Neil quickly threw aside his PADD as the auditory notification of the shuttle's proximity to its destination came over the comm system. He took the helm and confirmed the course heading, making a few minor adjustments. "Lucas!" he called out over the communicator, "Lucas! We're almost there!"

"What's our ETA?" came the response.

"About fifteen minutes." Neil answered. This was exciting, after all, and it would be a shame if Lucas missed it.

"Why don't you tell me when we're actually there," Lucas responded from his quarters.

"Come on, Lucas, aren't you even looking forward to this at all?" Neil asked, incredulous even though on an intellectual level he knew he shouldn't be. After all, the two of them had been roommates at the Academy, and he knew Lucas fairly well. Being half-Romulan Lucas was naturally a little more reserved and often curt than most people expected.

"Of course I am. But I can look forward to it just as well in my quarters." Lucas answered him. "Besides," he added with a touch of humor, "I'm sure my being there would just detract from the awesome magnitude of this incredible moment in history. Go ahead and enjoy it without me for now."

"Fine, fine," answered Neil, "If you want to stay in your quarters the whole time like an Andorian cave-bat, I'm not stopping you."

"Don't worry. I'll manage to keep myself busy," said Lucas. Over the comm Neil heard a loud crash, as of a heavy steel object striking something hard, then the line terminated.

"Four years and he still manages to give me the creeps," said Neil to himself, trying to imagine what Lucas was doing in there. Neil sat restless for a few moments, trying to think of something to do. "Computer, what's our ETA now?" he asked after a few more seconds.

"Thirteen minutes, twenty-one seconds," the computer responded.

Neil picked up his PADD and kept reading. It was a short story he downloaded from the database from an ancient Earth author; very diverting, especially since Lucas wasn't one for small talk. He wasn't such a bad guy once you got to know him, though, very friendly in his own way. It's just that not a whole lot of people stuck around long enough to get to know him.

Neil began to read again, but his mind was detached, and after a while he realized that he was reading the words on the page without absorbing any meaning from them whatsoever. He wasn't sure how many meaningless pages he'd gone over in that time, so he just put it aside again. It was hard to concentrate, given the circumstances. He couldn't help wondering what it would be like, after all, this was practically the beginning of a new life. He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the computer, "Now entering visual range."

"On screen." he ordered. "Here it is," he said out loud, "The Alliance."

Neil was just about to call Lucas when the doors opened and he strode into the room. He had a very commanding presence, being especially tall and muscular, his jet-black hair and Romulan ears making him quite striking. "I estimated we would be in range by now," Lucas explained, "So what do you think?"

"The specs don't do it justice," replied Neil, "She's quite a ship. Quite a change from that run-down science vessel I served on before."

"Serving on the Alliance should be quite an experience," said Lucas, "This will be my first time on a Universal-class starship. No more boring science missions. Now we can finally see what's out there." He stood gazing at it for a while, the put his hand on Neil's shoulder in a friendly manner, which surprised Neil considerably. "These are the times we'll always remember," he said, looking directly at Neil for the first time, "Let's make the most of them."

**********

As their shuttle docked, Lucas and Neil were greeted by a security officer in the shuttle bay. "Lucas Mallory, Neil Marcuson, welcome to the Alliance. Captain Forrester is expecting you." Both of them followed him down the corridor. Lucas looked around him. This was quite an impressive ship, even more so than from the outside. He couldn't help wondering what his quarters would look like. After serving on the Perseus he certainly knew how to make do with very small living quarters, but the luxury of space was always nice. Back on the Romulan Warbird Janalis lower-ranking officers were given quarters barely large enough to sleep in, but this was to be expected. Like all things in life, one's quarters were earned, not given away.

After a short while the three of them reached the end of the corridor and entered the turbolift. "Bridge." commanded their escort, and another period of silence followed, this time slightly awkward for Lucas because there was nothing to see. "What's the Alliance doing now?" he finally asked of their escort.

"Nothing too exciting." he responded, "We're on our way to the outpost at Vecarus Prime to deliver supplies for some research being conducted there. The Warrior and the Tempest are out investigating reported border incursions by the Khynah, but they figured we don't need any help for such a routine mission."

Lucas considered asking what kind of research they did there, but on second consideration he didn't really care, and the time for idle conversation would soon be over. He couldn't admit to being surprised when Neil asked the question anyway.

"Well, I'm not sure about the particulars," the officer told him, "I think it's genetic research mostly. They…"

His explanation was cut short, however, as the turbolift floor shook and the force of the tremor threw them to the floor. Immediately the red alert klaxons began sounding. "Red alert! All hands to battlestations!" came Captain Forrester's voice over the comm. A few seconds later the turbolift doors opened and the three of them ran onto the bridge.

"What's going on?" asked the security officer, but his question was answered when he looked up at the viewscreen and saw the image of a Khynah ship firing on the Alliance.

"Direct hit! Forward shields down to seventy percent!" reported one of the tactical officers.

"Return fire. Target their weapons array." Captain Forrester commanded. The Alliance fired, but the Khynah ship maneuvered to the side, deftly avoiding the beam. Three more disruptor blasts impacted on the Alliance's shields as the Khynah ship flew past them, taking up position behind them and firing disruptors at their aft shields.

"Bring us about!" said the Captain, "Evasive maneuvers! Release a full spread of torpedoes!" The Alliance shifted position just in time as several more blasts flew past their port nacell, and then fired, striking the Khynah ship several times.

"Their starboard shields are down forty percent. Should we fire again?"

"No." said the Captain, becoming more confident, "That's what they expect us to do. Since we've turned they're going to make another pass by us and target our starboard shields again. But that means their starboard will be wide open. When I give the order, I want you to fire phasers at that hole we've made and then duck under them before they can retaliate."

The Khynah ship fired twice more, hitting the Alliance dead on, and then began to move forward.

"Hold…" ordered Forrester, watching the ship intently. The ship came nearer, coming within only a few hundred kilometers. The Captain clenched his fist as the ship came close, but he knew they wouldn't fire until they were in the best position to do so. "Fire!"

Just as their phasers fired, the Alliance dived, moving below the Khynah ship's hull. A volley of disruptor blasts flew by just between their nacells as the Alliance moved to safety, and fired phasers at the weak spot in the Khynah shields.

"Direct hit, sir! Their starboard shield is down! Wait a minute…" said the officer, obviously surprised, "Sir, the Khynah ship is retreating!"

Captain Forrester heaved a sigh of relief. "Let's consider ourselves lucky, then. Stand down red alert."

Commander Sinclair also looked relieved. She tapped her combadge. "Damage report."

"We've sustained only minor damage to ship's systems," replied Lt. Commander Taggert. "Nothing we can't repair. I'll get on it right away. I would suggest that you drop to Warp 4, though; the engines don't need any more stress."

Captain Forrester stood up from his Captain's chair and turned around, facing Lucas for the first time. Lucas had seen pictures of him before, but this man before him was even more impressive than he had imagined. It was not simply his appearance but his demeanor, a certain impression that he conveyed. There was something about his eyes that conveyed a mixture of courage and temperance, both strength and wisdom, which Lucas had seen in only a select few throughout the course of his life. Despite the fact that the ship had faced possible destruction only a few minutes ago, there was a serenity about him that Lucas found unusual. Lucas had served aboard several ships in his career, both Federation and Romulan, but he felt that this was the first time he ever laid eyes upon a Captain.

Forrester looked both Lucas and Neil over for a few moments, then smiled and gave a nod. "These must be our new personnel. If you'll join me in my ready room…" he gave a gesture towards a door on one side of the bridge. "Mr. Robbins, relay a message to the outpost and inform them that we may be a little late."

Lucas and Neil followed Captain Forrester into his ready room, and as they walked inside the doors slid shut behind them. The Captain sat down, with a look of support that it was impossible to feel uncomfortable around. "Let me be the first to welcome the both of you on board the Alliance. She's a fine ship, and I am sure that both of you will make valuable additions to our crew."

"Thank you, sir." replied Lucas.

"Mr. Marcuson, I understand that your last posting was aboard the U.S.S. Democritus."

"That's right, sir." he replied.

"Captain Holmann gave you quite a recommendation. He obviously thinks quite highly of you."

"Really?" Neil looked pleasantly surprised. "I always thought he never liked me very much."

Captain Forrester chuckled to himself. "You and every other person he's ever met. I know Holmann. That's just the way he is." He then turned to Lucas. "And you, Mr. Mallory, I understand served aboard the Perseus?"

"Yes, sir. Under the command of Captain Petersen." Lucas replied.

Forrester was about to say something when the ready room doors opened and Commander Sinclair entered the room carrying a PADD. "Sir, here is a report of damages sustained during the battle."

"Very good, Commander." Forrester picked it up and began to peruse it, apparently forgetting for the moment his two guests.

