The senior staff of the USS Excelsior sat gathered in the main briefing-room. The mood was somber to say the least.

"Thirty-two dead, one hundred and eight wounded" chief medical officer Augustus Eckenwald said. "Of the wounded, eleven will most likely die within twenty-four hours."

"My god."

"Gods can't help us now, commander" Sulu reminded his first officer. "Mister Shrav" he then said, turning to the andorian chief engineer, "is the warpdrive still functional?"

"Yes, captain" the blue-skinned alien nodded. "The ship is still operational, apart from sensors being destroyed, along with our forward torpedo-bay and phaser-banks. We have lost a lot of storage, and with it food and equipment. We did lose a fifth of our water-supply, but what remains is secured."

Karalga rested her elbows against the table. "It is only a matter of time before the klingons discover a way to attack us. We should consider retreating to Federation space."

"Starfleet has lost contact with us" Eckenwald pointed out. "They will send reinforcements, if only to make sure we are alright. All we need to do is sit tight and be patient."

Gars sneered. "Our patience killed thirty of our crew. The question is, how patient should we be before we take action?"

"That's enough, commander" Sulu intervened before his second in command let her emotions get the better of her. "First, what is the status of Handalma?"

"Confined to sickbay for the next couple of days" Eckenwald said. "His skull took a nasty hit."

Sulu nodded. "Right" then turned to the two lieutenants joining the briefing. "Lieutenant Angred, you are now Acting Senior Officer of Operations, until lieutenant commander Handalma is released from sickbay."

"Yes, captain" the tellarite replied with a slight nod of his head.

Sulu then addressed the human lieutenant wearing the brown of Starfleet Security. "Mister Atl, since lieutenant commander Gambon is missing in action, presumed dead, you are hereby promoted in the field to the rank of lieutenant commander and chief of security."

"Of course, sir" the lieutenant said, truly surprised by the sudden promotion.

"Before we do anything" Sulu then said, "we need shields to be in working order. Without shields, we can't leave the safety of these rings. I want options, ladies and gentlemen. Outside the box thinking; how do we neutralize the klingons?"

The first to speak was Shrav. "The vulcans little trick has prevented the klingons from beaming aboard, but he phased every dorsal and ventral projector-cell. If we go into a fight now, we will only have aft-shields operational. If we are to make it out of this alive, we need to neutralize the klingon weapons somehow."

"How long to repair the cells?" Gars wondered.

"In spacedock" Shrav said, "eight hours per cell. But we are talking forty cells in total, in the middle of a planetary ring. Even if we had all the parts required, it would still…"

"What can be done and how long do you need?" Sulu interrupted, focusing the andorian to solve the problem instead of drowning in it.

Shrav sighed and did some calculations in his head. "Partial shielding, maybe thirty percent at the most. Twelve hours per cell, but we only have spare-parts to repair half of them. And we need as many as we can get up in working order, if we are to have a chance against the klingons."

"Get to work" Sulu said.

"Captain" the recently promoted chief of security said, joining the conversation. "The klingons will most likely try and board us. I suggest we spread out our weapons to personnel other than those authorized to carry phasers. Equip our security-officers with phaser-rifles and give their sidearms to other crewmembers. If the klingons get onboard, we will need as many guns firing as possible."

"Agreed" the captain nodded. "Make it so, lieutenant… sorry, lieutenant commander."

"There is a way to neutralize the klingon disruptors" Karalga then said. "Tetryon particles fuses the emitter-coils of energy-weapons, rendering such weapons useless. A large enough burst of tetryon particles, aimed at the klingon vessel, should turn the Gr'oths disruptors into very large and heavy paperweights."

Shrav was not all too sure about the idea. "The only tetryon-emitters we have are on two of our shuttles, to support our away-teams if they find themselves in trouble. One of those shuttles we left behind on Korvat. The one we have left has not the capability of having the effect you suggest on the size of cannons mounted on a klingon battle-cruiser."

"And they still have torpedoes" Eckenwald reminded them.

"The klingons have tetryon-devices onboard" lieutenant commander Atl said, a bit awkwardly pointing it out. "As they board enemy ships, or raid enemy colonies, they regularly deploy small bombs that flood an area with tetryon particles which forces their victims to defend themselves in hand to hand combat. If we somehow could find a way to detonate those devices, it would have the desired effect."

"Great" Eckenwald sneered. "Now all we have to do is board a klingon warship, blow up some bombs and then run the gauntlet with klingon torpedoes flying up our asses."

