Golden Harvest

Syntron grabbed his PADD and headed out of the main conference room and back onto the main bridge. They would need to prepare these shuttles quickly to begin the harvesting procedure. This was not going to be an easy task by any means; navigating these shuttles through a debris field while a powerful singularity nearby dangerously tugs at these small vessels as they strive to remain on course to gather the scattered residual trilithium. As he headed toward the turbolift, Syntron engaged his combadge.

"Ensign Sheeneea, meet me in shuttle bay 1. I am going to need you to pilot my shuttle on our upcoming harvesting mission. Notify the remaining pilots that we are going to need additional experienced and highly skilled shuttle pilots for this endeavor. I will provide you with additional details upon my arrival."

"Acknowledged," answered the clear voice of the Andorian navigator. "Chief Cheonghi is already sending requisition of personnel and flight preparation orders for all our shuttles. I'll be waiting for you on board Arrow 1, Sir."

The first officer entered the turbolift and directed it down to Shuttle Bay 1 on deck 6.

Arriving into the shuttle bay, Syntron walked among the bustling activity as the crew members for each shuttle and the flight control group were hustling around to prepare each shuttle for their harvesting mission.

The first officer then espied Ensign Sheeneea gesturing a wave from the doorway of Arrow 1.

"Greetings Ensign Sheeneea, what is the status of departure?" Syntron inquired as he arrive at his designated shuttle.

"Ensign S'Kyn confirms our departure readiness in ten minutes, Sir," the Andorian pilot answered.

Her pale blue skin and forward antennae revealed her to be from the more familiar Bishee subspecies of her icy world rather than the rarer Thallassan type of darker, side-rear-mounted cranial appendages of their commanding officer or acting tactical chief. Although far from being anywhere near the giant size of Tyvya, she was still almost as tall and willowy as the Vulcan First officer, as was usual for females of her kind.

They both slid into the small, narrow two-seat cockpit of the long range stealth shuttle from which they would lead the operation with its superior sensor capabilities. With the help of Arrow 2, the other class X shuttle, they would better triangulate sensor scans to amplify detection of the faint particles they were after.

"The conversion of all our bussard collectors to filter in trillithium will be ready by that time," she then confirmed him while doing all pre-flight checks along with the strict security procedures now imposed on every ship operation.

"Noted Ensign" Syntron replied. He engaged his PAAD as the team of shuttle crews prepared for their mission.

He began calculating parameters involving the distance of the scattered particles compared to the gravitational force of the singularity. He noted that a significant portion of the trilithum particles were now in closer proximity of the phenomena then previously registered and they were increasingly being pulled toward the vortex of this singularity. They would need to scoop up these particles first. However, this placed them dangerously close to the powerful influence of its gravitational pull. The escape velocity of these small shuttles would be quite limited compared to the mass and power of a starship. Therefore Syntron was creating a minimal threshold proximity distance for each shuttle to adhere to so that they wouldn’t be pulled into its formidable whirlpool and crushed.

After he completed his parameters for each shuttle, he sent the information to Captain Kheren, Chief Cheonghi and to each shuttle pilot. He noted that there was no margin for error in this mission; in terms of lives, shuttles or acquired trilithium. According to his calculations, any further delay or mishaps would jeopardize their ability to gather enough trilithium to fill the required minimal levels of this key ingredient within each probe.

Checking the time, Syntron noted there was 3:27 left until shuttle departure.

It would now be up to the shuttle manager and the pilots to use the information provided to map out their overall flight pattern among each of these shuttles to maximize their procedure within this limited opportunity yet follow the lead of the first officer and his skilled pilot the Andorian Sheeneea as the forerunners of this mission.

When time was up, Ensign Sheeneea showed the first officer of the Artemis the flight plan defined by on-duty chief flight officer S'Kyn.

