Chapter 3

        “Approaching the perimeter of the nebula, sir,” LeAnn declared. “One-eighth impulse.”
        “Shields up,” Johnson ordered. “Put us on yellow alert.”
        “Aye, sir,” Bogarde said.
        A ship-wide announcement went over the comm system, declaring the yellow alert. Unused consoles flashed yellow as a visual cue. Johnson’s mouth firmed into a frown as he watched the nebula slowly engulf the viewscreen. Flashes of light were seen from within the nebula.
        “We’re inside now,” LeAnn announced. Almost immediately, Johnson could feel something was wrong. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He felt goose bumps spring up over his skin. He could detect a slight vibration in the ship.
        “What’s going on?” he asked aloud.
        “I believe the EM waves are creating a disharmonic vibration with our shields,” Joh called out.
        “What can we do to get rid of it? I don’t like it,” Johnson said.
        “We can modify our shield frequencies, but I doubt it’ll have any effect. There are far too many wavelengths being emitted out there to have a single shield harmonic that will not react negatively to them all.”
        Johnson sighed, and gritted his teeth. “Fine. As long as it isn’t dangerous.”
        “It’s not, sir,” Joh confirmed. “Merely a matter of discomfort.”
        Johnson nodded silently. His skin was crawling now. Looking at the others crew, Johnson could tell they were feeling the same thing as well. “How much further to the nearest possible signal location?”
        “About 40,000 kilometers,” Ruiz reported back.
        “Let’s be careful here,” said Johnson. He looked at the viewscreen. It was getting darker by the second. “Mister Bogarde, can you detect any sign of a ship?”
        “No, sir. I can barely read anything in this soup. Hell, sir, I can barely detect our own ship.”
        “Acknowledged, Chief. Acknowledged,” Johnson nodded slowly. “I can’t see anything. Put the search lights on, sweep the area before us.”
        At Johnson’s command, several bright points of light on the rim of the Courageous’s saucer lit up. The directional searchlights made some slight headway in piercing the murky nebula. “Damn,” Johnson silently cursed. Visibility was still extremely low, in spite of the added light.
        “Sir, we’re almost at the location,” Ruiz called out. “14,000 klicks and closing...10,000 klicks...”
        “Bogarde, see anything? Anyone?” Johnson asked.
        “Nothing here,” Bogarde said.
        “Nothing on my sensors either,” Ironsides reported from OPS.
        “Ensign, go to all stop when we get there.”
        “Aye, sir. Coming to all stop,” LeAnn declared.
        “Anything yet?” Johnson inquired.
        “No, sir,” Bogarde answered back.
        “Okay. Let’s keep looking,” Johnson nodded. “LeAnn, back to one-eighth impulse.”
        “Aye sir.”
        Long minutes passed as the Courageous sliced through the dark purple and blue haze of the nebula. Johnson was slowly becoming accustomed to the flashes of light that appeared on the viewscreen. However, his skin continued to crawl at the irritating faint vibration.
        “Coming up on the next probable location,” Ruiz called out. “9,000 klicks and closing.”
        Johnson turned around in his seat to look at Bogarde.
        “Nothing, sir,” Bogarde said.
        “Do you want me to go to all stop?” LeAnn asked, looking at the viewscreen.
        “No, ensign. Change course to the next probable location, and go from there,” Johnson answered back.
        “Aye sir. Changing course.”
        Johnson let out a long and slow sign, and leaned back in his seat. He crossed his legs and watched the viewscreen. Yet another flash of light played across the screen. Johnson blinked his eyes to get rid of the afterimage. He looked at the screen again as his vision readjusted. “What’s that?” he asked.
        “Hmm?” LeAnn asked.
        Johnson uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. He thought he saw a dark spot, but he couldn’t find it anymore. “Uh, nothing. Thought I saw something. Just a trick of light, I--” The captain didn’t get to finish his sentence due to a series of loud alarms emanating from several different stations.
        Johnson knew what those meant. The computer announced it anyway, “Proximity alert, proximity alert!”
        Johnson didn’t have to give his helmsmen orders. Ruiz and LeAnn were already moving the Courageous away from the unidentified object. The inertial dampers strained as LeAnn put the ship in a rolling bank. Johnson gripped his armrests as he fixed his eyes on the viewscreen. The searchlight swept over the gray hull of a starship that was dangerously close.
        He was unable to read any of the markings since they spun on the viewscreen as LeAnn attempted to avoid a direct collision. The loud proximity alert alarms stopped screeching, as the ship’s motion came to a stop. Johnson panted as he looked at the image on the viewscreen. He could discern a ship’s saucer, although it was the underbelly. Johnson twisted his head around to look at the viewscreen upside-down. “NX-70637,” he read aloud. “Computer, flip image vertically, and reverse.”
        The image righted itself, and Johnson was able to read the ship’s registry number. Johnson tapped his armrest console, and a directional pad appeared on the flat display. He ran his thumb over it, to move a searchlight across the other ship’s saucer. “U.S.S. Galaxy?”
        “What? The U.S.S Galaxy?” Ruiz murmured.
        “Thought it was destroyed,” LeAnn said.
        “Damn, if that don’t beat all...” Bogarde whispered.
        The entire bridge stared at the name and registry number currently in the spotlight on the viewscreen. Johnson’s brow furrowed as he looked at the ship. “Well,” he said, sitting straight up. He looked around the bridge at the amazed and confused faces on his crew. “Well, quit your gawking, people. We came here for a reason. Bogarde, I assume this is the ship that sent the signal we detected earlier.”
        “I’d have to say so, sir. Its location corresponds with one of the probables that Garak and I triangulated,” Bogarde reported back.
        “Any life signs?”
        “Can’t tell,” the security chief replied.
        “Power signs?”
        “Can’t tell.”
        “Atmosphere on the ship?”
        “Can’t tell.”
        “Anything you can tell me?”
        “Just that I didn’t expect this at all.”
        “You and me both, Chief,” Johnson smiled. He turned to look at Ironsides. “Major, assemble an away team. I don’t know what the hell is going on so I’d like for you to select a squad of Marines and lead them.”
        “Yes, sir,” Ironsides nodded.
        “Suit them up in space gear, and take a runabout over there. I assume we can’t use transporters?” Johnson turned to glance at Joh, still at her science station. “Doctor?”
        “You are correct, sir. I would recommend against using transporters within this nebula.”
        “Okay,” Johnson nodded. He turned to look at Ironsides. “Take a runabout over there. Use extreme caution. Find out the status of the ship, and report back to me.”
        “Yes, sir.” Ironsides nodded and let an ensign relieve him at OPS. He walked over to the turbolift, on his way to the Marine decks on the ship.
        Johnson looked at the viewscreen again. He thumbed the controls to sweep the hull of the Galaxy. Sections of the hull were buckled, and in a few places, holes were visible.
        LeAnn asked, “What’s that? Battle damage?”
        Ruiz shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s structural damage. See, there are no carbon scoring marks around the hull breaches. That would show weapons were involved. There are none at all.”
        “I see,” LeAnn nodded. “But what caused all that structural damage?”
        “I don’t know,” Ruiz shrugged.
        “But we’re going to find out,” Johnson said from behind the two helmsmen.

