Star Trek: Augustus

by DavidMc

Set in the Star Trek universe, amid the Dominion wars, Star Fleet is still reeling from the invasion from the Delta Quadrant and the influx of Jem'Hadar soldiers. The U.S.S Augustus is a newly commissioned ship on its first mission under the command of Commander Marcus Ohlson

2. Chapter 2

They assembled in the briefing room, the delegation from Engineering was the last to arrive.

Marcus Ohlson got straight to business. He had no reason to explain anything to Singh or T'sella, the combadges had been open throughout the engagement so they had followed everything.

'Give me a report on our status?'

Mc Sorley started. 'No major damage, the hull breach is covered by an emergency force field and we can close that section altogether and use the parallel corridor just in case we need to conserve energy. Our shields are low but holding, we can reroute some power from superfluous systems and increase them, but it'll take a bit of time, and weapons are fully operational.'

Singh went next. 'Transporters are off-line still, we're having some difficulty as we have had to replicate a replacement part.'

'Why?' asked Ohlson.

'There have been several oversights in the supplies allocated to the Augustus. The probes, we had one each of classes one to six, and while there is room for two or three of some of them, the spaces have been left empty.

I am hoping, these are oversights due to the newness of the ship. But other than that we have one burnt out coil attachment to make to finish repairs to the confinement beams. One of the attacks caused a power surge that fried the coil.' He shrugged. 'That isn't unusual, but most ships have spares ready and waiting, we don't.'

'For anything?' asked Benko.

'For anything,' agreed the engineer.

'So when will it be ready?' asked Ohlson.

'It'll be ready and fitted in thirty minutes, but under the circumstances I'd like an hour on top of that to run some diagnostics on it while it is in place.'

'I'll try and give you the time,' Ohlson turned to the Vulcan communications officer. 'T'sella, can we contact anyone from this planet or its vicinity?'

'Yes, if we leave the inner atmosphere. But,' she continued, 'any message would be instantly picked up by every Jem'Hadar warship in the locality.

By the time the Osprey heard us we would be in combat. And we are no match for the battleship, let alone the other patrol vessels, so combat would not last long.'

Ohlson sat back in his chair. 'Okay, then I'd like to hear what you all thought of Commander Fessler's messages.'

Sia Singh spoke first. 'I take it we all agree that this was a trap.'

Several nods gave him his reply.

The engineer continued. 'Then, we have to assume that someone on the Shoeman, as the Gaunt was destroyed, and the Cicero probably destroyed, was a spy.'

'Why not the Augustus?'

Benko Tambecki was sitting forward, her fingers entwined on the desktop.

Sia thought for a moment. 'Actually, there's no reason that the traitor can't be aboard here, or even a second traitor.'

'That's ridiculous ,' interrupted Kausler, 'if we'd been the ship with the traitor, if there was a traitor, something I'm not convinced about yet. The leak that told of our arrival might be from some as yet unknown sensor relay or a leak from a neighbouring Starbase, I don't know. But as for a traitor being placed on the Augustus, having them on the tail ship makes no sense.

We missed the action, we then avoided capture, and more importantly we have inflicted a lot of damage on our own ships if we're supposed to be pro-Dominion.' She returned to her usual state, as the others digested her theory.

'I agree with Gretchen,' said Mc Sorley, 'if you wanted to entrap an assault force then you'd want your person, or people, to be at the front and not at the back.'

'Does that mean we're free from Dominion infiltrators?' asked Benko.

Ohlson replied to her query. 'We have to assume that, not only for the reasons given by Gretchen or Deborah, but for the reason that if we turn against ourselves then we'll never trust ourselves or our colleagues enough to survive any further engagements.'

'Are we having a further 'engagement'?' asked Colimo.

Ohlson was nodding. 'Yes, we're going to do what we can to free our people on the prison and see about taking out that Jem'Hadar battleship.'

'Hmm,' said Mc Sorley to anyone who was listening, 'what's that Chinese saying about 'May you live in interesting times'?'

'Actually,' pointed out Ohlson, 'that's a Chinese curse.'

'How appropriate,' Singh was looking at the floor. 'Do we take it that you have a plan?'

Ohlson smiled.

'I want a complete inventory of the weapons and probes, I also want an estimation of which of the enemies out there we can inflict damage on, and what we can do to get everyone off that prison.'

'Well,' shrugged Sia, 'I can tell you one problem we have.'

'What's that?'

'Numbers, even if we beam everyone out, we haven't got the space to put them anywhere.'

'He's right,' agreed Mc Sorley, 'we'll need the Shoeman, and something else.'

Kausler looked at her. 'How do you imagine we can do that?'

Deborah Mc Sorley shrugged. 'I didn't say I had all the answers, just some of them.'

'What about the Cicero?'

Ohlson looked at Benko.

'We know it's badly damaged, we believe it is destroyed... but we don't know that for sure.'

'It'd be handy if it was in almost any condition,' added Sia. In response to the looks of the others he continued. 'In all likelihood it is destroyed, but unless it exploded, and we didn't record any explosions other that the torpedoes, then we might be able to salvage some materials and supplies from her. We could fix that hull breech, add some torpedoes, and even get a few extra phaser banks..'

