honestly think he will win today?” He asked with a handheld phaser in his hand. “I have two of his sons and his first officer’s son as leverage. On top of that, once Starfleet hears that he refused to respond to a distress call, they will see my actions as justified.”

“You are delusional,” Theo replied. “Even I know that every action you’ve taken today is against Starfleet regulations, and I don’t even wear the uniform.”

Hunsen shook his head, “You’re too young to understand.”

While Hunsen exchanged words with his brother, Henri leaned into William and whispered to him. “You okay, Will?”

Scared to say anything, William just nodded, focusing on the four officers in gold uniforms.  

“It’s not quite the type of thing I was expecting for us to do when you suggested we hang out!” Henri said in a low tone with a small wry smile. 

William glanced at his friend, “I’m sorry.”

Henri appeared startled at hearing that. “Why are you sorry?”

“If we had gone to the holodeck instead of hanging out at yours, we wouldn’t be here,” William stated.

Looking up at Hunsen, who had stopped talking to his brother, Henri shook his head. “I think they would have found us whatever, Will.”

“I don’t understand why Commander Hunsen and the others are being like this with your dad?” William said, sounding increasingly nervous with each word he shared quietly.  

“I reckon it’s something to do with that blood dilithium that my dad mentioned,” Henri guessed. “Don’t worry; my dad will get us out of here.”

“And if he doesn’t?” William asked.

“Then there’s always your dads, and if that fails, then we can only count on Alfie and Jordan,” Henri remarked. 

William shook his head, “Are we certain they’re the heroic type?”

Henri shrugged but gave an assuring confident smile. 

The turbolift door at the end of the corridor split in half, and Captain McCallister and Master Chief Court appeared straight away. Both men wore the body armour usually used by the Hazard Teams and were armed with phaser rifles and handheld phasers strapped to their hips. The captain stepped out first and called out for Hunsen. 

“Commander Hunsen, let’s get on with this.”

Smirking at his captain being so predictable, Hunsen agreed with a nod. “You start to make your way over, and we release the boys.”

“How about you send one over as a show of faith, especially as you do outnumber us?” Court suggested as he kept his rifle high and aimed at Hunsen. 

“Very well,” Hunsen said as he leant down and picked up William. “Go to your father.”

Nervously, William did as he was told and started to walk towards his father, every so often turning around and looking at both Henri and Theo for assurance. They kept encouraging him and assured him that everything would be okay. Once he reached his father, they quickly hugged one another, and as Court undid the magnetic cuffs, he dropped something into William’s hands. He whispered the words for later before he hugged his son free from his restraints. 

“Now, captain, would you please make your way over,” Hunsen requested.

“Uncuff my boys and start sending them in this direction,” McCallister countered.

Hunsen sighed, “Very well,” He gestured for Lenjir to do as the captain requested. “We’re not your enemy here, captain.”

“Then what are you? Because a fellow colleague wouldn’t take their superior officers’ sons hostage to assume command.” McCallister said as he started to slowly march down the corridor. 

“You don’t understand what you’re not doing, captain,” Lenjir called out. “Commander Hunsen has the clarity to undertake Starfleet’s duties while we’re here in the Delta Quadrant.”

As he continued to stroll towards them, McCallister responded to that remark. “That’s interesting you say that, Cline, because being a Starfleet officer requires you to follow your duties, which includes respecting the chain of command.”

As they approached the middle point, Henri and Theo rushed towards their father and embraced him in a joint hug.

“Get yourselves to Uncle Tobi, now,” McCallister told them before carefully attaching something to each of their collars and giving both of his sons a look that told them not to show Hunsen and the others what he just did. 

Complying with their father’s wishes, both lads picked up their pace and got to Court before their father reached Hunsen. 

“Now, Cline!” Hunsen said with an affirmation in his voice. 

Lenjir flipped open his tricorder and pressed a button. A force field came into effect between McCallister and his sons. 

The captain turned on his heel to see what was happening. “What’s the meaning of this?”

“You honestly think we would let your sons go so freely? They’re our bargaining chip to ensure you do as we want.” Hunsen confidently said. 

McCallister smirked at his chief engineer and then turned to Court. “Tobias, do it!” 

Court flipped open his own tricorder and pressed a few buttons. The objects they had given their sons all came to life as two silver parts opened up, and a red light started to flash furiously before they were all engulfed in a transporter beam. Court then opened his own emergency transporter unit and did the same thing. The moment they were gone, McCallister turned to Hunsen, who was showing his anger at what had just happened. 

“You really think Tierra is the only one who knows that trick? Now I promised I would surrender, so here I am.” McCallister said as he lowered his weapon and dropped it to the floor, and raised his hands behind his head.

