Chapter 610

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Lt Jareau turned around and said, "Commander Santini on the com for you, Commander."

Leonaidas pushed the com button and said, "Leonaidas."

"Commander, I have four jammers ready to be placed. We will keep manufacturing enough for all the ships." Santini said.

"Very good Dom. Get those to the transporter room and Mr. Carter will let you know who is going to be placing them. Leonaidas out." Leonaidas pushed the button. He looked up at Carter.

Carter was looking at the deployment of the shuttles. "I want some experience doing this job. Send the jammers to the Brandenstein. Lt Studi and Ensign Pell."

"Pell?" Leonaidas asked.

"He's a top notch pilot. But just a copilot in this case. Lt Studi will be doing the flying, Pell will be a good backup." Carter said.

Leonaidas nodded, "Ok. Let the transporter room know." Leonaidas turned to Lt. Magnum. "How are the ROV's doing?"

Magnum had configured two of the screens behind him for displaying the visual data from the ROV's. Two of the other small screens had diagrams of known parts of the station and plots on where the ROVs were. "Very good. I guess video games are paying off, with all the Badgers off the station, engineering is actually operating the ROV's. No action against them yet, but they are proceeding into the station to the break in the transmission line."

Leonaidas nodded. It could actually be mesmerizing watching the ROV visual, thinking a virtual small tank was making its way down a corridor. "Ok, let me know of any developments. Who actually has control of weapons?"

"I asked some of Lt. Cdr Grimm's people to help out. They are on workstations right beside the ROV operators." Magnum said.

Leonaidas smirked and looked at Grimm at the weapons console. "Feel like you are missing out Ben?"

Grimm responded in his gruff Bronx accent, "No Sir. I'm just fine here. Lots of clobbering to do up here. I have good people on the ROV weapons assignment."

Leonaidas relaxed a little. "I have no doubt of that."

CABIN

SHUTTLECRAFT BRANDENSTEIN

Pell looked back as the transporter effect finished. Four large pieces of equipment along with Lt. Tyrol filled the small cabin. "Lt Tyrol, I didn't realize you were coming."

"Cdr Santini thought it best one of us actually place the jammer." Tyrol said. "Where is the first one going?"

"This beaten down freighter under us now." Lt Studi said with a little bit of American Indian accent. "Lt Teal'c is in there just wrapping up the search. Mr. Pell, go ahead and get into your pressure suit. I'll get into mine after you and then we'll let Mr. Tyrol get to work.

Pell got out of his seat and started putting on his pressure suit. Tyrol asked, "You ever spacewalk before?"

Pell shook his head, "Not in combat, if you would call this combat. Only in training."

"Don't sweat it. I'll only call you if I get a snag." Tyrol was getting the first jammer ready.

Pell said, "Don't get in a snag, sir."

BRIDGE

CATIAN CARGO SHIP M'NOSS

Teal'c wasn't one to smile. His facial expressions were usually stern, impassive, stern with analytical, disapproving, stern with disapproving, or contempt. The Badgers with Lt Teal'c doing search duty have seen a new expression today. Disgust. And Teal'c wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was disgusted. Teal'c was never one to complain, in fact if you could imagine the perfect, dedicated, disciplined warrior, Teal'c would be very close to that image. Add in intimidating as much as you would like.

Teal'c was disgusted, not with the duty of carrying out the search for the Captain, he desperately wanted to find the Captain. He was disgusted with what he was finding and had to let go, per the orders from Commander Leonaidas. Teal'c understood that some incentive was needed to be given to the freighter captains to agree to be searched, and agreeing to not confiscate contraband was the deal. He just never imagined the contraband or the beings dealing with the contraband. It was tough to describe seeing contraband such as drugs or weapons and not being able to do anything about it, tough because you could see that there was going to be harm done to somebody somewhere. Not even arresting the smugglers. Cooperation was needed to quickly search all these ships, and time was running out on the Captain.

