At the Heart of Life

It took twenty minutes for the Polaris to reach the periphery of the dramatic battle that was ongoing on the outskirts of the incredible living solar system. barely a few seconds later, the Horizon swirved from a darker ribbon within the very fabric of Fluidic Space to rejoin with her escort. All the Starfleet personnel in this alien, organic universe could now stare in awe at the drama unfolding.

Before the titanic entity now known as the Heart of Life, the luminescent cloud of energy particles was slowing and thinning like a fog slowly lifted by the winds. It was still too large and opaque to make out the monstrous shape that loomed at it's heart, but a vague, ovoid shape of colossal dimensions was discernible still, with some protrusions at the back vaguely looking like fins and one at the opposite end seemingly pointing forward like the nose of some monstrous and dark raptor swooping down slowly for the final kill.

"Commander," reported science officer Norbert Baoule, "the object at the center of the cloud... it's much, much larger and more massive than the Bootby dreadnought; about ten times our size and a hundred times our mass. But the energy signature is exactly the same. Somehow it looks like Bootby's bioship has... grown... mutated into something else... something ressembling a... a planet killer!"

They all had learned about the planet killer during their Starfleet Academy years' mandatory Federation History courses; in the mid-twenty-third century, the legendary starship Enterprise had encountered an intergalactic robotic construct of immense size and power that could destroy entire planets and fuel itself with the remaining rubble. It had cut a path of destruction across several solar systems before being finally stopped by a starship self-destructing within it.

What they were facing now was just as monstrous; but their was one major difference; this one was not a mere automaton. It was alive and it had a mind of it's own.

And that mind was that of their missing captain.

"Sirr! The intrruderr is taking a firring angle at the central orrbiting mass within the starr system!" tactical officer Mrriish growled.

Science officer Baoule spoke again, more worried by the minute.

"The energy particles of the enveloping cloud are not dispersing, Sir. They are being drained by the solid mass within. They also read as much more charged than our initial readings; the successive attacks against it have build up a critical mass out of them and the object is now... swallowing them within it's own core."

"Like a... like a whale devouring tons of krill," whispered Aguk Snow from the helm, awestruck as the rest of them.

"I read a massive build up of energy within that... thing in there!" Robert Baoule then shouted. "Sir, it's almost on par with a star about to go nova!"

The intruder was indeed visibly slowing and altering course to align itself with the nucleus of the gargantuan life form that was the Heart of Life. It's slowness however was but an illusion born of the vast scale of the unfolding drama. And that drama was now taking anew turn as the few surviving Undine ships that had escaped destruction from the last assault were colliding with the ominous thing inside the immense, hazy energy field, imbedding themselves in it from all angles like arrows in a tree.

All but one; the scarred, last remaining dreadnought.

"She's coming about," voiced Mrriish, her wide slitted blue eyes unflinching as the imposing squid-like bioship was moving to point it's three-pronged prow at them.

"Her weapon ports are hot," Norbert Baoule added, looking at his sensor readouts.

"We're being identified as a new threat," then specified Doctor Lumquist, understanding it from his own biosensors data and what was seen on the screen. "Whatever strategy they implemented against the intruder, it seems to have succeeded... at least well enough for them address our presence... as that of a new intruder."

"Confirmed," yeoman Blackbird said from behind Redding's seat. "The Aegis is currently under telepathic assault; but they're holding."

"So that's why I'm starting to have a headache," commented engineer Robert Baoule. "Shields at full, impulse power steady, all reserve power available from our warp core, Sir."

"She's ignoring the Polaris completely," Sisko then observed.

And on board the small starship, similar reports were given to Jureth, and Snowfire - having remained on the bridge for closer interaction with the Captain - turned to him.

"Captain, with the energy cloud being swallowed, we have a chance to stop this. I can pull from the Horizon's Circle in this now that they're here, and with what they can bring into this I'm confident that we can stop this before it goes any further." Already the Circles were gathering strength, drawing links between them so that their Centre would have clear access to the empathic net that had grown into full bloom aboard both ships. "Get us close enough to that ship and we'll stop it."

A look of deep concentration flickered across her mind.

"Kero, deal with that dreadnought and keep a channel to us open. You've got the full Horizon Circle, use it. Everyone else with me. Double anchor, triple link and me as the spear."

The mental commands flashed out in an eyeblink. "Get us close Captain. Use the torpedoes to clear the way if we need to and if we get into trouble the Horizon should be able to transfer some of its shield strength to us for long enough for us to hold. And...don't worry about the Undine."

Even as she said that, the first blow of the conflict landed as the Circle aboard the Horizon - their Aegis holding easily considering their sheer numbers - focused their active ability on the Undine dreadnought wheeling to engage it. Over a hundred minds lashed out as one, and the vessel stopped dead. The Undine were naturally psionic, and indeed powerfully so. But even with the boosting presence of their ship, they could be stopped. And in this, the Circle aboard the Horizon didn't go for either ship or Undine. They attacked the link between them. It held more advantages than just taking the ship out of the equation though, proof of concept that Snowfire's plan would actually work. And work it did.

"Stop. Fighting."

It was hard to get the point across, but Kerowyn did it even as her conciousness formed the hammer shattering the link between the bioship and its pilot.

"We are not the enemy. We're going to stop the dead ship, just like we just stopped you. We hate the destruction of life as much as you, and we'll give everything to stop it here."

