The heavy hatch slid open and the three romulans, dressed in heavy coats and wearing gasmasks, stepped out onto the landing-platform where a cardassian shuttle had landed. Waiting for them was a ferengi and a cardassian, along with two cardassian bodyguards.

"D'jalel" the cardassian said, wind pulling on his clothes and hair, "how good to see you again."

"Why are you here, Rukat?" the female romulan asked demandingly of Director Rukat.

"The ferengi has some interesting news" the cardassian said. "About people looking for you."

D'jalel found the piece of information odd. "Looking? For me?"

Paq grinned out of confidence and arrogance. "For the right price, I will reveal what I know. All I can say is that it involves a human and a vulcan."

D'jalel glanced over her shoulder back at Toldol, then looked back at the two guests to their hideout. "Director" she then said, "would you mind if I brought the ferengi inside for questioning?"

Director Rukat casually offered the now cautious ferengi a brief look before facing the female romulan once more. "Not at all" he said, signaled his two guards with a gesture and within a second or two, Paq was grabbed by the cardassian guards.

"Wait!" Paq squealed. "Wait! Let's not get hasty! Let's be sensible about this!"

D'jalel walked over to the ferengi, grabbed him by the collar of his coat and raised him into the air until he was face to face with the romulan. "Tell me what you know, filth, before I skin you alive."

Sweating by now, Paq swallowed the lump of fear in his throat. "The human and the vulcan, they asked questions about you, about romulans hiding on Korvat. They knew."

The ferengi was thrown to the floor of the platform and was once more grabbed by the cardassian guards. D'jalel turned to her fellow romulans, "Secure the hideout!"

XXX XXX

Emelie managed to sync a datapad through her tricorder with the romulan computers, and a download was well underway. With phaser in one hand, she was using the other to navigate the romulan systems. The language-barrier was not an issue, since both romulan and klingon were required classes once assigned to Starfleet Intelligence.

"Target!"

The one word, shouted in romulan, made Emelie instinctively throw herself into cover and a brief moment later a disruptor-bolt flashed past overhead, striking the far wall. Emelie reached over the computers, grabbed her datapad and pulled it to her as another disruptor-bolt missed her by mere inches.

Emelie fired blindly at the romulans as she ran for cover across the Tal Shiar hideout, the three romulans firing their disruptors in turn as they moved from cover to cover in pursuit of the intruder. Sparks showered the area with each shot that missed and detonated against solid matter, leaving hot glowing pits in the walls and structures.

Emelie returned fire, managing to keep the romulans at bay, when suddenly two cardassians joined in on the fighting, armed with cardassian phaser-rifles; the larger weapons causing much more damage upon impact and covered Emelie in showers of sparks as the cardassian rifles hit objects surrounding her. She realized she was doomed.

XXX XXX

A large rock, dotted with craters, almost like a small moon, emerged out of the thick cloud of dust; pieces of rock and ice bouncing of the shuttles shields as it followed a distinct trail through the rings.

"It would appear as if they both have headed for the large rock" Tuvok said, turning a dial to compensate for gravimetrics as he kept track of the exhaust-vapors left behind by the two fleeing strangers. "Possibly in an attempt to hide."

On the other shuttle, Gars stood next to the pilot and watched the shuttle carrying Karalga and Tuvok up ahead. "Alright, we'll take over from here" she said over the commlink. "Lieutenant commander Karalga, I advice you to support us with sensors-sweeps; we're going in after them."

Karalga nodded as she head the order. "Affirmative, commander" she said and prepared the shuttles sensors by working the systems of her console.

Tuvok felt the need to address an issue before anything else took place. "Commander Gars, may I remind you that we have no contact with the Excelsior at this point. The composition of the rings will effectively distort radio-signals at this range from the Excelsior; we have no means of communication with anyone else, besides ourselves."

Gars, now standing in the rear compartment of her shuttle together with the rest of her team, adjusted her helmet so it would lock in place. "Ensign" she said, "if you can't solve that problem, then your orders are to return to the Excelsior if my team is jeopardized. Understood?"

"Indeed, commander" was Tuvoks response.

Faradal, Tuvok and Karalga watched as the other shuttle flew past them and eventually deployed the away-team; the officers wearing space-suits approached the large rock with the use of their suits impulse-thrusters. Both shuttles activated their searchlights to aid the away-team, chasing away shadows on the surface.