Catians presented a formidable challenge. Imagine a cat that walks on its rear legs, bipedal. Catians stood about five feet tall, had a full five feet of tail that was completely usable, and claws. You could imagine walking panthers. Of course, they had cat-like reflexes, so you had to be very very careful. The Badgers doing the search were cautious not to let a Catain get too close to anybody, or to a control panel.

Teal'c was on the bridge with a couple of Badgers and had the Bridge crew zip-tied. The Captain was trying to engage Teal'c in conversation but Teal'c was not going to be distracted.

"You Starfleet think you are so righteous! We are just out here trying to eek out a living. What have you found here? I am carrying nothing but food and drink! I'm a victim here, there can even be legitimate business done out here at Ghut's. Come on Starfleet and answer me!"

Teal'c ignored the Captain, but still had the disgusted look. Teal'c suddenly touched his earpiece, "Teal'c. … Yes?... Very well. I'll be right down." Teal'c looked at the Captain with disgust. The Captain quieted down. Teal'c then answered another call over his earpiece, "Teal'c…. Very good Windlifter, tell Mr. Tyrol he can engage the jammer. We are almost done here ourselves. One more matter to attend to. Teal'c out." Teal'c said to the Captain, "Come with me."

The Catain Captain was silent and started walking towards Teal'c. It's 'hands' and 'tail' were zip-tied together, but one had to still watch out for the 'feet'. "What is it Starfleet?"

Teal'c motioned for the Captain to lead. "Go down to your smuggling compartment in the strut to your dorsal warp nacelle."

The Captain started walking, "Smuggling? We don't have a compartment there. Just an access tunnel. It's for maintenance only."

Teal'c didn't answer. The two walked to the access hatch where some other Badgers stood by. One of them reported, "Sir, up this accessway is packed with Spiked Glimmer. It's so full we couldn't climb up to access the nacelle."

Teal'c's demeanor went from disgust to exceptionally disgust. He asked, "How did you verify our Captain isn't up there?"

"We put a tricorder on the end of a pole and shoved it up the accessway. It took some fishing, but it got far enough for us to verify he's not up there."

Teal'c nodded slowly, "Very good. This completes our search. Assemble the Badgers for transport." The Catain Captain started to relax, and Teal'c noted the change. This hit him on a very base level, infuriating him. "And get that pole. Rig a thermite grenade on the end of it."

"Aye aye, sir." The Badger replied.

"That is extremely valuable cargo!" The Catain Captain exclaimed.

Teal'c said stoically, "I imagine it is."

"You promised you weren't going to do anything on our contraband! I.."

Teal'c cut the Catain off. "We promised we wouldn't confiscate anything. I do not intend to violate that promise." The Badgers were done fixing the grenade to the pole.

"But thermite… That'll burn!" The Catain said.

Teal'c said, "Yes, most effectively. The chemical reaction is over four thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Would you like me to convert that number to a temperature convenient for you?"

The Catain said, "But that will start a fire!"

Teal'c took the pole with the thermite grenade on the end. One of the Badgers said, "We fixed a time-delay to the end. When you pull the pole back, you have thirty seconds."

Teal'c nodded slowly then said, "Call the Wisconsin, get ready for transport."

Teal'c took the pole and started shoving the grenade up the tunnel through all the drugs. Spiked Glimmer was one of the most addictive drugs in the galaxy. The Catain pleaded, "You can't do that! The fire will be too great for us to put out!"

"That is most unfortunate for you. Perhaps you should have thought of that before putting an extremely flammable substance in an access tunnel to one of your warp nacelles. Of course you might be able to put it out if your crew was not tied up, but since they are the only option you will have is to jettison the nacelle." Teal'c stopped shoving. The thermite should be right in the middle of the tunnel now. He looked at the Catain. "When I pull this pole, the thermite will start in thirty seconds. When it starts burning, the Glimmer will burn as well too. I believe Spiked Glimmer is most flammable as it carries it's own oxidizer as the thermite. Perhaps that is why it is so addictive and ruins so many lives. The fire will be most difficult to put out, but your problem will be with all that energy being released it probably will blow this hatch very quickly. You will have a fierce fire near your engineering section. The situation does not look good for you."

