The USS Jaxartes was currently sat hidden behind the second moon of the planet Vasileio.  All her systems where powered down or running at their lowest possible setting to help avoid detection. Not from the inhabitants of the planet itself, but a certain Ferengi by the name of DaiMon Talr. In the cause of investigating his movements they’d discovered he’d made a number of trips here to acquire valuable gems and other items.

Vasileio was a class M planet, very similar to Earth in both size, climate and general orbit.  Its inhabitants of which there were around 67 million could be best described as being Stoat like in appearance and measured just over one meter in height. They were spread out across the four main continents and numerous other islands.

The Federation had dropped a couple of probes some 30 years ago to pick up data and take long range photos.  Each of the Continents had their own established kingdoms and rulers in power, with separate languages and cultures evident.  Though it did appear at the time a thriving trade between the four kingdoms was well established and no signs of recent conflict had been monitored by the probes.  But as the inhabitants where clearly somewhere equivalent to the 16th or 17th century as regards development no direct contact had ever been made.

As for whether the DiaMon was making direct contact or simple just stealing the items was their main reason for waiting in ambush for him.

_____

USS Jaxartes: Bridge 05:40

It was 05:40 ship time and as it was his turn to take the night shift Ensign Jason Devron, was sat in the captains’ chair.  Currently he had a PADD in his right hand containing most of the data that had been collected on the planet by the mission that had sent the probes.  The Jaxartes had stayed too far away to be able to add any more up to date information.

He was amazed at the quality and detail of the images and short videos that had been taken during the probes half dozen orbits.  Images that had captured the Vasileian as the academics were referring to them.  At both work and play.  Their architecture to, some of which had symbols carved in stone or painted on wood, which had given the clues to the different languages.  The animals they used for both riding and pulling of carts looked a lot like horses but with a more anteater style head.  They also had something like a Llama which provided the wool for much of their clothing.  The Llama’s and a warthog looking creature almost as big as the average adult Vasileian appeared to make part of the diet along with other food stuffs grown in fields or berries picked from bushes.

At that moment the doors behind him made their usual ‘shush’ noise as they opened.  Jason turned his head slightly to see Ensign Chad Harris the young golden haired New Zealander walk on to the Bridge.

“Eger.”  He said with a smile. “It’s not 6 yet.”

“Yeah, raring to go me.” Replied the New Zealander, dropping his stocky frame into the navigation chair.  He’d played Rugby still regarded as their national sport as a teenager, but had opted for Starfleet rather than try to make a career in the game. He’s size and build had also helped in get into the Academies’ Wrestling Team, so the two of them had trained and spared together numerous times.

They chatted as the helmsman adjusted the angle of the ships flight path by point 7 of a degree to allow for the change in orbit caused by gravitational shift over the last few hours; before running a level 2 diagnostics check on the systems.  Whilst it was possible to leave the Jaxartes on Auto-Pilot the ships computer would only make adjustments if it detected that the vessel would be in any sort of danger; and despite the changes experienced it would have been several days before any intervention would be required.  Whereas any human at the controls would tend to make more minor corrects bringing the ship back to its original orbital path long before any major alteration was required.

By now Devron had finished looking at the information on the PADD and realized there was actually nowhere to place it without getting up.  All the workstations behind him appeared to have at least one spot to rest the device and there was even a hidden compartment just below and to the left of the science station which had two Tricorders inside.  For now however he just slipped it between his right leg and the armrest.

At exactly 0600 hours Lieutenant-Commander Salan, the Vulcan ship’s captain entered the bridge.  Almost as if someone lightyears away could calculate his arrive down to the second the communication system bleeped to indicate an incoming message.  With no one usually manning that station over night; the Vulcan scanned the code on the message himself.  “Mr Devron if you can hold the fort just a while longer whilst I read this in my ready room I’d be most grateful.”

“Aye sir.”  The young ensign responded as his commanding officer exited the bridge once more.

“Wonder what’s going on now?” The New Zealander mused.

“Beats me!” Jason replied with a shrug.

_____

In his ready room the Vulcan called up the text message which had been sent as a short data burst to avoid detection by any other vessels that may have been in the area.  It was short and to the point, and consisted of just three sentences.

< Confirmed your brother amongst 27 rescued from slave camp >

< Promotion to Commander.  Reassignment pending >

< Brake surveillance – Urgent rendezvous MRT Atragon – Y’Teck V  –  Instruction from Captain    Jinguji >

He sat back for a moment in his chair hands clasped in his lap reading through each message for a second time.  It was pleasing to know that his brother Mazhiv had been found alive and if circumstances had favoured him, well.   He also understood the reason behind the promotion, even though he’d always sort to avoid such a thing.  Someone clearly understood his motives for being out here and had given him the only option to relinquish command of the Jaxartes without causing any ‘hassle’ as he believed the humans would say.  As for the last part, that puzzled him, but he was sure things would become clearer in due course.  Evidently it was a high priority and tracking down the Ferengi would have to wait for another time.

_____

Back on the Bridge he sat down in the captains’ chair, almost on a PADD. “Yours I believe?”  He pasted the device to Jason.  “Mr Harris, plot a cause for Y’Teck V, warp 6.”

“Aye captain.  Course laid in, warp 6 on your command.” Announced the New Zealander

The Vulcan gave the order “Engage.”

_____

As the USS Jaxartes raced away on its new assignment a small object detached itself from one of the myriad of rocks that formed the outer ring surrounding this particular star systems only gas giant.  The Ferengi shuttle eased away slowly, rotated and then made directly for the planet Vasileio at sub-light speed.

It was just over nine hours later when the Jaxartes reached the planet marked on Federation star charts as, Y’Teck V. An ‘O’ class planet with a diameter measuring 13,491 km; some 97% of which was covered in water or ice.  The planets Northern axis pointed roughly towards its star resulting in there being only one polar region covering 20% of the southern hemisphere an area of the planet which had not seen day light in millions of years.  Likewise parts of the north had never witnessed a sunset in all that time.  The only land masses on Y’Teck V; consisted of a series of volcanic islands forming a ring along three quarters of the equator.

As the corvette banked around to establish a stable orbit the MRT Atragon appeared on the ships long range scanners.  It would be a couple more hours before the other vessel was within visual.  All they could really do for now was wait.

_____

To say the MRT Atragon was an unusual craft would be an understatement.  Its hull was basically one large rectangular slab; measuring 70m long, by 24m wide and 9m high.  On either side there were what appeared to be two pairs of booster rockets you’d expect to find on a pre-warp vessel.  Above and running the front half of the ship, two decks, which consisted of the bridge, engineering and accommodation facilities.  At the mid-point anchored by a single flat pylon, two warp nacelles each roughly three quarters the length of the entire vessel and looking like they’d been stripped from a decommissioned starship rather than been designed for the ship they now sat on.

“Atragon hailing use captain.” Announced Ensign Cho.

“On screen.”

The image of a tall Japanese man in his late 40’s appeared on the main viewer.  He was wearing what looked like a cream colour cable knit jumper you might expect to find a 20^th century fisherman wearing, but the white cap with gold braiding that sat on his head spoke more Japanese Imperial Navy.

The man, who was standing, bowed slightly in formal respect, as had always been traditional in his culture. “Comm-ander.” There was a slight pause between the two halves of the word. “I am Cap-tain Hachiro Jinguji.  Requesting permission to board your vessel and discuss the orders your people have passed on to me.”

“Permission granted captain, I look forward to it.”  As the image of Jinguji faded from the screen, the Vulcan turned to his Bajoran first officer. “Number one escort our guest from the transporter room to the observation lounge. Ensign Devron, you’re with me.”

“Aye captain” They both answered in unison.

_____

17:20

A short while later the four of them where around the large wooden table in the observation lounge at the rear of the Jaxartes.  The Japanese officer bowed before taking the seat he’d been offered.  “I know this may seem like unusual circumstances,” he begun. “But what I am about to inform you of is no ordinary situation.”

He pulled out a small data card from his pants pocket and passed it to Lieutenant Bolka, who placed it in a slot at one side of the monitor sat on the table.

“What your about to hear, is the last message received from a Danube class Runabout the USS Alberga.   Which was carrying a Vashra Diplomate and he’s aid.”  He signaled for the Lieutenant to hit the play button.

“Thi…this is High Ch…chanc…ellor  Kreen…they are…..they’re all gone!”  There was a moment of silence and heavy breathing. “My….my aid and the crew jus…t vanished.”

Hachiro got her to stop the recording there. “The rest of the message is partly garbled, and the Chancellor in rather a state of panic. Which is reasonable given the apparent situation” Continued Jinguji.

“So what do we believe happened?”  Asked the Vulcan

“As to what happened to the crew, Starfleet is at a loss.”  The Japanese man announced.  “However we do know Chancellor Kreen managed to bring the Runabout through this planets’ out atmosphere but crashed somewhere north of the central island chain.”

