“Any sign that they have detected us?”

Perched on the stool at the tactical rail, Noli’s hands danced across the LCARS pane, controlling the ship’s sensors and taking the lead for the moment.

“Negative Captain,” the blonde bombshell shook her head, wrinkling her Bajoran nose as she often did when concentrating.

Whilst Little and Large (or the captain and his first officer as they were officially known to everyone but Noli) were deep in conversation, the youngest member of the command team summoned the nearby Strategic Operations officer with a wave of her hand.

Cocking his bald, grey head, Lieutenant Tuca looked confused for a moment but soon joined the Bajoran and her deputy at the tactical rail. “What can I do to assist you, Commander?” he asked the woman.

“We need to gather some intelligence about these people, right?” she suggested, earning nods of agreement from both Bellurr and Tuca. “All we know is that the natives of Aquorat are under attack by these raiders. But according to my sensors, we outmatch them in every respect, yet the people below do not,” she continued.

“As soon as they realise that, they’ll run…” Bellurr suggested, this time drawing a nod from Noli.

“Exactly my concern,” the tactical chief agreed in earnest, “so we need somewhere to hide where we can still observe until we have what we need,” she folded her arms across her chest and looked at Tuca. “This is where you come in, Mister Strategist,” she grinned.

Sighing, the grey-skinned Alzek silently requested ownership of the tactical station and began tapping away. “When we were discussing the situation in StratOps we happened to look across the local star chart,” he revealed, gaze split between the two yellow-clad women, “and I noticed there was a large asteroid field on the other side of the system.”

“And you think we could hide in there?” a voice from below the rail queried, drawing the attention of the three officers behind the tactical arch.

Captain Gor and Commander Kauhn had stood, watching the three at work, their discussion carrying their voices to the command team who had been deep in conversation of their own.

“It stands to reason,” Tuca nodded in response.

“If we don’t, they’ll run. And they’ll be gone before we can get the intelligence we need,” Noli added, arms still folded across her chest, looking between ‘Little and Large’.

“But if we’re going to do it, we need to do it quickly,” the assistant tactical officer chimed in, “their vessel will have us on sensors shortly.”

Gor listened to his people, considering their words, and the absence of any other suggestions that he may have preferred. A nod from Giarvar suggested he was onboard with the suggestion from the strategy team.

“Make it so,” Vasoch nodded, turning on his heels and slumping into his command chair.

Smiling to ‘her’ team, the Bajoran set their plan in motion. “Henry,” she called across the bridge, “set a course to the asteroid field on the edge of the system. Find the largest chunk of space rock and put us next to it,” she instructed.

A nod from the Tellarite at the heart of the command centre gave the flyboy the permission he needed to go to work. “Oh, you lot are about to see something special…” he grinned, rubbing his hands together with glee before letting his fingers dance across the console at will.

Hathaway began to accelerate, slowly at first and then quicker until she was at a substantial gallop and headed away from the planet they had been in conversation with just minutes earlier.

“We’ll need to power down all but essential systems once we’re in place,” Noli advised the Captain further, her eyes focused on the display she stood at.

With a flick of his wrist, the Captain pressed a button on the control pad in the arm of his chair. “Lieutenant Prida to the bridge,” he barked, then looked towards the orange-skinned creature at Ops. “Or’uil, make it happen.”

“Already working on it captain,” the Ungeat told, “in order to mask our presence we’ll have to shut down everything but key systems like sensors, life support and shields,” he told the Captain without so much as a glance or an apology.

“Approaching the asteroid field,” Henry declared a few minutes later. “Reducing speed to manoeuvring thrusters.”

“Raising shields,” Noli declared, “and given the momentum of the few asteroids that are moving, any collisions will be glancing blows.”

Vasoch could do nothing now but watch, and wait. Anything he said or did would complicate the situation for his subordinates who had the situation under control. There was, after all, a reason why he had supported Tharia’s recommendation about Noli’s promotion all those months ago. She was proving to be a more than capable leader and member of his senior staff.

“Adjusting heading… moving into position.”

Emerging from the aft turbo lift, their engineering colleague entered the bridge and made for her engineering station. “I’ve been monitoring the situation, sir,” Prida revealed, “and I think I have a further idea about how we can proceed,” the Bajoran stopped short of sitting down and looked across at the command team.

“We’re all ears, Lieutenant,” Giarvar nodded, eager to hear anything that could help their position.

“ETA thirty seconds.”

“Given what we know, we’re likely to want to pursue these criminals,” the grey-skinned Bajoran suggested, “but as soon as we power up, they’re going to know we’re coming.”

“Five seconds.”

“Shields adjusted to repel the asteroids and hide any impacts from sensors.”

“We’re going to need to mask our warp signature and use our advanced sensors to blind them from detecting us,” Prida looked hopeful that they were following along, given the other voices calling out across the bridge.

