A couple of days had passed since their altercation with the Hirogen ship, and repairs to the hull breaches were now complete. The ship had already begun its journey towards the Monean homeworld to rendezvous with the Oneida. Arzin had already been awake for a while and was in the kitchen making breakfast, as Azras had just woken up. Sitting on the edge of the bed she rubbed her face for a few moments before walking into the washroom. The last few days had seemed to be nothing but a nightmare, one that no parent should ever have to face.

Walking into the shower she let the warm water hit her, and wash over her as tears began to stream down her face again. She knew the risks, she knew that anything could happen at any moment. She wished she would have left her children back at Deep Space 47, where she knew they would be safe.

She blamed herself for her son being killed, blinded by wanting her family with her at all times and not seeing what dangers lay ahead of them. After what seemed like hours of just standing there wallowing in her sorrow, she turned off the shower got dried off, and dressed.

Walking out of the bedroom she found Arzin finishing setting the table with the food he had prepared. “Good morning my love,” Arzin replied walking over to her and kissing her softly. He too was heartbroken about the death of his son, he wanted to be strong for his wife.

“Morning,” Azras replied returning the kiss before they both walked over to the table. Taking a seat they both remained quiet as they ate their meal.

“So I hear the ships been repaired and were on our way towards the Monean homeworld,” Arzin commented after taking a bite of his food. He was just trying to make some small talk to break the silence.

Azras looked at him and nodded, “hopefully we can get out of this place soon enough!” Azras replied speaking about returning home. “I need to get to the bridge,” Azras replied after she took the last bite of her food. She was about to head towards the door before she stopped, turning back towards her husband and kissing him before she exited.

Arzin began to clean up the plates from breakfast, thoughts ran through his mind including what they would need to tell Linha when she returned to the ship. She was currently on the Oneida, that only devastated him more as the two had a special sibling bond that would now be broken.

A little while later Azras arrived on the bridge, Ritru had stood up from the center seat. “We should be arriving at the Monean homeworld in a couple of hours,” Ritru said as Azras took her seat.

“Thank you,” Azras replied. “How are repairs coming?” Azras asked as Jheria just walked onto the bridge.

“Hull damage has been repaired, we are still working on a few minor repairs. Though overall things are looking good.” Jheria replied as she walked over to her station to send the report that she had made to Azras.

Damir moved from his station to where the captain was sitting, handing her a padd with the information on it. “We just got this from the USS Discovery.” Damir began as Azras took the padd from him and began to look at it. “They believe they found a way to get rid of the blood dilithium, it looks like we need to modify a class-v probe and shoot it into an anomaly. This will in turn act as a magnet of sorts to draw the dilithium back into subspace where it came from.” Damir finished speaking as Azras continued reading the information.

“How difficult would it be for the Oneida to fabricate?” Azras asked looking up at Damir.

“Not complicated,” Damir replied. “Once we rendezvous with them I can beam over and duplicate one,” Damir added looking at her.

“Very well,” Azras replied as Damir walked back to his station.

“There is a good-sized anomaly near Miri,” Damir commented remembering he detected one when they were last at that location.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Azras replied as she sat there for a moment. “I’ll be in my office,” Azras replied as she got up from her chair and headed towards her ready room. Upon entering she grabbed a coffee from the replicator and walked over to her chair.

Rubbing a hand over her eyes, this mission had taken its toll on her, the crew as well as the ship. T’Prel remained unconscious in their infirmary while they had a whole cargo bay full of blood dilithium. Now they had a way for them to get rid of it, without it falling into the wrong hands. 

She knew that if she returned to Miri to deal with the anomaly there would be Devore attempting to stop them from doing so. She then thought of a plan that she would share with the others once they arrived at the Monean homeworld. She began to work on reports and other items she had neglected over the last couple of days. A couple of hours had passed by and she could feel the ship drop out of warp. Getting up from her seat she headed out onto the bridge before Ritru even had a chance to contact her.

“Send a message to Deza, have her come to the conference room.” Azras replied as Ritru nodded, “I’d also like to see senior staff that is on the bridge in the conference room as well.” Azras added as everyone else seemed to raise an eyebrow but nodded in acceptance.

She looked at Damir, “I would like you to attend as well since you are acting chief at the moment.” Azras said.

“Understood sir,” Damir replied.

Everyone had walked into the conference room, sitting down at the table where Azras had taken a seat. They all wondered what was going on and why only a handful of senior staff was attending this meeting. 

After everyone had arrived and were seated, “recently the Discovery found a way to eliminate the blood dilithium and free the souls of the lost Brenari.” Azras began as she pulled up the information on the screen.

“The plan will be that we will head towards Miri where there is a good-sized anomaly,” Azras began. “Damir will be on the Oneida to modify a class-v probe that will be fired into the anomaly which will then act as a magnet and cause the blood dilithium to disappear back into subspace where it originated.” She continued before taking a breath and looking at everyone’s expressions.