"We will only be able to manage warp 2 at the best!" The Catain pleaded.

Teal'c said, "I agree with you as the strut to the warp nacelle will be permanently heat-damaged. I suggest you get near the panel to jettison the nacelle."

The Catain said, "I won't go! You can't do this!"

Teal'c touched his earpiece. "Teal'c to transporter room… Energize in ten seconds." He gave a sharp pull and the pole came out. Teal'c verified the safety pin was on the end of the pole signifying the grenade was about to start burning. He dropped the pole and shut the hatch. "I just did." Teal'c stepped into the formation and the Badgers were transported off the ship.

TRANSPORTER ROOM 1

USS WISCONSIN

The team finished materializing and McGhee said, "Chief Kaylee, quick! Turn on the scanner for the ship we just left!"

Kaylee worked the controls a little bit and the screen behind her showed the cargo ship. Nothing seemed to happen for a while then the top strut and warp nacelle started drifting away from the rest of the hull, fire spewing from the bottom of the strut. Kaylee worked the readings, "It looks like a fire in that strut. Nice little blowtorch out the bottom of the strut. I'm reading secondary explosions now in the nacelle. Looks like that fire caught something inside the nacelle. That nacelle will never go to warp again. Was everything ok over there guys?"

Teal'c said, "Everything is fine. I need to make my report to Commander Leonaidas before we go to the next ship."

Kaylee saw something she hadn't seen before. Teal'c was smiling.

BRIDGE

USS SHADOW

The stalk was long and slow. They had slowly been getting closer to their target, the Kahless. The crew was so intense on the stalk that everyone was walking quiet, talking in hushed voices. It must have been instinctive, because there is no way that the Klingons could sense conversations or footfalls inside the Shadow. Straker silently chuckled, as it did show commitment of the crew.

Forrester came up to the command chair and looked at the progress. Straker looked at him and asked, "What have you come up with as a solution to our problem?"

Forrester handed over a tricorder with a few extra boxes on it. "Given the time, this is what we have. It's a tricorder coupled up with a laserlink system."

Straker turned it over and saw the combination laser transmitters, receivers, a guidance package, and something else. "So this takes readings and…."

Forrester said, "It will take readings and transmit them continuously back to us via laserlink. We need to be within line-of-sight during the entire time this is operational of course. That way we can feed it position data on us so it can accurately aim the laser back at us."

Straker said, "Very good Paul. What is this extra box on the side?"

"A self-destruct mechanism. We are going to program various protocols and this will be utterly destroyed. No trace back to us at all." Forrester said.

Straker nodded. "So what is the plan?"

Forrester was a little bit uncomfortable. "Well sir, the science department determined that we need active scans to determine what is inside the Bismark."

Straker nodded. "I assume so."

Forrester said, "Active scans will be detected. The determination was to have the active scanner separate from us."

"Sounds reasonable." Straker agreed.

"So we thought that the best thing was to have these tricorders fixed up."

Straker looked at the jury-rigged tricorder. "How many of these do you have?"

"Three so far. We'll keep making them until we get close enough." Forrester said.

Straker nodded. "Why this instead of a probe?"

Forrester shrugged, "We thought that a probe would be detected too quickly and destroyed. Worse, it may even be captured."

Straker looked at the tricorder. "I can see that. So we release these tricorders close? Let them drift near?"

Forrester looked a bit uneasy. "Not exactly, sir. In order to get the best data, we need to get these close, very close."

Straker's eyes narrowed. "How close?"

Forrester said, "They need to be in contact with the ship."

Straker said, "Contact? How do you plan on that?"

Forrester described the process. Straker shook his head, "I didn't think you were going to take me seriously."

"It's the best we could come up with." Forrester said. "If that's not good…"

Straker asked, "What are the problems of detection?"

Forrester winced, "Significant. We need to be cold, very cold. We need to come in on thrusters only. Also, minimal electronics. And absolutely total EMCON. The only thing we will be emitting is lasers for the laserlink."

Straker nodded. "Very good then. Helm, come thirty degrees starboard. We need to change our stalk, I was going to come from sunward, but I think it's best that we come up from his stern. Let's find his impulse trail and come up that. That may help mask some of our residual heat as well too."

