Chapter Twenty

The Drayan fleet was here and so far they had not responded to any hails or, thankfully armed their weapons. Their shields were raised but that was all.

There was still a chance to avoid conflict, but it was quickly dwindling and all attempts to contact the Drayans thus far had been met with a cold silence.

"Still no response," Rivera informed the admiral for the umpteenth time

The Tactical Officer added. "They have slowed and are holding their position."

Gessi tapped his fingers against the central command console while Thalon kept his eyes on the large viewscreen which showed the Drayan fleet. The fact that they weren't shooting at them yet, did give the admiral some hope, even if it was only a small amount.

"We're being hailed," Rivera reported. "Audio only."

"Let's hear it." The admiral knew that this was his only chance to stop this and he had to take it and not mess it up. He inhaled deeply and slowly let his breath back out.

The voice of the same Drayan commander they had spoken to earlier echoed through the speakers. He did not sound pleased. "Where is the creature? Where have you taken it?"

That was an odd question considering the circumstances. Did they know the entity was no longer aboard the station? If so, did the have a way of tracking it?

Thalon answered, keeping his words measured and well thought out. "A small fleet of Drayan ships arrived and the entity managed to escape in possession of one of my officers. Literally."

"Your officer was lost the moment the creature entered their mind. Where did they go?"

"We don't know where they are," Thalon answered honestly. He hoped that it would be enough.

What was said next by Lieutenant Rivera did not fill him with confidence. "They've cut the call, sir."

That was not what he wanted to hear. It had been his hope that they would be able to avoid conflict. Now, it looked almost certain.

Except it wasn't.

The tactical officer turned from his station. "Sir, they're turning about."

Thalon watched on the viewscreen as the Drayan fleet jumped to warp and left.

He heard Gessi release his breath with a heavy sigh. "I've never been so glad to have my expectations so utterly smashed. I was sure we were going to have to fight."

Thalon nodded in agreement. "They're not gone yet. Let us wait before we decide to stand down from yellow alert." Thalon looked at Rivera. "Have all ships maintain patrol around the station for the next four hours. If the Drayans don't turn around, then I want the Shaandra and the two defence vessels back in dock. Keep the London at the ready."

"Understood, sir."

"I also want the captain and first officer of both the London and Shaandra to join our meeting later."

"Understood."

"I will be in my office." He made his way up through his yeoman's office and into his own. As soon as the doors were shut he released the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

He felt that things were very quickly growing out of his control. His previous posting had been a research station, he didn't know how to deal with new species.

There were supposed to be ambassadors and such on the way, but as with everything else on this cursed station, they would arrive long after they were needed.

He moved slowly to his desk and sat down behind it, his head in his hands. He felt relief that they had avoided conflict but he also felt no closer to opening a dialogue with the Drayans.

What he needed to do now was to call a meeting and try and figure something out.

Slowly the conference room filled up with personnel. First, it was Thalon and Gessi. Then came Cramer followed shortly by the two captains and first officers, Anthi, Herrera, Cayman and Coleman.

They all sat down and Thalon decided to begin. "A lot has happened over the last few days. Most of which some of you are in the dark about." His eyes fell onto Commander Cayman, N'reinn's close friend. "The device that DenliLos had with him was some kind of storage container."

"For what?" Anthi asked.

"A life form," he answered. "The device self-destructed and this entity joined with Commander Saaris."

"Is she being held?" Herrera questioned.

"This is where things get complicated. According to DenliLos the only way to separate the entity is through death. Only apparently this is not the case. The entity jumped to Lieutenant Commander N'reinn. It used her to disable the station and the ships with the command codes then she escaped, leaving with them." He looked back at Commander Cayman.

The Commander spoke up. "So Kceris is gone?"

"Yes," Thalon confirmed. "Controlled by this entity."

Herrera said, "So this is why the second fleet didn't attack. There was no reason to, the thing they were after was no longer here."

"There is more we need to think about," Thalon continued. "For instance, they seemed to know the entity wasn't here before we told them. How?"

Coleman answered. "Clearly they can track it. That must be why they broke off the attack with the Ishimura and pursued the London, because the London had the device that held this entity."

Anthi brought up another point. "Are there two factions at work here?"