Gars had listened to the conversation, and surprised even herself as she became hopeful. "Those devices will have some form of detonators" she said. "It must be possible to use some form of radiation or energy-burst to force them to ignite and detonate from afar."

Sulu felt everyones eyes turning at him, waiting for a command-decision on the matter. Speculation and theories was one thing; in the end, only the captain could make the call to put it to the test.

"Mister Shrav, begin repairs of the projector-cells. Miss Karalga, find the type of particles we need to detonate those devices. When that is done, we build the delivery-system we require to give Koloth a nice surprise."

XXX XXX

On the bridge, Dax walked over to a young vulcan ensign, glanced left and right and cleared his throat to get the pointy-eared aliens attention.

"Ambassador Dax" Tuvok said, looking up from his station. "Can I help you?"

"As a matter of fact" the trill said, "you can. Am I to understand that the Gr'oths entire database was downloaded to the Excelsiors computer?"

"I believe that is on a need to know basis, ambassador" Tuvok replied coldly.

"Who downloaded it?" Dax asked rhetorically, hoping to ignite some curiosity in the vulcan. "Who on the klingon ship sent that transmission and who on the Excelsior received it?"

Ensign Tuvok leaned back into his chair as he gave it some thought. "Interesting" he eventually said and began a diagnostic of the ships computer-systems.

XXX XXX

Captain Sulu, commander Gars and the chief science officer, along with lieutenant commander Atl, joined ensign Tuvok and Curzon Dax by a computer-console inserted into the wall of a corridor.

"The klingon database was downloaded to our systems via this station" Tuvok explained.

"How?" Sulu inquired.

Tuvok gave each officer present a brief glance. "Most likely, a portable device was connected to this station, a device that also acted as a receiver for the signal transmitted by the klingon vessel. The device received the signal and then, connected to this station, downloaded it to our computer."

"Can we locate this device?" Karalga wondered. "Perhaps we could locate the receiver by transmitting a similar signal?"

"I have already tried to determine the whereabouts of the device, and failed" Tuvok explained. "All that I can say for certain is that it is not on this ship."

Sulu took a look at the console in the wall and then turned to Tuvok. "So where is it?"

"We have a theory" Dax cut in and walked a few yards down the corridor, the others following closely behind. The trill stopped right next to an airlock. "Who ever did this managed to bypass the security-codes, enter the ship via the airlock undetected, hook up the receiver to the computer, download the files and then vanish without a trace."

Gars sighed. "So who ever did this, they're back on Korvat?"

"Not necessarily" Tuvok said, hands held crossed on his back. "It would be no surprise to the ones responsible for this that the klingons would immediately respond with violence. Leaving the airlock would place the guilty party in the middle of a battle; a hazardous environment to say the least, without factoring in vacuum. In order to survive, chances are that who ever is responsible never left the protection of our shields."

Sulu turned to Dax. "Are you saying they are still out there?"

Dax replied with a hint of a smile. "I'm saying we should take a look."

XXX XXX

The rear hangar-bay doors opened up, revealing the interior of the Excelsior as a small shuttle exited through the protective forcefield that kept the hangar sealed off from cold space. Karalga stood between the seats of the cockpit, looking out the forward viewport as the shuttle turned and positioned itself to allow a spectacular view of the USS Excelsior; a spectacle ruined by the devastation left by the torpedo that had struck the ships sensor-array. To her right sat ensign Tuvok and to her left sat ensign Faradal, an aaamazzarite wearing the purple shirt of Operations beneath his Starfleet jacket.

Faradal, being the assigned pilot of the shuttle, took the small craft up over the Excelsiors secondary hull and in between the beams that held on to the warp-engines. Karalga was amazed at how the sheer size of the Excelsior dwarfed their shuttle and made her seem utterly insignificant in the greater scheme of things.

"The airlock of interest is up on the port side of the neck, about halfway up" Tuvok informed.

"Got it" the yellow-skinned pilot said and increased speed.

Karalga sat herself down by the science-station of the shuttle, located behind Tuvoks seat. "Radiation from the damage is causing slight interference, but nothing we can't adjust for" she said, working her keys, dials and switches. "A lot of particle-shadows" she said as she studied the readings, "caused by our own debris. Filtering."

"Ensign Faradal" Tuvok said as he adjusted his own sensors, "once we reach the airlock, take us up towards the saucer-section. Gentle ascension, if you please."