“Who are these Vashra?” Devron asked.

“Annexed by the Romulans over a hundred and fifty years ago, then due to the whole upheaval abandoned to fend for themselves.”  Interjected Bolka.

“Yes indeed.” Added Jinguji. “Which is why I believe a small craft like a Runabout was sent.  Their people have had enough of huge warships casting shadows over their planet.”

“And where do you come into all this, Captain?” Salan asked their guest.

“The Atragon carries on board her a rescue sub, the ‘Sea Quest’.  Your people want use to take a look at that ship and ascertain what actually happened”

“So it sunk?” Asked Jason.

The Bajoran nodded.  “Chances of it staying afloat would have been rather slim. But all dependent on the speed and angle it hit the water.”

The group continued to disguise the situation for a while longer, before Captain Jinguji left to rejoin his ship.

_____

Bridge MRT Artragon 18:05

It was roughly an hour later when the MRT Atragon made preparations to enter Y’Teck V’s outer atmosphere. Lyanna Stuart was so intrigued as to how this odd looking vessel was going to manage this feat, that she’d asked permission to go on board and witness the process first hand.  And that’s why the young Orion now found herself sat on the bridge of the ungainly looking starship.

In space the size, shape and mass of a vessel didn’t really matter; as long as you had some means of propulsion you could move it.  Whether it took you a few minutes or a few years, at some point you’d reach you destination.  But planets had atmospheres and gravity, two things that not all space going vessels got along with at the best of times.  So the fact the crew of the Atragon where now flying what basically had all the flight characteristics of a house-brick having left the warp-drive in orbit; was even amazing her.

“Height 9,000Km, speed 26,000Km, shields 87%” Announced the ships pilot.

“Deploy Air Foils.” Replied the Captain.

“Aye captain.  Air Foils deployed.”

The Atragon still seemed to be hurtling to the planet below, but the Ensign did note a change in the speed. Lyanna continued to watch as the male human pilot went about the task of flying the ship with practiced ease.

“Height 8,000Km, speed 24,000Km, shields 86%.”  The pilot continued to read off the three figures as each of them reduced until. “Height 1,000Km, speed 6,300Km, shields 82%.”

“Fire Plasma Jets, full power!”  Jinguji ordered.

The craft shuddered and groaned as the four huge engines came to life, decelerating the ship to an almost complete stop, a mere 300Km above the ocean surface and just over twice that distance due east of one of the larger of the islands that rang the planets equator. With a final set of instructions and careful input on the controls, the large craft maneuvered over towards the island then came to rest on the beach with a slight thud, her bow pointing out to sea, and her powerful engines once more fell silent.

It took a few minutes for all the sand the Atragons’ powerful engines had kicked up into the air to settle back down, some of which formed a thin coating across the ship’s hull.  Captain Hachiro Jinguji was the first to exit the bridge and make his way down the set of ladders which gave access to the main hold, which basically made up 90% of the entire vessel.  It was here that Lyanna got her first glimpse of the submarine they’d be using.  The ‘Sea Quest’ was probably slightly larger than the Runabout they needed to search for, but hardly looked any different to submarines that had been travelling under oceans for the last 400 years.

_____

During the next couple of hours Ensign Stuart helped the Japanese Captain and his crew unload a small camp, which they setup along one side of the ship.  She was slowly getting to know this small group of individuals.  There was Max Wallerstein the human pilot who’d landed the ship.  He was in his late 30’s and had piloted Freighters and Cargo Tugs before being hired to fly the Atragon. Max’s main distinguishing features were his purple beard, not natural of course; and the holographic Chinese dragon tattoo on his right arm that swished its tail every so often.  Phoebe Andrianakis another human; the cook/medic was only in her mid 20’s and usually had a smile on her face. She was now being assisted by a female Trill Lei Rahs who’s fiery red hair stood out like a beacon.  She’d be the one at the helm of the sub along with a Joshua a Betazoid; he’d not been forthcoming with any other details. Heard but as yet unseen a Benzite Engineer by the name Hoydock.

All of their equipment and supplies including the rather unusual and unique Maritime Rescue Transporter, or MRT Atragon; had been purchased by Hachiro and his elder brother Akihiko. The group had been together just over a year now, a civilian rescue team that could rush to the aid of any subterranean complex or underwater vessel in an emergency.  They’d already saved the lives of 22 workers from an underwater mining facility on Segra Delta and 3 from a storm damaged Drilling Rig somewhere near Harpers Rift during their short time in operation. All lives that would have not been possible save without the aid of their submarine Sea Quest.

“So when do we get going?”  The Orion asked the Captain as he came past carrying a pair of fold up wooden chairs that he placed next to a long table already in position under the larger of two tented structures.

“We dive at dawn, Miss Stuart.” He answered in his usual polite manor. “It will be starting to get dark here in just over an hour, and I much prefer launching when I can see everything going on.”

“I understand” She unfolded one of the chairs; whilst he did the other one Hoydock arrived at this point with another four of the chairs. “How many more do we need, boss?” he asked Hachiro.

“Another three if you would, thank you.” They both bowed to each other, the formal habits of his captain slowly rubbing off on the Benzite who very much respected each other. The blue skinned Benzite male was taller than everyone else and wore black overalls; and although he was wearing breathing apparatus that the vast majority of his species required in a standard oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, he’s was mounted as part of a head piece.

Lyanna turned around as she heard the familiar sound of a federation transporter beam and sure enough on a small ridge just above the beach the figures of Commander Salan, Lieutenant Bolka and Ensign Devron appeared.  The lieutenant had a Tricorder attached to a long strap and slung over one shoulder.  The captain walked over to meet them, bowed and then shuck their hands.  “So glad you could join us for our evening meal.”  He looked over towards Phoebe. “How long?”

The head of a woman in her mid 20’s with olive skin and black haired poked out from behind a tent flap.  “Ten minutes no more.  Grab a seat.”

True to her word the meal was all prepared and being served up just ten minutes later.  It consisted of a mix of traditional Japanese and Asian foods, with the odd Greek twist thrown in for good measure.  Hachiro sat at the head of the table with his four crewmembers along one side and their Starfleet guests along the other.

Commander Salan noticed the Japanese captain no long had the white naval cap with him, and intrigued enough to learn more he enquired about it.  “Yes it’s the genuine article the Asian man replied. “One of my ancestors was a Destroyer Captain under the command of Vice Admiral Takeo Takagi during the Battle of Midway amongst other campaigns.”

“Your planet has changed greatly since those times.” The Vulcan said solemnly. “But endured a lot to get where it is now.”

“Indeed it has, mm yes.”

Jason having never met a Benzite before noted that this particular one opposite him appeared to really enjoy the Asian foods on offer and was tucking in heartily.  Giving the occasional grunt and signal of approval to the cook Andrianakis sat next to him.  He then turned to his collogue to his right.  “Enjoy your trip down?” he asked Lyanna.

She put down the half eaten Shushi Roll in her hand, and looked at him. “With all due respect to Max over there.” She whispered, leaning in close to Jason. “I have never felt so helpless in my life!”

“Really” Jason looked back.

“It’s a good thing their ship has padded seats with harnesses fitted.  It shakes like no bodies business on planetary entry, and doesn’t half fall fast.”  Lyanna looked over towards the pilot to see if he’d heard any of what she’d said before continuing. “Part of me wanted to leap up, throw him out of the chair and land it myself.”

“And the other part?” he quizzed.

“Wanted to jump out and take my own chances with gravity!

“You make a lousy passenger.”  Jason laughed, and gave the Orion a nudge with his elbow. Before returning his attention to the Yakitori; on the plate in front of him.

_____

After the mini banquet the four Starfleet officers thanked their hosts for the meal and their hospitality before beaming back up to the corvette where they would sleep in preparation for the underwater operation first thing in the morning.

_____

USS Jaxartes Transporter Room  14^th February 2401

At 05:30 ship time the three of them where standing in the transporter room waiting for the lieutenant ready to head back down to the planet’s surface.   Along with them was the Chief Engineer.  Bellbrooke had hoped to be back running his Engineering Repair & Maintenance Team on Starbase Bravo but Salan had asked him to stay with the ship just a little longer; but if you’d have asked anyone who normally worked under him, they’d probably say they were getting along just fine without him.

Bolka was just down the corridor with Ensign Cho.  The Bajoran was showing the young Korean something on a PADD in her hand. “Read this follow those instructions.  Tell no one, understand?” The ensign nodded, took the PADD from the lieutenant and walked away.

With the Sea Quest now half covered by sea water it was time for everyone to get on board that was going on the search mission.  Lei was back on top of the hull, ready to help anyone if they needed a hand getting aboard.  Joshua was first up the ladder, closely followed by Hachiro.  Lyanna followed close behind them, stopping briefly to take one last look around.  Jason waited at the foot of the ladder for the Commander.  He was over by the Lieutenant.