Chapter 4

        In Shuttlebay Two, a group of Starfleet Marines were busy suiting up in their Combat Extra-Vehicular Activity suits. The major had called down and chosen an away team to accompany him to the other ship. He ordered the away team to suit up in their CEVA suits. However, he neglected to mention where they were going.
        Consequently, that was the topic of conversation in the suit-up area. “You know, I heard that we nearly hit the other ship,” said one of Marines, Lieutenant Antonio Roberts. He shook his head, brushing back dark black hair. “I mean, who’s flying this thing anyway?”
        “I heard from somebody who hear it from one of the bridge crew that the other ship’s name is the U.S.S. Galaxy,” Private Timothy Longton said.
        “What?”
        “That’s what I heard.”
        “No way!”
        “Gotta be kidding me!”
        The Marines all reacted in various degrees of amazement and disbelief.
        Everyone knew of the story of the ill-fated Galaxy. It had set out on a test flight, and was never heard from. It was the most famous lost ship in Starfleet, second only to the U.S.S. Voyager.
        The Marines started talking about the possibilities they might face. They didn’t notice Major Ironsides entering the shuttlebay. He stood watching the group, listening to their speculations. He put his fists on his hips and cleared his throat.
        The Marines immediately ceased talking and turned to look at the major.
        “Fall in!” Ironsides ordered.
        The group assembled into a straight line.
        “At ease,” Ironsides nodded once. The Marines relaxed their muscles. “Yes, it’s the U.S.S. Galaxy out there, as near as we can tell. Sensors are mostly useless, so we’ve got to make a visual inspection. And since this damn nebula is screwing with everything, transporters are no go. We’ll be taking the runabout Fuji.”
        “Sir?”
        “Yes, Private Lugosy?” Ironsides looked at the young tall Andorian.
        “Are there signs of survivors?” Lugosy asked.
        “Unknown. You’ll have to keep your eyes peeled, and pray the tricorders work in this soup,” Ironsides said. “Anything else?”
        When none of the Marines moved to ask a question, Ironsides nodded. “Allright then. Longton, you’re helming the Fuji.”
        The fair haired Marine nodded and walked over to the Everest-class runabout.
        “Roberts, distribute the rifles,” Ironsides ordered the black haired lieutenant. Roberts walked to the shuttlebay’s special armory closet.
        “Pennywise, get everyone a tricorder. Everyone else, board the Fuji.”
        Ironsides turned to his own locker. He tapped in his personal code, and the locker opened to reveal his CEVA suit. He snapped the pants on over his black trousers. Then he pulled on the armored top half. He easily snapped the fasteners in place. He pulled the suit’s gauntlets off the top shelf in his locker, and locked them in place on his suit’s arms. Finally, he lowered the suit’s helmet and locked it into place.
        That final lock activated the suit’s interior systems. Several indicator lights began blinking on the suit’s front, and also on the suit’s left gauntlet. Ironsides raised his left arm to glance at the indicator lights to verify everything was running properly. He tapped several controls to turn off the internal air circulation. He didn’t need it, since he could breathe the external atmosphere at the moment.
        Ironsides walked to the Fuji, which was already moved into launch position. Lieutenant Roberts was waiting outside the runabout’s open hatchway, holding two rifles, waiting for Ironsides.
        The major passed by a large metallic partition which separated the main launch pad from the various computer stations and maintenance bays. He saw his own reflection.
        The sight of himself in the grey armored CEVA suit brought a familiar thought to his mind. In the suit, he looked invincible, strong enough to take on entire battalions of Jem’Hadar soldiers. That was the single biggest drawback to the CEVA suit, Ironsides had always said. It projected a false self-image. He had seen too many young Marines wade into a hail of weapons fire, thinking the suit would protect them. Their suits never did.
        Ironsides stepped up to the runabout’s hatchway, He took the proffered phaser rifle, nodding to Roberts. The lieutenant entered first, and Ironsides entered next, closing the hatchway behind him. He stood, glancing at his away team standing in the cockpit. He knew these Marines were better disciplined. They knew the strengths and weaknesses of their CEVA suits. And if one of them pulled a boneheaded stunt and somehow survived it, Ironsides’s wrath would make them regret they were even born.
        “Shuttlebay Control to Runabout Fuji, you are cleared to depart,” Longton heard over the comm system.
        “Acknowledged, Control. Runabout Fuji departing now,” Longton replied. He ran his ungloved hands over the pilot controls. His helmet sat on the floor next to his boots. The runabout lifted off the landing deck and hovered close to the already open shuttlebay door. Warning klaxons were going off in the shuttlebay, informing the shuttlebay personnel that the forcefield was about to drop to permit departure.
        Normally, the forcefield was permeable, allowing shuttlecraft to enter and depart without dropping the energy field. However, inside the unpredictable, ever-changing circumstances of the nebula, the shuttlebay personnel erred on the side of caution.
        The runabout exited the shuttlebay, and the forcefield immediately went up behind them. Almost immediately, a wave of static rushed over the runabout, jarring the craft and the passengers.
        “Crikey! That’s a creepy feeling! Worse than when we first went in,” Sergeant Victoria Pennywise muttered audibly.
        “Longton, more power to the shields,” Ironsides calmly ordered. “It’s just the effects of the nebula. Now that we’re outside of the ship, it’s going to hit us harder. Suck it up, and get used to it.”
        Pennywise nodded and drew in a deep breath. She lifted her phaser to check it’s charge and settings, busying herself.
        Ironsides walked up to the front to stand behind Longton. He looked out the cockpit windows, to the spotlighted Galaxy. Longton had already maneuvered the runabout past the saucer of the Courageous. The runabout neared the other ship. Longton activated the runabout’s own small lights to sweep over the hull.
        Ironsides looked at the Galaxy’s hull, viewing the damage closer. He shook his head, wondering at what could have happened in the ship’s flight to do that.
        “Do you see that?” Ironsides leaned next to Longton, at the helm. He pointed with his gloved hand to one of the three warp nacelles on the Galaxy.
        Longton looked up from his consoles, and studied the starboard nacelle that Ironsides was indicating. “Yeah, looks damaged.”
        “My thoughts. But this kind of damage doesn’t fit in with the rest of the hull damage. It looks more like the effects of a collision.”
        Alongside the darkened nacelle, there was a slight indentation, and Ironsides could see a large breach in the housing of the warp field coils that lined the interior of the nacelle. Even the blue warp engine field grill was cracked. Above and below the housing, he saw long striated marks. Longton had seen them as well.
        “Another ship perhaps?” Longton looked back down at his console, keeping the runabout clear of the Galaxy.
        “Yeah, that’s what it looks like to me. See those scrape marks? Still, I don’t see another ship nearby.”
        “Maybe it happened before they got in this nebula.”
        Ironsides shook his head. “No, it couldn’t have. That kind of damage would force the Galaxy to stop and make repairs. They wouldn’t be able to go to warp, unless they took that nacelle offline. Otherwise they’d be risking contaminating the warp drive reaction.”
        “Oh, that wouldn’t be good,” Longton looked up at Ironsides.
        “No, Private, it wouldn’t be. The Galaxy probably wouldn’t be here at all for us to find. Continue your approach.”
        Longton guided the runabout around the drifting ship, turning the craft 180 degrees to face the rear slope of the Galaxy. Even through the thick haze of the nebula, Ironsides could tell that all the shuttlebays were closed up. Longton took the runabout in close to the main shuttlebay door. He ran his fingers over the comm console.
        “Sir, I can’t get the shuttlebay door open,” he said to Ironsides.
        “Why not? Are you having communications interference or are their shuttlebays deactivated?” Ironsides prompted.
        “Unknown,” Longton answered.
        The major knew this might happen. That was why he selected the Fuji specifically. Ironsides tapped his suit’s comm system. “Marine One to No Name City. We can’t enter via the Galaxy’s shuttlebays. We’re going to dock at one of the side ports. Over.”
        “No Nm City to Mari One, acknowldgd. Be aware that commniations are disruptd by EM intfernce. Ovr.”
        Ironsides frowned. “Understood. Repeat, I understand that there is communications interference. Over.”
        “Good. We r wrking on boosting commcatio powr. Proceed with dohing. Over.”
        “Proceeding with docking,” Ironsides replied. “Marine One out.” He glanced at Longton. “Find a suitable port. Try the sail underneath the saucer. A midships, deck 25 if memory serves.”
        “Aye, sir.”
        The runabout glided down the slope of the Galaxy, slowly moving around to the side. The runabout’s lights swept over the hull as Longton searched for the docking port. The murky nebula made it very difficult to see clearly. Suddenly a bright wash of light swept over the runabout and the ship’s hull.
        Ironsides blinked, startled. He saw the shape of the light, and realized it was a spotlight from the Courageous. The ship must have moved in position to watch the Fuji.
        “N Nam Cty to Marine One. Bettr?” Ironsides could barely tell it was Johnson asking the question.
        “Yes, sir. Much better,” Ironsides nodded, smiling. “We’re docking right now, sir.”
        Longton brought the runabout alongside the now visible docking port. He ran a hand over another console. The runabout began rumbling, as its specialized docking collar extended to latch onto the Galaxy’s docking port.
        A moment later, Longton reported, “Docked now. You can open the hatch, sir.”
        “Very good private. Suit up, and grab your weapon,” Ironsides ordered. “No Name City, we have successfully docked. We’re about to enter the docking airlock. I will make communications contact in thirty minutes for a status report.”
        