“Take him to the bridge,” Hunsen ordered the others. Keli and Jisaraa stepped forward and took hold of the captain tightly. Shoving him forward, they made their way towards the other turbolift doors and made their way up to the bridge. 

Though climbing through several Jefferies tubes and other crawl spaces had seemed like a good idea at the time, Doctor Slyvexs was starting to wonder if all of this action on her knees was such a good thing. Nevertheless, she avoided moaning or groaning at beginning to feel old to her colleagues. 

Heading to astrometrics with Banfield and Jen, the trio were part of Commander Duncan’s plan to retake the ship. They were crucial in finding out what was causing the neurogenic field. In her mind, Slyvexs had attempted to theorise what or who was creating it and how the blood dilithium was only adding to its already messy impact on their telepathic comrades. However, she had not been able to fully determine what was so powerful that it could overpower the cortical inhibitors she had issued to everyone.

“Almost there,” Banfield stated from ahead. 

“Finally,” Jen replied with a sigh. “Can we use the turbolift on our way back to engineering?”

Slyvexs chuckled at Jen’s shared moan and request. “Hopefully, by then, Commander Tomaz has got in touch with his little cadet squad, and they’ve got the Calypso working to help us coordinate this better.”

“If not, I’m afraid exposing ourselves to other crewmembers is not a good idea. We don’t know who else is under the influence of this neurogenic field.” Banfield said. “We can’t be seen in the corridors or stopped using the turbolifts all the way.”

“Any ideas on how other non-telepathic crew members are affected, doc?” Jen asked as they reached the end of the tube and pulled themselves into an intersecting junction.

Slyvexs sat on the edge of one of the tunnels to get her breath back before answering. “I have a couple of ideas.”

“Do share,” Banfield said as she used her tricorder to scan their route ahead. “The route ahead is clear; how’s our thoron generator?”

“Still operational,” Slyvexs replied, waving the device in the air. “I still can’t work out how it blocks out scans?”

“It’s an old Maquis trick,” Jen replied. “Anyway, go on with your theories, doc.”

“Theory one is that this neurogenic field is only targeting specific crew members, hence why the non-telepaths are being affected like Cline and Keli,” Slyvexs stated. “Theory two is a bit more creative, but for them to behave similarly to their telepathic comrades, I believe that someone, probably T’Rani, has performed a mind-meld that has somehow influenced the others. The effects of the blood dilithium and neurogenic field could be a combined impact on them.”

“Intriguing,” Banfield said as she proceeded to open the next access hatch and climb into it. “If T’Rani did mind-meld with them, then why is she not leading the rebelling?”

“I can only assume that whoever or whatever is controlling them through the neurogenic field is trying to ensure they see their behaviour, thoughts and actions as rational. Hence, they are following the command of the most senior telepath on board: Commander Hunsen.”

“But why isn’t Counsellor Horin affected by it all?” Jen questioned. 

“All I can assume is it is something to do with her pregnancy, as no one else is pregnant, and Betazoid females develop a lot of internal mental defences to protect their unborn child from outside thoughts. The bond between a Betazoid mother and her unborn child is extremely strong.” Slyvexs shared. 

“So don’t mess with momma bear?” Jen said with a smirk. 

Slyvexs chuckled, “Absolutely.”

Once again, they reached the end of the tunnel, and Banfield gestured for them to stop. “I’m detecting three life-signs ahead in astrometrics.”

Taking out her own tricorder, Slyvexs checked the life-signs readings. “A Boslic, a Rutian and a Hekaran.”

“So that could be Lieutenants Abbej, Jines and Marova. What could they be doing in astrometrics?” Jen wondered aloud.

Shaking her head with no clue, Banfield suggested that they rush in with weapons armed, lightly stun all three officers. It would allow Slyvexs to scan them to ensure they were affected like the others. The three officers agreed and put their plan into motion. Finding some inner agility she didn’t know she had, Slyvexs joined Banfield and Jen with their plan and took all three officers by surprise. Within seconds the three lieutenants were on the floor out cold for a few minutes.

Jen and Banfield made their way over to the main controls of astrometrics in an attempt to bring the lateral sensor array online and begin the scan of the neurogenic field. Meanwhile, Slyvexs perched beside the downed officers and scanned them all. She detected no sign of the neurogenic field after conducting a brain scan; alongside that, she checked for her theory to determine if a mind meld had been conducted on them, and she could see no signs. Seconds later, the three officers started to wake up. 

“Sorry about that, guys,” Slyvexs said with a friendly smile as she tried to help them get to their feet.

Abbej rubbed her forehead, “Jeez, what was in that phaser blast?”