"Sir, we face two difficulties in our operation. The first one is the fact that the greatest percentage of particles to be harvested has already moved nearer to the singularity. But Chief S'Kyn agrees we can solve this with skimming the gravity well."

The Vulcan's raised eyebrow told the Andorian woman that he was not familiar with the nav term and so she explained:

"It's an old orbital flight maneuver dating back to the earliest use of artifical satellites. By accelerating at a certain angle to a gravitational mass, you can effectively rebound on it at a certain point each time it pulls at your own mass; somewhat the reverse of the slingshot maneuver which drops toward the gravity source instead of away from it. This way, we can... "buzz" around the event horizon like bees on Earth do around a flower to collect our "pollen" with minimal stress on our structure and systems."

Her tone became more worried as she then went on with her summary of their upcoming mission.

"The second problem is more challenging for our pilots. All this time, we will have to navigate within a debris field. Calculating the movement of the debris is not that hard for the ship's main computer which then can relay flight correction data to each shuttle. The problem is that this field, instead of expanding like it should normally from an explosion, or even stay stable like a natural field, is instead shrinking under the pull of the singularity in its center. In other words, the more time we will spend in there, the harder it will be to maneuver. And shields, being graviton-based, will not be available, as it would react to the singularity and throw us into it like a stone in a well."

They were now both seated in the small cockpit of their command shuttle, all waiting for him to order them out... and lead them through duty and danger towards success. They all knew what they were expected of and what they were about to face; they all hoped that he, the first officer and leader of their away mission, would now know how to do it.

Looking stoically at the pale blue Andorian female piloting Arrow 1, the Vulcan first officer commanded:

"Ensign Sheeneea, the word is given. Move us out and in to position for this operation."

"Aye, Sir," she answered, her fingers already running over the flight console while sensor and engineering controls lighted up before Syntron as she spoke out into the comm: "Artemis, this is Arrow 1; we are ready to proceed."

The voice of captain Kheren answered her.

"Arrow 1, you and your squadron are free to proceed. Good harvest, Number One."

“Acknowledged Captain Kheren” Syntron responded as he then reached over and switched to an audio two-way channel rigged up specifically among the shuttles.

“All shuttles prepare to initiate launch… commence with the launch sequence… on my mark.”

The first officer took one last glance around the shuttle bay and then witnessed the immense bay doors parting from the center.

Upon completing the final opening sequence of the bay doors and noting the view of open space leading out among the stars, he announced “Initiate launch succession …now.”

One behind the other, the remaining auxilliary crafts of what was left of the starship Artemis exited the primary shuttlebay at the back of the saucer-shaped remain of the once two-hulled starship. The bullet-shaped class X stealth shuttles went out, then the more familiar boxy-shaped class VIII shuttlecraft emerged, followed by the largest and newest of them all, the sleek class XI shuttlecraft, proven successor to the old runabouts of the late 24th century.

The four small vessels went to full impulse towards the globular mass of debris slowly but surely swirling like flotsam drawn to a sinkhole, towards an invisible center of gravity pulling at them with the weakest of all the four forces of the universe; yet, the only one amplifying with mass... and now exerted a mass collapsed into infinity. A bottomless hole where even light would never escape.

"Cruising at full impulse, all sensors nominal," reported all shuttles to Sheeneea in the squadron lead craft, and she adding her own to their commander. " Distance with debris field is six million kilometers; ETA with periphery of the blast zone is one minute and twenty seconds present speed. Debris field is eight hundred thousand kilometers in radius and shrinking at one kilometer per second. Dispersed mass and nature of debris consistent with that of a collision between a Starfleet vessel of large size and a Romulan vessel of more than five times the mass of the other ship. Expansion of debris field from the inital blast has now stopped and is in a process of contraction due to the nearby attraction of a singularity in it's exact center. Singularity's nature, size and emissions consistent with known power source of Romulan propulsion systems, albeit much larger than usually known. "

Looking at her navigation sensor, the Andorian pilot then added:

"Sir, the field's increasing density will make piloting hazardous within it if we still want to collect the thrilithium particles nearest to the singularity."