Thalon nodded. "I believe so. Those that are loyal to this entity that has been their queen for millennia and those that have turned against it."

"The question is," Gessi began, "How do we track this entity. Clearly the Drayans know how, so there must be a way."

"Saaris," Cramer answered. "The entity was within her at one point. It is possible there might still be some connection. Or at least she thinks so."

"Might?" Cayman questioned.

"I don't understand Vulcan mysticism so I can't exactly say for sure. This all seems like magic to me. Possessions and all that. It's just not something I'm comfortable or particularly knowledgeable about."

"Do you know where she is?" Cayman asked.

Thalon shook his head. "No idea. We will be attempting something with Saaris later, but for now, we need to focus on the purpose of the meeting, which is to inform you of everything that is going on and what we currently know."

Everyone turned their full attention to the admiral. "Firstly, there are two groups. Loyalists and I guess you could call them Independents who want to go their own way without intervention from the entity. The Independents are the ones that attacked and destroyed one colony and then attacked another. They clearly could locate or at least somehow track the entity but it is obviously not precise."

"Is there a way of figuring out how they do it?" Captain Anthi asked. "Any strange scans or emissions coming off of their ship?"

Gessi answered. "We are looking into that, but nothing so far."

Herrera folded her arms. "So how much do we know exactly?"

"Unfortunately, very little," Thalon said. "We don't know where the Drayan homeworld is, or whether they have colonised any systems in this region. We know they are roughly a century behind us in terms of basic technology. We know nothing more than that."

"What about Kceris?" Commander Cayman asked. "What are we going to do to get her back?"

"At this moment in time there isn't much we can do except what we're trying. Right now, Commander Saaris is our only hope."

"And if she can't do her mind jumbo to find her?" Cayman questioned. "What then?"

"Then we're stuck," Thalon answered. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but we have no clue whatsoever as to where she has gone or why this entity chose her other than opportunity. Clearly what DenliLos told us that the separation meant the death of the host, so maybe there's a chance. We just have to find her."

Cayman raised her hand. "I volunteer the London to start the search."

Captain Anthi was unimpressed. "I wasn't aware that it was your ship. Did I get replaced while I wasn't looking?"

The commander fell silent.

Thalon said, "Actually Commander Cayman, I want a temporary transfer of you to the station."

Her head snapped to the admiral. "Me, sir?"

"It's up to you, but I need someone who knows what they are doing."

Anthi objected. "Admiral, you can't take my tactical and executive officer. This station would be a demotion for her."

"I know, it's just an offer. We're running short here and now my head of security has been essentially abducted."

Herrera spoke up. "I can recommend one of my own security officers."

"Perhaps I'll take you up on that," Thalon accepted. "For now, everyone report back to you ships. This isn't over, not by a long shot."

Saaris was in control of her emotions. That was something that she never thought she would be able to say again, even to herself but that control had returned.

Nervousness was not something that she could say was a particularly troublesome emotion. It had never given her much trouble in the past, however, the admiral wanted her to do something where the outcome was entirely uncertain.

Present in the room with her was the Admiral, Doctor Cramer and Paul Schaffer. She had requested that there be few people here as she didn't want too many people being too close to her during this time.

As to what they would find. She was not expecting much of anything, but they had to try just in case there was something.

With everything in place, both Saaris and Paul sat opposite each other the Vulcan began. She reached for his hands and took him lightly by the wrists.

"I am going to place your hands on my Katra points."

"Okay," he said.

She raised both of his hands and he did the rest, placing his fingers more or less in the right places.

"Very good," she said. "I will now do the same."

She placed her fingers against his face and he closed his eyes. She did the same.

After a moment, Thalon spoke up. "Aren't you supposed to say something when melding?"

She opened her eyes. "We are not doing a proper meld. I am simply using Paul as an anchor point, an aide to help me focus."

"Oh, okay."

"Now please remain silent. Any interruption will cause severe delays."

"Understood."

Saaris once more closed her eyes and began to focus. There were several issues with what she was attempting. Firstly was that she had absolutely no clue as to what it was she was looking for.

The Vulcan looked deep into her own mind. She could feel Schaffer, his own mind acting as a waypoint so that she could find her way back.