The Shadow altered course. Straker looked at the plot on the big screen. This was a task of patience and cunning. The science officer said, "Picking up the Bismark's impulse trail. We're in it now."

Straker looked at the icons of the Bismark. "Good, we are directly behind him. Helm, change course to follow. Estimated distance?"

The Navigator said, "Tracking is estimating thirty thousand kilometers. Error on that is holding very small. They have not changed course."

Straker asked, "I wonder what they are waiting for?"

No answers were apparent. "Helm, close for now on one-quarter impulse. We will switch to thrusters as we get closer."
"Aye aye, sir."

The Shadow started its next phase of the stalk.

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

The Klingon Captain was furious, "Why do they want us to stay here? There is nothing to be done here! Time to get into a position where we can fight!

The first officer said, "The science directorate is going over the data from the test, they probably will have more tests for us later."

The Captain backhanded his first officer. "Weakling! This ship was meant to fight! The science directorate should have had someone here! We proved this ship is invincible!"

The first officer looked angrily back at the Captain. "Sir, we don't know how the ship will handle in combat."

The Captain said, "We were prepared enough to take the Kah'less out and rattle the Federation's cage. The high council has been using us strategically already. It's time for full implementation! The old men on the council have forgotten how to fight!"

The first officer said, "Perhaps so, but we are to obey. We wait for them to direct the next phase for us."

The Captain grumbled. The High Council sometimes got over controlling. They forget that it takes time for subspace communications to travel interstellar distances. By the High Council controlling everything, it wasted much valuable time.

BRIDGE

USS SHADOW

Closing on the Klingon was painstaking. The Shadow tried to use the Kah'less' impulse trail to mask its approach and so far the Klingons were not showing any signs of detecting the Shadow. People on the bridge could tell when Straker was getting stressed, he stopped sitting and stood up and leaned on one of the consoles. The choice of console was determined by what he was most interested in at the time. This occasion he was standing next to the navigator. Straker kept checking the position of the Kah'less and other objects in the system. He was using every trick in the book he could to get close.

Straker looked at the science officer, "Any sign of the other Klingon in the system?"

The science officer shook his head, "None at all. I'm assuming he is cloaked and could be anywhere."

Straker nodded, "Good assumption." Straker checked the nav console once again. "One hundred kilometers. Is Forrester ready?"

The communications officer nodded. "Mr. Forrester signals ready."

Straker straightened his stance a little bit. "Very good. Inform the crew one minute to blackout."

Straker heard the communications officer make the announcement. During this time, Straker walked to his chair and sat down. He engaged the rarely used restraining devices- the arms of the chair closed over his thighs securing him in place. Straker checked around the bridge and noted everybody was secured in as well.

Straker looked at the clock and noted that one minute had passed. "Engineer, let's go to blackout mode." The engineer started shutting down various parts of the ship. Anything that could cause a stray signal to be detected. The bridge lights went dark themselves and backup red lights dimly illuminated the bridge.

The ship closed in on the Kah'less gliding on a powerless trajectory. It was minimally powered, just a cold object in space. The navigator said, "Coming up on deceleration point."

"Engage thrusters on schedule." Straker ordered.

Most of the displays were dark on the bridge. The helmsman and navigator didn't need much, they were using only backup computers at the time as the last part of the intercept was relatively simple. Straker could feel the thrust, and silently counted the time as the ship slowed down. Right on schedule the ship's thrusters stopped firing. The main viewscreen was currently showing a view from one of the cameras outside on the hull. The ship slowed down to a relative crawl just underneath the Kah'less.

Straker looked at a crewman that was standing just to the right of the viewscreen. The crewman was standing in a door that accessed the area behind the bridge. There was a series of three crewmen, all in sight of one another in the access area, that relayed hand signals to the airlock located behind the bridge. Straker said, "Ok, let's tell Mr. Forrester to start."

