Back at Deep Space Nine, the baseball game in Holodeck 2 had ended. Captain Sisko was back in uniform and making his way back to Ops. On the way, he encountered Odo.
"How are you today, Constable?" asked Sisko.
"I'm doing quite well, Captain." said Odo. "Thank you for asking."
"Any security threats that should be reported?" inquired Sisko.
"Not really." said Odo. "A minor robbery in the Tholian ambassador's quarters. I apprehended the culprit and he paid his fine. Then there were two vandalisms on the Promenade, both done by children. I let the children off with a warning- and I gave them the privilege of cleaning up their respective defacements. And then, of course, there's Quark."
"Quark up to his usual tricks?" assumed the Captain.
"No doubt about that, sir." was Odo's response. "Sometimes I wonder if he'll ever learn."
"Between you and me, I never wonder that." said Sisko. "I sometimes feel that I know he'll never learn."
"Well, as much as I would love to agree with you now, Captain," said Odo, "there's no telling what the future can hold. The Ferengi can be a rather impulsive and unpredictable race."
"I'm sure you can use Nog as a fine example for that." Sisko suggested. "Seeing as how he is the first of his people to enlist in Starfleet, there's no telling what other Ferengi might do."
"An excellent point." Odo agreed.
By then, they had made it to the lift to Ops. They went rode the lift all the way up to the command center and walked into Ops. Chief O'Brien was working on a way to upgrade a few of the station's sensors so that they could cover a radius of almost two light years.
"Any luck so far, Chief?" asked the Captain.
"It's going to be harder than I originally thought, sir." O'Brien answered him. "There's a glut of technical obstacles I have to override in order to get to the sensor grid."
"Knowing you, it will probably be as challenging as deleting an unwanted file." said Sisko.
"Perhaps even easier than that, sir." said O'Brien. "I'll keep you posted."
"Thank you, Chief." said Sisko. As he and Odo walked to the center of the room, Sisko noticed a slight smirk on Odo's face. "Amused, Constable?"
"No, I'm not, Captain." answered the Changeling. "It's just that Chief O'Brien never ceases to amaze me."
"He amazes all of us." claimed Major Kira.
"I can't argue with you there, Major." said Sisko. "I'd bet that he will someday create a warp core that is powered by… I don't know; hydrogen and methane instead of a matter/antimatter combination."
O'Brien, having eavesdropped on the conversation, announced "I'll put that on my 'to do' list of miracles, Captain."
Sisko, Kira, and even Odo chuckled at O'Brien's comment. Sisko then turned to Kira and asked her "Any word from the Hanson yet?"
"Still no word, Captain." the Bajoran officer replied. "But they should be reporting in soon enough."
"Let's hope so." said Sisko.
Back on the Hanson, the active members of the crew were doing all they could to restore order and the disabled systems at the same time.
On Deck 2, Jimenez and Worf were trying to manually reactivate a few of the systems in the communications array. Isaacs was still out in the corridors fetching the power converters. He had managed to find a safe path around the corridor that had the power buildup in the wall.
"Let's see here." he muttered to himself, studying the information on his tricorder. "Can't go through Section 14-Beta. I'll have to cut through Section 5-Delta."
Isaacs eventually found the storage closet. He went into the room and looked through every container and cabinet in search of some power converters. Finally, he found what he was looking for. He attached his tricorder to his belt, picked out six power converters, and closed the cabinet doors. All of a sudden, he heard a type of banging noise coming from outside the room. He took his phaser out and pointed it at the door. No one came through it. Isaacs went to the door and looked down the corridor. No one was there.
Isaacs then put away his phaser and took the tricorder back out. He slowly approached the part of the corridor that was on the edge of the electrical buildup zone. He called out "Commander Worf!"
The Klingon officer came out of the communications room and called down the corridor "What is it, Ensign?"
"Walk very slowly towards me." Isaacs instructed him. "I'll tell you when you should stop."
Worf complied and walked at a smooth and easy pace towards Isaacs. When he was a little over two meters away from him, Isaacs said "Stop!"
Worf stood still where he was instructed to. Isaacs then told him "I'm going to toss you these power converters. You and Jimenez can use them to reactivate the communications array."
"Is there still a power buildup in the wall?" inquired Worf.
"Yes." said Isaacs. "I'm not going to risk walking down this corridor and having the conduit blow out in my face. I mean, you saw what happened to Robertson."
"I understand, Ensign." Worf opened his hands and put them in the air. Isaacs tossed him all six of the power converters one at a time. Once all six of them were in Worf's possession, Worf said "Good work, Mr. Isaacs. What do you plan to do now?"
"I'm going to take a look around." Isaacs answered him. "There may be somebody else still alive on this deck. You see, I thought I heard something a moment ago."