"You know, Captain, this just doesn't feel right." said the Commander.

"You mean the Khynah ship running away like that after such a short fight? I know, I've been wondering about that too."

"Well yes," said the Commander, "But what bothers me more than that is what a Khynah ship was doing this far into our territory alone. What could they have hoped to accomplish?"

"Making us break out the big guns?" suggested the Captain, "We all know how much the Khynah like a strong enemy to fight. Perhaps they thought a minor border incursion wouldn't draw a worthy adversary."

"Well if that's true, why did they run away instead of fighting to the death? They certainly had a fair chance of winning that battle; we were weakened almost as much as they were. It just doesn't make sense."

Forrester put down his PADD and looked at Lucas and Neil again. "Any thoughts, gentlemen?" he asked in a half-joking tone.

"Maybe they were on a scouting or survey mission?" posed Neil.

"That's a good guess, Ensign," said Forrester, "For now we'll have to assume that that's the case. They were heading back towards Khynah space, maybe to report their findings."

"Or maybe we weren't the target." suggested Lucas, "Maybe they had another intended mark and we just got in the way."

"I thought of that too, Ensign," said Forrester, "But there aren't even any military targets in this sector, and the direction they were heading in before they encountered us seems to indicate that unless they somehow managed to penetrate an inconceivable distance into Federation territory they hadn't encountered any. And considering the fact that they made a sloppy mistake like running into us, I don't think this mission was that carefully orchestrated."

"Well, maybe it was a nonmilitary target. That's never stopped the Khynah before." said Sinclair, "That was probably a slave ship that we encountered, and the crew was more eager to return home with their spoils than kill themselves fighting us."

"That may be true," considered the Captain, "But what's in this sector that can't be found a lot closer to home? They really had no heavily populated targets around here except for a few small civilian colonies and…"

Suddenly a look a revelation crossed the face of everyone in the room. The Captain started forwards and reached for his combadge when the voice of Lt. Commander Robins came over the comm first. "Sir, we have Vecarus Prime on long-range sensors. It's gone…"

**********

Deep within the black void of space, surrounded by nothingness, there lay a single ship. It was damaged, but its speed never wavered; its course remained constant. Aboard this ship, in a darkened room, sat the ship's commander. He sat pensively in the darkness, gazing out the window towards the infinite stars beyond. It had been close, for a moment it had seemed they might lose everything. The Federation vessel had been stronger than expected, but they had known too little at that time to pursue the commander when he retreated. His long thin fingers ran across a small crystal globe resting on a nearby table. It was just as well; the Federation vessel almost certainly knew by now, but there was nothing they could do about it. The outpost was destroyed; the mission accomplished. Soon they would be home, and the next phase of the plan would be set into motion.

*********************************

The creature howled in pain as the glistening steel blade flew towards its target, slicing through its arm in one swift, fluid motion. It tried to counterattack but the swordsman deftly sidestepped, thrusting the weapon into the creature's chest. His blow was slightly off-center; it struck the creature's side, causing it to double over in pain but also causing the swordsman to lose his balance for a moment. His opponent saw this, and in a final burst of strength threw himself upon his assailant, who only just in time managed to raise his sword to block the clawed hand descending upon him. He struggled to keep it aloft, but even in its weakened state the creature's strength was superior; he could only keep it at bay for a few seconds more. With what strength he could muster, the swordsman raised his right foot and thrust it as hard as he could into his attacker's chest. There was a loud crack and a scream as the creature was knocked several feet back into a wall behind him. It tried to get to its feet, its profusely flowing wounds leaving a pool of dark green blood where it fell. The swordsman flew to its position and before the creature could do anything, raised his blade and brought it forwards with one thrust, straight through the creature's heart. Death was immediate.

The swordsman stood over the corpse for a moment, then placing his sword on the ground, was just about to sit down when he turned around and saw something that shouldn't be there. Behind him, there was an arch, and someone standing by it watching him.

"How long have you been there, Neil?" he asked after catching his breath, the surprise having quickly worn off.

"Since the last one. I can't say that looked like fun. Is this what you do in your off time, Lucas?"

Lucas sat down on an outcropping of a nearby cliff. "Only when I'm feeling vigorous. Care to join me?"

"That's…quite all right, I think I'll just watch." Neil replied, looking around at the bleak scenery. "You know, I though only Klingons liked this stuff."

"Well, the aesthetics are from a Klingon exercise program I found a while back, but the fighting style is Romulan. I studied swordsmanship for five years back on Remus, so I brought this program with me." Lucas gestured for Neil to come join him. "But what brings you down here? Am I really that entertaining to watch?"

Neil came over to the outcropping, looked at the blood stains on the rock and decided to remain standing. "Well, for one I just wanted to ask how your first duty shift went."

"Pretty well. It's just routine stuff. Everybody's a little on edge after that Khynah attack, though."

"I noticed that too. Can't say that I'm not either. But from what I hear this crew has had some experience with the Khynah before." Neil answered. He stopped for a moment and surveyed his surroundings, coughing with some discomfort. "You know, Lucas," he suggested, "Why don't you join me for a drink? I hear there's a bar on this ship called Jake's Place, it's supposed to be pretty good. I have to say I'll probably like the décor there better than here anyway."

"Sure. Just let me stop by my quarters to drop this off." Lucas said, holding up his sword.

"You do just that. I don't want anyone throwing us out of Jake's Place on my first day."

Lucas walked with Neil out of the holodeck, his clothes and sword cleansing themselves of the holographic blood covering them the moment they passed through the arch. "Come on, they wouldn't do that. Besides, you used to take your tennis racquet with you after practice."

"That's different!"

"Oh, how is it different?"

"It is incredibly different, and if you can't see that then there's no use in my trying to explain it to you."

Lucas smiled and asked him to explain it anyway even though he didn't plan to listen to it; he and Neil discussed what exactly constituted a sport most of the way to Jake's Place. When they entered the room they both went over to the replicator and ordered their respective drinks. Neil took his synthehol and Lucas his Aye Mosaram and sat down at an unoccupied table.

"You know, Lucas, I've been thinking about what the Captain said earlier," Neil began, "Why do you think the Khynah really attacked that outpost? Do you think it was for slaves?"

"Of course," replied Lucas, "Either that or as a raid for supplies. But I can't imagine the Khynah would find much to interest them in a place like that. Like the Captain said, there must have been a dozen better targets that would have been much easier to hit."

"That's just it," said Neil, "The way I see it, there is more to this than an isolated raid on one outpost. The Khynah must have had some hidden agenda." He looked around the room and leaned forward, lowering his voice. "Maybe it was a weapons development facility that the Khynah found out about, and Forrester knows all about it, but he's keeping it a secret from us to protect Federation security."

"That's crazy." said Lucas, taking a drink from his glass, "If they were doing weapons development there, why wouldn't they have better defenses? Given the shields they were using, a Ferengi cargo freighter probably could have destroyed it."

"That's all part of the cover." Neil said, lowering his voice again, "I'll bet you when we get there, Forrester will have only the senior officers investigate, and they won't share their findings with anyone."

"Well, we'll get there by tomorrow, so you can see for yourself." Forrester had ordered a course set to the remains of the outpost in the hopes of finding survivors, after it was obvious that they would never be able to catch the Khynah ship before it returned to their territory, with the damage to the engines incurred in the fight. Lucas and Neil continued theorizing for about an hour, until Lucas finally excused himself. He had an early shift the next morning, and that was about when they would be reaching the outpost. The answers were there, and he wanted to see for himself.

***************************

Early the next morning Lucas exited his quarters and made his way to the turbolift. "Bridge." He ordered once inside. As the turbolift began to move, he couldn't help but wonder if they would find anything at all at the outpost. Long-range sensor scans had indicated that the Khynah had done a fairly thorough job with the outpost, as they always did. There was no reason to believe that anyone had survived the attack; if they had, they were probably dead by now from life support failure or exposure to space. Still, it was their duty to determine this, and they owed it not only to those who might be alive, but also those who had died. Lucas had found this concept fairly puzzling when he had first entered Starfleet three years ago. Were this a Romulan ship, they would have considered those killed in the attack casualties of war, and would make it their number one priority to track down the offending ship and punish them. This was not only as retribution but also to demonstrate that the Romulan Star Empire did not tolerate attacks on its territory. This was what he had been used to, and when he served aboard the Perseus there had been a time of transition in which many Terran concepts and ideals were unknown to him. Three years ago, were he in this position now, he would consider it not only foolhardy but also cowardly to attempt to save those who must already be dead while their attackers go unpunished. Captain Petersen had noticed this in him; Lucas had always felt that the Captain had a certain understanding of his feelings, but that he attributed them to overzealousness and a desire to take the initiative.