The signals were sent down the chain to the crewman standing in front of the airlock. The airlock door had a window just large enough to pass hand signals through. The crewman at the door looked through and gave a thumbs up. In the airlock, Forrester was floating with another crewman, all tethered to the ship. Forrester grabbed his equipment and looked at the crewman. The crewman made sure his feet were in the restraints and nodded. He grabbed Forrester's feet and Forrester leaned outside the airlock door. Forrester looked up at the Kah'less passing overhead.

The ship was breathtakingly huge. It was also very disconcerting how close they were to it. The helm/nav team did a great job bringing them close. Forrester had his equipment in his right hand and used his left to give signals. He signaled 'slow down' to the crewman holding him. That crewman used one of his hands to signal the man behind the airlock door. That was passed on and on and on to the bridge.

Straker saw the signal, so did the helmsman. The helmsman gave some thrust to slow down. The camera for the viewscreen was locked at what would be thought a compromise angle. It wasn't a great angle, but good enough to do the job. Straker noticed he was sweating, and that others on the bridge were wiping their hands on their tunics to keep their palms dry.

Forrester kept giving the slow down signal then clenched his fist. The helmsman stopped the thrusting. Forrester was trying to get his bearings relative to the Kah'less hull. Ok, there's an impulse vent there. The warp engines are back there. Disruptor port there. Forrester saw the place he thought would be near where engineering was, about fifty meters away. Forrester raised up his equipment- a large plastic tube with a hose at the end that was attached to the wall of the airlock. Forrester opened a valve and charged a small tank with pressure. Once at the right pressure he closed the valve and raised up the tube.

The tube had some hastily put-on handles to make it easier to aim. The trick was to shoot out the foot for the tricorder at the right speed but not too fast. He didn't want to make a loud clang when it hit. Forrester aimed the tube at the right area of the Kah'less and squeezed a trigger. The trigger released a valve and the air that was in the small tank rushed into the tube and pushed the foot out. The foot trailed a wire behind it. Forrester watched the foot go out feeding out wire, slowing down all the way. It was taking too long and Forrester realized the feeding wire slowed the foot down to a near standstill. Forrester was exasperated, he pulled the foot back in and gave a small tug on the wire causing it to feed back into the foot. Forrester reinstalled the foot back in the tube and then charged the tank up again. He upped the pressure a bit and then took aim and fired. Once again the foot went out, this time it went all the way and lightly touched the Kah'less.

The foot didn't hit hard enough to break the seal that had the glue inside. Forrester did the whole reset procedure again, and took a look as to where they were. The ships were drifting apart and now a little bit sideways. Forrester signaled 'up'.

Time was taking too long. Straker realized he needed a simple mechanical watch, but didn't have one. The clock display was one that was turned off- why didn't they think of that earlier? "What is taking so long?"

The signal came in and the helmsman gave a shot of 'up' thrust. The crewman in the doorway relayed, "It sounds like Mr. Forrester is having problems with the attachment device."

'Right' came through the signal line and the helmsman gave a shot of thrust in that direction. Straker said, "This is taking way too long."

Forrester was working furiously. The cold in space must have been making it harder to break the seal for the glue. His last choice was to go full pressure and risk making sound. The ships now were closing, about twenty meters apart. Forrester aimed and shot. The foot went up and hit the hull, and stuck. Forrester imagined a 'thud' when it hit, but of course couldn't hear it. Forrester unclipped the tricorder package from under the tube and gave a small pull on the wire. The retract mechanism pulled the tricorder package up until it reached the foot. Forrester signaled back '1'.

"First tricorder in place." The crewman reported to Straker. Straker looked at the science officer.

"Package 1 reports in contact, good laserlink. Ready to start scanning." The science officer reported.

"We'll save that for the end. Tell Forrester to continue." Straker ordered.

Forrester attached Tricorder Package 2 to the bottom of the tube, then placed the foot in the tube. He pressurized the tank to full pressure and picked a spot and fired up. The foot grabbed on the hull and he unclipped the package and watched it retract into place. Forrester looked around. There was some bulges in the hull over to the starboard side. Let's place one there. Forrester signaled 'right' and felt the ship nudge over to the right. Once in the right place, he fired and placed another tricorder package.

