Chapter Eleven
Exposure
The Katasi nebula:
Like the far, far majority of nebulae present in the Milky Way Galaxy, visual examination from an existing position on Earth was impossible, as it was obscured by the massive, stellar dust clouds that permeated much of space in the galaxy. However, the nebulae themselves were a different story. Superheated gases, energy particles, high energy dust particles, radiation and light, most of all light, had a profound effect on life forms in the surrounding areas. Nearly all of those life forms were blind, as we understand blindness to be, either without visual sensory organs, or these life forms were equipped with organs that sensed radiation levels. Scientists speculated that the massive dust clouds separating the nebula from the system proper, allowed conditions of life to exist and even prosper. Nearly three hundred years ago, those fledgling Starfleet explorers had discovered only one sentient species located at the edge of nebula in what was called the Katasi system. Since the Enterprise-E was going there, it would collect as much scientific data as possible.
The dark-skinned, reptoid inhabitants of Katasi possessed no eyes, but there were sensory organs that could detect minute changes in radiation. As a whole, they were a curious, non-violent species, which were beginning to develop second-generation atmospheric flight capabilities and nuclear power. The planet itself was continually cloud covered, which served as an added protection against the intense assaults of light and radiation coming from the nearby nebulas energy belt.
But now, these creatures were being assaulted by another, far more sinister force. Their planet was in the process of being strip-mined by elements of the Cylon Imperium. The Katasian population had now been reduced to approximately fifteen percent by those robotic invaders as any resistance had been stamped out ruthlessly months ago. The Cylons were essentially ripping the planet to shreds, sending valuable resources to the partially completed factory-fortress complex orbiting the planet some two thousand kilometers distant. The size and mass of the complex was sufficient to effect gravity on the. Small seas were slowly shifting their positions, established for-untold millennia. Energy converters, sunk almost to the planet's core, used the extreme heat present in the molten rock, to produce energy, which was then transmitted to the orbiting complex above. Other converters, stationed near the leading edge of the nebula channeled energy back towards the complex also. The surviving, starving population could only pray for some form of salvation.
It had taken nearly a week of travel for the Enterprise-E to reach the fringes of the Katasi nebula. Twice, Romulan warbirds passed within scanner range but it was clear that they took no interest of the Federation ship skimming the edge of the neutral zone. The war with the Cylons was taking a toll and the Enterprise scanners made detailed recordings of at least three major incidents deep within Romulan territory. Sensor data indicated that the Romulans were holding their own but just barely. Of the three incident recorded, one represented a clear loss by the Romulans, the others a stalemate. Multiple ion trails, with Cylon signatures, were definitely being tracked into and away from the nebula. It would take another week for the starship to reach the Katasi star cluster from inside the nebula. Travel was slowed down to half impulse as unimagined energies, radiations and particles of every size buffeted the ship. It was also clear that the Cylons had begun mining the nebula with solium-based subspace mines, one of which the Enterprise blundered into. Multiphasic shields, partially effective now due to the effects of the nebula, saved the ship from destruction, but the point had been made most eloquently and the ship treaded carefully towards the ion trail's points of origin. The mission itself was a simple one. Find the Base of Operations of the Imperium, get sensor data, then run. In that order.
Picard's number one, Commander Deanna Troi, by habit took careful note of the emotions onboard the ship. There was considerable tension emanating from the crew but it was due to the anticipation of what would be found as opposed to the inherent danger itself. What she found comforting was that the crew had trust in her as first officer and she found that she liked that feeling a lot.
But that same feeling worried her also because there would soon come a choice, provided they survived this mission. Riker. Captain Riker. The USS Melbourne. Possible husband. Wife. Kids growing up onboard a starship. Command rank. Happiness?
"Commander?"
Deanna instantly re-focused herself as Picard's attention shifted towards her direction.
"I trust everything's okay?"
"Yes, Captain," she responded as professionally as possible. Her empathic nature knew that he knew that wasn't fully the case but he had no intention of prying either. He was improving she thought. He was finally beginning to read her. A little. Then she thought about that for a second. Her consoler's position had been created to maintain the crew's and Captain's psychological health during long term missions. But now after almost ten years, she wondered if this project was a help or a hindrance. For herself, she was a telepathic empath. And her captain relied on her during missions to determine the 'state' of others as though she was some type of lie detector or truth determining serum. She could do that and was good at her job, but the Captain had relied on her too much and more than once she though he'd been in essence, crippled by her presence. There were times he had no clue-no matter how obvious- as to what others were thinking. With her at his side, he didn't notice body language, voice changes, nothing. People would threaten him and the ship and what would he do? Turn to her and ask 'what does that mean?' And then she'd have to give some stupid, obvious answer like 'I feel that that person has malice or anger towards us. Don't trust him or her.'