She began to sift through her own mind trying to find anything that did not belong. At first she found nothing, then she felt what could only be described the echo of another mind.

Her first thought was that it could be Paul, but as she drew closer she could easily dismiss that. Whatever this echo was, it was foreign yet strangely familiar.

She moved closer trying to gauge what it was. Then she felt herself being pulled out, losing whatever it was she had found.

Saaris' eyes snapped open and she looked up to see Thalon stood beside her. Both her and Paul's hands fell away from the other's face.

"Are you okay?" Thalon asked.

She was unimpressed. "I am fine."

"So am I," Schaffer added. "Why, was something wrong?"

"You've been at this ten minutes," Cramer said. "Brax got a little worried."

That actually surprised Saaris. She had been unaware so much time had passed. Unfortunately, she had been interrupted at an inopportune moment.

She made her displeasure known. "I had just found something unusual before being interrupted."

"What was it?" Thalon questioned. "Was it the entity?" Before she could answer, the admiral turned to Schaffer. "Did you feel anything? Notice anything unusual?"

"Nothing," Schaffer answered.

"He will not sense anything," Saaris said. "He is not part of this exactly. He is just a familiar mind that will guide me back. He will enter the trance with me, but he will not see or experience anything I saw or will see. And to answer your question, Admiral, I do not know because I was interrupted."

Thalon took a step back and sat down. "How long is this expected to take?"

"It could take hours," Saaris told him. "If you believe that is too long, then I suggest we either reconvene or halt the attempt altogether."

Thalon looked at Cramer. "Doctor, what do you think?"

She held up her hand scanner. "I'll keep an eye on both of them, but there was nothing to worry about. They were both relaxed, no weird readings whatsoever. I think we can do this, but no more than two hours. Ideally, the shorter time this takes the better."

Saaris bowed her head. "Very well, I shall try again."

Both raised their hands, placing them on each other's face. Then both closed their eyes and the Vulcan once more began to delve into her own mind, retracing her own steps from before trying to find the strange echo.

Then she found it. The echo seemed to be of herself, but it wasn't. There was something foreign and alien about it.

She dove deeper trying to find the exact source of this echo only to find shadows and strange snapshots of memories that were not her own.

These memories were fragmented and not whole. As though remnants of true memories that were not available to her. She pushed deeper, forcing the remnants aside as she tried to find the source.

She pushed on until she believed she had found the origin of the foreign aspect within her own mind and tried to access it.

Quickly she realised that it was going to be far from easy. It was as though a physical wall had been erected around it, blocking access. In a way, it was like a file on a computer system and she did not have the password or necessary permissions in order to access it.

Saaris remained unperturbed as she looked for a way in. This was her mind and she held dominion over it and everything within. She did not appreciate some entity leaving parts of its consciousness inside her own.

Her mind conjured up a sphere to represent the foreign aspect in her mind. She moved around it looking for any kind of weakness. Finding none she took matters into her own hands.

She visualised raising her palms to the sphere and touched its surface. It held no texture, but had a clear and evident force that repelled her fingers.

The Vulcan only pushed back harder as she tried to peel away the surface and find what was lurking deep beneath.

Slowly the shell began to strip away revealing what was beneath. Saaris stepped back and shielded her eyes from a bright light. It was all in her mind and she understood that, but the sensation of brightness seemed quite real.

As the light dimmed she lowered her hands to see shadows dancing around before her. She stepped forward, her hands outstretched intending to see if she could make contact.

Her hands touched one of the dark figures only for it to dissipate into a dark mist.

Then a voice spoke from behind. "Isn't this interesting."

Saaris turned around to see N'reinn only she seemed to be translucent with other people fading in and out. Standing there a few moments she could only see two other faces. One was of a Drayan and the other was her own face, but it was not nearly as strong as the other two.

All around N'reinn was a blue glow of light that seemed to flicker and pulsate.

N'reinn moved closer. "How were you able to contact us?"

Saaris straightened her posture. "You left remnants of yourself in my mind," she informed what she believed was a manifestation of the entity. "May I inquire as to whether I am speaking with the entity?"

"You may refer to us as the Transcendent."

"Us? Then you are both Lieutenant Commander N'reinn and the Entity?" Saaris inquired, genuinely intrigued.