The ships were getting too close, so Forrester signaled 'down'. He placed another package. Only two more to go. Forrester place another package forward of the group and the last he decided to place on the nearby warp nacelle. Forrester signaled to return. The crewman pulled him back in and they closed the door.

Straker said, "Down thrust, give us some distance. Two kilometers maximum though." Looking to the science officer he ordered, "Ok, tricorders on. Make it fast."

The science officer started all the tricorders. "Tricorders on and we are recording." The science officer started manipulating the controls. "First, mass is confirmed. Tricorder placement is good. It looks like Mr. Forrester hit the spots we needed. Power output is as predicted. I see engineering, life support, weapons, conduits, power flows…."

Straker asked, "And?"

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

"A signal Captain!" The science officer reported.

The Captain turned suddenly, "Where? What?"

The science officer said, "It's scanning beams. I have six of them, around the ship."

The Captain said, "Shields! Bring all weapons to charge! Where are the beams from?"

"Nothing outside the ship. They read like tricorders. We must have been boarded somehow sir!" The science officer said.

The Captain ordered, "Intruder alert! Shoot on sight any alien on board."

"I got two in engineering, one out at the warp nacelle…" The science officer said.

"Are they trying to sabotage us?" The Captain asked.

"I don't think so, they aren't moving. They are stationary near the crawlspaces. It's strange." The science officer said.

"Guide the warriors to the signals. Report as soon as you can." The Captain said.

BRIDGE

USS SHADOW

"Neutronium." The science officer said.

Straker repeated, "Neutronium?"

"It's a substance…. They are on to the tricorders." The science officer said.

Straker ordered, "It's done. Burn the recorders. Engineer, systems on. Helm full impulse ahead toward the sun. Put us between the sun and the Bismark."

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

The science officer reported, "The first crews have reached a point, no intruders."

The Captain bellowed, "WHERE ARE THEY?"

"I think the signals were coming from the hull. I'm reading extremely high thermal readings on our hull."

The Captain said, "What?"

The science officer said, "I'm reading another signal. Intermittent. I believe it's an impulse engine."

The Captain said, "On screen."

The viewscreen showed stars and a fleeting black object. The sensors couldn't get a good focus on the object, they didn't even track it well. Soon, the sun was behind it and the blinding light wiped out what little image was showing. "Fire on that object!"

The weapons officer said, "I can't get anything to lock in on!"

"Fire Manually!"

The weapons officer reported, "No hit, disruptors charging."

The Captain said, "Helm! Pursuit course. Call the escort! Order them to engage our target!"

BRIDGE

USS SHADOW

"Engineering! Drop a mine!" Straker ordered. "Nav, how long until we reach the sun?"

"Five minutes."

"Lay in a course for minimum safe periapsis. We'll warp on the other side." Straker said.

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

"Sir, I've lost him in the solar light." The science officer said.

"Is he cloaked?" The Captain asked.

"No, something I have never seen before. The ship is stealthy, it resists returning sensor energy. By him putting himself between us and the sun it makes it very difficult to sense him."

"Then fire in that direction!" The Captain ordered.

The weapons officer said, "Weapons fired, no hit."

"He's right in front of us!" The Captain said.

"He may be a hundred or more kilometers in front of us by now. It's impossible to hit something at this distance without sensor targeting!" The weapons officer said.

The Captain drew his pistol out and aimed it at the weapons officer. Just then the ship shuddered and lurched. The Captain turned to the science officer. "We hit a mine. Fortunately, our shields absorbed the energy."

"Why did we not sense it?"

The science officer explained. "The mine must have the same stealthy material as that ship. I doubt that we could sense it even if it was in empty space. The Weapons officer is not at fault sir."

The Captain said, "Make sure he doesn't get away."

BRIDGE

USS SHADOW

"Thirty seconds to warp." The navigator reported.

Straker nodded. "What of the Bismark?"

The science officer said, "He will probably pick us up just before we warp."

Straker said, "Prepare to launch a decoy."

