“Well I didn’t even get a chance to say yes,” said Anand, looking around at the interior of Gomthree after their abrupt transport. He noted with some concern that the room they were in didn’t seem to have any exits.

“Ah, I’m sorry, that might be my fault,” said Ixabi, nervously glancing between Qsshrr and Anand. “Communication is still a bit tricky; it’s all images and ideas, and some of them I’m having trouble communicating without using words. But Qsshrr’s been a big help,” she added, beaming down at the Horta.

Anand tapped his combadge, hoping the signal would transmit through whatever Gomthree was made of. “Anand to Babylon, sorry for that abrupt departure. Ixabi and Qsshrr and I are aboard Gomthree.”

He was relieved to hear a grunt of displeasure in response. “Are the three of you safe? I have the transporter room attempting to get a lock on you.”

“We’re fine,” Anand reassured him. “No need to bring us home yet; just keep this channel open.”

“Affirmative.”

A sudden creaking noise rang out as the roof of their enclosed space lurched downward by half a meter. Anand’s hands reflexively shot up, and he found himself pressing them on the ceiling that was now just grazing his head.

“Ixabi?” he asked, concern in his voice.

Ixabi glanced curiously at the walls around them as she sat down next to Qsshrr and placed a hand on her. “I’ll find out what that was all about,” she assured him. “It’s already much easier to communicate now that we’re, um, aboard.”

She closed her eyes and sat in silent commune again.

Anand suddenly felt awkward looming over his officers in such a cramped space, so he carefully lowered himself to the floor and sat down cross-legged as he waited.

It was Qsshrr who spoke first. “Captain, perhaps the first thing you should know is that Gomthree is young. Very young. It’s hard to give a precise number of years, but I estimate it to be nearly the same age as Lieutenant Ixabi.”

‘That would qualify as “very young” to a Horta,’ thought Anand, which naturally fed into another thought. “So its species is very long-lived? How was it ‘born’, so to speak?”

There was more creaking and another lurch of the roof. Anand felt his heartbeat thrumming rapidly in his ears, but curiosity kept the panic at bay.

“I believe,” Qsshrr began. The voice from her translator was coming out soft and quiet in imitation of her low, hesitant rumblings. “It is the same species as Gomtuu. I believe it was born of Gomtuu.”

“Uh–” Anand was at a loss for words as he processed the information. All he could manage to croak out was, “How?”

Ixabi shook her head. “Captain, I don’t think I could describe it if I tried. I can hardly understand what I’m seeing here myself.”

“I am somewhat perplexed as well,” admitted Qsshrr. “It’s certainly not as straightforward as laying eggs.”

“Fair enough,” said Anand. “But then how did it become separated from Gomtuu?”

Ixabi’s response was immediate. “It left,” she spat, her brow furrowed in pain. She took a deep, shuddering breath and collected herself. “I’m sorry, I think Gomthree is very upset with itself. That’s one of the stronger emotions I’m feeling.”

“It grew frustrated with Gomtuu,” said Qsshrr. “It wanted to travel faster, explore further. It wanted a crew of its own just as Gomtuu had. Genetic memory from Gomtuu led it across the galaxy to where Gomtuu had found its first new crewmember, and then…”

Qsshrr trailed off.

In the silence, in between the panic and the wonder, Anand realized he was giggling. “It ran away from home,” he said quietly. “A living spaceship, an ancient species, and it still produces rebellious youth.”

“It became panicked,” said Ixabi, looking a little more collected. “It was disoriented, overwhelmed… it found its way here and took refuge among the vacuoles. It can sense which ones pass through to open space, but that’s all. I think it hoped that one might lead home, somehow. After a time it ventured out into the surrounding sector again, and then–”

Ixabi opened her eyes. “Well, we all read the reports.”

Her statement was punctuated by another dip in the ceiling. Anand could now reach up and touch it even while seated. “I take it Gomthree’s not got much practice at making rooms, then? Should we head back to the ship?”

Ixabi hummed and closed her eyes again, and after a minute slowly shook her head.

Qsshrr answered, “Gomthree was struggling before, but a chamber of this size doesn’t require effort. It won’t get any smaller.”

“I certainly hope not,” said Anand, one hand still braced against the ceiling.

They were all silent for a moment, listening to the creature’s reverberating tune.

