Star Trek Guenidier: The Complete Series

by Cpt. Ritter

They were framed, supposedly to rot in a cell for the rest of their lives, but the crew of the USS Guenidier would not simply die. They wouldn't give up. They'd find out who framed them, and bring them to justice.

3. Mx03 The Return

Sean glanced at the schematics before him from behind his desk in his ready room. A 3-D image rotated to the left of the schematics, showing a modified Intrepid class ship before him. Mounted on the top of each warp nacelle was an extra phaser array. Just below the main saucer section, some of the living quarters had been removed and two giant phaser cannons rested in their place. He looked up at Nathan. "It's ambitious."

"While we lack the parts for them, I wanted to show you my plans." Nathan pointed to the updated ship on the computer screen. "It should drastically increase our chances of winning a battle."

Sean glanced down at the specifications again. "My only concern is power."

"As it stands, we could outfit the phaser arrays on the warp nacelles without boosting the power of the warp core. However, the phaser cannons require a lot of energy. They're worth it though."

"Any ideas as to where we could acquire the parts necessary to build these?"

"The two phaser arrays can easily be salvaged from a decommissioned Starfleet vessel. The phaser cannons can be constructed from a very specific group of parts. They basically channel a large amount of phaser energy in one direction."

"What parts are we talking about and where are we getting them from?"

"It'll take a bit of work, but we could build them from an existing set of phaser banks. In the end we'd get a much more powerful phaser. We would just need three phaser coils to construct each cannon. We would also need to construct a casing of double the usual protection rating to withstand the tremendous heat."

"What about the power?"

"To operate all of the ship with the extra power requirements, we'd need another warp core," He shrugged, "or one with twice the capacity of our current core. A core from another Intrepid class ship would work perfectly; we'd just have to modify engineering slightly."

"And they just leave these intact?"

"Not at a scrap yard, but at a decommissioning yard. Once they reach the scrap yard anything of value is pulled from the ship."

"So we're looking at a decommissioning yard raid?"

"Yes, but they're not heavily defended."

"Alright. We need this, so I want you to come up with a plan for where, when, and how. Once we have that, we can work out the logistics."

"We're approaching system 2105." Erica's voice emanated from his commbadge.

Sean stepped out onto the bridge. The usual stars flashing by the viewscreen at warp was replaced by the view of the gas giant. "Red Alert, shields up." Its red glow cast an eerie shadow on the darkened bridge. He glanced over his shoulder at Nathan. "Any activity?"

"The sensors are clear." Nathan replied, coming to his station. "It's strangely quiet."

"Kate, any sign of the temporal energy signatures that we detected last time we were here?"

"No." She glanced down at her console for a second. "There's nothing here to indicate there ever was a temporal energy signature."

"Let's take a look then." He stood up. "Erica, take us around the dark side of the moon so that we stay invisible for as long as possible."

"Aye sir." Erica replied. The viewscreen image rotated to show the moon where the Pandora had been destroyed. "We should have visual contact in a few moments."

"Stay at red alert." He glanced back at Kate. "Still no readings?"

Kate shook her head, and then stopped. "Wait, I'm reading a faint power signature. It's coming from the moon."

"Where on the moon?"

"It's centered on a three kilometer canyon. The dimensions of the canyon are identical to the station. It looks like it was built into the moon."

"It appears those responsible have vanished." Klena said. "But perhaps they left something behind."

Sean stood up. "That's my hope. Kate, is there any trace of wreckage from the Pandora?"

She shook her head. "Whoever was here, they cleaned up any trace of the battle. There's not even a residual warp trail."

"Any life support on what's left of the station?"

"Not enough." Kate glanced down at her console. "There are a handful of rooms showing partial atmosphere, but the radiation is high."

"Okay, Klena, Nathan, you're with me." He glanced at Erica. "The Bridge is yours. Keep the ship in a low orbit around the moon. Try to stay in the darkside."

"Yes sir." Erica turned her attention forward to her console.

Sean stepped into the turbolift. He tapped his commbadge as Klena and Nathan filed in. "Crewman Mills, could you please send up four environmental suits to the transporter room.

"You got it Captain." Mills replied.

"Mark, join us in the transporter room. Stop by weapons storage on your way up and get us four zero-gravity phaser rifles."

"Alright." Mark replied. "Give me five minutes."

"You've got it." Sean stepped out of the turbolift as it deposited them on Deck 4. The transporter room was just down the hall.

Waiting for them as they entered the room were the four environmental suits. Sean pulled his suit on, leaving the heavy helmet for last. The suit, unlike early models, which were heavy and rigid, was fully flexible with the exception of the helmet. A tricorder was mounted along the left forearm. He picked up his helmet, setting it over his head but not sealing the suit yet. The suit was designed to breathe freely without using its oxygen supply until sealed.

Mark entered with two phaser rifles slung over his shoulder and another pair in his arms. Sean took one of the rifles from the engineer's hands. He checked the power settings. It was set for stun.