Sometimes she could just scream.
But now wasn't one of these times. She was concentrating on not allowing the ship to hit any more mines. The mining of the nebula had been an ambitious project. Not only was it large, over thirty light years, but, logistically it was almost impossible to do, but they had tried anyway. The combination of randomly moving objects, of various sizes, high-energy discharges, gases, normal and sub-space particles no doubt caused many of the mines to detonate unintentionally. This led the crew to believe that the distribution of the mines was designed as more of a deterrent as opposed to a true threat.
Cylon patrols were more of a danger than anything else. But again the same conditions that threatened the mines also worked here. Sensor range in such a hostile medium was at a minimum and unless one blundered into one of the patrols, it was likely they would not be detected.
And Deanna noticed something else about herself. She enjoyed this kind of job. It involved pattern identification. Figuring out puzzles and structure. Structure indicated pattern and she excelled at discovering patterns. Her job as consoler involved finding patterns in behavior, anticipating and dealing with them until a satisfactory conclusion could be reached. And she was patient.
Then, to her surprise, she discovered that she could sense the Cylons. Or rather the void they exhibited. Unlike Data, whose emotions she could sense when his emotion-chip was activated, these artificial beings had what she could only describe as a 'black hole' where their emotions would be. That was the best way she could describe at this time. Somehow their programming had a dark essence about that she, once she understood it, could pick up. She would tell Picard about it, if necessary. But not yet. She was second in command, not a sensor monitor. Besides he'd probably ask her how they 'felt'. And at this point in her life she might just go off on her sometimes clueless Captain. No wonder she kept her face so impassive, she mused.
The officers had spent almost twenty hours in the stellar cartography department, finalizing their plan. Commander Data would be instrumental, as he would be on navigational control, assisted by ensign Tonuue, a Xeionalite male with purple glowing hair and seven digits on each hand. It took Picard a while to get used to this young man whose hair, which stood straight up with curly tips, detected vibrations much in the same way the human eardrum did. The man was competent and Picard had come to rely on his presence as an integral part of the bridge team.
At point three light years from the edge of the nebula's line of demarcation, the starship came to a dead stop. A class-three probe was sent to the very edge of the nebula, which then began pre-programmed, non-invasive sensor sweeps of the area. On the Enterprise passives went online and Picard ordered a visual, maximum magnification. Then he let out a soft whistle.
"Geordie to Captain Picard."
"Picard here."
'We have some type of energy collector, starboard about six thousand kilometers. It's shunting power to the complex orbiting the planet. I'm counting at least six more within sensor range. With that kind of power, they must be trying to trigger some type of massive subspace reaction."
"Explain."
"I have no clue, sir," he said. "But when power levels like what we're seeing is being collected, usually someone's trying to generate a sub-space wave front, possibly a black hole or some type of spatial disruption."
"But we'd have to get closer to confirm that hypothesis," Picard said deadpanned.
"Of course," came the response.
The bridge looked at the main screen, most eyes locked onto the massive complex. Several members of bridge's crew were also concentrating on the planet proper. The scaring proved ample evidence of aerial bombardment. The cloud cover had taken on a sickly greenish gray color. The planet's overall mass didn't equate with earlier readings taken years before. Overall life signs were down eighty percent. There was wave of sadness for the planet's population, but in this case the Prime Directive had to be applied. These people were not Federation and their civilization standards didn't qualify them.
Plus there was the fact that the main base for the Cylon Empire was parked in orbit made the entire point moot. The people there were doomed. There was nothing he could do. Still, Picard hated it because he would be one who would have to justify his orders and his actions when he tried to sleep at night.
Next to the Cylon factory complex, two more structures were being completed. The first was undeniably, their command star station for this region of space. The other, some distance away, was what appeared to be the beginnings of a space dock. Several Hellions were seen inside undergoing various stages of repair and upgrading. Then there were the so-called Extreme-class Cylon Basestars, a third larger than their cousins, jet-black in color, twin distortion nacelles situated just outside the classic double hulls. These ships had a discernible command bridge, with four launching bays over and underneath the nacelles.
