In Tactical, the boarding party personnel were double-checking their disguises. "No, the division insignia goes here," T'res said to Tanan, helping him place it in the correct spot on his Tal Shiar uniform tunic. "They have a reputation for being extremely strict about uniform regulations, especially among junior officers."

"Thanks," Tanan said, making the adjustment. "Pity about your hair."

T'res self-consciously raised a hand to her newly-short hairstyle. "It did not conform to Tal Shiar regulations."

"Well, I hope you grow it back," Tanan said. "It was much prettier the way it was." Then he turned faintly green in embarassment, and said, "What I mean is, um..."

"I am pleased that you think so, Tanan," T'res said. She suppressed the urge to smile. Tanan had been quite friendly to her from the start, and she found that she enjoyed his company.

"Focus on the mission, Sublieutenant," Khoal said from behind him.

Tanan snapped to attention and turned to face him, and then saw the broad grin on Khoal's face. "Yes, Subcommander," he stammered. "Sorry."

Khoal shook his head. "Flirt with her all you like in the mess hall, Tanan. Not on duty. Although, Ensign, I agree with him about your hair. Now, everyone, please pay attention."

The rest of the boarding team gathered around him. They were a dozen of them, all Romulan apart from T'res and a Vulcan engineering technician named Stollek. Besides Khoal and Tanan, the other members of the team were N'alae, a medic named Ohrvhein, and some tactical specialists whom T'res hadn't met. They all looked somewhat uncomfortable in their Tal Shiar uniforms; for the Romulans, at least, they were pretending to be a hated enemy.

"Remember," Khoal said, "we're supposed to be Tal Shiar. I know a lot of you have never encountered them before, but given who my parents were, I had to understand how to deal with them from a very young age. They are trained to aggressively assume control of any situation they find themselves in. They expect others to submit to their demands and they do not back down. You will need to take the same attitude with them when we encounter them. Formal rank counts less for them than the backing of powerful higher-ups, so act as though you can do whatever you wish without fear of repercussions from anyone, including superior officers. Demand answers to questions and dismiss any questions they might have for you. Above all, act as though you know far more than you do, have the right to take what you want, and as though everyone else is beneath contempt. Keep them guessing about how much power you really have. They'll be expecting that."

So just like my paternal grandmother, T'res thought to herself. This was going to be a severe test of her self-control. She steeled herself to face it. I am in control of my emotions, she reminded herself.

A low chime sounded over the comm speakers, and all the panels on the display screens acquired blue borders. "And we just went to condition blue," Khoal said, "which means we are in the 118 Hromi system and running cloaked. We should be approaching Aelhaellh Station in about..."

"Bridge to Tactical," Zhem's voice interrupted. "Five minutes to target. Proceed to transporter room."

"Acknowledged," Khoal said. "Proceeding to transporter room under security escort."

There was a security team led by Daise Lo'mek waiting for them outside in the corridor. T'res quickly understood why they needed it; as they passed Republic personnel in the corridors, many of them reacted with hostile stares until they realized that the boarding party were actually their own shipmates in disguise.

Shonna and Markhon were waiting for them in the transporter room. Shonna looked at Khoal's disguise, and shook her head. "I'd say it suits you, Subcommander, but - it really doesn't."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Khoal said. "It's horribly uncomfortable too. I'm glad the Republic Fleet opted for more sensible uniforms. Any word from the bridge?"

"Waiting for them to signal us that we are in position. Markhon is ready to input the codes as soon as we arrive."

"Good." He stepped onto the platform, and his team followed him, taking their places.

"Bridge to transporter room," Zhem's voice said over the comms. "We are in position."

"Acknowledged," Shonna said at the transporter console. "Inputting security codes now."

She nodded to Markhon, who tapped a few controls on the console. "Transmitting codes now," he said. "Waiting for response... Response received." He grunted, and then said, "Transporter handshake established. Transporter systems are now bridged."

"That easily?" Shonna looked concerned. "That can't be right. I was expecting some sort of security challenge at least."

"As was I," Markhon said. "But they appear to have accepted the codes without challenge."

"Subcommander, I don't like this," Shonna said. "Should we abort?"

Khoal mulled it for a moment, and then said, "No. We proceed. And if I'm wrong - well, I'll likely be in no position to hear you say you told me so."