"Ensign Filander transmitted the coordinates." The transporter chief, crewman Laysi Khrat, said. A Bolian, she had blue skin with a split ridge of skin running down the middle of her head. She was also bald, though sometime she wore a toupee. Sean had seen her wear it when in dress uniform.

"Alright, let's go." Sean stepped onto the transporter pad. He reached up and sealed his helmet with the quick press of the button just below his collar. He instantly felt the air pressure change, as well as the temperature. He flexed his free right hand while holding the rifle in his left as Klena, Mark, and Nathan stood on the transporter pads. "Energize."

A beam of light passed over him, and then he was on the station. His first vision was one of darkness. The light on his helmet came on automatically, followed by his rifle light. He swept his rifle across the darkened room.

There were two doors at opposite ends of the room. Consoles lined the walls, but they were all blank. "Power must be off." Sean murmured. His voice was picked up and amplified by the helmet mounted comm system.

Mark walked over to one of the consoles, attaching a small portable power device to it. The panel flickered to life. "What's left here is running on pure emergency power, but the system switched into standby mode to conserve power..." Mark's voice trailed off as he worked on the console. "There's only one section that's still got full life support, it looks like the Brig."

"The Brig?" Klena asked. "Would it not be illogical to leave prisoners behind?"

"Unless they didn't want to keep them alive." Nathan said.

"That is against Starfleet policy." Klena paused. "However, this whole installation violates Starfleet policy."

Mark yanked the power module off the console. "I've managed to get the computer to release the door locks." The console flicked out as soon as it lost power.

Sean glanced at the door behind them. "Kate, can you give us a bearing to the section with power?"

There was a pause before Kate replied. "The door directly behind you leads deeper into the subterranean part of the station. The section with power is definitely back there, but you're going to have to use tricorders. The Guenidier's sensors are having trouble penetrating the rock's crust."

"Stay in contact if possible." Sean walked forward, his boots staying magnetized to the floor of the station. The door was partially open, leaving enough room for Sean to pull the components apart.

The adjoining room was cylindrical. There was a small pit in the center of the room with a single round display in the center of it. The walls were again covered with consoles. "Any ideas?" He asked.

"I believe this section of the base would be the command center." Klena said. "Or at least some area of control."

"Mark, think you can get anything from the computers?"

Mark climbed down the steps to the center display. He attached the temporary power source to it. The display flicked to life, with a single lcars menu system appearing on a small console. "It looks like most of the data was cleaned up." He entered a series of commands. "There's some trace files that weren't deleted." He activated his wrist mounted tricorder. "I'm downloading them to my tricorder. We can restore them up once we get back to the Guenidier."

"Captain." Klena said, drawing Sean's attention over to her. She attached a power source to a very long display next to them. The display flickered to life, revealing the shape of the station. "I believe I have found what the station looked like before it was moved."

"Download it to your tricorder." Sean said, looking at the expansive design. "That definitely looks like the temporal station that I read about." He pointed to the large spherical structure in the center of the ring. "That was, in theory, where the temporal core would be located."

"How were they supposed to control something like that?" Nathan asked, coming to stand next to Sean.

"It seems improbable to believe they had any control over it at all." Klena said, pulling the power source from the console. The display instantly flickered back to nothing. "However, I find it equally unlikely that they would be able to construct an artificial temporal core."

"Hopefully we'll be able to shed some light on it once we get back to the Guenidier." Sean turned back to the center of the room. He activated his tricorder. The power source was beyond the far door of the room. "Let's keep going."

Mark had the door open by the time Sean got to it. Behind the door was a standard Starfleet corridor. "Looks almost like home." Mark said.

"Except it contains a mixture of radiation and no breathable air." Nathan replied. "There's also no cover."

"At this point, if we get into a firefight we're dead anyway." Sean said. "Though we'd have been shot at already it that was going to happen."

The corridor curved slightly to the right as they walked. Sean watched his tricorder. The display showed the power source to their left. A single door was visible down the hall. "That door looks like it leads to our power source."

It was not partially opened, unlike every other door they had encountered. "That's a problem." Mark said. "This door should have been opened with the rest of them."

Klena briefly scanned the door with her tricorder. "There is oxygen and minimal radiation beyond this door, as well as one life sign."

"That means this door is sealed." Nathan said. "The only way to open it without blasting all that air into the hall would be to use forcefields to make a second sealed layer."

"Is that even possible, given the station's state of power?" Sean asked.

Mark glanced around. "It's possible..." His voice trailed off as he spotted a small console on the wall. "Commander, hand me your power source." He said, looking to Nathan.

Nathan pulled the device from his equipment pouch on his suit and let it float to Mark. "Why do you need it?"

"If this is going to work we're gonna need the power of two of these things." Mark set Nathan's power source onto the console. "Okay, I can do it from here."

Sean handed Mark his power source. "It hasn't been used yet either."

Mark placed it next to Nathan's on the console. "This should activate the forcefields." Two forcefields sprang up on either side of them. The panel darkened slightly. "And here is the door release."

The door opened, revealing an equally dark room. Sean stepped through, letting Mark push off the wall. He floated in zero-gravity until he passed through the door, then he promptly crashed to the ground. The door closed behind him.