There were at least five of these monsters completed with another eight being constructed.
Deanna's face contorted in abject fear for a moment. Behind her, Geordie whistled softly. She could feel Data's awe spreading across the room. And Picard...
Picard's emotions swirled between remembrance...the Borg, Wolf three-five-nine, the Borg again during the temporal disturbance at First Contact, fear and resolute determination. He was becoming an anchor for the storm to come.
The Federation had to know about this. So did the Colonials and everybody else for that matter.
"Captain," Data began as he turned to face Picard directly. There is a small structure orbiting the planet, roughly circular, two point three kilometers in diameter, six thousand two hundred thirty tons, composed of duotronium-neutronium alloys. There are several shield generators protecting the structure."
"Neutronium," Geordie echoed. "That's one of the hardest substances ever developed." He stopped and thought a moment. "They're trying to create some form of artificial conduit. Possibly a gateway of some sort."
"Geordie may be correct, Captain," Data added. "Theoretically, the combination of the two alloys could be used to help establish and maintain a subspace phenomenon, the type of which cannot be determined at this point."
"Could it be used as a weapon?"
Both Data and Geordie though about it for a moment. It was Geordie who answered. "Possibly. But the control would have to be critical or there could be an energy backlash, which could destroy the normal and subspace fabric for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Or it could produce some type of subspace black hole, either of which could reduce this area of space uninhabitable for decades."
"Warp drive would be rendered useless for several light-years," Data added, "and the reaction with the nebula itself could cause additional unforeseen consequences."
"Gentlemen," Picard halting the conversation. "Right now we have neither the firepower or the time to destroy that artifact. We'll pass the information along to Starfleet, after we complete our mission and remove ourselves safely from this area. Mr. Data...?"
Data immediately turned towards his console and Geordie took his place.
"I am ready, Sir."
"Shields to maximum," Deanna said.
Picard took a breath, sat down in his seat, tugged on his tunic and pointed at the direction of the viewscreen, as was his wrought. "Mr. Data. Engage."
The instant the Enterprise cleared the nebula, the ship jumped to warp four, performing a tight scan of the orbiting complexes, the planet and one of the new Extreme-class warships. No even slowing down, the Enterprise made a hard forty-degree turn, reentering the nebula several seconds later.
The Cylon security units were caught off guard, but recovered with perfect machine efficiency. Disruptors sizzled after the fleeing starship, ionizing space all around her, with two solid hits scoring on the Enterprise's rear deflectors. One of the Extremes followed its enemy immediately. The instant the enterprise entered the Katasi nebula, speed was reduced to three quarters impulse. The tracking Basestar never stopped firing its heavy disruptors in logical patterns, attempting to disable the now invisible, fleeing starship. That invisibility didn't stop the Cylon from trying to incinerate local space for a second as it followed into the nebula after its prey.
The disruptors beams, raking the Enterprise's multiphasic shields, ionized and incinerated everything collaterally, for a half a kilometer. The starship performed several evasive patterns, which helped prevent catastrophic damage from the beams, but at impulse their options were limited. But this had been prepared for also.
Prepare quantum torpedoes," Commander Deanna said. This was her part in the plan. Picard trusted her, saying nothing, concentrating instead on evasives.
"Quantum torpedoes, ready," the weapon's officer section answered.
"Release."
Six high-yield missiles were released from the rear torpedo tubes of the Federation starship. Instead of tracking their intended target, they simply remained where they were, almost inert and completely undetectable within the swirling energy vortexes of the nebula.
The fast-moving Basestar slammed into five of six of the bombs. The matter-antimatter explosives crushed its forward shields, along with the bridge. The ship went tumbling from view. It had been seriously damaged and if it and others chose to continue the chase now, they would do so far more cautiously.
Good.
"Very nice, Commander. My complements," Picard told his acting First Officer as the ship began its journey around the first of eight protostars selected for their high rate of subspace particle emissions, which served to keep the Enterprise's position secret from prying Cylon sensors.
"Deanna's heart was pounding within her chest, threatening to exit the nearest available opening. She somehow murmured thanks.
Picard smiled at his first officer. She was learning. Now it was time to leave.
"Mr. Data, get us back to Federation territory with all due haste. And watch out for any nasty surprises."
"Yes, sir."
The Enterprise began its dangerous journey home, carrying news of impending Armageddon.