Lucas could still remember when he had been an Operations Officer on the Perseus and they had encountered a Ferengi raider stealing artifacts from an archaeological site. In an attempt to get away they had fired on a colony on the planet, hoping that the Perseus would run to the aid of the injured colonists. It was almost certain that no one had survived; the colony was unshielded and their shots had been devastatingly accurate. Still, Captain Petersen ordered that they send medical teams down and beam up any injured colonists to Medbay. Lucas then turned from his post and insisted that the Captain was wasting his time, that everyone must be dead by now and that the Ferengi ship was fast enough to effect an escape if they did no pursue immediately. It was quite a sight, a lowly ensign contradicting the Captain with such a tone of brazen confidence; he was given a formal reprimand as a result. But the Captain did let the ship get away, and when medical teams examined the wreckage, they found no survivors. Everyone had died, and the assassins had evaded justice. For a long time Lucas thought that Captain Petersen was a fool for making such a decision. But he could now see that this was simply a different code of living; while not always practical, there was much to be said for a society with such concern for others.

Around such people, Lucas had realized that the only thing to do was to moderate himself. This situation was not very much different from that one three years ago, but now he could see that even if they could have caught the Khynah ship, their responsibility was to those who might still be helped. Even if all the colonists were dead, an examination could provide insight into the Khynah's motives and could help to prevent further attacks.

The turbolift came to a stop as the doors opened onto the bridge. Captain Forrester was not present, presumably in his ready room, but Commander Sinclair was in command. "Ensign." She acknowledged as he entered the room.

"Sir." Lucas replied with a nod as he took his post. He looked at the sensors. Still fifty-two minutes until they reached the outpost. There was very little for him to do now except wait for them to arrive. Lucas sat back, suddenly feeling a sense of weariness about him. It wasn't because he was tired; he rarely was. As long as he had remembered he had never needed more than three of four hours of sleep a day, something which had been considerably to his advantage when studying at the Academy. He had developed an affinity for working late, in fact, his favorite time to do work was after most other people had gone to sleep. There was something comforting about working alone and secure in the knowledge that you would stay that way, at least for a few hours. It gave him a sense of relaxation to be the only one around, with no chance of interruption, only quiet.

But now Lucas felt weary more because there was nothing to do; granted, there was just enough to do to mandate his presence here, but that was hardly engaging work. His mind began to wander, thinking about the attack and whether this would be any different than that time on the Perseus several years ago. Were they just doing this because it was the right thing to do, because Starfleet's code of conduct would not permit any other action? Or would their visit serve some purpose? Most of the others on the bridge were just as quiet as he was, so it was easy to forget about one's surroundings at a time like this and become lost in thought. It seemed like only a few minutes later that a tone from the computer shook Lucas from his contemplation. "Sir," he notified the Commander, "We are now within visual range of the outpost."

"On screen." She commanded.

Even though the damage had appeared very severe on long range sensors, everyone had been hoping to see a badly damaged outpost or even some part of it where people may have taken refuge. But as the viewscreen turned on, there was nothing. There was nothing even remotely resembling the outpost that had been there only hours before. Some debris in orbit of the planet was the only sign that a research station with hundreds of Federation citizens aboard had ever existed here. Commander Sinclair exhaled deeply, then shook her head in a barely perceptible motion. "Ensign," she ordered Lucas, "Scan the wreckage for traces of Khynah weapons."

Lucas scanned, even though everyone already knew what he would find. "There is a definite residual from Khynah disruptors, sir. It matches that of the ship that attacked us." Sinclair nodded. "Wait a minute, sir…" said Lucas, "I'm getting an energy signal from inside the wreckage. It could be a probe of some kind that survived the explosion."

"Can you identify it Ensign?" asked Sinclair.

"I believe so, sir. It's difficult to tell, but it appears to be a sensor module from the outpost."

"Can we beam it on board?" the Commander asked.

"Yes, sir."

Sinclair tapped her combadge. "Lieutenant Commander Taggert," she said, "We've found a sensor probe from the Vecarus Prime station. We're going to beam it to engineering; see how much data you can salvage from it."

"Aye, sir," replied Taggert, "I'll give it my best, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Given what state the station's in, it's a miracle that thing is still in one piece; I doubt any of its memory banks are intact."

"We'll try it anyway. Sinclair out."

**********

The minutes passed like hours as the Alliance remained in orbit of Vecarus Prime, waiting for the analysis of the salvaged probe to turn up anything. Lucas continued to perform scans of the wreckage looking for anything else that could be of help, and continued to find nothing. It wasn't difficult to sense the mixture of tension and impatience that hung in the air; everyone could only wait and hope that they had not come for nothing. Lucas in particular hoped that the information they found could help them somehow, perhaps give them a clue of whether the Khynah would strike again, and where. No one was talking; the sound of buttons and fingers drumming were all that could be heard. But finally, the silence was broken by the sound of the turbolift doors opening as Lt. Commander Taggert walked onto the bridge. "Commander." She said as she entered the Captain's ready room carrying a PADD, presumably with her findings. A moment later, Captain Forrester's voice came over the comm. "Ensign Mallory, would you join us in my ready room?"

Lucas got up from his station, puzzled. Why would the Captain include him in a briefing when no one else was asked to join them? He assumed it was because he had found the module, but still this invitation was rather unexpected. He entered the ready room and saw the Captain sitting at his table facing the door, with Lt. Commander Taggert standing beside him.

"Thank you, Ensign," said the Captain, "Lt. Commander Taggert will now brief you on our findings."

The Lt. Commander entered some data into the screen on the wall, and a schematic of the destroyed outpost came up. "The sensor module which we recovered was damaged, and many data blocks were irretrievable," she began, "But we were able to find a certain amount of information. According to the station's records, the Khynah ship approached the outpost, and began firing immediately."

"No surprises there." Interjected the Captain.

"But what was unusual was that when the station's shields were down, the Khynah ceased firing. We have determined that they then beamed to a specific set of coordinated within the outpost, where they remained for approximately thirty seconds before beaming back out, and then destroying the outpost."

"That wasn't enough time for them to gather any slaves," said Lucas, "They must have left everyone."

"Exactly." Said Taggert, "Which led us to believe that the object of their raid was something specific on the outpost, especially considering the short time they spent on the station, as they must have had the coordinated programmed into the transporter well ahead of time." She then entered some more data into the display, and a section of the outpost was highlighted. "By cross-referencing the coordinates we found with a schematic of the outpost we had in our databanks, we have determined that the Khynah beamed into this room."

"What was in that room that could have been of any interest to them?"

Captain Forrester now spoke. "You may be aware that a research team on this outpost had been doing experiments in genetic engineering."

"Yes, sir, I had been told that."

Captain Forrester's expression became even more serious. "This location was the most likely place that the researchers would have stored their supply of bio-memetic gel. Nearly one thousand liters. I don't need to tell you what the Khynah could do with this."

Lucas nodded. "It could be used to construct a biogenic weapon to use against the Federation."

"Exactly." The Captain responded, "Which is why it is imperative that we stop them." The Captain paused for a moment. "Now, Ensign, I suppose you're wondering exactly why I'm telling you all this."

"Yes, I was wondering that, sir."

"Based on the Khynah ship's last known heading, Starfleet Intelligence believes the ship to be heading to a Khynah weapons development facility in their territory. The Alliance is already on a course towards it as we speak. Once there, an away team will beam to the facility, recapture the stolen components, and sabotage their equipment so as to render them incapable of producing any biogenic weapons." The Captain paused for a moment and looked at Lucas for a moment, then continued. "I would like you, Ensign Mallory, to accompany the away team on the mission."

Lucas was surprised to say the least. "Permission to speak freely?" he requested.

"Granted."

"Might I assume that for reasons of speed the size of this away team will be minimized?"

"That is correct, Ensign."

"There are certainly more qualified officers on the Alliance for a mission of this importance. Is there a particular reason you would like me along?"

"Your service record speaks for itself, Ensign," answered the Captain, "And it is my opinion that you would be well-suited for this mission. If you do not feel up to it, though, I can have another officer replace you on the away team."

"No, sir," said Lucas, "That won't be necessary."

"Good." Forrester replied, with a look as if to say that he never doubted it, "Please report to Conference Room 4 for a full briefing at 0600 hours tomorrow. Good day, Ensign."

As Lucas left the Captain's ready room, he felt even more puzzled than when he had entered. Why had the Captain chosen him? He had to assume that his recommendations from Captain Petersen had to be more impressive than he imagined. He was apprehensive, but he felt no doubt as to his abilities. The fact that the Captain had such faith in him made that impossible. Lucas took his place at the helm once again; the engines were repaired, so they would reach their target soon. Perhaps the truth would be revealed there.