        “Acknowledged, Marine One. No Name City out,” Johnson replied. He sighed, looking thoughtfully at the hazy image of the Fuji on the bridge’s viewscreen.
        A soft grunt behind him made Johnson twist in his seat to look at Bogarde. “Problem, Mr. Bogarde?”
        Bogarde shook his head. “No, sir. Just thinking back to some of the missions I’ve been on with the Major.”
        “Oh?” Johnson smiled. “Miss it? Wish you were there with him?”
        “Oh ho, no sir,” Bogarde shook his head exaggeratedly. “Let the young guys go looking for trouble and get killed, not me.”
        Johnson frowned suddenly. “Let’s hope that there’s no one gets killed here.”
        “Yeah,” Bogarde nodded.
        Johnson turned around in the opposite direction, looking at Joh at the science station. “Doctor Joh, any luck with cutting through this sensor interference?”
        “I regret to report no success,” Joh replied. “However, I have thought of one other thing to try. It will take a great deal of time, but it might work.”
        “Oh? What’s that?”
        “We could scan for one thing at a time. I believe that given enough time, I can find a frequency that will be able to pick up x-ray emissions. Then I would find a different frequency that would be able to pick up electrical activity. The process continues like that.”
        Johnson frowned. “If that’s what you think we should do, then go to it. Find the frequencies that will provide us with the most vital information first- lifesign information, radiation information, anything that can tell us what happened to the Galaxy. Call up the whole science department, bring in personnel from Stellar Cartography and Astrometrics if you need the manpower. I want information now.”
        “Aye, sir,” Joh nodded. She stood up. “I shall go begin the work.” She walked briskly over to the nearest turbolift, and left the bridge.
        Johnson crossed his legs and tapped his boot.
        LeAnn turned to look at Johnson. “Captain, why don’t we just tractor the Galaxy out of the nebula? Even if a tractor lock won’t work here, we could attach grapples to tow it.”
        Johnson smiled slightly. “I had those things in mind as well. However, I wanted to check the Galaxy out first before attempting to move it. For all I know, towing it would tear the ship in half. Or after going to all the trouble of towing it, we find out we could have simply turned on the impulse engines and flew the ship out under its own power.”
        Johnson uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “Doctor Hartman, our chief medical officer, is a close friend of mine. He’s also very skilled in forensic science. Hanging around him, I’ve learned a few tricks of the trade, regarding investigating mysteries.
        “What we have here is the scene of a mystery. One of the first rules of investigating a scene is to not disturb anything. A lot can be learned by looking at the way things are. That’s what Ironsides is doing now. He’s being our eyes and ears on the Galaxy.”
        Johnson sat back. “I know, I’m sounding a little dramatic here. But you can’t blame me for that. After all, we have the U.S.S. Galaxy, missing for over seven years, out here in the middle of nowhere. I have to consider all the possibilities here. It could be just as simple as the ship has lost power. Then we’ll just help the crew restore power. A simple rescue mission. Or the crew may have abandoned ship. In which case, we’d need to investigate for any clues where they might have gone. Or worst case scenario, everyone’s dead.” Johnson shrugged.
        LeAnn nodded slowly. “You’re right, sir. I hadn’t thought through all the possibilities.”
        Johnson smiled warmly. “When you’ve got four gold pips on your collar, you’ve got to think things through. You’ll do the same when you get up to four pips.”
        LeAnn nodded, smiling. “Yes, sir.” She turned to focus on her duties.
        Ruiz moved her elbow, trying to get LeAnn’s attention. LeAnn glanced at the lieutenant. Ruiz smiled at LeAnn and winked at her.
        LeAnn smiled in response, and looked back at her console.