"Are you sure, ensign, that they went down there?" Karalga wondered, studying her readings. "Because I have no heat-readings or bio-signs of any kind on that rock."

Tuvok turned his seat around to face his chief science officer. "May I remind you, lieutenant commander, that we are most likely dealing with two field-operatives of the Tal Shiar. Their equipment will be of the highest standard, not to mention, they will be experts in deception and counter-tactics. More over, as we pursued them, we were unable to detect heat or bio-signatures from them. If they are in hiding on that satellite, remains to be seen."

Karalga cleared her throat as she was corrected by the vulcan. "I was just asking a question, ensign" she said in response to the logical conclusion of the situation.

XXX XXX

"And we can't increase the signal to push through?" Sulu wondered, standing next to the main communications-station on the bridge.

"No, captain" the lieutenant said, having disregarded his jacket and was only wearing the orange shirt of the Specialists. "Increasing the output will only cause the signal to widen and dissipate even sooner. The only way to get in touch with the shuttles is if we decrease distance to them. Sorry, captain."

"Lieutenant Angred" Sulu then said and turned to the tellarite that was acting chief of operations, "see what probes we have left and operational. We need to deploy a relay between us and the away-team."

"A probe?" the tellarite inquired, sounding a bit offended. "Captain, I am chief of operations; the ship is in need of repairs, we need to ration food and resources…"

"Now, lieutenant!" Sulu barked and instantly the tellarite offered a salute and headed off to perform as ordered.

Following the tellarite for a moment, Dax shook his head as he turned to Captain Sulu. "You honestly have tellarites onboard? Why?"

"Says the man who sits down for a drink with klingons" Sulu remarked as he studied data on the communications-displays.

Dax shrugged his shoulders. "At least klingons have a sense of humor."

"Incoming objects!"

Sulu immediately headed for science-station two, with Dax in tow. "Report" the captain demanded as he came up to the officer manning the station.

"Two solid unidentified flying objects on an intercept trajectory with our shuttlecraft" the science-officer said. "Appeared suddenly out of nowhere a mile or so beneath the klingon vessel, accelerated for eight seconds and have kept a constant velocity ever since. I'm sorry captain, but without sensors we were lucky to spot them at all."

"Klingon attack-craft" Dax said and gained Sulus attention. "Your shuttles are unarmed, captain; they don't stand a chance."

Sulu turned to his chief of security. "Mister Atl! Prepare an away-team, as heavily armed as possible!"

"Aye, captain!"

"There is another way" Dax said and Sulu eyed him with some suspicion. "Send your away-team as a precaution, but there is one more option I believe you should consider."

XXX XXX

Emelie huddled together behind the rubble that protected her from incoming fire, but it did not shield her from flying debris, dust and sparks sent airborne by detonating energy-bolts striking solid matter. Covered in sot and dust, Emelie fired several rounds at the ceiling, causing a small cave-in somewhere between her and her enemies; it gave her enough time to get on her feet and run for her only chance of escape.

As the dust settled around the cave-in, and the romulans and cardassians started to make their way around the rocks and twisted structures, Emelie ran aboard a small shuttlecraft and almost jumped into the pilots seat. Activating the small vessel, igniting engines and powering up computers, she hit the controls to the airlock and the boarding-ramp began to close. With inches to spare, a romulan managed to slide inside, just before the closing ramp would have crushed him dead. Emelie hit the thrusters, the back-blast from the engines forcing all other hostiles to throw themselves into cover.

Shooting out from the abandoned mines, the shuttle began climbing towards the skies. But as the romulan threw himself over Emelie, the craft began to veer off, its pitch and yaw erratic as the two combatants struggled in the cockpit. Emelie was no match for the romulan, his years of experience and training having been enough without the fact that a romulan on average was three times stronger than an ordinary human. His arms had her in a vicious neck-lock she could not escape, and slowly he was squeezing the life out of her.