'There's something else we could obtain from a crashed Cicero,' said Colimo, 'and that's the entries the officers' made while attacking the prison ship, we could recover the scans they made and the details of what they think happened to the Shoeman and the Gaunt. That'd assist any planning that was being done.'

'True,' pondered Mc Sorley, 'and wouldn't it be nice to know who the enemy really is?'

'That's our first mission then, find the Cicero,' Ohlson steepled his fingers, 'by my reckoning, we have four hours, perhaps five, and then we'll either be discovered, or the prison and its inmates will be removed.'

'What makes you say that?' asked Ensign T'sella.

He had their full attention. 'You've already pointed out the overly large number of ships here. It sounds like half of the Hawaii's crew is being held here, and it makes no sense that the only inmates of a prison all come from the one ship.

Unless they are the bait,' he paused, 'and I don't believe the Dominion would go to that trouble just to entrap four assault ships.

Those Dominion ships are hiding for some reason other than us, and we are in the middle.' He leaned back.

'In the middle of what?' asked Ben.

Ohlson shrugged. 'Perhaps an invasion route that Starfleet don't know about.'

'Then why lure us in and risk discovery?' asked Sia.

'Well, they got the Shoeman. Perhaps they want one or all of our ships as part of that invasion,' suggested Mc Sorley, 'with them manned by a spy they could get as far as Starbase 283 before anyone got wise to them. And if behind these ships came a Dominion Fleet...' she left the rest unsaid. Starbase 283 was situated in a very strategic position, Vulcan itself would be within striking distance of the Dominion if they captured the starbase, and several major military bases would become vulnerable to attack. It would be a major blow to the Federation if Starbase 283 fell.

'Captain,' said the Vulcan, 'there is a certain logic to what you suggest, but even if they captured all four ships and attacked the starbase, the base is well protected by the ships of the Fourth Fleet that are stationed there, they would not be certain of taking the base.'

'That's true,' agreed Ohlson, 'I'm not saying I fully understand what is going on here, because I don't, but I'd like us to get started and find out.

While we get our warp engines on-line and then get out of here, hopefully without being chased by a Dominion Armada.'

The others pondered the points he had raised.

'Let's upset their plans, let's get busy. Commander Mc Sorley, find me the Cicero.'

'Yes sir.'

The meeting broke up. Sia Singh waited behind as the rest filed back to the Bridge and Engineering.

'What is it Sia?'

The Indian waited until Lieutenant Tambecki had left. 'It's this trip to the Cicero. I take it you realize that the transporters will be ineffectual for retrieving anything.'

Ohlson nodded.

'Then you intend sending a party out on foot.'

Another nod.

'Well then I have to tell you that we only have two environment suits on board, and in this atmosphere they'll probably only remain usable for an hour or thereabouts.'

Ohlson digested the news. 'Two suits, that doesn't give us a lot of room to maneuver does it?'

Sia agreed. 'Do you know anyone on board who's used suits on a Demon before?'

'No, do you?'

He nodded. 'Me.'

Marcus paused. 'Who could go with you, it's a general salvage operation, I want whatever can be carried back?'

'Then it has to be another engineer, you'll need someone who knows where to search and with the ability to recover computer data, weapons as well as anything else we may find.'

'Who do you suggest?'

'Mc Sorley will want to go, but Mico d'Amatsu is the one I'd like there with me.'

Ohlson thought about Mico, the junior lieutenant was a bit of a joker, but competent and well qualified. He was also untried. 'You may have to spend time baby-sitting him.'

'Don't let his jokey attitude fool you, I watched him earlier while we were under fire. He worked well, even managed to keep power to the phasers when one of the conduits ruptured, without being told he rerouted auxiliary power to another circuit. I think he'd be fine.'

'Okay Sia, you go and brief him. When we find the Cicero I'll ask you over the combadge, if he can't do it you probably will have Deborah with you.' He was hoping he wouldn't be sending his first officer, she was enthusiastic but untrained and would in all likelihood miss things an engineer wouldn't.

Sia left the briefing room and headed back to Engineering.

Ohlson walked to the Bridge. All the others were at their stations and concentrating, except Smith, he approached Marcus as he entered the room.

'Captain.'

'Yes Lieutenant?'

'Hmm. this might be nothing, but I ran a geological scan of the planet while you were gone.' He paused.

'Go on Alex, I take it that means you found something?'

'It's this planet's mantle sir, it's very unstable.'

'How unstable?'

Another pause. 'I found numerous faults. There are active volcanoes all over the surface, and the scan showed crust deformation, real thin surface layers. Parts of this planet could explode at any time.'

Ohlson thought a moment. 'How come it's so unstable?'

'I thought about that too Captain, and while I'm not certain, I do believe that the normal instabilities were exacerbated by external actions.'

'What does that mean?'

'I think this planet's been used to test some very powerful weaponry. Perhaps a missile test range. We'd never detect most weapons' residue, not in this atmosphere, but something unnatural has weakened the core and caused some planet-wide geological activity that has yet to stabilize. The core is more active than it should be, and the surface a lot weaker.

