Bringing up the shield

As the Spectre, the Alsea and the undine battleship were caught in their silent dance of death before the raging background of the fiery maelstorm of the Azimuth Horizon, a new flash of light appeared after those of detonating torpedoes on blazing shields and sizzling beams against burning hulls. It flared briefly like a dying star, almost invisible before the raging fires of the anomaly, then coalesced into the shape of a small disc-shaped craft with extended smallish warp nacelles under and behind it.

From where it emerged out of subspace, it was virtually undetectable by the sensors of the three battling vessels, like a plane coming directly from the direction of the sun; but from that same angle, it could instantly gaze fully on the entire battle scene. And as it was obvious that the huge extradimensional warship was disabled and hurtling like an asteroid towards the dazed USS Alsea, the small vessel sped at full impulse towards them.

"This is, ah, the Aegis... Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth of the starship Artemis commanding. We come to offer assistance."

The voice was incongruously soft, melodious and warm as it was heard through Starfleet subspace channels; but it was also obviously tense, nervous and hesitant, the voice of someone unused to command and thrown headfirst into an unwanted and overwhelming situation. But still, there was purpose and determination in the tone.

There was a frighteningly long, tense moment of silence as the massive alien vessel tumbled still towards the unresponding Federation warship.

"No response, Doctor," finally confirmed the soft, clear voice of the white-skinned, blind Andorian siting at the left of the command chair where the blue-collared Deltan rubbed his sleeve on his bald pate.

On the screen, they could also see the flat, rounded shape of an Akira class starship, apparently motionless as well with several small fires burning on it's scarred hull. The USS Spectre was as silent and inert as the endangered Alsea.

"People, I need options here," he said, looking on the viewing screen at the two ships on a collison course.

"Tractor beam, " then offered Lieutenant Mrriish, the black-furred Caitian woman sitting before him and to his right at the tactical station.

"We don't have enough mass or power to stop a ship that size!" protested the dark-skinned chief engineer Robert Baoule, now sitting in the executive officer chair, his own bald head glistening with sweat as well.

"No," agreed Aguk Snow at the helm, "but we may be able to apply enough pull to deviate it just far enough to avoid a full collision."

From the auxilliary station, Baoule,s twin brother, Norbert, shook his head.

"The odds against that succeeding..."

"Are better than those of sitting here doing nothing," cut off Mrriish with a low growl.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Do it!" ordered Elliago from the command seat.

"Allocating reserve power to tractor beam," answered the Edoan Cheonghi as his three hands did just that on his multitask console.

"Full power to engines; you have emergency impulse ready," engineer Patricia Blakely then added right after him, her long blonde hair flying as she turned from the engineering station to report.

"Optimal stress point for course alteration located and locked on; tractor beam angle and intensity calculated; transfering to tactical sensors," then said Valencia Irksos from the opposite science console.

"Ready to activate at your command," confirmed Mrriish, her intense, slitted blue eyes fixed on her target.

"Trajectory computed and laid in," finished Snow , hands poised over propulsion and steering controls.

"Execute!" shouted Baoule, gripping the armrests of the XO chair.

On the giant screen, the huge, greenish tree-like shape of the Undine warship seemed to roll right at them as the smallish bridge module of the Artemis flew over and towards the top of it's finned stern.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moments prior to the arrival of the Artemis' bridge module Jureth gripped the arms of the Alsea's command chair as the ship was buffeted again by fire from the Undine vessel. The powerful warship of the shape-changing race was alternating its fire between the Alsea the Spectre in a fight both Federation captains knew was one of attrition. Jureth knew he had to do something and suddenly he had an idea.

"Cat, stop firing. Helm all stop!"

"Helm answering all stop Captain," Shawn Hunter replied

"Aye Sir," acknowledged Cat Steele.

Jureth turned toward the engineer manning the Alsea's auxiliary console "Ensign...make us dark."

"Sir?"

"Cut power to everything leaving minimal power to life support, and the viewer but be ready to bring us back to full on my command."

"Aye Sir, stand by."

Slowly, one by one, the Alsea's systems began to shutdown until finally the ship appeared to be adrift in space, and indeed she was drifting slowly toward the Azimuth Horizon anomaly. Cat Steele for one hoped her friend knew what he was doing, and that the Undine weren't able to see through their ruse.

Aboard the Spectre, Captain Summers saw the Alsea lose power and stood up from his command chair.

"Tactical, report, what is the Alsea's status?"

"They appear to be dead in the water Sir, but I'm detecting no damage to their warp core or power systems."

At that moment, Summers understood and resigned himself to the role of spectator so he could see what this young Bajoran had in mind.

Tension hung in the air on the Alsea's bridge along with smoke from damaged consoles and the crew watched the Alsea's viewer as the Undine ship now ignored the Spectre and began to move into a position for a kill on the seemingly disabled Federation warship.

"Easy, now," Jureth said softly "Just a little closer....Now! Full Power!

The Alsea sprang to life seemingly coming back from the dead as her shields, weapons, engines, and auxiliary systems returned to full power.

"Mister Hunter, evasive maneuvers, pattern Oseno Alpha. Take us toward the anomaly."

"Aye Sir, but toward the anomaly?"

"I have faith in you Mister Hunter, and in Lieutenant Pel's sensor modifications."

The Alsea slipped away from the grasp of the great Undine warship with their course taking them closer to the Anomaly, and the Undine ship changed tack to stay in pursuit.
As the Undine ship changed its course to pursue the resurrected Alsea Jureth smiled

"That's it, follow the leader. Mister Hunter, be ready to answer all stop on my command."

"Aye Sir...standing by."

"Range to the Undine ship?"

"Half a klick and closing Sir." Cat reported

"Now Mister Hunter, all stop!"

The Alsea stopped dead in her tracks again shutting down its engines and waited for the Undine ship to catch up. From the Aegis point of view they seemed to be playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse in order to lure the ship toward the Anomaly.

"Look Doctor; the Alsea was playing dead to better lure them," instantly understood the caitan woman at tactical.