"We are becoming an amalgam of both. We are all that we was, even you."

"But I am separate."

"Perhaps now, but an aspect of you is part of me. It was how you are able to speak with us, though we were not expecting it."

"I would like to talk with N'reinn."

"You are speaking with us."

"No, I wish to speak with her on her own without the merged mind."

"You do not understand. You are speaking with the one you knew as N'reinn. We are transcended, we are joined."

"Did she agree to this?" Saaris questioned. "Was she willing?"

"Once the one you refer as the "Entity" revealed itself to the one you knew as N'reinn, this joining was accepted. Our goals are the same."

"The same?" Saaris wondered if the entity truly believed that? If so, then it could be that the more powerful mind was overriding the weaker without the entity's knowledge? Or perhaps they truly were joined.

"Starfleet will not accept you taking one of their officers."

"Perhaps not, but it was necessary."

"Why?"

"For us to take our place as ruler of Draya. The people need our wisdom, our leadership."

"And what if they no longer need or require your wisdom?" Saaris questioned. "You have taken over someone's body and mind without permission."

"You Vulcans have a saying, do you not? The needs of the many?"

Saaris found herself crossing her arms. "You take that from my mind?"

"We saw a lot in your mind," the Transcendent said. "We were able to use what you and the former N'reinn knew to disable not only your station's ability to attack or defend but also that of the four ships that defended your station so that we could leave."

"You should have found another way. You have taken someone and we want them back."

"N'reinn is no longer. Transcendent N'reinn is the only one that exists now. We are sorry, we truly are. When you awake, tell Arie that we are sorry and tell Cayan that we are sorry."

"Who is Cayan?"

"You will know. But for now, we are sorry. This connection will reveal more than we are willing to divulge at this time. When you awake it will be as though you never slept."

"What do you mean?" Saaris questioned.

She did not receive a response.

Schaffer felt relaxed. His hands were on Saaris' face her hers on his. He could hear her, Thalon and Cramer's breath but that was all. Even the hum of the station seemed to be inaudible, though just thinking about it he became acutely aware that the hum existed and thus could once more hear it.

Still, he felt more relaxed than he had done in a long time. He was strangely having a good time despite doing almost nothing. Often, he felt that people got stuck in their repetitive lives, trapped in schedules either consciously or unconsciously. Sometimes it was good to just do literally nothing.

Then contact was broken. The moment Saaris' hands left his face a splitting headache struck him, causing him to hold his head in pain.

He heard movement and managed to open his eyes to find Saaris slumped over in her chair with Thalon at her side and Cramer scanning her.

Schaffer jumped out of his seat. "What's wrong with her?"

Cramer answered. "I don't know. It's like she's asleep, but these readings aren't normal."

"Are you okay?" Thalon asked him as Schaffer winced in pain.

"I have a migraine," he answered clutching his head.

"We better get you both to a bed," Cramer said.

Schaffer nodded, feeling exhausted. A bed sounded good right at that moment. "Okay, Doctor," he said as he stood up before staggering.

"Easy," Thalon said grabbing hold of him before he fell. "I'll help."

"The room next door is free," Cramer said. "Take him in there."

"Okay," Thalon acknowledged as he helped him get into the next room. Inside there were two beds. He helped him to the one on the far side before running back.

"Help carry her into the other room," Cramer said.

Thalon scooped the Vulcan into his arms and followed the doctor through into the next room where he lay her down on the bed next to Schaffer who was laid on the bed clutching his head.

"What's wrong with them?" the admiral asked Cramer.

"I don't know." She switched on the wall monitors. "Their vitals are normal," she said looking at the readout. "Schaffer's heart rate is slightly elevated as is his blood pressure."

"And that means?" Thalon questioned.

A nurse entered the room and Cramer looked at him. "Good, I need your assistance."

"Doctor," the Admiral urged wanting her to answer the question. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know, yet. Let me concentrate."

Thalon decided to let her get on with her work. "I'll be in my office. Contact me if anything changes."

"I will."

The admiral turned and left with his thoughts jumbled. They were under attack from some kind of entity and he had no idea how to battle or reason with it.

He had to find a way, there was no other choice.