**********

The Commander sat in his room, musing over the crystal globe in his hand. It was a likeness of Den'a, the Khynah homeworld. It was impressive to behold, with its flaming red hues covering the surface, it looked as if fire devoured the entire world with ravenous appetite, as heated as the Khynah lust for battle. There was a sound at the door. "Come." Said the Commander, placing the globe on the table. As he said so, an officer entered the room, standing at attention with a mixture of fear and respect on his countenance. The back of the Commander's chair was to him, all he could see were his two hands to the side, fearsome in the strength they held. He would not have come did he not have news of their progress.

"Sir, they're coming."

"Excellent," said the Commander, "Just as we expected. How long until they reach the point?"

"Slightly over one day, sir." Said the officer.

"I trust our preparations for their arrival are complete?"

"They are, sir. When they come, we will be ready."

The Commander had expected no less. "Then all is in order. Leave me now."

The officer saluted and then quickly left the room, not wishing to incur the Commander's wrath by making his presence unwanted. As the doors closed behind him, his eyes watched the stars, knowing that they were out there somewhere, and would be here soon. As he sat, a barely perceptible smile crossed the Commander's face.

*********************

Lucas awoke the next morning much rested from last night. After his shift he had gone to the holodeck to engage in his exercise program. He needed time alone to think. It was unexpected, the Captain's request; he had been on only a few away team missions before, most of which were on routine and none at all exciting. He was looking forward to this; it would be a challenge, and it would be an opportunity to validate the captain's faith in him. The uncertainty he felt was never as to his own abilities; he knew that he would perform well. But still this would be something new, and he could not help but wonder what it would be like.

"Computer, what is the time?" he inquired.

"0425 hours."

That would leave plenty of time before the mission briefing. He wasn't particularly hungry and didn't feel like eating. That left little to do outside his quarters. Lucas pulled up a chair and started working on a report on his desk. It was not due for a few days but no harm could come of completing it early. Lucas had been brought up to know the Romulan respect for punctuality; indeed, on a Romulan ship failure to submit a report on time could be construed as an expression of a lack of respect for one's commanding officer. In fact, those who waited until the due date to turn in work were considered unmotivated and unfit for promotion. It was only those who took initiative that got ahead.

The work went quickly; it was straightforward and all the information he needed was at his fingertips. Soon it was time to leave. Lucas put the report down and headed out the door for the turbolift. It only took about five minutes to reach Conference Room Four but Lucas had left earlier. When he entered the room, Commander Sinclair and Lt. Commander Jesse Sanchez, along with various other security officers he did not recognize, were already seated. Lucas took his place and waited for the briefing to begin. He did not have to wait long; most other people had apparently planned on being early as well, and within the next few minutes the table filled up. There were more people than he had expected, most of them security.

"Welcome," said Commander Sinclair, standing at the head of the table, "As many of you know, we will be reaching the Khynah weapons development facility in approximately ten hours." She passed around a group of PADDs to each person present; Lucas took one. "Here you will find a schematic of the facility, as well as the point of entry and the route that your group is to take to take to their destination. Starfleet intelligence has gathered these, and they are accurate enough for our purposes. Team Alpha, headed by Lt. Commander Sanchez, will locate the stolen bio-memetic gel and secure it for transport back to the Alliance. Team Beta, headed by myself, will beam to where we believe their most vital equipment to be located and place plasma charges at systematic points throughout these two rooms, then beam out. Once activated, they have a twenty-second delay, not enough time for the Khynah to disarm them. Following this they will sabotage the Khynah distress beacon to keep the news of this mission from leaking out to other ships. Team Gamma will receive special instructions following this briefing."

Lt. Commander Sanchez now took the floor. "Now we must remember that this facility will not be unguarded. We expect to find at least twelve Khynah guards at each of the beam-in points. Each member of this mission will be given a Type III Phaser Rifle. We estimate a period of three minutes before the Khynah detect the infiltration and mobilize forces to intercept us. We will have to be in and out before then, so to minimize time we should know exactly where our target is." Sanchez called up a schematic of the facility on the screen on the wall, with various colored markers showing the area for each team. "Each of the guards will be armed with a standard Khynah disruptor rifle and a knife for hand-to-hand combat. Remember, the Khynah won't keep this a firefight if they can help it; they'll try to close in on you and use their knives. They have an effective slashing range of half a meter, so keep as much distance between you and them as possible. Remember, Khynah disruptors are powerful but sluggish. We have the advantage in terms of speed, so use it."

Sanchez sat down, and Commander Sinclair once again got up. "The Khynah facility is relatively close to the border, so once we reach the Khynah border we will make a run for it. Given the time this operation should take, we have verified that no Khynah ships should be able to respond to our incursion in time to intercept us before we cross back over, after which we can outrun them if necessary. We will convene in Cargo Bay 4 at 1530 hours for simultaneous transport of all three teams to their respective locations. Starfleet intelligence has provided us with the exact shield frequency of the facility, which should allow us to transport the teams there and back provided we waste no time. Once a team's objective is accomplished, the team leader will notify the Alliance and you should be beamed up with a delay of no more than three seconds. A lock will be kept on you at all times in case trouble should arise. That is all, gentlemen, I expect to see you in the cargo bay at the agreed time."

All members present except for a few took their PADDs and headed for the door. Lucas did so also, when Commander Sinclair's voice stopped him. "Ensign Mallory, would you remain here for a moment?"

Lucas did as he was told. Since he had not been told which team he would be on, he had guessed he may have been put on Team Gamma, to receive his orders now. He sat down with four other crewmen who had not left.

"Ensign Mallory, you are to accompany Team Gamma on this mission." Sinclair told him, "Lt. Vandervort will head will head your team." She nodded at the Lieutenant. "Now as you may be aware, it is still a mystery as to exactly how the Khynah knew exactly where on the station to find the bio-memetic gel, not to mention that the station had any at all. Your mission is to access the Khynah computers aboard the facility and download any files which may give us a clue as to how the Khynah gathered this intelligence. You won't have much time, but there will be a group of security officers accompanying you which will hold the Khynah off as long as possible while you access their database." Sinclair picked up her PADD and called up some data. "On each of your PADDs is a list of Khynah computer codes which Starfleet intelligence has managed to procure. I ask that you commit these to memory and that you discuss with no one your special orders. If anyone from this mission asks you, tell them that you are locating an additional supply of components for biogenic weapons. I expect you to spend the remainder of the time before the mission memorizing these codes. That will be all."

Lucas took his PADD and left the room. He thought about looking at its contents as he walked down the corridor but thought better of it. More prudent to wait until he was in private, considering the nature of the material as Commander Sinclair had described it. Lucas' mind was focused on the task ahead; he did have experience in computers but had never operated a Khynah computer before, for obvious reasons. He doubted they would make their systems easy to penetrate; they were fanatical about defense from what he had heard. As he was thinking, he accidentally dropped the PADD he was carrying. Stopping suddenly as he heard it hit the ground, he reached down to pick it up.

Suddenly a shooting pain ran through Lucas' right shoulder as he reached forwards. Wincing with pain and dropping the PADD again, he clutched the shoulder with his right arm, cursing himself for not being more careful last night during his exercise program. He had taken a considerable blow there, one he should have seen coming. Picking up the PADD with his left hand and trying not to move his right, he walked quickly to the turbolift and ordered it to take him to Medbay.

**********

Dr. Montgomery picked up her medical tricorder and ran another scan on the sample dish. She looked at the readings with disillusionment. Still only a 5% growth rate. But then she shouldn't be surprised; this species of microorganism was difficult to grow, and from what she had read in various medical texts she was lucky to have gotten it this high. But still, the enzymes she replicated should have increased their metabolism. She looked around the Medbay. It was a slow day. Hardly anyone had come in here since this morning. Still, Captain Forrester had told her to keep Medbay ready. All he would say was that they were on a mission and following it she would almost certainly need to receive wounded. Mira sighed. She hated being kept in the dark like this, but if the Captain had been hesitant to tell her anything it had to be important. She was about to return to her desk to go over the structure of some new enzymes when the Medbay doors opened and Ensign Lucas Mallory came in, holding his right shoulder and in some discomfort.

"Doctor, could you help me with this?" he asked, sitting down, "I think I dislocated my shoulder."

Dr. Montgomery picked up her tricorder and scanned his shoulder. "Very accurate diagnosis, Ensign. How did this happen?"

"I was just exercising last night. It was my fault; I wasn't paying proper attention."

Dr. Montgomery grasped his arm and twisted it to the side. "There we go," she said, picking up a hypo, "Now let me give you something so you can use that arm until it heals naturally." She injected him with a compound and Lucas was able to move his arm again.

"Thanks, Doctor." He said, lifting his arm to make sure it would.

"Don't mention it Ensign," said the Doctor, returning to her desk, "By the way, was it that Klingon program that you were trying?"

"No, it was one of my own." Lucas replied, "Although I was surprised to see a Klingon exercise program listed."

The Doctor smiled. "Don't be; it's mine. I enjoy a workout every now and then. Maybe I should try yours though, it seems to effective enough."

