It was quiet! That was a bit of an understatement since sound don't travel in the vacuum of space but aboard the U.S.S. Camelot the only sound was the chirps and beeps of computer consoles. But other then that there was really nothing to do! The Camelot was instructed to patrol the Swagger Cluster in the Sierra Sector. It had been quiet as well for the last decade until a recent traveler was picked up in an escape pod. It was unclear where exactly he had come from.

"Eta until we reach the Swagger Cluster, Commander Laren" asked Commander Carter.

The helmsman looked down at his readings seeming glad to finally have something to do and responded to the first officer's question. "Two hours at present speed!"

"Very well," Carter replied getting out of the command chair. "Seems like since we received this mission that there hasn't been anything real exciting happening."

"What did you expect a fight around every corner?" asked Hazzard.

Carter looked over at individual who had spoken. "Counselor that's not exactly what I had meant. I just didn't expect us to have been the ship chosen for this when there could and probably is another ship in the vicinity."

Hazzard raised an eyebrow at Carter, "Maybe but there's something about the Camelot always getting drawn the attention of the 'weird' situations!"

The turbolift doors parted before Carter could reply and Captain Downward walked on the bridge carrying what looked like a banner. Downward nodded at his bridge crew before heading into his ready room. Even the captain had been acting a bit weird lately ever since they were ordered to the Sierra Sector.

"Now what do you suppose that is?"

"I'm sure whatever it might be that the captain will discuss it with us when he feels ready to."

Carter turned to look at the stars on the viewscreen as they flew through warp. Without taking her eyes off the screen she sat back down into the command chair then finally looked over at the counselor sitting to her right "Care to join me after shift for a drink?"

"No thank you, I've got some appointments to keep!" Hazzard answered. "Maybe after their done then I'd be delighted."

Carter nodded and looked down at the arm of the chair after hearing several beeps that indicated a message coming through. "Go ahead, captain!"

"Could you come in here please!"

Carter looked back at Hazzard, whom already raised an eyebrow. "On my way, sir!"

Captain Downward looked at the banner that had been given to him by Starfleet Command before leaving Earth. Whomever was picked up in the escape pod had been wrapped up in this particular banner but nobody in Starfleet had ever seen it before. He was hoping that maybe his first officer might recognize it since Admiral Forrester believes it might have belonged to the Orions.

The door chimes sounded and without looking up Downward gave the unknown permission to enter. "Come!"

The doors parted and his first officer entered. Since taking command of the Camelot this is his third first officer and prays it would be his last for a while. Since Commander Carter's arrival they had become good and close friends. The Captain and First Officer had the best relationship between the two of them over any other Captain and First Officer in the fleet.

"You asked to see me, Captain?"

"Yeah, Samantha please have a seat!" Downward said and waited until she sat. "We have a problem! Do you remember when we picked up that escape pod with the weird markings on it?"

"Of course! The markings of the I.S.S. Enterprise-E. Has Starfleet figured it out?" asked Carter.

"They think they have because of this!" Downward stood up and held up the banner of an Orion peace flag.

Carter looked at the flag and with a startled look stood up to examine it closely. It clearly looked Orion but the fabric was all wrong. It either it was a forgery or the flag had been through a lot more! Upon further examination of the flag she could clearly see burn marks in the flag.

"There are burn marks here!"

"That's what Starfleet found. But what they want to know is how it happened? Who would want to kill this man and why?"

"So what's our orders?"

"Well for starters..." Downward was about to explain when suddenly the home room went dark.

Just as suddenly as the room went dark as the lights came back on! Downward and Carter looked all around the room for a malfunction then each other. Whatever happened seemed to have vanished! But as the captain was about to open his mouth to speak the red alert klaxons sounded!

Captain Downward and his first officer walked back onto the bridge to figure out what had possibly just happened! The bridge was a dark crimson red and the viewscreen showed static. "Report!"

Lieutenant Commander Fitzgerald got up from the command chair and took his place and answered. "We're unsure sir. All of a sudden we felt a small jolt and lost all outbound communications. Sensors are minimum!"

"Bridge to engineering!"

"Scott here, Captain!"

"Scotty, I hope you got a explanation for us!" Downward ordered.

"Nae, Captain. We're still trying to figure out who or what hit us. But whatever it was it sent just a little energy pulse towards our main computer core that initiated the intruder alert."

"But the viewscreen?"

"Got no explanation for that captain. Will get right on it!"

"Very well …. bridge out!"

Captain Downward moved up towards the screen and stared at it then turned around. "Helm and navigation still responding?"

Both Laren and Fitzgerald looked at their boards and then answered in unison, "Aye, sir!"

Downward nodded then ordered, "All stop!"

The Camelot glided to a full stop and was stationary in its current position. Suddenly the viewscreen came back on and the sight on the screen startled them. They seemed to be looking at a mirror image of themselves.

"Shields, sir?" asked Tuvok

"No, Mr. Tuvok. Tactical analyst!"

"Captain, the scans indicate that we're looking at a mirror image of another sovereign class starship!"

Carter stood up and looked back at Tuvok. "Registry?"

"NCC-75824-A! I.S.S. Camelot!"

Both Downward and Carter looked from Tuvok back to the viewscreen. "Are you sure your reading that correctly, Mister Tuvok?"

Tuvok looked down at his readings and answered, "Affirmative, Captain!"

Just then the other ship fired at the unprotected U.S.S. Camelot. The blast was so powerful that everybody, including those on the lower decks, where thrown completely off their feet! By the time they hit the deck they were unconscious!

Carter was the first to wake up and glanced at the time clock just above the viewscreen. They had been out of it for nearly 30 minutes now! She looked over and saw Captain Downward barely pulling himself up!

"What the hell was that?"

Slowly the other bridge crew was starting to wake up again and was getting back to their stations. It was Tuvok who answered first. "Sir, some kind of unknown phaser fire!"

"Bridge to engineering!"

Instead of Scotty's voice coming back over the speakers it was Deputy Chief Engineer Reginald Barclay who answered, "Barclay here, Captain! Engineer Scott hasn't woken up yet!"

"Reg, what happened?"

"We're still trying to figure it out, sir! But because we were unprotected they knew where and how to hit us!"

Carter looked at the viewscreen to see it full of static. "Mr. Barclay can you get us visual again?"

"You should have it anytime now!"

The viewscreen changed from static to show empty space. The other ship was gone.