Chapter Nine.

Shirer's face appeared on the viewscreen.

'Move to as close to the Shoeman as you can manage, but keep behind both the Gaunt and us. Prepare the beacon, and ready for the run.'

Shirer made no comment other than. 'We'll be ready, good luck Commander.'

'Good luck to you too Commander.'

The screen showed stars.

It had, he thought, been necessary to break communication silence to get the operation commenced, but it was a risk. They were counting on the enemy not being able to differentiate between the trio of ships, and that meant making no discriminating communications that could betray them.

'Well,' he muttered to no one in particular, we'll soon see if our ruse is going to work or not.'

Lieutenant put us in front of the Shoeman, match its speed and course.'

Tambecki tapped her console the viewscreen showed the Augustus was catching up with the others, and then it was past them and heading rapidly to the Shoeman.

As they neared it the ship swerved.

'No response from its weapons, or shields,' reported Barret.

'Probably have none to speak of,' Smith was leaning into his console and setting in course calculations as the ship moved further away from the relative safety of the moon.

The Shoeman moved back to its original course. The Augustus was now slightly in front of the Shoeman and above it on its starboard side.

'They must know we don't intend to attack them now.' Mc Sorley watched the Shoeman, if they even got a phaser array working they would all be in a heap load of trouble.

'They have resumed what is the shortest course to the two static fighters.' Barret's voice reported matter-of-factly.

'Estimated time to the fighters, and where is the battleship?'

'Five minutes at this speed, and presuming they stay in where they are, the battleship, is not in sensor range.'

'What? That can't be, it has to be here...'

'It is,' Smith continued, 'it's on the Demon, I have its ion trail, too large to be a fighter and too new to be anything other than the battleship.'

Ohlson breathed a sigh of relief. When they started the plan it was important, if not crucial, that the battleship was close at hand. If it had been away from the vicinity and returned then it would have been in an excellent position to hurt down and destroy the Gaunt, the Caesar and the Augustus. That was assuming they did get past the two fighters that they were flying towards.

'Where are the others?'

'The Gaunt is fifty meters to the rear and seventy to the port side of the Shoeman.' Ohlson made a face, it would be better if the Gaunt was twenty or thereabouts meters closer to the Shoeman, but he wasn't able to communicate that to Devereaux, he hoped it wouldn't matter.

Mc Sorley continued. 'The Caesar is twenty-five meters directly to the rear of Captain Lu.'

'Four minutes and thirty seconds to the blockade,' announced Barret. She had a momentary thought that she had not considered the lawyer career for quite a while, maybe she had...

'One of them is hailing us.' It had been Smith who picked up the message.

'Which one?'

'The one to port, the nearest one to the Demon.'

Mc Sorley was correct, the ship nearest to the planet was hailing them but near, meant five minutes flying at full impulse, and that might make all the difference, thought Ohlson..

'Do we answer?'

'Not yet.'

'No one is answering... Wait.' Smith read what the computer was telling him. 'The Shoeman is transmitting.'

'Open a hailing frequency, broadcast the message we took from the Shoeman database.'

Hope Barret taped her console. The computer initiated the broadcast of the homing signal that the Shoeman had been sending prior to its approach to the ambush.

'The Caesar and the Gaunt have copied.'

Ohlson greeted Smith's report with a small nod. Now, we'll see if we've entered an element of confusion into the equation.

Barret breathed a sigh of relief, it had been her responsibility to organize that the three ships were able to send out the signal she had copied from the Shoeman's transmitter.

'What are the fighters doing?'

'Nothing.'

Smith was having some trouble carrying out his allocated tasks, which was to locate the battleship and the Hawaii.

He knew where the Hawaii was, that was the easy bit, but the other ship was elusive. He had tracked it to the Demon, and had even been able to isolate some cloud patterns that indicated that a huge ship had flown through them, but as to where it was at this second. He ran another scan hoping that it would show him what he wanted.

Kausler waited, she knew what she was to do. They had came this far with shields and weapons off-line, hers was the task of initiating them on a moment's notice. She watched the viewscreen but kept her finger millimeters from the console.

Benko kept the Augustus ahead of the Shoeman, and tried not to let the fact that she was piloting them towards two Jem'Hadar assault fighters worry her - too much.

The Bolian had just finished overseeing a system's check on all primary computer controls, he was checking on where he would be able to reroute power from if they needed it. They still had no transporters.

In Engineering they were working on getting the transporters back. They had a coil to replace and they had started to replicate it some time ago.

'It'll be nearly an hour before we get that at this pace.'

Sia had to agree with d'Amatsu's estimation. 'Leave it, make sure the torpedoes are ready and that the phaser banks are connected.'

T'sella was at the weapons' console. 'We have eight torpedoes.'

'Eight? I thought we had more.'

'We did, but seven are unusable.'

'How come?'

T'sella pointed to the tube that connected the two firing points with the rack of torpedoes.

Sia followed her finger. There was a small dent in the conduit that held the weapons. He walked to it and ran his tricorder over the mark. He was wondering why a diagnostics check hadn't uncovered the problem. But his tricorder told him why. 'Go to the bridge,' he instructed T'sella, 'notify the captain that we've lost one of the torpedo tubes and seven of the torpedoes themselves.'

The Vulcan stood to comply.

'Three minutes.'

T'sella entered the bridge. 'Captain.'

'Yes?'

'Chief Singh told me to report to you that we have found some damage in one of the conduits carrying the torpedoes. It seems to have occurred during your assault on the Shoeman at close range.

We cannot use that tube or the seven torpedoes that feed from it.'

Ohlson took the news better than Mc Sorley.

'Seven, is there no way of extracting them and replacing then in the working tube?'

'No, we would need some heavy cutting tools that we do not have.'

'How many torpedoes do we have then?'

'Eight Captain.'

'Thank you T'sella, you may return to engineering. If we have eight then that's how many we'll have to rely on.'

'Two minutes and thirty seconds,' droned Barret.

They got to within one minute and fifty seconds to the blockade before the ships responded.

'The port ship has altered course, it's powering up its weapons.'

'Right then, here goes nothing,' Ohlson was sitting at the edge of his seat. 'Brace for incoming.

Lieutenant Tambecki, send us to that ship's port side on full thrusters.'

Benko nudged the Augustus until it moved a little more to the left than the other ships, then she boosted power to the thrusters and the ship jumped away from the Starfleet vessels and at a tangent to the Jem'Hadar.

'It hasn't done anything, probably trying to work out what we're doing.' Mc Sorley kept her eyes on the viewscreen.

There was a thud and the ship shuddered.

'The Gaunt has opened fire on us.' Barret sounded unconcerned by the events that were unfolding.

'They struck the hull, little damage.' Colimo tapped his controls to make certain all the power was still flowing to where it was supposed.

'Shields!'

Kausler had them raised as a second volley struck the rear of the speeding ship.

'The Gaunt has broken away from the Shoeman and is pursuing.'

Mc Sorley watched the viewscreen never taking her eyes from the slim figure of the nearest Jem'Hadar ship.

The Augustus rocked again.

'Shields holding, for the time being.'

'The Jem'Hadar is moving,' Mc Sorley's voice betrayed her excitement. 'It's moving towards US.'

'Keep the weapons off-line, don't change course.'

'It increased its speed, it'll reach us in one minute, it's already in weapons' range.' Barret didn't sound as calm as she had earlier.

Another shudder.

'Shields are down to ninety-eight percent.'