“Acknowledged Ensign” Syntron responded as he studied the data updated on the shuttlecraft sensors and initiated a comparative analysis on his PADD. He could see the shift that was occurring in the debris field as it continued moving in closer proximity to the singularity. They would need to move swiftly.

Looking intently at the capable pilot, the first officer continued.

“You are familiar with the parameters of this vessel in terms of propulsion, maneuverability, agility, and hull durability Ensign. Logic dictates that it would be counterproductive for us to end this mission by having this craft and passengers pulled into this singularity. Therefore, if we use the pull of this singularity to our advantage and remain outside of the approximated Roche limit of the gravimetric forces, we should be able have this phenomenon assist us in coalescing the trilithium into a tighter range than these particles are presently located. The negative aspect of this occurrence that has been pointed out is that it will also funnel in larger aspects of debris from the destroyed ships. Therefore we will be cognizant of both conditions simultaneously.”

"In other words," said the typically pragmatic Andorian woman, "dig hard, skate fast, don't fall in the pit and mind the hail... understood, Sir."

As they were less than a minute from the collection zone, Syntron switched on the two-way audio channel and announced “Shuttle pilots, we shall make our first pass in a diagonal formation. Our vessel Arrow 1 will be the one in closest proximity to the singularity. Do not navigate beyond this threshold. The gravimetric forces are much too powerful. Have weapons ready for any larger unavoidable objects that appear in your path and are deemed hazardous. However first notify all pilots if phasers are to be engaged so that the remaining pilots can adjust their course accordingly. Collectors should be set to maximum intake. We will analyze and compare our results at the conclusion of this first run.“

As they began entering the perimeter of the debris field Syntron announced “Engage particle collectors.”

The four small crafts entered the slow moving dance of twisted, burned and torn metallic debris, going against the current yet nearer the center of the swirl, dodging the biggest ones, letting the smallest ones bounce on their deflector field and sending warning hails and phaser shots to obliterate the most threatening ones flying in their paths. The tappered front end of their nacelles glowered from red to blue as the filters installed accumulated trilithium in their currently unused warp engines thus allowing fast and efficient collecting of the dangerous residue without clogging their systems.

As they flew in, the quartet of ships angled themselves towards the center of the whole field where readings of the desired particles were highest; and where the concentration of debris was also densest and moving faster than everywhere else.

"Sir, Sheeneea then said to the Artemis first officer seated besides her, I think I have an idea how to bring the odds more in favor. If both us and Aroow 2 fire our torpedoes at the debris closest to the singularity, we should not only clear our path but the residual photons should highlight the acretion disk of the singularity... and help us better navigate near it."

She was no scientist but she knew enough about basic cosmic phenomenons, photons and physics to think her idea plausible. Fortunately, the officer beside her and leading the whole expedition was the former chief science officer of their ship; if anyone could tell her if she was right or wrong, it was him.

Syntron looked away from the readings on the shuttle sensors for a moment as he gazed at the lightly blue-skinned pilot and contemplated her suggestion.

Within seconds he replied “Admirable suggestion Ensign. A quick and effective adaptation during a critical mission is indicative of a competent crewman.”

Whether she recognized it or not, this was equivalent to high praise coming from the Vulcan science officer.

Continuing with his assessment of her proposition, he added “Indeed, this could eliminate upcoming large debris from our path while providing a visual cue to those following in our wake. Let’s swing around Ensign, and prepare to make another pass while implementing this procedure. But first, notify your counterpart on Arrow 2 along with the other two shuttles of our modified intent.”

The first officer then looked down and continued analyzing the current sensor readings.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash from the cockpit transparency and the whole shuttle vibrated around them. Before the Vulcan could even say 'report,' Ensign Sheeneea said in a suddenly alarmed tone:

"That came from where Arrow 3..."