"Confirmed; the Alsea's readouts show her in full fighting condition," added Robert Baoule analyzing the sensor data his twin brother had just sent him.

"Shows you why I shouldn't be sitting in that chair," mumbled Elliago with false annoyance. "Alright, Sheeneea, back us off from the war zone; let's give them room to maneuver and no worries about little ole us."

The Spectre had its role to play as well, and continued its assault on the large Undine ship, following it in the same manner as it followed the Alsea.

The Alsea turned toward the Undine ship, firing whatever weapons and using whatever energy it had left. The Undine ship continued to pursue, but focused some of its fire on the Spectre. The plasma beams tore through the Akira-class ship's hull knocking out its shields and weapons and leaving it defenseless.

"Doctor! The Spectre!"

"Signal them we have medical and technical people ready for them!" Ordered the Deltan. "Plot safest course to get to them!"

The Undine ship closed again on the Alsea and yet Jureth waited. As the Undine were about unleash another fusillade of plasma fire the console on the command chair beeped and the Alsea went full impulse seemingly instantly. As she did the Azimuth Horizon fulfilled its role in Jureth's plan reaching out and wrapping a subspace tendril around the gigantic vessel. Without the ingenuity of the little Ferengi science officer, the Undine ship began to be pulled toward the Horizon. Jureth stepped toward the two forward consoles

"Mister Wynn, open a channel to the Undine vessel." he said placing his hand on Wynn's shoulder

"You're on Sir."

"Undine vessel, this is Captain Oseno Jureth of the USS Alsea. I couldn't help but notice you are in distress, and would like to offer our assistance, provided you agree to leave this sector peacefully and allow us to continue our mission. Otherwise, I will leave you the mercy of the Azimuth Horizon, and I will open a portal to fluidic space and allow the Horizon to swallow your entire civilization. I await your response."

The viewscreen on the Alsea popped on with the visual response from the massive ship. The face of the old man that had previously threatened them appeared, framed again by several Undine. The man was seated in a makeshift Captain's chair, apparently crafted for his needs in his form of the faux-Boothby, but around him, the Undine were floating in a viscous liquid that appeared to be suspended around the Captain, not held back by a forcefield or any other means which the Starfleet officers could understand. It was clear they had complete mental control of the environment around them. The Undine propelled themselves deftly with motions similar to an aquatic lifeform from one console to another, attempting in vain to hold the structural integrity of their ship together as it was pulled deeper and deeper into the rift. "Boothby" said "Report" and an Undine moved like a torpedo toward the center of the bridge, launching itself out of the fluid and landing deftly on all three lower appendages. He grasped the side of the Captain's head and transmitted the report telepathically. It was clear there were some limitations in their abilities to do so over long distances when one of them was in human form. Boothby nodded, and turned back to the screen.

"Boothby" responded calmly, but with an underlying tone that belied his hatred of humanity. "It appears we are defenseless against this Azimuth Horizon of yours. But we are but one ship. There are millions that will come after us, to find out what happened to us... and you will perish either by the Anomaly or by our hands. We will not suffer your assistance, human. And I don't believe for a second that you will unleash this Anomaly on us. Your Federation values would not allow it. I have met Janeway personally, and I know what she has done to preserve all life... even the life of her enemies."

Staring at the viewer, his face expressionless Jureth chose his next words carefully. The Undine were calling his bluff, and now it was time to show his cards. Internally, he knew the Undine was right, Jureth would not commit genocide, but the Undine almost appeared smug in his supposed knowledge and the Bajoran knew he could use that to his advantage.

"I know about your encounter with Kathryn Janeway, but know that I am not Kathryn Janeway. I am giving you the opportunity for peaceful cooperation even after you attacked my ship unprovoked. If you refuse, I will do as I have said, I am not human, I am Bajoran and my people know how to do what must be done."

Jureth looked at Wynn and made a slashing motion and the ops officer cut the channel. Jureth then tapped his combadge

"Oseno to engineering, Mister Thompson are we ready?"

"Yes Sir, we have the data programmed into the computer and we're ready to open the portal."

"Good work Thompson, monitor our power levels and let me know if we have issues, Oseno out."

Jureth looked over at Cat Steele "Cat, charge up our deflector array, let's let the Undine see we are capable of doing what we say."

The Alsea's main deflector began to glow and pulse as Steele operated the controls from the ship's powerful tactical console. Jureth turned toward the viewer and waited.

Back on the Undine ship, the individual disguised as Boothby was in a stoic posture, thinking hard over his options. It was ultimately his decision whether to cooperate or push back further. The Undine existed in a hive organization similar to an Earth colony of bees, but unlike that unique insect species, it was a patriarchal system, and he was the hive leader. While not technically the leader of all the Undine -- there was none -- he had received approval from the majority of other leaders to deal with what they considered the "invading universe".

So again, he was tasked to make a decision as he had done thirty years prior: to work with the humans or press them further. While his intended use of "human" had not carried across correctly (it was the closes word he could think of to refer to the human-like lifeforms as a collective), he was curious to find out what deeper meaning was held in the enemy Captain's insistence that he was not "human".

He gestured to one of the Undine to approach and, again within the telepathic touch, directed his officer to give him all data he could find about "Bajorans".

((OOC: For those reading along, note that a lot of stuff has been added here prior to this line recently))

***

On the detached bridge of what once had been the majestic starship Artemis, the white-skinned woman in the medical command chair suddenly jerked, winced and almost folded over to fall on the deckplates.

"Lyrya!"

Elliago imediately shot out of the command chair and went to her trembling form. The blind counselor's eyes were shut as if trying to fight off some sudden intense glare, her face contorted in pain. The doctor's hypersensitive Deltan hands started to delicately probe her white-haired head, careful to avoid touching the delicate antennae that were outstreched and quivering like leaves in a storm. Already his pheromonal response started to soothe away the obvious pain that had almost knocked her out.