'Thirty seconds, the weapons' array is powering up.'

'Not yet... Not yet.'

The sleek enemy ship was filling the viewscreen. Ohlson could see the shimmer of energy that throbbed along its flanks.

'Fifteen...'

'It's firing... At the Gaunt!'

As Mc Sorley spoke the craft lifted to fly over the Augustus and at the pursuer. A twin pulse of disruptor fire skimmed over them and towards the other Starfleet vessel.

The second ship is moving, it's powering up and heading to the Shoeman.'

They were all but under the enemy ship.

'Power the weapons and fire!'

Kausler had been waiting, it took her two point two seconds to initiate the power to the weapons and to fire them.

The darts of energy struck the Jem'Hadar underside, then again. Ohlson saw the flashes of the shields as they were impacted.

'Torpedo the underside before it's out of range.'

A tremor announced the departure of the device. The range was short the target close. The accuracy was perfect. They were thrown around by the explosion, but managed to avoid the secondary explosion as the enemy disintegrated.

'Damage report!'

Colimo had already been working on that request. 'Shields at thirty percent, some power fluctuations coming from the engines, we've probably ruptured one of the nacelles.'

'Take us about.'

Tambecki turned the injured ship and then the viewscreen showed what was happening behind them.

The Jem'Hadar that had survived was turning its attention to the Gaunt. There were streams of plasma coming from the Shoeman, and the Gaunt was firing in self-defense.

'Debris hit the Shoeman, not the Jem'Hadar, the Gaunt has fifty percent shields, and the Jem'Hadar's are down to seventy.'

Two massive flashes filled the screen, Mc Sorley blinked away the spots to see what had happened.

Barret had kept a visual on the console. 'The Caesar has fired phasers, she's damaged, but so is the Jem'Hadar.' She looked again. 'The Shoeman is breaking up.'

On the viewscreen Mc Sorley could see the Shoeman, it was in terminal agony and then it was gone. It seemed like the torpedo attack on the Jem'Hadar had inflicted major damage to its warp core. The explosion sent a blast wave into all the ships in the vicinity.

The buffeting was least on the Augustus.

As Ohlson righted himself, he saw that Kausler was still in command of the weapons. She was hitting the enemy with continuous bursts.

Another streak of energy entered the screen from above them, it targeted the Jem'Hadar too. Then the enemy was blasting and spiraling into the sky, then it exploded.

'Thank Commander Shirer for his assistance.'

Commander Shirer was busy at that moment.

'Shields are down to fifteen percent, the starboard thruster is misfiring and three were injured, all broken bones, in that last exchange.' Ensign Hollis finished his report.

'Great,' muttered Shirer, 'hail the Gaunt.'

'...And that's about the lot, we'll never make it out of this solar system, never mind the distance to Federation space.'

Devereaux looked grim. 'Then I see no alternative, we'll have to recapture the Hawaii.'

Ohlson listened, when Devereaux finished speaking he rubbed his check then spoke. 'We thought it'd be difficult to take on the two fighters, and the battleship how you are planning to recapture the Hawaii and take on the rest of their fleet.'

'That's about it Commander,' agreed Devereaux.

'Can you deal with the Caesar and the Hawaii for the time being on your own?'

'What do you intend doing while we do that?'

'We still need to get that battleship out of the equation.'

There was a pause.

'Very well Commander Ohlson, we'll head for the last coordinates of the Hawaii and attempt to board her and get her out of there. We hope you'll join us soon.

We won't be able to search for you if we succeed, we'll have hardly enough firepower to get away.'

'I understand, good luck Captain.'

The viewscreen showed the Demon.

The Augustus was heading to the last known position of the enemy battleship. Behind them, the Gaunt was leading the Caesar to the Hawaii, the ships were parting company as their targets were on opposite sides of the planet.

'Here we go again,' Mc Sorley sounded resigned.

'We are fifteen thousand kilometers from its last know location,' Barret was scanning her readouts. 'If we go in this direction we'll be following it.'

'At what range would we expect to detect it?'

'A kilometer, perhaps, it all depends on the local conditions at the time.' Smith was punching the flight plan on to Mc Sorley's as he spoke.

The planet grew larger.

'Fire a torpedo on to the planet, try to hit one of those seismic faults Lieutenant Smith give any coordinates to Yeoman Kausler.'

Smith did as he was told. 'I have none to give her.

I don't know this section of the planet.'

'Okay, Yeoman Kausler fire one torpedo to explode on impact when you're ready.'

A few seconds passed, then the ship trembled slightly as the torpedo left the ship.

In the screen they watched as the glowing dot plunged into the clouds, then it vanished.

'Don't go too close to it yet Ben, I want to get their attention not be destroyed in the blast.'

There was a tiny flash amid the swirls of green, then nothing.

'Is that it?' asked Mc Sorley.

'Not on your life,' commented Smith, 'it takes a while for a crust to crack.'

Then they saw it, an area fifty or so times larger than the explosion's epicenter glowed and shimmered a red hue, then a smaller point in the middle, which blinked between red and yellow, replaced it.

'That's an eruption, if there's anything near that they'll know what caused it - if they survived.'

They entered the atmosphere away from the blast center but still en route to the battleship or where they thought it had headed.

The clouds filled the screen and they were blind.

'I'm reading a great deal more structural instability than before.'

'Did we cause it?' asked Ohlson.

'Yes,' answered Alex. 'I'll sure we did.

This planet is a bit closer to blowing apart.'

'Did we destroy anything in that blast?' Mc Sorley was feeding navigational data to Tambecki.

'No way of knowing, we might detect damaged vessels, but nothing will remain of any ship near the center of that blast.'

'Will the planet destroy itself?' Tambecki kept her eyes on the console looking for any clues that the sensors could give her that the battleship, or anything else, was near.

'No, it will, or to be accurate could, blow a section of its atmosphere away. But more than likely it'll crack the mantle and make for a few decades of seismic activity and structural rearrangement.' Smith sat back. 'That's as far as I've been able to track it. We're in unknown territory from here.'

They found the battleship seven minutes later.

Devereaux watched as the Augustus disappeared behind the ever-moving cloud formations of the planet.

The tremors and glimmer from the planet's broken crust was visible even if the Augustus was not.

'Why'd he do that?'

Doctor Rolands posed the question, after seeing all his patients had been made comfortable in the ready room, he had came to the bridge.

'He's rattling their cages,' said Devereaux, 'I'd doubt there was a single Jem'Hadar ship on the planet that doesn't know that the Augustus has arrived.'

'Won't that make his task that bit more difficult?'

'Probably,' agreed the captain, 'on the one hand it may have destroyed a few of those twenty odd ships, but it'll move them away from where we're going.'

'Oh,' Rolands realized what the captain meant, that the Augustus had just opened a window for the others to go through.

'Course set in Captain,' Commander Steeling was at the helm.

'Ready on weapons, I doubt whether they wish us to have our ship back without a fight.' He looked about him. His crew was in reasonable shape considering what they had been through. Reflexes were a little sluggish, and some were still rattled from their experiences. But, they were his crew and they had some experience at serving with each other.

'Three minutes until we are within sensor range of the Hawaii,' even Schelling sounded nervous.

There was a palpable air of tension on the bridge.

'Open a channel to the...' for a moment he couldn't remember the name of the ship, 'the Caesar.'

Shirer's face appeared on the screen.

