Chapter Title: Enemy Lines

Chapter Synapses: In the fallout of a mission into hostile Romulan territory, VonBach, Talara, and several other specialists find themselves stranded, hoping for rescue.

Written by: Seraph Koji

Smoke rose from the stealth shuttlecraft on the wooded planet. Four officers sat at a small fire outside the craft.

Joseph VonBach stood among the four officers in pure black next to the unmarked craft, "Were we followed?"

"Unclear at present." The Bolian scientist, Chell, responded, "But I would imagine we were."

A doctor, a human female named Lindsey Saunders, examined the injured engineer, a human named Walter Hall, "He'll recover." She reported.

"Of course he will." Chell replied.

VonBach looked into the sky, "How long do you figure before they're on top of us?"

"About ten minutes." Talara, the mission's pilot, exited the craft.

"Good." VonBach grabbed a large rifle-style weapon.

Saunders dragged the injured crew member into the worse-off craft.

VonBach smiled thinly, "Bring it on, Romulan!"

"Captain's Log, Commander VonBach and Lieutenant Talara have been called away on some special mission. Starfleet Command refuses to comment, but the length of their absence has prompted a course correction. We have delayed our summit at the Arcadia system to investigate. A promising lead comes from a border outpost, which reported a brief detection of a Neutral Zone incursion from our side that seemed to vanish. Hyperion in en route."

"Ensign Ivano, bring us to a stop on the edge of the Neutral Zone. Ensign Fowler, hail the nearest Romulan warbird. Tell them a shuttle… drifted off course. It's heavily damaged and we need to mount a search mission." Starwind ordered, seated on the bridge.

Winters, who manned tactical in the absence of VonBach, reported what they all knew, "The Romulans will never allow it."

Deep into Romulan territory, VonBach pointed his rifle, "Here, Romulan! That's a nice Romulan!" He fired. Several blasts emerged at once from the barrel, striking a guard.

Talara wielded a hand phaser, "Shut up and shoot, Joseph!" Talara knocked a guard down.

Chell screamed from the craft, "Guys, there are dozens of them coming after us!"

"Fun." Talara sighed, "Joseph, keep shooting, I'm gonna try something!" She ran into the ship, took Tactical, and crossed fingers. She pressed 'Fire'.

VonBach watched as two beams from the nose of the shuttle struck down a few solders. He smirked, "Eat phaser!"

"Captain!" The ensign at Operations on Hyperion called frantically, "A Romulan Warbird decloaking. Weapons armed."

Starwind quickly turned to Winters, "Ready to implement some of the freshly tested systems?"

"Yes, sir!" Winters nodded.

"Then by all means, Lieutenant," Starwind stared the warbird down, "Let's show our teeth."

"Red Alert!" Collins, seated in her normal central seat beside Starwind, called.

"Bringing Point-Defense Matrix on-line. Routing four main phaser banks." Winters reported.

Phral rushed in and sat at the Engineering display, "Shields ready for on-the-fly remodulation."

Ivano's display changed drastically, "Assuming manual control."

"Site-to-site medical and repair transporters enabled." The Operations ensign reported.

Winters mentally ran through a tactical checklist, before reporting, "Tactical systems ready."

"Let the record show this confrontation is in Federation space, and is therefore an act of war on the Federation. Allowing us entry into the Neutral Zone." Starwind recorded.

"Incoming fire!" Winters called.

On a rather green planet, VonBach shot down the last aerial Romulan patrol.

"Joe, this mission is a tremendous failure." Hall, having recovered to the point of consciousness, growled.

Saunders begged to differ, "We discovered the rumors of a biological weapon were false."

"And nearly died!" Chell added, frantic.

"Once the shuttle is space worthy, we head back for Federation space. Until then, we shut up and deal. We had the option to back out." Talara fought the urge to scream at the others, "So live with the path you chose."

VonBach set his gun upon the ground, "We aren't done. We have to destroy the facility on this planet. I told you, and you go and get us shot down…"

"Shut up, Joseph!" Talara snapped at him.

VonBach pulled a hand phaser from his belt and pointed it at Talara, "Wanna go, blue girl?"

"Any time, pinkskin!"

"Hey!" Saunders screamed, "Let's focus on going home."

Hall stepped between Talara and VonBach, "I like that idea, Lesley."

"Lindsey." Saunders corrected him.

Hyperion, with the warbird in tow, drifted through the neutral zone.

"Contact Senator Terak, warn her that if another ship enters Federation space, or attacks a poor off-course shuttle, she can expect a proportional response." Starwind told Fowler, the Operations ensign. "In the interest of peace, we are going to retrieve the downed shuttle's crew and return to Federation space."

"Aye, sir." Fowler replied.

