USS HORIZON: Saucer section receives Polaris call

"Captain; the Polaris is hailing. Audio only."

A nod from the Andorian as he stepped out of his office brought the bridge's speakers alive with the drab voice of ops officer S'Tron slightly deformed by some interference.

"USS Polaris to USS Horizon; USS Champlain disabled by invidium cargo leak. Upon proceding with rescue, we were ambushed by three Klingon Birds of Prey, B'Rel class. One disabled near the freighter; two in pursuit of us. We are closing in on your position at maximum warp, ETA fifty-three minutes."

"Evening the odds," Tyvya commented as she moved her giant frame out of the tactical console seat to allow chief Aron'Son to take her place. "With only two disruptor cannons and one torpedo launcher, they will be no match for our combined firepower."

"An Aquarius class is much faster than these old birds, even the latest ones," helmsman Snow stated. "We will have about forty minutes to prepare a welcome worthy of them."

"Lieutenant Lyrya..." Kheren started to say but stopped as he saw the Aenar at his left shake her head.

"Contact lost, Sir; jamming at the source."

The flagship commanding officer sighed.

"This can only means that Redding turned to fight instead of running and he's dancing with them again."

"Why would he do such a thing?" wondered ops chief Cheonghi, his third central hand to his chitinous chin as his two others worked his console. "They could not catch up..."

"Commander Redding is old school Starfleet," explained the counselor. "He is more of a soldier than an explorer; and with lives at stake on the Champlain alone with a Klingon warship, he is not going to just flee and abandon them."

This time, Kheren's sigh sounded more like a growl.

"The Polaris can keep her own against even three B'rels... but it will be bloody and messy. We have to get to them and fast."

"We're already at warp 9.1, Captain," reported Aguk Snow with obvious frustration. "That's the best we can do without the main stardrive."

From the main science station, science chief Robert Baoule turned his dark-skinned face from his sensor display to the command dais.

"If they come around and back to the freighter, ETA will be two point forty-one hours."

This time. it was definitely a growl that was heard from between the captain's clenched jaws.

"What in all the deep waters of Hell are Klingons doing out here?"

No one could answer him.

"From what I know of Klingons Sir," Aron'Son stated "which is a considerable amount as they are one of the species the Dominion has a vast amount of information on, your question is valid. They live for their honor and there is no honor in ambushing a freighter of all vessels. If they wanted something on the freighter they would have disabled it, taken what they were seeking, and left the vessel adrift. It also is not likely they are trying to bait us. If they wished to attack the Federation's assets here they would have done so in force and attempted to destroy the Horizon before attacking the colony. They were badly defeated during the Azimuth Horizon incident and do not have the resources to mount such an attack even if they wished to do so. The only conclusion I can offer Captain is that either these Klingons are renegades, or they are not Klingons at all. They could be pirates or some other group that have captured the Klingon vessels."

Kheren listened to his acting strategic operations officer, thought for a moment then nodded.

"A valid assessment, considering what little we do know of the present situation. I will keep that in mind when we get there... hopefully not too late."

His sigh still sounded a bit like a growl.

"I hope Commander Redding figured it out as well."

Long tense minutes went by as the flew through space with the oppressive feeling of powerlessness as their comrades on the Polaris were fighting for their lives and those of the Champlain against uneven odds. An hour of heavy silence had passed when counselor Lyrya finally broke the tension with her soft, cristalline voice.

"Captain; jamming from the source has stopped."

"The space sonar is punching through the anomaly's interference," science chief Norbert baoule then reported. "There two fields of debris and traces of weapons fire right ahead of us."

Kheren's eyes stayed on the screen, as hard and tense as his voice.

"The Polaris? The Champlain?"

"Negative, Sir; I have both ships on sensors. The Polaris is in a parking orbit around the freighter; but there is some gaseous accumulation around it... invidium gas."

The dark-skinned science chief turned his soft brown eyes to his commanding officer.

"Gaseous invidium will disturb all of a ship's systems. A leak is the probable cause of their initial distress call... before the Klingons showed up."

"So, the two field of debris are the Birds of prey?"

"Two of them at least, Sir. The third one might still be lurking nearby under cloak. An Aquarius class would outmatch a Bird of Prey but with a good ship commander, it is not all that a certainty."

The Andorian nevertheless permitted himself a small sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, the Polaris does have a good commander herself. ETA with her?"

"Seventy-four point six minutes present speed, Captain," helmsman Snow answered.

"Hail the Polaris, counselor; inform them of our time of arrival. Tell them to hold fast and secure the situation as best as possible until we arrive."

"Aye, Captain; transmitting."

"Now that we can communicate again, if anyone has a bright idea that could help them from this far away, please don't be shy," Kheren stated openly to his bridge crew.

"The Bird of Prey is a weak vessel design," Aron'Son stated "Even with the Klingons attempting to improve them through time the Polaris has superior armaments. Additionally despite  a cloaking device engaged even the Polaris sensors should be able to detect elevated neutrino particles from  the ship if it remains nearby. Klingons have made no attempts to hide improve their cloaking technology in that regard, they may also attempt a tachyon sweep of the area if they remain able to do so with their deflector."

"A good idea we can have them improve upon," Norbert Baoule said. "There are just about enough probes aboard the Polaris for them to establish a tachyon grid around the immediate area by modifying them for that purpose. It would give them an early warning system if that escaped ship comes back with reinforcements."

Kheren nodded. For those who knew him, it meant that he was pleased even if his Andorian face had not enough facial muscles to show it. But spoke plainly his satisfaction.

"Good work, Mister Aron'Son, Mister Baoule; have the specifications of such a probe-made security grid laid out to be transmitted to the Polaris... and also to the stardrive and colony back at Eden."

"Aye, Captain," engineer Robert Baoule acknowledged from the engineering station. "Their industrial replicators will be able to built satellites and implement the same security field as a permanent measure to protect the colony.

It took barely minutes for the officers to come up with all the data.

"Counselor, transmit the data to both ships," Kheren ordered, sitting back in his chair with a more relaxed posture.

They were less than forty-seven minutes to their rendez-vous with their escort ship and the disabled freighter. Yet, all was not over yet. There was a mystery out there that was now compelling them to further investigation... and perils, undoubtebly. And so, despite his relaxed stance, the Andorian captain was silent and unmoving, intensely concentrated on what lay ahead.