'We have no plan as such, Jake, so once we get in do all you can to get into the docking bay and then try to take the ship.

That's what we'll be doing too, only I'd guess we'll have a few escorts to hassle before we can land.'

'Very good sir, see you on the bridge.'

The screen went back to the clouds, they now filled the screen.

The minutes passed.

'Are those three minutes up yet Commander Steeling?'

'Yes sir.'

'Slow to quarter impulse.'

The Gaunt slowed, it made no difference to what was on the viewscreen.

'Anything on sensors?'

'There is something one point two kilometers eighty degrees off our starboard side... It's large.' The woman on ops stared at her console. 'It is the Hawaii. The shields are down.'

'Thank you Sonnerson, is there anything else there?'

'No, not in... Wait, there is one fighter coming at us, from one three four mark one. It's powering its weapons.'

'They no doubt were the Hawaii's shields and now they're returning from investigating the Augustus ' little fireworks display. Ready on phasers!'

Hollis kept his finger poised. He had already locked in the coordinates of the approaching danger. The computer was now following it from sensory data.

'There's a second one directly behind it,' Sonnerson made a face. 'Make that two others, and they're all headed our way.'

'Fire!'

Shirer had already been told of the impeding battle. The Gaunt was racing to the Jem'Hadar, there was nothing in the direct line to the Hawaii, although it was pointed in the wrong direction.

'Full power to the engines, take us directly to the shuttle bay.'

'Sir?'

'What is it O'Halloran?'

'If we're heading straight in why not empty the phasers we've no other use for them, they may give the captain some room to maneuver and they may even hit something?'

'Good idea Tom,' to the lieutenant on tactical, he said fire whenever you see something worth firing at.'

She quickly responded to his instructions.

Hollis fired three bursts of phaser fire, the first gleamed as it hit the enemy shields, the second swept over it and the third caused another flare of the defenses.

'They've fired!'

Devereaux was watching the screen. The forward Jem'Hadar was easily recognizable, those coming behind were blurs at best. 'Who's fired?'

'The Caesar.'

As Sonnerson answered five pulses of energy sped over the Gaunt, then another five. They screamed into the attacking ships.

The screen was filled with flashes and colours.

'Fire torpedoes!'

Hollis added the Gaunt's weapons to the melee. He fired four torpedoes, hoping that the Gaunt was not too close in case they impacted, then he fired another four for good measure. He half expected a telling-off from Devereaux, but none came.

There was several white flashes, they filled the screen and caused those on the bridge to cover their eyes. Then the blast wave struck them.

The Caesar had reached the Hawaii.

Shirer watched as the sleek lines of the Nebula class starship came fully into view. 'Is she spaceworthy?'

O'Halloran had already scanned the ship with that question in mind. 'As far as these sensors tell me yes, they haven't touched the engines and it seems to still have a full weapons' array.

There are also life signs on board, thirty-two.'

Shirer stared at the ship. Thirty-two, there wasn't even thirty-two weapons on the Caesar.

'Sir?'

Shirer brought his attention back to O'Halloran. 'Keep us on course, we're taking it back.'

The Caesar sluggishly turned to bring itself in line with the Hawaii's shuttle bay, which was located between the nacelles and below the saucer section. They dipped as they headed towards the closed doors of the bay.

'Any phasers left?'

'A little.'

'Aim at those doors, I don't think the enemy will be opening them voluntarily do you?'

'There is a Jem'Hadar approaching.'

'Forget it.'

'It's fired.'

The shuttle bay was getting closer, then the tube-like ship shook as disruptor tore into its hull.

'Two breeches, we have casualties.' O'Halloran was righting himself and trying to keep the ship on course.

'Damage report!' Devereaux had trouble seeing with the spots in front of his eyes.

'Forward shields are none existent, power supply has been interrupted life support will fail soon, the engines are working at half power.' There was an explosion as a console behind Devereaux exploded. An ensign was thrown to the floor.

'Doctor!'

'I'm right on it,' Rolands was over to the injured man and administering aid before Devereaux had gotten his breathing back.

'Never mind us then, what of the enemy?'

'Sensors are down, we only have visual.'

He looked, the screen was still showing swirls of greenish yellow clouds, but scattered throughout them was spinning debris. How many ships?

No time to worry about that. 'Take us back to the Hawaii as fast as you can.'

The Gaunt turned and doubled back, behind it a sleek fighter emerged from the twisting mass of broken ships and exploded torpedoes. It had a stream of plasma coming from one of its nacelles, but it seemed to be gliding purposively through the clouds and catching up with the wounded Gaunt.

'Fire!'

The phasers cut through the unshielded bay doors rapidly, Shirer could see the pieces of rubble tumble out from the depressurized bay. He knew that the emergency force field would be erected inside a second and then the bay would be able again to support life.

'The doors are open. We've lost engines.''

'Prepare for a crash landing, and brace for impact!'

He had no idea of whether or not his warning would do those on board any good or not, but he had to do it.

The elongated ship fell gracefully into the gapping hole that led into the bay. Shirer gripped his chair. The floor zoomed up, then they hit it.

The jolt knocked him to the floor, he felt his ribs get slammed by something, or someone. The lights flickered and then died.

'Get us inside as gently as possible, aim everything we have at that ship, we need time.'

'They're inside!'

Devereaux had been about to ask for a status report on the now landed Caesar, but then he realized that information had not came from the sensors but from the viewscreen.

'It's coming at us.'

True enough the newest arrival was coming straight at them.

'Can we get in before it reaches us?'

'Yes, if we go in fast.'

'Then do it.'

The lights flickered and then came on again.

'Report!'

There was the sound of people scrambling to their feet and several coughs and groans.

'Report!' repeated Shirer as he suppressed a groan of his own.

O'Halloran's voice sounded painful. 'We're in the bay, the viewscreen is off-line, we have three hull breeches, and...' he moaned again. 'To cut a long story short we aren't going anyway soon.'

'Have we sensors, or weapons?

'No to sensors, but there's still s little power for phasers, but no targeting mechanism.'

There seemed like nothing else for it. Shirer stood. 'Open the hatches and everyone out. Doctor take your team and see to the injured, all able-bodied and walking wounded assemble outside we still have a ship to win back.'

The hatch sprung open with a clatter. The people in the main hull who were able ran or hobbled into the dusty and dim shuttle bay.

The Caesar had just been long enough to get into the bay and it had crushed a shuttle that had been parked there. It was lying with the front of the ship pointed at the main exit doors of the bay. The smoke from the fire that had broken out from the resulting crash obscured most of the surroundings.

Shirer and O'Halloran arrived as the others were organizing themselves.

'There are eighteen weapons sir,' reported a junior lieutenant with blood stains on her arm, and about twenty to thirty others that can continue.'

Less than fifty able to fight, out of a total of ninety, he dismissed any speculation on the state of the remainder. 'Form four teams, make sure there are six weapons per group, when we get out of here split up.

I'll take one to the bridge.

O'Halloran you take engineering.'

The lieutenant bowed his head in acknowledgment

'The others can sweep the ship for the enemy.'

The junior lieutenant had already formed one group and was coaxing the rest into selecting the others. Shirer was watching her, he was trying to put a name to the grime-encrusted girl.

'Ready sir.'

'It's Shishigina, isn't it?'

She seemed pleased that he knew her. 'Irina Shishigina sir, I was attached to sensor maintenance.'

He remembered. 'Right then, let's go.'

They moved en mass to the exit doors.