“Going to all stop.”

“Can you do all this while we’re powered down?” Gor asked, spinning in his chair slightly to look at the engineer.

“It’s better that way,” Prida nodded, “If we do it when we’re fully powered up, the sudden disappearance of our signature is far more likely to register on their sensors. If I do it now, it’ll be in place before we start moving off again.”

“Anything that gives us a strategic advantage is an opportunity worth taking,” Tuca added, leaning over the tactical arch from beside Noli.

“Powering down all but mission-critical systems,” advised Or’uil.

“Unidentified vessel approaching the planet.”

As lights across the bridge dimmed to reflect the shutdown of key systems across the ship, Gor gave his authorisation to Prida. “Get to it,” he instructed, then turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

“According to sensors, the ship is an early Theta-class Miradorn raider. It would seem to have limited speed and poor systems in comparison to later models,” leaning closer to her display, the colours of the LCARS panel lit up Noli’s face while she gave her report.

“That’s odd…”

All eyes spun and looked towards Akaria, who, for a second, looked a little sheepish, then explained her outburst.

“You say it’s a Miradorn vessel,” the science chief countered, “but the fifteen life signs I’m detecting do not match the Miradorn. They’re Nausicaan…”

Vasoch slumped back into his seat. “Of course they are,” he grimaced, “someone mentions slaves and the first two species to come to mind are…”

“Orions,” Bellurr interjected, with very little else to do at present, “and Nausicaans.”

“And since Orions are so brazen that they only use their own ships…” Giarvar continued the conversation, “…but, hang on. They’re so far from home. What the hell are Nausicaans doing running a slavery ring out here?” the XO queried.

“We’ll have to answer that later,” Noli stopped the XO in his tracks, “they’re beginning transport. North’s defence forces are opening fire from the surface.”

“Those torpedoes are so low yield they wouldn’t even register an impact against ours. Maybe against one of our shuttles,” Bellurr quipped, tapping away and conducting her own analysis. “Slaver ship has destroyed all incoming projectiles,” she added.

“Transport complete,” Noli frowned, looking away from the console and towards the Captain. “I’m reading an additional thirty-six life signs.”

“Vessel is moving away Captain,” came the warning from the flyboy, “they’re heading in our direction.”

“Any sign they’ve detected us?” Gor was quick off the mark, scooting to the edge of his chair once again.

“Nothing yet,” Bellurr answered.

“Or’uil…”

“Standing by to power up as needed Captain,” the Ungeat advised, to the ire of the engineer behind him.

“If we power up now, we’ll be detected for sure, and we’ll lose any hope of knowing what they are up to!” The engineer’s response was pretty emphatic, serious enough to draw her from her task.

Heeding the young engineer’s words, the Captain held off on ordering the power-up, at least for the moment. But on the screen, it was plain for all to see that the ship was advancing on its position, bearing down on the asteroid field and gaining speed.

“Captain, the shields will not withstand a blast from that ship at close range should we be wrong.”

A stark warning from the blonde at tactical, and one that gave the Tellarite pause. What if Prida was wrong? What if the Nausicaans on that vessel had already detected Hathaway and were on their way to destroy the ship, but caught the Captain with his proverbial pants down?

Still, there was something lurking at the back of his mind that urged him to wait; to hold off. Something he couldn’t put a finger on, and something causing the XO some discomfort next to him, as Giarvar stiffened in his chair, his knuckles white as he gripped the arms on either side of himself.

“We wait,” he sternly instructed, “no one makes a move without my say so.”

Not exactly a rebellious bunch, the crew wisely opted to follow their commander’s lead. Some chose to look away as the ship closed in on them, whilst others stared it down in a vain effort to try and deflect it from its course.

And right at the death, the latter seemed to be successful, the raider adjusting course and disappearing above them and out of view. Gasps of relief across the bridge drew all eyes back into the moment.

“They’re passing over the asteroid field on a projected heading of one-eight-three mark two-four-one,” Henry revealed once he had composed himself enough to study the display before him again.

“Prida?” Vasoch turned his chair towards the engineer, searching for the answer to his needs.

“Five minutes,” she responded, knowing exactly what the Captain wanted from her, “maybe ten.”

Frustrated, the Tellarite nodded. “Henry, follow their course and plot our best route to keep up with them,” he instructed the flyboy, “Noli; you and Tuca get to work devising some sort of plan to get me some eyes and ears aboard that ship,” he continued with the orders, without so much as a glance back at the tacticians, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

He had no choice but to wait and follow the Engineer’s lead, or risk blowing their cover. But that didn’t mean that he had to sit there helpless and inactive. Now, it was up to the strategists among them to come up with their next move.

And a bold one it would need to be.