I'm not suggesting they have a Doomsday device or anything we haven't encountered before, I think the odds are that recent excessive training and a naturally weak mantle have contributed to what I found.

That said, if they tested some while we were here a whole lot of faults could crack open under the stress.'

'I see. Thank you Lieutenant, keep an eye on the activity, and let me know if you find out anything else about what occurred here and if you detect further weakening of the planet's surface.'

Lieutenant Smith resumed his station. Ohlson sat down in the Captain's chair. Great, he thought, we're hiding on a planet that could explode around us at any second.

'Any sensor data concerning the whereabouts of the Cicero?'

'I think I have its last estimated position,' said Barret.

'Don't think Ensign, just find the ship.'

'Well, that's it Captain, we can't be certain if it fell in one piece or that something else didn't cause a course deflection. But I do have an estimate.'

'Where is it?'

'One nine three mark six, approximately one thousand three hundred kilometers, sir.'

'Lieutenant Tambecki take us there.'

'Aye aye Captain.'

She banked the ship and they moved deeper into the murky soup-like surface layer of the planet.

'Keep an eye on the atmospheric readings Ensign, let me know what if any changes you detect.

Yeoman,' he addressed Kausler, 'be ready with phasers in case we bump into any unwelcome patrols.

Kausler had her fingers poised over the fire buttons. The targeting in this environment would have to be manual. Difficult thing to do, use phasers this close to a planet's surface and in this visibility. She licked her lips and smiled.

'How much further?'

'Nine hundred and thirty kilometers,' answered Barret.

'Bridge to Engineering.'

'Yes Captain,' answered Sia Singh.

'How's the transporters coming along?'

'They are almost ready, they should be operational by the time we reach the Cicero. One thing thought.'

'What's that?'

'If they go again in all probability we won't be able to repair them.'

'Understood.' Ohlson nodded and turned his attention back to the apparently never changing viewscreen.

The whirls and eddies were mesmerizing. It was hard to imagine that a human couldn't last a second out there without a full environment suit. Beautiful and deadly.

The vessel rocked, and a large rock-face passed the port side of the Augustus with a few meters to spare.

Tambecki didn't comment on the maneuver, Ohlson chose to ignore it too.

'How far?'

'Four hundred and seventy kilometers sir.'

'Anything on the long-range sensors?'

'Nothing at all in this disturbance,' responded Barret. 'We might have to be as close as a kilometer before we can do an analysis with any accuracy.'

Great, he thought, we have to be sitting on top of it before we know what it is. He thought too that if they didn't find the Cicero here the range of their sensors might mean they would have no chance of finding it before the atmosphere corroded their hull.

'One hundred and ten kilometers.'

'I'll have to increase the altitude to intensify what we can get from the lateral sensors.' Mc Sorley was concentrating on her console. Ohlson could see nothing on screen, then a rocky slope slid under them.

'Do it then.'

Lieutenant Tambecki raised the nose of the ship.

They straightened.

'Anything?'

'Nothing yet.'

The seconds passed, then a minute.

'I've slowed it as much as I can Captain,' said Benko, 'it cuts down on the area we can search.'

'We are less than twenty meters from the estimated position of the Cicero's crash site.' Barret kept her eyes glued to her console. 'We're right on top of it.'

'Anything on sensors?'

'Nothing yet.'

'Bring us down a bit.'

Tambecki responded and the ship dipped.

'Circle the area Lieutenant, let's see if can pick up a trail of debris.'

Another minute passed, then another.

'Captain!' Barret's voice betrayed her nervousness. 'I've got something, it's ten meters off our starboard hull, and... it's big.'

'Is it the Cicero?'

'I-er can't tell.'

'Lieutenant drop us to within a meter.'

Tambecki turned the craft and gently nudged it down to the planet's surface.

The swirls and clouds remained on screen throughout the operation. There was a nudge as the ship settled on the surface.

'What can you tell me Lieutenant Smith?'

There was a pause. 'Seems to be as solid as it gets on this planet. I can't see any nearby fissures to suggest localized volcanic activity. The temperature is one hundred and ten below, I think this is what passes as the temperate belt, and the winds are... thirty to forty kilometers per hour, but they'd have to be careful of gusts.

It's what passes for daytime on this planet, although visibility will be measured in less than a meter.'

'Anything more from the sensors?'

'No sir.'

'Very well then, Lieutenant Singh prepare your away team.'

'Lieutenant d'Amatsu and I will be suited up in minutes.'

Ohlson nodded, Singh must have talked to d'Amatsu and was okay with whatever had passed between them. 'Take phaser rifles with you, just in case.'

Mc Sorley was looking at the Captain.

'What is it Commander?'

'I was wondering whether the away team might require a third member.'

'I would like it to be four in number,' said Ohlson, 'but we only have two environmental suits, so I selected two engineers. they would be quicker at dismantling anything that might help us...' he shrugged, 'that's if there's anything out there to salvage.' He addressed that question to Ensign Barret.

'It's a very large signal sir, and is consistent with the mass of a Roman class vessel.'