        “Testing, one...two...three. Do you read me?” Ironsides spoke into his helmet’s mic.
        “I read you, sir,” Roberts’s voice carried through. Slight static tinged his words.
        “I read you. Getting a little bit of fuzz in here too,” Ironsides commented. “Guess it’s probably because the ship’s exposed to the elements.” Ironsides shook his head and gripped his rifle.
        When they had opened the inner airlock to the Galaxy, they found that much of the gases from out in the nebula had seeped into the ship through the various hull breaches. A thick carpet of dark purple gases rolled across the decks. With each step Ironsides took, gas swirled around his dark grey boots.
        “Just like the foggy mornings back home at Ireland,” Private Mickey O’Halloran had remarked. Ironsides wasn’t inclined to disagree with the comparison.
        “Listen up, grunts. Communications is affected by the crap outside, so don’t get too far away from each other,” Ironsides told the others. “Split up in two teams of three. Roberts, take Pennywise and O’Halloran with you and look in Engineering. See if you can find what’s powered up, and what’s not powered up. The gravity net obviously is working, since we’re all not floating around. Make life support and communications your priorities. Longton and Lugosy, you’re with me. We’re going to the main bridge, since it’s nearby.
        “Keep your weapons hot, but don’t shoot first and ask questions later. One man goes on point. The next uses a tricorder to scan for any information. Last man brings up the rear. Everyone check in, and acknowledge.”
        Ironsides listened as each Marine stated his or her name and confirmed they heard his instructions. “Good. We meet back here in exactly thirty minutes. Get going.”
        Roberts gestured with his rifle, indicating he’d take point. “Pennywise, you’re on tricorder watch.” He started off down the dark foggy corridor, turning his rifle’s flashlight on. Pennywise pulled out her tricorder from a suit compartment. She flipped it open, the lights blinking in the gloom. She followed Roberts, and O’Halloran hefted his rifle and started after her, his flashlight sweeping the corridor. Within the minutes, they vanished down the dark tunnel.
        Ironsides turned to look at his team, Longton and Lugosy. “Longton, start taking readings. Lugosy, you take point. Turbolift should be that way.” Ironsides pointed with his rifle.
        “Yes, sir,” Lugosy nodded. He clicked his rifle’s flashlight on and started walking in the direction Ironsides pointed in. Longton started taking readings, sweeping his tricorder around. Ironsides held his rifle up, glancing around the dark corridor.
        The major walked slowly, and after a few moments, he spoke. “Longton, what are you getting?”
        Longton held his tricorder up to see it better. “It’s hard to say. There’s still a lot of sensor interference, but as near as I can figure, no lifesigns. But then again, I can’t read Roberts and the others. I can only read you, me, and Lugosy. I think the tricorder range has been severely compromised.”
        “Understood. What else can you tell me?”
        “Well, I’m picking up traces of radiation and plasma. Not too dangerous if we stay in our suits.” Longton kicked at the nebula carpeting the deck. “This stuff is just the nebula outside, in a small degree.”
        “I figured that, but good for a confirmation,” Ironsides nodded. “Go on.”
        “I think I may be reading some pockets of atmosphere up ahead, on the next deck up.”
        “Enough to sustain life?”
        “I can’t get a read on the atmosphere mix. It could be mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide for all I know. Sorry, sir.”
        Ironsides flexed his fingers on his rifle. “Well if there’s some pockets of atmosphere, then that must mean the ship must have enough power for force fields. We may find the crew holed up in those places.”
        They approached a turbolift. Lugosy went up before the doors. They didn’t move. He tapped on the door control panel next to the doors. The doors still didn’t move.
        “Jeffries tube,” Ironsides simply said.
        They started walking down another corridor looking for a Jeffries tube accessway.