The room was a longer version of the corridor with doors along the walls. Each door stuck out a bit from the walls, giving the appearance of a further room. Sean looked down at his tricorder. "We've got air; radiation levels are lower here than they were in the previous sections."

"This doesn't look like the Brig." Nathan said. "Where are the forcefield controls?"

"There are none." Klena replied. "I believe this was built to conserve power. The doors along the wall may have power locks but they are designed to function even without power."

"So why does this room have power?" Mark asked. "Seems like the least likely place to have it."

Sean glanced down at his tricorder again, scanning the room as Mark's question resounded in his head, and then he noticed something he wasn't expecting. "I've got a life sign." He glanced up. "Looks like the third door down." He led the way; his boots automatically disengaged the magnetic locks to accommodate normal walking in a positive gravity environment.

He reached the door. The life sign remained on his tricorder, stronger than before. "There's definitely someone in there." He glanced at the large door before him. "Any ideas as to how we're going to get in there?"

"There is no control console near it." Mark glanced along the edges of it, scanning them with his tricorder. "Looks like the lock is fixed by three carbon based pins."

"Could we just shoot it open?" Nathan asked.

Mark ran the scans a second time. "I think so." He pointed out the location of each pin.

Sean nodded to Nathan. "Go for it."

Nathan raised his rifle and fired three shots, one into each pin. The shots left smoldering holes in the door where the pins had been. Sean reached up into one of the holes and pulled. The door slowly opened, revealing a bland cell.

A single cot was placed across the rear of the room. Four identical walls framed the sides and the top of the cell, all a gray color. There was only a single light source. A basic sonic shower was embedded in the rear wall.

Sean raised his rifle, sweeping the flashlight around the cell. The single occupant backed up. The occupant had brown hair and wore a black jumpsuit. Two dark eyes absorbed the light of the rifle. Sean lowered it. "I'm Captain Sean Cunningham. Who are you?"

"Wayne Bristol." The man stood up. "I thought I was going to die in here."

"Who was here?"

"Some kind of military people, I didn't recognize the uniforms." Wayne staggered slightly. "I've been locked up in here since after my cargo ship crash landed on the surface of the moon."

"Did they ever mention who they worked for?"

"No, but they tortured me for what I knew, which was nothing." He blinked. "Are you Starfleet?"

"Not exactly." Sean stepped back. "But we are here to help and to find out who was here."

"They were mainly human." Wayne stepped outside of his cell boundaries.

"That would suggest otherwise." Klena stated. "Almost all humans with any kind of military background belong to Starfleet."

"How long have you been here?" Sean asked.

"I tried to keep a record, but I lost count after two months. Then they all left yesterday, every last guard. I guess they didn't care about me." Wayne's voice was gruff, strained.

"How did they leave?"

"One minute, they were going about their duties. The next, they were all gone. They took every datapad, every phaser, everything." Wayne glanced over at Klena, Mark, and Nathan. "Who are they?"

"My first officer Commander Klena, my Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Mark Turner, and my tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Nathanial Stark."

Wayne nodded. "You said you weren't Starfleet. If you're not them then who are you?"

"Just over a week ago we were here, in orbit above the station. We were attacked by an unidentified defiant class starship. It destroyed the USS Pandora. We barely escaped."

"Wait a second..." Wayne's voice trailed off. "I heard one of the guards talk about a contingency plan, something as a result of the Pandora."

"Captain, we should not stay here long." Klena said, checking her tricorder. "I am reading irregularities in the power flow. There is no way to predict when the life support system will fail."

"We'll debrief him further on the ship. Right now he's our only lead." Sean paused, thumbing a small button on his hand to talk to the Guenidier. "Kate, can you hear me?" Static was his only response. "Kate, respond."

"There's probably some form of subspace interference here, designed to prevent prisoners from being beamed out." Nathan said. "That's going to complicate things."

"Klena, Mark, head back out to the main area, have Kate transport another environmental suit down." Sean ordered. The lights flickered. "Hurry."

Mark reached for the door. "Sean, we've got a problem."

"Define problem Mark?"

"The door has sealed again, and I've been locked out of my forcefield controls."

Nathan looked at the console. "This is an abnormally high-level Starfleet security lock down."

"Then we are trapped." Klena added. "With no way to get to out."

Wayne looked around, pointing to a wall on the far side. "I saw several of them go that way from my cell, they didn't come back."

Klena walked over to the wall, scanning it with her tricorder. "He is right; there is a hidden section of the facility. There appears to be oxygen, however the radiation level is moderately high."

"How long would Wayne have in that radiation?"

"He would have a mere five minutes." Klena turned around. "I however would have almost 30 minutes."

"Why would you have longer?" Wayne asked.

"I am Vulcan." She raised a single eyebrow. "I have a higher tolerance for radiation."

"There's no way anyone's going through that radiation." Sean stated. The lights in the room flickered again, this time staying off.

"Captain, we do not have a choice. I can survive the radiation and there is oxygen."