BRIDGE

IKV KAH'LESS

"Sir! I'm picking him up!" The science officer said. "He's about to go to warp!"

"Lock on and fire!" The Captain ordered.

The weapons officer said, "One disruptor hit, I have a secondary explosion."

The Captain asked after a short pause, "Did we get it?"

The weapons officer shook his head, "I don't know. I hit something. It was small. Maybe it was a probe?"

The Captain's eyes narrowed. He didn't know what to think.

BRIDGE

USS SHADOW

The science officer said, "No signs of pursuit."

"Keep an eye out. Quickly, what did you find? What is significant about neutronium?" Straker asked.

"Neutronium is a material that is theoretically made at the center of dwarf stars. It is produced by the crushing force of the mass of a neutron star. There is no known method to synthesize it, however we know it is possible." The science officer stated.

"The planet-eating space cigar that the Enterprise came across?" Straker said.

"The same. Neutronium has the property of being inert, non-reactive, and extremely difficult to destroy. We can't even make it in the lab." The Science Officer said.

"Then how in the universe did the Klingons get it?" Straker asked.

"I have no idea. I don't even know why they have it. If I could get it, I'd use it as armor, like the space cigar. The configuration I see here I have no idea what it is used as." The science officer said.

Straker said, "Start analyzing. We will send a message to Starbase 5 after we make sure the Bismark and friend is not following us."

TRANSPORTER ROOM 1

USS WISCONSIN

Lt Teal'c's team was assembling in Transporter rooms 1 and 2. Cdr Leonaidas was there to see them off. "Lt Teal'c, latest estimates are this is a syndicate freighter. You will probably have more contraband than you will know what to do with. If this really is a syndicate freighter, and if they have the Captain, he will be very well hidden."

Lt Teal'c nodded slowly. He asked, "Do you have any guidance on carrying out this mission?"

Leonaidas thought for a minute. Leonaidas and Teal'c had a good talk about the setting fire to the Spiked Glimmer. No idea where that was going to go, but for the next portion of time, it was probably not going to hurt the recovery mission. The freighters were already mad enough to spit nails. Fortunately, with the jammer being placed on the M'noss, the other freighter captains had no idea that it was the Wisconsin that caused that fire. Teal'c made it look like an accident, and so far the blockaded fleet seemed to buy that. Leonaidas said, "Do whatever you need, just remember we need to find the Captain. Don't do anything that will jeopardize him."

Teal'c replied, "Aye aye, sir."

"Get over there and find the Captain!" Leonaidas said.

Teal'c stepped up to the transporter and said, "Team, get ready for transport!" Everybody faced outward with the weapons ready. Teal'c said, "Energize."

CARGO HOLD

FREIGHTER DOOMSDAY

Teal'c waited for the transporter effect to finish, on a combat beaming like this it seemed to take forever. When he could move he scanned around, no bad guys. Teal'c saw that his entire team was in the cargo bay. Teal'c motioned to the other squad leader and said, "Start your search, we're heading to the Bridge." Teal'c touched his earpiece, "Lt Teal'c to Wisconsin."

Magnum's voice came over the earpiece. "Wisconsin here."

"Transport complete, no contact. Did the Doomsday know we were coming?" Teal'c asked.

"Affirmative. They report that all personal weapons are off their persons." Magnum said.

Teal'c said, "We are heading to the bridge now. We will shoot first if we see a weapon."

"Agreed. Report as needed. Wisconsin out."

Teal'c moved forward to the bridge. The door to the bridge slid open. Teal'c yelled through the door. "Everyone move to the forward part of the bridge and hold your limbs high." Teal'c and the squad moved through the door and looked at the beings on the bridge. Two humans and four big Orions. Teal'c moved around to the left side as his other squad members moved in. Just as the last one entered, Teal'c was about to start issuing orders when one of the humans turned quickly and hit a button on the wall next to him. The door slid shut behind them and a strange, blue light flashed in the Bridge. Teal'c instinctively aimed his phaser at the human trying to stop him from pressing the button, but he was too late. He pulled the trigger only to hear his phaser give a wimpy squeal. The phasers didn't work!