        “You never know how good you have it until it’s taken away from you,” O’Halloran said as he climbed down the metal ladder in one of the Galaxy’s Jeffries tubes. “I haven’t climbed this much since Boot Camp.”
        Roberts looked up to O’Halloran. He smirked. “You haven’t been in the Marines long. This is nothing compared to other ops we get sent out on. Right, Vicky?”
        “That’s right, Tony,” Pennywise said. “Remember the op where we had to climb the face of a volcano?”
        “Oh crap, man. Almost two kilometers of climbing!” Roberts moaned. “Thank God that planet was only half norm grav.”
        “Allright, I get your point, sirs,” O’Halloran said. “Shutting up now.”
        Roberts smiled. He glanced at the deck number plate. “Ok, this is it.” He got off the ladder and went up to the accessway. He flipped open the lid to the recess that held the manual door opener. He pulled the circular magnet and attached it to the door. He twisted, but the door mechanism didn’t move. Roberts sighed and shifted his grip, and twisted again, with more effort. The doors slid open, leading them into Main Engineering.
        O’Halloran was already there, his weapon ready for anything behind the accessway door. He waved to Roberts, who then stepped out into the small cubicle that led to Main Engineering.
        Roberts looked around, and saw that the dark ‘fog’ wasn’t present in Engineering. He took a few steps forward, looking around corners. He saw nothing. “All clear,” he informed the others.
        Pennywise and O’Halloran walked out to meet with Roberts in Engineering. “Fan out. See if you can find any bodies, any sign of the crew. If something bad went down on the ship, Engineering should have some bodies.”
        O’Halloran and Pennywise each picked a direction, and started walking. Roberts took the direction not taken. He waved his rifle, casting light to and fro. He sighed. He saw nothing still. Computer monitors blinked intermittently. He noticed that some monitors remained on, while others appeared to be losing power. He glanced at the stations, to make a note of what was working and what wasn’t.
        Everywhere he went, he saw signs of fire and power outages. Not for the first time, he wondered what happened to the Galaxy in all these years.
He made his way into the Chief Engineer’s office. His flashlight played over the desk. PADDs laid spread out on the desk top. He noticed a few of them were smashed. He also noticed that the desktop monitor was cracked.
        He felt something crunch beneath his boot. He bent over, to see that he stepped onto a holopicture generator. He kneeled to pick it up. He tried activating it. A faint image flickered into view. The color was incomplete. He figured he damaged one of the mini-emitters. He could still make out the subject, a family. Probably the Chief Engineer’s family. Roberts set the holopicture back on the desk.
        After taking one last glance, he left the office, and walked up to the oddly shaped warp core in the center of Engineering. He saw a Marine approach him. As the Marine got closer, he saw it was Pennywise, from her nameplate on her chest. “Find anything?”
        “Nope. Not a trace of the crew,” Pennywise reported back. “Just various forms of damage. No clue as to what caused the damage.”
        “Damn,” Roberts sighed. “Where’s O’Halloran?”
        “Didn’t see him,” she replied. “O’Halloran, come in.”
        When the private didn’t reply, Roberts tried. “Private O’Halloran, report in now.”
        After another moment’s wait, Pennywise scanned the area with her tricorder. “I don’t see his lifesigns here. He must have wandered too far away. You heard what the major said. Communication range is bad here.”
        “I know, I know. Let’s go find him. Maybe he’s on the trail of something.”
        “I hope so, we haven’t seen any sign of the crew at all.”
        Roberts and Pennywise started off in the direction where they last saw O’Halloran head in. “They could be in the other designated shelters, like Ten-Forward,” Roberts ventured.
        “Which do you think would be worse- finding a ship missing her crew, or finding a ship with all of her crew dead?”
        “Depends.”
        “On what?” Pennywise asked.
        “On if anyone on the crew owed me money,” Roberts quipped.
        Pennywise groaned. She sighed and tried again. “O’Halloran, come in.”
        No response was forthcoming. They saw that they had searched all of the lower level of Engineering.
        “Let’s check up there. Maybe he finished here and moved on up,” Roberts said. He went to a nearby ladder and started climbing up, Pennywise followed him up. They split up, walking around the ramp that lined the circular warp core chamber. Finally they met again at the ladder.
        “You think something’s happened to him?” Pennywise asked.
        “Nah. He’d have fired his rifle for attention if he got in trouble. No, he’s just got himself wandered off. The major is going to rip him a new one when we find him. He had better found something worthwhile.” Roberts raised his left arm, glancing at his indicators. “We have some time before we’re due to rendezvous at the airlock. Let’s start getting some of these systems working.”
        “Allright,” Pennywise nodded.

Chapter 5

        “No sig of the crw,” Johnson heard Ironsides say. He sighed in frustration.
        “Bogarde, can’t you boost the signal any better than that?”
        “I’ve diverted as much power as I can,” Bogarde ran his palm over his smooth black scalp. “Any more than that, I’d have to take it out of other vital systems.”
        “Do that, Chief,” Johnson said. “Take it out of weapons, they’re useless to us in here. If we fired phasers, the gases in this nebula would burn up and us along with it.”
        “Aye, sir,” Bogarde nodded. He ran his strong fingers over the tactical console. “Okay. Communications is operating at 120 percent.”
        “Good. Let’s see if that works.” Johnson turned his ear back to Ironsides’s report.
        “Did you copy that, No Name City? Over.” Ironsides asked.
        “Good work, Bogarde, much better!” Johnson smiled. The communication was clearer, though not crystal clear. Still, Johnson could understand Ironsides much easier. Ironsides repeated his question again.
        Johnson answered back. “No, Marine One, we did not copy. Communications had to be re-adjusted. Repeat your report. Over.”
        “Ah, acknowledged,” Ironsides said. He seemed to sound a little less frustrated as well. “We haven’t found any sign of the crew yet. Our preliminary recons in Main Engineering and the Battle Bridge yield no answers. Tricorders are only slightly effective, and in a limited range. Communications is limited as well. We’re missing one man. He’s probably out of communications range, Over.”
        “I see, Marine One. What are your recommendations? Over.”
        “Recommend deploying more Marines. Send over a team of engineers, there’s a lot of damage. Cause unknown. Over.”
        Johnson nodded. “Acknowledged. I’ll take that under advisement. Are shuttlebays operational now? Over.”
        “Shuttlebays are not operational, yet. Over.”
        “Remain at the boat. We will send reinforcements. No Name City out.”
        Johnson pressed his seat’s comm panel. “Johnson to Fonda. Assemble a damage control team, and send them to Shuttlebay Two.”
        “Should I include myself, sir?” Fonda asked.
        “No. Remain aboard. I need you here. I want you to figure out a way to tow the Galaxy out of this nebula. Check with Dr. Joh, she’s been working on ways to get through this interference.”
        “Aye, sir.”
        “Also, I need you to study up on the Galaxy’s Transwarp Drive system. We probably will need to use that to send the Galaxy back to Earth. We should have information on transwarp propulsion in our archives.”
        “I have already been doing that, sir,” Fonda replied.
        Johnson smiled. He had always known Fonda to be a completist, going above and beyond her range of duties.
        “Thought so,” Johnson said. “At least we know it worked, since the ship made her way from the Sol System to here.”
        “And several points in between, if the reports of Galaxy sightings turn out to be true,” Fonda added.
        “Yes,” Johnson nodded. “We’ll be able to finally put that matter to rest, and return the ship home. Bridge out.”