Sean swore, meeting Klena's calm gaze. "Alright, we'll do this your way Klena; you'll stay right behind me the entire time." Sean paused. "Nathan you are on point, Wayne is right behind you. Mark you bring up the rear."

Klena took her helmet off and set it on the ground. She then stripped out of the suit, leaving her with only her uniform and her phaser rifle. While Wayne geared up she walked over to Sean. "If I am to fall behind..."

"You are not being left behind." Sean replied, trying not to snap at her. "Even if I have to carry you back to the Guenidier, is that understood?"

"Yes Captain."

Sean glanced over at Mark. "Think you can get the door open?"

The Engineer pulled out his power source and clamped it to a small panel next to the wall section. "I found the door controls, but they're encrypted."

Nathan walked over, entering a series of commands into the panel. The door slid aside. "It's all a matter of knowing the right codes."

Sean motioned for Wayne to follow Nathan. The darkness of the tunnel seemed to swallow their flashlights mounted on both their helmets and phaser rifles. Sean could only here the clanking as each boot made contact with the floor.

The smooth metal quickly made way to hard rock, with only a metal grating between them and the floor. Sean glanced as his tricorder as they walked the temperature of the oxygenated tunnel kept dropping. It would not be long before Klena froze in the cold.

"There's a section of corridor ahead of us, it looks like it has a door that leads off to the right." Nathan's voice echoed in Sean's helmet.

There was a single door inside the corridor. Nathan approached it and it opened silently. Sean followed Wayne into the room. The room was vast, with a large roof that was transparent, providing a view of the stars. There was still power. Every console in the room was online.

Sean looked down at his tricorder. The radiation level was significantly lower in the room than it was in the hall, and the temperature had returned to normal. Klena was hunched over slightly, but otherwise looked fine. "Klena, are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes Captain." Klena took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second. "I will be fine."

Sean nodded, and then turned back to Mark. "Any chance the Guenidier can hear us?"

"Its possible, we're really close to the surface now." Mark replied. "Unless there's a localized jamming field, we should be fine."

"See what you can dig up with the computers." He activated his suit's comm system so he could talk to the Guenidier. "Kate, can you hear me?"

"Yes sir." Kate's relief could be heard through the comm line. "Glad that you're okay. Where are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're not visible on our scanners."

"Hang on for a second." He glanced over at Mark. "This section has power, is it possible that it's still cloaked?"

Mark looked up from the console he was at. "It's possible." Mark looked down at the panel, entering commands. "I found the cloak. For some reason they wanted this section of the station intact. They even went to the trouble to make sure it had enough power to stay cloaked for a very long time."

"Can you shut it down?" Nathan asked.

"Yep." Mark entered a series of commands. "That should do it."

"Kate, can you see us on sensors now?" Sean asked over the comm line.

"Yep... wait... there are five of you."

"We picked up a prisoner from the brig here. He knows a bit about who was here."

"Alright. We can beam you back whenever you're ready."

Sean glanced back over at Mark. "Anything of value?"

"No, these computers are as empty as the rest of them." Mark activated his tricorder. "I'm downloading everything from it anyway; I'll go over the rest of it once we get to the ship." Mark stepped away from the console. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Nathan?"

"There's nothing more to see here." Nathan walked back over to him.

"Guendier, five to beam up." The transporter beam enveloped him, and the next thing he knew he was back at home in the transporter room. "Good work Laysi." Sean released his helmet and pulled it off his head. There was a hiss as the air pressure equalized.

He pulled the helmet off his head and set it down on the ground, pulling the suit off as well. It came off in one piece. He folded it up and set it down next to the suit. He set his phaser rifle down next to the suit and helmet.

He stopped Nathan short of putting his weapon down. "Nathan, keep your phaser rifle."

Nathan nodded.

Sean turned back to Klena. She looked sick, almost green. "Klena, you don't look so good."

She nodded. "I believe I may need some medical attention."

Sean glanced at Mark. "Get Kate to help you with those files."

Mark nodded, downloading his tricorder data into the computer. "Hopefully they'll yield something interesting."

Sean turned to Wayne. "Follow me to sickbay." Wayne nodded in reply, gesturing for Sean to lead the way. Sean headed for the turbolift. He thumbed the button for Deck 5 once they entered the lift.

A tense silence descended over the turbolift. Nathan was in the back, with a phaser rifle still in hand. Sean stepped out first as the door opened. Sickbay was just around the corner. He entered it, gesturing for Wayne to take a seat on one of the side beds. Klena sat down in the main surgical bed.

Lshan walked out from the medical office. "How can I help you Captain?"

"Can you run a quick scan of Klena? She was exposed to some high levels of radiation on the space station."

"Computer, activate the EMH." Lshan said.

The EMH appeared next to her. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"Commander Klena was exposed to some high levels of radiation; I'm not properly certified in that area. Could you have a look?"

"Of course." The EMH walked over to Klena. He used a tricorder to quickly scan her. "There is no permanent damage, although her digestive system will be upset for a few hours. Provide her with a dose of hyronalin. You are free to go afterwards."

