CHAPTER 5: Enemy Mine (part 2)

On the bridge of the USS Horizon, floating motionless inside the edge of a dense nebula, all bridge officers were searching frantically for any trace of their missing escort ship. Standing up from his command chair, Captain Kheren shouted orders in rapid succession.

" Lieutenant-Commander K'Leysha; all sensors on finding a trace, any trace of the Polaris or what might have happened to her. Lieutenant Tyvya; do the same for any residual trace of an explosion or field of debris that could account for her disappearance. Mister Snow; compute all probable positions where she could have ended up when we broke from transwarp. Lieutenant Leône; review our sensor logs to see if we have any record about when we got separated or hopefully what might have happened to her while we were all out.  Doctor; try to raise them on all channels or locate any emergency signal from lifepods or buoy, or even her disaster beacon sending us some signal."

Looking meticulously through all of the available data and records, Elisha Leône turned a few moments later to address the captain’s order directed specifically to her.

“It would appear that we lost contact with the Polaris at approximately the moment after we decelerated and the deflector was re-engaged” the Orion noted.

Disappointedly, she then added “Yet Sir, I have no indication of what happened to the Polaris or where it went. It’s as if at that moment they just… disappeared.”

Then, feeling somewhat embarrassed about the last part of her statement, the Ops officer confessed “I know that was an illogical comment Sir… I just didn’t know what else to say.”

"No fault of your own, Lieutenant, " Norbert said with a smile. "All sensors were temporarily off line when we abruptly transited from transwarp to full stop... and this nebula is interfering further with our standard pallets, even as advanced as they are. Only the Syntron sonar can effectively work through so much particles and discharges so close... and it can only scan in our forward arc, not behind us."

While his officers were asserting the situation, Kheren tapped his combadge.

"Mister Sisko; if you are still with us, we need to get this ship operational again as soon as possible. "

In the sickbay Lieutenant Commander Sisko quickly sat up as soon as he heard his Captain's summons, only to be violently pushed back down to the biobed, but the tiny, but amazingly strong Doctor 011.

"Your wound is not healed yet, Commander."

She ran the dermal regenerator over the remaining burnt skin cells on his hand. The tool quickly removed the old cells and instantly swapped in exact copies of good skin cells that she had scanned earlier from his other hand.

After a few more minutes, the process was complete. "You are repaired Commander," Doctor 011 said bluntly, setting the regenerator down. "You'll feel no more pain."

Sisko thanked her and moved to return to Engineering in order to review the status of the Horizon's engines.

The Captain closed his communicator and turned to his first officer.

"Commander, I hope your vast and unique experience can give us some insight as to what we may expect out here."

" Captain, I know exactly what we can expect out here, that WE are what's unexpected to every thing else. "

Redding's tone was a serious one even if he was trying to keep it lite.

Kheren's antennae curved inward in the typical Andorian smile. 

"Point taken, Commander. "

The voice of tactical officer Tyvya then rose from the tactical station.

"Captain! I found something... looks like an impulse trail."

"The Polaris?"

"Negative, Sir; it is not a Federation-type propulsion residue. "

"The computer cannot positively identify the technology, Captain, " then added Norbert Baoule from Science Station 2. "It could be from any known spacefaring species... but the residue is very... unrefined. "

The Andorian's antennae waved this way and that.

"Define "unrefined" please. "

"Well... it looks rather like the impulse trail of an antique J-class of the twenty-third century, " hesitantly explained the black scientist still taking over science duties for his groggy chief. "There is a lot of waste byproduct along with the ion trail, especially Delta radiation. "

His twin brother Robert then took over.

"Either someone out there is barely venturing into space with crude early impulse technology... or they have a very old second hand starship... "

"Or lack the facilities to properly refuel their vessel with a clean energy source, " proposed helmsman Snow. "Distant colonies sometimes have to make do with crude ressources just to get by... "

"Are you suggesting that there could be some sort of... outpost out here this close to the galactic rim... so far from any known inhabited sector of the galaxy?" wondered Counselor Lyrya as she took over Captain Kheren's caring of Lieutenant-Commander K'Leysha.

"Not one of ours to be sure, " commented Miramanee Blackbird, the Yeoman looking intently at her commanding officer as if he could confirm her assessment. 

"According to our starcharts, the closest one is Delta Vega, " then said Norbert Baoule looking at his computer screen. "It is a robot-built, automated refueling and ressuplying station, the kind they used to disseminate accross this quadrants in the early days of warp travel. This one is farthest one ever built, once visited by the USS Enterprise when was made the first attempt to reach the edge of the galaxy two-hundred years ago. It is located coreward from our present position and... amazingly... about three months at warp 2."

