The shuttle rumbled through space as the five members of the Alpha Hazard team sat, strapped in and examining the latest details from the SS Dahl. Ensign Deandra Baresi was 25 and had been a nurse on the Olympic for the last year.  She was carrying the standard Hazard team equipment and medical supplies in case things went sideways.  She’d signed up for the Hazard team on a lark and found she enjoyed the unique challenges in the position.

Ensign Gabrieli Marcello studied the differences between the Dahl and the Olympic.  He was 24 and had come aboard as an Operations Officer with Hazard team training.  His reasons were the desire to jump into the more challenging parts of the job.

“The Dahl’s overdue for refit…old girl hasn’t had an update in a long time,” Lieutenant Finlay Florin muttered as he examined her service records.  He was 35 and seemingly a lifelong engineering officer.  Nothing else had ever appealed to him.  The hazard team fell into his lap when the ask for volunteers came.  He’d taken the assignment on a lark and hadn’t looked back.  He’d been on the Olympic for the last year.  Sitting to his right was Ensign Hector Protheroe and Finlay’s unofficial assistant.  Six months ago, Hector had stepped aboard Olympic lost, unsure of his Starfleet future.  At 23, the damage control officer found that future in conversations with Finlay, and the two had worked together since.  They were often referred to as ‘The Twins’ despite looking nothing like each other.

“Should be an interesting expedition into the past, then.” Rounding out the Hazard Team was Lieutenant Conlan Gonzaga, a studious science officer who was a quiet voice in the science department more interested in studies and samples.  At 33, he had decided to expand his experiences beyond the staid laboratories and academic journals that had been his life since high school.

Catari sat in the pilot seat of the shuttle, “We’re coming into range now.  Stand ready.”  She’d acquired the team when she’d stepped on board the Olympic and had been pleased with their talents and ratings.  Someone had done their job to make sure the Hazard Team was well-tuned.  The shuttle thundered out of warp, and Athena stabbed at the console as the sensors began to probe the SS Dahl.  The first thing she noticed was no running lights.  The second was the warp nacelles were flickering.  “Florin, need your eyes.”

He shifted forward and scanned the screens.  “They burned out the warp engines.”  He slid into the ops console beside her and went to work, his eyes searching for the answers.  Finlay found them, and his heart felt for the civilian ship, “The reason they couldn’t go beyond warp 5 was the damage that was done to the core and engineering – here.”  He pointed to the scans, “The crew must have fought like hell against Jem’Hadar.  Main engineering isn’t even habitable.  Can’t repair something that’s so far gone it’s nearly buckled into itself…it’s a miracle this girl is still flying.”

Athena wondered, “So the Dominion intended this thing to get here faster…but it couldn’t.  Warp core will still pack a punch.”

“We won’t know what other tricks they’ve rigged on her until we get aboard.  The good news is that the shield emitters were sabotaged.”  He ran his hands over the sensors again, “There’s a lot wrong over there.  Most of the lower decks are impassible.  Self-destruct will be tricky, so we’ll need to figure out a course into a nearby sun.”

Catari agreed, “I’ll do the work to find one.  You all find a way to slow or even stop her.  I’ll drop you near the bridge.”  He stood and returned to the team as they assembled on the transporter pad.  Athena gave them a thumbs-up and activated it.

“Holy….hell.”  Florin led the team through the scorched corridors of the ship slowly, with Heactor leading up the rear, his phaser rifle out and pointed behind them as he kept his head and body on a swivel.  There were blood spatters on the carpet.  “Baresi?”

Deandra had her medical tricorder as she traveled in the center of the pack, “I’m detecting some human life signs, Lieutenant.  They’re faint, but they’re there.  We’ve got a lot of dead readings.  Centered in engineering, the shuttle bay, and sickbay.”

Finlay concluded, “They probably stacked the bodies there after the fight.  Goddamn Dominion.  Find me life signs, Baresi, and direct us there.”  She searched until she was able to extrapolate one.  She directed them down three corridors, up a Jefferies tube, and down another two corridors until they stood near the quarters labeled “Captain Thomas Dahl.”  The engineer sighed, “Let’s clear it as we walk in.  Triage comes second.” They stacked up on either side of the door before Florin activated it, slipping to the side as it flew open, revealing spartan quarters with lights flickering.  They cleared the room, and it fell to Protheroe, finding Dahl splayed on the bed and breathing heavily.  He called the group over, and Baresi began her work.  The bed was soaked in blood.  The civilian captain had been brutally beaten.  

The nurse began to stabilize him, “They hit him pretty hard, Lieutenant…if we get him back to the Olympic soon, I might be able to save him.”  As she worked, his eyes went wide, and he screamed, startled by the faces suddenly around him.  She whispered, “Thomas, we’re here to help.  We’re from the Federation Starship Olympic…we’re here to help.” His eyes went from face to face wildly until he felt assured enough they weren’t here to kill him. Finley asked him what had happened.

His breathing eased, and his color was balanced with Deandra’s focused efforts to save him.  Dahl told it haltingly as the pain remained, “Task Group decided to send us to check on a colony that had asked for medical assistance.  Didn’t bother to check if it was a ruse…just sent us in.  We spotted the Dominion signatures and went to turn around.  They came out of nowhere…a group of 100 fighters and two battlecruisers.  They knocked out our shields and transported aboard before we could get to warp…we fought hard…they got to me and tortured me in front of my senior crew…got them to give them codes and access…then they killed them in front of me.  It was a slaughter.  So much death.”  His eyes were red with tears, and the stream of sadness began to flow again.  “So much goddamn death.”

Finley felt anger at the Dominion more than he had before. He did have a question, “Why did they leave you alive?”

Baresi gave him a warning look, but Dahl waved it away, “They broke my legs, Lieutenant…broke my back…and set me here to watch my ship fall apart around me when it got wherever they had it going.  Victory is life is a helluva thing.”

Conlan was at the captain’s console, working.  “Any other survivors that you know of, Captain?”  The ship’s computer had remained open – the Dominion hadn’t closed out the commands or access when they’d left it.  He wondered if a Vorta had been involved or had just been the Jem’Hadar.

Dahl coughed and groaned at the pain, “They locked my chief engineer in engineering before they tore it apart from the outside – just enough to keep it functioning.  They forced open her communications badge to broadcast shipwide.  We all heard her die…slowly at first….but then it was thankfully quick.  If there are any survivors, they’re probably barely hanging on.  Victory is life doesn’t leave much room for mercy.”

Baresi continued to work, “I need to get him to the shuttle, at least.”  

Finley gave her a nod and watched as she vanished in the light of the transporter.  The remaining four stood in silence.  He took a long breath, “Let’s make for the bridge, see if we can change her course.  Worst case, we have the captain authorize self-destruct.”  Wordlessly, the team moved out and on.