'Could it be a Jem'Hadar ship?' Colimo was watching the ensign's face.

She looked surprised, turned and scanned her console again. 'I-er have no way of saying, all I do know is that a large mass of manufactured material, metals and polymers are a few meters away from us, I have no idea of who manufactured it.'

'Well, that's something Lieutenants Singh and d'Amatsu can find out,' Ohlson hoped he was right. He was wondering if the reading could be a parked Jem'Hadar vessel. 'Be careful Sia that it isn't a fully functional Dominion ship resting out there.'

'I will,' answered the Indian, 'the away team is ready to disembark.'

'Good hunting gentlemen.'

The Roman class ship was fitted with two airlocks, one was beside the Bridge the other was off the engine room.

In Engineering, Lieutenant d'Amatsu opened the airlock containing himself and Lieutenant Singh, both were dressed in full silver coloured environment suits; their faces were illuminated by the dim lights of the helmets.

'Ready?'

'Ready,' answered Singh.

Both men stepped on to the surface of the Demon class.

Singh looked around at what greeted them.

Visibility was at best a meter, and that was when the winds didn't blow a wisp of coloured mist in your direction. A light shower of rain was falling and causing further visual confusion to the two men.

He felt d'Amatsu bump against him.

'Augustus, this is Singh, can you hear us?'

'Affirmative, what is your status?'

Sia turned to d'Amatsu. The man was all but leaning against him. It was the only sure way of keeping visible. Mico raised a thumb.

'We're fine, the suits appear to be holding well.'

'The target is to your right, and starts a few meters from your position.'

Sia nodded at d'Amatsu. 'We're en route.'

He turned to the direction Ohlson had indicated and started to move slowly away from the Augustus. His speed had little to do with his haste to get the away mission completed, he found the suit mildly constricting, and the winds were striking them laterally. If he rushed his advance he would find himself tossed to the ground, and probably some meters away too.

He rocked as a gust of yellow wind tried to unbalance him.

d'Amatsu's arm came into view beside his own.

He debated whether or not to take the phaser rifle off his shoulder, he decided that there was little point, at this range he'd be able to punch any enemy as quick, if not quicker, than he could aim a rifle.

He slowed and scanned about him. Whatever the Augustus' sensors were picking up should have been here. He felt rock beneath his feet, and saw nothing but the swirls and the drizzle.

He inched forward. 'Okay Augustus, where is it?'

There was a momentary pause then he heard Mc Sorley's voice. 'It should be within a meter of you.'

A meter. He reached forward and lowered himself.

d'Amatsu walked a step past him.

'I've found it.'

Sia had found it too. His right hand was touching the smooth surface of a manufactured artifact. 'Me too.' It was somewhat disconcerting not to be able to see the ends of your own arms.

He moved his face to his hand. The swirls thinned and then he saw it. The metal was gray and worn, worn like it had been torched. He ran his hand upwards. The shape moved away from him.

He stood and took a step nearer. His hand moved away from him and then it found another surface.

d'Amatsu was feeling the surface of the object too.

'It's the right colour for a Starfleet ship. But I can't find any identification.

I'm moving around it, it's big, I'll try to find the entrance.'

'Is the Cicero intact Mister Singh?' asked Colimo.

d'Amatsu was rounding the side of the ship. It was very long, or at least seemed that way when you could only see a half a meter length at a time.

'It isn't the Cicero.'

'Say again.'

Sia Singh was standing on the ship's surface he had first came in contact with. It had proven to be the side nacelle, the port one.

He was looking at the side entrance, and reading the registry that was marked there. 'I said it isn't the Cicero.'

There was a pause then Ohlson's voice. 'Do you know what ship it is?'

'Yes, it's the Gaunt. And I think it's intact., or at least this section.'

d'Amatsu had been following Singh's announcement. He had also reached an edge. He leaned closer.

'Yes, it's an Explorer, this is the aft section. I'm at the end of it. There's been a lot of damage done by disrupters.'

'Could it have survived reentry to that planet?' Ohlson didn't sound like he believed that to be possible.

Sia had found a keypad. 'It's possible, depends on when and where the ship was cut.

If the vessel managed a controlled descent and only broke up close... say twenty or thirty meters, from the surface then yes, this section could have hit the surface and not disintegrated.' He tapped in a code. 'But that doesn't mean that the interior is not compromised by this environment.'

There was a hiss as the emergency exit to an evacuation pod opened.

'I've opened the outside of an escape pod, I'm going in. d'Amatsu, can you find me?'

'I'm circling the ship, I'll be there as soon as I can.' He walked carefully around the ship's visible hull, but he stopped frequently as eddies of dust and puffs of wind moved and jostled him from his position.

A gust struck him as he leaned forward feeling for the gray-silver surface, it knocked him face down.

For a moment he could see only the gray dust and gravel that he had been standing on, then he closed his eyes and pushed himself upright.

He stared about him, he recognized nothing. He strained to see anything that might be familiar. He leant over and glanced at the ground, trying to see the pattern of dust where he had fallen, it might give a clue to his whereabouts prior to the gust catching him. All he could see was the swirls and mini dust clouds that the winds brought up. There was nothing in the dust now to even say that he had lain there.