“Well, can you attempt to communicate our mission to Gomthree?” asked Anand. “If we can get it safely out of this warzone, there may be some way to help it find its way home, so to speak.”

“I think we can,” said Qsshrr.

Ixabi nodded and closed her eyes again.

Anand sat quietly and drummed his fingers on his knee as he waited. As the minutes passed, he worried that the analogue whalesong would lull him to sleep. If only he had some coffee or tea on hand. Gomthree surely couldn’t– come to think of it, did Gomtuu have its own replicators?

His train of thought was interrupted when he noticed Ixabi stirring.

“I do believe that Gomthree understands, Captain,” said Qsshrr. “It will follow our ship out of the Deneb sector to a safe harbor.”

“Alright,” said Anand. “Make sure it knows that we’ll have to move quickly and carefully, that we can’t stand and fight against the kind of ships that attacked it, so we’ll have to avoid them or outrun them. Unless–”

Ixabi shook her head. Anand suspected she’d read his mind just now without even realizing it, and he tried to project reassurance just in case; he hardly expected her to keep her walls up under these circumstances.

“Gomthree used up a great deal of its defensive energy in its last attack against the Jem’Hadar,” said Ixabi, “And it’s not sure how much power it can muster for the next one.”

Anand nodded as his mind went back to the dimmed lights on Gomthree’s exterior. “I thought that might be the case.”

“Captain,” said Qsshrr, “I’d like to remain onboard Gomthree with Lieutenant Ixabi, at least until we are clear of the Deneb sector.”

Anand dithered for just a second, none too keen on the idea of leaving two of his officers behind on a juvenile living ship. He sighed. “As much as it seems to have improved your ability to communicate, I suppose that would be for the best. Permission granted.”

He uncrossed his legs and shifted as if to stand up before abruptly realizing that he no longer had room to do so. Kneeling awkwardly on one knee, he tapped his combadge.

“Anand to–”

He felt tingling on his skin again like static electricity, and before he could finish his sentence he was back on the bridge.

A bark of laughter from Szarka quickly transitioned into a cheerful “Welcome back!”

He wobbled and stood up, readjusting his uniform.

Bohkat–who’d taken up position in the center chair–quickly rose and stepped behind the seat, using one hand to swivel it towards Anand as if offering it back to him.

“Still no sign of the Jem’Hadar or other Dominion vessels on the long-range sensors,” said Bohkat. “Shields have fully regenerated. We’ve been using the short-range sensors to gather what data we can on this dimension, but have been unable to find any distinguishing qualities. At least, not in the immediate area.”

“Probably for the best,” said Anand as he took his seat. “I don’t think we need any more surprises at the moment. Speaking of which– Szarka, were you able to locate one of our probes?”

The amused look on Szarka’s face quickly faded, and she shook her head as she turned back to her console. “No… based on our initial dispersion map and our displacement in the chase with Gomthree, I don’t think any of them got this far. As it stands, we have no way of knowing what’s waiting for us on the other side of that vacuole.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out then,” said Anand, though the tone of his voice didn’t match the certainty of his words. “Do we still have a channel open to Ixabi and Qsshrr?”

“Sure do.”

“Tell them we’re heading back, and that we don’t know what we might encounter upon return to normal space. Tell them to be prepared to run.”

There was a flash of light, and when it cleared they were greeted with familiar stars and the faint, distant shimmer of…

“I’m picking up debris,” said Ensign Bolen, his voice trailing off as he continued his scans.

Zamora cackled at the helm.

“Good news for us,” muttered Anand. Then, more clearly, “But is it debris from both Jem’Hadar ships or just one?”

His question was answered by the blaring of the proximity alert.

“Just one, then,” said Anand. “Red alert. Szarka, tell Ixabi to set Gomthree on the quickest path out of these vacuoles. Zamora, once again, follow and stay close.”

A chorus of affirmatives and a pulsing red light filled the bridge. On the viewscreen, Gomthree diminished to a tiny point of receding light with Babylon following right on its tail.

They were scarcely at warp for five seconds when they dropped to impulse again to veer out of the way of a subspace vacuole.

Streaks of blue light sailing past them into the distance showed that the Jem’Hadar fighter was not far behind.

Gomthree and Babylon jumped to warp again. One, two… just three seconds this time, then cutting the warp drive and changing direction again. More streaks of blue light, and a thundering noise from the aft of the ship.