"I'll be glad to show it to you after this mission is over, Doctor." Lucas told her, "But right now I have some preparation to do." Lucas got up and headed out the Medbay doors back to his quarters. As the doors closed behind him, Mira rolled her eyes.

"Does everyone know about this mission except me?"

**********

Lucas walked into his quarters and sat down, drawing out the PADD he had been given at the briefing and looking at it for the first time. The lights were dimmed but his eyes were used to reading in low light levels. Neil had always complained how dark he kept their room when they were staying together at the Academy. He glanced over the information, just to see the volume of the codes that Starfleet had collected. It was huge. Commander Sinclair wasn't kidding when she said it would take him until the mission to memorize them. Still, it was impressive that Starfleet had managed to collect this much information on Khynah security systems, especially considering how tight their security measures were for catching spies and intruders. But then he would shortly be participating in something no less dangerous, in fact considerably more so. While he was for the most part concentrating on the difficulty of the task he had been assigned, part of him was disappointed that he would not be engaging the Khynah directly. From what he had heard they were fearsome warriors, very difficult to bring down. He had tried fighting holographic versions of Khynah but since so very few had fought them and lived to tell about it, very little was known about the nuances of their fighting style. At least he would get to see them in action; in fact he may still get to fight them. He too was being armed with a phaser rifle, strictly for defense and obviously a wise precaution. If he was able to extract the files earlier than expected he could use his weapon to aid the security teams in holding the Khynah off while the others searched the data files. This was a comforting thought.

But there were more important things to do in the meantime. Lucas began going through the computer codes, trying to remember them as best he could. Of course, he would have the PADD with him on the actual mission as a reference, but this was obviously to save time. The less time the team took to find the files, the better. Even Lucas knew they couldn't hold off the Khynah for a long time; a station that size should be practically crawling with guards. But it appeared that each of the rooms they were transporting to had only one entrance. That was an asset; only one place to watch for the enemy after the room was cleared. Of course, the troops could transport in, but that would require some preparation time. Lucas hoped they would be out of there before that was possible, otherwise their chances of getting out alive would be slim at best.

Lucas shook his head. That wasn't going to happen; the estimated time this would take would not be enough. Better to keep a positive attitude, he told himself as he continued reading the PADD. The time would soon come and he would need all his confidence.

**********

It was a few minutes before 1530 hours when Lucas Mallory walked into Cargo Bay 4 and took his place alongside the other identified members of Team Gamma. Lieutenant Vandervort and one other member were already there, talking about Khynah computer security.

"Hello, Mr. Mallory," said the Lieutenant, "Glad to see you here."

"Reporting as ordered, sir." Said Lucas.

"Studied those computer codes?" the Lieutenant inquired, looking as Lucas' PADD while holding up one of his own.

"Yes, sir," Lucas replied, "I'm ready."

"Let's hope so." Lt. Vandervort said, "If we get through this alive, just think how good this will look on your record."

Lucas hadn't even considered that until now. True, he thought, this could be a boost to his career. But this was a secondary concern. This was his duty as a Starfleet officer, and that was motivation enough.

As the last of the away team members came into the Cargo Bay, Commander Sinclair broke of her conversation with Lt. Commander Sanchez and addressed the gathering. "All right, people, it appears that everyone's here, so let's get started. Everyone get with your team." Various people moved across the room, forming three lines of team members. Lt. Commander Sanchez and several security officers handed out phaser rifles to everyone. Lucas took his and held it firmly, looking at it with approval.

"All right, everyone knows their objective. Now let's do this!" said the Commander, "Transport in five…four…three...two…one…"

There was a shimmer of light, and the teams had left the cargo bay.

**********

Lucas materialized with his team in a room filled with computers, just as it had been described in the schematics. Lucas drew his phaser rifle quickly in an impulse response to being in enemy territory and aimed it where the guards would be. There was nothing. The room was completely empty except for various computer terminals and pieces of equipment. This was not right. The Khynah didn't leave anything unguarded, even when no enemies are expected to show. There should have at least been one or two. But there was no one. Lucas' first thought was that they must have materialized somewhere else, in a nonessential area of the facility. Maybe the schematics were inaccurate. But looking at the computers, this room had to have some information, even if it was not exactly what they were looking for. The other members of the away team looked equally puzzled. Many of them went straight to work sifting through files in the database despite the strangeness of the situation. But Lucas did not. This could not be mere good fortune; the only explanation was…

"Everybody, we have to get out of here!" he suddenly cried, "It's a…"

All he saw was a flash of light before his eyes before he collapsed. He tried to run, but of course it was too late for that. The last thing he laid eyes upon was the sight of the other members of the away team sprawled on the floor, knocked unconscious. Then, everything went black.

**********

The Commander of the Khynah ship at ease; nothing unexpected had happened, everything had been accomplished, they had reacted just as he predicted they would. His hand grasped the crystal globe of Den'a at his side and placed it on the desk in front of him. Soon the world he gazed at would be known as the terror of the quadrant, the mortal enemy of the Federation.

The door opened and an officer entered the room. "Sir, it is complete. All the Federation officers are aboard our ship. They are currently being held in Cell Block D"

"And the one I asked you to bring me?"

"We have him right outside, sir. He is unconscious but we have given him stimulants, so he should be awakening any time now."

"Excellent. Bring him here then leave me."

The officer motioned to one of his troops, who exited the door and came back a moment later with the bound body of Lucas Mallory. He placed him in a chair, then at his commanding officer's order left the room.

Lucas groaned as he shook his head and tried to open his eyes. It was not easy but his surroundings slowly came into focus. He was in a darkened room, an office as it appeared, with a desk on which was a likeness of Den'a, the Khynah homeworld. There was only one other person in the room, sitting behind the desk.

The Commander rose from his chair as his visitor raised his head. "Greetings, Mr. Mallory," he said, "I am Commander J'vell of the Romulan Warbird Thavalus. I do hope you enjoy your stay."

********************************

Lucas looked at J'vell in disbelief. "You're…Romulan?" he asked, "What are you doing on a Khynah ship?"

"I should have thought that would be obvious, Mr. Mallory, or perhaps I should say, Keldek?"

"How do you know my real name?" asked Lucas.

"Because we knew you were coming. We knew everything you were going to do from the very beginning. In answer to your question, this ship has been commandeered by the Romulan Star Empire. The ship's former inhabitants put up quite a fight, but as you can see, we triumphed. This," J'vell said, holding up the crystal globe on his desk, "Is all that remains of the ship's late captain."

Lucas tried to focus on the Commander's face, but everything around him was still a blur. "You stole a Khynah ship, in working condition? That's impossible. The Khynah would have damaged this beyond repair trying to fight you."

"Impossible for the Senate, perhaps, but not for the Tal Shiar." Replied the Commander.

"I should have known," Lucas said with disgust, "Only you would have been so bold. You killed the entire population of a research station and this ship, and for what? The Tal Shiar have a larger armament than they'll ever use."

"How little you understand." J'vell said, shaking his head, "The prospect of Federation bio-memetic gel never intrigued us. There are much easier and less conspicuous ways to obtain it. The importance of this mission is that Starfleet is now under the impression that the Khynah have a biogenic weapon. And that, of course, is what drew you here."

"That's how you knew we were coming," said Lucas, "You planned all this. That signal probe we found in the wreckage; there's no way that could have survived the explosion as well as it did. You planted it there after you destroyed the station."

"Correct. If only that revelation had come sooner, you might not find yourself here right now."

"And why did you do all this? What do you have to gain from kidnapping a small group of Starfleet officers?" Lucas asked.

"Once again you fail to see our true motives. As it was with this ship," J'vell gestured around him as he spoke, "It was the ship itself which the Tal Shiar wished to obtain. The crew is expendable, I assure you. Your ship is being held in a tractor beam which not only holds it here but also has a dampening effect on your transporters. As we speak, four D'Deridex-class Warbirds are headed towards our position, quite a match for your Alliance, I'm afraid. With your ship in our possession, we will then transport the biogenic weapon which we have constructed to Den'a. Once the Federation has made this bold, audacious attack, the Khynah will launch a counterattack, plunging you into war."

"And why is this the Tal Shiar's concern?" asked Lucas.

"The Khynah are barbarians, who attack whomever they want without reason. Too many Romulans have lost their lives at the hands of Khynah raiders already. We are simply forcing the Federation to deal with the quadrant's problem. Their one planet should be no match for you."

"Our projections indicate otherwise," Lucas said, "From what I hear, Starfleet is less than optimistic about the prospect of a war with the Khynah."

"Humility is an annoying human trait," commented J'vell, "You should realize that the Khynah are no match for you. Casualties will ensue, of course, but there is no doubt that you will defeat them eventually."