Jines stretched his shoulders back, “It felt like a shuttle had landed on us.”

Banfield turned to the lieutenant, “I am so sorry, but we set our weapons to heavy wide beam when we took you out.”

“What was with that anyway, ma’am? Did we do something wrong?” Marova asked as she also stretched her back. 

Slyvexs continued to run her scans of them and was pleased they were not injured from their phaser blasts. “We couldn’t take a chance that you were under the control of Commander Hunsen and the others.”

“What exactly is going on?” Jines asked, looking at his superior. “We were all heading off duty when the red alert sounded, and we were then attacked by Lieutenant Commander Lenjir along with some of the Brenari. We locked ourselves in here but couldn’t access any of the systems.”

“Long story short, our telepathic comrades and our guests have all been taken over by some sort of outside source, and when you throw in the mix of the blood dilithium, it’s made them unable to realise what they’re doing,” Jen said. “The captain deactivated all command functions and locked out the main computer.”

“The computer said there was an overload in main engineering with the warp core,” Marova said, sounding concerned. “Was the core dumped?”

Still working on the console, trying to get power back to it, Banfield shook her head. “No, it was all ruse set up by Tierra.” She looked at Abbej. “Unfortunately, your wife has been taken over.”

Abbej bowed her head in shame, “Is she okay? Has she hurt anyone else?”

“Besides using her Deltan pheromones to knock out some colleagues, she hasn’t done anything serious that can’t be undone, but she’s not in control,” Slyvexs said, assuring the Boslic science officer. 

“What’s causing them to have lost control besides the blood dilithium?” Jines asked. 

“A neurogenic field, which the doctor found just before the takeover happened.” Jen replied, “We need to get the sensors back up and operational and see if we can locate its source.”

“And take it out?” Marova assumed.

Banfield nodded. “That’s the plan, or at least find a way to stop it from affecting the crew anymore.”

“How can we help them?” Abbej offered. 

“The captain is about to release the command functions; the moment he does, we’ll have complete access. We need to run a full sensor sweep, locate the source of the neurogenic field and cover up our tracks before anyone realises we’re down here.” Banfield answered. 

“And what about the Devore, ma’am?” Jines asked. “They’ll see us if we conduct a full-blown scan?”

“It’s a risk the captain is willing to take,” Slyvexs said. “So we have to act fast.”

“Let’s get to work then,” Abbej said as she stepped over to assist her superiors. Jines and Marova did the same thing. 

“Here, S’Tem, you sit here and don’t move,” Jordan said as he placed the boy out of his arms and into one of the chairs in the cockpit of the Calypso. 

“Jordan, you are so good with him,” Beatrice said with a smile as she gave Jordan a light touch on his arm.

“Th-th-thanks,” Jordan stumbled out in response.

“Hey, I can do with some help getting systems online,” Alfie called out from the front part of the cockpit. 

Beatrice gave another smile at Jordan before both of them headed over to join Alfie. 

“Is there a problem?” Beatrice asked as she joined Alfie by his right side, and Jordan appeared by the left side.

“The computer isn’t accepting my access codes to bring any of the main systems online,” Alfie answered, sounding frustrated as the computer made a disagreeing noise at what he was trying. 

“Here, let me try,” Beatrice offered as she knelt down under the console and pulled off the panel.

Peering down, Alfie looked at her. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“It’s called jump starting,” She said with a smirk as she started swapping a few isolinear chips around and tapping a few commands into the small keyboard pad in the compartment she was in. “All auxiliary crafts on a ship have security measures that prevent anyone without authorisation from accessing them. However, with a few modifications, you can make the computer think for a moment you’re someone different. It especially helps that you two have DNA you have.”

“It does?” Alfie asked. 

“Your half McCallister, right?” Beatrice checked as she swapped two more chips around. 

Alfie nodded.

“And Jordan still has some DNA imprinted on him from when his fathers falsified our records to get the Hazari off our backs?” Beatrice questioned. 

Jordan replied with another stuttering affirmation. 

Beatrice smirked as she completed her work. “Then let me do my thing, and then both of you can pretend to be the captain and first officer!” 

“Are we allowed to do this?” Alfie checked as she stood up.

“Probably not, but I learnt it from Lieutenant Commander Jen, so if I get into trouble, so will he.” Beatrice tapped at the console, and the computer then appeared ready. She took hold of Alfie’s hand, pressed it against the console, and did the same with the Jordan’s. The computer then beeped in acknowledgement, and the ship’s systems came online.

“You’re good,” Alfie chuckled and was backed up by S’Tem clapping behind them. 