"Alright." said Worf. "But don't take too long. It would be more prudent if we stay together."
"Yes, sir." Isaacs then headed down the hallway in search of the person he heard, and Worf went back to the communications array. He and Jimenez hooked up the power converters to the terminals and began to transfer the power from the electrical distributions to the power cells of the central communications panel.
"About how long will this take?" asked Worf.
Jimenez shrugged and said "Not long; about ten minutes. But it could be a little longer than that."
The two of them went to work transferring power from the conduits to the terminals.
On Deck 5, Lieutenant Ritsion was still in sickbay, attempting to recover the EMH's program. Fortunately for her, none of the holo-emitters had been damaged in the EMP bombardment. She had to transfer a few redundant systems, but Ritsion finally managed to access the EMH. She activated the program and the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram materialized in the room.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." stated the holographic physician.
"The entire ship's been hit by an EMP bomb." Ritsion enlightened him.
"And how does this imply a medical emergency?" inquired the EMH.
"We have several injured crewmembers in need of treatment." she answered. "All the members of the medical staff that were on duty are either dead or unconscious at the moment."
"Very well." said the doctor. He started examining the crewmen on the bio-beds and he administered some required medicines for their respective injuries. "Do you know who attacked the ship?"
"Why would you want to know that?" asked Ritsion.
"It's in my programming to attempt to make Smalltalk with people while I work." the physician explained. "So do you know who planted the bomb?"
"Not yet." said Ritsion. "But the bomb was placed in main engineering. We sent a few people down there to recover some parts of it."
"Alright." said the EMH. "I better get to work treating these patients."
A few corridors away, Bashir and Olsen were helping three more survivors get to sickbay. Two of them were unconscious, and the other one was just barely conscious.
While they walked, Bashir turned his head over to Olsen and got his attention by uttering "Commander?"
Olsen looked over at Bashir and replied with "Yes, Doctor?"
"I wish to apologize to you about what I said to you earlier." said Bashir. "I should not have been intruding into your personal life like that."
"Actually, Doctor," said Olsen, "I've been thinking about what you said. Candidly, you were quite right. Lieutenant Ritsion and I do have personal feelings for each other. Right now, I'm letting those feelings interfere with command decisions."
Bashir gave a light smirk at Olsen and told him "Don't worry, sir. We'll still get through this."
They then escorted the three wounded officers to sickbay. When they arrived in sickbay, they found the EMH treating the patients and Lieutenant Ritsion examining the people on the ground. She was hoping to find a few members of the medical staff that were still alive. Just as she found one, Bashir and Olsen came through the doors.
"It appears we've found six survivors total." Bashir noted.
After getting the four people they had just recovered onto the bio-beds, Olsen said to Ritsion "Tonja, there's something I need you to do."
"Go ahead, Commander." she listened closely.
He placed the tricorder in her hand and told her "I need you to get to Deck 4. Lieutenant Priow may need all the help he can get."
"What about you, sir?" said Ritsion, obviously concerned for the Commander.
"Dr. Bashir will stay here and help the EMH treat the survivors." Olsen enlightened her. "I'll continue to look for more of them."
"But without the tricorder-" Ritsion began.
"I won't be able to detect the electrical power surges." Olsen finished for her. "I know. But it is imperative that those escape pods be brought online."
Ritsion was about to say something more when the barely conscious crewman abruptly started faintly muttering something directed at Commander Olsen. The Commander, Ritsion, and Bashir turned to the crewman and approached his bio-bed.
"What is he saying?" asked Ritsion.
"I believe he is trying to tell us something." Bashir speculated. "But he's still in shock. That's making it difficult for him to talk straight."
"This should help him recover." the EMH injected a type of medicine into the crewman's neck. He quickly recovered from his shock. When he was able to talk straight again, he asked Olsen "Commander, what is going on?"
Olsen and the others informed him about the EMP bomb, the evacuation plan, and everything else on their agenda. Once they had finished, the crewman had already regained the strength to sit up. As he sat up, he said "If Lieutenant Priow and the other groups each have one of these upgraded tricorders, then perhaps Lieutenant Ritsion does not have to keep that one the whole time."
"What are you implying, Mr. Vaughan?" inquired Olsen.
"I could go with Lieutenant Ritsion to the next deck." Vaughan suggested. "Once we have found Lieutenant Priow, she can work with him. I can then take the tricorder and bring it back here."
"That is a very proficient idea, Ensign." Bashir complimented him. "But are you sure you are well enough to move between decks?"
"Absolutely." Vaughan moved his legs to one side of the bio-bed and stood up. "I don't know what was in that hypospray you gave me, Doc, but it sure got me back on my feet quickly enough."