"Copy" the pilot said with a nod.

The shuttle traced the starship along its neck; beneath it the broken and twisted evidence of cause-and-effect as a photon-torpedo strikes solid matter, above them the wide, flat dish of the starships primary hull. Flying past viewports, crewmembers took some interest as they flew by, but Tuvok and Karalga payed them no attention in turn; their focus was committed to their screens and readings.

"Nothing" Karalga said. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Apart from the ship being blown up" Faradal commented.

"If someone is hiding out here" Karalga though out loud, "they need to hide where sensor-readings are naturally distorted. Thorium-fields generated by the nacelles could hide a shuttle from detection."

"But could not fool eye-sight" Tuvok pointed out. "Nor hide exhaust-vapors."

"Could they be cloaked?" Faradal wondered, turning to look at the two science-officers.

"Possibly, but unlikely" Tuvok said. "The power-source required to maintain a cloaking-field would affect radiation-readings from the Excelsior; while we would not be able to detect a cloaked vessel, we would be able to detect its presence in the way it affected our own emitions."

"The impulse-engines" Karalga then said and gained the attention of the vulcan science officer. "The particle exhausts from the impulse-engines could hide a small object. Ensign Faradal, take us over there."

"Yes, ma'am."

The shuttle soon found itself positioned next to the two enormous, red-glowing engines of the impulse-drive, the heat and radiation they generated causing a slight rippling effect around them.

"Adjusting for exhaust-particles" Karalga said as she operated her station. "Initiating a focused scan, tight beam for increased effect."

"No anomalies" Tuvok reported as he studied his own readings. "Everything is as it should be."

Karalga sighed and fell back into her chair, almost sulking. "So much for that theory."

"What we are looking for could have been destroyed by the klingon torpedo" Tuvok pointed out and turned his chair to face the chief science officer. "Though it escapes me how anything could have been hiding in the midst of our sensor-arrays, or that close to them."

"We have one anomaly."

Both Tuvok and Karalga turned to look at ensign Faradal. The aaamazzarite pointed out the viewport.

"Right between the engines" the yellowskinned, bald alien said. "Right on top the flux-capacitor."

"What about it?" Karalga wondered, trying to figure out what the pilot was pointing at.

"Ensign Faradal is correct" Tuvok said and operated his dials and switches. "There is an object attached to the Excelsior, right on top of the impulse-engines flux-capacitor. It appears that we have found what we are looking for."

XXX XXX

"What is that?"

Sulu got out of his captains chair and walked over to position himself between the helm and ops-stations. Dax joined him as they both watched the video-feed provided by the shuttle that had discovered the object hiding between the impulse-engines.

Tuvoks voice was heard by all on the bridge. "Unknown, captain. But it is made out of familiar alloys and materials, the same materials Starfleet use for its own vessels. In simple terms, the object effectively blends in with our own ship."

Karalga was next to speak over the commlink. "The design of the object, in combination with its location, made it almost impossible to detect. What is interesting is that we believe we have located an airlock on the object, or a door at least."

Sulu nodded as he listened to the report. "Stay where you are. I am sending a second shuttle with a team of security-officers. Do not investigate further."

"Yes, captain."

Transmission was cut and Sulu turned to face the trill ambassador. "Romulans?" the captain asked of Curzon.

Curzon Dax sighed as he studied the object attached to the Excelsior. "That would be my guess, captain."

Sulu turned to face commander Nathalie Gars. "Inform the away-team to set their phasers to stun. Maybe the klingons will reconsider killing us if we can deliver romulan prisoners."

Gars took a deep breath as she heard the order given. "Yes, captain."

XXX XXX

The long abandoned mine was a proper hazard to explore. Yet, Emelie had little other choice as the coordinates she had found pointed to this location. Cave-ins, combined with structural collapse at several places, did not make things easier, nor pools of toxic waste and air filled with dry dust. But it was the sound she was heading for that kept her going; the sound of voices. At first barely audible, then clearer and now she could even pick out three different people conversing. She crawled the last few meters, making sure to stay in cover and out of sight. Finding a good spot behind some rubble, she dared to take a look.

A larger room had been cleared of debris, reasonably at least. Computers had been set up, an antenna-cluster connected with thick cables to a power-source and Emelie could swear that a simple version of a teleport-platform had been put together over in the corner. Her tricorder did not work, it hadn't since she had arrived here; she figured the equipment here included a jamming device of some kind to avoid detection.