“Well you’re in charge of things here number one; we’ll send you a progress report as soon as we can.” The Vulcan informed her. “The Chief should be ok, but if there are any problems he knows to contact you.”

“Good luck sir.” Her reply was in a much softer tone than he’d normal heard her use during their time working together, and the hand shake that followed a little longer than usual.  For Vulcan, emotions where a thing to be kept in check.  Salan knew enough however to realise when someone was genuinely worried. “Thank you Laira.”

As he turned and walked away towards the submarine, it suddenly dawned on the Bajoran what he’d just said.  He never used her first name on duty never once in all the time she’d known him.  May be that would be the closest he’d ever come to acknowledge any sort of feelings. Or was that just her overthinking thing, caught in the moment.  She smiled to herself idly running the index finger of her right hand along the outer edge of her earring before grabbing her Tricorder to go and examine one of the large patches of twisted glass created by the extreme heat coming from the Atragons’ Plasma Jets as it hit the sand when she landed.

At the top of the ladder the Trill pilot held out her hand. “Welcome aboard Commander” He didn’t take it, as he was too busy watching his first officer at work, then he climbed inside and Rahs followed closed the hatch and sealed it.

_____

She was the last one to take her seat at the front left hand side of the craft, Joshua seated next to her had already started the process of going through all the final checks.  Once they were both satisfied everything was in order Lei kicked the sub into life.

At first it moved slowly running along the bottom on its four tracks.  But as it travelled into deeper water the Sea Quest started to float and her main propulsion system began to take over. Rahs adjusted the weight of the craft by partly filling the ballast tanks with water and carefully levelling it out.  Joshua stretched one arm above his head and switched on forward lights illuminating the murky water ahead.

“Locked on to the signal of ROSE 2’s buoy, captain.” The Trill pilot announced.  “Altering course now.”

“Rose?” Jason asked looking across to the Japanese man

“Remote Operated Surveillance Equipment.”  Hachiro replied. “We sent both of ours drones out to look around for any signs of wreckage.”

“And one of them spotted something interesting?” The ensign asked

“Yes, only small.  One of the access panels from a nacelle and a running light in fact. But enough to reduce the search area considerably.” Commented Joshua from the front.

“So you assume with so little visible wreckage; the USS Alberga may have sunk in one piece?” It was the Commanders turn to ask a question.

“Indeed” Jinguji paused for a moment. “It will hopefully make your job easier. Figuring out what happened.”

_____

North Ocean 14^th February 2401 09:50

As the Sea Quest ploughed through the water following just above the contours of the ocean floor, dropping ever deeper; the occasional fish would briefly  flash across the bubble window at the from court in the bright lights before disappearing back into the greenish blue void around them.  Most had been ‘Clupea Harengus Y’Teck’ as Lei had called them using the scientific name, or the even smaller and aptly named ‘Dart Fish’.  At one point they spotted something that very much resembled a ‘Ray’ found in Earths own oceans.  It was hard to imagine though that this particular creature at 6 metres across was keeping pace with the sub running at 23 knots.  After half hour it seemed to lose interest; rolled to one side displaying its brilliant white underside that gave it its name and the ‘Ghost Fish’ was gone.

For the first roughly 3 hours the depth had grown gradually, like going down a reasonable step hill, had they been on land.  Abruptly though the ocean floor just disappeared from view as they passed over what was basically a sheer cliff.  As the Trill pilot adjusted the decent angle once more the depth gauge went from reading -800 metres where there was at least still a small amount of light filtering down from above to -2300 metres where the light never reached.

Here like on Earth was the realm of the bizarre and the strange.  Fish and other creatures evolved over possibly millions of years to hunt, feed and continue the life cycle of their species in total darkness.  Fish with mouths over half the size of their body; constantly open and sucking in any microscopic particles that came its way.  Another one caught in the lights; that was totally transparent.

Captain Jinguji had passed both Jason and Lyanna PADDs that contained the most up to date information from exploratory missions that had been made by a number of robotic underwater probes sent to map out the planets oceans.  But they hadn’t even managed a 10th of what was out there, and the two ensigns had already spotted at least one unrecorded species.  The Sea Quests 4 external cameras would be recording everything that came within range, which in this total darkness would only be a couple of metres.

Once more the sea bed came into view; but down here very little life covered the jagged broken rock surface. “How are we doing for time?” The Japanese Captain asked his Trill pilot.

“We’ll be at the edge of the search area in another 25 minutes.” She answered double checking the readings. “How would you like to proceed?”

Hachiro turned to Salan for the answer. “Start at The nearest grid point and continue due east before turning around to heard west on the second leg.”

“Sounds good to me.  Heading for grid 32-74.” She adjusted the subs course just a few degrees to starboard.  So far their journey had remained remarkable uneventful, and everyone was enjoying it; despite the seriousness of their mission.  Even Lyanna had been relaxed enough to not want to jump on the controls.

_____

USS Jaxartes Bridge 11:06

Somewhere in orbit up above; the USS Jaxartes slowly orbited the planet.  Chief Engineer Thomas Arthur Bellbrooke sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge.  It was the first time he’d commanded a vessel of any size during his whole career in Starfleet.  He’d helped to repair probably close to a hundred of them.  From minor faults to stripping out entire warp cores.  Having risen up through the ranks.  From a simple fitter to running a corps of engineers back at the Starbase.

Just under half a day had gone so far.  Eleven hours, seventeen minutes and thirty-eight seconds to be precise.  He couldn’t believe how bored he was getting, and to think everyone aspired to do this job!  Give him an engineering emergency any day and he’d be ready for it.  He was sorely tempted to rip out one of the workstations and fit it all back together.  That would at least occupy several hours.

“Did that rock just blink?”

It wasn’t the sort of question you’d normal expect to hear anyone ask, and not whilst you’d just spent the last four hours searching the sea bed of an alien planet.  In the hope of discovering the whereabouts of a crashed Runabout. But it was the comment Ensign Jason Devron had just made.

He got his answer seconds later when a huge section of the ocean bed moved.  Right behind them something had risen up.  The shape of a large creature appeared as an ill-defined blob on the submarines sonar setting off the proximity alarms.

“What in Trill is that?” Rahs exclaimed, as the creature made an apparent lunge for the Sea Quest, but misjudged the subs speed and closed its mouth around nothing but water.  With any attempt at continuing the search abandoned for now, she banked the vessel sharply to port as the creature came in for another attack.  In the darkness it was hard to make out a clear picture of what this thing looked like.  A brief flash of teeth, jagged skin and swept back fin was all anyone got at it missed them a second time.

“Need a hand?” Yelled Ensign Stuart over the wail of the alarms.

The Trill pilot cut off the alarm making the sub much quieter. “Think you can handle this thing?”

To be honest; the young Orion had no real idea if she could fly this craft or not.  The controls seemed simple enough and she’d been watching how they were operated, and it was clear neither of those seated at the front had ever been in a combat situation, which was what this was clearly developing into.  As she swapped seats with the Betazoid co-pilot the first thing she did was kill all the light, both external and internal. “That thing appears to be relying on its eyes. Let’s not make it too easy for him!” She also brought the nose of the sub up a few degrees and altered course sharply, then reduced speed. “Lei keep a watch on the scope and tell me everything that things doing.”

The Trill started to give a running commentary in whispered tones on the creature’s movements as it seemed to be circling around and raced in for another attack.  Without the aid of the lights to guide it in, the thing headed to where it believed they’d be, only to miss by several metres.  Its thrashing tail however, did make contact, smacking into the transparent aluminium window.  This was enough for the creature to get a bearing on its prey and swung around again.

Lei continued feeding information to Lyanna, who made a swift and sudden course correction. This time the creature missed to the starboard side.  They had to avoid the creature a further four times before it finally gave up and swam away.  Whatever it had been didn’t appear to usually hunt in the total darkness at this depth, preferring to find its prey at much shallower levels where its eyes could see more clearly.  They couldn’t rule out the possibility that it had just been asleep and they’d inadvertently stumbled across it.  Just to make sure it was safe they remained where they were for another 20 minutes in complete darkness before moving on.

However no sooner they’d switched the Sea Quests main lights back on the huge creature came charging back in for the attack. “Brace yourselves!” Exclaimed Lyanna.  She switched off the lights again and flung everything she had into turning the sub as rapidly as possible, anything to throw this relentless creatures aim off.

The hit came somewhere aft.  The craft tilted over a good 40 degrees and slew round in a wide arc as the creature gripped them between dagger like teeth.  They all heard the sounds of grinding creaking metal, valves bursting.  Salan was closest to one of the leaks and Joshua threw a can containing sealant in his direction.  The Vulcan sprayed the foam like substance until he was sure the hole was plugged and no more water could get in.  Devron and Jinguji both turned handles shutting off valves, bringing two further leaks to a stop.