Exposure
The Katasi nebula:
Like the far, far majority of nebulae present in the Milky Way Galaxy, visual examination from an existing position on Earth was impossible, as it was obscured by the massive, stellar dust clouds that permeated much of space in the galaxy. However, the nebulae themselves were a different story. Superheated gases, energy particles, high energy dust particles, radiation and light, most of all light, had a profound effect on life forms in the surrounding areas. Nearly all of those life forms were blind, as we understand blindness to be, either without visual sensory organs, or these life forms were equipped with organs that sensed radiation levels. Scientists speculated that the massive dust clouds separating the nebula from the system proper, allowed conditions of life to exist and even prosper. Nearly three hundred years ago, those fledgling Starfleet explorers had discovered only one sentient species located at the edge of nebula in what was called the Katasi system. Since the Enterprise-E was going there, it would collect as much scientific data as possible.
The dark-skinned, reptoid inhabitants of Katasi possessed no eyes, but there were sensory organs that could detect minute changes in radiation. As a whole, they were a curious, non-violent species, which were beginning to develop second-generation atmospheric flight capabilities and nuclear power. The planet itself was continually cloud covered, which served as an added protection against the intense assaults of light and radiation coming from the nearby nebulas energy belt.
But now, these creatures were being assaulted by another, far more sinister force. Their planet was in the process of being strip-mined by elements of the Cylon Imperium. The Katasian population had now been reduced to approximately fifteen percent by those robotic invaders as any resistance had been stamped out ruthlessly months ago. The Cylons were essentially ripping the planet to shreds, sending valuable resources to the partially completed factory-fortress complex orbiting the planet some two thousand kilometers distant. The size and mass of the complex was sufficient to effect gravity on the. Small seas were slowly shifting their positions, established for-untold millennia. Energy converters, sunk almost to the planet's core, used the extreme heat present in the molten rock, to produce energy, which was then transmitted to the orbiting complex above. Other converters, stationed near the leading edge of the nebula channeled energy back towards the complex also. The surviving, starving population could only pray for some form of salvation.
It had taken nearly a week of travel for the Enterprise-E to reach the fringes of the Katasi nebula. Twice, Romulan warbirds passed within scanner range but it was clear that they took no interest of the Federation ship skimming the edge of the neutral zone. The war with the Cylons was taking a toll and the Enterprise scanners made detailed recordings of at least three major incidents deep within Romulan territory. Sensor data indicated that the Romulans were holding their own but just barely. Of the three incident recorded, one represented a clear loss by the Romulans, the others a stalemate. Multiple ion trails, with Cylon signatures, were definitely being tracked into and away from the nebula. It would take another week for the starship to reach the Katasi star cluster from inside the nebula. Travel was slowed down to half impulse as unimagined energies, radiations and particles of every size buffeted the ship. It was also clear that the Cylons had begun mining the nebula with solium-based subspace mines, one of which the Enterprise blundered into. Multiphasic shields, partially effective now due to the effects of the nebula, saved the ship from destruction, but the point had been made most eloquently and the ship treaded carefully towards the ion trail's points of origin. The mission itself was a simple one. Find the Base of Operations of the Imperium, get sensor data, then run. In that order.
Picard's number one, Commander Deanna Troi, by habit took careful note of the emotions onboard the ship. There was considerable tension emanating from the crew but it was due to the anticipation of what would be found as opposed to the inherent danger itself. What she found comforting was that the crew had trust in her as first officer and she found that she liked that feeling a lot.
But that same feeling worried her also because there would soon come a choice, provided they survived this mission. Riker. Captain Riker. The USS Melbourne. Possible husband. Wife. Kids growing up onboard a starship. Command rank. Happiness?
"Commander?"
Deanna instantly re-focused herself as Picard's attention shifted towards her direction.
"I trust everything's okay?"
"Yes, Captain," she responded as professionally as possible. Her empathic nature knew that he knew that wasn't fully the case but he had no intention of prying either. He was improving she thought. He was finally beginning to read her. A little. Then she thought about that for a second. Her consoler's position had been created to maintain the crew's and Captain's psychological health during long term missions. But now after almost ten years, she wondered if this project was a help or a hindrance. For herself, she was a telepathic empath. And her captain relied on her during missions to determine the 'state' of others as though she was some type of lie detector or truth determining serum. She could do that and was good at her job, but the Captain had relied on her too much and more than once she though he'd been in essence, crippled by her presence. There were times he had no clue-no matter how obvious- as to what others were thinking. With her at his side, he didn't notice body language, voice changes, nothing. People would threaten him and the ship and what would he do? Turn to her and ask 'what does that mean?' And then she'd have to give some stupid, obvious answer like 'I feel that that person has malice or anger towards us. Don't trust him or her.'