"D'jalel!"

Emelie ducked into cover, almost thinking they had spotted her. But she was safe, for now. Instead, a female entered view and walked up to the two men operating the computers. All three were bald with pointed ears and faces covered with tattoos.

Romulans.

"What is it, Toldol?" the female romulan said as she walked over to the other two.

"The Excelsior has not reemerged. They are hiding in the rings" Toldol said and pointed at the readings on his displays. "There is no way for the klingons to get to them."

"Why are they still here?" the third of the romulans wondered, looking at the other two. "Why did they go to the sixth planet? They had every opportunity to return to Federation space."

"It could be that they hope that their officers, that they deployed to the surface, are still alive" D'jalel said. She studied the information on their screens, telling them of the situation between the klingon and Starfleet vessels.

"We should detonate the Federation torpedo" Toldol suggested. "It will urge the Excelsior to exploit the situation and flee. They need to be pushed in the right direction."

"No" D'jalel said after having given the option a few seconds of thought. "We will wait. If we are too rash, everything will fall apart."

Emelie struggled to control her breathing. Romulans. They were actually here on Korvat, and, they were monitoring the Excelsior and the Gr'oth. It did little to calm her down, yet, retrieving the phaser from her inner-pocket made her feel somewhat safer than before.

XXX XXX

Karalga, Tuvok and Faradal looked on as the second shuttle slowly closed in on the strange object that was hiding between the impulse-engines, attached to the hull itself of the USS Excelsior.

"No life-signs onboard that thing?"

The voice of commander Gars was carried over the commlink. Tuvok pressed the switch that activated their own shuttles communication.

"None" the vulcan replied. "We get no readings from it at all. The nature of the impulse-drive is blocking out our sensors completely. Simply put, it is the best place to hide on the entire ship."

Onboard the other shuttle, Gars sighed as ensign Tuvok confirmed that they were acting blind. Commander Nathalie Gars accepted the situation and placed a hand on her pilots shoulder.

"Take us in, lieutenant. Hold at ten meters" Gars said.

"Yes, sir" the pilot acknowledged and did as ordered.

Gars stepped through the airlock of the cockpit and sealed it behind her, joining six other crewmembers in the shuttles rear compartment. All were dressed in spacesuits, solid parts clear white and softer materials in the color of respective department. Gars was wearing yellow, indicating Command, three officers had the brown of Security, one wore the red of Engineer and the last two wore blue; light blue indicating a medical officer and deep blue of the science officers. Gars adjusted the helmet and made sure it was secured to her suit.

"Listen up" she said over the commlink and got everyones attention. "We don't know what is on that thing or what we will find inside. Lieutenant Rork and Sjoberg, you will stay behind in the shuttle until called for" she said, looking at the medic and science officer. "Ensign Vladorim, you will open the airlock and then pull back immediately" she told the engineer on the team. "Once the airlock on the object is open, lieutenant Haji will enter; when she is satisfied, we can go in. Understood?"

The team displayed no hesitation or had any questions.

"Good" Gars said. "Let's go."

Tuvok and the others in his shuttle watched as Gars and her team left the confines of their shuttle, and relying on the small thrusters on their spacesuits backpacks, they moved the final distance to the object and positioned themselves tactically for a breach of the airlock.

"It looks like a pod of some kind" Gars said over the commlink, audible to both the other shuttle and the people on the bridge. "Secured to our hull with four magnetic clamps. At an estimate, could hold maybe three or four humanoids inside. No antennas or any sensors visible on the outside. No viewports."

Ensign Vladorim, the engineer, floated over to the pod and the presumed airlock. He found no controls of any kind on the hull of the pod, so retrieved a tool to forcefully open the door.

"Spread out" Gars said. "If we cause a decompression, objects might come flying out."

Gars, along with the security officers, aimed their right arm at the door, placing their left hand on the wrist-mounted phaser that was specifically designed for the space-suits. Vladorim pulled the lever and the door slid open, and as it did, air rushed out violently along with datapads and smaller devices. Before anyone had time to react, two persons ejected out of the top of the pod, flying away strapped into their seats and propelled by a small impulse-drive attached to the seats themselves.

"Two humanoids just ejected from the pod!" Gars informed everyone listening to their transmission. "Everyone, get back to the shuttle! We're going after them!"

Tuvok quickly operated his controls. "With their current mass and velocity, they will be able to penetrate our deflector-field in its current condition."