It was probably only four or five minutes, but the six caught helplessly inside the sub within the jaws of some unknown sea monster it felt like forever.  The creature, whatever it was decided that Duranium did not make for a good meal and let the sub go.  They hit the ocean floor with a thud breaking the front left track assembly and twisting the rear one on the same side out of position.

No one moved no one breathed.  The scope showed nothing but a rocky plain around them.  “Everyone ok?” Rahs finally asked.  They all replied that they were fine, and she leaned over to grip Ensign Stewart’s hand. “Thank you.”

“Right let’s see what the damage is.” The Trill focusing back on her instruments. “Electrics all seem ok.  What about the engines and manoeuvring controls?”

“One thruster has a red light, but I’ve got nothing on the rudders.” Lyanna operated the controls again just to make sure. “We either have a brake in the connection or that thing ripped them off.”

“Could we get outside and check for damage?” Jason asked. “I know you’ve got a couple of diving suits in the back.”

“Joshua.  Are you happy to risk it?” Lei asked the Betaziod.

“Our only alternative would be to blow the tanks and surface; hoping that the sea was calm enough to effect repairs.”  He paused a moment running several options through his mind. “If you can bring us up to 2,000 metres and mister Devron here will come with me as an extra pair of hands and eyes. I will see what I can do.”

_____

16:40

Less than half hour later the Sea Quest was hovering motionless at a depth of 2,000m and both men were in diving suits checking each other’s Heliox tanks, regulator gauges and masks. Before stepping into the dive chamber.  Captain Jingujii closed the hatch, and spun the large wheel several times before it locked in place and the amber light came on.  Next he increased the pressure within the chamber, so that when Joshua opened the hatch in the bottom of the craft, the water would be kept out side.  A second light told him the pressure was equalized and one inside the chamber told both men it was safe to open the outer hatch.

A couple of minutes later he watched as the two men disappeared from view and out of the sub.

_____

17:05

Back on the Island Lieutenant Bolka was none the wiser as to the danger her fellow crew members and the crew from the MRT Atragon had been facing, deep below the oceans waves.  The water looked so calm, hardly a ripple the waves just gently rolling up the beach and more or less fading into the sand.

There was one thing that was beginning to worry her more than any thoughts about those in the submarine, as she tapped her com-badge. “Bolka to the Jaxartes.  Come in Jax, do you read, over.”  It was the third time she’d tried in the last five minutes.  But she was getting no response from the Federation ship in orbit. “Jax, answer me, will you!” This time it was more of a yell.

“No luck contacting you ship?” Max the Atragons pilot asked. “May be you can get Hoydock to boost your signal through the ship systems and try it that way?”

“Thanks, I might give it a go.”  With that she headed inside the ship to find the Benzite engineer and ask him for his help.

In the end the Chief Engineer had decided against systematically dismantling and rebuilding one of the bridge work stations and had instead gone to take a nap.  But now several hours later he was back in the captains’ chair.

“I’m picking up a distress call, sir.” The Korean communications office seated behind him announced. “Sound only.”

“Let’s hear Ensign Cho.”

A male voice with a slightly French accent came over the bridge speaker system. “This is the freighter Soufrière requesting emergency assistance.  Our warp core has failed and we are running on backup only.”  There was a few second pause, before the message began again. “This is the freighter Soufrière requesting…” Bellbrooke signalled for Ensign to shut the message off.

“Can you get a fix on the location of that transmission?”

“Baring 030-145 relative.”

“Ensign Harris lay in a course warp 5.”

“Sir shouldn’t we beam up the Lieutenant first?” Cho stressed her concern, whilst attempting to make contact with the away team.  But she was unable to establish any sort of link.

_____

Down in Engineering; Ensign Dinari Lyambo noted the swift change in the warp engines.  The low gradual hum and throb of standby mode was replaced by a more rapid higher pitched sound of an impending jump to warp speed and the slow ripple of bright blue light quickened its journey inside the warp core.  He jumped out of his seat looking briefly across to Torf his Betazoid work colleague; who showed signs of being equally puzzled by the sudden change in circumstances.

“Engineering to bridge.”  Dinari paused a moment. “Why are we preparing to break orbit?”

The voice of the Chief Engineer came back in his usual authoritative tone. “We’ve picked up a distress call, and will be assisting a vessel in need.”

“Have you beamed Lieutenant Bolka back on board?” This time the ensign did raise his voice a little.

“We’ve been unable to contact the away team, so as I’m currently officer in charge of this vessel. I’ve made the decision to render assistance.”

“But..” That was as far as he got before Bellbrooke cut him short. “Ensign Lyamba.  I am in charge of this ship and unless you want to be relieved of your duties, you will follow orders.  Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir.” He basically shouted the last part.  Dinari knew that he could do enough to prevent the ship going to warp. It would take only a few seconds and a couple of hours to put right.  But then what good would that do him?  Kicked out of Starfleet for insubordination most likely.  So he just let events take there course and merely checked the systems to make sure everything was running correctly.

Even from inside Main Engineering without having to listen or watch for the signs; it was possible to feel the exact moment the ship transitioned from the almost sedate pace of impulse to racing beyond the speed of light.

_____

Having failed to make contact with anyone down on the planet’s surface; Ensign Cho thought about the instructions the Lieutenant had given her that morning and whether this was the sort of moment to carry them out; instead Cho did the one thing she hoped would at least let them know what was happening. She fed the information to the data storage on one of the ships on-board probes and launched it.

_____

18:50

Deep below the ocean nevertheless safely back on board the Sea Quest; both Jason and Joshua sat on a pair of fold up cots in the centre section of the sub.  Dressed only in shorts but with towels and a large blanket wrapped around each of them.  Jason had a hot mug of coffee clasped between both his hands.  Whilst the Betazoids’ own mug sat on the deck.

Together they had managed to straighten one twisted rudder and weld in place the top of a metal table to replace the other; which was probably lying on the ocean floor.  A section of wired had also needed splicing back together.  Plus three holes, most likely made by the creatures teeth where plugged on the outside using quick setting foam.

By the hatch leading to the control area stood the Japanese captain and Vulcan commander. “So captain this is your ship and your crew whose services we’ve been relying on.  Should we continue or head back to the Island and get the damaged fully fixed?” The question was put in a way Salan hoped would not put pressure on the other man’s shoulders.

“It will take half a day to get back and probably longer to get everything repaired, especially without the tracks we can’t get her up out of the water.”  Hachiro looked at both the men on the cotes and those seated in forward. “We would lose two to three days and answers may be lost in that time.  If my crew and yours are happy?  We will continue the search.”

Everyone else felt happy enough to continue so long as the Sea Quest’s controls able to function correctly.

_____

21:00

Somewhere out beyond the Y’Tec solar system; the USS Jaxartes came out of warp within visual range of the freighter Soufrière.  The other ship simple dwarfed the Raven class corvette.  Each of the cargo pods arranged in groups of three around the central core of the vessel where on their own bigger than the Jaxartes and this ship had nine of them.  Between the second and third set of pods, the freighters two main engines appeared dull and lifeless. So too did the cluster of impulse engines mounted at the rear.  Right at the front sat the bullet shaped section holding the bridge and living accommodation.

“Ensign Cho see if you can raise the Soufrière?” Bellbrooke asked the communications officer.

The Korean woman busied herself with the controls at her workstation trying every frequency and wave length at her disposal.  However her repeated messages remained unanswered.

“Ensign Harris. Take us in slow.”

Ensign Cho was cycling through the various frequencies for a second time when a high intensity burst of sound literally screech into her hear through the small bud she wore.  The ensign leaped up pulling the small device out and placed her hand over the effected ear.

The Chief spun around when he heard the commotion behind him. “Ensign Cho.” The shout was more a request for an explanation rather than a note of any sympathy.

“H high fre….oh damn.” Cho curst screwing up her face. “High fre frequency sound b burst, sir.”

“Get yourself into sick bay and make sure that ear of yours isn’t damaged.” His tone was a little softer though he still sounded more annoyed than sympathetic.

She’d only just left the bridge when four figures materialised in an arc at the front.  All Orion, three male and one female.  All armed.  The three males all had their weapons draw; from left to right the first and tallest of the men held an older model Federation Type 3 Phaser Rifle, next to him this individual held a Romulan style hand gun, whilst the last one carried a weapon that seemed to have an organic quality about it; the handle partly moulded to the shape of his fist.  The woman standing between her companions still had her own hand gun holstered.

“What is the meaning of this?” Bellbrooke jumped up out of the captain’s chair. “Lay down your weapons and surrender yourselves right now!”