Lshan nodded, walking over to the medical lab. She returned only seconds later with a hypospray. "This should help with the symptoms."

"The only real doctor's orders are to get some rest." The EMH said cheerfully.

"Thank you Doctor, I shall endeavor to get some rest." Klena left the room.

"Is there anything else Captain?" The EMH asked.

"I'd like you to run some basic tests on Mr. Wayne Bristol." Sean said, gesturing to Wayne. "We picked him up on the station."

"Very well." The EMH looked to Lshan. "Take a blood sample and run it through the computer. I'll take a detailed scan of him."

Lshan nodded, taking out a small device from the medical console and pressing it to his arm. There was a hiss, then a click. She then took the device and disappeared back into the medical lab.

"Have you had any kind of injuries I should be aware of?" The EMH asked Wayne.

"I broke a few bones as a kid, but nothing recent." Wayne replied, not looking at the EMH.

"Very well, I can see no reason to keep you here." The EMH nodded. "You are in good health Mr. Bristol."

"Thanks." Wayne replied. He slid off the bed and turned to Sean. "So where to from here?"

"Commander Stark will escort you to the guest quarters. I'll have crewman Striker assist you. He'll help you with anything you need."

Wayne nodded, and then followed Nathan out of the room. Sean glanced at the EMH. "Keep me informed."

Sean entered the turbolift. "Bridge." The lift hummed as it zoomed up and over. He could just barely feel the movement. The door opened and he stepped out onto the Bridge. "Any luck?" He said, glancing over at Kate and Mark.

Mark shook his head. "We're reconstructing the files using some of the best algorithms available, but we still don't have a clear picture."

"The diagram of the station gives us a good picture of its design." Kate projected the image onto the viewscreen. "Here there are definite weapons emplacements. We can tell because of the sections embedded in the hull." The view zoomed in on the outer ring of the station, showing the section of the hull. "If this diagram was complete, we'd see a weapon battery in there. My guess is it'd be a type 12 phaser array."

"Why didn't the station shoot at us then?" Sean murmured, leaning against the railing. "Type 12 phasers would've easily cut right through us."

"The cloak might have been interfering with their weapons systems." Mark turned around and leaned against the console he'd been working at. "It takes an extraordinary amount of power to cloak something, especially something that big."

"And if they had decloaked, it would have exposed them to our scanners." Klena said.

"Alright. Keep digging, hopefully we'll find something."

"Captain, Mr. Bristol wants to talk to you." Jason's voice came from Sean's commbadge.

"Bring him to my ready room; I'll talk to him there." Sean glanced at the display on the viewscreen, then shook his head and walked to his ready room.

He took a seat behind the desk, activating his computer with the touch of a button. The lcars menu system appeared. He activated the recording system just as Jason entered with Wayne right behind him.

Jason took a spot by the door. Sean motioned for Wayne to sit. "How are your quarters?"

"They're comfortable." Wayne replied, his dark eyes leaving Sean with a feeling of deja vu to the trial with Admiral Wolf. "You said on the Station that Starfleet framed you, I want to help."

"I'm going to go out on a limb. We hardly know who you are, how do I know I can trust you?"

"From what I overheard on the station, it was Starfleet that was holding me." He looked around the room. "I don't have any love for them after that. If you're willing to accept me, I can do something about it."

Sean leaned forward. "I'll consider it. For now, I want you to stay in your quarters."

"Under guard?" Wayne asked, his voice carrying a note of anger.

"Until I can trust you Mr. Bristol, this is my ship." Sean saved the recording of the meeting. "Thank you for talking to me."

Jason led Wayne out of the room. Sean shook his head. It was too easy with Wayne, too easy to get him to join them. He flexed his fingers involuntarily, and then walked back out onto the Bridge. He approached Nathan. "Run a search on the Starfleet database for a Wayne Bristol."

Nathan nodded and entered a handful of commands into his console. "Here's something interesting. According to the database Mr. Bristol is a member of Starfleet."

"So where is he assigned?"

"The USS Trinity, Akira class." Nathan narrowed his eyes. "But he doesn't have a service jacket. There's no record of him doing anything on that ship."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no log entries, no date of when he left the ship to be a freighter pilot. The only thing here is his commissioning date." Nathan looked up. "There's something wrong here."

"Everyone has more in their file than that, even cadets at Starfleet academy."

Nathan's console started beeping at him. He looked down. "A ship just warped into the system. It's the USS Darwin, she has weapons powered and shields already up."

"Red Alert, prepare to get out of here." Sean walked to his seat. "Erica, plot us an exit course."

"Captain, shields aren't responding." Nathan said.

"I've lost engines." Erica added. "All we have are maneuvering thrusters!"

Sean tapped his commbadge. "Engineering, what's happening?" There was no response. "Crewman Scott, please respond!"

"I've got to get down there." Mark said.

"Nathan, go with him." Sean ordered. "Security to the guest quarters."

Sean sat down. "Klena, cover tactical."

