CAPTER 5: Enemy Mine (part 3)

 As Redding moved from the Turbo lift to the main flight deck, he had a sense of uneasiness that he realized came from the overwhelming lack of... people. The ship wasn't completely free of personnel by any means but now it almost felt like a ghost town in comparison to the last time he walked in this area. 

It took him nearly 5 minutes before he located anyone left in charge and when he did, it was something of a surprise.

One of the few remaining technicians pointed him to Delta 1, which seemed to already be pepped for the mission. Redding walked in to the Delta Flyer and glanced around.

" Lt. Hickman? are you in here? "

The sound of something being dropped came from the rear of the ship and a voice followed.

" No, exceedingly not. " and a young black haired human male with a thin mustache came up from the back walking briskly. " Lt.  Hickman took a bit of tumble back there and headed to sickbay, of course. If he had listened to me in the first place and rode out the deceleration within Delta 1, after a few slight modifications to the inertial dampeners of course... because after all, if anyone knows the best way to to ride out a controlled..." at this he pointed a finger at Redding "OR uncontrolled for that matter, high speed sheering maneuver. it would be me. Not that anyone even bothered to ask me for my opinion. "

The man talked quick with a kind of self assurance that could be taken as arrogance.

" I've been calling for several minutes. Why haven't you responded? " Redding said with a hint of annoyance.

" Hmm.. it's possible that my modifications to the field emitters were causing a disruption within the..."

He stopped as Redding pointed at his chest. Looking down, he got a blank expression on his face.

"Or it could be that I'm not wearing my combadge. "

He glanced around and then, remembering, he walked up to the pilot seat and retrieved it from the console.

" I was working and it kept snagging..."

Redding's silence was so heavy he just awkwardly put it back on his shirt.

Redding just shook his head.

" We need both Delta Flyers up and ready to go in fifteen minutes. I don't know what you did to this one but make sure it's not going to be a problem, Mister... who are you again? "

" Lieutenant Robert Moore... Oh! Commander... " It wasn't until that moment that he even glanced at Redding's rank. Then it all clicked in.

"Oh! you're Commander Redding. I should have realized by your... Um, no, Sir, that is to say, yes, Sir, the ship wont be a problem; or, that is to say, my modifications are not..."

But Redding had had enough.

"That's fine. Also, see if we have any pilots left. We'll need two of course. Check for volunteers first. "

"Oh well, I volunteer, Commander. I'm the best pilot on the ship of course. " He said this with a slight smug smile. "If you don't believe me you can ask the Captain, I did save his life once AND Captain Gould's. "

Redding almost challenged him on it, but now just wasn't the time.

" Okay then, your in. Now get back to work. "

He turned to leave but as he did so he pointed at the man's chest.

"And Moore? keep your damn badge on."

Then he headed to sickbay just as his communicator chirped.

"Lieutenant Elisha Leône to Commander Redding... "

Redding stopped short of the lift, answering the hail. "Redding here, go ahead." It dawned on him that he had stopped short of entering the turolift out of habit, thinking his signal might get cut off. He rolled his eyes at his own old fashioned thinking.

After taking a moment for a slow deep breath, the Ops officer proceeded.

"Commander... Lieutenant Elisha Leône here. Captain Kheren granted me permission to accompany your away team." Then she quickly added "That is if you feel my presence would enhance your team's skill set in some capacity."

She did not want to appear presumptuous, but rather, she merely extended the offer of her services. 

"I'm not turning down any volunteers as of yet Lieutenant, if you feel your up to the mission.. welcome aboard, but you should understand this wont be a training exercise." Redding knew she was still green but didn't want to discourage her from taking the initiative.

 "We'll be launching in 15 minutes, if your in, be there for it, Redding out." A little colder than he meant it to sound, but the situation was a serious one. He supposed that it was because she was an Orion and if he wasn't a bit stern with her she might suspect he wasn't able to see past her green skin and would be treating her differently.

"Understood Commander" the Orion ops officer replied with a mixture of excitement along with a bit of trepidation.

"I will be there momentarily" Elisha noted as she swiftly made arrangements for her replacement to come early to her post and take over the remaining shift.

After the transition occurred, she nodded to her captain as she engaged the turbolift to carry her to toward the transporter.

