"Damage report!" Miyachika said pulling herself from the floor and into her seat. She had noticed the viewscreen had switched back to the adrift Zhang He.

"We were lucky the shields were up otherwise we wouldn't be here to talk about it," Tenzing said. "Damage done to the starboard side of the primary hull on decks seven, eight and nine."

"Can we get a lock?"

"No, sir. There's nothing to lock onto," Tarsi said.

"Hail the Gorn ship."

"There's no ship out there to hail aside from the Zhang He."

"What the hell? Get me Captain Kang, I want to speak with her again." The Zhang He's captain reappeared on the screen.

"You guys okay over there?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Could your ship pick up anything?"

"No, our sensors are still down. Things are a mess over here."

"Those Gorn disruptors are vicious," Holiday said.

"I don't think those were Gorn disruptors," Tarsi said. "Usually they don't pack such a hard punch."

"She's right," Tenzing said. "Short range sensors are coming back on line but long range are still down. It looks like they're being jammed. The damage done to the Zhang He is more consistent with Romulan disruptors. What hit us looks to be one of their plasma torpedoes."

"Are you saying we were just attacked by Romulans?" Miyachika asked.

"Either that or our instruments are off."

"I want definitive answers not just speculation. Why would the Romulans be messing around here?"

"And we're not exactly close to the Romulan Neutral Zone," Holiday said. "Crossing would be an act of war."

"Hasn't stopped them before?" Miyachika said. "But you're right, it would start a war. A war in which they'd win if we were start fighting the Gorn as well. Yeon Tae, did the Gorn say anything during the attack?"

"They said the deaths of their people would be avenged and refused to believe us when we said we had nothing to do with it."

"Wouldn't their sensors show that you weren't the ones that fired?"

"I mentioned that but they claimed they saw no other ship besides us."

"Figures. And you said there was another Gorn ship out there?"

"Yes, but we lost sight of it. If it was the Gorn who attacked you then they'd still be attacking. They're not the type to hit and run."

"Either their ship was also destroyed or they left the system to get into contact with another Gorn ship. Either way I don't think they're here."

"Any ideas on our next move?" Kang asked.

"There's a shark in the water," Miyachika said. "We need to find out what happened down there and without sensors, the only way to do that is to beam down. And I promised you a repair team."

"But if we both drop our shields..."

"Right. They'll be sure to attack. But we don't have any other options except to run and that's not my style."

"Let's do a simultaneous transport. We both drop our shields and you beam the repair team over here while we both send our away teams down to the planet. That would limit the amount of time our shields are down."

"It's the best and only plan so far."

"We'll signal you when ready. Zhang He out."

Miyachika swung her chair to the left. "Cassie, get an engineering team together and head over to the Zhang He. I'm headed down to the surface. Tarsi, Tenzing, Hunter, you're with me."

–

The away team shimmered into existence on the relatively barren rocky terrain of the planet in a gold sparkling light and a high pitched sound. They held their phasers out in front waiting for an attack but one never came. The place was silent with the exception of the wind carrying a slight howl. There was no sign of the Gorn.

Miyachika flipped open her communicator. "Miki Endo, this is Miyachika. Any report on our shark out there?"

"Negative, sir. No attack ever came."

"Well that's something at least. Keep me informed if anything changes. Miyachika out." She flipped her communicator shut and attached it to her belt behind her back just next to her tailbone.

Up ahead the entrance for the miners' base camp. Walls extended to the towering rock cliffs that flanked the camp. Black smoke billowed up past the walls. The entrance to the camp split the wall in half. Normally a pair of metal gates covered the entrance but now they had been ripped open. The away team cautiously approached the entrance. One of the metal doors that had several tears still hung from its lower hinges but only barely. It looked like it would fall over if lightly touched.

Tenzing opened her tricorder scanning the doors. "There's Gorn DNA on the doors. They really went at this thing. It looks like they didn't even bother using their weapons on it, just their claws."

"Looks like they went at the research team too," Tarsi said. "In the middle of the camp, among the several cylindrical erected shelters were the bodies of the Federation mining team."

"Why didn't they just bomb them from orbit?" Tenzing asked. "It would have saved them the trouble. Why send a landing party?"

"So they could personally avenge their comrades," Miyachika said. "They had a lot of anger to pent up." The away team ventured deeper into the camp getting a closer look at the massacre. Bodies were strewn all over the camp, on the ground, on equipment, inside the shelters and not all were whole. Some had been ripped apart. Some had disruptor burns while others had claw and bite marks. "Tenzing, are you reading any Gorn lifesigns in the area?"

Tenzing studied her small screen. "Negative, sir."

"They must've beamed up to their ship." Miyachika looked around at the carnage. "There's nothing much more we can do down here. We'll beam back to the ship and..." Her communicator beeped. She reached back and pulled out the device from under her shirt. She held it close to her face after flipping it open. "Miyachika, here."

"Sir, the Gorn are back and they've locked weapons on us."