"Tactical will be of little use." She said as she took the station. "They are approaching from our port side; our phaser fire has minimal effectiveness there. The Norway class has strong forward phasers."

"Without shields it doesn't matter."

"Security here." Sean heard from his commbadge. "We've located crewman Striker, he's unconscious in the guest quarters. His phaser and tricorder are gone."

"Get him up to Deck 2." Sean glanced over at Kate. "Put me on ship-wide audio."

She nodded.

"This is the Captain; chances are we're about to boarded by Federation officers. We obviously can't control every section of the ship, so I want everyone to hold critical positions. If you are unsure of where to go, head for the Mess Hall on Deck 2. Security, distribute phaser rifles to everyone."

"They're hailing." Kate said, taking a deep breath after she did.

"Alright, let's hear it. At the very least it buys us time."

The image on the view screen was replaced with a view of the Darwin's commander. He was a graying man, with a short military trimmed hair cut. Two blue eyes sharply contrasted the paleness of his skin. "I'm Captain Morgan Ellsworth of the USS Darwin."

"Captain Sean Cunningham of the Guenidier." Sean stood to face the Captain of the other ship.

"More correctly the USS Foxhound, a vessel that you stole. Stealing a Starfleet vessel for your own personal profit is a high crime." Captain Ellsworth cleared his throat. "Here is the offer Starfleet is prepared to make you."

Sean crossed his arms, listening even though he had no intention of listening.

"Surrender your ship, peacefully allow yourselves to be taken into custody, and you will be allowed to go free. That is the only offer."

"This actually sounds familiar Captain." Sean replied sarcastically. "This sounds like how we got into this mess to begin with." He started to pace. "We allowed ourselves to be taken prisoner." He narrowed his vision. "Now tell me Captain, since I have no intention of surrendering. What are your real orders?"

"You are to be taken into custody, and returned to Starfleet Command." Captain Ellsworth broke his gaze. "I have no quarrel with you Captain, but you have violated Federation law. Prepare to be boarded."

"Good luck Captain." Sean said just as Captain Ellsworth cut the transmission. "This is it." He said.

Two security officers entered the Bridge, carrying phaser rifles. They quickly began passing them out. Sean took two from one of the officers and passed one to Erica. The officers quickly left.

He tapped his commbadge. "Attention all hands, we're about to be boarded. Stay together and we'll make it through this." He glanced up at Klena. "Any chance we can disable them with just our phasers?"

"Not before they caused considerable damage." She replied, holding her phaser rifle with one hand. "However, if we were to regain control of shields and engines, the balance of power would shift."

"Then let's just hope Nathan and Mark get to engineering soon." Sean turned back to the Bridge crew. "Find defensive positions. Set your phasers to stun." He knew they would be coming any second from now.

XXX

Nathan yanked Mark back just as the first phaser bolts came racing down the corridor. The engineer pressed his back against the wall, watching the rear. Nathan held his rifle at the ready, poking his head around the corner.

Engineering was just down the hall, but Starfleet marines were already in control. They were camped in the doorway. Another series of phaser blasts forced him to duck behind the corner again. He glanced over at Mark. "There are four guards, two in the door, and two across the hall."

Mark reset his rifle to burst mode. "I'll cover you."

Nathan nodded. He reset his own rifle to fully automatic fire mode. It would fire much like the burst mode, but in a consistent stream. He took a deep breath, and then came around the corner. He sidestepped as he fired, a consistent stream of phaser bolts flying both directions down the hall.

The small alcove he got in was barely big enough to be cover. He didn't need it. Mark popped around the corner next, firing at the marines near the entrance to engineering. Nathan took advantage of their distraction and leaned around the corner, firing at the marines across the hall. He managed to hit one in the stomach and the other in the upper chest.

It didn't matter where he hit them with the phaser on stun; both of them were out for the count. He ducked back around the corner, narrowly avoiding getting shot. Mark fired a burst from around the corner, and then Nathan ducked out again. He crouched and fired at the other two marines. Mark got one with a burst; Nathan took the other one out.

Mark jogged forward, stopping just short of the entrance to engineering. Nathan came up behind him. "Watch the balconies, covering fire, now!"

Mark pointed his rifle around the corner and carefully fired a burst to either side of the warp core as Nathan ran across the entryway. A series of phaser shots rained down from the balcony. Mark shifted his aim and leaned around the corner.

He spotted to marines on the balcony. He fired a burst. The marine slouched back from the impact. Nathan took the other guard out with a single shot. He carefully poked his head around the corner.

No more phaser fire greeted them, so Nathan took the first step in. He spotted William slouched over a console, his hands bound by a crude set of cuffs. Mark ran over to him. "What happened?"

"Bristol came in here and held me at phaser point, and then those Starfleet people came." William muttered. "They whacked me over the head pretty good."

"Where did Bristol go?" Nathan asked.

"He beamed out with a datapad. I think he downloaded our command codes from the computer core."

"Did he say anything?"

"Only that we'd regret the day we crossed him." William coughed. "I think he was Starfleet intelligence of some sort. He knew exactly how to break into our computers."