It didn't take more than a second or two for the experienced xenologist to understand that she was under telepathic assault. She was an Aenar, an offshoot of the main Andorian species that had evolved metapsychic abilities that even outclassed those of Betazoids. History recalled one instance of such telepathic contact established even over a hundred light years away; but this looked like something much, much closer.

The effect of his hands and his aura, added to her lifetime of training, quickly brought back the willowy Andorian woman back to her senses. She allowed Nasaro-Myth to help her back to her seat, still wincing and perspiring but nodding reassuringly.

"Thank you, Doctor... I'm... I'm alright now. I... I was just caught by surprise... Such... hatred... such... arrogant brutality of the soul..."

The Deltan stood near her nevertheless, still examining her and helping her control the pain making veins pop out of her temples. But it was clear that she had erected some kind of mental barrier, powerful enough to keep at bay whatever she had perceived. And again, Elliago's expertise with alien life forms told him in an instant what she was refering to.

"The Undine..."

She nodded.

"They are afraid, Doctor..."

"Their ship is disabled and about to fall into the anomaly," confirmed the Deltan as he sat back in the command chair but kept his purple eyes on her still. "And there are two Federation ships showing their teeth at them."

This time she slowly shook her snowy mane.

"It's much more than that... They are afraid; it is their primary nature, the sole source of their agressiveness, of their hatred of all that is not of their own kind. It is so... intense, so... overwhelming... they even hate themselves because of it, for being so fearful, so... weak."

Elliago looked back at the main viewer and the strange tree-like extradimensional battleship that was framed by the savage fires of the Azimuth Horizon. In turn, he nodded in understanding.

"There is no sentient lifeform in their own universe other than their own... and the first one they ever met was that of a ruthless, merciless, deadly, devouring invader from another universe... our universe... the Borg."

Lyrya touched his arm with her delicate hand.

"And now, there are no Borg... because of us."

The chief medical officer of the Artemis looked back at her and gave her one of his most charming smiles, even knowing full well that she could not see it; but she would feel it.

"Counselor; open a channel to the Alsea and the Spectre."

Despite her natural blindness, the Aenar instantly found and activated the subspace transceiver from her armchair console with the deftness of long practice.

Unconsciously copying the respectful behavior of his own commanding officer, Elliago stood up at attention and spoke towards the main viewer.

"USS Alsea, USS Spectre; this is the Aegis of the starship Artemis, Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth in temporary command. We have some data you might find useful about our... visitors."

***

On the bridge of the Alsea Oseno waited as the seconds ticked by, to hear from the Undine. Surely they could read the power levels of the ship's deflector by now. Jureth, of course had no intention of allowing the Azimuth Horizon to commit the genocide of the Undine, but he was prepared to open the fluidic space portal to goad them into cooperation.

"Captain," Ensign Wynn said "We're being hailed"

"The Undine?"

"No Sir, the Aegis."

"Put them through"

"USS Alsea, USS Spectre; this is the Aegis of the starship Artemis, Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth in temporary command. We have some data you might find useful about our... visitors."

"Aegis, this is Captain Oseno of the Alsea, what have you got?"

Elliago was surprised for a moment, hearing the name instead of the expected soft voice of Rachele Rivers.

Well, things do take twists and turns in this crazy mission, he thought amusedly, looking at himself in command.

His rich, melodious voice however went straight to business.

"We've got telepathic contact with them, Captain. More than that; we don't only know what, but how they think. They act out of fear, Captain. it is what is behind their very mental fabric. They fear us because we are sentient and we are different... like the Borg were when they threatened them. And fear is the most powerful source of agressiveness."

"Doctor, you do know they attacked us correct? Are you saying I should back down?" Jureth answered somewhat skeptically,

"What I'm saying, Captain, is that, the more you scare them, the more belligerent they will be. But if you manage to convince them that we are not a threat to them..."

Even as the doctor was speaking the proverbial light went on in Jureth's head. The reason the Undine hadn't destroyed Kathryn Janeway was because she had surrendered the modified weapons Voyager had used to attack ships in fluidic space. He turned quickly to Cat Steele,

"Cat, power down the deflector, stand down from Red Alert, but maintain yellow alert and get our tractor beam locked on the Undine vessel."

Cat had not seen Jureth agitated like that in a long time, and she immediately complied with his orders cancelling the program powering the Alsea's deflector and then dropped the ship's weapons to standby as he had ordered.

"Yellow Alert aye Captain," she reported "Weapons to stand by, and shields remain up at eighty percent and holding. Locking tractor beam on the Undine vessel."

"Mister Hunter, take us within tractor range. I know it'll be a challenge but do your best to hold her steady."

"Aye Captain."

The Alsea moved back toward the massive Undine ship which Jureth could tell was only minutes from being pulled into the Azimuth Horizon. As she swooped in Cat Steele manipulated the tractor beam controls to get a solid lock on the Undine ship through the interference of the Horizon.

"Tractor locked on Sir."

"Engage tractor beam, give me as much power as you can Cat."

"Tractor beam on, but I'm having trouble maintaining our hold on them."

Jureth tapped the ship's communications system.

"Bridge to Engineering, Mister Thompson I need more power to our tractor beam."

"Aye Sir, stand by," came the engineer's terse reply "rerouting power from auxiliary systems, and the tertiary warp core."

Down in engineering Thompson shook his head as his fingers flew over the Alsea's power management system, Starfleet captains were all the same, give them the galaxy and they want the universe. They were lucky their ships didn't fall apart around them.

"Okay Sir, you've got all I can afford to give."

"Understood, Bridge out." Jureth replied "Cat?"

Cat nodded as the tractor beam power levels increased measurably "Tractor beam is functioning Sir, I've got a good hold on them."

"Mister Hunter, engines all back full impulse. Let's pull them free."

"Aye Sir, engines all back full."

The Alsea fought against the currents of the Azimuth Horizon to pull the massive Undine ship free, and while she was making slow progress Jureth could tell is wasn't going to be enough. The ship was massive, and the Horizon was stronger than the Alsea by herself.

"Mister Wynn give me the Spectre and the Aegis."

"Channel open Sir."