They hadn't reached them when they opened and two Dominion soldiers commenced to fire into the confined space of the bay.

'Keep her steady!'

He knew that was easier said than done while they were being fired at.

'Rear shields at seventeen per cent.'

Another wave of disruptor pulled at the descending ship.

Someone got off a shot then the Dominion soldiers withdrew into the corridor.

A lieutenant in a red uniform reopened the door and fired into it before being forced to retreat.

'They're going to hold us here until reinforcements come,' O'Halloran spoke through his teeth and held his side the whole time. He saw Shirer look at him. 'I'm fine, just you think up a way of getting us out of the damn shuttlebay.'

Shirer had done that already. 'Move everyone to the side of the Caesar, any side but away from the front,' then he was up and running back to the Caesar.

He ran through the hatch and jumped over the injured and the medics, he reached the tactical station.

The phaser was still powered, he checked it. He saw Rolands. 'Doctor, I need you. Run to the hatch let me know if the front of the ship is clear of people.'

Rolands looked like he was about to question the order then thought better of it and ran to do as he had been asked. 'It's clear, but I...'

Shirer fired the Caesar's phasers.

O'Halloran was leaning against the port side of the ex-Cardassian tanker when he heard the sound of the phasers coming on. He watched as the pulse from the weapon located above the main section hit the wall of the corridor where the Dominion troops were situated. The bright glow of the phaser sent sparks pouring from the plating of the wall.

The wall glowed and then exploded, showering that side of the bay with white-hot pieces of bulkhead.

The smoke level had increased, and then Shirer appeared. 'Out, everyone that is able get out. My group stays with me. O'Halloran take the rear.'

With that the ex-crew of the Caesar entered the Hawaii proper. The ten-man squad who had been holding the exit from the shuttlebay was all lying dead as Shirer's section ran over them.

'One hundred meters...

Ninety...

Seventy-five...'

'Fire reverse thrusters, we're going in too fast.'

The engines ignited and the Gaunt tugged a resistance to its descent.

'Sixty...

Fifty...

Thirty-five...'

The ships trembled under another assault.

'Keep on course,' ordered the captain. 'Brace for impact!'

There was no other altitude counts. The viewscreen showed the mess that had been made of the doors to the shuttlebay, it also showed the wreck of the Caesar, and the added bits of debris that littered the landing site. Too late now, thought Devereaux, he clung to his chair and hoped that Schellinger was as good a pilot as his record stated.

The commander hit the reverse thrusters once more before the ship entered the smoke filled bay.

Rolands was kneeling beside a dead lieutenant. in what had been the main section of the tubular ship He had no idea of the man's name. He pushed any thoughts of loss and dejection away and stood to find another patient, unfortunately under the circumstances he had loads from which to choose.

The plates he was walking on moved, he grabbed the wall to stop himself from falling.

The air was filled with noise, metal screeching and plates being torn, crashes of falling and tortured bulkheads. The Caesar jerked again, and this time Rolands couldn't save himself.

It was over, there was a moment's silence, and then he could hear. people were yelling, coughing and moving. He stood and surveyed the state of the Caesar.

There had been a row of injured, they were still there but some were moving, others lay still. The two medics that had been assigned to him where both picking themselves up from the floor.

Someone rushed inside and called for him.

He subconsciously grabbed the meager supplies that he had and followed the unknown caller.

The scene that greeted him in the shuttlebay was one of utter confusion.

The Gaunt had entered the bay to one side of the Caesar but had still clipped it on passing. The ship had not buried itself in the rear wall of the bay but had came to a halt meters from the bulkhead. Plates from the already damaged surface of the landing zone were buckled and twisted in grotesque shapes around the nose of the Gaunt.

Three dirty uniformed people were in the process of extinguishing a fire that was coming from the underside of the newly crashed vehicle. The smoke was dense around the wreck, but Rolands could see the entrance ramp falling. He took a step towards it to offer assistance.

The tactical station was a mess. Ensign Hollis was pulling himself from under where the chair had pinned him.

'Everyone out!' yelled Devereaux. He felt a stabbing pain coming from his side. No doubt a broken rib, but that can wait. 'Nice landing Commander, now get the crew out and organize the retaking of our ship.'

Steeling stood a little groggily but managed a smile of sorts. Then he was off the bridge.

Devereaux scanned the area. There were no bodies, Hollis was almost free.

'Can I help you sir?'

'No thank you Ensign, turn off the power in case of fires and let's get out.'

Hollis disengaged the power to tactical and to the engines from the ops station, and then he followed Captain Devereaux. It looked to him that the captain was not using his left arm much, it was static against his side. Then he saw the figure of Rolands, he was checking a lieutenant who was seated alongside the ship.

Devereaux was past him. 'Everyone with a weapon follow me.'

Those that he had called moved purposively toward the newly created exit from the shuttlebay.

A hell of a way to go Commander Shirer, thought Devereaux as he led his squad into the ship.

'Fire!'

The Augustus was having trouble with the battleship.

They had found it with little trouble, or to be more accurate the battleship had found them. The first clue they had was when the forward shields glared and then the whole ship juddered under the force of a salvo of disruptors. Only Tambecki's skill at maneuvering the ship at low level between the mists and swirls of the planet had prevented the Dominion ship from getting a killing strike.

Now the Augustus was moving as close to the surface of the Demon as Tambecki could get. Behind them loomed the massive shape of the Dominion battleship.

'It's trying to get above the clouds,' Barret was tracking the chaser through the sensors.

'Keep it low, if we can hit it with a surface eruption it'll only work if the ship is right on top of the explosion.

Kausler fire another torpedo.'

They heard the whoosh as a torpedo, their third, they were down to three left. The missile ploughed through the swirls and mist. They felt the blast wave and saw the tiniest of flares from the center of the viewscreen that had been directed rearward.

'No damage, probably rocked them a bit at this range, they are staying low.'

'Lieutenant Smith, find me somewhere to lure that thing before it catches us.'

'Fifty-six kilometers directly ahead,' he punched in the spot to a map on Mc Sorley's console. She would be the one to guide Tambecki.

'How long unt...'

Ohlson's question was cut off as another blast sent a shudder through the Augustus.

'At this speed, about three minutes, maybe four.'

'How's the engine holding out Lieutenant Singh?'

The voice over the combadge sounded rushed and busy. 'We've a minor fire down here, but other than a lot a stresses it'll hold. We do have only three torpedoes left though.'

I know, thought Ohlson I know. 'No, we don't, we have ten.'

'Yes,' Mc Sorley had finished scanning the battleship for flaws that had been a joke, the report in her readouts described a more formidable ship than even a Galaxy class starship. She was at a loss to think of a way they could defeat the leviathan. 'But seven aren't usable.'

'Not as torpedoes,' agreed Ohlson. 'Sia.'

'Yes captain?'

'Can you unload them?'

'Yes, but it'll be a minute or two for each of them.'

'Do it, and take them to the airlock.'

Mc Sorley looked at Ohlson. 'Am I correct to think that you intend 'throwing' them out the airlock at that ship?'

'Any better suggestions will be gratefully accepted.'

None where forthcoming.

The ship twisted and threw Ohlson against the arm of his chair, then it was righted again.

A string of energy from the Dominion disruptor strobed to their left. Tambecki sent the Augustus to the opposite direction then back again as the battleship's gunner tried to second guess where they were going.

It took the trio in engineering one minute and five seconds to get the torpedo out of its allocated slot.