Karalga quickly found her seat. "Pilot, head after them. We'll catch them with our tractor-beam."

"Yes, sir!" Faradal said and ignited the shuttles engines.

While Gars and her team climbed back into their own shuttle, Faradal had already turned his shuttle around and was increasing speed to intercept the two fleeing humanoids.

On the bridge of the USS Excelsior, Sulu, Dax and the others followed the events on screens and displays.

Karalga adjusted the tractor-beam of the shuttle with the turn of a dial. "Locked on to the left target. Activating tractor-beam… now!"

The tractor-beam did as intended, grabbing hold of the ejector-seat. But the person sitting in it unstrapped himself and relied on his spacesuits thrusters to keep him going, still fleeing the Starfleet officers.

"Right target has past through the deflector-field" Tuvok said. "Left target should not be able to outrun us."

Faradal swept by the free-floating ejector-seat and headed after the humanoid that had left the chair behind. Moments later, the shuttle carrying Gars and her team hurried to keep up. To Karalgas dismay, the spacesuit-flying humanoid up ahead was using his thrusters to good effect, changing course every other second to throw off any attempt to lock on to him.

Karalga frowned. "I can't get a lock!"

On the bridge, Sulu turned to the senior engineer. "Get a transporter on-line and beam that bastard onboard!"

"Yes, captain!" came the reply in response to the order given.

In the shuttle, Tuvok coldly calculated the situation. "Secondary target will pass through our deflector-field in ten seconds. Beyond that point he, or she, will be out of our reach."

Eventually, the second fleeing humanoid vanished out into the dense dust-clouds of the rings of Korvat Six. On the bridge, Sulu slammed a fist against the armrest of his chair. Outside, both shuttles followed the two mysterious humanoids out into the brownish clouds of the rings that provided them all with cover from the hostile klingons.

Tuvok, carefully managing his station, opened a link to the shuttle that transported commander Gars and her team. "Commander" the vulcan said, "I believe I can follow their exhaust-trail, though it is deteriorating fast. If you follow us, I might be able to guide you to them and allow us to capture them, who ever they are."

Gars, having removed her helmet and had joined the pilot in the cockpit, was relieved at the vulcans efficiency. "Good work, ensign" she responded. "We're right behind you."

It was a slow advance into the murky depths of the rings, shards of ice and boulders of rock emerging out of nowhere through the thick clouds of dust.

XXX XXX

High above, thousands of miles away from the USS Excelsior, the IKS Gr'oth hovered in silence; a predator stalking its prey, waiting for the time to strike and kill.

"There, my lord" Korax said and pointed at the main screen. "Two objects leaving the Excelsior. Shuttlecraft by the looks of it."

"Beyond their deflector-field?" Koloth said, thinking out loud as he realized the distance that was increasing between the shuttles and the mothership. "What ever they're up to, I want them stopped. Deploy fighters."

Korax smiled with a growl. "Yes, my lord."

From the belly of IKS Gr'oth, two combat-orientated shuttles emerged, deployed wings and gun-mounts and ignited their thrusters, heading for the rings at maximum velocity.

XXX XXX

Emelie peered around the corner of her cover, being only seven or eight meters away from the three romulans. She was breathing so hard she was worried that they might hear her, a fact that had her grip her phaser tighter still, doublechecking once more that it was set to kill.

"Lena and Vreno have left the pod" Toldol said. "I'm sure of it."

"And the klingons have deployed two gunships" the other romulan male said. "We must act now."

"Now is not the time" D'jalel stubbornly held to her position on the matter. "Sulu is not prepared to leave. If we interfere now, we risk that he stays here even longer. Once the Excelsior is ready to run, that is the time for us to act. Remember, Sulu must escape with the klingon data intact, or at least, the klingons must believe it."

"What of Lena and Vreno?" Toldol asked. "In that cloud, we wont be able to lock on to them with our transporter. Not at this range."

D'jalel simply sighed. "As long as they are in that cloud, they are on their own."

A red light began flashing on a console and Toldol quickly investigated. "It's the cardassian captain and that ferengi" he said with contempt. "They're at the entrance."

D'jalel was less than amused. "What now?" she almost growled. "Come on."

All three left the room with all the equipment, much to Emelies surprise. As their steps faded, she found her breathing calming somewhat. Only to increase in intensity again as she realized she had an opportunity to take a closer look at the romulans computers. She swallowed, took a moment to think things through, and then carefully, with phaser ready and one step at a time, headed over to the computers.