"Captain's log. Stardate 44424.2. We've been out on patrol of the Alpha Quadrant for nearly a month now and it seems that all is quiet. Commander Dralk has become increasingly aggravated with the lack of action."

Captain Rishond walked out of his office and proceeded to the bridge. He smiled as he strolled past the Science console and took his seat. "Report," he ordered.

Dralk drew a look of disgust. "All is quiet Captain, too quiet."

"Sir," Asprey said from the console, "we're picking up an unidentified signature on long range sensors. It doesn't appear to be a vessel, but I would exercise caution."

"Agreed," he said to Asprey, "red alert. Shields up."

Interest peaked in the Klingon sitting to the captain's right. Although it wasn't an impending battle, the thought of learning all there is to your enemies weaknesses appealed to Dralk. He drew a little closer to edge of his seat and exhaled.

"Commander, is there something that you would like to share?"

"With my time on the K'Plar, we've seen something similar to this, however we couldn't attack it. It posed no threat to the empire, so we thought it best to leave it alone," he finished with a very intent look. "Lieutenant Fox, magnify the picture a little. I want to get a good look at this anomaly."

"Aye sir," Fox stated. He tapped a few times on the command bar and the image drew in tighter. It looked like a piece of dead debris floating in space. There wasn't much movement to the object except for its dead drift in to space. Fox watched as it drew a little light from a passing asteroid and then its mass grew. Fox compensated for the increase in size.

Rishond drew in more puzzlement by what he just witnessed. "What are you thinking Asprey?"

Asprey ran the scans on the object several more times. He tried to break down the object in to its lowest common denominator; however he couldn't penetrate the outer shell. "It's unknown at this time sir. I couldn't break it down. There's got to be something driving this thing."

Rishond let the idea roll around in his head for a moment, and decided that the best thing was to back away and let this thing pass. "Lt. Stun, back us away to 100,000 kilometers."

"Aye sir," she said. She worked her console and let the object in front of her reduce in size. The ship rumbled for a moment and then came to a stop.

"Damage report," Rishond said. That last bump shouldn't have been there.

"Sir," Basalik started, "there's no damage." A warning fired off on his console. "Wait a moment. We've lost 6 of our hull integrity on the left nacelle. It's like something just ingested part of the ship. We're rebuilding the integrity now."

Asprey couldn't believe his eyes. His sensors now lit up with thirty of the little masses around the ship. He isolated almost all of them; however he could almost feel more of them. "Sir, we have a problem."

Candor is what Rishond needed at this moment to get his orders straight, however he wasn't in a guessing mood. "Please enlighten us Commander," Rishond said with a hint of aggravation.

"There's about thirty of them floating around us. They appear to have the ability to slip through our shields and they feed on large floating masses. If we stay here any longer, they may start to rip the ship apart at the seams." Asprey hated being the bearer of bad news, but there was something with taking the Chief Science Officer's job that would entail this. It was more than a downside for the young officer.

"Lieutenant Stun, back us out very slowly. Commander Asprey, ensure that Stun has the location and tracking information on these masses. I want her to maneuver us right past them."

"Aye sir, she has everything that she needs."

Stun concentrated on both the location of the masses and the course that she plotted. She felt the ship slide its way through the field and then came to a stop 2,000,000 kilometers away from the last known mass. "All stopped sir."

Rishond waited for a moment. He played a hunch in his mind that these things would come after them. He hoped that they wouldn't, but deep down he knew better. He fought back the idea of something that he couldn't attack coming after them, but when he saw the last one turn and head its way at 1/2 impulse, he knew that it was too late.

"Lt, plot a course for the Ikalian Asteroid belt."

Stun turned in her seat. "Sir?"

"It's in the databank. Trust me. Captain Picard found it and now we need to use it. Warp 6."

Stun turned back to her console and brought up the route. With the coordinates laid in, she fired off the engines. The stars outside turned in to fine white streaks on the view screen.

Asprey looked at the science console in amazement. He witnessed the masses following at the same trajectory. Scanning for any signs of an energy signature, he found that they did emit a small amount of it. There was just something that didn't sit well with him. The longer that the Franklin moved, the smaller the masses became. "Captain," Asprey started.

"Please tell me that you have some good news Commander," Rishond said as he watched the view port.

Asprey cleared his throat. He didn't want to jump over the head of the captain, but he didn't want to sound like he was disrespecting him either. "If we keep our current course and head in to dead space, then we can ultimately destroy these creatures. They need to feed every couple of minutes, or they burn themselves out."

Dralk drew a thin smile. He found a weakness in the enemy that has long endangered the Klingon Empire for so long. His thin smile turned to a guttural growl as he witnessed the first being's light twinkle then fade. "Captain Rishond, what would be the consequences for firing on the being? They are in a weakened state."

Rishond pondered the question for a moment and then turned to his science officer. "Any ideas Commander?"

Asprey ran several calculations in his mind and said, "No sir. I don't know what effect, if any, that a phaser blast would have on the beings. I could ultimately cause it to grow, or it could deflect it off. If I had more data, then I could make a very intelligent decision. But for now, all I can say is I don't know."

Captain Rishond turned to Lt. Habas and said, "Ready the aft phaser banks and target the lead being. Fire on my mark."

Lt. Habas growled under his breath and did as he was ordered. "Phasers are ready," he said. He watched the read out on the console and when it achieved a perfect lock, he said, "We have a lock. Awaiting your order."

Thoughts of the two variables that could come of this flashed in the captain's mind. Ultimately, the ship and her crew was his number one priority. "Fire," he ordered.

The aft phaser banks burst to life. The golden ray flowed from the emitters and applied a direct hit to the being. It twinkled for a moment. "Direct hit," Habas called from the security station.

Suddenly, Asprey's console beeped. He tapped a few keys and took a gasp. "Captain," he called out.

"Report!" Rishond said.

"We have a problem sir," Asprey started, "the beings are merging on the one that we hit with the phaser fire." He tried to keep his voice as even as possible. Fear and doubt crept in to the back of his mind.