CHAPTER 8

The incoming hail broke the quiet of the bridge.

"It's from an Earth freighter, the Southern Cross," Hoshi said, her hand to her earpiece. "They're under attack."

Jon and the bridge crew waited as Hoshi listened intently to the message.

"That's all there is, sir, and a set of coordinates," she said. Transferring the information to the other stations on the bridge, she added, "They're not responding to our hail."

Jon leaned forward in his chair. "Lay in a course, Travis. Warp 5. T'Pol, can you pick up anything on long-range scans?"

"Not at this distance," she said.

"Malcolm, sound the alert," Jon said. "I want the crew to be ready for whatever we find when we get there."

"Aye, sir."

The bridge crew waited in silence as Enterprise covered the distance. Hoshi continued to try to raise the freighter. At Jon's inquiring glance, she shook her head.

At the back of Hoshi's mind, a tiny thought kept niggling at her -- she hoped the cats would be OK if it came down to a fight. Much as she'd like to track them down and put them in their cage, she couldn't leave her post.

T'Pol broke the brittle silence. "I'm picking up one freighter and two other vessels. The other ships do not match any configuration in our databases."

Jon stood. "Put it onscreen."

The field of stars shimmered to reveal a long freighter. Two gaping holes were visible in its hull and vapor issued from several smaller rents. A ship the size of Enterprise was off the cargo ship's bow while another was docked with it.

"They're armed," Malcolm said, looking at readouts on his tactical console. "Nothing that should give us too much trouble, though."

"Good," Jon said. "Hoshi, hail those other vessels."

The response to the hail was immediate.

"The vessel that's not docked is moving in our direction," Malcolm said. "It's powering up weapons."

"Polarize the hull plating," Jon said as a beam of white lanced out from the oncoming ship.

Enterprise shook slightly.

"If that's the way you want to be," Jon muttered. More loudly he said, "Target their weapon ports and fire."

The firefight was over almost as soon as it had begun. Twin phase cannon beams shot out from Enterprise, knocking out the other ship's weapons. But as Enterprise came alongside, an alarm beeped on the tactical console.

"Indication of multiple transporter activity," Malcolm said, his voice tight. "Someone's transported aboard."

"Where?" Jon asked.

T'Pol, her eyes glued to the scanner on her console, said, "Engineering and the corridor outside the mess hall."

Hoshi's head shot up. Warp Core no doubt was in Engineering. She hoped he kept his furry little head down.

Jon glanced at Malcolm, who was keying in commands on his console. "Get security to both those places."

"Already on their way," Malcolm said as he rushed for the turbolift.

A shout from Crewman Dillard was the first indication Trip had that something was wrong. He turned from the warp controls and saw Dillard grappling on the main floor with an gray-skinned alien clad in leathery pants and tunic.

Trip leapt over the platform railing to drop on the alien's back, knocking both the alien and Dillard to the deck. The intruder was stunned by the impact, and Trip yanked the weapon from his grasp.

Holding the gun on the intruder, Trip got to his feet. A quick glance showed his Engineering crew valiantly fighting the aliens.

Trip's momentary distraction was all his downed opponent needed. The alien's foot lashed out, kicking the weapon from his hand. But before the alien could get up, however, Dillard struck him in the head with a spanner, knocking him out.

Trip nodded his thanks and turned to see how the rest of his staff was faring, only to find himself facing the business end of another weapon. A cruel smile crossed the alien's face as its owner began to pull the trigger.

The smile turned to a scream as an orange blur fell from the upper level and landed on the intruder's head. He dropped the gun and grabbed at the hissing cat which was now clawing viciously at his face and neck.

Trip dove for the dropped weapon and retrieved it. Before he could fire, however, a phase pistol blast from the direction of the hatch struck the alien in the chest. As the intruder began to topple, Warp Core leaped clear to land at Trip's feet.

The other intruders were quickly subdued by the arriving security team. Trip, after a quick stroke of thanks to Warp Core's head, went to the comm panel to report to the bridge.