In desperation, she grabbed hold of his ear and ripped it clean off. The romulan screamed from pain and let go of the young human female; Emelie elbowed her assailant in the gut, turned the chair and kicked him with both feet, sending him tumbling all the way back up against the airlock. Emelie quickly spun around, facing the controls and slammed the keys that operated the airlock; as the door opened, the romulan almost roared as he held on to the edges of the open airlock, relying on all his strength not to lose his grip and be flung outside.

Emelie pushed the engines to the full and pulled the controls to her as hard as she could. The shuttle took a sudden turn and headed directly away from the planet; it was more than the romulan could handle and he was violently thrown out of the small craft, momentum sending him flying through the air until he slammed into the side of a mountain, reducing him to nothing but a splatter of blood and flesh and splinters of bone.

Emelie sealed the airlock once more, took a moment to catch her breath, trying to ignore the pain of her swollen throat, and felt relief as she eventually left atmosphere behind her.

XXX XXX

Commander Gars and her away-team landed on the large rock and had their phasers ready, attached as they were to the wrists of their suits. The science-officer on the team, however, relied on scanning-device instead.

"Nothing within fifty meters" he said, holding a small sensor-dish in one hand and the accompanying readings-display in the other.

Over the commlink, Tuvoks voice could be heard. "According to my calculations, they should have landed seventy-two meters ahead of commander Gars, at heading three, six, eight."

Looking around, Gars soon spotted the area. "A crater" she said. "Karalga, scan that crater as best you can. Away-team, move up. Be careful."

The three officers wearing the brown space-suits took point, being security-personnel, following by Gars wearing the yellow outfit of Command Department, the engineer, the medic and the science officer making up the rear. Overhead, the two shuttles moved over to cover the crater with their sensors and searchlights.

Faradal, operating the shuttle carrying Tuvok and Karalga, relied on his visual scanning as he studied the interior of the crater. "There's nothing down there."

"Patience" Tuvok said while managing his systems. "We will find them."

"Well, they seem to be unarmed" Karalga concluded. "I have no energy-readings of any kind. The only energy-weapons down there are the ones used by our away-team."

Tuvok, adjusting his sensors, was not optimistic by the report. "That does not rule out weaponry" he simply stated.

Gars followed the security-officers as they made their way over the ridge and began a cautious descent into the crater. Two large beams of light shot down from overhead, illuminating everything from above, removing almost every shadow. The entire away-team was soon enough at the bottom of the crater, setting up a perimeter before moving any further.

"Alright, Karalga" Gars said. "Let's hear it."

"Not much to tell, I'm afraid" the kaitian female replied over the commlink. "We see no energy-readings of any kind. No radiation at all. I'm almost certain they are hiding somewhere else."

Gars sighed. "Which means we've lost them" she realized.

In the shuttle, Tuvok was forced to agree. "By now, their vapor-trails have dissipated and it is impossible to conclude where they might have gone to. If they indeed are not in that crater, it will be near impossible to locate them."

"Son of a..!" Gars cut herself off before finishing the sentence, biting her lip.

One of the security-officers moved a bit further up ahead, settling down next to a stalagmite. He studied something up ahead, unable to figure out what he was looking at.

"Commander" he said. "I think I've found a cave-entrance."

Gars regained hope. "Karalga, did you copy that?"

"Yes, commander" the kaitian said, "adjusting sensors."

Suddenly, the security-officer was hit by a projectile that pierced his suit in the abdomen, causing a massive atmospheric leak, air mixed with blood rushing out of the gash. The medic and the engineer quickly grabbed the wounded officer before the pressure released by the torn suit caused him to fly off. The two remaining security-officers returned fire, aiming their shots in the relative direction of the supposed cave.

"Man down!" Gars said over the commlink. "Repeat, man down!"

The second shuttles pilot responded immediately. "Coming down, prepare for extraction."

Another security-officer was hit, this time in the arm, and Gars was forced to reach out and grab her to prevent her from spinning off into space, dragging her down into cover. The medic on the team did his best to seal both the wound and the tear in the suit of the first victim, not an easy prospect in lunar gravity. Things was not made any easier as the wound had been inflicted by a ballistic of some sort, a solid rod of metal to be more precise.

Gars moved the other wounded security-officer over to the three non-combatants on the away-team, while the last of the security-officers did his best to provide cover-fire. As the away-teams shuttle came in and began positioning itself overhead, Gars turned around and fired her own phaser, hoping to force the enemy into cover by randomly firing in the direction where the enemy might be hiding.