"Spectre, Aegis this is Alsea. if either of you have any tractor emitters available we could use some help to pull the Undine clear of the Horizon."

On the detached bridge of the Artemis, Doctor Nasaro-Myth sat back with a wry smile as he answered the call from the powerful warship.

"Not that we will do anything more than a rather symbolic effort, small as we are... but that's the whole point, isn't it? We hear you, Alsea...

"Moving closer to optimum range, Doctor," Ensign Sheeneea said from the helm, her antennae lowered in concentration.

"Impulse engines at maximum; reserve power on standby," added chief engineer Robert Baoule.

"Graviton power and area of effect maximized to distance and power ratio," reported Valencia Irksos from the science station. "All calculations sent to engineering, ops and tactical and will be updated to the second by sensor monitoring."

"We can channel weapon and auxilliary power to amplify tractor effect and really help moving that hulk," added ops officer Cheonghi.

"Close enough, we might help pulling them if we concentrate our tractoring on the part of their hull farthest of the anomaly," chimed in Mrriish as she once more readied the emitters towards the Unidine ship.

"Locking sensors on target; continuous strain on hull and engines will be monitored during the entire proceeding," finished Norbert Baoule at the auxilliary station.

Elliago nodded, marvelling at the smooth efficiency of the bridge crew. A few words and they all knew what was best to do together to face even the most daunting challenge.

Here's Starfleet for you! he tought, not without some pride.

He sat straighter as he spoke again through the comm channel.

"Alsea; our tractor beam is already on standby. Ready to follow your lead."

Jureth nodded "Aegis, this Alsea, attach your tractor on the starboard side of the Undine vessel and give as much reverse thrust as you can. Do not endanger yourselves if you can avoid it. I'd rather not have two rescue missions going on."

"Make that three, my good Captain," the Deltan corrected with no mirth in his voice despite the frozen smile on his face. "The Artemis, or what's left of it, is currently risking the fires of the anomaly to prevent it from spilling over into the other universe... The crew is safe in shuttles and makeshift pods at the edge of it, but Captain Kheren and Lieutenant Commander Syntron are still aboard. I fear they might need help to get out of this alive."

He then lowered his gaze to the officers manning the stations before him.

"You heard him; do it."

With crisp aknowledgements, the bridge crew of the Artemis bridge module went to work and, in an instant, the minuscule craft moved around the imense tree-like form of the alien ship and anchored a greenish, rippling cone of energy at the starboard aft side of it. For a moment, it seemed like nothing was happening; but then the end of the huge battleship started to pivot slowly, very slowly but steadily away from the furious flames of the Azimuth Horizon.

With the additional help from the Aegis Jureth could see the massive Undine ship begin to move and he suspected the Spectre was too busy with damage control to be of much help. This would have to do.

"Bridge to engineering,"

"Thompson here Captain,"

"Mister Thompson, give the impulse engines any extra power you can. Divert from weapons if necessary."

"Aye sir, engineering out."

Jureth rose from the command chair and walked down behind Shawn Hunter.

"Mister Hunter?"

"Impulse engine output rising Sir, one hundred, and five percent; one hundred and ten percent.."

With the additional power to the Alsea's impulse engines Jureth could see on the viewer that the Undine vessel was nearly free.

"Just a little bit more" he said under his breath

Down in the Alsea's engineering department a power conduit went out with a sharp POP and a shower of sparks.

"Dammit," Thompson said allowed "You two," he yelled at two junior engineers "bypass that conduit now!" and then he tapped his combadge

"Thompson to Bridge, Captain we just lost a power conduit on the impulse drive circuit, I hope your almost done with what you're doing up there because we're falling apart down here. Thompson out."

The look on Jureth's face went from determination to concern "Mister Hunter?"

"Confirmed Sir, impulse engine output falling. One hundred percent, ninety five percent..."

"Shouldn't they be free enough to have their momentum carry them the rest of the way Sir?" Ensign Wynn suggested from the ops station.

"Maybe..Hunter?"

"It's possible Sir, we've given them a heck of a pull."

"Cat," Jureth ordered "disengage tractor beam and signal the Aegis to do the same. Helm, get us out of their way."

"Aye Sir," the two officers replied in unison.

Jureth spoke aloud again "Undine vessel, this is Captain Oseno of the Federation Starship Alsea, you should be free of the Azimuth Horizon, and free to take your ship home, if you wish."

On the Aegis, the subspace message was heard by all as they looked at the greenish alien vessel now floating free in the cold peace of normal space; all but Doctor Nasaro-Myth who looked directly at the ship's chief counselor.

"Lyrya, how are the Undine reacting?"

"Confused, Doctor... They have a hard time grasping all at the same time both the concept and the fact of a perceived weaker enemy defeating them and of that same enemy helping them afterwards, despite that they had attacked them first. Such things are utterly new and bewildering to them."

He knew that her own, deeply imbeded racial code of honor would not normally allow her to probe another sentient mind without permission. but here she didn't have to. Just lowering a bit her mental barriers would be enough to receive the powerful Undine telepathic emissions. And that is precisely what she had done.

"As long as they are not thinking about resuming their violence..."

"Not anymore , Sir. But I wouldn't call their thoughts anything ressembling regret or gratitude. It's more like a mix of... curiosity, puzzlement... and resignation."

On the Alsea Jureth looked at his friend "Cat, readouts? what are they doing?"

"Nothing yet Sir, but I'm not detecting any plasma buildup that would indicate they're getting ready to fire again either."

"Keep our shields up, I don't want to appear agressive, but I'm not stupid either."

"Thompson to Bridge,"

The engineer's voice rang out over the otherwise quiet bridge and from his sour tone Jureth knew that this wasn't likely to be good news.

"Go ahead Mister Thompson."

"I just wanted to congratulate you Captain, your little escapade up there has damaged the impulse engines beyond my ability to repair them. We are limited to half impulse Sir, until we get back to Starbase that is, and honestly they might have to dry dock us again for this one."

Jureth ignored the engineer's tone and his jab because Jureth knew that he'd asked a lot of the entire crew, but especially engineering over the last several hours.