Lucas rubbed his eyes as best he could with his shackled wrists; things were beginning to look clearer. He could see the Commander's face clearly now, a middle-aged man with no real distinguishing features save a scar on the left side of his face which ran down his neck. "Then if this is all true, why are you telling me? Very amateurish for a Tal Shiar operation."

The Commander nodded with a look of disapproval. "Indeed, were it my decision you would have been killed as your crewmates will be shortly. Once we ensure that the Alliance has no reinforcements available, their usefulness as bargaining chips will come to an abrupt end. But as for you, Keldek, my superior specifically requested that I bring you back to Romulus. He wished you to know our plan, it being of his contrivance after all."

"And why does your magnanimous superior see it fit to spare my life?" Lucas asked wryly.

"Because my superior knows you quite well, Keldek, and he sees it fit to spare your life so that he might deal with you himself."

"And what have I done to earn myself such a powerful enemy?" he asked.

"You should be able to tell me, Keldek, considering that my superior is the younger Lord Veketh."

Lucas had been listening intently to J'vell up until now, but nothing the Commander had said had hit him as hard as this. "My…brother?" he asked with disbelief.

"Indeed."

Lucas began to regain his composure but still reeled from the news. How could this have happened? The two of them had fallen out years ago, but he had never imagined the kind of career that his brother had pursued. "Why is my brother in the Tal Shiar? His service record doesn't even begin to merit such a position!"

"Lord Veketh has provided several services to the Empire which we thought prudent not to make public. He has proven himself to be quite a valued member, as I believe this very operation should prove. But I have neither the orders nor the inclination to tell you anything further." He pressed a button and the doors opened as the officer who brought Lucas in entered the room. "Take him back to his cell," J'vell ordered, "And give him a sedative to ensure that he will be no trouble on our return home."

The guard grabbed Lucas and pulled him to his feet, marching him out of the door holding a disruptor to his back. Lucas knew he should be thinking of a way to escape but what dominated his thoughts was what he had heard in the Commander's room. Was it really true that Telvek was behind this? He remembered the day he told his family that it was his decision to enter Starfleet Academy. His knew that his father did not agree with his choice but permitted it nonetheless, he had always said that one must find one's own path in life. He knew his brother was enraged, calling him a traitor for deserting his people. Lucas had not seen him since that day; neither of them tried to contact the other. Lucas had always harbored some hope that someday, even if the Federation and the Romulan Empire never established a lasting peace, that the two of them might meet again and his brother would finally forgive him for what had happened all those years ago. But that seemed impossible now. But then, perhaps his life had been spared because his brother forgave him. This was possible, but Lucas knew Telvek. He was vengeful and unforgiving. It was more likely that he had been singled out because his brother thought a quick death at the hands of strangers was inappropriate. But exactly what he planned to do with him Lucas could not guess.

"Get in." said the guard as they approached a turbolift. He shoved Lucas in with the point of his disruptor and then got behind him. As the turbolift moved and the doors opened again, the guard shoved him out again with equal patience. Lucas now began looking around for an opportunity to escape. Maybe the guard would look away for just a moment. But upon inspection of the situation Lucas saw quickly that the guard was not going to make that mistake. He never took his eyes off his prisoner and the disruptor was always pointed at him.

At that moment, Lucas thought he heard something familiar, coming from around the next corner, probably the last sound he expected to hear. Just then, he knew it was what he thought as a blast from a Federation phaser rifle shot from around the corner, and following it were a group of security guards from the Alliance! The Romulan guard wasted no time but raised his rifle and shot at the intruders, who ducked around the corner for cover. The guard did the same, sidestepping to a nearby corridor while continuing to shoot with his disruptor. As the firefight continued, it looked as if neither side was gaining, but Lucas saw that the guard's attention was no longer on him. Just as he raised his rifle to shoot again, Lucas lunged at him from behind with his chained wrists over the guard's head, wrapping them around his neck. Lucas tightened with all his strength as the veins in the guard's face swelled and blood flowed from the points on his neck where the chain had grated through the skin. He tried to struggle but was losing breath fast. Lucas took his body and held it out into the corridor where phasers were still firing at them. A moment later there was a blast and the body he was holding went limp.

Discarding the body Lucas waited for his friends to make sure the guard was dead. He was no longer wearing his Starfleet uniform and was Romulan, after all; the security officers might mistake him for an enemy and shoot him if he came into sight. A few seconds passed that felt like hours. Finally, he heard footsteps, and a face he never expected to see turned the corner.

"Well I'll be damned, Lucas, what are you doing here?"

"Neil!" Lucas exclaimed with surprise, "I didn't know you were on this mission!"

Just then the rest of the security officers came into view, led by Lt. Commander Sanchez. "Ensign Mallory, glad to see you're still alive." He said.

"Yes sir. How did you escape?" asked Lucas with some interest.

"The guards were transferring us off the station, and apparently they were called away by the Commander of this ship, probably to relocate more prisoners. Well they just left us there, and while they were gone some of us came to a little sooner than expected. We ambushed the guard when he came back, took his disruptor, and managed to get to where they were keeping our phaser rifles." He tossed Lucas a rifle. "We've managed to locate most of our prisoners but some of them are still on the ship. I have men looking for them. In the meantime, we have to get back to this ship's transporters and get back to the station so we can find a way to disable that damn dampening field keeping us from transporting to the Alliance."

"Do you know where the engineering section is on that facility?" Lucas asked, "I know Romulan computer systems; I could probably help you to disable it."

"The more help the better, Ensign." Sanchez replied, "Now let's move it before more guards get on our tail!"

The group of them ran through the corridors of the ship weaving left and right following Lt. Commander Sanchez. Several disruptor blasts hit the wall nearby them but they had enough of a lead on their pursuers so that they never saw them for more than a moment while turning the next corner. As they came to the transporter room, they ran inside and shut the door behind them. Lucas and three other security officers picked up a table and put it in front of the door to barricade it.

"I can work Khynah transporters," Sanchez told them, 'Everyone get on the pad; I'll transport you over three at a time. I'll set the transporter so I can follow you after everyone's off."

Sanchez motioned the first three to get on as the footsteps of their pursuers came to a halt outside the door. The sound of pounding on the door grew as the guards tried to force the door open. The second group had just left, and Lucas and two others were on the pad when the sound of disruptors firing at the door began. It wouldn't hold out for much longer. As Lucas entered transport he hoped Sanchez knew what he was doing. A moment later he reappeared in the facility, surrounded by eight other security officers.

"Where's Sanchez?" Neil asked. Just at that minute, there was the shimmer of the transporter as the Lt. Commander appeared.

"I locked the transporter out, so it should take them a few minutes to follow us." He then turned to Lucas. "We passed through engineering on our way out of here. If you can help, knock yourself out, we'll probably need all the help we can get."

It was a short run to engineering; they didn't encounter anyone because the guards were mostly on the ship. "Here it is!" said Sanchez, coming to a door. The door opened and a volley of disruptor blasts shot out, the team ducking to the side of the door for cover. There were four of them in there, from what it looked like. They paired off and each group took one side of the room, firing into the hallway.

"You four take this door," Sanchez told Lucas, Neil, and two others. "The rest of you, follow me!"

The group disappeared around the corner and the four of them edged closer to the door, Lucas and Neil in front on either side. Between breaks in the fire they tried to hit their assailants but with little success; they had enough places in the room to hide from their shots. One of the Romulans kicked over a table in the center of the room, scattering several pieces of equipment on the floor. Putting it on its side, two of the Romulans kneeled behind it, using it for cover as they shot through the door. Everyone pulled to the side, hesitant to shoot back at all with the Romulans having a direct line of fire.

Just then there was a scream from the room, and the disruptor fire towards the door stopped. Lucas looked in; they were firing at a door to the side. Now was their chance. Lucas motioned to Neil to jump out, both of them firing at the three remaining Romulans who were turned to the side. Two more fell, and their surviving companion looked panicked. He faltered for a moment, then with a shout he charged the door where Lucas and Neil were hiding, firing as quickly as he could. Lucas saw a blast go right by his shoulder, striking the officer behind him in the arm and knocking him back several feet. But just as he reached to door, the Romulan fell, hit in the back by a phaser blast from Lt. Commander Sanchez.

"Good work, people." Sanchez told everyone, then looking in Lucas' direction asked, "How does Ensign Skyler look?"

Neil examined him. "He just got hit in the shoulder. He'll be fine, but he might be out for a while."

"Well," Sanchez said, "Now that we're here, Ensign Mallory, maybe you can help us disable that dampening field."

Lucas stepped up to the controls. It had been a while since he last used a Romulan computer, but he still knew some tricks to bypass security systems. He looked around, hoping to find a way to access the controls of the facility's main emitter to shut down the tractor beam scattering their transporter signal.

Lucas shook his head. "It's no good, it's been locked out. There's no way that I can access the controls without the command codes."