As the away-team looked up, they saw the ventral-hatch on the shuttle slide open and reveal the interior of the craft. Preparing to fly up to safety, they grabbed their wounded while Gars and the last of the security-officers kept firing. It was with no warning that the shuttle suddenly was blown apart by incoming disruptor-fire, sending it crashing into the side of the crater, causing yet another explosion as the fuel-cells detonated on impact.

Tuvok quickly realized what was going on. "Two klingon D3 attack-craft inbound. I suggest evasive action, mister Faradal."

The aaamazzarite did not need to be told twice as he immediately took off and narrowly escaped being hit by incoming fire as one of the klingon vessels began an attack-run aimed at the last remaining Starfleet shuttle. Faradal used the uneven terrain of the massive rock to avoid incoming disruptor-bolts fired by the D3 vessels cannons.

Karalga was nearing panic as she activated the commlink. "Excelsior, do you copy?! We are under attack by klingon gunships! I repeat, we are under attack!"

"They are unable to hear you, lieutenant commander" Tuvok coldly stated over his shoulder back at the kaitian chief science officer. "May I suggest that you concentrate your efforts on providing ensign Faradal with the engine-power he requires in order to prevent the klingons from overtaking us? I shall labor to keep our shields intact."

Faradal flinched as a disruptor-bolt shot past his cockpit and blasted a rock-formation to dust up ahead. "What ever you're gonna do, do it fast!"

XXX XXX

The stolen shuttle had left Korvat behind and was heading into deep space. In the cockpit, Emelie was trying to make sense of the situation.

"There you are" she said as she eventually found the Excelsior. "What the hell are you doing over there?" she thought out loud as she tuned her sensors, having spotted the Federation vessel in orbit around the sixth planet in the system.

Turning to her left, she tried to establish a connection with the USS Excelsior through subspace, but something was clearly interfering with all her attempts. Frustrated, she tried to come up with another option, another solution.

"Okay" she said as she began thinking about the problem at hand. "They are five light-minutes away, five minutes at the speed of light… Subspace is scrambled, so how do I get in touch? Think, think, think… Why did I cheat on the engineering class. Think god damn it."

She sighed out of frustration as she fell back into the pilots-seat, looking at each console and group of keys and dials in the cockpit in turn, each screen and display.

"Alright" she eventually said. "Five minutes at the speed of light. The best I can do without subspace and without a tachyon-emitter. A photonic burst, aimed at the Excelsior, should gain the attention of a science-nerd. A reuccuring pulse should tell them it is not a natural event, they will study it and realize it contains Morse code…" she stopped to think it through one more time and eventually allowed herself to smile. "Brilliant!"

Turning to her right, she rearranged the sensors to perform as she wanted them to and then connected the sensors to the shuttles communications-system.

"USS Excelsior, this is lieutenant Emelie Marcus-Kirk, Starfleet Intelligence, identification number one, eight, nine, four, six, six, two, seven, delta, gamma, five, six, nine, omega, pi, zero. I have discovered romulan agents on Korvat and copied their computer-files. They have agents attached to the hull of both the Excelsior and the IKS Gr'oth with orders to force both ships into conflict. I repeat; romulans are trying to get both ships to open fire upon one-another. This is lieutenant Emelie Marcus-Kirk, Starfleet Intelligence, identification number…"

At that moment, the shuttle shook violently and red lights began flashing all across the cockpits console. Another violent tremor and Emelie realized that she had lost shields altogether.

"Excelsior, I have lost shields! It is imperative that you…" and at that point, her entire body began to dissolve into bright yellow energy. "NO!"

Within a few precious seconds, she had vanished without a trace, leaving the shuttle an empty vessel hurtling through space.

XXX XXX

Emelie found herself on all fours on a small platform in the middle of a room; in the ceiling, a matter-converter was powering down as its main emitter was glowing hot and slowly cooling. Breathing heavily, she dared to look up and out into the room; there, four cardassians stood with phasers aimed at her, but what truly ripped hope out of her was the fact that a female romulan walked past the cardassians and eyed Emelie with an arrogant smirk on her tattooed features.

"Hello."

One word, Emelie thought. How could one word be so saturated with contempt?