Confrontation within the star system

"Yes, Sir," the human helmsman responded as he entered in the coordinates and guided the ship toward the Polaris.

Punching icons on the LCARS display, David re-configured the main deflector to the interstellar hydrogen frequency while simultaneously reversing the graviton polarity generators in order to project the pulse in the desired function. The dish itself was steerable within just over seven degree's of arc along the Z axis of the ship. Because normal deflector operations during flight already swept particles from the flight path, the tuning operation took less then a minute to set up and actuate.

Syntron then turned his attention to the cyborg tactical/security officer standing besides the Draxx representative.

"Lieutenant Argyle, I need your tactical skills manning the plasma-phaser arrays. I need you to target the bussard collectors and decimate both sets of this apparatus with precision."

The captain noted a moment of hesitation as he processed the order, switching his priority as the security officer into that of a tactical one once again.

"On it Sir.” acknowledged Argyle to the captain and began preparing the weapons console.

Syntron then addressed his science chief.

"Mister Livingstone, if possible...we need to devise a short burst-signal to reprogram systems on the Polaris using command codes without allowing any Zetarian an opportunity to trace an electromagnetic path back to our ship the split second it arrives. Perhaps using this in conjunction with a diversionary tactic to draw their attention away while this occurs may suffice."

The luminous implants flashed within the feathered mane of the X'Ell as he acknowledged the Vulcan's orders.

Syntron then turned and faced the Draxx officer directly.

"Garawl, beta of your pack... This will only work if you can convince your ships to allow us this opportunity to resolve this situation without

further conflict and before destroying the Polaris. The opportunity for destruction will be available afterward if we do not succeed in our efforts."

For a moment, it was almost as if the Caninoid would pounce on the Vulcan, body hunched, ears pointed forward, fangs bared, breathing turning shallow; noticing the agressive posture, Duncan Argyle sent a signal to the two security officers at the turbolift doors and their had went discretly but firmly to their belted phaser, all unblinking eyes on the alien.

And then, only a growl rumbled through his furred throat.

"Garawl to attack force; take firing position and await my command. If the other ship interferes, continue attack pattern."

It was then that the voice of Joey Sisko was heard over the open channel.

"I heard you, Captain Syntron... and you too Draxx commander. We are acknowledging. But be warned; any hostile move against our ships will be met with equal force. All your vessels have been identified, scanned for weaknesses and locked on by our weapon systems. Twenty class IV phasers and twenty quantum II torpedoes will be sent your way on the first salvo; and we have plenty more to serve. This ship has been built as a mobile space station able to protect our people from such an attack. Please, in the interest of interstellar peace, do not test our capabilities nor our resolve in this."

The ominous silence was then broken by the musical tones of the X'Ell science chief.

"I'm sending out a class IV probe and deploying it's six subprobes in an asynchronized random transmitting pattern with the recorded compressed prefix code and a set of commands to shut down all systems except the structural integrity field... which will drain all power including life support."

On the screen, a small light shot out of the Phoenix' bow and then spread like an exploding comet into six directions.

"Life support! But... the crew..."

"Is not aboard, Commander Sisko."

Again there was complete silence at the other end of the channel for a good moment as, on screen, the Draxx destroyers took a hemispherical formation with the inside englobing the position of the Polaris and the Horizon, all weapons pointed at the diminutive Aquarius class vessel still drifting away from the planet.

"Passive scans seem to confirm this, Lieutenant," finally admitted the half-Bajoran in the Horizon's command chair. "But our sensors do not have your nanite enhancements to make sure. Hence why we did not notice... But then... where... how..."

More pressing maters put these questions aside as Jonathan's implants flashed crazily again on his head.

"I sent you with this transmission the schematics of our caging process for the Zetarians. Please proceed immediately as devised with your entire landing bay... and ready your tractor beam to haul the Polaris in."

"Understood... Confirming readiness... proceeding... now!"

They all saw then that, suddenly, the Polaris went almost dark except for a faint shimmering all around it. Almost at the same instant, two precise beams from the Phoenix shot at the front part of the extended nacelles, blowing up the faintly glowing ramscoop collectors to smithereens.  Then, a blue ray shot from the underside of the Horizon's stern and the much smaller vessel was dragged behind and then inside the massive hull.