Immediately, the cockpit speakers confirmed her fears.

"Mayday! May... Kxzzt! This kzzzzt! Arrow 3! Kzzzzt! torpedo kzzzzzt! detonated kzzzzt! intact plasma warhead hidkzzzt... in debris fiel... kxzzzzt! Lost main power, hull breach... kxzzzzt! Kzzzzzt! life sup... kxzzzzzt! fail... kxzzzzt! Ens...kxzzzzzt! Kxzzzzt! injured! Kxzzzzzt!...day! May...kxzzzzt! Kxzzzzt!"

On sensors as well as through their portside porthole, they could indeed see the flaming, blackened form of the class VIII shuttle in distress, silhouetted against a glowing, fiery plasma flare.

And it was quickly and steadily swelling towards them.

Syntron exclaimed “Ensign, navigate us away from the oncoming craft!” and then immediately engaged the shuttle audio channel.

“All shuttlecrafts, immediately disperse shuttle configurations away from Arrow 3!"

With the channel still open, the first officer then commanded. “Arrow 8, immediately transport both crew members out of Arrow 3!” knowing that this advanced type 11 shuttle housed a two-person transporter and a large aft compartment.

Although it had merely fifteen thousand kilometers in range, it was more than enough for the largest craft in the squadron to grab the signal of the two injured crewmen and wisk them away just before the plasma deflagration caught up with the damaged shuttle.

The Vulcan commander then engaged his combadge and ordered “Artemis, we have an emergency aboard Arrow 3. Master Chief Petty Officer Olsen in Arrow 8 should be attempting to transport out the crew to their shuttle, but ready your transporters in case they are unsuccessful. Afterward If possible, attempt to beam over the bussard collectors with the gathered trilithium into a secure area on the cargo bay, or at least off of the shuttle.”

As he said so, he then saw the second detonation that highlighted the complete destruction of the class VIII shuttlecraft and if flared amidst the plasma fire that was still expanding towards them. The craft was utterly lost but, thanks to the prompt and effective reactions of the first officer of the Artemis, the crew had been saved and they sped swiftly away from the limited range of the plasma warhead. Its last aftershock shook and rattled them as it died out, but there was no significant damage beyond the paint on their hull.

"Sirr! We got themm!" roared Ensign Mirrex in typical Caitan glee. "Crrewmman Deral has only superrficial burrns but Ensign Nerroth is in a bad shape."

There was no answer from the Artemis. Obviously, communications were still down and under repair.

On the bridge of the ship, everyone however had followed on sensors the chain of events, up to the rescue beam out and the escape of the squadron from the blast radius, There was little chance of another intact warhead left amidst the debris field but, following events in his own CMO command chair, Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth trusted that the Vulcan first officer and his team now would erre on the side of caution. It was certainly wiser, especially since at this point, they only had three shuttles left to gather the precious particles on which their next involvement in Operation Horizon relied on. And with only one of them with a transporter, they could not risk another stunt like the last one.

The musings of the Deltan chief medical officer were interrupted by the voice of Ensign Norbert Baoule at the science station. The twin brother of the chief engineer was filling in for Lieutenant Irksos while she worked with chief helmsman Aguk Snow on their planned flight stunt around a singularity. Although he had a regulation haircut instead of the shaven head of his brother, the ressemblance between them, in features and in tone of voice, was uncanny. His science blue collar did help also to distinguish them.

"Sir... short range sensors are detecting at extreme range an object coming on an intercept course at warp 9, bearing 275 mark 12. Straight from the direction where lies the Azimuth Horizon. Even at this distance, interference from te anomaly makes reading difficult."

"Yellow alert," Kheren said, keeping his relaxed posture in his large command chair but darting all four oculars at the main viewer with obvious alertness. "Stay with it Ensign. Lieutenant Tyvya, track it too with tactical sensor and get ready to lock phasers at the first sign of hostility. With our comm still down, we'll have to play safe."