"Where did he sabotage the shields and engines?" Mark asked.

"He disabled the power flow to them, encrypted it with some key."

Nathan finally cut through the cuffs. "Is there any way to break through it?"

Mark glanced at the console. "Oh man this is bad." He entered a set of commands. "It's going to take me a good ten minutes to get through this!"

"We don't have ten minutes."

Mark looked back at Nathan. "I know."

XXX

Sean ducked as another bolt impacted near his head. Both turbolifts were providing cover to Starfleet marines, leaving him with little room to move behind the helm console, especially with the ready room and the briefing room also providing a place for the Starfleet marines to hide.

Sean fired a burst towards the turbolift next to tactical, catching one of the marines in the head. Even a stun bolt to the head was likely to kill. At this point he didn't feel guilty. The reports from his commbadge told the same story, everyone was pinned down.

"Mark, please tell me you've got the shields back."

"Almost!" Mark replied through the commbadge.

Erica peaked around the corner of the helm console and fired a burst into the turbolift next to ops. She managed to hit both of the marines in the turbolift. "YES!!!" She shouted, drawing the fire from the other turbolift and the ready room.

Sean used that distraction to fire into his ready room. Both of the marines in the doorway ducked to avoid being hit. Klena took a shot to the shoulder as the marines in the briefing room fired at her in response.

She ducked behind the tactical console. "They are not using the stun setting." Her voice came from his commbadge.

"Then try not to get hit again." Sean shouted back. He tapped Erica on the shoulder. "Cover me."

She nodded.

He fired another set of shots into the briefing room, forcing both marines to duck inside the briefing room. He then fired another burst into his ready room. He got one of the marines with a lucky shot. The other ducked out of the way.

Kate saw what he was trying to do and added her phaser rifle to the mix. Her shots further forced the guard to back up from the doorway of Sean's ready room. Sean ran across the room, ducking as he went. The door to his ready room was a trap and he knew it, at the last second he threw himself into a roll.

The shots intended for his head passed harmlessly above him. He raised his rifle and fired on the marine, catching him twice at close range. The marine slumped over on the couch of the ready room. Sean pressed his back to the wall, just out of reach of the marines in the briefing room.

He tapped his commbadge. "Mark?"

"I got it!" Mark replied. "Shields are coming online."

"Good, that will prevent them from beaming in reinforcements." Sean leaned around the corner and fired into the briefing room. One of his bursts hit the marine on the right side of the doorway. The second one jumped back out of the way.

That left two marines in the room. They both had defensible positions, but now they were outnumbered. Sean ducked to the opposite side of the door. Klena couldn't move from behind the tactical station, phaser bursts kept her from coming around the corner.

Sean caught Erica's eye and motioned for her to cross the room quickly and take the final marine in the briefing room. Klena fired a burst towards the briefing room right before Erica ducked in, firing as she went.

She took up a position in the doorway of the briefing room, signaling it was all clear with a wave of her hand. She slowly advanced, coming up to the top of the Bridge. She quietly walked to right next to the turbolift.

Klena leaned out for just a second, drawing the fire of the marine in turbolift, then Erica came around the corner. The split second it took for the marine to shift targets was all the time Erica needed to hit him with a precise shot to the abdomen.

Sean looked around the Bridge. "Clear." He called.

"Clear." Erica echoed.

"Klena, target the Darwin's shields, then weapons, and finally engines." Sean came back to his seat. "Erica, bring us around and keep our phaser banks within range of them."

"Yes sir." Erica said cheerfully.

"Phasers only, let's try to conserve our torpedoes." Sean ordered. The Guenidier fired on the Darwin as it accelerated.

"Their shields are holding." Klena announced. "However, they will not for long."

"Fire at will." Sean said, momentarily enjoying the elation of victory against a superior force. The Guenidier fired again, this time its phasers broke through the Darwin's shields. The phasers cut holes into the Darwin's hull, exposing circuitry to space.

"There weapons and shields are offline." Klena announced. "Targeting their warp engines." She waited as the phasers ripped through the warp nacelles of the Darwin. Warp plasma bled into space. "They are drifting Captain."

"How is their life support?"

"It is mildly damage, nothing that cannot be fixed."

"Their comm system?"

"It is operational."

"Hail them." Sean stood back up as the image on the view screen changed to one of Captain Ellsworth again. Sean could see the signs of damage in the background of the Bridge of the Darwin.

"What do you want?" Ellsworth asked. "We left your ship undamaged!"

"You sabotaged my ship, and tried to kill my crew." Sean looked at him. "But here's what we're going to do. We're going to return all of your marines. They are unconscious, thankfully because we were using stun. After that we will take what we want from your cargo bays with our transporters. By the time Federation reinforcements arrive, we'll be long gone."

"Why?"

"I'm not a murderer Captain. No one here is, with the exception of your marines." Sean paused. "Make no more aggressive moves and I will not cause further damage to your ship. If you do however, I will."

"Understood." Captain Ellsworth glared at Sean.

Kate cut the transmission. "They've activated a standard Starfleet distress beacon."

