Hello again! Sorry about the shortness of the last chapter, but I'll make up for it here. I still own nothing.

Two: Confrontation

Captain Picard stood up.

"For what reason are we under arrest?"

The pink skinned man tilted his head, confused.

"For participating in criminal activities, of course."

"We were not aware that we were breaking any rules. We are new to this region of space." Picard said.

"You are in the Bogon Galaxy, and are in violation of Detron 5's Criminal Conspiracy contract, section 3, paragraph 8. 'All newcomers to this region of space must register with the Detron officials, otherwise they will be persecuted.'"

"We have never heard of the Bogon Galaxy or of Detron 5. We came here by means of a wormhole we found, and it could be that we have travelled from a completely different galaxy." Picard explained.

"That still does not explain why you were conspiriting with Slim Cognito, wanted for fraud, illegal weapons and upgrades import and not registering with the Detron 5 officials."

"We believed he was a simple trader, and only wished to buy Star Charts and maps of this quadrant. We gave him design specifics on our Holographic technology..."

"What?!" The Police officer bellowed. "Giving criminals higher technology than even Megacorp has is extreme violation of Detron 5's Criminal Conspiracy contract, section 1, paragraph..."

"Yes, Yes." Picard interrupted. We will retrieve the technology from Slim as soon as he arrives. In fact, he is due here in a few minutes. Picard out." The screen returned to a starry background and the Police ship orbiting the asteroid base.

Minutes passed. Slim did not arrive. An hour passed.

"This is most unusual." Picard said, frowning. "A ship that could have travelled that far from space must have some warp capabilities."

"Sir," Data said from the helm. "I am not detecting any warp drive on board the Police ship. I did not on Mr Cognito's ship, either, but I assumed it was a sensor malfunction. However, I have run a diagnostic on the sensors, and they are working perfectly."

Picard sat up.

"Are you saying these people have no warp capability?"

"It is possible."

"But they are space faring."

"They could have developed thrusters and impulse power, and gone space faring like that."

"They would be limited to this sector at most."

"Yes Sir."

"Data, we have just violated the Prime Directive."

"I do not believe so Sir."

Picard stood up and walked over to Data's station. "Oh?"

"The Prime Directive states that no one of the Federation can interfere with non-space faring species. It does not say anything about species that are space faring and do not have warp capabilities."

At that moment, Riker walked out of the turbolift.

"Did I miss anything?" He asked innocently.

"Number One, will you join me in my Ready Room?" Picard asked and walked in, not waiting for an answer. Riker followed.

Picard explained the situation.

"So," Riker sat down. "We have violated the Prime Directive, we have conspirited with criminals, they'll have every Bounty Hunter in this sector looking for us."

"Indeed, and Starfleet Command won't like it either"

"Yes. We will have to face them sooner or later. Speaking of which, when do you think we'll go back?"

"I don't know. The Wormhole is stable, so it won't just collapse by itself."

Picard's commbadge chirped. He tapped it. "Picard here."

"Sir," Data's voice came over the comm. "A small ship has just come into sensor range. It is not Slim's ship, but is similar to a shuttlecraft. The Gunga is heading towards it.

"On my way." Picard answered, stood up and walked back onto the Bridge, Riker following.

"Follow the Gunga." Picard ordered, sitting down in the centre chair.

"Sir, the Gunga is opening fire on the smaller ship!" Burke reported.

"Shields up. Hail the Gunga." Riker commanded.

"On screen." Burke reported.

The tall, pink-skinned captain appeared on the screen.

"Why are you attacking the smaller ship?" Picard demanded.

"They are known collaborators with Slim Cognito." The officer replied. "We have been trying to catch them for months."

"Captain," Burke reported. "The smaller vessel is firing on us!"

Picard tensed himself, bracing for the impact. But he felt nothing.

"Status?" Riker demanded.

"Shields have dropped in point three percent." Burke said in amazement.

"Hail them."

"They are not responding. They are coming around for another attack."

This time Picard felt a slight shake in his chair.

"Shields are down to ninety-seven percent."

"Drop shields to ten percent. Vent some plasma from the warp coils, make it look like they hit us bad." Picard ordered. "Open fire on the smaller ship, absolute minimum phaser power.

A few moments passed. Then...

"Captain! The ship is about to explode!"

"Can you detect any life-forms?" Picard demanded.

"Yes sir. One, and a robot."

"Beam them out of there!"

Seconds later, the small ship exploded on screen.

Riker tapped his commbadge. "Transporter room, do you have them?"

"Yes sir."

"We're on our way."

Picard, Data and a security officer walked through the Transporter room doors, to see a furry humanoid in a green and black suit holding a large, primitive looking gun. He was aiming it right at the Transporter chief.

"My name is Captain Jean-Luc Picard." Picard began. "You are on board the..."

"Auf den la Schu! Klen dangah hoe!" The furry alien interrupted.

"Data?" Picard asked.

"I believe our Universal Translators are not functioning because their language is completely different to ours. The other alien languages were more similar to Federation Standard."

"Flen die glan Schu!" The alien yelled, tightening his finger on the trigger of his gun.

Suddenly, the creature's backpack jumped onto the floor, and turned into a small robot.

"I apologize for my companion's rudeness." It said politely. "It is in his specie's instinct."

Then, to the alien, "Fla Schu! Ratchet. Fla Schu!"

The alien put his weapon down slowly, and put it behind his back. The weapon was gone when he showed his hand again.

"Fascinating." Data observed.

"Allow me to introduce ourselves." The robot continued. "My name is Clank, and this is my associate, Ratchet."

"Glen how." The alien muttered.

Picard's commbadge chirped. He tapped it. "Picard here."

"Sir, the Gunga wishes us to transport the prisoners directly to their ship."

Ratchet suddenly tensed up in alarm.

"Dan schlie Klan du Macht! Du arrest!"

"Wait." Picard interrupted. "Did you just say arrest?"

"They Glanfen arrest us!"

"The Universal Translators are beginning to translate properly." Data explained.

"They'll send us to prison!" Ratchet practically shouted.

"Ratchet, it is okay." The robot assured him. He then faced Picard. Captain Picard, we request asylum."

"We will be happy to grant you asylum." Picard said. "After a formal trial has taken place."