Whatever that object was, it clearly knew where to find them. And an intercept course was not a positively friendly approach. The Andorian, following Starfleet rules of engagement, restrained himself from taking a potentially agressive posture that could precipitate a conflict unless there was clear and immediate danger. But there were three shuttles out there, much more vulnerable than even what was left of his ship.

He kept the ship at yellow alert; but his mind was already under condition red.

Narrowly escaping the intense detonation along with the resultant shockwave and having received no reply from the Artemis, Syntron addressed his other remaining 2 shuttles.

“Arrow 8, return immediately to the Artemis with our injured crewmates. Arrow 2 rendezvous with us outside of this zone… back near the Artemis to determine what our next move will be.”

With Arrow 3 destroyed, the ability of Arrows 1, 2, and eventually 8 to collect enough trilithium in the given timeframe and their current circumstances had just crossed the threshold into relative improbability. Their overall options in regards to this harvest mission now seemed to have been thrust into a probable stalemate while the overall anomaly mission itself had just moved into a possible checkmate status. The mind of the Vulcan first officer and chief scientist was now working overtime and at full capacity trying to avoid this consequence at all cost.

There has to be another option or opportunity for resolution he contemplated intensely as their shuttle now brought them back on course toward the remainder of the Artemis.

"Sir... the shuttles are moving to the debris field rim. Arrow 8 is heading straight for us at full impulse."

"What's going on out there?" wondered Kheren outloud. "Status of the shuttles?"

"All undamaged and apparently fully functional, Sir," reported Tyvya from her tactical sensor readouts.

"No comm still?"

"Not yet, Captain," ops chief Cheonghi said with a shake of his bald, red head mimicking that of the Deltan doctor manning all communications. "Damage was external so we still need a few hours to completely replace, recalibrate and test a new external comm system."

"Arrow 8 is coming about," announced helmsman S'Kyn with Vulcan clinical tones. "They are sending a navigational landing signal to our nav sensors."

"Bring them in," ordered the Andorian commanding officer of the Artemis. "Get a report from them about current mission status."

"What about the others?" asked Elliago. "With comm channels offline..."

"Time to go low tech," shot back Kheren.

A moment later, the occupants of the shuttles could see the navigational lights of the Artemis saucer section flicker rythmically on and off in a definite pattern Ensign Sheeneea immediately recognized.

"Mister Syntron; the Artemis is hailing us for a report with nav lights. Morse code, Sir."

With a slightly raised eyebrow, the first officer commented “Intriguing.”

He then looked intently at the Andorian pilot and stated “Signal back to them Ensign. Let them know that Arrows 1 and 2 are heading back toward the ship… and inquire about the status of our crew members from Arrow 3.”

A moment later, Captain Kheren had the whole picture and issued orders through the improvised communication system now working between him and his first officer.

"Ensign Neloth and crewman Deral taken care of. Arrow 8 on its way back to you. Keep spectral sensor contact to maintain comlink. resume mission."

The loss of a shuttle was annoying as it would slow down their harvesting of the trilithium particles they needed; but with still several days before Operation Horizon would be completed, it was just a minor setback. And it just gave them more time for repairs. They were not going anywhere soon.

For a moment, the Andorian captain toyed with the idea of establishing a faster, more effective albeit still antiquated lasercom link with Arrow 1, like they had also used with the navlight trick during the Borg war when the Collective were jamming all channels back then. But now, he realized their flight through a condensing debris field would constantly interrupt the beam that had to be kept between them to work. Morse code through nav lights was less dependent on such a constant link, even if it still required visual contact; but he knew how to improve that.

"Ensign S'Kyn; angle us perpendicular to the debris field and establish synchroneous orbit around it with the squadron movements inside."

The saucer section of the Artemis turned on its axis to continue flying around the field on its rim from the shuttles' perspective, like an old American silver dollar rolling around on a table, fully showing all the lights at the edge of its three hundred and twenty-two meters of diameter.