"We have them!" exclaimed Sisko with obvious relief. "The Polaris overpowered SIF is holding them inside the ship and our entire docking bay is further enveloped in Commander Rogers' cage. They're not going anywhere now!"

"Except for them!" suddenly exclaimed Argyle, pointing at the screen

They all saw suddenly the six subprobes and their main platform reassemble by themselves as the multi-vector probe fired it's impulse drive at maximum away from the ships... readying it's warp drive.

Could some or all of these non-corporeal beings managed to have transported themselves to such a confined space? the Vulcan captain briefly pondered.

Syntron immediately turned to his CSO.

"Mister Livingstone, scan that probe for signs of the Zetarians."

"I detect seven distinct neurogenic signals... and they're going into warp."

Just as the Avian Starfleet officer said it, there was a sudden flash of light as the near-light speed distorted image of the conical probe disappeared at supraluminic speed. That they saw but for a brief, fleeting instant as all the lighting and the consoles on the bridge flashed wildly for several seconds and the image became a jumble of pixels before resuming to a briefly distorted, colorless image of the star system and then returning to normal.

At that moment, Garawl put his big hands to his large ears and howled in pain while a loud screeching sound was heard about him and Jonathan Livingstone swooned and colapsed with a grunt on the floor.

Syntron called to sickbay. "Medical emergency on the bridge. Our avian CSO has collapsed."

The captain then approached the Draxx.

"What is your condition Garawl?" Syntron inquired with concern as he optically examined him.

Garawl was shaking his head and blinking his eyes back at him, seemingly unable to hear him and somewhat stunned as if by an electric charge. The ship's standard EMH shimmered on the bridge right beside a dazed Livingstone, but then disappeared in a flash of static, his expression decidedly annoyed. A moment later, the bridge door opened and a medical team rushed to the fallen CSO. Kneeling beside him while sending a quick glance at the shaken Draxx, assessing the urgency of the X'Ell's condition over that of the visiting alien with a medical tricorder. But the Avian officer too was shaking his head and getting back to his wobbling feet.

"Easy Lieutenant; stay down while I complete my medical scan."

"There is... no need... Doctor," Jonathan assured him with a voice and a stare getting stronger by the second as he straightened himself and his uniform. "It was but a momentary inconvenience, more startling than hurtful."

It looked much more an understatement than a factual account in the eyes of his crewmates, but the X'Ell was apparently recovered from whatever had struck him. And that he now proceeded to explain to his commanding officer.

"Electromagnetic pulse, Captain; the Zetarrians used all the transmission channels and scanners of the probe to blast us with an EM discharge, powerful enough to overpower our systems protectiions against such a pulse. It blinded all our sensors and froze all our systems... including my sheereess, the implants connected to my own brain. It is over now, but it was not a pleasurable experience."

"I... concur," Duncan Argyle's voice added behind Syntron. 

With the more spectacular collapse of the Science chief and the startling howl of pain of the Draxx, no one had noticed that the liberated Borg too had been just as affected by the EM pulse. All his cybernetic implants had short-circuited, just like the ship's systems, literally paralyzing his whole organic body parts as well. His living organs had taken some time to recuperate enough to reinitiate his technological connections. He too was still a bit dazed by the leftover pain, but he was nevertheless already back to his tactical sensors.

"Scanners report that they burned their whole impulse drive and most of their emitters powering that attack... but they have gone to warp. Short range scans reveal nothing. Our long range scanners are still rebooting from the EM pulse."

"So are the ears of our guest here," the medic stated. "He was assaulted by ultrasonic frequencies from the disabled systems. Obviously his hearing is much more sensitive than those of Humans. It will take a few minutes more before he can hear normally again. We have several Andorians and Caitians still dazed as well on other decks and the Ferengis all passed out. Vulcans of course will not show it, even as they were affected too."

That last one was directed at the Captain while looking intently at him.

An eyebrow raised as the Vulcan processed the information and pondered on the question.

"Curiously, this particular impulse did not faze me to the degree that it impacted others. I had incorrectly assumed that those frequency bursts I was experiencing were emanating from our own equipment."

"That's... what all the other Vulcans on board stated... Sir," the medic said with raised eyebrows and a dubious twist at the corner of his mouth before turning his attention to the Draxx.