"Thank you for the update Mister Thompson," Bridge out Jureth calmly replied

Jureth looked again at the Undine ship hanging in space in front of them, and wondered exactly what the agressive aliens were thinking.

"Oseno to Aegis, Doctor, do you have an idea of what the Undine are doing?"

It took a moment for the reply to come over the channel.

"Well... they're... thinking."

The Deltan knew he wasn't saying much by that statement so he elaborated after a short pause.

"It seems, Captain, that rescuing them after they attacked us is almost beyond their understanding. As far as Counselor Lyrya can tell, they first started to think that this was some kind of trick or trap to finish them up... until they realized that they were already as good as dead before we pulled them out of the fire... literally. On one side, their agressiveness is definitely subdued by sheer puzzlement; but on the other, as to what they will do next... your guess is as good as mine."

"I hate guessing," Jureth replied "but I hope they decide to leave town, we still have work to do."

The Bajoran sat down in the command chair of the Alsea, and resigned himself to the fact that all they could do was wait and see what action the Undine would take.

As she listened to the exchange, counselor Lyrya glanced at Elliago who nodded back to her and her soft, clear voice chimed in.

"Captain Oseno Jureth... most predators will simply move away from you if they realize that you are neither a prey about to flee or a challenger about to pounce. I suggest we all move away at a slow pace, but with full sensor and weapons lock on them, until we are all out of each other's weapons range... then come to a full stop, warp engines down. This way, they will know they can safely go away... but that we are keenly waiting for them to do so."

"Understood," Jureth replied and then addressed his crew "Helm, all back, one half impulse, take us away from the Undine, but don't make any sudden movements. Tactical, phasers online, and load forward torpedo tubes. Maintain a lock on them until we are out of weapons range."

"Helm all back half impulse" Shawn Hunter acknowledged

"Weapons online, torpedoes loaded and locked on the enemy vessel Sir" Steele replied.

The Alsea slowly began to back away from the massive Undine warship as fast as her damaged impulse engines would allow her to. Jureth continued to watch the Undine vessel on the viewer as the distance between the two ships opened and after several minutes Lt. Steele finally informed Oseno that they were no longer in range of the Undine ship.

"We are out of weapons range Sir, target lock lost."

Jureth nodded "Mister Hunter, all stop. Keep our shields up Cat."

"Helm answering all stop Sir." Hunter replied

The Alsea hung in space and again awaited movement from their adversary with her captain desperately hoping the Undine would take the opportunity to leave the area. The battle had cost them time, and the damage was starting to take its toll on the Alsea.

The whole maneuver was followed on the main viewer from the overcrowed autonomous bridge of the Artemis, with the monstrous Undine battleship hanging over them like the proverbial Sword of Damocles.

"They'rre moving at half-impulse out of weapons rrange but with sustained sensorr lock on the Undine ship," purred tactical officer Mrriish, her voice reverting to her natural growl under the tension permeating the whole bridge.

"Follow her, Sheeneea," then ordered Elliago to the Andorian woman at the helm with shortened breath; " niiiice and slow. I don't think our unwanted visitors out there will see us much as a threat, small as we are... but let's just show them that we are all on the same page here."

With the same, slow, weary movement, the Aegis also backed off from the immediate vicinity of the Undine vessel until it stopped alongside the powerful Prometheus class warship.

There was a long moment of stillness that seemed to grip all of space around them. Then, there was a sharp cry of pain as Counselor Lyrya again doubled over and almost fell off the medical command chair, her usually rigid Andorian face now contorted in a mixture of pain and anguish terrible to behold.

"Lyrya!" again exclaimed Elliago turning the big swiveling command chair to place his soothing hands on her. "Are the Undine..."

Then, his own empathic hypersensitivity brought her deep pain right to him.

It was a pain beyond that of the mental or the physical, deeper than a suffering of the heart and soul. It was agny and anguish like felt by not one but many persons together, almost unbearable, one that even death would seem to be unable to erase from one's own being. It was not any mere telepathic assault; it was like the very feel of life seeping away from one's every fiber tensed to fight against it.

And it had nothing to do with the Undine.

On the overcrowded bridge, everyone was paralysed with indecision, unable to fathom what was going on.

All but Ensign Sheeneea, the Andorian woman at the helm.

"Everyone, stay where you are!"

She pushed away any who would try to come close to them and went herself to Elliago and Lyrya and forcibly separated them, pushing the Deltan roughly back into the command seat while taking care not to touch the Aenar herself.

"What... what is..."

"It's the shelthreth, Doctor!" Sheeneea answered him while making sure no one else would try to touch Lyrya trembling with obvious pain and anguish.

"The Andorian bonding? But... but the conselor's file says she's unbounded..."

"Yes, Doctor... she was... But it is happening, right now!"

Recovering his composure, the chief medical officer of the Artemis tapped the side of the medical chair, careful not to get again in direct contact with Lyrya as he took out from the side compartment a medical kit, from which he activated a medical tricorder to immediately monitor her. The bewilderment on his face matched his fascinated curiosity.

"What do you mean, it is happening now? I thought Andorian bonding required four partners to..."

"It does," answered Sheeneea, despite turning purple with obvious embarrassment having to speak about it. In normal circumstances, Andorians never discussed such matters with offworlders. But these were obviously anything but normal circumstances. And so she went on; " but Counselor Lyrya is no ordinary Andorian: she's Aenar. Her telepathic powers are formidable. If she has started bonding with another Andorian and that Andorian now is completing the bond, even interstellar distances will not matter. She will feel the connection, feel their presence, feel them living... and dying... and sharing it all with them."

Elliago's face and eyes showed plainly that, according to his tricorder, this is eexactly what was happening.

Swiftly he took a capsule of cordrazine from the medkit and fixed it to a hypospray, then added a long, rigid needle to the nozzle; a hypospray would not work through the semi-chitinous skin of an Andorian. But before he could inject the potent life-saving medecine into the trembling Aenar, Sheeneea stopped him with a firm hand. A moment he struggled reflecively to free himself, but Andorian women were just as strong as the male of the species; which meant that it would have taken a Vulcan's strenght to break that grip.