"Lieutenant Tyvya; send a class III probe in the field to look for any other possible floating hazard. Have it map and identify thoroughly each and every piece of junk out there and transmit the data to the shuttles. I want no more surprise package while they work in there."

A moment later, the small device was ejected from their only working torpedo tube left and flew all around and inside the debris field. Protected by its own deflector array and structural integrity field from both ovccasional collisions and the distant effect of the microsingularity, it immediately started sending data to Syntron's command shuttle. It would eventually spiral down the gravity well like the rest of the debris despite it's own impulse engine, but by that time, it would have scanned each and every object and particle within the area.

The captain of the Artemis then sat back with his powerful arms crossed on his large chest and making a satisfied nod. Syntron's work should proceed without further problems now... unless they were interrupted.

"Anything on that incoming bogey, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Sir," answered Tyvya. "It's a probe, Captain."

"By configuration, velocity and signal output, class IX... Federation , Sir," added Norbert Baoule, using the intact deflector dish and the Syntron spatial sonar configured there to boost his own sensor power.

"The Alsea," deduced Kheren, as the Starfleet advanced probe came from the exact direction the powerful Lotus Fleet starship was headed last time they were in contact.

"They must have registered the deflagration of our ramming of the Shavok on their long range sensor," added Baoule, coming to the same conclusion as his commanding officer. "Not able to raise us due to our comm system failure, they sent that probe to investigate our status."

"And, since they were able to send it at this time, confirm the Romulan plot has been thwarted, one way or another," Tyvya chimed in.

Kheren nodded to them all, his four eyes lost in the vista of the peaceful starfield on the main viewer.

"I beleive this kind of probe has an optical sensor..." he mused outloud.

"Standard sensor pallet with added mission specific modules, six thousand five hundred telemetry channels at two hundred and thirty megawatts with fifty tranponder echo channels and an isolinear memory capacity of three thousand four hundred kiloquads," detailed the dark-skinned science officer. "It's usual main use is as an emergency message capsule to be sent to the nearest starbase or... ship known location."

"is it transmitting anything?"

"Nothing, Captain," Elliago Nasaro-Myth reported from his CMO command chair, oversseing all communications, as few as they were currently.

"But it's scanning protocols are all fully active and aimed at our general location," completed Tyvya. "So it's not an emergency capsule but effectively sent to search for us."

The Andorian thought for a moment.

"Doc, use the computer to translate our logs into Morse code and transmit through our navlights to that probe. Ensign Baoule, get the transponder code of that probe and reprogram it to return to it's point of origin. This way, wether they receive the transmission through the anomaly's interference or get back the data physically when that probe catch up to them, they will know what happened, what we are doing... and that we will be coming."

A few moments later, with the computer finishing transmitting all the logs recorded at almost lightspeed to the optical sensor of the probe, they could all see on the screen a sudden, caracterisitc flash of light.

"Probe away and transmitting back to source,"confirmed Norbert Baoule. "If they are not receiving transmission as we speak, the hard data will reach them in seventeen hours."

"Good. Doc, I beleive you have two patients needing your care. I'll go with you," then said Kheren, standing up with the Deltan to move towards the right hand door of the bridge and the turbolift cabin waiting for them there.

"Sir," then asked Cheonghi from the multitask station, "If the Alsea saw the explosion, Starbase 10 must have too... and all the more clearly, so angled out and so far away from the anomaly's interference. They may have sent either the Aurora or the Steamrunner to our rescue. Do we hold position until they arrive?"

"At best speed, it would still take them nine point twenty-one hours to reach us," noted helmsman S'Kyn. "Assuming they went to warp as soon as they registered the deflagration on subspace long range sensors, they will still be a parsec from us when we will have completed our trilithium harvesting and our priority repairs."