They had to cut the rear section from the buckled tube, Sia had done that in record time, and it wasn't the neatest of jobs. He had done it amid the knocks and twists that the evasive maneuverings had brought. Then the plate fell to the floor.

d'Amatsu had the first of the torpedoes, he carried the crate-sized object to the airlock.

T'sella was manhandling the next out of the tube and pulling it for all she was worth. It was stuck.

d'Amatsu reached the airlock opened the inner door and deposited the missile near the outer one. He returned to engineering as fast as he could.

Sia was talking to Ohlson as he entered. 'Sorry captain, but we can only get you one of those torpedoes. There is another buckled plate further inside the tube, there's no way we can get around it and cutting it too close to the torpedo would only be asking for an explosion.' He saw Mico's nod. 'There's one in the airlock now.'

'That'll have to do,' Ohlson rubbed his face. He had hoped for a larger arsenal than that he had got at his command. But, the three to fire and one to toss would have to do.

'They're trying to rise again.'

'Fire another to keep them down.'

Tambecki tried to steady the ship so Kausler could get a fix on the enemy's position.

Ohlson watched the viewscreen, the dim outline of the massive ship was still coming towards them. The whoosh and then the explosion of the torpedo just above it did nothing to alter its trajectory.

'We shaved a couple of percentile points off its forward shields with that one, but little else.' Smith ran his hand through his hair. 'We're twenty seconds to that fault.'

'Ready another.' What the hell, thought Ohlson, it wasn't as if they'd any more options. 'Fire the last two, one at the ship and the other into that fault.'

His hand poised over the release switch for the outer door of the airlock.

'Give me a countdown Mister Smith.'

'Eight...

Seven...

Six...

Five...

Four...

Three, two, one.'

'Fire!'

The Augustus rocked as the dual firing mechanisms engaged.

Ohlson was momentarily unbalanced, then he slapped the panel of the airlock door. 'Yeoman, target the torpedo we jettisoned.

Kausler was unbalanced too, she tried to lock on to the tumbling object the computer got it, then lost it, then...

The battleship was rising. It had risen almost five degrees. It had finally chosen to ignore the pinpricks that the Augustus was inflicting and rose to get above the irritant so that it could destroy the injured enemy.

Ohlson watched in horror as the giant ship rose away from the plant. Ten degrees. He saw the explosion on the planet's surface that indicated the fault had been struck. The ship was still rising rapidly. The second torpedo hit the nose of the vessel, there was a flash of white.

The screen cleared. The ship was still rising. Fifteen degrees.

'Shields at seventy-five percent.'

It had failed, the ship was going away from the surface.

There was a red glow from beneath the hull. The volcanic eruption had occurred. The ship didn't even notice.

Kausler found the torpedo. She fired.

There was another explosion, this one beneath and to the back of the rising ship and the giant twisted.

They were about a kilometer from the Dominion battleship they watched with a kind of awe as they saw the event unfold.

The torpedo had exploded under the rear of the ship, for whatever reason, the blast threw the ship back towards the planet. It could have been an error in the pilot's part; it could have been that the guidance system had been damaged in the multiple explosions.

It didn't matter, the result was the same.

The giant dived and then tried to rectify the movement.

It almost succeeded. The nose pulled up, as they came level the port wing was caught by a rock, the impact threw the ship in the opposite direction.

The starboard wing crunched into the surface, then parted company with the ship.

The speed of the dying giant was bringing it ever closer to the Augustus.

'Take us up!' ordered Ohlson.

The other wing took another blow, the ship spun on its head. Flames could be seen even through the limited visibility. It was gaining on them.

Tambecki slammed the nose up, and put full power to the thrusters. It seemed like ages until the ship responded.

The giant was nothing but a rolling mass of flame and explosions, and the wall of flame and debris got nearer.

'Brace for impact!'

The Augustus was rising, the blast wave from the dying battleship caught them and flung them helplessly in its wake.

The lights went out.

Ohlson fell. There was a crashing sound. He thought he lost consciousness for a moment. Mc Sorley was on her side.

Smith tried to keep in his chair but tumbled out, hit the wall and blacked out.

Tambecki saw nothing, perhaps she had lost consciousness too. Then she felt the controls still in her hands. She pulled them, and then realized that she didn't know what she was pulling the ship into so she stopped.

The viewscreen was blank.

d'Amatsu was hanging on to the side of his console, from where he was he could see the others. Singh was hurt but still awake. T'sella was lying awkwardly, Mico guessed she had a broken leg, at least.

The ship was still spinning, the interior lights blinked then settled to dim. Sparks flew from three different sources. Colimo looked at his console, it was dead. He felt his head. There was a bump below his left eye he had no idea of how he had got it.

Barret kept her eyes shut. The pain from her side was excruciating. Which, she thought, was a good thing, if it hurt then it was probably a good bet I'm still alive. She tried to get up, and then decided it was easier to stay where she was.

The ship stopped spinning.

Kausler was out of her seat. She slapped Ohlson on the face, he moaned but opened one eye that would sport a black bruise later. She went to slap him again.

'Enough,' it was weak, but he was rising from the floor, albeit slowly. 'Status?' he croaked.

Gretchen looked around the bridge, and then she stood and went to the tactical station. She tapped the console a few times before speaking. 'We have lost thrusters, weapons, sensors, shields and communications.

There is no response from engineering.

No hull breeches but we've lost life support too. All primary power conduits have been ruptured, and,' she added without changing the tone of her voice, 'probably all the auxiliary ones too.'

'Any good news?' he was pulling himself into his chair, his right arm was aching but he didn't think it was broken.

'No,' she thought again, 'except that the battleship is probably destroyed.'

'Probably?'

'Can't see for certain, and the sensors are gone. But if it wasn't destroyed then it would probably be pounding us as I speak.' She played some more with the console. The viewscreen flickered, then blurred. A distorted picture appeared, it was fuzzy and every so often went blank for a second or two, but they had some link with the outside. 'It's the forward view, every other one is off-line.'

'Check the others.'

Kausler went to Mc Sorley first, she was the nearest.

'Alive, no obvious injuries.' She walked to Benko.

'I'm fine,' she blinked away the pain and checked the controls. 'I'm getting no response, we've lost navigation and steering.' She rubbed her stomach were it had banged into the console housing. There'll be a bruise there tomorrow, she thought, if we have a tomorrow.

Smith was up and limped over to Barret. 'Stay where you are ensign.'

'Like I was going somewhere.'

'Sarcasm under the circumstances is a good thing, I think you'll live.' He found his medical tricorder and checked her. 'Four ribs broken, no internal bleeding, as I said, you'll live.'

'Thanks.' groaned Barret easing herself up. 'Now help me into my seat.'

'There's no need...'

'Lieutenant Smith, I'd much rather in at my post than on the floor, if it's all right with you.'

Smith didn't bother arguing, he helped lift the injured ensign into her seat. It must have been more painful, but it seemed to make her fell better. He turned to Colimo.

The Bolian waved him away. 'Cuts and bruises, nothing more.'

Ohlson was in the captain's chair. He was trying to think of what he could do. He tapped the console on the armrest, it verified everything Kausler had told him. basically, the ship was dead.

Smith was at Mc Sorley. He ran his medical scanner over her. 'She'll have to get to a hospital, there's internal bleeding.'

The captain looked at Smith. He said nothing, there was nothing he could think of to say.