"Is the impulse trail leading there? " asked Kheren.

"Negative, Sir. The trail disappears deep inside this nebula we are already in, " answered the giantess from tactical.

Kheren tapped his combadge.

"Engineering; Mister Sisko, have you found yet some paddles for this ship of ours? "

"Impulse engines appear to not be affected, Sir," replied the Engineer. "I have what's left of my team trying to restore warp, but it will take a while. The warp core suffered quite a bit of damage during our runaway train incident, but nothing we can't repair in say... 16 hours or so."

" If I may suggest sir, I'm thinking sleeper ship. " Redding leaned closer into Kheren. " Both the Federation as well as the Klingons around the twenty-third century sent a number of long range explorer class vessels into areas of space projected to be able to sustain life. Not surprisingly many were never seen again, but this one might have wandered off course and, given the nature of its design, still be functional even after all this time. "

Kheren nodded pensively.

"Indeed... I seem to recall that Captain Picard's Enterprise once found such a Klingon sleeper ship... And I believe the USS Voyager also met one far into the Delta Quadrant. Not to mention the legendary encounter of Kirk's own ship with the SS Botany Bay... "

That last comment drew some stares from the bridge officers that had been with him aboard the USS Artemis when a false admiral had diverted them into the Mutara nebula to hunt down a thirty years old lost ship... and found also a centuries old ghost from that same Botany Bay.

But Redding wasn't one of them. Oblivious to their reaction, he concluded with a completely even tone.

" It's quite possible that the crew, put into cryogenic sleep, could have survived. "

"Any clue how we can find out... and find them if that being the case?" asked the Andorian.

" If it is, Tyvya, your ion trail should show brief periodic adjustments to maintain its course, with long slow burn intervals in between corrections. "

Then a thought crossed his mind.

"Bare in mind that the Klingons also used J type engines for these kind of ships, Captain... and have you ever woken up a sleeping Klingon? Well.. their a bit grumpy. "

He was thinking of his first wife.

After a short moment, the giantess shook her long-haired white head.

"Commander, the trail is smooth and even.  If this ship was automated, then it was making a major course change... it definitely seemed to be going somewhere... and somewhere within the nebula."

"Judging by the amount of residual particles and radiations, it was either a capital class vessel... or a smaller one dragging a heavy payload, " suggested engineer Baoule.

"If it was the latter, " commented his brother after a new analysis of his sensor readout, "A tractor beam would leave gravimetric particles along the trail. Sensors do not detect any."

"Our own impulse drive allows us to follow them easily enough, " Aguk Snow then chimed in, "but not to overtake them, unless we push them to emergency sublight speed. "

Kheren sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Options," he simply said.

Redding mused.

" We could send a shuttle team to investigate, its a risky maneuver without direct intelligence but I'd hate not to be here if the Polaris decided to appear and was in bad shape. "

"We do have a full complement of every kind of Starfleet auxilliary craft, " reminded Kheren, "including twenty of the latest type XI runabout-type shuttlecrafts, four class X two-man stealth shuttles, two Delta Flyers and the Farsight, my own personal yacht... not to mention that we have also saucer seper capability and a detachable bridge module; but I would like to keep those last two options close at hand in case of some dire situation facing the Horizon herself."

He looked around.

"Any other ideas, people?"

"Gravitetic...gradient," Snowfire said, breaking the silence as she finally pulled herself back from the effects of the PID overload. "Sorry sir, I had to overload my PID to stay conscious. Was not an experience I would care to repeat, but it worked," she gently pulled herself up and away from Counsellor Lyrya's hands as she spoke, tapping commands into her console. "Our shields won't be of any use in here, the compression that they require is too high. But..." her fingers moved across the board with a confident surety, inputting the model into the Horizon's systems, "we can still use them for something."

She paused as the simulation ran, then smiled. "And it'll work too. Not precisely well, but it'll do the job." She turned to face Kheren. "Captain, I can reconfigure our shields to create a gravitetic gradient that'll allow us reactionless acceleration along a given vector. Won't be good for evasive maneuvering, but it should give us sufficient additional delta to catch the vessel."

"Can this be implemented on a shuttlecraft? " the Andorian asked pointedly.

"Same theory. Smaller craft, but the power/mass ratio is actually better so you can get a higher sheer," Snowfire replied. "It'll work better on a shuttlecraft than on the Horizon."

