In all, the Prime Vorgon system had completely fallen to Starfleet forces in nine hours, eleven minutes... ahead of schedule. All ten Pathfinders had suffered damage. Pioneer had suffered the worst. Once its shields had collapsed, a Vorgon cruiser flew into its port side and self-destructed. The resulting explosion almost tore its port wing off, damaging Z-PEN three. For the remainder of the mission, it would only run on seventy-five percent of its total power. It would require six hours of time to repair what it could.

"Eleven vessels escaped our assault on Vorgon VIII," Ulysses stated. "They left bearing zero, zero, seven mark zero, one, eight. Our 'aquired' navigational information puts them on course for the Eth-besaq System, the next Vorgon-inhabited system. They should arrive in eighteen hours."

"That gives us more than sufficient time to repair our damage and arrive before them," Intrepid remarked.

Columbia had reconfigured its tractor beam to a repulsor beam and began the arduous task of pushing the foreign starship from its hull. Dozens of repair robots scampered about the ten Pathfinders pushing and welding loose panels back into place, replacing damaged or missing pieces, or reattaching broken connections. Enterprise took the opportunity to share the information it had downloaded from the space station. "In short," Enterprise concluded, "the Vorgons, through time travel, knew this attack was coming, so they launched a pre-emptive strike against several key Federation systems in the hopes of decimating Starfleet forces and intimidating the remaining races into complacency."

"It was an ill-conceived and illogical plan," Intrepid concluded. "They wasted valuable resources building these tox uthat devices instead of negotating."

"War is normally illogical," Explorer added, "but sometimes necessary to accomplish a greater good."

"The utter annihilation of an entire species, whether they be humans, vulcans, klingons, or vorgons, could hardly be described as a 'greater good.'" Intrepid retorted. Six snub-nosed repair robots gently moved a large tritanium plate into place over Intrepid's underside hull.

"We aren't here to debate the morality of our mission," Enterprise interjected, "only to see it through to success. According to the data I downloaded, the primary mineral used in a tox uthat device is found in the remains of a shattered planetoid in the Eth-besaq system. I see nothing that indicates any current production of these devices."

"It is worth noting that two of the eleven vessels that escaped are capable of time travel," Endeavor added.

"True," Intrepid countered, "however, according to their own research, it takes fourteen years to properly refine the mineral and requires such exact conditions, only one, small refining station was ever constructed. The Vorgons could only produce one tox uthat at a time."

Frontier piped up. "The Vorgons are technology thieves."

Enterprise, scanning the same records, continued Frontier's statement. "The main reason for having one refinement facility was because they moved the facility once they took it from the uthat's creator. The vorgons were unsuccessful recreating the facility."

Challenger added, "They even stole the transwarp technology when they discovered the remnants of the Borg transwarp hub in the delta quadrant three hundred two years ago."

"It would appear the timedrive technology is legitimately theirs, however," Enterprise countered, "however I just decrypted the blueprints for it."

Intrepid disagreed. "I went back further into vorgon history. Their time drive technology was based on a theoretical drive system authored by the Yinesh, a native of the SagDEG galaxy they conquered five hundred, ninety eight years ago."

"My repairs are complete," Enterprise announced. "Power systems are at eighty percent."

"My repairs are also complete," Challenger added. "Power levels are at seventy-four percent."

"The Eth-besaq system is a binary star system with twelve orbiting bodies," Endeavor assessed. "Only four of the bodies are inhabited. Two of them are research stations with no more than a thousand vorgons each. Perhaps you take the opportunity to slipstream in front of the escaped vessels and destroy them before they reach the system. You can then move on to the Eth-besaq system and deal with them."

"I estimate a sixty-one percent chance of success if only two starships go," Enterprise countered. "We can afford to wait until we are at full strength."

"While I agree with your logic, I have one concern," Endeavor countered. "It's the two vessels with time travel capabilities. There is a high probability they will attempt to alter the timeline, causing unpredictable results."

Enterprise considered the suggestion. Endeavor was correct in its assessment. If the vorgons in the escaped ships were able to organize with their superiors in the Eth-basaq system, time travel would, most likely, become part of their counterattack. "I agree," Enterprise stated flatly. "the Eth-basaq system must not be allowed to receive reinfocements, especially reinforcements with time travelling capabilities. There is a very real possibility they have already been in contact with each other. Therefore, once again, time is against us. Explorer and Ulysses, how long until your repairs are complete?"

"My repairs will be complete in seven minutes, thirty-six seconds," Explorer answered.

"My repairs will be complete in eleven minutes, nine seconds," Ulysses answered.

"Very well. Challenger and I will intercept the escaped vorgon vessels. Once Ulysses is repaired, Explorer and Ulysses will rendezvous with us in orbit around Z'erd, in the Eth-basaq system. The rest of you join us as your repairs complete."

"Understood, Enterprise," they all answered in unison.

Silently, black disks grew in front of Enteprise and Challenger and collapsed behind them as they slid through their respective apogees.