“Shields down to 40 percent,” called Bohkat.

“In one shot??” said Anand. “What did they hit us with?”

It wasn’t exactly a rhetorical question, but neither did Anand expect an answer from Bohkat beyond his muttering and shaking his head at his console.

They jumped back to warp.

Ten whole seconds at warp this time. Enough time for the Jem’Hadar to fire weapons before scrambling to make a direction change. More thundering as one of the shots landed.

Back to impulse.

“Captain, aft shields are gone.” Bohkat’s tone of voice suggested that he was trying to shame the shields into functioning again.

Anand tapped his combadge. “Engineering–”

“The shields, I know,” came the voice from engineering. It sounded deeply familiar, but Anand recalled all the engineering crewmembers he’d met since he’d arrived, and yet he couldn’t put a name or a face to the voice. “This stop-and-go is disrupting our energy distribution. The outrigger’s empty right now so I’m rerouting life support from there to the shields. Just a sec–”

The channel cut off.

“Shields back up to 50 percent,” called Bohkat.

Anand breathed a sigh of relief and made a mental note to visit engineering when this was all over to give everyone there a hug, back pat, or respectful nod.

“Ixabi to Babylon: Gomthree is worried about you. It’s moving to position itself between you and the Jem’Hadar, and I think it wants to try using its weapon again.”

“Absolutely not!” The words came out of Anand’s mouth without forethought, and only after he spoke did his rational brain swoop in to provide reasoning. “It just told us it wasn’t sure how much energy it had left. I don’t want it making itself vulnerable going in to attack the Jem’Hadar with a weapon that might not even work. We’ve got things under control. Tell Gomthree to keep going.”

There was a pause, and Anand thought the matter was settled.

“Captain,” said Ixabi, in a tone that suggested the matter was very much not settled, “Qsshrr and I just communicated that to Gomthree, and I’m quite sure it understood us, but– I think it’s going to do what it wants to do regardless. I– I recommend you take evasive actions. Ixabi out!”

“Why do they all think they know what’s best at that age?” said Anand.

He turned to tactical. “Bohkat, give us a maneuver.”

Bohkat, who had finally stopped muttering at his console, squared his shoulders and set his jaw as he looked at Zamora, and said, “Pattern Kappa Five.”

Zamora nodded, and the second she turned back to her console they were off like a dart, rocketing past Gomthree…

…and then a sharp 90-degree turn up, up, still with the Jem’Hadar right behind.

“Gomthree is powering up,” Ensign Bolen called from ops.

“Everyone, close your eyes!” called Anand. “Except Zamora!”

“And hang on,” Zamora yelled.

There was a jolt, and the deep thrumming of the inertial dampeners reverberated through everyone’s bones as the Babylon made a sharp 180.

Anand ignored his own orders and kept one eye open, and watched them shoot past the disoriented Jem’Hadar fighter and past Gomthree.

He saw Gomthree glowing again and closed both his eyes.

When the glow faded from behind his eyelids, he opened his eyes and saw the Jem’Hadar fighter cartwheeling across the viewscreen.

“I think the weapon grazed one of the fighter’s nacelles,” said Ensign Bolen, and the careening fighter confirmed his statement in that instant with a cloud of flame and debris.

Anand stood and took a few steps toward the viewscreen. “Lifesigns?”

Zamora scoffed.

“Nothing in the direction of the Jem’Hadar vessel,” said Ensign Bolen.

Anand stepped down onto the helm’s recessed deck and put a hand on the back of Zamora’s seat. “How’s your vision?”

“Seems fine,” said Zamora, rubbing at one eye. “Bit of an afterimage when I blink, but otherwise… I don’t know what all the rest of you were complaining about.”

Anand smiled. He assumed the flash had been less intense in proportion to Gomthree’s lower energy. He also assumed that Zamora had assumed the same, but who was he to stand in the way of her bravado?

“Ixabi to Babylon! Are you alright??”

“It would seem so,” said Anand, heading back to his seat. “What about you three?”

“We are unharmed,” said Qsshrr, “Though Gomthree is now quite tired. I think– Captain, I believe it is requesting that you tow it via tractor beam.”

“Oh?” Anand fell back into his seat and again recalled holding his niece’s hand as they looked both ways and crossed the street. “Yes, that’s fine. Tell Gomthree that we can carry it home.”