As no one offered any other alternative, Kheren turned again to face his first officer.

"Assemble your team and follow that trail, Number One. Hopefully this will lead you to the Polaris. Take as many people and shuttles as you deem necessary, but I suggest the four class X we have; they might allow only two persons each, but they are fast, well armed and equipped with the best state of the art stealth technology short of an actual cloaking device. And with our science chief's gravitic trick, you should be able not only to overtake whoever made that trail but even do so without showing an engine signature. Discretion might prove the better part of valor here."

" Well sir, leading from your earlier question of what can we expect, I'd rather use the two Delta fliers than stealth fighters. This is a potential first contact situation and what would you think of a visitor you caught sneaking around your back yard? Might leave a bad first impression to people we could very well be depending on in the near future. Also, the class tens won't be able to do much in the way of rendering aid if we do find the Polaris. Not to mention that, if we become separated form the Horizon, they can still work independently for several months if need be. "  Redding never was one to be overly cautious.

Kheren nodded.

"Well, you just have proven how important your position aboard truly is, Number One. I agree with your assessment. I might have been a bit too... Andorian in my thinking here. "

Hia antennae uncurled from their horn-like position to a more pointed one.

"You lead the away team; use whatever personnel and resources you deem best to find out who our mysterious neighbor is... and what happened to the Polaris. And as you Humans are fond of saying; hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

"Commander," Snowfire added, "I would request that you include me on your team. The model I've got is solid, but I'd prefer to be able to make sure it stays that way. And the best - and safest, if we are actually dealing with a hostile force - way is for me to be on one of those shuttles."

" Of course, Lieutenant Commander; if the Captain thinks he can spare you at this time, you're presence would be welcome. Also, see if you can find someone in your department that you can count on for Delta 2. I'm not sure what our personnel choices are after the evacuation but we need six more people for the two shuttles. "

He stood up and moved towards the lift doors.

" Assemble in the main shuttle bay within twenty minutes. I'll see what I can do about the rest of the away team members. " And with a pause and a nod to his Captain to see if he had anything to add, Redding left the bridge.

Kheren signaled Snowfire that she was free to go and nodded back to Tyvya who had the Caitian Mrriish replace her at the tactical station while she strectched up her towering frame and walked briskly to the turbolift with one blue hand activating her communicator at the same time.

"Ensign Graalthrii; report to shuttlebay 1. "

With a slight hesitation, the Orion Ops officer turned to face her commanding officer.

"Captain, I realize that I am a novice here on this ship, but given my unconventional upbringing in addition to my training.... I am rather resourceful. If you believe that I could be of any assistance to the away team... well... just let me know Sir" she concluded almost shyly. 

"That is exactly the reason why you should be on a away team, Lieutenant, " answered back the Andorian captain, "especially this one. "

What he was clearly implying was that the said operation was unconventionally large, with more than one shuttle involved and might just turn out to be a salvage operation where resourcefulness might prove most useful; or an exploratory, possibly even a first contact mission that would definitely give her the experience lacking so far.

"In any case," he added, "we have the people needed here in your department and there is no more estimated danger out there than here. Speak with Commander Redding then; it will be up to him."

"Yes Sir!" the Orion Ops officer replied, rather surprised that the captain was willing to trust her despite her lack of official away mission experience. "I will do my best Captain."

Elisha did not hesitate for a moment after this as she reached up and engaged her combadge.

"Lieutenant Elisha Leône to Commander Redding..." she stated and patiently awaited his reply. 

Robert Baoule then spoke from the Engineering station.

"Sir, I think it may be prudent to have an Engineer on each shuttle. I can go fill Lieutenant Commander Sisko in on the details of the plan and ask who he wants to send."

"Call him in Engineering and ask him to select the people he deems best for a search and rescue and a possible salvage operation, probably in a tense first contact situation, " Kheren agreed. "So far what we have may point out to anything from a covert surveillance of us from an isolationist people to an ... appropriation... of the Polaris, which might result in a... debate over the return of Commander Oseno's ship and crew. "

"Aye, captain, " said the bald engineer who then opened a channel to main engineering. " Lieutenant-Commander Sisko, this is Baoule on the bridge. An away team is being prepared under the command of Commander Redding to follow an impulse trail into a Mutara class nebula, possibly to retrieve the Polaris, status unknown, under the power of an unknown party of unknown intents. We need a good engineer for each of our two Delta Flyers for this mission."

And as he received the word from the chief engineer, Kheren was addressing the Bynar seated at the medical command chair.

"Same goes for medical personnel, Doc."