He turned to see what was about him. He fought back the panic that was rising. I can't be more than a meter from where I had been, the ship could be within touching distance... but in which direction.

He gave up. 'd'Amatsu to Singh.'

'What is it?' answered the Indian.

'I'm lost.

I was hit by a gust, I have no idea of what direction the ship is in.'

On board the Augustus, Mc Sorley turned to Ohlson. 'We can tell him where he is in regards to us, and Lieutenant Singh, but we can give him little help in getting back to the Gaunt, if it is the Gaunt.'

'Do it then.'

She scanned her console. 'Ensign Barret, can you get both men's life signs on your readouts?'

'Yes sir, but I don't know which is which?'

'That shouldn't be much of a problem. Lieutenant d'Amatsu.'

'Yes Commander.'

'I want you to take one step to your right while Lieutenant Singh you remain motionless.'

d'Amatsu did as he was asked, he stepped sideways then he stopped. 'Okay, where am I?'

Mc Sorley looked at Barret.

'Got him, he's south east of the last readings we had of the ship, and four point three meters away from Lieutenant Singh, in a north westerly direction.'

'Right, did you hear that Lieutenant d'Amatsu?'

'Yeah, but what does it mean?'

'If he turns to his left, ninety degrees, and then walks forward he'll hit the ship. Then he can follow it until he reaches Lieutenant Singh.' Barret stopped.

'Okay,' responded d'Amatsu, 'I'm turning and walking, keep an eye on my whereabouts, visibility is next to zero and the dust clouds are obscuring any possible landmarks.'

Ohlson smiled at Mc Sorley, they had both been listening to hear what Barret would do, if she'd waited to be told what to do, or would she assert herself and use her intuitive. Barret's performance was very good, very good for a first mission ensign straight from the academy.

'I have the ship,' d'Amatsu's pleasure, and relief at getting his bearings was obvious to all who heard him.

'Then hurry up and get round here,' interrupted Singh, 'we can get into the ship from here and see if the hull's integrity has held and if we have any extra supplies we can use.'

'I'm on it Lieutenant, I'll be there in minutes.'

They waited until two minutes had passed. 'I see him.' It was Singh's voice.

Ohlson exhaled. 'Okay enter the craft, and be careful.'

d'Amatsu stood beside Singh as the Indian closed the outer door of the escape pod.

'Can you still hear me?' asked Singh of the Augustus.

'Loud and clear Sia,' answered Ohlson.

'We are inside the pod and initiating the enter sequence.' Singh stood beside d'Amatsu, he was pushing buttons inside the sealed escape pod.

Nothing happened.

He repeated the procedure.

Still nothing.

He sighed and looked about him. He found what he had been looking for in the shape of two magnetic grips. He took them from their storage position near the floor and placed one on each side of the door.

He pressed the activation button and heard the reassuring click as the clamps fixed themselves to the doorplates.

He gripped both and pulled them apart.

It was strenuous work but the door opened.

He released his hold on the clamps and walked into the corridor of the vessel, automatically he took hold of his phaser rifle and turned his wrist light on.

d'Amatsu followed. When Singh turned to his companion he noted that he had his phaser rifle ready too.

The corridor was dark, the only lights were those that the away team.

d'Amatsu swept the corridor. 'No life signs. It seems to be undamaged in this section, but there's no sigh of the crew.'

On the Augustus all listened to hear what the others had discovered.

Ohlson responded. 'We're picking you up loud and clear, exercise extreme caution while on that ship.'

'Will do,' said Singh, 'he started to walk down the corridor. 'I think I'm heading in the direction of the bridge.'

He heard the footsteps and saw the thin beams of light that emanated from d'Amatsu, he was right behind the Indian.

The light picked out the closed bulkhead.

'It is the bridge, I recognize the codes outside the door.' Singh took his tricorder from his waist. He tapped it and pointed it at the door. There was a momentary delay then a hiss as the away team gained access to the bridge of the U.S.S. Gaunt.

It was a mess, whatever had attacked them had done so swiftly and with precision. There were seven bodies present, Captain Shay, a man that Singh had spoken to twice while the ships had been on the Osprey, was still in the captain's chair.

'My guess is they were hit by something that caused a hull breech here on the bridge, death seems to have been instant,' Singh was looking at the helm and navigation stations. They were still manned and all were dead.

d'Amatsu was at Tactical. He punched some buttons. 'I'm rerouting auxiliary power to give us some systems.'

The lights came on.

'I have the computer back on-line.

I'm calling up all the logs of the last few hours.' He had a tricorder positioned by the console. he would download the data and study it at a later date back on board the Augustus.

'While he's doing that I'll have a look in Engineering,' Sia Singh walked out of the bridge and into one of the twin corridors that led to the rear of the craft. He was trying to remember the layout of an Explorer class ship, and to remember had it, or the piece they had found, been long enough to contain the Engineering section.

It was, he turned a bend and the doors to Engineering stood half-opened in front of him.

