Back on the Voyager, Captain Janeway was in her chair on the bridge. Commander Chakotay was sitting next to her in his chair and taking some time to study a few reports from engineering. Lieutenant Carey had managed to keep the engine room in good hands during B'Elanna's absence, but the engineering staff was actually beginning to miss having someone yell at them and push them to work more efficiently.

Tuvok was also at his post. There had been virtually no breaches in security ever since the Voyager had arrived at Jiopia. He had found the performance of the security force to be merely sufficient. But for Tuvok, "sufficient" was a rather glamorous characterization.

As Tuvok studied the latest tactical report, a weak communications signal started beeping on the main panel in front of him. He glanced at it for a few moments, and then he announced "Captain, we're receiving a message. It is very faint."

"Point of origin?" inquired Janeway.

"Unknown." Tuvok answered. "But based on its rate of dissipation, it could not have been transmitted further than ten hours away at Warp 9."

Janeway developed an astute theory in her mind. She told the others on the bridge "Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry are conducting their survey of that binary pulsar cluster within ten hours' worth of travel at Warp 9. Perhaps they sent the message."

"What is the nature of the communiqué, Tuvok?" asked Chakotay.

After studying the message, Tuvok declared "I believe it is a distress signal."

Janeway immediately stood up and turned toward her Security Chief.

"Are you certain about that, Tuvok?"

"No, Captain." Tuvok answered her. "I merely said I believe it is a distress signal. There is no confirmation for that claim yet."

Janeway slowly sat back down in her chair and ordered the Vulcan "Keep me notified on your progress in deciphering the message. If as much as a piece of it suggests it was a distress call sent from the Delta Flyer, we will investigate the area the communiqué originated from ourselves."

Back on the Nocalna, Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry had decided to get some rest. All three of them were able to sleep with ease that night.

Harry and B'Elanna had fallen asleep rather quickly, but Tom was lying awake in bed and taking a moment to think about what had just happened.

For the past week, he had been nowhere outside of the Delta Flyer and he had not seen anyone other than Harry or B'Elanna. He began to wonder how Captain Janeway would take the news of him making first contact. She had put him in charge of the mission, and expected him to avoid unnecessary first contacts. However, he did believe B'Elanna and Harry when they told him that the Captain would understand. Captain Janeway was usually one of the most understanding people Tom had ever meant. But then the word "usually" started to haunt him. In the end, he decided that he was overreacting and drifted off to sleep.

He didn't sleep that long, though. Just a few hours later, somebody was violently shaking him. When he was finally awake, the person stopped. B'Elanna and Harry were standing over him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, and then asked "What's going on?"

"Get dressed, quickly." said B'Elanna. "The ship is under attack."

"What?" said Tom, jumping to his feet.

"First Commander Ekelith just issued red alert." Harry informed him. "Apparently three Riscadi ships came out of nowhere and started firing on the ship."

The ship then gave a violent lurch, almost throwing Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry off their feet. But they were able to remain balanced and stand upright.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" said Tom. Harry and B'Elanna left the room so that Tom could change his clothes in private. Once he was back in uniform like them, he said "We should probably get to the bridge. We may be of some assistance to these people."

B'Elanna and Harry agreed. They made their way to the bridge of the Nocalna. The room was a wreck. Conduits had blown out, panels had overloaded, and there were at least two fires sparking up.

Sixteen of the twenty-eight members of the bridge crew were dead. The remaining twelve were struggling to get the place in order. The viewscreen was showing what was directly in front of the ship. The three Riscadi ships were coming closer and closer to the Nocalna. Soon, the Riscadi had linked up and were boarding the ship.

Harry, B'Elanna, and Tom found Second Commander Grolt under a pile of rubble. They managed to pull him out from under it and get him to his feet.

"Where's Ekelith?" asked Harry.

"Dead." said Grolt. "The ship is my responsibility now. I'm going to try to organize the rest of the crew and fend off the Riscadi. In the meantime, the three of you should return to your shuttle and leave this region of space as soon as possible."

"Is there anything we can do?" Tom asked, concerned for the Beitruu and their ship.

"I'm afraid not." Grolt answered. "The nearest backup is four hours' worth of flight away. By the time they got here, this ship will be nothing but debris."

"But surely there must be something we can do for you." said B'Elanna.

"In that case, please contact our government as soon as you're a light-year out of this vicinity." said Grolt. "Let them know that the Riscadi are coming."