With a very human-like shake of her head, she made him understand that he could not and should not interfere.

But then, almost as suddenly as the pain had come, a deep sigh escaped the pale lips of the white-skinned, blind Andorian woman. Her face returned to her familiar smooth, rigid mask of serenity; even more that that, it seemed to faintly glow with something that went beyond relief, almost rapture. Her flatened antennae slowly rose to wave softly as her white pupiless eyes closed, no longer crying.

There was a long moment of silence before Lyrya slowly rose herself to a straighter posture in her chair to turnn her blind stare towards Doctor Nasaro-Myth with a pale but easy smile on her wet lips.

"It is... over. All is well, Doctor."

Taking a moment to examine her nevertheless with his tricorder, then with his own purple eyes, he reflecively smiled back at her.

"And... If I may ask... who is the happy bride... and groom... I mean grooms?"

Her smile became as bewildering as her unlooking eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know..."

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The acrid taste of the burnt tactical console brought Rogers back to the reality of battle. Undine weapons fire had smashed through Spectre's shields and cut into her hull on decks four through nine, destroying EPS conduits and interrupting power to the weapons arrays and shields systems. Feedback had exploded within the tactical, helm and science consoles knocking their occupants unconcious. Captain Summers sat slumped in his seat beside Rogers, apparently knocked out by the same explosion behind them as David must have been. Perhaps Rogers' Romulan physiology had brought him around sooner. David spoke to the ship.

"Status?"

Quicklly checking Summers' vitals David found him alive and apparently unhurt , just unconcious, as the computer responded to his question.

'Weapons systems off line. Shields off line. Hull breaches on forward decks four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. Emergency force fields are in effect.'

David stood, fighting a passing wave of dizzyness and a ringing in his ears. Looking around the bridge further, he saw the helm and comms consoles sparking and emitting the same acrid smoke that had roused him. Brodt lay slumped on the deck beside the helm chair. Reaching him quickly David also checked his vitals whilst calling aloud.

"Medical teams to the bridge."

All the while, the impersonal voice of the Spectre's computer droned on about the ships status.

'Transporters off line. Communications off line. Impulse power off line. Warp core off line. Life support ... minimal.'

Making his way through the bridge crew, David found them all alive and unconcious. Standing at last at the tactical console he tried to get it working, tearing off panels and replacing many burnt out isolinear chips. Soon, the main viewer came online in a burst of hazy static, and David could make out the shapes of the Alsea and Aegis ships towing the massive Undine shipaway from the anomaly.

'What the hell ...?', Rogers thought perplexedly.

Surmising there must be a reason for the action and noticing that there was no visible weapons fire occuring, David turned his attention back to the Spectre, adrift and gradually being pulled toward the pulsing behemoth of the deadly anomaly. Jumping over tactical and landing with a roll in front of the inert form of Captain Summers, David rushed to the helm seat and frantically tried to bypass the destroyed circuitry within it, hoping to get some maneuverability out of the thrusters. Anything to slow the inexorable pull toward the whirling fire storm merely minutes away. The ever calm voice of the computer replied with stoic, neutral calm.

'Thruster power at two percent.'

Regardless of their effect, Rogers punched the reverse icon and fed all available poweer to the reverse thrusters. Making sure the drain was negligble at two percent full reverse, David got up and ran to the nearest turbo lift and, hoping it worked, instructed it to main engineering. The ship was merely slowed, buying some time to get more power, which David intended to accomplish, with or with out aid, in main engineering. With a jek and then surge, the doors closed and the lift started toward main engineering.

------------------------------------------------------

Watching the Undine ship on the viewer as she hung in space while "Boothby" presumably was trying to figure out just what the hell was going on Jureth suddenly remembered that the Spectre was still out there, and that they hadn't responded to the rescue mission of the Undine ship.

"Cat, status on the Spectre," He demanded

"Adrift," Steele said grimly "and she's drifting toward the Horizon. I'm detecting almost a total loss of power save for her thrusters which just activated. They're slowing her down Sir, but unless they start moving under impulse power and soon she'll be pulled into the Horizon."

Jureth cursed in Bajoran under his breath before reaching out to the Aegis "Aegis this is Alsea, Doctor we have a problem. The Spectre is adrift and being pulled toward the Horizon, can you give me any idea on what the Undine are going to do? Will moving to assist the Spectre upset them?"

Elliago listened to the captain of the Alsea with a frown, getting confirmation of the Spectre's status from nods coming from both Mrriish at tactical and the Baoule twins at their respective stations. His own gaze went with his words to the recovering Aenar at his left.

"Counselor, I know you've been through Hell just now..."

Lyrya just smiled at him and nodded. For a moment, her eyes squinted in barely restrained pain but quickly she relaxed and answered the doctor.

"They're still confused... But, if I use some basic psychology here, I would suggest that, realizing that we treated them as we treat our very own should help them finally understand and accept the situation... at least enough to move away peacefully back to their own universe. They might be fearful to the point of savagery and arrogance by nature... but they are sentient, intelligent beings after all."

Nasaro-Myth's voice then rose with his eyes to address the ship tp ship comm channel.

"You got that, Alsea? Preaching by example..."

"Understood Aegis, Alsea out."

Jureth thought for a moment and then issued similar orders to what he had just moments before

"Mister Hunter, close on the Spectre, maximum possible impulse power. Cat as soon as you're close enough for the tractor beam get her under tow."

"Aye Sir," both officers replied

The Alsea moved from her position and closed on the adrift Akira class ship with all the speed her damaged engines could muster. As they did Jureth stood from the command chair.

"Mister Wynn, let's try to raise them."

"Channel open Sir."

"Spectre this is Alsea, Captain Oseno calling do you copy?"

"No response Sir. It's possible their subspace array is damaged."

Jureth nodded and then tapped his combadge "Oseno to T'lana,"

"T'lana here Sir."