The captain then engaged ship-wide communication.

"Attention crew... this is the Captain. Our ship was just bombarded with an external electromagnetic pulse. All crew members impacted by the affects of this pulse are ordered to report to sickbay if they have not yet been evaluated by medical personnel. If you were affected and are currently on duty, your counterpart from another shift can cover your post and remaining duties."

Shifting topics, Syntron continued with his announcement.

"All department heads... have your teams run diagnostic scans and tests of all vital equipment within your domain.  Your personnel are to report any and all abnormalities to you for your report before replacing any damaged equipment. A thorough itemization of all impact damage must be on record."

Syntron paused for a moment as he glanced about the bridge before concluding.

"Until notified otherwise, we are still on high alert. No one is to send any signals out or receive and external transmissions unless authorized. Captain out."

Ironically, just as he disengaged communications, Lieutenant Bijoŭ announced "Captain, we are receiving a signal from the Firebird. They indicate that they are returning and have sent a report from Commander Riker."

"Acknowledged Lieutenant. Notify them of the attack which occurred and that we will be pursing the escapees momentarily" the captain responded as he turned his attention briefly to his chief engineer.

"Commander Rogers, peruse the report from the Firebird and see if there is anything pressing or enlightening within the contents."

"Perusing, aye captain," David responded, whilst turning back to his console and accessing the Firebird message. 

Syntron stepped back over helm.

"Mister Traynor... project the path of that probe and immediately set a course to intercept."

"I have the course laid in, Captain.. Engaging now."

With the ship en route, the captain brought his attention back to the Draxx officer.

"Are you able to hear me, Garawl?" Syntron questioned, as he gazed intently at him with professional concern.

"Syntron of the Phoenix! stop your ship now before my pack..."

He was interrupted by a sudden series of jolts that almost sent them all to the deckplates.

"The Draxx fleet has turned on us and fired gravimetric torpedoes! " Argyle reported. " Lucky we jumped to warp just as they detonated! Only minor damage to the stern... with our shields down, we would have been pulverized! Sir... they are in pursuit and targeting us again!"

The Draxx activated his own transmitter in earnest.

"This is Garawl! Hold fire! This is not an abduction! I repeat; this is not an abduction! No Zetarians boarded this ship during the energy pulse directed at us!"

"Understood, Sir," came the hoped reply. "When our sensors were operational again and we saw the alien ship warping out..."

"Follow the alien vessel in pursuit of the escaped ones and fan out to cover a larger vector," interrupted Garawl. "I will stay on board the vessel to monitor the search."

"Acknowledged."

Calm returned to the bridge as, on screen, the thirty destroyers spreaded out in a large formation like an umbrella opening as they too now looked out for the fleeing probe.

Positioned back in the center seat, the captain of the Phoenix inquired "Where is the Firebird along with the Horizon's stardrive and saucer in relation to this probes projected path?" 

"Undetermined, Sir," Livingstone answered shaking his head. "Any change of direction from the probe while at warp was undetectable as our systems were overloaded by the EM pulse. I am making a general sweep with passive long range sensors. Taking into account that the maximum speed of such a probe is warp 6, this means a distance of sixty four point eight million kilometers every second away from us... in a volume of space of nearly three hundred billion cubic kilometers growing exponentially for each of those seconds. And our search capability is limited with passive scans."

"Continue long-range scans Lieutenant" the captain ordered. "As remote as the odds may seem, this volume of space which we are examining is virtually empty."

The captain addressed the alluring Deltan counselor manning the communications station.

"Lieutenant Bijoŭ, send a scrambled message to the Firebird along with the Horizon stardrive and saucer sections of our trajectory. Request that they initiate long-range scans for this probe from their positions. It may be possible that we could triangulate a signal from this probe among all of our vessels working in conjunction."

Having quickly scanned the document, Rogers noted the mostly known data contained within, but a snippet of intelligence stood out. Noting it specifically into his PADD, David stood and returned to the centre seat positioned under the transparent skylight. Handing his PADD to Syntron, David concisely reported his findings.

"Sir. The Horizon bridge module evaded the enemies torpedoe's by powering down shields, which are graviton based.  The system's gravity well confused the targeting of the incoming weapons."