He pushed at it, and finally jammed his shoulders into the gap and levered the doors apart.

He entered the room.

He stumbled as he started to walk, but grabbed a nearby workstation to prevent himself falling to the ground.

He turned to see what had caused him to lose his balance.

The blue edged uniform of a young science ensign with its dead owner lay broken across his path.

He shivered and brought his attention back to the job at hand. The first thing he had to do was subvert the command codes that would lock him out. This he did by the simple procedure of using the fact that the ship had been running when it had lost its crew, which meant all its systems were fully open. Sia tapped in his own command codes as a newly appointed engineer would do, he then reinitialized the computer. Now he was recognized as one of its crew. It did mean that he had only operational and tactical control, he was unable to initiate self-destruct or lock out those with superior codes to his own. That done, he started to ask the computer what condition the ship was in.

The main warp engines were still functioning, they hadn't even been turned off. It was a great stroke of luck that had stopped them exploding as the ship hit the planet surface.

After examining the console of the Chief Engineer, whom he had never known, and whose name he did not know, he worked out what damage the Jem'Hadar attack and the crash landing had done to the Gaunt. He was surprised at the computer's report.

'Singh to the Augustus.'

'What is it Sia?' asked Ohlson.

'Here's what condition the Gaunt is in.

Main engines, including the warp engines are all workable, as far as I can ascertain only a few safety circuits have shut off, probably due to the crash.

Weapons are on-line, one of the two torpedo launchers have been destroyed. It has a full compliment of torpedoes, they didn't have a chance to use them.

Transporters are on-line, as are the shields, but there has been some damage to the shield generators, so I'd guess, and it is only a guess without actually testing them, the shields are probably no more that fifty-percent, and I think aft shields are non-existent.

As for what caused the Gaunt to crash, that is a bit more serious, the deflector dish is kaput, must have taken a lot of blast damage, there are five hull breeches in total, three minor and on their own insignificant breeches along the hull, and two on the bridge.

They are too big even for the emergency force fields to contain. It doesn't help that one of the breeches was right alongside the engineer's station.'

'Why is that important?' asked Ohlson.

'It made it impossible for the repair to be made, it would have killed the engineer, as well as damaging the station which could coordinate the extra power from the auxiliary generators necessary to bolster the force field and seal the breech.'

'So are you telling us that you CAN salvage some bits from the derelict?' the voice was Mc Sorley's.

'Commander, as far as I can tell, this ship is nearly in as good a condition as our own.'

On the Augustus' Bridge Ohlson caught a look from Mc Sorley. 'What is it Commander?'

'I'd like a word in private Captain.'

He paused for only a few seconds. Ohlson stood and started to walk to the briefing room. 'Continue gathering as much data as you can Lieutenant Singh.' To Mc Sorley he said, 'Follow me.

Lieutenant Tambecki, you have the bridge. Keep me posted of any further developments.'

'What is Commander?' they were seated in the briefing room.

'It's just an idea, Lieutenant Singh gave it to me.

If the Gaunt is spaceworthy, and if we can get it out of the atmosphere, then a second platform from which to mount an attack, or an escape, might be more useful that a fully armed and ready Augustus.'

'Two vessels,' he pondered the notion. 'Sia reported a lot of faults, a lot of damage.'

'Yes, but other than the loss of a torpedo launcher he didn't mention anything that can't be either mended or repaired.'

'Can we man the two ships?'

'I think so, but I've another idea too.'

'What?'

'We still have the Cicero on the surface, we might get more salvage, or enough salvage to arm and ready the two ships.'

Ohlson was shaking his head. 'There is next to no guarantee we could find the Cicero, hell we only found the Gaunt by accident.'

'But we could try, and even if we didn't we could combine the Gaunt and the Augustus as an attack formation.

The Dominion might, just might, know the Augustus is still in one piece, but it certainly knows nothing about the Gaunt. If they had we would have seen them searching for it instead of just attacking the Cicero.'

That made sense to Ohlson.

'Here's my suggestion. Use Sia's report and d'Amatsu's analysis of the logs to make sure the ship can be repaired.

If that bit works, then we see how we can get the Gaunt off the surface, tractor beam seems the obvious., then we man both ships and attack or run depending on what we learn of the Dominion intentions.

We will certainly, if we get that far, have the element of surprise, or shock, in our favour.'

Ohlson nodded. 'Two ships would add to the speed and number of transports from the prison.

We may have to be careful about doing anything while on the surface.'

'Why?'

Ohlson then told his first officer of what Smith had discovered.

'It does make it more dangerous if we are detected.

They would not have to pinpoint our position, they could just bombard the planet and wait for it to destroy us or flush us out.' Mc Sorley sighed and brushed her hair subconsciously.

Ohlson stood. 'Let's hear the rest of what Sia and Mico discover, then we'll see if this ship has just started a fleet of its own.'

They returned to their stations on the bridge.

'Ensign Barret?'

'Yes sir.'

'Do another survey of the planet for the Cicero,' he thought some more, 'and of the Jem'Hadar ships we saw come down.

Find me anything else you can that was manufactured, and is sitting on this planet. If it moves I'd rather avoid it.'