"Meet me in transporter one in five, we're going aboard the Spectre."

"Aye Sir, T'lana out."

Jureth then called down to engineering "Oseno to Engineering, I know you're busy Mister Thompson, but I need two of your best to meet me in the transporter room. The Spectre needs our help."

"Understood Sir, they'll be there."

Sickbay was next on the list "Oseno to Sickbay, I need two medical personnel to transporter room one immediately."

Cat Steele cleared her throat and Jureth turned toward her "Sir, you're not going anywhere, you know the regulations as well as I do, and you're the Captain now."

Jureth smiled and turned toward the helm "Are we in position Mister Hunter?"

"Yes Sir, coming up on the Spectre now."

"Engage tractor beam."

"Tractor engaged, we've got them Sir."

"Mister Hunter, all back half impulse."

"All back one half aye Sir."

As the Alsea began to pull the Spectre away from the Azimuth Horizon Jureth turned toward the turbolift "You have the bridge Lieutenant Steele" he called over his shoulder as the doors closed.

On the main viewer of the Aegis, what remained of the company and crew of the starship Artemis watched as the mighty Federation warship towed the sleek modular cruiser away from the grasp of the burning anomaly. A cheer went up as they saw the successful rescue attempt underway while the saved Undine vessel still maintained it's postion some distance away, undoubtebly watching the whole scene as an echo of their own fate a moment ago.

"Advise the Spectre and the Alsea that we have three dozen cross-trained technicians and medics ready to be sent over and assist them," ordered with a smile the Deltan in the center seat.

The feeling of relief was short-lived however, as the black-furred Caitian woman at tactical suddenly growled.

"What is it, Mrriish?" asked Elliago with genuine concern suddenly wrinkling his handsome face.

"And what about the Arrtemis? What about Misterr Syntrron and the Captain? We left them to rroast in therre!"

"It was Lyrya whose soft, crystalline voice eased the dread that was now shadowing every face on the packed bridge.

"They're out of danger now."

"You surre? How can you tell?"

"Tyvya is with him... I mean, with them."

In a flash, all the people that had been on the bridge in the last minutes understood how she knew... and what she meant. Especially Elliago Nasaro-Myth, who raised his eyes to the heavens then shut them with a shake of his bald head.

"Oh boy..."

he was suddenly brought back from his thoughts by the purring voice of tactical officer mrriish.

"Doctorr... we have a ship coming out of warp 1 million kilometers starboard, bearring 270 marrk 175, full impulse. It's a federation shuttlecrraft, class XI. Transponder signal identifies it as from the USS Lotus ."

"I read two lifesigns aboard," added Valencia Irksos from her sensor readout. "Humans, one male, one female. There are combadges signals identifying them as Commander Edward Tomah, ship executive officer, and Petty officer Janine Olsen, both of the USS Lotus."

"Now what are they doing here?" wondered the Deltan like everyone else. "open channel, please."

"Channel open," confirmed Lyrya, still groggy a bit but, with her mental shields fully raised, she was completely spared the invasive thoughts of the nearby Undine while she recovered from her bonding. And with her deeply inbred racial code of honor against intrusive menta contact, she did not try to scan the newcomers's mind to answer the Doctor,s question, especially not when such information could be obtained by more conventional means.

"USS Lotus shuttlecraft; Commander Tomah, this is Doctor Elliago nasaro-Myth in temporary command of the Aegis. Do you copy?"

"There was a long moment of silence but, before the Deltan could repeat his query, a male voice was heard through the speakers.

"Ah, this is Commander Tomah. Glad to see you're safe, Doctor. The rest of your crew has been taken care of by the Lotus. You might want to, ah, go and join them. Sending you the flagship's coordinates."

Everyone on the bridge was holding his breath.

"The captain and first officer?"

"Ah, Captain Gould himself has gone to retrieve them. They should be ok too by now."

There was an audible collective sigh of relief accross the Aegis.

"And may I ask why you are here, Commander? In a shuttlecraft?"

"Ah, we,re here to negociate with the Undine, Doctor. Both officer Olsen and I are, ah, most experienced with the natives of Fluidic Space. We might succeed in convincing them to return to their own universe... of their own free will."

From the double console before the command chair, the caitian woman turned lifted her black-furred head from her monitor readout.

"They are heading straight for the Undine ship, Doctor. They will meet with them from between their hull and the anomaly."

Elliago nodded but not without a slight frown. Something was a bit odd in this whole situation but he could not say what. The amazingly convenient timing of the shuttle's presence perhaps, or the still unexplained silent immobility of the Undine warship after all that frantic exchange of fire and harrowing salvage effort from the anomaly's grasp... as if they had been waiting for them all this time. But there had been no transmission at all from them and none outside their own to them... And no one had reported the Undine,s presence to headquarters yet, as much as he knew... So, how could they be here, now?

"That would be most impressive, Commander, " he said noncommitally after a short pause. "Do you require any assistance? We have fully trained and experienced people here that could..."

"Ah, negative, Doctor. We are all good here. Please standby for further contact. Shuttlecraft out."

The deltan was left with his mouth halfway open and more questions caught in his throat as he watched the tiny spacecraft disappear before the blinding glare of the Azimuth Horizon. He looked down at Mrriish and then sideways at Irksos.

"They're right in front of the Horizon, Doctor. Sensors are out; but their trajectory wa sstill towards the Undine ship," finally confirmed Irksos apologetically.

They waited several minutes in silence, until, suddenly. lights flared up from the massive alien warship.

"They'rre powerring up engines!" reported Mrriish.

"Any contact from the shuttle?"

"None, Doctor," answered Lyrya. "They do not answer hails either."

Then, on the viewing screen, the Undine vessel suddenly moved at increasing speed then warped out to disappear in a brilliant and brief flash of light.

"Doctor?" then said Irksos. "Sensors are picking up a faint signal... I think... It's the shuttlecraft."

"Move closer and try to hail them!" ordered Elliago with mounting dread in his voice.