        As the damage control team arrived on the derelict Galaxy-class ship, armed with more lights, more tools, and portable power generators, they got a better look at the state of the ship. What they saw surprised and perplexed them. Lieutenant Hiroshi, the young man who was currently known as Chief Fonda’s right hand man, directed the division of duties. He had a difficult time making out the faces of his fellow crew through their white and red-trimmed Extra-Vehicular Activity suits.
        Fortunately, a nametag on their chestplates helped him identify them easily. “Harrigan, Liol, and Isowko, you guys make your way down to engineering. Lieutenant Isowko, you’re in charge. There should be three Marines down there, but they can’t do much without the power generators from the Courageous,” Hiroshi ordered.
        “Should be?” Liol asked, holding up his white gauntleted hand, for attention. The Tellarite grunted, punctuating his question.
        Hiroshi spread his arms. “Last I heard, one of them got separated from the others. They’re looking for him now.”
        Chief Harrigan laughed. “That’s the Marines for you. Some of them aren’t the brightest pulsars in the galaxy.”
        “Hey, watch it,” a newcomer said. The others turned to look at Ensign LeAnn, making her way through the docking port hatch. “Some ex-Marines are regular Starfleet too.”
        “You were one?” Harrigan asked, looking skeptically at the petite half-Bajoran.
        “No, not me. But Lieutenant Ruiz is ex-Marine. And Security Chief Bogarde.”
        “I had heard that spoken of Chief Bogarde,” Lieutenant Isowko remarked. The Tilonii nodded within his helmet.
        Harrigan cleared his throat. “Well, I was just joking. It’s nothing nobody else hasn’t said.”
        “I know,” LeAnn said, “it’s just that you never know who might have the stars and anchor on their service record.”
        “Stars and anchor?” Harrigan asked.
        Lieutenant Leeysan turned to Harrigan. “That’s the emblem of the branch of the Starfleet Marines,” the Native American prompted, raising her tattooed eyebrow.
        “Oh. Point taken,” Harrigan conceded.
        “Okay, let’s get back to the task at hand,” Hiroshi declared. “Ensign LeAnn will be accompanying Leeysan, Andorra, and me up to the main bridge. The rest of the Marine recon team are meeting us up there, including Major Ironsides. Everyone got that?”
        A chorus of nods and verbal acknowledgements reached Hiroshi. “Good. Oh, one more thing. Stay within a few meters of each other. Communications are severely hampered in this nebula, at least until we can get this ship’s shields back up and running. Also, tricorder range is very limited as well. Be careful.”
        “I didn’t know you cared,” Andorra smirked, her dark violet mouth crinkling behind her faceplate.
        Hiroshi shrugged. “Not particularly, but Chief Fonda will be mad at me if I lose one of you guys. She doesn’t like training replacements.”
        The engineers laughed, knowing Fonda’s surly reputation.
        “Allright, you guys. Get going. We’ve got to meet back here at the runabout Rainier in approximately an hour, since we need to report back to Engineering,” Hiroshi concluded. He gestured for the divided teams to start walking.
        Three EVA-suited people split off, their lights shining down the gloom of the corridor. Hiroshi joined his designated team, his boots falling in step with the others. He imagined the bootsteps echoing throughout the corridor, although he knew it was only his imagination. There was no air present to conduct sound at all. In space, no one can hear you walk, he mused.
        “Lieutenant Hiroshi?”
        Hiroshi glanced at the person to his left, to Ensign LeAnn.
        “I’m sorry, what?”
        “I was just saying I don’t see any bodies at all.”

        “It doesn’t look too bad to me,” Liol remarked as he shuffled down the corridor. His group headed down yet another dark and gloomy corridor. The only lights came from their suits’ headlamps, and from Harrigan’s handlamp as he waved it up and down the corridor, taking tricorder readings. The only color came from the thick carpeting of nebula gases that seeped in through the various hull breaches.
        “I’m reading nothing at all, except for us,” Harrigan announced. “I mean, I know that tricorder readings here are limited, but, where the hell is everyone? We haven’t seen a single body, living or otherwise.”
        “Patience, Chief,” Isowko said. “We don’t know what exactly has happened here, and since the Courageous’s sensors can’t penetrate the nebula to scan the ship, we’ll have to do a physical search. More Marines are on the way to do just that. Our job is to get some power going, and Lieutenant Hiroshi and the others will be able to access the ship’s logs on the main bridge.”
        “What about the battle bridge?” Liol asked.
        “I don’t know what they’ve found,” Isowko said.
        “Hey, look at this!” Harrigan called out. He fixed a wide beam of light on a section of the wall. The additional light of his suit’s headlamp brightened the spotlight.
        The others turned to look, adding their headlamps’ light. The brightly illuminated area revealed the tell-tale signs of weapons fire. Long black marks and small burnt holes marred the tan corridor panels.
        “Well, something definitely happened here,” Harrigan concluded. “Why didn’t the Marines see this when they came through before?”
        Isowko glanced down the corridor. “They came through to Engineering in a different direction. We docked on the other side of the ship. They didn’t come through here. Chief, how recent is this?”
        Harrigan raised the tricorder to his helmet. “I can’t tell. This fog is interfering with my readings on the nadion residue. And look, no bodies.”
        Isowko glanced up and down the corridor. He saw no remains. “Guess the good guys won here.”
        “No bad guys’ bodies here either,” Harrigan remarked.
        “I’ll feel better when we meet up with the Marines,” Isowko said. “Let’s press on. It’s only a few meters away. Come on.”
        They walked away from the battle scars, albeit uneasily. The engineers continued on in the darkness, until they came up to two tan interlocking doors. More battle scars crisscrossed the doors, blackening them.
        The engineers looked at each other silently, then back at the doors. “Liol, you can put those generators down,” Isowko said, setting down the generators he had been carrying himself.
        The Tellarite grunted as he bent his knees, setting the generators down on the deck.
        Isowko stepped to the side of the doors, feeling for an access panel. Finding the nook, he flipped up a panel, revealing a manual door release. He twisted the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. He grunted with more effort, twisting. Still, the handle wouldn’t move.
        “Oh, here! Let me,” Harrigan said, stepping up to Isowko. The lieutenant backed away and let the taller man try. Harrigan twisted with all his might, but to no avail.
        Liol stepped up close to the door seam, snuffling as usual. “Oh, it looks like the doors have been welded shut.”
        Harrigan sighed and leaned against the wall. “No wonder.”
        Isowko looked at the seam. “It looks like it was done from the inside.”
        “A barricade?” Liol suggested.
        “Maybe. How did the Marines get in anyway?” Isowko wondered. “Maybe we’re close enough to get in touch with them. “Lieutenant Isowko to Marines, come in?”
        “Wo is isss? Ovr.”
        “Lieutenant Isowko, engineering. Who is this?”
        “Sert Pennwi, over.”
        “I’m having a hard time reading you. We’re outside of Main Engineering, right in front of the doors.”
        “Wr in Mai Engineering too,” the voice replied, the static lessening. “Are you by the main doors? Over.”
        “Yes,        we are. We can’t get in, the doors are welded shut.”
        “They are?”
        Isowko sighed. “Yes, it’s done from the inside. You should see it on your side.”
        “Yes, I see it.”
        “How did you get in?” Isowko asked.
        “Through the main Jeffries tube, just by the doors.”
        Isowko turned to the others. “We’ll get in through that way. Marine, wait for us there, we’ll come in that way.”
        “Acknowledged, over and out.”
        Harrigan led the way, guiding the others to the nearby Jeffries tube. With some clumsy maneuvering, they all managed to get the generators up the ladders to the horizontal tube. They shoved the generators ahead of them as they crawled across to the next vertical junction. Within moments, they were all in Main Engineering, greeted by two grey suited Marines.
        “I’m Lieutenant Antonio Roberts, Starfleet Marine. This is Sergeant Pennywise,” one of the Marines said.
        “Lieutenant Isowko,” the engineer introduced himself. “Ensign Liol, Chief Harrigan. Need some batteries?”
        “Glad to see you, gladder to have them,” Roberts said, smiling behind his clear faceplate.
        “Where’s the third one?” Harrigan asked.
        Roberts glanced at Pennywise. “He’s out of communications range. We can’t find where he went, and we couldn’t leave here before relief, which is you guys. We’ll show you the undamaged stations.”
        Roberts led the assemblage into the main chamber. Isowko looked at the warp core and the rectangular array connected to it. “So that’s the infamous Transwarp Drive. Is it functional?”
        “I don’t know,” Roberts answered back, but it doesn’t look damaged at all, which I can’t say for much of the other stations.”
        Liol spoke up. “Do you know why the doors were welded shut?”
        Pennywise said, “No. We didn’t even notice until I talked to Lieutenant Isowko. We were too busy sweeping the area for hostiles and survivors, then working on power restoration.”
        “Did you find any?” Harrigan asked.
        “Any what?”
        “Hostiles or survivors?”
        “No,” Pennywise replied.
        Isowko glanced at the station that Roberts was standing by. “Okay, thanks. We can take over from here.”
        “Good luck,” Roberts said. “The sergeant and I are going to search for Private O’Halloran. Perhaps he’s found something.”
        “Or something’s found him,” Harrigan muttered under his breath. He shook his head, shaking away an impending sense of doom.
        Isowko turned to Liol and Harrigan, and began giving orders.