At the moment d'Amatsu arrived on the bridge. 'Captain, I couldn't get through over the communications.'

Ohlson waved away any further explanations. 'What's the status in engineering Ensign?'

'Ensign T'sella has a broken leg, I have no idea of what else, she's unconscious. Lieutenant Singh says he's fine, but he's not. Cuts and bruises, and I'd guess a possibility of some broken ribs, but he wouldn't let me check him out.'

'What's the possibility of repairing thrusters and life support from engineering?'

He licked his lips. 'None, everything fused or melted, the blast destroyed more systems than we have the parts or time to repair.

We may not even be able to keep the power running for much longer.' He decided not to mention the smell of burning circuits and melted conduits that permeated engineering. Singh had sent him to the bridge as he pulled smoldering panels open to ensure that a major fire didn't break out.

Ohlson looked at the viewscreen with its foggy and indistinct picture of the exterior. The burred images of clouds and even more clouds met his gaze, then he saw the shadow. It started as small and in the bottom right corner of the viewer. It grew.

He wasn't the only one who had noticed it. Gretchen was tapping her console. She was unable to even bring on-line the merest of phasers, they were without shields and without weapons. She fought to keep her shoulders from slouching.

'What is it?' moaned Barret. 'I can't...' then she realized they already knew she had no sensors. It didn't matter, no one asked her for her opinion.

The shadow seemed irregular and getting larger.

Brace for impact seemed like a redundant option so Ohlson dismissed his original thought to shout it. He wondered when the blow would land. If they had scanned them they knew how defenseless the Augustus was.

The ship shook, Smith fell back on to the floor, Barret winced. Ohlson wasn't certain but he thought Mc Sorley mumbled something too.

Then... nothing. The shadow stayed where it was, then they were moving.

'It must be tractoring us towards it.' Kausler sounded confused not worried.

'Tractoring? Do they want us as prisoners?' Tambecki tried not to move too much, it hurt.

Marcus sat back, it was more comfortable than leaning forward, at least once the body got used to the new position. He wondered what he had to destroy. Nothing, the dying Dominion ship had cleared their computer of any important documentation, not that Nilis, Lu and the others wouldn't have had access to more confidential material than their personal logs.

'Why isn't the figure getting larger?'

Smith answered Barret's question. 'It's moving us to the rear so with our limited vision we aren't able to follow the procedure.'

The lines increased momentarily on the screen.

'Make the rest comfortable Lieutenant Smith, we don't even have the option of self-destruct at this time.'

'Very good sir,' Alex walked to Mc Sorley she was breathing harshly. He moved her gently so that she was lying in a less awkward angle to the console. 'Permission to go to engineering?'

'Go,' Ohlson watched as Smith went to look at T'sella and Singh and see what he could do for them.

'It's getting bigger.'

Ohlson looked at the screen, Barret was correct, the shadow was now taking up a third of the view.

Marcus turned his head slightly, he looked at Tambecki, then back at the screen. 'It would appear that news of our impending imprisonment was somewhat premature.'

Barret heard him but didn't understand.

Tambecki frowned, glanced at Ohlson than back to the screen. She laughed.

Gretchen joined them seconds later.

Barret and d'Amatsu stared at the two laughing women, their captain was smiling.

'Am I missing something?'

'Yes, Ensign d'Amatsu, let me introduce to you,' he waved one hand at the viewscreen.

Mico and Hope followed the gesture.

'The U.S.S. Hawaii, a Nebula class starship.'

'The Hawaii?'

'And I think it safe to assume that if it were under Dominion control then we would be bits and pieces orbiting the Demon at this stage.' He grinned. 'It appears that Captain Devereaux has retaken command of his ship.'

The Augustus was another five minutes in transit to the shuttlebay of the Hawaii.

Devereaux had the wreck of the Caesar jettisoned so they could bring the other craft on board.

The airlock hissed as the pressure equalized, then the doors were open. Ohlson was the first out.

'Nice to see you again Commander Ohlson,' Shirer held his right hand out.

Marcus took it. He looked around at the debris and damage of the shuttlebay.

'We had a few problems before we retook the ship.'

'I need a doctor.'

Shirer nodded and then Ohlson saw the blue uniformed figure of Doctor Rolands come from behind Shirer and enter the Augustus with two other medics, one of whom was Sam Lockhead.

'What is the ship's status?'

'Transporters are down, weapons are minimal, but we do have full power and as we speak we're heading to Starbase 283 at warp nine point nine.

Captain Devereaux is on the bridge and awaiting your arrival.'

Ohlson nodded. 'I'll go there as soon as I see my crew has received the...'

'Commander,' interrupted Shirer, 'they'll be fine. I'll stay and see that they are. You go and visit the bridge.'

Ohlson paused. Kausler appeared at the doorway. She was helping Barret walk. He nodded agreement to Shirer and walked off.

'Oh Ohlson?'

He turned back to Shirer.

'Well done with the battleship, we picked by the readings of the fight.'

Ohlson acknowledged the man and then proceeded to the wrecked corridor and the nearest turbolifts. In minutes he entered the bridge of the Hawaii. Devereaux was in the captain's chair. A couple of officers were handing him data padds.

He turned as the lift doors heralded the new arrival. 'Nice to see you again Commander.' He picked up one of the padds. 'Here's Doctor Rolands' assessment of your crew. I thought you'd be worried.'

Ohlson approached the captain and took the proffered padd. He read it.

Mc Sorley was the most injured. She had concussion, a punctured lung and a fractured cheekbone. T'sella's leg was broken as was her left arm. Singh had some kidney damage and a hairline fracture in his wrist. Barret - he knew her injuries from Smith's assessment - Colimo, Tambecki, Kausler, Smith and d'Amatsu had cuts and bruises.

All were receiving treatment and, the report concluded, none were in any danger.

He handed the pad back to Devereaux. 'Thank you Captain.'

'Now,' Devereaux took another padd form O'Halloran this time, 'go to sickbay and have Doctor Rolands look at you.' He held his hand up to stop my protest. 'I need all the crew I can get Commander, so as soon as you get seen then the sooner you can assist in manning this ship and getting us home.

I hope I can count on the cooperation of yourself and your crew?'

'Of course you can Captain.'

'Very good then, dismissed.'

Ohlson was heading back to the turbolifts when he heard Devereaux again. 'That was one helluva fight with the battleship Commander, well done.'

'You didn't do badly yourself getting this back,' commented Ohlson.

The turbolift was closing its door when he heard Devereaux. 'That's true, that's true.'

Ohlson was checked, cleared and talking to his crew inside ten minutes.

They were all in sickbay. The room was full, Rolands had given them five minutes and then they had to leave. All that is except Mc Sorley and T'sella who had to stay.

'I know I can still...'

'Hush, Commander, you're going nowhere so just lie back and relax. Let the rest of us get you to 283.'

Mc Sorley pulled a face but said nothing.

Ohlson looked at the others. Bandages covered bits of Colimo, Tambecki and Singh, but other than that there was little sign of what they had been through. 'We've to report to Commander Shirer for reassignment.'

Barret shifted uncomfortably.

'We will be together again at 283, for debriefing, and...' he was going to use the word reassignment again then thought better of it. He coughed. 'I did want to tell you that I am proud to have served with each and every one of you. No captain could have asked for and received as much from a crew as I got from you.'

The others looked uneasy.

'It's been an honour sir.' Mc Sorley broke the silence. The rest muttered similar sentiments.