"Is there a way we could disable the power to the emitter long enough to transport out?" Sanchez asked.

"Well, like most Romulan ships, this station is powered by an artificial quantum singularity. Once it's been activated, it can't be shut off. But…" Lucas said, rapidly searching the files for what he hoped to find, "Yes! Power can't be accessed directly from the singularity on a station this size. It requires various power cells, distributed throughout the facility, which collect energy from the singularity and store it for use. So, most of the station's systems would have to have their power routed through a power cell. It looks like the emitter is powered by this unit right here." He said, pointing at a diagram on the screen. "If we could destroy that cell, it would interrupt the flow of power to the tractor beam long enough for us to transport back to the Alliance!"

"Good work, Ensign," said Sanchez, "We recovered the plasma charges we were going to use to on this raid. It looks like one of those ought to be enough. You can set it for manual detonation once you plant it, the timer should allow you to get away."

"The station still has a superior armament," pointed out Neil, "What if they try to shoot us down once they realize the tractor beam isn't working?"

"Hmmm…Is there any way we can interrupt the entire station's power supply?" asked Sanchez.

"Well, we could destroy all the power cells, but that would take hours to set up and more charges than we have." Lucas replied, "Unless…"

"Go on."

"The quantum singularity is kept in a containment field, to keep its gravitational forces from damaging the surrounding areas of the station. If we could destroy that field, the gravitation would probably be enough to sever most of the power conduits throughout the station, leaving the power cells useless. The only problem is that this would also rupture the power cells, upon which we'd have about fifteen seconds before the whole station goes up in flames."

"I don't think I'll miss it very much." Sanchez remarked, "That sounds like our best plan. Ensign Mallory, you and Ensigns Marcuson, Raymond, and Terrel go find that power cell. The rest of us will plant charges around the singularity. Remember, our communicators were taken, so we'll have to rendezvous back at the transporter pad when we're ready to go. Ensign Mallory, when you and the rest of your team get back here, we'll activate the explosives around the singularity and then beam back to the Alliance. All right everyone, let's move out!"

Lucas led the way, running down the labyrinth-like hallways, turning left and right without pausing. Were it not for the map he downloaded into his tricorder before he left engineering, he would have been completely lost. As he looked at it once again, he saw they were nearing their destination. Just another turn…

The group stopped dead as they turned the next left to see a sealed door in their path. "Damn!" said Neil, "How are we gonna get past this?" He turned to Lucas. "You wouldn't happen to know the code to open this door, would you?"

Lucas placed his phaser rifle on the ground. "As a matter of fact, I do." he said, "Toss me one of those plasma charges."

Neil reached into the pack where he had four of them on hand. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked, tossing it to Lucas.

Lucas caught it in his left hand and turned to the door to set it up. "We only need one once we get there. As for giving away our position, anyone within earshot probably knows we're here anyway. J'vell must be looking for us by now."

Neil shrugged and at Lucas' order ran with Raymond and Terrel into the hallway they had emerged from. Lucas took a few scans with his tricorder, then satisfied everything was in order, activated the explosive, and scooping up his phaser rifle made a dash for refuge. He just had time to leap into the hallway where his friends were waiting and turn to face the corridor when they heard the massive explosion, and a green flash of plasma flame was visible in the reflective paneling opposite them. Lucas peered around the corner to make sure no guards were coming.

"It's clear! Let's move everyone!"

The team continued towards their destination, never slowing their pace lest the guards catch up with them. "All right, we continue fifty meters this way, then take a left." Lucas told them, "The power cell should be behind a wall just inside a room at the end of the corridor." It took them only a few moments to run the stretch and make the turn as described, and none of them were happy to see yet another sealed door baring them from the room which held their objective. Neil paused for a moment and then reached into his pack for another plasma charge, but Lucas stopped him.

"Not this time," he said, taking scans with his tricorder, "Since we're in such close proximity to the power cell, there are a lot of power conduits running behind the walls here. If we rupture them, it could overload the power net and cause a chain reaction ahead of schedule."

"So what are we supposed to do?' Neil inquired.

"Lucas consulted his tricorder data. "According to this, the power cell that maintains the door's magnetic lock is located just a short ways from here. You three take the plamsa charges and destroy it. Once that's done, I should be able to force the door open manually. Just leave me with one charge so I can get the job done."

"Shouldn't one of us stay with you?" Neil asked, wary of leaving anyone alone in a place like this.

"I'll be fine." Lucas assured him, tossing him the tricorder with the power cell marked on the map, "There are no lifesigns in that room and all I have to do after that is run like hell for the transporter. You'll need all the help you can get if there are guards between us and the door lock mechanism."

Neil nodded. "If that's how you feel." He turned to move towards the location specified but turned back for a moment. "Just watch yourself. I want to see you back at that transporter in a few minutes, you understand?"

Lucas smiled. "Perfectly. You just watch yourself Neil."

The three of them ran out of sight, and Lucas took his rifle, standing just inside a door to the side of the corridor which was open. For here he could see if anyone came his way. He waited and remained alert, checking the door's control panel from time to time to see if power had been cut yet. Finally his patience was rewarded as he found the power had been cut. Time for him to do his part now. Lucas firmly placed his fingers between the door and pulled outward with all his strength to open the door.

It didn't move. He tried again with similar success, then stepped back. He hadn't anticipated this. Lucas looked around for something he could use to pry the door open. Obviously not his rifle. He stepped into the open quarters he had hid in before. These looked like they belonged to some high-ranking officer. There were various artifacts, PADDs, and pieces of equipment but nothing…

Just then Lucas' eye fell on the left wall. Hanging there was a Romulan sword. Lucas smiled as he went to pick it up and held it for a moment. It was a well-balanced blade; whomever this belonged to must use it often. But in any case this was just what he needed to force the door open. Placing the tip of the blade in the small space between the door he had managed to open, which was just enough room for it, he threw his entire weight upon the hilt, forcing it forwards. The door moved open several inches, just enough for him to toss the sword inside and slip through.

Lucas entered the room, looking around. These were even larger than those he had just seen; these were probably the commander's quarters. It consisted of two rooms adjoined by a doorway. He looked around him as he went for the wall he knew the power cell to be behind; these quarters were sparsely furnished, with very little except a desk and various reports on it to catch the eye. There were a few artifacts hanging on the wall; various weapons including a Vulcan blade and a Klingon bat'telh. Lucas admired them as he walked towards the opposite wall, plasma charge in hand.

Suddenly, without warning from behind him there came a disruptor blast! Lucas would not have survived if it had been aimed at him, but instead it struck his phaser rifle. The rifle flew from his hand and hit the wall, falling several feet behind him.

"Stop right there, Mr. Mallory." Said the last person Lucas wanted to see right now.

****************************

Commander J'vell held up his disruptor as Lucas slowly turned to face him. "You led us for quite a chase, but it's over. My men are tracking down your crewmates as we speak."

"I'm surprised it took you this long to catch on," said Lucas contemptuously, "I would have expected better from the Tal Shiar."

J'vell snarled at him but his rifle remained steady. "Interference from our tractor beam has made it difficult to get a lock on you, but I must say that your formulaic and predictable attempt to destroy this facility made it possible for me to anticipate exactly where you would be. Engineering is being surrounded, so I am afraid your friends there have no chance of survival. Luckily for you, I have been asked to bring you back alive if possible." J'vell sneered mockingly. "Don't take any liberties, though, I have been informed that dead is equally acceptable."

Lucas' eyes probed the room for anything that might help him effect an escape. His phaser rifle was damaged beyond hope, but then he remembered the sword he had used; it lay directly behind the desk. Without betraying any intention of moving, Lucas tried to estimate how long this might take. He would only have a fraction of a second...

Lucas suddenly lunged behind the desk, catching the Commander by surprise. He fired but hit the wall, and Lucas rolled behind the desk, grabbing the sword as he did so. Now he had cover, but it wouldn't last for long. Suddenly Lucas realized that the wall his back was to was approximately where the power cell was located. He took his only plasma charge and quickly affixed it to the bottom of the desk. If he timed this just right, he might have a chance.

J'vell, still confident that he had the other hand, moved around to the other side of the desk where Lucas was hiding, with the intention of wounding him but keeping him alive. He saw Lucas on the ground behind the desk and shot a blast at his legs, but Lucas was expecting this and jumped back. The Commander was now directly behind the desk, and Lucas several feet from it. J'vell was just about to fire again when he heard a beeping come from beneath the desk. Lucas dived into the next room as the Commander turned towards the sound. Then he gasped. Forgetting about anything but his life, the Commander flung himself away from the desk, dropping his rifle and trying to jump out of the way. He was caught in mid-air as the charge exploded, filling the room with plasma flames. The force of the explosion knocked J'vell forwards and Lucas saw him fly past him to the opposite side of the room.

