Saving Oseno Jureth

In a shower of sparks and lights, Robert Moore appeared right at the doorway of the diminutive launch bay of the Polaris. It was so small that it could only house a pair of repair pods and a pair of class X Stealth combat shuttles, smallish, elongated two-seat crafts originally designed for the Defiant class. There was just enough room to spare for the small workcrews to attend to the emergency launch of Shooting Star 1. The echos of Commander Redding's order still reverberating on the bulkheads as the Lieutenant rushed in.

He was barely getting into the pilot seat, red lights and sirens blaring the precipitated launch when a technician came up to him.

"Lieutenant! This is so sudden... we have not yet started to get aboard the payload! You have no supplies, no torpedoes..."

"I know; Tuesday is only tomorrow."

Moore shut down the corckpit hatch before the startled technician could recover from his surprise. But then, the whine of the engines coming to life sent him running out of the cramped shuttlebay behind the rest of the maintenance team.

"Bridge, this is Shooting Star 1; emergency launch sequence initiated. Announcing departure."

"Aknowledged, Shooting Star 1. You are clear to depart," answered a gruff, familiar voice. "You do no know where the bay doors are, don't you?"

"Aye Mister Graalthrii. Please open them before I blast them open."

The banter was terse but the doors were already sliding to reveal the stormy blue and red haze of the nebula outside.

"Shooting Star 1 confirming departure."

Like a torpedo, the bullet-shaped shuttlecraft emerged from the underbelly of the Polaris as she herself was now shadowed by the titanic form of the starship Horizon towards wich she was headed.

"Good fishing," was the last thing heard by Moore before static filled his speakers and most of his instruments.

He was flying manually and using his own eyes as his instruments were hampered by the intense ionic particle density and static energies playing around him. The sensors on board were of the latest designs but even they had a hard time keeping contact with the lifesign detected; and navigation could barely confirm coordinates. But he knew where to go.

At full impulse, the shuttle zoomed around the colossal saucer of the Horizon lying on her side in front of the slowly retreating shark-shaped destroyer. Moore flew straight at the Nemesis, angling for it's wake as it backed off from the much too near mass of the giant starship to avoid splash damage from it's own upcoming salvo. If Commander Oseno had escaped from the Achilles class vessel in a EVA suit, even with thrusters he could not have gone far from...

There! There was a metallic flash as a static bolt lighted the nebula, right there on his front port side... 

In a instant, he was nearing a definitely humanoid-shaped object floating in the snowy haze. Putting the shuttle on autopilot locked straight at his target, moore quickly donned his own suit from the locker behind him, especially tailored to allow quick equiping in case of emergencies, then came back to his seat just as his craft neared the floating form. Tethering himself to his seat, he depressurized the cockpit then opened it's canopy.

Pulled together by their mutual mass attraction, Oseno's limp form neared the shuttle and Moore only had to float a few meters to catch him in his arms. He reeled them both back in, shut off the cockpit and then repressurized it as the bajoran Commander, obviously hurt but still conscious, eased himself as best he could in the only other available seat inside the shuttle. 

"Polaris, Horizon, this is Shooting Star 1; Commander Oseno retrieved. Looks hurt but still alive. Coming about and back home."

Oseno breathed heavily as he removed the helmet of the EVA suit with a grimace.

"Thanks...for the pickup, Lieutenant," he managed between breaths "Can you get me...Commander Redding?"

Just as the Bajoran spoke, Moore swerved hard to starboard as a volley of torpedoes went by so close their lights blinded them even through the automatic shading system of the canopy. They felt the backlash of those impacts against the thick armored underside of the colossal starship looming before them. The shuttle shook for a moment but the deft piloting of the pilot allowed them to evade the worst of it. As soon as he got them back on course to take cover behind the Horizon and fly back to the Polaris, Moore opened a scrambled channel.

"Polaris, this is Shooting Star; Commander Redding, I have Commander Oseno here who wants to speak to you."

With a slight sound of relief in his voice Redding responded "Good work Moore, nice to have you back Commander. What can you tell us?" He was hoping Oseno had something tactical as good news.

"Sir," Oseno said in a measured tone "His phaser arrays are burned out, I was able to cause an overload so that when he fired, the arrays shorted. Also, there is another intelligence aboard...her name is Tess, I believe she is the original AI for the ship and Sir...Khan...he has your chip."

"Excellent news about the phaser array Commander and don't worry about my chip, even if he manages to unlock it it won't do him any good if we stop him here and now. What is the status of this 'Tess intelligence' ? can we use it to hamper Khan in some manner or is it working with him?" Redding seemed to miss Oseno's description of Tess as a 'her' entirely.

"Tess is sentient Sir," Jureth replied "She...doesn't want Khan there any more than we do, but he's overpowering her so she has limited abilities and can't directly control any of the ship's major systems. For a lack of a better word Sir, she's scared. She tried to get me to escape the ship, but I knew I couldn't just leave especially once I learned Commander K'Leysha was aboard."

Next to Redding the intelligence officer, Variel Palos, spoke up "Commander, I believe that Commander Oseno is speaking of Thetis..the original sentient computer system of the Achilles."

"Yes Sir," Oseno confirmed over the comm line "She introduced herself as Thetis Achilles."

"I don't care what it calls itself, if we can use it against Khan, great." Then his expression changed. "Did you say Snowfire was on the Nemesis? who the hell did that happen?" He looked annoyed.

"Okay.. Good work everyone, you and Moore get back aboard the Horizon ASAP and I'll inform the Captain about the situation. Redding out." He watched Leone bring the Polaris in on final approach, all the while wondering what was happening aboard the Nemesis, and to Snowfire.