T'res tensed. They had expected this to be a dangerous part of the mission. Averrek's transporter couldn't simply beam them onto the station, since their sensors couldn't penetrate the station's cloak to pinpoint a rematerialization site. So their transporter was now bridged with the station's, meaning that the station would take control of the matter stream and be responsible for rematerializing them. Or not, if they chose to do so. They anticipated at very least rematerializing into a highly secure location with multiple guards. It was a risk, but a necessary one. But the lack of additional security challenges was unexpected, and could mean that they were beaming into a trap. Or into oblivion.

Shonna nodded. "If you say so. Ready for transport."

"Activate," Khoal said.

A green glow formed around T'res, and the tingling she felt as the confinement beam engaged seemed different somehow from how Starfleet transporters felt. The transporter room faded around her... and was replaced by a larger and much more dimly-lit room.

The team did a quick visual scan of the room. There was no transporter operator at the console, nor were there the expected guards. A wall panel flickered erratically. And a number of thick cables snaked across the floor and walls in an apparent random fashion, joining with the transporter console; they looked less like equipment than they did bizarre black vines. A barely-audible hum emanated from them.

"Signal our safe arrival," Khoal said, and one of the tactical specialists pressed a button on his wrist console. It would send a single pulse back along the transporter beam, indicating that they had rematerialized and did not need immediate extraction.

N'alae pulled out her scanner, a reproduction of a standard-issue Romulan Imperial hand scanner, and took some readings. "Subcommander... In spite of appearances, the station does not seem to be abandoned. I am reading life signs - although strangely indistinct ones. There may be some sort of interference."

Khoal nodded. "What are those cables?"

T'res stepped closer to one of the weirdly organic-looking cables and scanned it. "It is..." She hesitated. "Subcommander, I am not entirely sure what it is. It appears to be simultaneously technological and biological. The base material is from a Romulan-standard data cable, but it is mixed with organic components, including cellulose, animal neurofibers, and muscular myofibrils. And I am also detecting some sort of nanotechnology."

"Borg?"

"Possibly. If so, they are heavily modified Borg nanoprobes which also contain bacterial and methanogenic archaean DNA."

"Nobody touch them," Khoal ordered. "Are they a threat? Do we need to abort the mission?"

"Unknown," T'res answered. "I honestly do not know what their purpose is or what they might do. More data is needed."

Khoal scowled. "Stollek, can you get me a secure comm channel back to Averrek through the transporter signal?"

The Vulcan technician nodded. "One moment, Subcommander." He tapped a few controls and then said, "Channel open."

"Khoal to Averrek," he said.

"Lieutenant Amass here," came the response, a little more distorted than usual but still intelligible.

"Shonna, patch me through to the bridge."

"Stand by," Shonna said.

Then a moment later, "Zhem here. What is your situation, Subcommander?"

"Commander, we are aboard the station," Khoal said. "There is nobody in the transporter room but us. The station seems to be - infected? I don't know if that is the right word, but there are... some sort of bio-technological cables running through the transporter room."

"Bio-organic? Like the Borg?"

"T'res believes they are highly modified Borg technology. We know that the Tal Shiar were working with modified Borg tech even before the Hobus supernova, so this may be a continuation of that research."

"Interesting. Proceed with your mission, but cautiously. Find out what you can. Abort at your discretion. We'll leave the transporters bridged for now, in case you need a quick extraction."

"Understood. Khoal out." He turned to his team and said, "Let's go have a look."

They exited the transporter room into a shadowy hallway, lined with even more of the black not-quite-vines. Odd dark patches, like mildew, stained all the surfaces; a brief scan showed them to be alive with nanoprobes. Status panels flickered dimly when they were active at all. The air was warm and uncomfortably humid.

"What is going on here?" Khoal asked. "Are those things assimilating this station?"

Stollek scanned them and shook his head. "Not precisely, Subcommander. They appear to be compromising the structural integrity of the wall and floor plating."

"Nobody step in any of those patches," Khoal ordered. "So, they are... eating the internal bulkheads. Why?"

"Logically," T'res said, "they are collecting resources to be used elsewhere. Although I lack sufficient data to say to what end."

Khoal nodded grimly, and they continued down the darkened corridor, rounding a corner. Then Khoal stopped, and raised a warning hand.