'Eh, okay sir, I'll try,' she turned to her console and pondered how she could do what her captain had ordered.

'Sia.'

'Yes Captain.'

'Have a look at the Gaunt's condition with the idea of taking it off planet and into battle.'

There was a pause then a thoughtful, 'yes sir.'

Colimo and Tambecki were both looking at Ohlson.

It was the Bolian who spoke. 'Are we repairing the Gaunt?'

Ohlson shrugged. 'I have no idea, not yet. We'll see what else we can find and salvage, but wouldn't it be nice to have more than one ship in our battle squadron.'

'Battle squadron?' Barret looked very embarrassed when she realized she'd spoken her thoughts aloud.

'You might get your own command a lot earlier than you ever suspected Ensign.'

Barret wondered whether she should comment or not, and decided not.

On the Gaunt, Sia was checking the inventory of the ship, it looked like the quartermaster had been more generous with the Gaunt than the Augustus, extra rations, and several probes were intact, as were four environment suits. They'll come in handy, thought the engineer.

Ten minutes later, Sia had completed his survey, d'Amatsu had finished downloading the data that was contained in the logs of the Gaunt's last mission. They were both on the Gaunt's Bridge.

'Sia to Augustus.'

'Come in Sia, what can we do for you?' responded Ohlson. Around him the rest of the crew listened intently.

'We're done here, any word on the transporters?'

T'sella's voice came from Engineering. 'Still be an hour or so, I'm having some difficulty reinitializing the buffers.'

'Don't worry about that for the moment,' Sia was tapping the console in front of him, 'I can use the Gaunt's transporters, their sensors can locate and pinpoint the Augustus, we'll beam to Engineering and met you on the bridge in a short while.'

'See you soon,' ended Ohlson.

'Captain,' Ensign Barret's voice sounded muffled as she had positioned her head close to the console.

'Report,' instructed Ohlson.

'I may have something.

The interference is lessening and the range of our sensors has increased. I have another debris reading half a kilometer to the south, it may even be two large sections.'

'Jem'Hadar or Starfleet?'

'Can't tell, the planet's interference has decreased but it is still strong.'

'Let me know how much the interference is decreasing, and see if you can get any more on those readings. Try a metallurgic scan for phaser residue. If you find that then we can assume the wreckage is Dominion.'

Sia Singh and Mico d'Amatsu entered the Bridge. They had changed from the environmental suits. d'Amatsu carried a tricorder.

'Report Lieutenant Singh, what did you find?'

'I brought back four of the Gaunt's environment suits in case we have to provide for a larger away team in the future.' He waved at d'Amatsu. 'The last entries in the ship's logs are here, audio only, we got one of the captain's logs, the first officer's and the science officer's, the rest were lost. I also have the ship's computer diagnostics of the damage they sustained, as well as much of the sensor data as wasn't corrupted in the attack and crash.'

Ohlson stood up. ' Lieutenant Tambecki, you have the Bridge. I'll listen to these logs in my ready room, join me number one. The rest of you see about those repairs and study the Gaunt to see what we can salvage and what we can loan.' He saw the look on Sia's face. 'Consider whether or not we can get the Gaunt to join us in attacking the penal colony and the battleship, and see what you can find out from the recovered sensor data.'

Sia nodded slowly.

Mc Sorley stood and followed Ohlson to his cabin.

They sat at his desk and he sat the tricorder adjacent to the computer terminal and opened both devices. 'Computer, download all logs of the captain, first officer, and the science officer of the Gaunt and replay in chronological order.

The computer did as it was asked. Of the three log entries the captain's was first.

'Captain's log, the mission has commenced, my crew's morale is high...' The steady and strong voice of Captain Shay filled the room. He had been a small man, but had the gift of a commanding voice, which demanded that the listened heed it. He ended his estimation of the Gaunt as a fine ship. Then the Science Officer spoke. 'Science Officer's log, we have found the Demon class planet, and are readying for combat. The Augustus is taking up its allocated position. I have automated the targeting for the initial four satellites that intelligence have warned us. I believe that I can target the remainder manually.'

Ohlson was looking at Mc Sorley.

'Lieutenant Commander Phil Harrison, good instincts, bad dancer.'

Ohlson let the comments go by unremarked.

'This is Commander Vilnaget, we are under attack, Captain Shay is dead, it was a trap, I have been unable to raise the Augustus and can only assume they have been destroyed t...' They heard the crash as something hit the Gaunt. 'The satellites that were supposed to be defensive buoys were sophisticated weapons' platforms and mines, we hit one with a phaser and then all hell hit us. Jem'Hadar arrived in numbers larger than they were supposed to have. Sensors tell us that a Jem'Hadar battleship is close, there was no clue to that in our briefing.

We are still attempting to contact the Shoeman, no messages have been received... we will try to make a run for it.' The log died.

There were no other entries.

'Whatever hit them did so with great speed they had little to no time to counterattack. It was a very efficient assault.'

'True,' Ohlson was staring at the wall, 'and they don't seem to have any suspicions concerning the Shoeman.'