"If they send someone," the Andorian giantess at tactical chimed in. "We have no current data about the tactical situation; they might be tied up with their own problems with the Klingons... and the Horizon Children... or interpret their scan of us as our utter demise and forego any rescue attempt, at least in the short run. Or they might have assigned it to the Alsea... which, for one reason or another, could only send a probe."

"Maintain current procedures as planned," Kheren ordered then after listening to the discussion between his officers. "We can not risk second guessing the situation, especially not in such critical times. Once Mister Syntron gets back with the trilithium, we will implement our warpspeed loop and resume course and mission to anomaly quadrant two. At worst, any rescue ship will witness our departure."

"Assuming that it will work," commented S'kyn with a cold, neutral tone.

"Hope, Mister S'Kyn."

"Hope is not logical, Captain."

Kheren turned around in the turbolift cabin with an expression that was almost a smile.

"Neither is the whole of this universe."

After the signal was received from the Artemis saucer and decoded on the shuttle, they were instructed to continue the harvesting mission.

Syntron redirected the three remaining shuttlecrafts to turn around. As they approached the perimeter of the rubble, he reconfigured the vessels back into an efficient sweeping pattern toward the debris field.

With the loss of Arrow 3, their workload and their number of sweeps increased, yet they were slowly building up their collection of trilithium with each passage. All three shuttles were now working their maneuvers further away from the singularity than when they first started, and continued a gradual increase in distance with each passage.

Checking the levels of trilithium collected on all the vessels, the first officer of the Artemis calculated that they had procured a total of 67.14% thus far; after an additional 2.79 hours of harvesting. The skills of the pilots had improved in precision, as indicated by the results of each passing sweep. However, the levels of trilithium scattered in the region was proportionally decreasing. At this current rate, Syntron calculated that they would complete the harvesting procurement with 107.3% of required trilithium in approximately 1.36 hours. That is if no other unseen incidents interfered with the remaining harvesting mission.

And, as predicted by the first officer of the Artemis, they were done an hour and a half later, their bussard collectors filled with trilithium particles. The three shuttles completed their last sweep which brought them all out of the edge of the diminishing debris field towards the remaining section of the Artemis.

At that moment, their communication board came to life with the soft, musical voice of Doctor Nasaro-Myth.

"Arrow 1, this is the Artemis. We have reestablished short range communications. Judging by your current trajectory on our sensors, you have completed your mission. Please confirm."

As they were completing their final verification of the precise amount of trilithium captured, an audio signal was received from the Artemis.

The first officer positioned on Arrow 1 engaged the communication’s switch.

“Syntron here. The accumulative trilithium count on all three shuttles has been confirmed. This aspect of the mission has now been completed and we are currently enroute for a return back to shuttle bay 1. The engineering and science teams there should be prepared upon our arrival to begin the next phase of this operation in preparation of the torpedoes for the trilithium infusion process.”

The deep soft voice of captain Kheren then was heard over the comlink.

"Well done, Number One. You and your team will take a break with Alpha shift while we take care of your harvest and continue our repairs. ready or not, we will be attempting our breakaway maneuver in six hours. Artemis out."

“Acknowledged Captain” Syntron replied as he closed the link and focused his attention on the details of the infusion process on his PADD to ensure that all of the steps and precautions were precisely and meticulously mapped out.

After this procedure was substantiated, he forwarded the completed file to the beta shift leaders just as the shuttles were approaching the opening of the shuttle bay doors.

The three remaining shuttles gracefully landed within the open bay of the Artemis saucer without incident. Syntron personally notified each team member exiting the shuttles of their off-duty status and then ordered them to their quarters for a rest period during the current shift. He wanted them well-rested and prepared for the upcoming multi-gyrating singularity maneuver they were about to attempt. There would be no margin for error in executing this maneuver or any second chances. It was literally either success or obliteration; a circumstance that the crew of the Artemis had unfortunately faced on more than one occasion throughout their challenging missions.