Malcolm arrived on E deck to find a security team outside the mess hall.

"They went inside, sir," Zabel said, his phase pistol in his hand. "What do they want in the mess hall?"

The door to the mess hall opened and three gray-skinned aliens rushed out, firing as they ran. The security team and Malcolm were pinned down by bolts of energy coming their way.

Malcolm cautiously stuck his head out far enough to see their quarry getting away. They were firing as they backed hurriedly down the corridor, and didn't see what Malcolm saw.

A streak of gray sped out from a cross corridor and stopped to huddle in the middle of the deck. The lead alien backed into Torpedo and sprawled on the deck, his gun flying out of his hand.

The noise of the fall and Torpedo's outraged scream drew the other intruders' attention away from the security team, who fired with precision to drop them.

Malcolm ran down the corridor, covering the alien whose downfall was the puffed-up cat that stood off to one side. Torpedo emitted a loud growl that ran up and down the scale.

Malcolm picked up the gun and two of the security team hauled the alien to his feet.

"Lock these three up," he said. "I've got to see what's going on in Engineering."

Malcolm took a moment to look down at the cat, who was now licking his back where the alien had tripped over him.

"You OK?" he asked Torpedo.

The cat paused in its grooming to stare up at him.

"You're welcome in my armory any day," Malcolm said softly before trotting off down the corridor.

Much to Malcolm's relief, the other security team had the situation in hand by the time he arrived at Engineering. Members of his staff were escorting the subdued aliens out of the department.

"Has your crew been practicing self-defense without me knowing it?" he asked Trip as the last of the intruders were led away.

"We did do pretty good, didn't we?" he said, stroking the purring orange cat he held in his arms. "But we had some help."

"My security team arrived in the nick of time, then," Malcolm said with a touch of pride.

"Actually, it wasn't them, either," Trip said, a grin lighting his face when he saw Malcolm's puzzled expression. "It was this fellow here."

Warp Core stretched out his neck for Trip to rub under his chin.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he leaped from the upper level," Trip said. "Dropped right on the face of one of those guys -- the one who was about to shoot me at point-blank range."

Malcolm grinned back and shook his head.

"You don't believe me?" Trip asked.

"Under normal circumstances, I'd be inclined to doubt you. But you're not going to believe what his brother did a few minutes ago..."

Leaving Engineering a few minutes later to check on the prisoners, Malcolm wondered if the captain was going to believe either his or Trip's report.

Hoshi hurried to her quarters at the end of her shift and was surprised to find both cats waiting outside her door as usual. She'd thought for sure they would have been hiding somewhere after all the excitement.

The attack on the freighter, intruders on board Enterprise, another brief fight with the second ship after it disengaged from the freighter -- what with all the alarms and sudden changes in the ship's flight path, she knew she'd be in a hidey-hole somewhere if she were a cat.

She was sitting on the bed, brushing Warp Core's coat, when the door chime sounded.

"Come in," she called out.

The door slid aside to reveal Malcolm, a can in his hand.

"More tuna?" Hoshi asked as he entered, the door closing behind him. "You're going to spoil them with that high-class diet."

Torpedo, who had been stretched out on the floor, got up and went to rub against Malcolm's legs.

"I only wish I had something better to offer them," he said. "Hoshi, you're not going to believe what those two did today. I know I wouldn't if I hadn't seen part of it."

The chime sounded again.

"Come in," Hoshi called out.

This time Trip was standing there. He was holding a small bag.

"I brought something for the cats," he said, stepping into the cabin. "Found out Chef was growin' some catnip. After today, these guys deserve it."

"What are you two talking about?" Hoshi asked, looking from Trip to Malcolm.

Malcolm gestured to Trip to begin and seated himself at Hoshi's desk.

"Well," Trip said, opening the bag and taking out a pinch of catnip. Immediately both cats were at his feet, meowing and weaving back and forth. "Warp Core was in Engineering when those alien goons transported in. You shoulda seen it..."