For some the world seemed to slow down to an almost stop; for others it all happened in the blink of an eye.  The female Orion drew her gun pointed at the chiefs’ chest and fired.  Throughout the universe there are many types of weapon some more deadly than others; a few even make it on to the band list.  The Atomic Displacer was one such weapon.  It did not simply injure, maim or kill; it twisted, warped disfigured beyond belief.  Like a replicator could take individual atoms and turn them into almost anything a person required; the Displacer ripped them apart and reformed them at random. Even the person firing had no idea of the outcome; it was that unpredictable in its nature.

What had once been a man; dropped to the deck a pink gelatinous blob. Clearly alive a writhing in agony for several seconds before death finally came.

She looked Ensign Harris square in the eyes. “Now pretty boy. I suggest if you don’t want to end up as a nasty mess on the floor like your captain.  You only speak when spoken to. Clear?”

He nodded not wishing to look back behind him.  The squelching slopping sound was enough to twist his stomach; he didn’t what to see what had happened to the chief.

The Orion woman herself simple stepped around the mess, and sat down in the captain’s chair flattening out the front of her dress as she did; before opening up the ship wide communications. “This is Navaar Orci.  Any attempt to resist will be met swiftly and decisively.  I hope I make myself clear.” She switched off the comms again. “This was so easy, and to think this was the same Federation vessel my dear brother said had wreaked his ship.   She toyed with the Displacer in her hand. “Oh I do miss him.” Then Navaar put the gun back in its holster.

Back on the island, Bolka and Hoydock, where busy working on boosting the signal of the MRT Atragons’ communication system.  It made no sense that everything had been working perfectly, up until may be four or five hours ago.  Now there was nothing.  It was like any signal was being blocked, but by what and where from.  The whole planet was devoid of anything other than marine and amphibious life; also had there been anything in orbit, surely the Jaxartes would have spotted it.

“Give that a go.” The Benzite called from underneath the computer console he was working on.

Bolka gave the communicator another try. “No, still nothing. Sorry.” Then she heard something very faint.  “What did you do right then?”

“Nothing, why?” Came the reply from below her.

“There was something and then it was gone.”

The Benzite spent the next several minutes going over every little action he’d just done.  Every wire touched, every capacitor or chip setting altered.  Then it happened.  The clear voice of one, Ensign Cho Hwa-yeon the USS Jaxartes communications office.

“Jaxartes to away team, this is a recorded message communications being blocked.  On route to emergency on board freighter Soufrière. Time 17:33.”

“NO!” She shouted at the control panel in front of her. “You stupid, stupid idiot!”

Hoydock came up off the floor, a look as concern on his face. “What is wrong Lieutenant?”

“Our Chief Engineer is heading straight for a trap.”

“How do you know?”

“The Soufrière was lost sometime late last year!” The Lieutenant walked over to her Tricorder and compared its inbuilt timer synchronised with the ship before the mission to that given on the message. “And they left orbit three and a half hours ago.”

“Shouldn’t your Chief be aware of such things?”

“Yes, if he kept up to date with reports.” The Lieutenant slumped down into the nearest chair. “This is going to go down very badly!”

_____

21:30

The Sea Quest was back once more following her carefully calculated grid search.  Another section was already marked off and the next was now partly done. An object appeared on the scope; something much higher than the surrounding sea floor.  They’d already had one false alarm. This time though things seemed a little more promising.  Lei the Trill pilot cautiously turned the submarine on to a heading straight for the mass the sonar was reflecting off.

Everyone waited in silence, some of them learning forward in their seats as if somehow hoping that would make a difference to how far they could see.  But the darkness was slow to give up her secrets.  The first thing that crept into view was the port nacelle of a Danube class Runabout; partly covered in a layer of sand kicked up from the ocean floor when it finally came to rest. The name USS Alberga could still be made out, along with its registration number NCC 72473.  There looked to be little damage to the craft from this angle so Lei edged slowly around to the front of the runabout.  There the front bulkhead was partly crushed along the front underside, an indication of a hard impact, either from hitting the surface of the water or hitting the sea bed.  Despite everything being intact though, they could not see anything through the forward view ports.

“Can you scan inside?” Salan asked.

Joshua worked his fingers over the controls of the co-pilots position having taken back his usual seat in the sub.  “No life signs detected. I’m afraid.” Was his answer after a few minutes. “Indication of a possible body though.”

“Just one?” Lyanna was the first to ask.

“Confirmed, one Vashra male.”  The Betazoid announced.  This meant the other Vashra along with the Andorian and Tellarite crew members were all missing, just as Chancellor Kreen had said during his final message.

“Are we in a position to retrieve the body?” The Vulcan asked. “Plus the information within the ships data recorder. It may give use the information we require to solve this incident.”

“Give me a couple of minute’s commander and I will see about landing on top of the runabout.  ” Rahs replied. “Then we’ll have to cut our way in and retrieve the body and copy what data we can from the ships log.”

Her train of thought was broken by the sudden appearance of two small blips on the sonar scan above them and off to the east.  Both appeared cylindrical in shape roughly six metres long and travelling fast.  Then the pinging sound started.

Jason who had studied Earth History and in part some of its twentieth century conflicts, felt the sound belonged to something somehow familiar, somehow dangerous.  He leaned forward looking at the screen. “Oh you are kidding me!  Get us out of here quick!”

Lei turned and was about to ask why. But he simple jumped into the gap between the two pilots and engaged full forward thrust. Still bewildered and looking for an explanation the Trill both heard and felt the detonation of two torpedoes striking the Runabout. The shock wave as the USS Alberga was ripped apart tipped the Sea Quest forward flinging Jason headlong cracking his skull against the forward window.   He landed in a half sitting position sprawled on the deck. “Get us deep, find anything to hide us!”

“I’ll try getting us to that trench we pasted about 5 minutes ago!” The Trill pilot turned the sub in as tight a circle as the rudders would allow, then increased the speed to maximum. By this point the Japanese captain had passed Ensign Stuart the medical kit and she was checking Devron over. After a quick scan she tapped him on the left shoulder and smiled. “You’ll live.”

“Do you think who ever fired those things was trying to kill us?” Hachiro asked feeling more worried than he probably ever had.

Once Jason was back in his seat he replied to the question. “Those torpedoes where guided, in my opinion once they located the Runabout; they locked on a struck their intended target.

Salan nodded in agreement “I agree with Mr Devrons’ assessment on the matter.”

“We’ve got company!” Lei shouted. “This one’s just over twice the size of those torpedo things, and not moving half as fast.”

Lyanna leaned forward getting a better look at the image on the scope. “That thing is trying to track us down. Once you get in that trench, shut everything off, like we did with that creature.”

Rahs managed to get the sub over the edge and down into the deep trench before the mysterious object had picked up on their location.  But it was close, very close, and getting nearer with every passing moment. Seconds past then minutes, however the small craft turned away and continued its search back in the other direction.

The silence was broken a minute or so later, by a bleeping sound, made to appear much louder by the absence of any other noise barring the breathing of the six occupants of the submarine.  Ensign Stuart quickly cancelled her alarm; telling her it was time to take her medication. Eyes both turning towards her and the screen for fear that somehow their pursuer had heard it and was even now swinging around towards the sea Quest’s position.  There was a visible sense of relief when the other craft continued along its current course.

Lyanna retrieved one of her tablets and swallowed with the help of a small bottle of water Hachiro passed to her. “Thanks” she whispered.

Navaar Orci had been sat in the captain’s chair of the Raven Class corvette USS Jaxartes for just under an hour since killing Chief Engineer Bellbrooke.  Ensign Harris who was still sitting at the helm was the only member of the crew still on the bridge.  Anyone else had been escorted away.

Just then the Orion that had beamed aboard carrying the old Phaser Rifle came back on the bridge.  Navaar turned her head slightly. “Ah, Korda.  All prisoners secured?”

The large Orion came to a halt next to her. “Yes ma’am. Other than this one here.” He nodded over to Harris. “Plus two in Engineering; all other Starfleet personnel are secured in the rear observation lounge.”

“Good.” She keyed in a set of commands on the small control panel mounted in the right arm rest of the chair.  “Navaar, to Soufrière.  Get your systems back on line and those engines fired up.  Doesn’t pay for you to stay in one spot for too long.”

Orci got up stretched her arms high above her head, then smoothed out the long figure hugging crimson dress she was wearing.  That along with the low slung gun holster, combat boots, and what looked to be a brown leather jacket she’d draped over the back of the chair; seemed a mismatched combination. “This ship will make such a fine addition to my fleet.”

She walked around the bridge examining every consul, every work station, every visible fixture and fitting. Finally finishing standing in front of Ensign Harris. Navaar placed her right hand under his chin and lifted the New Zealanders head up. “Your happy working for me now, aren’t you pretty boy?”  The Ensign just nodded a little as a reply and she ruffled his hair with her other hand. “Good boy.”