He looked at the Commander. Was he dead? Just as he was about to make a run for it, J'vell emitted a yell of fury. He jumped to his feet, plasma burns covering his uniform and most of his exposed body. He looked around for something, anything, to use as a weapon. Lucas knew he had to kill him now, before he could defend himself again. He rushed at J'vell with his sword, bringing the blade above his head to strike, but as it fell a bat'telh in the hands of J'vell turned it aside. The force of the block was more than he had expected; while not hurt the Commander's blow sent him reeling back.

"Damn! I haven't got time for this!" he yelled, running for the door. If only he could make it back to the transporter he could escape. Lucas looked behind his shoulder to see J'vell running out the door after him. Lucas looked around him. The corridor back to the transporter pad was to the left, but it stretched on for as long as he could see. Even now his opponent was gaining on him; it would be suicide to try to outrun him for that long. Blindly he weaved through the hallways, turning wherever he could, trying to evade capture, but the footsteps of his pursuer never fell far. He couldn't make out exactly where the commander was, only that he was close, and he would catch up with him soon. He looked around him for a room to hide in but all the doors were locked.

Just as he turned a corner Lucas saw what he had been hoping for: an open door. He ran towards it, oblivious of anything else around him except finding a place to conceal himself. Just as he reached the doorway, he had barely enough time to dodge out of the way without being seen. Romulans! Just inside there were five guards firing their disruptors. Lucas looked around him, disoriented and panicked. He had forgotten which way he came from, in the intensity of his desire to reach the room. He couldn't go in, but he couldn't go back either, J'vell was right behind him and every second he failed to make a decision was a second he was gaining on him.

Suddenly Lucas looked back inside the room, noticing something strange. Those guards weren't firing at him, they had their rifles poised at a large hole in the wall inside the room. Screams came from three of the guards as they were brought down by weapons fire. The remaining two made a break for it, towards the door Lucas was next to. Just as they reached him, he lunged out from his hiding place, sword in hand. The first guard had no time to react before he was impaled through the chest. His comrade jumped back to avoid a similar fate, firing in Lucas' direction, but luckily he was too worried about self-preservation to be concerned with any accuracy. He fired a few random shots and then took off running, but before he had cleared the doorway a shot from a Federation phaser rifle brought him down.

"Glad to see you could make it, Ensign!" exclaimed Lt. Commander Sanchez as he and his security team emerged from the hole, "Follow us, we're headed towards the transporters!"

"How did you escape?" Lucas asked as they ran down the corridor, "I heard the Romulans surrounded engineering!"

"You don't think we'd make a mistake like that, do you?" Sanchez replied, "The first thing we did in there was blow a hole in the wall in case we had to make a run for it!"

The team ran as fast as they could, everyone following Sanchez who apparently knew the way by memory. Lucas now began to get his bearings. They were right behind engineering, so a few more turns and they should be close to their destination!

Sure enough, as they turned the next corner Lucas began to recognize his surroundings. It wouldn't be long now, but as they ran shots from the guards from behind flew past them. Taking the rifle Sanchez had given him he periodically turned back and fired, but did not hit. There must have been at least twenty of them chasing after them, and they were fast. Just as he turned the corner, one of the guards took aim at him. Just missing his head by a matter of centimeters.

"All right, we're here!" came the words Lucas had been waiting for as the team finally entered the transporter room, "Hold them off, I'll get the transporter working."

Sanchez got behind the controls as the rest of the team got to either side of the door and began firing back down the corridor. Seeing this, the guards slowed, many of them stood where they were and returned fire while other continued running to get closer. It was up to them to go on the offensive; all the team had to do was keep them away from the door.

"I've got it! Everybody onto the pad!" Sanchez ordered, and he got no arguments. Backing off from the door as fast as they could while maintaining fire, the team got to the back of the room, and after setting a delay for transport just long enough for him to reach the pad, Sanchez ran to join them. The last thing Lucas saw was the infuriated face of Commander J'vell as he burst into the transporter room and fired at the escaping prisoners, but it was too late for him.

**********

J'vell shouted with rage as the transporter carried his prisoner to safety. How had they managed to get away from his guards? This shouldn't have been possible! "No matter," he thought, calming slightly as he contacted his Subcommander in engineering, "They won't get far."

"Subcommander, I want weapons online now! Shoot down the Alliance before they can leave!" he ordered over the communicator.

"Sir, we're in engineering right now," came the response, "We have a problem. A big problem."

**********

The away team materialized on the bridge of the Alliance, Captain Forrester in his chair.

'There you are, Mr. Sanchez," said the Captain with notable surprise, "We received the crew members you sent over, can you explain how…"

Sanchez cut him off. "Captain, we have to get the hell out of here, right now!"

Forrester turned to the helm without hesitation. "Set a course back to Federation territory, Warp 9." He said decisively. The crew watching the main viewscreen, the Alliance jumped into warp just in time to see the facility explode in a ball of flame before they were gone.

Forrester sat quietly for a moment, contemplating what had just happened, then he turned to Lt. Commander Sanchez.

"Perhaps you'd better start at the beginning."

**********

"And so, sir, thanks to Ensign Mallory's help we were able to deactivate the tractor beam holding the Alliance and transport off the facility." Lt. Commander Sanchez concluded, taking his seat once again at the conference table.

Captain Forrester considered everything he had heard. "That's quite a story, gentlemen," he said, "My congratulations to all of you. I have no doubt that Starfleet Command will want to issue all of you commendations for valor."

"The Romulans won't be too happy about this." Commander Sinclair noted.

"That's true, but there's nothing they can do about it." The Captain replied. "Any formal complaint would mean admitting to the existence of a Romulan weapons development facility inside Khynah territory. The Romulans won't let any news of this surface; they'll do their best to cover it up, and in the interest of good relations we'll pretend it never happened. But that doesn't mean that Starfleet Intelligence doesn't want to hear everything about this. Get reports to me as soon as possible. Dismissed."

The members of the away team got up to leave, only Lucas stayed behind. When all others were gone he asked, "Captain, may I ask a question?"

"Go ahead, Ensign." Said the Captain, fairly certain of what the question would be.

"Is the reason you asked me to accompany the away team on this mission because you knew the Romulans were involved?"

Captain Forrester sat back in his chair. "To an extent, Ensign, " he replied, "You see, Starfleet Intelligence had provided me with reports indicating suspicions that the Romulans had been supplying the Khynah with components for a biogenic weapon. Of course, in light of what I've just heard, the Romulans no doubt wanted us to believe this so they could lure the Alliance to their facility."

"It would seem that way, sir."

"As I was saying, considering that the Khynah may have been using Romulan technology, I thought it prudent to include in the away team one member who was well-practiced in the art of handling Romulan computer systems. However, it seems that your expertise has been even more valuable to us than expected. You help has allowed us to avert what would have been the prelude to war with the Khynah. I'll be sure to mention all of this to Starfleet; you may have a promotion coming your way soon."

"Thank you, sir." Lucas replied.

"Well, I don't want to keep you any longer. See that you get some rest, Ensign, I can get someone to fill in for you for the next day or two."

"Thank you, sir." Lucas said.

As Lucas left the room, Captain Forrester smiled to himself. He was going to make quite an officer someday.

**********

Lucas entered his quarters, going to the closet where he kept most of his belongings. It usually took him a while to unpack after moving; there were usually so few things he needed that he was content to keep them in storage. But now he was looking for something in particular. He looked around in his bags through various artifacts and articles of clothing, until finally, at the bottom of the last one, he found it. He looked at it for a while before taking it into his hand, then drew it out slowly. It was a holo-imaging device. He contemplated it for a moment before turning it on, revealing the image stored in it. It was a picture of him when he was very young, still living on Remus. Next to him was his brother, Telvek. The two of them had just returned from hunting when this image was taken. The two of them had wanted to do something dangerous, and had stolen their father's sword to hunt for game in the woods nearby their home. The sword was incredibly heavy; it weighed almost as much as they did. Lucas carried it first, but after a few minutes it became so heavy that he had to give it to his brother to carry for a while. They finally ended on both of them carrying it at once. Lucas remembered how frightened he was when they finally reached the forest, where all manner of dangerous beasts were supposed to dwell, but having his brother by his side gave him courage. Although he didn't say it, he had the feeling his brother felt the same way.

Both of them were apprehensive when after a few minutes they heard a wild beast in the woods; they were about to run but at the last minute they decided that they had to stand their ground. It was a good thing, too, because what finally came through the brush was their father. He had noticed his sword was missing and had tracked his boys here. Bringing them back home, he said he was upset with them for stealing his sword, but for boys so young he was impressed with his sons for the courage they displayed. He told them that they had been braver together than either could have been alone, and this was something which they would see later in life as well.

Lucas held the image of the two of them in his hands for a while. Then he put it back in his bag, and shook his head sadly.