"Let them." Sean replied. He tapped his commbadge. "Security, what's the status of our guests?"

"We've got all of them." Nathan replied. "I'm on Deck 2. We've got a total of thirty prisoners here, another six in Engineering, and however many you've got on the Bridge."

"Assemble them for transport." Sean replied. "We're beaming them all back to the Darwin."

"Yes sir." Nathan replied. "They're in the main commissary of the mess hall."

Sean looked over at Kate. "Energize."

Kate nodded. A transporter beam enveloped all of the unconscious marines on the Bridge. "They're all over there."

"Find their torpedo magazine. Beam all their torpedoes over to our ship."

She nodded. "We've got 45 torpedoes from them. I put them in the Cargo Bay."

"Leave them the rest." Sean crossed his arms. "Erica, get us out of here, warp 8."

She nodded.

XXX

Sean looked out the window of the briefing room. The stars streaked as the ship passed them by at warp. He turned back to face his officers. "What did we recover from the data we got from the station?"

"Nothing." Kate said. "There was absolutely nothing there. Aside from some assumptions based on the overall geometry of the station, we have nothing."

"Mr. Bristol also escaped." Nathan added. "He took with him our command codes, our crew manifest, and our supplies manifest. Starfleet knows what we need. Chances are we won't have too many more chances to restock here."

Sean took a seat at the head of the table. Klena, Nathan, and Kate sat to his left at the table. Erica and Mark sat on the other side. "What kinds of leads are we looking at?"

"Our only lead suggests that Starfleet intelligence may be behind these actions by Starfleet." Klena said. "However, we have no way to get to Earth anymore."

"So that leaves with no leads?" Sean asked.

"They cleaned up that installation too well." Nathan said. "I don't care if you are professionals. There was nothing left behind except bait."

"And I fell for it." Sean said, drawing the attention back to him. "We've made mistakes, but we're not done yet."

"We must avoid detection." Klena said. "Our strength is exhausted. The crew cannot sustain this ship themselves. Not properly."

"I could use a few more engineers." Mark mentioned. "We only have three as it is, and one of them works the night shift."

"I know." Sean said. "I've asked a lot of all of you. We need a place to avoid detection, there's not a place in the near Alpha quadrant we could hide though."

"The Beta quadrant." Erica said. "Starfleet has a very small presence there, mainly along the neutral zone."

"Are we sure we want to go there?" Mark said. "Starfleet has done little exploration of that quadrant and the Klingons and Romulans still hold that data close to them."

Nathan shook his head. "There's no way we'd make it through the Klingon/Romulan neutral zone, not in our current condition. It's one of the most heavily guarded borders in the Alpha quadrant."

"It's our best bet." Erica said. "That's a border the Federation won't dare follow us across."

Sean rested his head on his hand for a second. "For now we'll chart our course to the Neutral zone." He shook his head to clear it. "Try to get some rest. We'll be in for a long trip."

XXX

Sean looked down at his steaming cut of tea. The only lighting in the mess hall was from the starlight and the few lights still on in the back. He cupped it with his hands, letting the heat from the tea seep through the cup and to his hands, leaning against the table as he did.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "Captain, you okay?" Kate asked.

"Yeah." He said softly with a smile. "What brings you by the Mess Hall this late at night?"

"I could ask you the same question." She said taking her hand off his shoulder to lift her cup to her mouth.

"Hot chocolate I presume?" He gestured to her cup.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "You should try it."

"Someday Kate, just not tonight."

"Try it." She said. "Trust me it'll clear your head."

Sean smirked. "Alright." He stood up and walked over to the replicator. "Computer, Hot Chocolate."

"Computer, make sure that's with marshmallows."

Sean thought for a moment, glancing over at Kate, as a small smile formed on his face. He picked up the steaming cup from the replicator and carried back over to the table. He took a sip, not expecting the sugar content to be as high as it was. His smile widened.

"See it's great for clearing your head." Kate said, climbing up to sit on the table, facing the windows.

Sean didn't smile. "Only so much."

"You sure you're okay?" She shrugged. "I mean normally it's you and Commander Turner giving me advice."

"It's just..." Sean let his voice trail off.

"It isn't gonna go away if you don't talk about it?" Kate took a sip from her cup, giving him time to answer.

"I feel... lost." Sean said slowly.

"How so?" Kate turned to face him, crossing her legs as she did.

Sean glanced at her. "I used to look out that window and see finding who destroyed the Pandora." He gesture to the window. "Now I can't see it."

"You feel that you let us down." Kate said.

"Yeah." Sean looked away.

"Don't." She said simply.

He glanced back at her. "The crew is my responsibility."

"We're not..." She paused, searching for the right word. "...we're not disappointed in you. We knew going into this that it wasn't going to be a few weeks of work."

"I know, but we came so close."

"Look at it this way, its more scenic this way."

Sean looked back out the window. "Maybe."

"At the very least, you should get some sleep sir." Kate climbed off the table. "Good night sir."

"Kate." Sean said, turning to look at her before she left. "Thanks."

Kate smiled, and then left the room.