Navaar was half way back to the captain’s chair, when all power throughout the ship failed.  The emergency backup kicked in almost instantly.  But the emergency systems wouldn’t last all that long and couldn’t power everything on-board. She used the communication controls on the chair once more. “Bridge to Engineering. What did you touch Hasray?”  The reply was more like an indignant mumble even she didn’t really understand, let alone anyone close by. “Well get the Chief Engineer to run a full diagnostics check!”

The Orion leader’s attention was draw to the young man whose hand was raised slightly. “What is it pretty boy.  You have permission to speak”.

“That’s the Chief on the floor.” The Ensign announced meekly.

“Well where the heck is the captain or first officer?” Navaar didn’t like the idea of having any crew member unaccounted for, especially one with the command authority to shut everything down; which was what had just happened.  She placed a hand on the right shoulder of Harris. “Tell me where they are, or you get to name the next member of this crew I shoot.  Do I make myself clear?” He voice was both sweet and menacing in equal measure.

“They are back on Y’Tek V.”

She turned back to the other Orion. “Korda, get a second sweep of this vessel done. Just to make sure. Go!”  Orci waving him away and he matched briskly from the bridge.

_____

Down in Main Engineering it was chaos.  Both Lyambo and Turf had been too busy to notice the arrival of the Orion’s, and the hum of the engines had masked any faint sounds the transporter beam had made.  There were three of them in total two male one female.  Each armed weapons in hand.  The Betaziod had been first to react.  Lifting his arms up above his head and coughing to get his human companies attention.  However it was the boot to the back of his left knee that made Dinari realise they were no longer alone.  He thought for a split second about hitting any set of random controls or even making a grab for one of their weapons; but just as quickly dismissed those ideas.

So for roughly an hour under close supervision the two crewmen had kept everything ticking over.  So they were just as surprised as their captors when all the power went off.  As the emergency systems kicked in and the light came flickering back on at a lower level; Dinari was cracked across the jaw by the handle the weapon in Hasray’s hand.  The young engineer was sent flying; landing on the floor by the central control island. Both shocked and dazed he rolled over on to his back and held the side of his face. “What was that for?” He yelled at the Orion.

That was the moment a female voice had called from the bridge and Hasray had answered.  After finishing the very brief conversation the Orion pointed the gun in Dinari’s direction. “Fix or die.”

_____

Navaar had boarded the Jaxartes with eleven other Orion’s.  So with two on the bridge with her, three in Engineering, and a further two guarding the corridor outside the aft observation lounge where most of the crew were being held.  That left Korda and three others to search every inch of the ship.  Feeling that it was just a waste of time having been methodical about the process when they’d first arrived he felt it safe enough to comb the vessel individually and on separate decks. Only half the doors still appeared to be working the others had to be forced open, and neither of the two turbo lifts was operating.

As he’d predicted they hadn’t found anyone anywhere.  With the search almost complete one of his team entered Sickbay having cut his forearm when a contained became dislodged from a high shelf whilst searching in the forward cargo bay on the deck below.  The room like the rest of the vessel was dimly lit; neither of the bio-beds seemed to be functioning either.  So rolling up his sleeve; the Orion set about finding something to treat the gash.   Something else caught his attention though.  Was someone in the doctor’s office?

Drawing his weapon the Orion walked into the room, only to be confronted by a female figure wearing a white lab coat. “I am the EMH.” It announced in a sharp but friendly tone. “Please state the nature of the emergency.”

“My arm.” He replied showing the hologram what had happened.

“Please go to bed 2.”

As the Orion male turned to leave a number of thought’s struck him.  Do holograms normally cast shadows?  What had been the fizzing sort of noise he just heard?  And finally if not most importantly, why was his neck on fire?

Ensign Cho watched laser scalpel in hand having using it to cut through the Orion’s neck; severing the spinal column along the base of his skull  as the male dropped paralysed across the threshold between office and the main area of sickbay.

It took her a couple of minutes to wrench his weapon from the man’s locked fingers, and probably broke his thumb in the process.  Not that he was able to feel anything anymore.  Cho set it on what she believed was maximum power and disintegrated the body.

She’d entered sickbay to sort out the pain in her ear after the high frequency burst had almost deafened her right ear.  Cho still had the earpiece in her hand, which remained remotely connected to her station on the bridge; therefore picking up everything that had happened there and all communications made throughout the ship.

The young Korean was still a completely shocked by what she could only guess had happened to the Chief Engineer.  But now one of theirs was dead to.  She still didn’t have a plan; it was a work in progress.  She felt thankful that the Lieutenant had intrusted her with the command override to shut all ships systems down.  Cho only wished she’d used it before they broke orbit.  The Bajoran officer had evidently never really trusted Bellbrooke to follow orders.  Though the fact it had cost the man his own life was very disturbing. It had taken her sometime after getting over the initial shock to connect the medical computer up with the main ships systems; as this wasn’t one of its normal functions.  Someone with a lot more knowledge in computing than her could very well have performed the task quicker.  Right now though, she was all there was.

The Sea Quest had been trying to dodge the mysterious craft for well over an hour with Ensign Stuart now taking a turn at the controls.  Every time it seemed to be coming closer, whoever was at the controls of the sub would kill all power and everyone would remain totally still and silent.  Once it had turned and was heading away, they’d start the engines up a crawl a little further along the canyon.

Without the aid of the subs sonar which the other craft would have detected in seconds, they’d had to navigate the meandering trench using just the lights; which also had to be switched off as it neared for fear of that thing out there would spot the light and attack.  It was impossible to know where they were, how far they’d travelled and how much longer they’d have to play this game of underwater hide and seek.

It was at one such moment with the lights off; that events took a sudden turn for the worst.  The outcrop of rock couldn’t have been more than a couple of centimetres across but it made plenty of noise as it scrapped along the underside of the submarine.  Enough noise to attract the attention of their pursuer.

With all hope of stealth blown out of the water; Lyanna opted for the exact opposite and brought the Sea Quest up to full power.  Racing out of the canyon, she banked sharply and over the top of the other craft which now had to do a 180 to follow them.  That gave the sub a bit of distance, but with nothing but empty ocean around in all directions the chances of escape looked at best extremely slim.

“Is that thing ever going to give up?” Jason shouted from behind her.

“I fear not Mr Devron.” Came the level and calm reply of his Vulcan commanding officer. “My apologies for bringing you all into this situation.”

“I don’t believe anyone could have predicted this happening.”  Jinguji said sombrely.

Now reactivated; the sonar was pinging away; the young Orion at the controls could see every potential obstacle in their path. So it would have been rather alarming for any of them had they noticed she was charging the vessel headlong into a large column of rock.  Lyanna turned to Joshua by her side. “When I say now; blow the main tanks.  Got that?”  He nodded, and then saw what was coming up on the scope and gulped.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1 an NOW!” She yelled. “Hold tight everyone.”

Within an instant compressed air was being forced under high pressure into the water filled ballast tanks; which meant the submarine now became rapidly lighter as the water was ejected.  It rocketed up towards the surface like a shell from the barrel of a cannon.  The craft behind had closed to within a metre of the Sea Quest and was unable to react to the dramatic change in direction of its quarry.  The impact with the rock crushed the front third and split almost as much again along one side before it dropped to the sea bed a mangled twisted chunk of metal and machinery.

The depth gauge was going wild, its numbers changing more swiftly than anyone could read them.  Somewhere between 500 and 400 metres the control area was bathed in a brilliant blue and white light, the air crackled and hummed.  Had they all got this far only to fail?

Devron had spots before his eyes when the light vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.  To his right both Lei and Joshua had disappeared.  Swinging round he noticed neither Salan nor Hachiro where on-board either.  Someone had just transported the four of them off the Sea Quest was the only thing he could assume at this point.  Then he spotted something glint; the commander’s com-badge resting on the deck.  He grabbed it just as the sub broke the surface.

Eventually Lyanna also noticed the two of them where alone.  But the sonar screen brought her attention to two more small objects heading right for them.  “More torpedoes. Get out.”  They raced from their seat and into the central compartment, Jason in front.  Darting up the short ladder he started spinning the large wheel that would unseal the top hatch and allow them out.

One minute and fifty-seven seconds later the Sea Quest was lifted out of the water, it back broken and twisted metal flying skyward.  The front half landed at a 40% angle the rear tail first sinking swiftly.  The front remained on the surface a short while longer then slowly slipped below the waves for the very last time.

_____

15^th February 00:20

Consciousness slowly returned to Ensign Jason Devron. The first thing he noticed was the cold and the dampness.  No not damp, he was wet, very wet.  Why was he wet?  No, why was he up to his chin in cold water?  He’s eyes flew open to be confronted by the vastness of an empty ocean and the semi darkness of the sky. Jason flung his arms around in a panic, splashing water in all directions. His left arm hit a rope and something that felt rubbery. He stopped; he was tied to the side of a small bright yellow inflatable boat.

“You’re awake!” Came a familiar female voice with a hint of Scottish. “Sorry I couldn’t pull you out; you’re a bit on the heavy side.”