'No, probably hadn't enough time to consider just how efficient the attack had been.'

'Very efficient, they didn't even have cause to use the battleship.

Doesn't give us anything new to help us decide how best to continue. I wonder what the Gaunt's sensors saw before they stopped recording?'

'Do you really think we can use the Gaunt?'

Ohlson shrugged. 'As I see it we have a couple of problems to overcome.'

Mc Sorley bit back a comment on the captain's 'couple of problems'.

'Warp speed, we have to have that or we'll be picked off inside a minute of leaving the surface.

And space.'

'Space?' Mc Sorley was thinking about starmaps. They had a complete survey of this sector.

'Yes, we'll need a lot more than we have on the Augustus and the Gaunt or we'll not be able to take our people off the penal colony.'

'Oh,' she nodded. 'Have you considered the notion of one ship acting as rearguard while the other goes to warn the Osprey and perhaps bring her back.'

Ohlson was shaking his head. 'They won't come here, not after being warned of one trap.

No, if we want our people we'll have to fight our way to the colony, rescue them and then fight our way home.' He stood up signaling the end of the log scan. 'We may have to work on the assumption that if we've walked into a tarp then the Osprey may have walked into one too.'

They walked back to the Bridge. Good news awaited their arrival.

'Captain,' Barret was all but bursting to get the information out, 'we think we've found something, or somethings.'

'Explain yourself Ensign.'

Mc Sorley took her seat and turned to listen as Barret answered Ohlson.

She glanced at Sia before continuing. 'We used the data from the Gaunt, the ship did an automatic sensor sweep before crashing, I think they were looking for a safe landing zone, and we added it to our own data.

The upshot is that we believe we have found three different sites of crashed ships.'

'Three?'

Sia took up the report. 'Yes, it is definitely three discrete vessels, or at least the most of three vessels, but we can't identify what type of vessels they are.'

Ohlson was thinking.

'Where exactly are these ships then?' asked the first officer.

Barret turned to her console. 'If you will allow me, I'll put the map on the viewscreen?' She waited.

Mc Sorley looked at Ohlson he was still pondering something. 'Do it.'

She did.

The viewscreen ceased showing the swirls of toxic clouds that carpeted the planet and showed a three-dimensional map of the planet instead.

A red spot appeared near the center. 'That's us,' offered Barret by way of explanation.

A blue spot appeared touching the red.

'The Gaunt.'

Three other blue spots appeared on the map. One was south and the two others, which appeared relatively close to each other, where to the northeast.

'What's the scale?' asked Ohlson.

'The one to the south is ten minutes from here, the other two are twenty from here, and twenty-five from the other crash site.' Barret sounded very business like.

'Has there been any sign of the missing thirty Jem'Hadar ships?'

'Nothing sir.'

'Okay lay in a course to the two sites furthest away, let's see what we can get from them,' Ohlson turned to the chief engineer who had stood behind his right side throughout Barret's presentation. 'Sia prepare two, two-man away teams, you in one, and d'Amatsu in the other. We have to save time, if these crashes are viable then we'll leave the first team at the nearest and go to the second. We'll keep in communication for as long as possible but the first team may be alone for some time before we return.'

Sia nodded.

'Permission to go on the first team sir.'

'Granted.' He had been expecting Mc Sorley's request.

'I'd like for the Chief to accompany Mico,' Sia had moved closer to Ohlson.

'Chief can you handle an environment suit?'

'Yes sir. I'll go get ready now sir.' The Bolian stood and walked to where Sia and Mico had left the recovered suits from the Gaunt.

Mc Sorley followed him.

It was Benko who guided the Augustus to the first derelict, and it was her who identified it from the data that appeared on her console. 'One hundred meters straight ahead... and it's Jem'Hadar.'

The vessel slowed and them settled down in a rocky basin, the clouds were twisting in eddies around them, but visibility was good - for the planet - less than twenty meters, and the wreck started at ten.

'It looks to be only half a ship,' said Smith.

'Starboard nacelle is missing, so to is part of the engine room.' Kausler was sitting forward studying the enemy ship. 'The weapons system may be intact, certainly all the places for them are still there.'

'Could we use their weapons?' asked Ohlson.

Kausler thought a moment. 'The disrupters would be a waste of time, they would be good, but are not compatible with Starfleet phasers. The torpedoes could be used, they would require a slight modification, ad would be only about seventy percent as powerful as Starfleet's, but good none the less.'

Marcus smiled. Weapons' systems seemed to bring out the eloquence in Kausler.

'Sia have you been following all that?'

'Yes, Captain, do you want us to continue?'

'Yes, you and Commander Mc Sorley investigate the ship, see what weapons and intelligence you can recover.' He thought for a moment, 'take a phaser rifle each, and be careful.' To Tambecki he said, 'how long to reach the second ship and then return?'

'Ten to fifteen minutes.'

'Stay safe for twenty minutes maximum.'

'Will do,' with that Lieutenant-Commander Mc Sorley and Lieutenant Singh exited the airlock. They had walked only a few meters towards the clearly visible Dominion vessel when the Augustus rose and rushed off to the second site.