'Thank you,' Barret addressed her remarks to everyone present, 'the academy doesn't tell you as much as I thought it did. It has been...' she searched for the appropriate word and failed to find it.

'Enough,' Singh raised his hand, 'I think it's time we get back to the task of getting out of this.'

Shirer met them outside sickbay. He'd been waiting for them to emerge.

'Lieutenants Singh, and d'Amatsu, report to Commander O'Halloran in engineering.' They left.

'Chief Colimo, and Yeoman Kausler report to Lieutenant Sovacs in security. Lieutenant Smith you're with Doctor Rolands.' Smith spun round and reentered the sickbay.

'Lieutenant Tambecki report to the shuttlebay.'

When the others had left Shirer turned to Ohlson, and Barret. 'You two can report to the bridge. You have Ops Ensign, and Commander Ohlson is the new Second Officer.'

They were on the bridge in a few minutes. Barret felt spoiled at all the extras that the Hawaii had to offer by way of sensors. She realized that she missed the cramped and limited console of the Augustus.

Ohlson sat to Devereaux's left.

'We should be at the rendezvous coordinates that you supplied for the Osprey in fifteen minutes Commander, albeit somewhat on the late side.'

They took fourteen minutes.

'Nothing,' reported Hope. 'I scanned for residual traces of any ship.

There has been nothing here for weeks.'

Devereaux put the ship on full alert, crews worked flat out for the next twenty-four hours fixing systems and preparing for combat. They were at one quarter of their optimal manpower, but they were still a formidable crew.

Radio silence was maintained, the ship was strong but still had no wish to initiate an attack.

At the end of the twenty-four hours Devereaux gave the order to leave the rendezvous point. 'put in a direct course to Starbase 283, Warp seven, engage.'

The ship paused, the warp core engaged and a bubble of subspace enveloped the ship. Then the ship moved forward, it was heading rapidly in the direction of the nearest Starbase and the headquarters of the Fourth Fleet.

'It should take us another thirty hours to reach the base.' Devereaux seemed nervous.

No one said anything about the possibility that they there were no base to which to return. They wondered had the Dominion attacked the base regardless of the plans that they had concerning the Hawaii, the Shoeman and the others.

The mood on the ship grew ever more tense as the hours progressed.

'Anything on the long-range scans?'

Shirer was to Devereaux's right. He checked his console. Marcus had been standing behind the tactical station as, yet another, system's check had been completed.

'Nothing.' He said. 'There's still ten hours until we come within range of the station without relying on subspace.'

'No, Devereaux ran a hand along his armrest, 'we can't use subspace until we have an idea of what we're heading towards. A battle at this stage would be disastrous.'

'I have something!' Barret was on Ops.

'What is it Ensign?'

A pause. 'A ship, traveling at warp nine, and coming straight at us.'

'Any identification?'

'No, it's too far.'

Shirer had called up the data that was going to Barret's station. 'It's big whoever it is.'

'And not alone,' added Hope, 'there's two... No, three... wait.'

They waited.

She lifted her head and spoke in a hushed tone. 'There are ten ships coming our way, estimated time to intercept is two minutes and ten seconds.'

'Red alert!' Devereaux was up, he pulled at his tunic and faced the viewscreen. 'Put them on screen as soon as they come into range. Maximum magnification.'

Around him the crew busied themselves. Ohlson saw the tactical officer tap her console. The lights blinked to indicate that phasers were ready and so too were the torpedoes.

'Ready message Hawaii One,' ordered Marcus. He walked to the front of the bridge near the chair allocated to him.

'Ready sir,' answered Barret.

'Hawaii One?' Devereaux was looking at him, so too was Shirer.

'It's a compact version of our adventures, I have it coded and set to be transmitted on all frequencies, just in case we didn't arrive to deliver it.'

'Good idea Commander, wait until the last moment before sending.'

'Yes sir.'

The trio stood watching the viewscreen. As yet there was nothing close enough to see.

'It's the Fourth!' Hope's voice rose as she finished her sentence.

'The Fourth?' asked Devereaux.

'Yes sir,' responded Barret smiling, 'it's the Fourth Fleet. They are hailing us. Admiral Slaney wants to speak to the commanding officer.'

'On screen.'

The star field vanished to be replaced by the figure of Admiral Oban Slaney standing on a ship's bridge. 'Captain Devereaux?'

'Good to see you Admiral.'

'And you John, what is the status of your ship?' he sounded suspicious.

'We were captured Admiral, but the squad you sent to rescue us succeeded, at least Commander Ohlson's section did.

It's a long story Admiral, I look forward to telling you.' To Shirer he said. 'Stand down from Red alert, and prepare to meet the Fourth.'

The Hawaii was boarded five minutes later by contingents of the fleet. All those who had been on board was removed and separated. It was routine, the survivors, all eighty-nine were interviewed by Starfleet Intelligence. During that period they arrived at Starbase 283.

The next day, Captain Devereaux, Commander Shirer and Commander Ohlson were on board the U.S.S. Osprey. Admiral Slaney, Captain Jackman, and Vice Admiral Garcia were seated in the ship's ready room.

The Osprey was docked and from the windows of the room Ohlson could see part of the base's superstructure and the silhouette of a Galaxy class ship as it patrolled around the station.

'What happened when we left?'

Jackman looked at Slaney, the admiral nodded that she could continue.

'The Osprey continued to the space lines as we had said, but there was some ships waiting. We were attacked and narrowly avoided being destroyed.

The Helsinki arrived in time to assist.' She named another nebula class ship that Ohlson knew was in the group of ships that had found the Hawaii. 'And we came home.

We realized that meant in all likelihood that Captain Lu had walked into another trap. Not knowing how the Dominion knew so much then we were reluctant to send more craft into the region.

Then we got Commander Ohlson's message.

It was taken as misinformation at first, but on examination we discovered the link between Commodore Nilis, Captain Lu, Lieutenant Overend and Ensign Curro.' She paused before continuing. 'They were part of a group that believed Starfleet interests would be better served with an alliance with the Dominion.' Another pause. 'Several other officers have been arrested, they had betrayed a lot of secrets but fortunately they had only been operational for a short time.

Commodore Nilis was their leader.

It was,' she indicated Ohlson, ' as you realized, they wanted the Hawaii and the Shoeman so they could initiate an attack. The Shoeman was to lead and the Hawaii to drag along behind to distract us, then they would launch an attack on this base. They believed that once we lost the Fourth Fleet that we would be more open to their opinions in regards to an alliance.

By all our accounts the plan was a good one, we had no idea of the kind of force they had assembled on the Demon, that alone was a major threat, with the Shoeman and the Hawaii they could well have gotten close enough to deliver a knockout blow.'

'What,' asked Devereaux, 'were their plans for us?'

'The Hawaii's crew?'

'Yes.'

'They hoped to convert some, and perhaps use the rest as bargaining chips in any later agreements. Nilis we believe told them that once 283 had fallen that a token prisoner release would send the correct message to Starfleet Headquarters.'

'Well,' Shirer shuffled in his seat, 'that explains why we got the minimal of mistreatment.'

'Yes,' added the admiral, 'it does.'

'Is there any further danger from the Gokija expanse?'

'No Commander Ohlson, we have sent several Galaxy class starships into the region and they found the prison, as well as the Demon, it would appear that the Dominion loses were extensive enough to encourage a retreat.

We have mined and placed sensor beckons in the area. I don't think they'll be quick to try a similar ploy.'