As it descended, she thought to herself don't ruin this opportunity Elisha... you've waited your whole life for this... be alert and focused on everything around you...    

The lift doors swooshed open and she immediately stepped out purposefully and headed directly to the transporter area. 

His communicator signaled him and the voice of Captain Kheren came to his ear.

"Number One, we have new data for you; we have identified the vessel who took the powerless ship of Commander Oseno away; it was a Jem'Hadar bugship. "

There was a pause, most certainly for the captain to leave a bit of time for Redding to absorb the news before he resumed his communique.

"Jem'Hadar? way out here?" Redding said in amazement.

"From what our sensor data analysis could allow us to see and deduce, the Jem'Hadar ship seems to have an inactive warp core and a failing impulse engine but definitely followed a planned route through the nebula towards it's center. There was also no graviton emission, meaning their shields were either down or inoperative and that  they had no tractor beam in operation; they most probably used a magnetic towing cable to drag the Polaris back to wherever they came from."

This time, Kheren gave his first officer all the time he needed to ponder the information and speak his mind about it.

"So their either lost and out of supples, or it's a Pirate vessel, either way they obviously plan to use the Polaris to salve their problems one way or the other." He walked as he talked."It seems unlikely they could have found the Polaris and not noticed the Horizon Captain, witch means they didn't think they could take it. They will probably be expecting us to try and recover the Polaris and if their desperate enough.. we could be looking at a bad hostage situation."

"Agreed. As for their apparent neglect of us, well... we are within the boudaries of this Mutara class nebula, Number One. Even with our state of the art powerful sensors, we ourselves could miss even something as big as the Horizon in this blue pea soup, especially unmoving and with energy signature so low. Believe me, I know... I've experienced those same conditions a while back on the Artemis once, inside the original Mutara sector. We then could barely make out a six hundred meters starship at half this distance... and Jem'Hadar ships have never been known to sport formidable sensor pallets to begin with. That's what prompted the invention of the Syntron sonar back then as a matter of fact. But that being said, proceed with caution, Commander. Their targeting sensors are much better once they notice you. "

Lieutenant Commander Sisko sighed as he heard that he would have to send 2 of his remaining small contingent of Engineering officers away from the task of repairing the Horizon's warp core. He decided he didn't need two of his assistant chiefs, as he himself was not planning to sleep until the engines were functional again.

"Sisko to Commander Redding. I have selected two Engineering officers to join you on your shuttles. Lieutenants Junior Grade Alyson Townsend and T'ara will accompany the shuttles and make sure they get you there and safely back to us."

"Good work Sisko, I'll try to get them back to you in one piece, how are the repairs going? If this starts to go sour Id be nice to know we have the Horizon as an ace up our sleeve."

"Pretty good, Sir, we'll likely have her ready to move again before you get back," replied Sisko.

Redding returned to the shuttle bay and Immediately boarded Delta 1, which he had learned was dubbed 'Dawn'. Moore was in the Pilot's seat completing the last of his flight check list. "All systems are go Commander, as soon as the green girl gets here we will be T-minus 10 seconds into the big black sir."

Redding paused as he sat down and swiveled his seat in Moores direction. "Mr. Moore.. how long have you and Lt. Elisha been dating now?" He had a curious look on his face.

Moores eyes widened as he looked around at Redding. "Ah.. we are not, together.. sir."

Redding shook his head understandingly. "Oh, well you spoke of her as if you where familiar with her on a personal level, not with the kind of respect a good officer might have for a fellow officer." His tone didn't change but his look became serious.

Moore didn't catch his meaning immediately, but the diverted eyes and uneasy cough of one of the crew clued him in. "I meant no disrespect sir, i was just.. trying to lighten the mood.."

Redding turned away from him and started working on a control panel. "In the future I'll let you know when the mood need 'lightening' Lieutenant.

"And I do hope that you're not forgetting myself, Lieutenant." Snowfire said, knocking gently on the hatch cover. "If you're wanting to catch the vessel that took the Polaris, you're going to need me around." Looking up towards the Commander, her lips twitched slightly. "Commander, I have all the gear I need and probably a few bits I don't." She hefted the small carryall on her shoulder and nodded towards the aft station. "May I get to work?"