Bowing in acceptance of the admiration she just received, Beatrice thanked her fans before getting on with checking the Calypso’s systems. “Looks like the computer lockout hasn’t affected any of the onboard systems.”

“The docking clamps are locked, though,” Jordan said from one of the side consoles.

Alfie chuckled, “We’re not planning on going for a ride, Jord, but if we do, we may need to fire another way to disembark.”

“We’ve got access to the entire weapon’s array,” Beatrice said with a grin. “There’s our escape plan.”

“First off, let’s secure the ship, so no one gets on board,” Alfie suggested. 

“I’m on it,” Beatrice said before turning around on her heels and grabbing hold of Jordan’s hand. “Jordan come with me; I can teach you how to use a transporter inhibitor network and how to ensure no one can unpick a lock without a few Borg algorithms up their sleeve.”   

Chuckling more at Beatrice, Alfie watched as his friend was taken away by the attractive cadet while he got on with trying to find a way to use the ship’s communication array and transporter systems to help Commander Tomaz and the others. 

Several minutes later, Jordan and Beatrice returned to the cockpit. 

“How was the lesson?” Alfie asked his friend.

Jordan smirked at Beatrice before replying. “Informative.”

“How’d you get on up here?” Beatrice asked as she joined Alfie at the forward console.

“I’ve got a secure channel setup and the transporter targeting scanners active. I think we’re ready.” Alfie answered.

“Let’s do it!” Beatrice said with confidence.

Tapping the console, Alfie opened a channel. “Calypso to Commander Tomaz,”

A second later and a voice crackled over the speakers. “Go ahead, Calypso; what’s your status?”

“All accounted for, sir, along with Cadet Grant. We’ve got full control.” Alfie reported.

“That’s good to hear, cadet; well done!” Tomaz replied. “Things have slightly got out of hand on board the ship; we may need to use you to help out. What’s your transporter status?”

“Fully operational, sir,” Alfie shared. “Is everything okay, sir? Is my dad alright?”

“He’s…well…he’s dealing with the situation, but we need a backup plan, just in case. Is S’Tem there?”

“I’m here, daddy,” S’Tem answered. “Jordan, Beatrice and Alf are looking after me!”

“I’m glad to hear that, big man; stay safe and do as they tell you.”

“I will!” S’Tem said excitedly.

Another voice joined Tomaz, “Jordan, are you there?” asked Commander Duncan.

“I’m here, dad,” Jordan replied. “Are you all okay?”

“We will be; you guys will have to help us by being our eyes and ears.” 

“We can do that, sir,” Beatrice said, speaking up for the first time.

“Glad to hear it, Cadet Grant,” Duncan said, “Now listen carefully, as this is what we want you to do. Scan for Trill,  Denobulan and Klingon life-signs in astrometrics; once you’ve done that, see if you can get a transporter lock.”

Being pushed into his own chair with his hands cuffed behind him, Captain McCallister was not expecting his security chief to be so rough with him. Hitting his back against the chair suddenly caused some pain, but he tried his best not to show the pain.

“Now, your command codes,” Hunsen said as he stood behind Lenjir with his hands on his hips. “Unlock the computer core and restore command functions.”

“This isn’t you, Tremt,” McCallister attempted one more time. He was trying to delay them as much as he could. “It’s not any of you.”

“Not this bullshit again,” Flemen replied with a roll of his eyes. 

“Seriously, Craigen, you would speak like that?” McCallister shot towards the diplomatic officer. “I get it that you all want to help those Brenari, I really do, but you are all talented, gifted officers that have served with me for a long time. Have I ever lied to you or not followed protocol?” 

Hunsen shook his head. “We’re not listening to any more of this. You had your chance.”

“You say you’ve never lied to us; what about deceived? Or backtracked?” Samris questioned the captain as he got closer to him. Poking the captain hard with his right index finger, “You went back on your decision to make chief counsellor, you could have argued to keep me, but instead, you rolled over and let Horin take over. How can I ever trust your word again?”

“Samris, you know that decision was taken out of my hands,” McCallister said. “Starfleet made it after we returned home from the incident with the Quirennal. We were all under scrutiny.”

Shaking his head, Samris disagreed with his captain. “No, we weren’t. Only me. Only my professional judgement, and instead of coming to my rescue, you gave up and allowed them to take away my accomplishment from me.”

“That is not the only judgement call that Captain McCallister carried out that caused suffering.” T’Rani spoke as she joined Samris’ side. “He made the decision to take this vessel into battle against the Klingons without removing its civilian population. That decision resulted in the death of my husband.”