“Now the Devore will be on heavy resistance as this will foul their plans, so our plan is going to be simple.” Azras said as she stood up from her chair, “once we reach Miri Ritru will contact Kelic and let him know that ‘we’ would like to hand over the blood dilithium that we took.” Azras began as others were about to protest she raised her hand to stop them. “I know what your thinking, if we do that then they win and get what they want,” Azras said as most of them nodded to that statement.

“We will transport the dilithium to their ship, once it’s on board before they have a chance to even raise shields. Deza on board the Oneida will fire on the Devore warship disabling both their engines and weapons arrays while also firing the class-v probe into the anomaly at the same time.” Azras said as she looked at them. “This will cause the blood dilithium to disappear and any that are in the general area as well,” Azras finished.

“Any questions?” Azras asked looking at them as they just shook their heads, “alright dismissed.” Azras said as everyone walked out of the conference room, heading back to their stations and the two back over to the Oneida. A short time later both ships went to warp heading towards Miri.

After a few hours had passed, the two ships dropped out of warp. “Scan the area for any Devore ships,” Azras ordered as she walked out onto the bridge. The Oneida had gotten into place making it appear they were docked with the ship.

“I am not detecting any on sensors,” Dazra replied from her station.

Azras nodded then gave Ritru the go to send Kelic the transmission, now they waited for either a response from Kelic or his ship showing up at the coordinates that Ritru provided in the transmission.

“Damir reports that they have finished with the modified class-v probe and are ready when it’s time,” Ritru replied from her station as Azras just nodded. So far they hadn’t gotten any response from Kelic, so they sat there and waited.

“Sir a Devore warship just dropped out of warp and is hailing us,” Ritru replied from her station. “It is Kelic,” she added as Azras nodded to put it on the viewscreen.

The look on Kelic’s face was priceless though that quickly changed, “I was a bit taken back when we got a communication from you captain.” Kelic replied as he looked at her, “though I am surprised that you survived that Hirogen ship back there.” He added as he adjusted in his seat.

“You think that they could take us down?” Azras asked with a smirk on her face, “nevermind that.” She said waving a hand dismissively, “that is not why I am here and that is not why I have contacted you.” Azras replied looking at the Devore commander.

“And why would that be?” Kelic asked as he was curious himself.

“I decided that I wanted to return what we took,” Azras replied keeping a poker face even though internally she was smirking at the expression on the man’s face.

He for once in his life was speechless, “come again? You want to return what you took?” He asked trying to figure out if he heard her correctly. “What is the catch?” Kelic asked as he looked over at his first officer for a brief moment who just shrugged at him before returning his attention to Azras.

“No catch,” Azras said.

Kelic couldn’t help but think that this was a setup, though on his better judgment “very well.” Kelic replied as both ships lowered their shields and the transport had begun. 

Azras by this time was standing with her hands behind her back as she would use this to signal Ritru to covertly make contact with the Oneida to give them the signal. After a few tense moments, “sir transport has been completed.” Dazra replied from her console.

“Understood,” Azras replied as she gave the signal. “There you have your precious blood dilithium,” Azras said to Kelic. Though before Kelic had a chance to respond the Oneida fired upon the Devore ship before it had a chance to raise shields. It also fired the class-v probe into the anomaly that was close by.

“What have you done,” Kelic replied in anger as his ship was now disabled.

“Do you think that I would let you have it without a catch?” Azras asked with a bit of a smirk on her face.

“You will pay for this,” Kelic replied.

Pressing her lips together for a brief moment, “I mean you can try but we will be long gone before you have a chance to repair your ship,” Azras replied before she walked up closer to the viewscreen. “Enjoy that dilithium while it lasts,” Azras replied with a smile.

“What do you mean?” Kelic asked with a bit of confusion in his voice.

Before Azras had a chance to respond Noric spoke up from his seat, “sir the dilithium is disappearing from our cargo hold.” Noric replied looking at Kelic who growled.

Raising her hands in the air, “oh we don’t have it as you are free to scan our ship if you like,” Azras replied looking at him.

Kelic looked at Noric and shook his head, “then why is it disappearing?” He questioned looking even angrier than the last time she ran into him.

“I am pretty sure your team can figure that out,” Azras began with a smile. “I got to say it has been nice catching up with you Kelic. I don’t mean to be so rude but we have places to be!” Azras replied as she looked towards Ritru giving her the signal to end the communications channel.

“Once the Oneida has docked get us out of here,” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” Rass replied.

Azras sat back in her chair and let out a huge sigh, she knew she shouldn’t have taken pleasure in what just transpired but in the same sense, it gave her a bit of a relief that the blood dilithium would be out of their hands for good. Once the Oneida had docked the ship went to warp heading toward its next destination.