Against one bulkhead was a humanoid figure. Or, at least, the rough shape of one, leaning against a wall. It was shrouded by the weird black vines, which had smaller fibers growing out of them that appeared to have burrowed into the person's flesh. The figure's limbs appeared to have been partly absorbed into the wall, and what could be seen of their skin was covered in the black mold-like substance. Nevertheless, it was clear that this had once been the body of a Romulan, probably male, T'res thought.

She scanned the body, and raised an eyebrow. "Subcommander... The nanoprobes have infiltrated every part of this person's body."

"So they've been assimilated?"

"Not assimilated," T'res corrected. "Consumed. There body is literally being harvested for material by the nanoprobes." Her scanner shook in her hand, and she forced it to stop.

Khoal shook his head. "Horrible way to go, even if they were Tal Shiar."

Ohrvhein, the medic, scanned the body, and then said, "Subcommander, I don't think they are dead. I'm reading neural activity, they are still breathing, and their heart is still beating."

T'res took an abrupt step back. "Subcommander! Their eyes just moved!" she shouted.

Khoal took a cautious step forward, and then nodded. "Elements, they're conscious," he swore. "They're looking right at me."

A faint sound came from the unfortunate Tal Shiar's lips. Khoal leaned in, and turned his head to hear better.

"Kill... me..." the Tal Shiar begged.

Khoal took a step back and drew his disruptor. Then he hesitated. "Does anyone have any idea what might happen if I put them out of their misery?"

N'alae frowned. "They are already connected to... whatever is consuming this station. If we kill them... Well, if this were a Borg ship, the collective would definitely notice that."

T'res took a breath to calm herself. Then she said, "On the other hand, Subcommander, we have no definite evidence of an organizing intelligence at work here. We do not know if these growths have formed a collective. But if they have, that intelligence is likely already aware of us."

Khoal nodded. "Prepare to evacuate. Head back to the transporter room. We're aborting the mission." He turned back to what remained of the Tal Shiar operative. "I don't know who you were or what atrocities you may have committed in the service of the Tal Shiar," he said. "But nobody deserves to die this way. I'm sorry." He raised his disruptor and fired, incinerating the body.

"Now, let's get out of here," he said.

In Averrek's main transporter room, Shonna was monitoring the transporter link to the station, with Markhon at the auxillary console off to one side. Suddenly, Markhon swore in Klingon and started tapping several controls on the console. "Lieutenant," he said, "there is some sort of signal propagating along the transporter link. I am attempting to block it."

"Do we need to break the link?" Shonna asked.

"Ghay'cha'!" Markon exclaimed, as his panel went dark. "Auxillary panel is offline."

"I'm cutting the link," Shonna said. But before she could, her panel dissolved into a chaotic blur of lines and colors before going dark also.

She hit her combadge. "Transporter room 1 to Bridge," she said. "We have lost transporter control. Transporter bridge to the station is down."

"Zhem here. What happened?"

"Some sort of signal came over the link from the station," she explained. "Before we could break the link, our consoles went dead. We have no transporter control."

On the bridge, Zhem clenched his fist. "Bridge to transporter room 2," he said. "Can you reestablish the link to the station?"

"Transporter room 2 here. Negative, Commander. We just lost our control panels and the transporter powered down."

"Understood. Bridge out." Zhem swore silently, and then said, "Bridge to Engineering."

"Engineering here," Eviess responded, with a frantic tone in her voice. "Commander, the internal data network just went crazy - massive data traffic originating in transporter room 1. Transporters are all down, power distribution is unstable - Damn, and internal sensors just went down. Whatever this is, it's spreading and affecting multiple systems."

"Understood. Keep me posted, and get control back however you can," Zhem said, and cut the comms. "All stations, report."

"Short-range sensors offline. Long-range still functional."

"Helm control active - correction, helm is down. Repeat, helm is down."

"Long-range communications just failed. Internal comms - we just lost those too."

"Commander, we've lost the cloaking device! We're decloaking!"

"Weapons?" Zhem demanded

"Negative, Commander. All down."

Zhem pounded his fist on the arm of his chair. "So we're adrift and helpless?"

Just then, the lights failed, and the bridge viewscreen went out. Zhem waited for the emergency lighting to activate, but nothing happened.

"And now we're blind as well. Llhusra!" Zhem cursed aloud in the darkness. "All right. Reboot all systems. Get me my ship back!"