"By all means take your position Lt. Commander, and welcome aboard the Dawn." He said this with a half smile he hadn't meant to give. "Anyone here have any up close and personal familiarity with the Dominion? Unfortunately I was deemed non-combat ready during the Dominion war and was assigned to the diplomatic core, trying to coordinate our efforts with the Klingons." He raised an eyebrow at Snowfire, as if expecting her to have some insight.

But Moore spoke up first "Why would that be important right now sir? their like.. well, a vary long way away."

Redding looked back at him. "Apparently not Moore, we've identified a Jem'hadar ship towing the Polaris. But I'll be making a ship wide briefing to both shuttles in route, so hold your questions."

"Our people's First Contact with the Federation did not take place until 2385, Commander." Snowfire answered in way of reply, stepping quickly around the consoles and taking a seat at the back of the shuttle's 'bridge'. "I've read about the Dominion War, both IDF analysis of it and the records available at Starfleet Academy, but I have no personal experience with the Dominion. I will say, however, that the Council does not trust them. And on that, they have the support of many." She finished abruptly, turning swiftly to her work. It wouldn't help to mention that she'd almost broken her oath again. A few words more and that would have been it done. It was strange though, how lax it was beginning to become...

At that moment, Alyson Townsend appeared followed by Doctor 011, who stopped short of the shuttle and said, "Sir, my counterpart and I would like to accompany the away team. We can also serve as instant communication between two parties, assuming our communications system is somehow lost. Permission to come aboard?"

"An excellent point Doctor, agreed." And motioned for her to take one of the two rear foldaway seats. "You and Townsend was it? take those two seats, let us know if you need anything."

Acting Chief of security and tactical Tyvya entered then, having checked all the personel armament and now overseeing the last verifications of the shuttle's tactical systems as a small and portly Tellarite security officer did the same on the other Delta Flyer.

Exiting swiftly through the turbolift doors, Elisha hustled her way to the shuttle bay.

As she made her way toward the opened shuttle door on the craft with a label Dawn on its side, Elisha realized that she hadn’t brought any specific gear or special clothing with her.

Too late now, she thought as she entered into the seemingly crowded shuttle.

“Lieutenant Elisha Leône reporting for duty” she announced as her eyes wandered around… subtly looking for a place to sit.

"Granted, take your seat Lieutenant."  And motioned at the Ops station, he could tell she looked a little nervous as she sat down.

He decided to spare a moment for her. "Don't worry Leone, I've seen your file, you should do just fine." Gave her a reassuring nod of the head then went back to his work.

“Thank you Sir. I will do my best” Elisha responded as she slipped swiftly into the Ops position and ran a quick gaze over the instrumentation before her. Fortunately, she had studied the schematics of the Ops consoles on each of the shuttle types after she settled in on the Horizon. It appeared that the panel controls matched those presented in the simulations and on the holodeck program she ran during her intervals when she was off-duty. She breathed a silent breath of relief for this small gift. 

Moore spoke up after glancing from Leone to Redding and straightening up. "All crew accounted for commander, locking the ship down and commencing disembarkation sir."

Redding made a crooked smile at him and shook his head slightly.  "Acknowledged, Leone contact Dusk and coordinate a flight plan to the to the last known position of the target."

“Implementing now Commander”

As Elisha spoke, her fingers moved gingerly over the controls as she prepared to send a message to the DUSK shuttle to coordinate a flight plan with them toward the recorded position of their target.

"Dusk to Dawn; Ensign Aurora Jaxon here at ops; Lieutenant Sheeneea is piloting. Engineer T'ara is with us as well as medical officer 110, security officer  Graalthrii and science officer Valencia Irksos who is also assuming shuttle command. We aknowledge and follow your lead, Commander Redding. "

Then swiveled his chair around to look directly at Snowfire. "Any problems with the modification Lt. Commander? let me know if were clear for full impulse."

As he spoke the two shuttles lifted off and glided gracefully out of the main docking bay with Dawn in the lead.

"We're green across the board, Commander, adjusting harmonics...now." The shuttle seemed to settle, as if it had suddenly landed. "And we're up. The system will automatically redirect the grav-plane to boost our vector. Lieutenant Moore, be careful for the first few minutes, she's going to handle a bit differently to what you're used to." She touched a button on her panel. "Modification slugged to and active on Dusk shuttle. We're clear to go."