After a moment and careful trajectory realignment by Sheeneea at the helm, they finally could make out the sleek auxilliary craft from the flagship. it was floating without any lights on, slowly starting to tumble forward like a sleeping fish in a calm sea.

"It's completely powered down. I read no lifesigns aboard," reported the assistant chief science officer.

"Are they..."

"No, Doctor; the shuttle is empty."

"They werre kidnapped!" exclaimed Mrriish with a growl.

"I don't think so," said Norbert Baoule from the auxilliary station. "There is no indication of weapon's fire, disturbance or organic residue from wounds or struggle. No alien transporter signal either; but the shuttle's own transporter was activated, just before automatic shutdown of all systems was implemented. I tried to access shipboard logs but they have been wiped clean before transport was effected. And the life support had been configured on a very curious setting... "

Visibly baffled by this turn of events, Doctor Nasaro-Myth took a moment to digest the news then sighed with perceptible frustration.

"Take it in tow and let's move back towards the Alsea and the Spectre. Now that the threat has been removed from the vicinity, we'll take care of our wounded first and then we'll try to figure out what this was all about."

As the officers on the detached bridge of the Artemis went to their work as ordered, Elliago sat further in the overlarge command chair with a mumble for himself alone.

"Somehow, I don't think we'll like the answer all that much."

With his away team gathered in the Alsea's number one transporter room Jureth adjusted the phaser on his belt slightly, and as he prepared to step onto the transporter pad his combadge chirped at him.

"Bridge to Captain Oseno."

"Go ahead Cat,"

"Sir, we're detecting power levels rising aboard the Spectre Sir, and her warp core has just come back online. Not only that but the Undine ship has moved off Sir under some odd circumstances."

"Define odd Cat."

"I think you're going to have to see it to believe it."

"On my way, Oseno out." Jureth turned to the assembled crewmen "It seems the Spectre has managed to right herself without our help. Thank you for coming, you are dismissed."

As they filed out Jureth grabbed stopped T'Lana, his Vulcan assistant tactical officer. "Lieutenant, how are our people holding out?" Jureth was concerned about the state of his small but well trained security force. The entire ship's crew had been stretched to the limit, but he needed the security teams more alert than the average crew member and he wanted to be sure they got rest if they needed it.

"They are...tired Sir," T'Lana said in reply

Jureth nodded "Stand down from security alert Lieutenant. Maintain guards on our critical spaces, but get as many people rested as you can."

"Aye Sir."

Oseno made his way back to the bridge and as he exited the turbolift he quickly demanded an update from the bridge crew.

"Report, what happened out there?"

"Like I said," Cat Steele stated "you're going to want to see it to believe it. Computer, replay USS Alsea sensor and visual logs from time index one three zero on main viewer."

The computer bleeped in compliance and Jureth looked up at the ship's viewscreen and watched carefully as a Federation shuttle came seemingly out of nowhere and made for the massive Undine warship. Then, just as quickly as the shuttle had appeared the Undine ship left the battlefield just as Jureth had hoped they would do. When the recording ended Jureth sat down in the Alsea's command chair and hailed the Aegis.

"Alsea to Aegis, Doctor, what just happened out there? I've seen the recording, but I don't really understand it. Do you know who was in that shuttle?"

"That is a rather good question, Alsea," answered the voice of Nasaro-Myth through the comm channel, his usually jovial face now darkened by puzzlement on the main viewer. "According to our sensors and their own admission, this shuttle came from the flagship and was occupied by First Officer Edward Tomah and Petty Officer Janine Olsen, bound to discuss terms with the Undine... We lost all comm and sensor contact with them for a while, blasted anomaly interference... But now, we are towing back to you their shuttle. We found it adrift near the last position of the Undine ship, empty and completely powered down. As far as we can tell, they were not abducted; they beamed out of their own accord, presumably on board the Undine vessel just before it warped out."

The Deltan paused a moment, as if listening to someone off screen telling him something the microphone did not pick up. Then he looked back at Jureth through the vid screen, his face even more etched with confusion.

"Alsea... our first investigation indicates strange things; the shuttle's log was wiped clean, down to their programming core; so was the transporter buffer record and the onboard sensor record. But the life support system was oddly calibrated, quite uncomfortable by Human standards... We made a comparative check and found out it was in fact calibrated to the exact parameters of those found on the Undine ship. Either they readied things to receive an Undine on board... or..."

He did not finish his sentence. What he implied was clear and disturbing enough.

"Or they were both Undine infiltrators.." Jureth said finishing the Doctor's thought "I knew Tomah when I was the security chief aboard the Lotus, I would never have suspected he was Undine.." he cursed under his breath, this time in Cardassian before continuing "we will take the shuttle into our main bay. I'm sure Starfleet Intelligence will want to go over it with a fine tooth comb. I will report our situation to Starbase Ten as well and request further instructions, Oseno out."

Jureth closed the channel from the command chair and addressed Shawn Hunter "Mister Hunter, take Lieutenant Steele and go to the main hangar bay to receive the shuttle from the Aegis. Cat, make sure its secured and lock it with a security authorization code."

The two officers left the bridge, and standby operations officers replaced them at their respective positions. Jureth opened a channel to Starbase Ten From his communications console using the same distress frequency as they had before. The two prepositioned shuttles were still operating as the Undine had forgotten all about them once the engaged the Alsea in combat so Jureth assumed the channel would work.

"Starbase Ten, this is Alsea, do read us?"

---------------------------------------

Before the Undine ship had warped out of the system, the one known as "Boothby" ordered a long-range scan of vessels in the area. With the telepathic abilities of all the Undine on board able to enhance lifeform detection, the sensors were able to pinpoint the location of all ships within a 10 lightyear radius.

Now as the long skeletal ship pierced its way through the clear, viscous fluid that encompassed its home universe, an Undine science officer stood next to "Boothby" with his slender digits wrapped around the leader's head to communicate the details of his sensor report.

When he finished and broke the telepathic bond, "Boothby" nodded and turned to the communications officer.

"The situation is worse than I thought. Contact the hive network. We're going to need more ships," he ordered.