“How the?” His train of thought was cut short as something nibbled at the big toes on his right foot. “Quick get me out; something just bit me!”  With a mad scramble Lyanna helped pull him out of the sea and into the boat.  A small blue and gold fish poked its head up out of the water where Jason had just come from.

“Oh look it’s a female Rasper.” She told her companion with a smile. “Probably fancies you and wants to go out on a date.”

“I have never had a female bite me on a date.” He replied noticing his right boot was missing, no doubt heading to the ocean floor if not already there.

“You’ve never dated an Orion girl have you?” With that she turned and started up the small on-board motor.

Devrons rapped himself in a survival blanket which was half folded on the bench like seat he now sat on. He couldn’t believe the two of them had survived and joke about, or how they were now in a boat “Where in a completely empty ocean did you find this boat?”

“Always read the instruction manual Jim me lad.  It was in the long canister mounted behind the hatch on the outer hull of the sub.”

“Who’s Jim?”

“Have you never read Treasure Island?”

With only a small compass mounted on top of the engine housing, she turned the boat in the general direction of the island.  Not knowing what either of them might find when they got there.  They sat mostly in silence, deep in their own thoughts trying to piece everything together.  Alive or dead; though most likely alive, seven were now missing.

“Something’s been bugging me.” Lyanna announced out of the blue.

“Other than who kidnapped everyone else and tried to kill us?” Jason looked back at his companion.

“That storm cloud when we jumped clear of the sub.”

“Didn’t really take that much notice; I was too busy not dying.  What about it through?

“There wasn’t any storm!”

“You’re thinking some sort of reactive camouflage.  A craft possibly; creating and hiding itself within the cloud formation?”

The Orion just nodded and the pair became silent again as they had something new to ponder over.

Lyambo and Torf had spent serval hours trying to get the USS Jaxartes systems back up and running; whilst under the watchful eye of three Orion guards.  Both had thought on numerous occasions the one they had come to know as Hasray would carry out his threat and kill them.  But instead he’d let the carry on with their work fairly unhindered.  He did however seem to have a greater understanding of Federation technology and Warp Engines than had first appeared when the Orion’s had arrived.  In fact Dinari felt that Hasray could probably run engineering without them.  Which was a very disturbing thing; how would an Orion have learned so much?

There are times when everything just clicks into place and everything works as expected.  This wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless without any warning or hint of success the power came back on throughout the entire ship.  There wasn’t any need for the Orion to contact the bridge as they figured out within seconds what was going on.

Once more they heard the voice of a female over the com, but where not close enough to hear the exchange.  When Hasray was finished he turned to the other Orion male in the room.  “Take these pair to join the rest of the crew.”

The Orion male along with the female; escorted the two crewmen out of engineering, past the room containing the computer core and past the transporter room; before going up one level in the turbo lift. There they continued past some of the crew quarters and approached two other Orion’s guarding the entrance to the rear lounge.  The doors opened and both men where unceremoniously shoved inside.  Then it closed and the seal was re-engaged from the outside.

_____

Meanwhile Hasray had headed for the bridge having transferred all control from engineering to one of the work stations there.  He passed Harris also being taken to be locked away with the other crew members.

Entering the bridge he found Navaar in the captain’s chair and Korda standing alongside her with one other Orion now at the helm.  He checked that all engineering systems where correctly linked up to the work station on the bridge then joined his boss and stood on her other side.

On the view screen in front; another Federation vessel was approaching at half impulse having just dropped out of warp.  She was a Norway class light cruiser; at a little over three times the overall size of the Raven class corvette; it was still relatively small vessel as star ships go, but was capable of handling itself if the need arose.  It was the sort of Federation ship that would go hardly noticed though; they could be found almost anywhere doing a variety of simple tasks that didn’t warrant the use of something much larger.

She carried the name USS Crimson Tide; not the name she’d been commissioned with, nor the name she’d carried a few months ago, it probably wouldn’t be the last one she carried either.  But that’s why the Orion was so fond of this ship and its ability to just blend in and disappear.

Navaar turned to face Hasray. “I’m heading over to my ship. I still have business that needs attending to.” She paused a moment. “I want you to take this ship back to where they left their captain and pick him up.”

“Which is?” He asked.

“Y’Tec V.  Co-ordinates are locked in.  Try not to kill him or those he’s with.  But if they create any trouble, use what force you deem necessary. Understand?”

“Crystal”

She moved her fingers across the communication controls on her chair. Establishing a link with the newly arrived ship; before fishing around in a small purse attached to her belt. Retrieving two Federation com-badges; she passed one to korda. “Navaar to the Tide. Two to beam over.”

_____

Within a few seconds the two Orion’s disappeared and rematerialized on the transporter pad aboard the Crimson Tide.  They were greeted by a short bald Orion dressed in what appeared to be Starfleet issue blue technician coveralls, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.  A much taller and more muscular Orion stood guard by the door.  Wearing more typical clothing he held a heavy disrupter rifle across his chest the strap across one shoulder.

The two of them made their way to the nearest turbo lift and headed straight for the bridge.  As they entered from the starboard side; a number of Orion’s both male and female sat at various controls located towards the front and rear of the roughly circular area.  In the centre the captain’s chair was occupied by a human male.

“Ah, Commander Armitage.” Navaar called across the gap as she closed the distance. “How is my ship?”

The commander or more technically ex-commander; having been relieved of his post and kicked out of Starfleet for attempting to fire upon an area containing civilians being used as a human shield. Stood up and turned to his current boss. “Everything is ready for you, ma’am” In his mid-fifties now with slight signs of grey creeping into his dark brown hair around the ears; he still wore his red Starfleet uniform.  Navaar was more than happy to allow him to continue doing so.  I mean what could be more reassuring for any passing freighter than to see the face of a human sitting in the captain’s chair of a star-ship when making contact.

However he wasn’t the only human currently on the bridge.  Another man stood to the rear going over some information of a PADD with a young female Orion.  As she turned to input a sequence of commands at the workstation next to them, the man turned to face the two new arrivals.  For a dead man he looked in remarkably good shape.

“Engines in order Mr Bellbrooke?” Navaar enquired.

“Just give the word and we can jump to warp.”

“Enjoying being dead, Mr Bellbrooke?”

“You had me totally going there for a moment. I really thought you’d changed your mind, and planned to do away with me! I mean I acquired that weapon for you and was well aware of what it was capable of”

“The thought was there, but your to useful an asset right now.  Plus transporting you out and replacing you with a hideous blob right under their noses was so much fun” She laughted.  “That and acting like I had no idea who you were or where the Vulcan was.”

Korda turned to her briefly after that last comment and felt justified in believing there had been no point in conducting the second search after all, but decided against saying any more on the matter. The Orion leader noticed this. “When the power went I had to be doubly sure.”

For the human engineer his world had been shattered almost 16 years ago when the Synthetics had attacked the Utopia Planitia Ship Yards where he worked at the time.  In a spinning and damaged shuttle craft he’d watched the devastation unfold before his eyes.  Countless thousands including every member of the 56 strong team of engineers and maintenance works under him either died in orbit or down on the planet below.  Most of them lost their families to, including his wife and two sons.

A broken man he’d spiralled downhill and out of control for several years; until debit ridden he’d fallen into the clutches of an Orion syndicate know simple as ‘The Cloud’ under the leadership of one Navaar Orci.  She’d offered to clear his debits for a price.  But even she could never have realised how easy it had been to manipulate him.  It was hard to fathom were the effects of her carefully tailored drugs and brain washing ended and his own twisted hatred began.  The perfect tool that didn’t even realise he was being used, Bellbrooke acted on his own free will; coming up with ideas even his new master had never contemplated.

This very ship was all his doing.  Refitted by a team of engineers under his supervision; having re-joined Starfleet four years previously.  This vessel was supposedly sitting at a secret fleet storage yard having been ‘mothballed’; waiting recommissioning should it ever be required.  Instead she was picking up all current Starfleet security information and general comms chatter like any other vessel in service.  Allowing Navaar to direct her Raiders towards any vulnerable target.  The Jaxartes should have joined her in that role had not a certain Vulcan stumbled in the way requesting a ship and crew; preventing Bellbrooke for making it disappear to.

So to had been the fitting out of two sets of fully functioning Federation transporters on board the freighter Soufrière; allowing the Orion’s to beam aboard the Corvette and take swift control of it; and where Bellbrooke had been beamed off the bridge prior to transferring to the Tide.  That task had took over a month, by removing various parts from different ships that didn’t really require replacement then sending them on to Hasray and his team to assemble.

The two Federation vessels now under Orion control turned away from each other and warped away.  The USS Crimson Tide heading for an as yet undisclosed location and the USS Jaxartes returning to Y’Tec V at a slower speed that she’d arrived; Hasray was in no real hurry to track down the ships now former captain.