"Damn!" A flurry of sparks shot from a terminal aboard the shuttle, "Well, we aren't going anywhere soon." Hall grudgingly reported.

"We can't send a communiqué to Starfleet or release a general distress call…" VonBach groaned.

"Not… not a general distress call…" Talara thought a moment, "What if we hid a message, a regular pattern in a transmission that would otherwise seem like subspace static?"

"Who would notice that?" VonBach scoffed.

Talara shot him a cold glare. "Victor Starwind." She paused, then elaborated, "During the war, Victor and I served together on a ship prior to Destiny. Our C. O. got marooned on a planet in Dominion-held territory, and sent us a distress call in Morse code using that method. Victor decoded it., and told me the coordinates. We took a runabout and saved him."

"I'll get to work on that." Chell replied, "With Walter's help."

"You've got it." Hall sat at the engineering station, "Better than spending days working on that helm console."

"Blue." VonBach addressed Talara.

Talara turned, "Yeah, pinkskin?"

"Good plan."

"Captain!" Fowler called, "We suddenly are reading a lot of interference on the comm. channels."

"Probably residuals from… something." Collins theorized.

"Just the same, have the computer search for any transmissions. Maybe it got garbled between here and there." Starwind ordered.

"Another Romulan patrol!" Talara called, grabbing a phase compression rifle VonBach tossed to her.

"Starfleet officers, prepare to be arrested!" A Romulan solder screamed, laying down disruptor fire.

"How about no?" Talara returned fire with a short phaser burst.

VonBach grinned and threw a plasma grenade at the cluster of solders.

"Sir, we found a consistent pattern of pulses. It may be nothing, but since it's an organized pattern…" Fowler trailed off, playing the tone.

"Morse code." Starwind said, recognizing the pattern, "Standard distress call, S. O. S.. Ivano, set course for the source of that signal. Maximum warp. Winters, cut our passengers free."

"Joseph!" Chell ran from the shuttle ruins, "Large incoming vessel!"

"Crap!" VonBach restocked his supply of plasma grenades.

"Receiving a signal, Joe!" Saunders called, "It's identifying itself as the USS Hyperion."

VonBach and Talara ran into the shuttle.

"They're responding, audio only." Fowler informed Starwind.

"This is Captain Victor Starwind of the Federation starship Hyperion here to render assistance to the shuttlecraft Kobyashi Meru. We received word you had drifted off-course." Starwind covered for the downed shuttle.

"Kobyashi Meru?" Saunders whispered to Talara.

VonBach grinned, "A fictitious ship from a Command simulation, it's blown off course by an ion storm and is attacked in the Neutral Zone."

"It's also a no-win scenario." Talara pointed out.

VonBach pressed a comm. control key, "This is Commander Joseph VonBach of the Federation transport shuttle Kobyashi Meru. We inquire as to our location."

"You are within the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone." The voice of Starwind replied.

"Captain, if you could beam us off this planet's surface. We are having trouble with our engine core and are facing imminent explosion." VonBach hinted to Hall, who got to work creating an explosion, "Please also apologize to the Romulan government for our intrusion.

We encountered a gravimetric anomaly which must have affected our helm systems."

"So he can be covert." Saunders laughed quietly.

Talara spoke into the comm. unit, "Hyperion, we have five to beam up."

"Understood. Stand by, Kobyashi Meru." Starwind responded.

It was a moment later, the five officers, dressed in only black, materialized in one of Hyperion's transporter rooms.

The transporter chief delivered a message, "Captain Starwind wishes to see you in his Ready Room after Doctor Sen checks you out in Sick Bay."

"Captain's Log. We have recovered the crew of the shuttle that went down in Romulan space. The details of her mission remain confidential, but I plan to attempt to debrief them. Doctor Sen assures me they all are in perfect physical health."

"Welcome to the Hyperion, Lieutenant Hall, Lieutenant Commander Saunders, and Ensign Chell." Starwind addressed the officers.

"Captain." Saunders nodded to him.

"You already know my tactical officer Commander VonBach, and our operations officer, Lieutenant Talara." Starwind motioned to them.

There was a sort of silence as everyone sat at the table.

"What the hell were you all doing in Romulan space?" Starwind opted not to beat around the bush.

"It's classified." VonBach replied.

Saunders ignored the existence of the overbearing Commander, "We were searching for evidence of a Romulan weapon using Federation bio-mimetic gel."

"Instead, we found several warbirds patrolling very close to the Federation line." Talara added.

"No bio-weapon?" Starwind asked.

"No." Saunders replied.

Starwind nodded, "We'll take the three of you to the nearest Starbase. We'll contact the Romulan Senate about the presence of a number of warbirds too close for comfort."

"Agreed." Saunders nodded.

"Dismissed."