"'Coming?'" said Tom.

"Those three ships out there are only scouting ships." Grolt clarified. "We just discovered that they're launching a full-scale invasion on Beitruu territory. You need to let our government know so that they may prepare themselves."

"Alright." said B'Elanna. "We'll do it."

Harry nodded at B'Elanna, but Tom was not so sure about this request. Harry and B'Elanna did notice the skepticism in his face, but decided not to delve into the matter at that time.

Grolt picked up a datapad from and counter and handed it over to Tom. He told him "That's the frequency our government uses. You can use it to contact our main ruling body, the Beitruu High-Standing Committee."

Tom just looked at it, and then nodded hesitantly at the Second Commander. Grolt called over four of the security officers stationed on the bridge. He ordered them to accompany Tom, Harry, and B'Elanna to the hanger bay and to see to their departure. The men complied, armed themselves and led the three Starfleet crewmen out of the bridge.

They traveled a few decks downward. As they got closer and closer to the hanger bay, they could hear the sounds of phaser-fire and shouting.

One of the men escorting Tom, Harry, and B'Elanna signaled the rest of the group to stop and slowly he moved forward ahead of the rest of the group. He stood up against a wall and carefully peaked around the corner. Just one instant later, someone down the adjoining corridor shot him in the face. The man shouted in pain, grabbed the place on his head that had been hit, and dropped to the ground.

Another of the escorts went over to the one that had been shot and kneeled next to him. After failing to find his pulse, he turned to his colleagues and told them "Get the Federation crewmen to the hanger via the long way. I'll hold off the boarding party."

His fellow security officers nodded and turned to B'Elanna, Tom, and Harry. One of them said "This way" and led them down another corridor. Before long, they could hear more phaser-fire back from that last corridor. It was immediately followed by the shouts of the Beitruu guard that had remained behind.

After another minute of travelling through the corridors, one of the remaining two escorts proclaimed "We're almost there. Just two more corridors and we'll arrive at the hanger bay."

"That's good to know." said B'Elanna.

They passed through the next corridor without encountering the Riscadi. But upon arriving in the corridor with the hanger bay, there was a group of Riscadi firing at them from the other end of the corridor.

One of the Beitruu escorts was hit full in the chest and killed instantly. The last one ducked in cover with Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry. The escort pulled a small device out of his pocket and said "This should slow them down."

He threw the device down the corridor. After it set in place, it started emitting a type of thick opaque smoke. Soon it covered most of the area in-between the Riscadi and the entrance to the hanger bay. The Beitruu escort got out from his cover and fired a few times down the corridor. The Riscadi soldiers could be heard groaning and collapsing on the other side of smoke.

The escort turned to his three companions and told them "Let's go!"

They got up and followed him to the hanger door. The escort approached the door's panel, which was dangerously close to the smoke, and entered in the code for the door to be opened. The terminal then gave a "beep," indicating that the code had been accepted.

Suddenly, one of the Riscadi jumped out of the smoke cloud and lunged for the escort. They collided with each other just outside the hanger bay. Pretty soon, they were fighting in hand-to-hand combat. It was then that Harry, B'Elanna, and Tom saw what a Riscadi looked like up close for the first time.

The Riscadi had dreadful appearances. Their skin and heads were brown and full of compressed wrinkles. They were bald and their teeth were as large and sharp as a vampire's. They were slightly shorter than the average Human, but their alarming countenances made up for their height.

As the struggle continued, the Beitruu soldier looked over his shoulder and called back "You must go! Now!"

Tom, Harry, and B'Elanna approached the hanger bay door. It opened and they were about to step in, but first they looked back at the two fighting men. After a few seconds, the Riscadi warrior gripped the Beitruu security guard by the throat. Then with one swift move, he opened his mouth, brought his head forward, and bit the guard right on the neck. The guard shrieked in agony as the Riscadi warrior sank his teeth deeper into his neck. Finally, the Riscadi bore his mouth out of the Beitruu's neck, tearing out some chunks of it in the process. Five seconds later, the guard died of suffocation.

The Riscadi looked up at the three shocked Starfleet officers. He gave them a grin that was both wicked and vicious, revealing his blood-stained teeth. It was truly a terrifying sight.

Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry rushed into the hanger bay. The door closed behind them and automatically locked itself. The three Starfleet officers got into the Delta Flyer, sealed the door, and got into the cockpit. There they took their stations and started up the engines.