        Hiroshi looked up at Ironsides, looking at the barely visible Engineering station. “Power hasn’t been restored yet, sir.”
        Ironsides sighed. “We’ll just have to wait a few more minutes.” He looked over at LeAnn. “Ensign, as soon power is restored, check on the ship’s flight status. Try to pull its flight log too. If we know where it’s been, we might be able to figure out what’s happened to it.”
        “Understood, sir,” LeAnn nodded. She adjusted the seat to the flight station to fit her EVA suit.
        The bridge was the same as most Galaxy-class ships. The color scheme was tan and brown, although that wasn’t clearly visible in the darkness. However, the station layout was clearly visible. The curved tactical station, the trio of command seats in the center, and the OPS and Conn stations at the forefront, all were familiar to the boarding party.
        “Major,” Ensign Leeysan called out from her post at the life support systems. “I’m seeing some power coming in.”
        “Same here,” Hiroshi reported, standing at Engineering. “I’m reading a slight increase in power. They’ve must hooked up at least two generators already.”
        “Good,” Ironsides nodded within his suit. “First priorities, data retrieval. Ensign LeAnn, go to it. Andorra, start looking in the ship’s logs, try to get the captain’s logs and the Chief Engineer’s logs.”
        Ensign Andorra nodded although it wasn’t visible in the darkness. She turned and sat on the stool in front of Communications.
        “I’m rerouting power to the computer core and the EPS conduits,” Hiroshi declared. “You guys should be able to get through to the memory banks.”
        “Something’s wrong,” Andorra said, almost immediately.
        “What?” Ironsides’s eyes narrowed.
        “I’m reading many blanks in the computer memory banks,” Andorra reported.
        “Accidental erasures? A result of whatever happened to this ship?” the major inquired.
        “I think it was deliberate. It looks like the results of an emergency deletion, like we’re supposed to do when we lose control of our ship without any hope of recovery.”
        “I’m well aware of these emergency protocols,” Ironsides nodded. “That’s good. That gives us one more clue as to what happened here. Ensign LeAnn, can you retrieve any flight information?”
        “I have no idea what to make of these files. Most of them are corrupted, partially deleted, but there looked to be terabytes upon terabytes of information in here. There’s an computer warning indicating near memory overload.
        “I’m even seeing some constellations I don’t even recognize and star types that are uncataloged. I don’t know where to begin tracing the Galaxy’s flight path.” LeAnn shrugged, pressing the menu buttons on the Conn station.
        “Is there any information we can use?” Ironsides asked.
        “I can’t tell until we sort through all this information,” LeAnn said. “I can’t do it here. We’ll need to transmit this to the Courageous.”
        “We can’t do that until we find a better way to communicate with the Courageous,” Hiroshi cautioned. “If we try to send this much information the way things are now, most of it would be corrupted, just like the distress signal was.”
        Ironsides hefted his phaser rifle. “Ensign Andorra, do you think you can get this ship’s communications array up and running again? Having the power of both ships just might do it, couldn’t it?”
        Andorra nodded. “It’s certainly worth a try, sir. I’ll get right on it.”
        Ironsides walked over to Leeysan. “Ensign, don’t worry about venting out the decks and pumping in new atmosphere. That power is better served to maintaining the artificial gravity, and trying to get the structural integrity field up.”
        “Aye, sir,” Leeysan nodded, setting to work.
        “Lieutenant,” Ironsides turned his attention to Hiroshi. “Are the rest of the portable generators connected?”
        “Yes, sir, they are.”
        “Good. See if you can get shields up.”
        “I don’t think we have enough power for that.”
        “Something is better than nothing. Even a low energy shield might do some good.”
        “That’s a sound idea,” Hiroshi agreed. “I’ll get right on it.”