The meeting broke up with the officers being told to tell their crew to make use of the next week as recreation, and then they would be reassigned their duties.

Shirer walked part of the way back to his cabin with Ohlson. 'I hear they will be putting us all on the newly refitted Hawaii.' He was watching Ohlson's reaction.

'I can't say I didn't like the idea of my own command. They were a great crew, they'd be an asset to wherever posting they went.'

'I know we didn't get off to a good start Marcus, but personally I hope you get the Hawaii. I would like to continue to work with you.'

Marcus smiled. 'Thank you, as a second best I guess you'd do.'

They laughed and Shirer walked into his cabin. 'Oh, will I see you in the bar later?'

'Yes, you will, but kindly don't interrupt.'

Shirer looked confused then he laughed again. 'What, another date? Hasn't she caught on yet?'

The door closed. Ohlson walked the rest of the way to his own quarters. He was in good humour even with the loss of his command, he could do a lot worse than be second officer, the third in command, of a Nebula class starship, and anyway, he had date.

An hour later the door chimed.

'Come in.'

The door parted, Ohlson was standing outside, and he was holding a rose and a bottle of wine. He took a step inside.

Helen Tsokova wore a clinging dark blue dress. She smiled at him.

He held up the bottle. 'I'm told it's the best they have on board outside the admiral's personal stock.'

'Then,' she said, 'I suppose we'd better sample it and see.'

The week had passed quickly, it was no longer a secret that the Hawaii was being refitted and readied. Ships had even arrived from other starbases carrying personnel that had been assigned to the vessel.

'Why haven't they said anything?' Hope was standing in the bar looking out of the window. She was able to see the traffic to and from the Hawaii in its dock.

'Perhaps they are keeping us at the posts they gave us on the way home so don't think they have to tell us anything,' Smith sat opposite her.

Around the table was the rest of the ex-crew of the Augustus, all except Mc Sorley and Ohlson.

'Hollis is in security,' said Tambecki, 'said to me yesterday that he'd been told by Shirer.'

Sia took a sip of the beverage before him. 'Sam, Ensign Lockhead hasn't been notified yet, and she's still working with Doctor Rolands.'

'Commander Ohlson isn't the happiest about getting the third officer,' Colimo sat between T'sella and Mico.

'He was a good captain, you'd think they'd give him his own command again after what he did at the Demon.' Mico sounded a little angry at the injustice he felt was occurring.

'He was a good commander, but they probably have a shortage of ships,' pointed out T'sella.

'He's been spending a lot of time with the engineer.' Smith looked for a waiter so he could order another round.

'I like her, and they look good together,' Barret wondered whether she wanted to be Ops officer of a Nebula, a Roman, or a lawyer.

'I wish they'd hurry up and get around to it.' Kausler looked at the small figure of another shuttle heading to the Hawaii.

No one had to ask her to elaborate, they all felt left out of developments.

The shuttle that Kausler had watched moved into the bay of the Hawaii. Gone was the debris and mess that had greeted Ohlson the last time he arrived here. The place was clean and busy as engineers and fitters worked to make the ship ready for departure.

He knew that the Hawaii was leaving port in two days, he didn't know yet where he was going to be when that happened.

Mc Sorley was beside him. 'Do you reckon this is it then?'

'Yes, I think this is when we get the assignments.'

She thought for a moment as they left the bay and walked to the turbolifts. 'Is it a good sign that the admiral wishes to see us together?'

'No idea,' Ohlson had pondered that point too.

'You know Commander,' she looked at him, 'I wish we still had the Augustus.'

He smiled as the doors opened. 'So do I Deborah, so do I.'

'This way,' a lieutenant ushered them into the quarters of the commander of the Fourth Fleet. Admiral Slaney was alone. He switched off the console he had been working on.

'Good day Deborah, Marcus, please take a seat.'

They sat and waited.

He was watching them. 'I have called you here to discuss your assignments.'

They looked grim faced.

'I suppose you think you're headed for the Hawaii?'

Suppose? Deborah resisted the urge to glance at Marcus.

'Well I was wondering, in light of what you did at the prison, if you would consider forming a new section attached to Starfleet Intelligence here with the Fourth Fleet.' He paused.

'Exactly what are you suggesting sir?' asked Ohlson.

'We are creating a Special Salvage Squadron, S3 we've named it, for infiltrating and recovering any material or personnel that may disappear behind enemy lines.

Sometimes it just isn't possible to send in a Galaxy or a Fleet, so we want a small group to do the reconnaissance and recovery if possible.

That would be you.'

Ohlson looked at the smiling Mc Sorley then back to Slaney. 'On the Hawaii?'

He shrugged. 'Sort of.'

'Sir?'

'Well,' he stood up, 'come here.' He waved them over to the window and indicated that they should look out.

They did.

Ohlson saw the starbase and several smaller vessels in transit. But one wasn't, one ship was static.

Mc Sorley was grinning. 'I thought it was being scrapped.'

Slaney glanced out at the sleek hull of the U.S.S. Augustus. 'No, it's in surprising repair considering what it went through. It has been upgraded, some thicker plating in parts,' he waved away the details, 'go ask an engineer about what they've done.

Anyway, the Augustus will, if you accept, be your command, you will be attached to the Hawaii and that will be your base. They will be the ship that carries you close to your target site.'

Mc Sorley nudged Ohlson in the ribs.

'What?'

'Tell him.'

'Oh, yes sir, we accept.

On one condition.'

'Condition?'

'Yes sir, that we have the original crew as a first option.'

Slaney paused. 'What do you mean 'first option'?'

'I'm hoping sir, that they want to return to the Augustus, some might prefer their placement to be on a Nebula or a Galaxy.'

Slaney beamed. 'Then I suggest you go find out if you have a crew and then report back to me.'

They had another drink.

'I don't want to be on the Hawaii,' it was Kausler who spoke. 'I'm putting in a transfer request to a Starbase, I could do some good working on static defense measures.'

'I'm sure you could,' Ohlson and Mc Sorley had entered the bar and approached the table unseen.

'Commander.' Kausler seemed surprised and embarrassed at being overheard.

'It'd also be inconvenient Yeoman,' put in Mc Sorley.

A waiter arrived before anyone could ask a question. He deposited a drink for everyone at the table. They all took their drinks and looked confused.

'A toast, if you want it,' Ohlson held his glass up.

The rest followed amid the odd look lacking comprehension.

'To the new crew of the U.S.S. Augustus, if they want it.'

Sia was looking at him. 'The Augustus?'

'Yes it's been repaired, and they want a crew, you.

Does anyone wish to remain for the time being with the Augustus?'

'Are you the commander?' asked Smith.

'Yes, and she,' he indicated Mc Sorley, 'is the first officer.'

'I'm in,' answered Barret.

'Me too,' Mico gave a hoop of delight.

'I will be there,' responded T'sella.

'I kinda liked it there, I'll stay,' put in Alex.

'You'll need a tactical officer.' Kausler opined.

'True.'

'And a Science Officer?' added Colimo.

Ohlson agreed.

'Pilot?' Tambecki was grinning.

'Yes.'

'Hmm,' grunted Singh, 'just when I was getting to like the idea of having a massive engine that won't break down on me, 'I suppose I'll be there too.'

'We have the whole crew then' Mc Sorley clinked her glass against Ohlson and Singh's. 'To the Augustus!'

They drank to their past, and to their future.