Sometimes she could just scream.
But now wasn't one of these times. She was concentrating on not allowing the ship to hit any more mines. The mining of the nebula had been an ambitious project. Not only was it large, over thirty light years, but, logistically it was almost impossible to do, but they had tried anyway. The combination of randomly moving objects, of various sizes, high-energy discharges, gases, normal and sub-space particles no doubt caused many of the mines to detonate unintentionally. This led the crew to believe that the distribution of the mines was designed as more of a deterrent as opposed to a true threat.
Cylon patrols were more of a danger than anything else. But again the same conditions that threatened the mines also worked here. Sensor range in such a hostile medium was at a minimum and unless one blundered into one of the patrols, it was likely they would not be detected.
And Deanna noticed something else about herself. She enjoyed this kind of job. It involved pattern identification. Figuring out puzzles and structure. Structure indicated pattern and she excelled at discovering patterns. Her job as consoler involved finding patterns in behavior, anticipating and dealing with them until a satisfactory conclusion could be reached. And she was patient.
Then, to her surprise, she discovered that she could sense the Cylons. Or rather the void they exhibited. Unlike Data, whose emotions she could sense when his emotion-chip was activated, these artificial beings had what she could only describe as a 'black hole' where their emotions would be. That was the best way she could describe at this time. Somehow their programming had a dark essence about that she, once she understood it, could pick up. She would tell Picard about it, if necessary. But not yet. She was second in command, not a sensor monitor. Besides he'd probably ask her how they 'felt'. And at this point in her life she might just go off on her sometimes clueless Captain. No wonder she kept her face so impassive, she mused.
The officers had spent almost twenty hours in the stellar cartography department, finalizing their plan. Commander Data would be instrumental, as he would be on navigational control, assisted by ensign Tonuue, a Xeionalite male with purple glowing hair and seven digits on each hand. It took Picard a while to get used to this young man whose hair, which stood straight up with curly tips, detected vibrations much in the same way the human eardrum did. The man was competent and Picard had come to rely on his presence as an integral part of the bridge team.
At point three light years from the edge of the nebula's line of demarcation, the starship came to a dead stop. A class-three probe was sent to the very edge of the nebula, which then began pre-programmed, non-invasive sensor sweeps of the area. On the Enterprise passives went online and Picard ordered a visual, maximum magnification. Then he let out a soft whistle.
"Geordie to Captain Picard."
"Picard here."
'We have some type of energy collector, starboard about six thousand kilometers. It's shunting power to the complex orbiting the planet. I'm counting at least six more within sensor range. With that kind of power, they must be trying to trigger some type of massive subspace reaction."
"Explain."
"I have no clue, sir," he said. "But when power levels like what we're seeing is being collected, usually someone's trying to generate a sub-space wave front, possibly a black hole or some type of spatial disruption."
"But we'd have to get closer to confirm that hypothesis," Picard said deadpanned.
"Of course," came the response.
The bridge looked at the main screen, most eyes locked onto the massive complex. Several members of bridge's crew were also concentrating on the planet proper. The scaring proved ample evidence of aerial bombardment. The cloud cover had taken on a sickly greenish gray color. The planet's overall mass didn't equate with earlier readings taken years before. Overall life signs were down eighty percent. There was wave of sadness for the planet's population, but in this case the Prime Directive had to be applied. These people were not Federation and their civilization standards didn't qualify them.
Plus there was the fact that the main base for the Cylon Empire was parked in orbit made the entire point moot. The people there were doomed. There was nothing he could do. Still, Picard hated it because he would be one who would have to justify his orders and his actions when he tried to sleep at night.
Next to the Cylon factory complex, two more structures were being completed. The first was undeniably, their command star station for this region of space. The other, some distance away, was what appeared to be the beginnings of a space dock. Several Hellions were seen inside undergoing various stages of repair and upgrading. Then there were the so-called Extreme-class Cylon Basestars, a third larger than their cousins, jet-black in color, twin distortion nacelles situated just outside the classic double hulls. These ships had a discernible command bridge, with four launching bays over and underneath the nacelles.