"All the same, you should take it easy on yourself, Ensign." the EMH cautioned him.
"I will." Vaughan assured him. He turned to Ritsion and said "Shall we precede, Lieutenant?"
Ritsion and Vaughan left sickbay and headed for Deck 4.
"I can tell that was a difficult decision for you to make, Commander." said Bashir. "But I'm glad to see you were able to set aside your personal feelings."
"Thank you, Doctor." said Olsen. "I'm going to search for more survivors. And don't worry. I know how far we went without running into a buildup."
The Commander then left sickbay to search for more survivors. Dr. Bashir and the EMH resumed treating the wounded crewmembers.
On Deck 4, Priow had found two more members of the crew that were comatose, but still alive. He had moved both of them to the escape pod Caldera was in. After he accomplished that, he tried to get the escape pods online. But he was having no luck; too many systems had been short-circuited.
Suddenly, he heard someone coming. Instinctively, he drew his phaser and waited. When Ritsion and Vaughan came through the door a moment later, Priow put his weapon away. He asked "Did Commander Olsen send you up here?"
"Yes." said Ritsion. "He wants me to assist you in activating the escape pods."
"Alright." said Priow. "I'll need some help bypassing the central command nodes."
Ritsion handed Vaughan her tricorder and went to assist Priow. Vaughan headed for the door and was about to leave when Priow said "Vaughan, where are you going?"
"Commander Olsen just wanted me to accompany Lieutenant Ritsion here." the ensign explained. "You see, this tricorder is the one that belongs to his group. He gave it to her so that she could make it up here safely. I came along so that after she got here, she would be able to use your tricorder. Now I'm going to regroup with Commander Olsen so that we can keep searching for survivors with this tricorder."
"Oh, okay." said Priow. "Go right ahead. But tell the Commander to be on his guard. Earlier, I thought I heard someone prowling around in the corridors. I don't know who it was, but we should be careful."
Vaughan drew his phaser and said "I'll be careful and I'll let the Commander know of this 'stalker.'"
Vaughan left the room, leaving Priow and Ritsion to work on activating the escape pods. About a minute later, Ritsion said "I think I can handle it from here. You go look for more survivors."
Priow agreed, as Ritsion was the higher-ranked officer. He took his tricorder and went to survey the deck for other members of the crew.
On Deck 10, Dax and Coleman had managed to remove the bomb from the cabinet. Dax held onto it while the other members of the crew looked for a way to bring the warp core back on line.
Crewmen Floyd and Riggs had come down from the second level to join the others.
"I believe we can make some progress in bringing the warp core online if we divert power from the auxiliary impulse drive to the plasma manifolds." said the former of them.
"As for navigation," said the latter, "we're working on a way to find to pilot the ship manually."
"Unfortunately, this ship is in no condition to go anywhere at the moment." Morton added in.
"I doubt we'd get very far anyway." said Lurteas.
"Maybe we can separate the matter from the antimatter and from there purge all the discrepancies in its molecular formula." suggested Dax.
"The only one who knows how to conduct that procedure is Satifis." Morton enlightened her. "And he's dead."
"Well, we have to do something." Dax emphasized her point.
Without warning, they heard a loud pounding sound outside the room.
"What was that?" said Riggs.
"I don't know." said Floyd.
Coleman, Lurteas, and Dax drew their phasers. The three of them stepped toward the door very slowly. Coleman made a gesture that indicated he would go first. He slowly went through the doorway and pointed his phaser down both directions of the corridor. But there was no one there. In the end, he shrugged, turned back into the room, and said "Looks like it was just a false al-"
Coleman was immediately shot in the back then. He shouted and threw his arms into the air, dropping to the ground. Dax and Lurteas ran out into the corridor and aimed their phasers down the hall. There was no one else there. Hastily, the Trill and the Tellarite officers went back in main engineering and activated the emergency door seal. They stood with their phasers pointed at the door.
Morton ran over to Coleman to investigate the latter's condition. "Coleman's dead." he announced. He picked up Coleman's phaser and told the others "Whoever- or whatever- that was, we can safely assume that that wasn't a warning shot."
"What should we do, Commander?" Lurteas asked Dax.
"You stand guard at the door, Mr. Lurteas." Dax began. "The rest of us will do our best to get the internal sensors back on line. If that… thing comes back, we'll have to know where it will come from."
The others nodded and went to work. Tension was steadily growing in the minds of all the Starfleet officers on that ship. They were beginning to wonder if they would be getting off that ship. And if they did, how would they be getting off? Would they be beamed off the ship standing up, flown off the ship sitting down in the escape pods, or carried off the ship after lying on the ground?