“You’re both confused and not making any sense,” McCallister replied, but deep down, he had always wondered if both of them would ever share such feelings and thoughts with him. “T’Rani, the death of your husband, though tragic, was not my doing. We were ordered to defend those Federation colonies in the Archanis system, and S’Tefe died saving his students. Tell me, where’s the logic in re-examing his death?”

T’Rani didn’t respond.

“And Samris,” McCallister said, turning to his counsellor, “I admit, I wanted you as my counsellor the moment I promoted Max, but what happened to you, me, and every single one of us on the Quirennal will probably be the most significant trauma we would ever face as a crew. You could not deal with your loss and support your colleagues. You said it yourself.” The captain then turned to his chief engineer, “And what do you say about all of this? Louwanna is your Imzadi and you are taking action that, once caught, would stop you from seeing her and your unborn child. Seriously Tremt, think.”

“I say you do a mind meld,” Flemen suggested. “He’s not taking this seriously.”

“A mind meld would ensure he understands our clarity,” Lenjir added.

“Then do it,” Hunsen instructed T’Rani.

T’Rani extended her hand and approached McCallister.

“Okay, okay, I’ll do it,” McCallister said, knowing that if T’Rani did perform such a stunt on him, he would be useless to the plan to retake the ship. He straightened himself up and spoke up. “Computer, this is Captain James Preston Harvey McCallister; unlock the main computer core and activate all command functions, authorisation McCallister-Four-Seven-Alpha-Tango.”

“Command codes verified, command functions restored, fractural encryption lockout disabled.” The computer announced. 

In engineering, the entire room came to life as the consoles were restored with power, and the warp core automatically returned to life. 

Standing around the main ‘pool’ table, the unaffected senior staff, as well as others, got to work. Slyvexs was up first.

“Computer, this is Doctor Slyvexs; update crew records to reflect that I hereby relieve Captain James Preston Harvey McCallister from command of this vessel under medical grounds, authorisation Slyvexs-five-eight-zeta-foxtrot.” 

“Medical authorisation confirmed; this ship is currently without an active commanding officer. The chain of command directive must be followed in accordance with Starfleet regulations, first officer Commander Maxwell Jack Duncan must report for duty as acting commanding officer.” The Computer stated.

“Computer, this is Commander Maxwell Duncan reporting for duty, authorisation Duncan-one-seven-delta-romeo,” Duncan stated quickly.

“Voice authorisation confirmed. This ship is temporarily under the command of Acting Captain Maxwell Jack Duncan.” 

Duncan looked around at everyone else. “We know what the captain wants us to do, but if we fail, we know what he has asked of us.”

Everyone in the room remained silent. A few nodded solemnly. 

“Computer,” Duncan said after sighing and feeling his husband come and stand by him. “Begin autodestruct sequence, authorisation Duncan-one-seven-delta-romeo,”

Banfield then stepped forward after returning from the astrometrics lab; the chief science officer would now fill in as Duncan’s acting first officer. “Computer. Commander Corella Banfield, confirm autodestruct sequence authorisation Banfield-two-one-beta-charlie.”

Duncan then looked back at the doctor, who nodded, showing she knew what to do next. With Hunsen out of the picture, she was the next senior officer in the chain of command. “Computer. Commander Slyvexs, confirm autodestruct sequence authorisation, Slyvexs-five-eight-zeta-foxtrot.”

With the captain not present, the sequence required one more authorisation. The final piece of the puzzle was Horin. “Computer. Commander Louwanna Horin, confirm autodestruct sequence authorisation, Horin-seven-two-gamma echo.” The Counsellor was sitting on a stool as she gave out her clearance codes.

“Command authorisation accepted. Awaiting final code to begin autodestruct sequence.”

Once again, Duncan felt his husband’s hand tightly grip his hand as he carried out his next part. “This is Acting Captain Maxwell Duncan, destruct sequence alpha one. Sixty minutes silent countdown.” He paused as he looked at Tobias before saying the last word to start the entire chain. “Enable.”

“Auto-destruct in sixty minutes. There will be no further audio warning.”

Knowing that the others would have heard that on the bridge, Duncan wasted no time getting down to business. “Now, doctor, tell us about the source of the neurogenic field.”

“You’re not going to believe it,” Slyvexs said, “but we’ve piqued the interest of a telepathic pitcher plant.”

 “And it’s no ordinary telepathic pitcher plant,” Banfield added.

“Do tell us more,” Duncan encouraged his two lead scientists.

“It’s a baby telepathic pitcher plant,” Slyvexs said. “And that’s not the worst news.”

“How bad is it?” Tomaz asked from the other side of the table.

“It’s laced with blood dilithium.” Slyvexs shared.

“Could this day get any worse?” Court asked them all.

No one had an answer.