There were at least five of these monsters completed with another eight being constructed.
Deanna's face contorted in abject fear for a moment. Behind her, Geordie whistled softly. She could feel Data's awe spreading across the room. And Picard...
Picard's emotions swirled between remembrance...the Borg, Wolf three-five-nine, the Borg again during the temporal disturbance at First Contact, fear and resolute determination. He was becoming an anchor for the storm to come.
The Federation had to know about this. So did the Colonials and everybody else for that matter.
"Captain," Data began as he turned to face Picard directly. There is a small structure orbiting the planet, roughly circular, two point three kilometers in diameter, six thousand two hundred thirty tons, composed of duotronium-neutronium alloys. There are several shield generators protecting the structure."
"Neutronium," Geordie echoed. "That's one of the hardest substances ever developed." He stopped and thought a moment. "They're trying to create some form of artificial conduit. Possibly a gateway of some sort."
"Geordie may be correct, Captain," Data added. "Theoretically, the combination of the two alloys could be used to help establish and maintain a subspace phenomenon, the type of which cannot be determined at this point."
"Could it be used as a weapon?"
Both Data and Geordie though about it for a moment. It was Geordie who answered. "Possibly. But the control would have to be critical or there could be an energy backlash, which could destroy the normal and subspace fabric for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Or it could produce some type of subspace black hole, either of which could reduce this area of space uninhabitable for decades."
"Warp drive would be rendered useless for several light-years," Data added, "and the reaction with the nebula itself could cause additional unforeseen consequences."
"Gentlemen," Picard halting the conversation. "Right now we have neither the firepower or the time to destroy that artifact. We'll pass the information along to Starfleet, after we complete our mission and remove ourselves safely from this area. Mr. Data...?"
Data immediately turned towards his console and Geordie took his place.
"I am ready, Sir."
"Shields to maximum," Deanna said.
Picard took a breath, sat down in his seat, tugged on his tunic and pointed at the direction of the viewscreen, as was his wrought. "Mr. Data. Engage."
The instant the Enterprise cleared the nebula, the ship jumped to warp four, performing a tight scan of the orbiting complexes, the planet and one of the new Extreme-class warships. No even slowing down, the Enterprise made a hard forty-degree turn, reentering the nebula several seconds later.
The Cylon security units were caught off guard, but recovered with perfect machine efficiency. Disruptors sizzled after the fleeing starship, ionizing space all around her, with two solid hits scoring on the Enterprise's rear deflectors. One of the Extremes followed its enemy immediately. The instant the enterprise entered the Katasi nebula, speed was reduced to three quarters impulse. The tracking Basestar never stopped firing its heavy disruptors in logical patterns, attempting to disable the now invisible, fleeing starship. That invisibility didn't stop the Cylon from trying to incinerate local space for a second as it followed into the nebula after its prey.
The disruptors beams, raking the Enterprise's multiphasic shields, ionized and incinerated everything collaterally, for a half a kilometer. The starship performed several evasive patterns, which helped prevent catastrophic damage from the beams, but at impulse their options were limited. But this had been prepared for also.
Prepare quantum torpedoes," Commander Deanna said. This was her part in the plan. Picard trusted her, saying nothing, concentrating instead on evasives.
"Quantum torpedoes, ready," the weapon's officer section answered.
"Release."
Six high-yield missiles were released from the rear torpedo tubes of the Federation starship. Instead of tracking their intended target, they simply remained where they were, almost inert and completely undetectable within the swirling energy vortexes of the nebula.
The fast-moving Basestar slammed into five of six of the bombs. The matter-antimatter explosives crushed its forward shields, along with the bridge. The ship went tumbling from view. It had been seriously damaged and if it and others chose to continue the chase now, they would do so far more cautiously.
Good.
"Very nice, Commander. My complements," Picard told his acting First Officer as the ship began its journey around the first of eight protostars selected for their high rate of subspace particle emissions, which served to keep the Enterprise's position secret from prying Cylon sensors.
"Deanna's heart was pounding within her chest, threatening to exit the nearest available opening. She somehow murmured thanks.
Picard smiled at his first officer. She was learning. Now it was time to leave.
"Mr. Data, get us back to Federation territory with all due haste. And watch out for any nasty surprises."
"Yes, sir."
The Enterprise began its dangerous journey home, carrying news of impending Armageddon.