It was the mid-morning before the two ensigns sighted the island itself; they’d spotted the smoke early in the morning and headed straight for it as swiftly as the inflatable boat could carry them. Both knowing something bad must have happened, yet still hoping the others had survived whatever attack had taken place.

At first it had been just a blob, and then the volcanic mountain that made up roughly a third of the island became more prominent, once closer they could distinguish the outline of the MRT Atragon sitting on the beach where they had left it.

They came up on the beach some four hours later, jumped out and dragged the boat half way out of the sea.  Everywhere on the island felt eerily quiet.  The fact the planet had no forms of land based life went someway to enhancing the situation.

It was clear the Atragon had been hit at least twice, by some sort of solid projectile judging from the shape of the impact and the twisted metal.  One of the four engines had been hit and it was from there that the smoke had been emanating.  Now however it had almost stopped.  Along a large section of the hull around the engine the ship was blackened.  The two tents had burned to nothing and the cooking equipment melted and misshapen lumps.

Lyanna tapped Jason on the shoulder and drew his attention to something at the base of the ridge.  It was a long and low mound of sand, clearly placed there deliberately; at one end sticking out of the top what looked to be a metal access panel.  The two approached the mound slowly until they noticed the letters painted on to the panel ‘R I P MAX’.  They both knew now that the body of Max Wallerstein was buried right before them.  It also meant someone else could still be alive!

Jason led the way back towards the ship and the hatch which was half open.  From inside he could only see darkness.  Placing one hand on the edge of the frame we was about to lean inside; when a bolt of energy streaked past him thumping into the hulls side close by. “Hey hold your fire!” He yelled through the opening.

“Who is it?” Came a female voice from inside that he recognised.

“Phoebe it’s me Ensign Devron,” he paused a moment, “What happened?”

At first he got no reply; then he heard faint sobbing, followed by a clunk; which may have been the weapon being dropped to the floor.  Entering with Lyanna close behind the pair of the found the Greek medic sitting hunched up head in hands.  They helped her up and took the woman outside into the light.

It took several minutes for the tears to slow and longer for her to stop shaking.  In that time Lyanna had managed to collect some water from a pool nearby.  She hoped it was safe, as they had no way to test it first and no other supplies of any kind left.  When she returned they all took a few sips from the flask it was in.

Andrianakis slowly began to run through the events as she’d seen them.  She’d been for a walk around the islands shore line.  Over an hour she’d been gone; when she remembered catching a glimpse of a dark ominous looking storm cloud out across the ocean.  Which was odd, because there were no other clouds anywhere, and it was moving much swifter than the gentle breeze would indicate.  The cloud slowed then stopped altogether when it reached the beach.  Andrianakis didn’t see what happened but she heard an huge explosion followed by another which didn’t seem as loud.

Running back the way she’d came the Greek woman could see the flames; then closer still the body of Max Wallerstein face down, clothing partly burnt along one side.  He was dead when she reached him.

The fire took several hours to burn itself out, and only then did she attempt to look inside the Atragon; expecting to find two more bodies.  There was no sign of her Benzite colleague or the Bajoran Starfleet officer.

Jason tested out his com-badge in the hope of contacting the Jaxartes.  He’d tried several times during the journey back on the boat, but received no response.  Either the ship was out of range or the badge was water damaged and not functioning properly. So the last thing he expected to hear right then was the unmistakable noise of a federation transport beam.  Equally unexpected was the three armed Orion’s, two male one female standing not 12 metres from him.  If things couldn’t get any weirder; Ensign Stuart was now pressing the tip of the large weapon the medic had fired at him earlier into the small of his back.

“You took your time!” She yelled across to the new arrivals.  Jason had never heard her speak in her native language; another indication the com-badge was faulty and couldn’t translate either.

The man in the middle look stunned for a moment. “Madam Orci never said she’d had anyone waiting for us.” He replied after giving thought to the situation.  But then why else would an Orion be holding a gun at a fellow crew member unless she was in the services of the cloud. Also the fact the male office only had one boot on was mildly amusing. “Where are the rest?  I was expecting a lot more.”

“Either dead or missing.” Lyanna answered. “We got attacked, and it clearly wasn’t you.”

The Orion tapped the Federation com-badge he was wearing. “Hasray here, lock on to six and transport.”

_____

The six figures rematerialized on board the corvette in a circle, each on one of the transporter pads.  Hasray and the other male at the front, Devron and Andrianakis; left and right. With Stuart and the other female Orion standing at the back.  With one swift movement Lyanna fired the weapon into the back of the Orion male and punched the woman hard in the face.  Her next act was to fire at the Orion operating the transporter controls; catching him in the right shoulder.

Hasray jumped from the pad, turned and fired twice blindly. One shot struck the upper section of the transporter sending sparks flying the other hit Jason in his left side just above the waist.  The medic stunned and confused stood there as everything happened around her.  Then seeing the Devron drop to the floor she rushed over to check on the fallen ensign as Hasray ran out the door.  The last thing he spotted as the doors closed behind him was Ensign Stuart smashing the face of the other female Orion into her knee.  He’s hand was on the badge about to call everyone else to his position.  When a gun tapped the back of his head.

“Going somewhere?”  Ensign Cho asked.  She’d swapped the weapon from the Orion she’d killed for a phaser; after discovering they were unguarded inside the armoury locker and feeling a lot more comfortable caring something she’d been trained to use at the academy.  Set to stun, she had no qualms about shooting him right there and then.  Hasray slumped to the deck.

The door opened automatically but Cho decided to call out first before entering the transporter room.  The place looked a mess with people both human and Orion all over the place.  A woman she did not recognise was trying to slow the flow of blood from ensign Devrons’ side and Stuart was pointing a large gun at two Orion’s both looking worse for wear.  The female had a bloodied face and a possible broken noise; whilst the male a laser burn on his shoulder.  The Korean took one look at them and stunned the two individuals.

“Remind me not to get you annoyed.” Lyanna said turning towards Cho.

“Where are the Commander and Lieutenant Bolka?” The Korean.

“Gone! Taken!” Lyanna lifted up her arms in exasperation. “Not by this lot. We just don’t know who did it.”

They both turned to check on their crewmate being tended to on the floor. With a clear look of pain on his face he told them to go and rescue the rest of the crew if they could. “Sorry about sticking that gun in your back.” Lyanna apologised. “It seemed the best option at the time.”

The two women headed back out into the corridor and towards the aft turbo lift. “How did you know if and when we were coming back?” She asked The Korean. Cho tapped her ear piece. “I’m still hooked up to my station on the bridge.  I’ve been listening in to everything since they arrived.”

The observation lounge was situated one deck up and once out of the lift there would be no cover along the corridor between them and the guards. They’d both need to be quick and accurate with their firing. When the door did open the pair of them leaned round and fire. One to the left of the corridor the other straight down the middle at the spot where their intended targets both stood.  The first Orion slammed into the wall the second spun on the spot before crashing to the floor; just as the first one landed on top of him in heap.  Ensign Stuart quickly worked on the door controls, luckily the Orion’s had only locked it not change the codes.  As the door slid open a couple of the crew tried to burst out before they realised this was a rescue being made, and stopped themselves. “You two grab phasers from the armoury locker then come with me and we’ll retake the Bridge.”Lyanna pointed at the closest men.

Ensign Cho turned to Dinari and Turf. “Engineering should be empty if you want to get yourself over there?” She then turned to Ensign Harris. “Pretty boy, you follow me.”  The young New Zealanders shoulders slumped a little. “You heard that!”

“I hear everything.” She smiled, “Now quick, Jason is hurt.”

_____

An hour later Devron awoke to find himself on one of the Bio-Beds in Sickbay.  Andrainakis had patched up the wound by this point; but the point of impact was still extremely sore.  Stuart was standing to one side of the room and approached him once she realised he was coming round.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been thrown around like a rag doll, blown up, drowned, bitten and shot!”

“Not too bad then I guess.  We’ve got control of the ship back and seven prisoners. Unfortunately we lost Bellbrooke and Delanie when they boarded.”

Jason closed his eyes again for a moment.  Four dead or missing out of a crew of fourteen; three of those being the only senior officers on board.  He wondered for a moment what would happen to him or any of the other crew of the Jaxartes after this ordeal.  But he was thankful it wasn’t much worse.

_____

It was the following day when two Federation Starships arrived on the scene.  Captain Lockhart offered the support of a bridge crew and also medical staff if they where needed, whilst Commander Armitage offered to take on board all prisoners.  Ensign Stuart as current acting first officer agreed to both their offers.  Cho and four other armed crew members watched as the Orion prisoners where beamed off. When twenty minutes later three of Lockhart’s crew found Lyanna asleep in the captains’ chair on the bridge; they left her there, and set about the business of bringing the USS Jaxartes home.

< Mission Ends >