It's been said that lying in telepathic communication is easy, or impossible, or a whole host of other things. In the end, it really depends on the type of telepathy. In this case Kero was sending concepts directly into the Undine's mind, concepts that by nature had no ability to be falsified. Not in this type of communication. And that would be as obvious to the Undine aboard the ship as would the nova-flare of psionic energy rolling out from the Polaris as the Circle aboard her prepared itself. It was such a strong pulse that even the Horizon's sensors detected the edge of it, and that in itself would tell them exactly what the ship was about to do.

"We don't have the time to stop now, Jureth." Snowfire said softly. "Let us stop this. Before even more innocents die."

Oseno heard the urgency, the plea in Snowfire's voice, for him to do something and he did not hesitate. Standing up from the command chair Jureth gave the order.

"Mister Hunter, all ahead full, take us in."

The Polaris responded under deft guidance from Shawn Hunter and swooped toward the entity skirting the edge of the cloud.

"Mister Kalaar, Baryon torpedoes, fire!" 

The modified torpedoes streaked out from the Polaris and began emitting their radiation penetrating the field surrounding the entity as the Polaris followed behind them.

"Shields up," Oseno ordered as the little escort moved into the cloud, "Mister Solius monitor our status, and if you feel it necessary engage the modified deflector, I don't care if we blow it out as long as we don't blow up. Commander K'Leysha, do what you need to do." 

The engineer nodded, not looking back towards the Captain. "Aye, Sir. Torpedoes are working as intended. Each torpedo creates a corridor that we can sail through, but they are filling up with cloud cover almost as fast as we can create them. Shields taking minor damage...nothing serious at this time. Diverting power to impulse."

And as the ship dived into the thinning cloud, a message pushed back along the connection between the Horizon's Circle and the Undine, coming from far more than simply the dreadnoughts pilot.

"The weak shall perish! We shall not perish! We will be strong! We will survive!"

There was an powerful emotional onslaught along with the numerous thoughts all speaking as one; anger, fear, despair, resolve... but, amidst this swirling of confusing thoughts and feelings emerged something never before known in the Undine, something that their very nature had never allowed to bloom before.

Unity.

All the jumbled mass of emotions and thoughts was shared by every single Undine, not only at the scene of the unfolding drama but everywhere else accross their entire universe. For the very first time in their entire existence as a sentient species, all of them were united in thought, sharing one single purpose: survive... together.

All but the silent monstrous entity that was still moving closer to it's target.

The dreadnought was closing in on the Horizon still, weapon ports glowing; but for the moment, its deadly intent was thwarted as the one on board pondered on the strange, alien thoughts that had come from the large ship. How long it would remain there was impossible to tell...

Meanwhile, the Polaris closed in on the object through the thinning cloud of particles and, on the bridge, all could finally see it clearly. 

It was sea green, with a most peculiar blueish tinge to it. It was also many kilometers long, indeed shaped like the whale refered to by the Horizon's helmsman but for the multi-finned tail and the elongated four-pronged snout at the other end that looked like the beak of a raptor bird. Between the four jaws of this maw, capable of swallowing whole a starship even bigger than the Horizon, a sinister yellowish glow was growing.

But that was not what made Lieutenant Ji'lian's voice rise with urgency.

"Sir, from this distance, I can now have full sensor readings on the... intruder. Bio-signature confirms that it is Boothby's ship... but the mutagens in it's genetic make up somehow have been activated and transformed it into this... giant planet-killer. I read also several lifesigns aboard; at the bow I read some undefined biosigns closely merged with those of the living vessel... but from the stern and up to amidship, I detect several Nicor class cruisers imbeded in the hull... and at least half a dozen Undine lifesigns, moving towards the bow. I register damage to the internal structure behind their path as they progress."

"They're trying to kill it from the inside..." Jureth said slowly "Is there anything we can do to slow them down? We need to buy Commander K'Leysha and her people time."

"We have them, Commander. Just keep us safe." Were Snowfire's last words before she closed her eyes to merge into the thought stream of her Circle. For a brief moment she surveyed the situation, her resources, for if there were to be any last minute alterations to the plan they would have to happen now. But this was a down to the wire run if she'd ever been in one. Everything came down to what she did in the next minute, how much she could do with the power pouring into her mind. Sixteen people. Nine Anchors. Six Links. And her as the Centre, the direction behind the Circle's actions. Best combat capable psi in the quadrant, she'd said. Time to earn those words.

There was no subtlety to this plan, no intrigue or complicated bait and switches, or anything complex. It was, at base, power against power, with a deep reliance on her own experience to react faster and more effectively than the ship she was about to attack. But she could do it. The Circle aboard the Horizon might be larger, and their target smaller, but size wasn't everything. And the Circle with her were the best of all her pupils. And with the empathic net of both ships behind them, they would were far from alone.

All those thoughts flickered across her mind in the instants required for the plan to form as more than the concept. Her conciousness wrapped itself inside layers of power drawn through the Circle from the nets, applying the concentration of psi potential and turning it into something real. Kero had been a hammer, and that had served her well. But this required a finer touch. And as the Circle dove forward towards the ship, it was in seeming of a spear. A spear that would pierce anything by the hands of those who were it, and it struck for the heart of the link between ship and mind connected to it. If they could see nothing else, the Undine would see this, and the psionic shockwave loosed by its impact would paralyze the minds closest to it beneath waves of neural concussion.