Once the engines were up and running, the Delta Flyer rose off the ground and started moving forward. It passed through the forcefield on the far wall. Once it was clear of the hanger bay, it moved away from the Nocalna and flew away at Warp 8.

As Tom flew the ship away, Harry said "I'm preparing to send a message to Voyager. They need to know about this."

"But Ekelith said that the Riscadi would be able to track it." B'Elanna reminded him.

"It's a bit late to be worrying about that." said Tom.

"In that case, we should also warn the Beitruu High-Standing Committee." B'Elanna suggested.

"She's right." said Harry. "Tom, do you still have that frequency Grolt gave you."

"Yes, I do." said the pilot from the front of the shuttle. "But I'm not so sure that I want to use it."

Harry and B'Elanna were surprised to hear him say that. Harry said "Tom, you just said that we don't have to worry about being discovered any more, seeing as how we already-"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Harry." Tom interrupted. "I meant that we shouldn't do it because that would be interference."

"Interference?" said B'Elanna.

Tom explained: "By contacting the Committee, we will be letting the Beitruu know in advance about the Riscadi incursion. Granted that we would be giving the Beitruu time to prepare and to defend themselves, it would still be a breach of the Prime Directive."

"Tom, you saw what that Riscadi did to that Beitruu outside the hanger." said B'Elanna. "He butchered him! For all we know,

"The Prime Directive is explicit, B'Elanna." said Tom. "NO exceptions. Not unless the survival of the Federation is at stake. As far as I know, the Riscadi won't be attacking the Federation any time soon."

"Tom, don't the Beitruu at least have the right to defend themselves?" said B'Elanna.

"Of course they do." said Tom. "But they'll get that chance without our interference."

"Tom, a transmission from this ship could be the difference between their survival and their destruction!" said Harry.

"Guys, we're in enough trouble already!" said Tom. "We've already made first contact without the Captain's consent. If we go back and tell her we've also broken the Prime Directive, she'll be outraged!"

Before they had time to debate the matter any further, an alarm sounded inside the Flyer.

"What now?" B'Elanna asked exasperatedly.

Harry turned to his station and declared "One of the Riscadi vessels has broken off from the Nocalna. It's coming right for us!"

"Damnit." Tom turned back to his station and took the controls. As he piloted the ship, he called back to B'Elanna "Can we go any faster than warp 8?"

"I'm afraid not." she replied. "Our engines are still recovering from that blast of energy that the Beitruu used to disable us."

"Harry, bring weapons up!" Tom ordered.

Harry went to work. Soon, he said "Phaser banks are charged; photon torpedoes are armed!"

"I'm going to swing us around." said Tom. "Target their engines and fire on my mark."

"I'm ready!" said Harry.

Tom gripped the controls and brought them upward. The Delta Flyer swung around and got behind the Riscadi ship.

"Fire!" said Tom.

Harry fired the phasers four times and launched two photon torpedoes at the Riscadi vessel. After this happened, Harry proudly announced the Riscadi ship as disabled. But just as quickly, his smile changed to a look of uneasiness.

"Oh, no." Harry thought aloud.

"What is it?" asked B'Elanna.

"They're somehow tapping into our mainframe and accessing our environmental controls." Harry announced. "They're reprogramming it to give off a type of compound into the air!"

"Is the compound fatal?" asked Tom.

"No, it's only strong enough to render us unconscious." said Harry. "But I can already… fe-feel… it… start-"

Tom turned around and saw his best friend leaning over the panels. He was struggling to sit up straight.

"Harry, are you all right?" said Tom.

Soon Harry fell out of his chair and landed on the floor unconscious. B'Elanna got out of her chair and went to his aid.

"Is he okay?" asked Tom.

"He's fine." said B'Elanna. Suddenly, she was starting to feel drowsy. She made her way back to her station and said to Tom "I can't stay fo-focused… Tom, you ha-have… to get… us out of-"

B'Elanna fell to the ground near Harry.

Tom was now the only one of the three that was still awake. He turned back to the panel and began entering a course away from that region of space, but already he could feel the compound's effects starting to work on him.

"Come on, Mr. Paris, stay awake." he muttered to himself. He put up a resilient struggle against the compound, but just before he engaged the auto-pilot sequence, he lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

Now Tom, B'Elanna, and Harry were all lying on the ground in a comatose state.

...

Several hours later, they were rescued by Voyager. They continued their voyage home to the Alpha Quadrant.