What have I done… 

Her thoughts screamed at her, demanding a justification yet unwilling to listen to reason, giving a voice to the expression edged in the faces of those around her. The questions. The accusations.

Behind Valdes, Zantett was screaming and struggling against the iron grip of the security officers who had been called to lead him off the bridge, face contorted in terror and disbelief, eyes never leaving the viewscreen, as if the image of the exploding passenger line was still there. The lives lost. The choice they had made – no, the choice she had made.

“Captain…”

What have I done…

“Captain!”

Valdes forced herself back into the here and now, and slowly, her movements thick and sluggish, turned towards K’Shara at the tactical console.

“Our sensors are picking up a subspace distortion, fifty-three kilometres ahead of us.”

Instinctively, the crew fell silent. Even Zantett. As if something primal, buried where logic and reason couldn’t reach, screamed at them that something was wrong.

“On screen.”, Valdes said, softly, as if the debris raining down on Risa had stripped authority and confidence from her words.

Harrison’s ghost-like face on the viewscreen vanished, swallowed by what unfolded in front of them.

Slowly at first, then accelerating at a rapid speed, space folded inward like a collapsing mirror, as the stars around it warped, twisted, and vanished. A beast awoken from its slumber, staring at them through pupils so dark they seemed to shine.

And for a moment – just a small moment – Asgren wished it would swallow her whole.

And if obeying her wish, the beast growled a warning, a low sound that reverberated through their bones before it rose into a deafening shriek as the maw opened and the creature bared its teeth.

“Sir, there’s a ship. No, two. Three-…” K’Shara warned, her fingers hastily flying over the console to keep up with the new information.

“Can you identify them?” Valdes asked.

“They are similar to the ship we identified near the Celeste. We-…” Kavvis swallowed a lump in her thoat before she continued. “Captain, we’re receiving a transmission.”

“Let’s hear it.”

The voice came through not as one, but many. Layered, echoing, wrong.

“There is no way out. No one is coming to save you. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. Defy the Vaadwaur Supremacy, and perish. The choice, and this choice alone, is yours.”

The Vaadwuar. Asgren had heard of them in stories, read the reports. Cruel conquerors that used subspace tunnels to ambush unsuspecting worlds.

“More ships are coming.”, K’Shara warned. “And they are splitting up.”

The fleet split apart like a hunting pack,  half of it heading towards the Britannia and Aldrin, the closest targets. The rest surged towards Risa.

“They won’t get down there in one piece. Risa’s orbital control warned of it.”, K’Shara frowned. Her unease was tangible. The doubt. The fear.

“They are breaching the atmosphere without taking any damage. They know exactly how to modulate their shields.” Kavvis said sharply. They… they’re using the same atmospheric corridor the Celeste carved out. Their shields are modulated to match her entry signature exactly. It’s deliberate.”

They had been right. This had been a hijacking.

It changed nothing.

“I don’t give a damn who they are.” Valdes said, surprised by her own firmness. They had a chance to redeem themselves – if not in the eyes of Starfleet, then in their own.  “Let the Brittania know that we’re taking care of this. “

She turned to Zantett. “Listen to me.” she urged. “We need you.”

“I … can’t.”, the Cardassian shook his head, and for a moment, she was sure that she saw tears glistening in his eyes.

“They’re beginning to fire. Atheta, Tal’Risa, Eshaya City…” Kavvis interrupted, but Valdes focus remained on Zantett.

“Yes, you can. And you will. We all will. This is an attack, and whatever I have done, I will answer to it. But I won’t sit idly.”

“Yes sir.”, Zantett croaked, hoarse from screaming, his legs quivering –  but he moved.  K’Shara looked at him and gave him a nod. Then she stepped aside. And Valdes – Captain Valdes – returned to the center chair.

“Set a course for Risa. Now.”