        The wide beam of light pierced the blackness, illuminating nothing. Lieutenant Roberts sighed and shook his head, and turned around to look at Sergeant Pennywise. “Dead end,” he told her.
        “Damn,” Pennywise muttered. “Where the hell did Longton go?”
        “The major is NOT going to like this at all,” Roberts said. “Do you think there’s a connection between the sealed Jeffries tubes we’ve been finding and his disappearance?”
        “Probably,” Pennywise answered, “but then again, I’m a cynic.”
        “Someone got out of here after all the accessways were sealed. You were the first to notice that the Jeffries tube we used to get in was melted open.”
        Pennywise waved her dark gloved hand dismissively. “Anyone would have thought to check the doors to the Jeffries tube after we saw the main entrance was welded shut.”
        “That was a good call,” Roberts said. “Hey, shine your rifle light down here for me. I’m going in here.”
        Pennywise raised her rifle, aiming it as she shone the lamp inset on it. Roberts cautiously turned the corner, aiming his rifle as he ventured forth. The faint colors of the gases swirled quietly around their thick black boots, as they crept down the darkened niche. The twin beams of light danced up and down the hallway, spotlighting the deck, walls, and ceiling panels.
        “Wait,” Roberts whispered. “What’s that?” He froze his rifle lamp on a dark shape. Pennywise added her light to his. The strengthened beam showed the boot of a CEVA suit. They traced the light up to see the rest of the suit, standing awkwardly, facing away from them.
        “Private Longton?” Pennywise asked.
        “Tim?” Roberts added. He noticed the awkward look of how the other’s arms were laying. They stuck out from his sides at an angle. Suddenly, the suit turned slightly, bobbing.
        The two Marines raised their rifles defensively. Roberts’s light now shone across the CEVA suit. It reflected off something just behind the CEVA suit. It looked like an hexagonal block of obsidian. The object shifted, and the suit shifted.
        “What the fuck?” Roberts muttered, sweeping the corridor with his light. He saw more reflections in the darkness.
        Suddenly, the CEVA suit toppled to the ground with a reverberating thud, causing the Marines to train their rifles on it. Roberts realized too late that the suit was only a diversion. He swept his rifle back to the black figure that rushed at him.
        In the quick moments before he lost consciousness, he saw another oddly configured EVA suit, as black as space itself. Angles jutted from the shoulders, helmet, and boots. The last thing Roberts remembered were the fact that the gloves that reached out at him had only three fingers and an oddly placed thumb. The angled edges of the gloves’ digits were sharp enough to crack his faceplate in one forceful thrust.

        Liol backed away from his station “Did you feel something?” he asked the others.
        Harrigan turned, so Liol could see his face. “No, why?” he asked. Nearby, Isowko walked over to Liol’s side.
        “I thought I felt a thud. Some vibrations,” Liol replied.
        Isowko turned, glancing around the dimly lit Engineering chamber. “Maybe the Marines are having problems with doors again. Just resume your work. If you feel it again, we’ll go and look for them.”
        Liol nodded from within his helmet. “Yes, sir.”
        Isowko returned to the station in front of the warp core, where he had been working. He took one more glance around. The lights that they had brought online did very little to dispel the penetrating darkness that came from an apparent power failure. Even the elongated warp core that reached to the ceiling was dark, inoperative.
        The whole experience was very surreal to him, as if it was merely a holodeck simulation. A blur of motion drew Isowko’s oblong eyes to a corner of the room. “Lieutenant Roberts? Sergeant Pennywise?”
        Another blur of motion on the opposite side of the Engineering chamber caused Isowko to spin in place. “Who’s there?” His hand dropped to the phaser attached to his thigh. “Harrigan, Liol, I think-”
        The lieutenant stopped mid-sentence when he saw several black suited beings step forward towards him, with what seemed to be weapons aimed at them.
        Isowko moved his hands away from his phaser and the console. He was about to introduce himself to the strangers, when they cut him down in weapons fire.
        Harrigan and Liol barely had time to react before they saw their soon-to-be killers.
        Within the moment, all three were lying on the deck.

        “VenQu’ Roq’Ragn, it is done as you ordered. The intruders in the Engine Room are eliminated.” One of the obsidian suited figures stood before another dark suited figure.
        “Good,” Roq’Ragn nodded, pleased. “The craft remains in our possession. Did they undo our progress?”
        “No, VenQu’. In fact, they seem to have helped. They added an influx of more energy to the ship’s power reserves,” the subordinate reported.
        “All the better. Have the Qo’Doths and the others return to the Engine Room to resume their study of the superspace conduit device.”
        “Yes, VenQu’,” the aide turned and walked away.
        Another suited figure approached Roq’Ragn. He recognized the faint markings on the other’s chest, visible only through the polarized filters of his black faceplate. His voice activated the suit to suit communicator.
        “Project Leader Qe’Doth Aung’Rama,” he stood stiffly.
        “I have discovered from the others that you had an armed engagement in the Engine Room,” Aung’Rama hissed.
        “Yes, Qe’Doth. I was just about to brief you.”
        “Roq’Ragn, why did you not consult me?”
        “I felt it beneath your notice. The intruders, obviously more of the inferiors that populated this ship, were in a position to discover our work. As the chief VenQu’ for our group, I could not allow them to compromise our secure position.”
        “Were all the inferiors killed?”
        “Yes, Qe’Doth.”
        Aung’Rama turned from Roq’Ragn, exposing her back to him. “That was a foolish move, the product of an inferior thought process. You should have taken at least one of the inferiors for interrogation.”
        “Interrogation is useless,” Roq’Ragn told her. “None of the inferiors we interrogated would help us earlier. I have every confidence in our Qo’Doth and VenQo’ team, that they will be able to reactivate the superspace conduit device, and control it. It is the product of an inferior species, therefore as Vendoth, we shall be able to decipher it.”
        Aung’Rama slitted her eyes and turned back to face Roq’Ragn. “Confidence in Vendoth Superiority is a given. However, understanding is not the same as confidence.”
        “Understanding will come in time,” Roq’Ragn countered.
        “Yes, but do we have the time?” Aung’Rama stepped to within centimeters of Roq’Ragn. “You are aware of the same fact as I am that we are most likely not even in the right dimensional vibration?”
        “Yes, Qe’Doth. I read the same findings from our Qi’Doth, as you did. I understand his calculations from the star patterns found on this craft.”
        “There may not even be Vendoth in this existence.”
        “The same concept has struck me as well,” Roq’Ragn replied. “All the more incentive to use this superspace conduit device to return to our proper destination, as soon as is possible.”
        “Our Qo’Doths have salvaged all the data they can from this craft’s computer. We need more information,” Aung’Rama said. “Thus, I am ordering you to seize new captives at the next available junction. Qo’Doth Tr’Dunarg should be returning any moment from the higher decks with a report on what the other intruders are doing. Use that information to plan. Do you understand your orders, Roq’Ragn?” She glared, pointing at Roq’Ragn.
        “I understand, Project Leader Qe’Doth Aung’Rama.”

SECTION ONE | SECTION TWO | SECTION THREE | SECTION FOUR

 MISSIONS | PERSONNEL | SHIP SPECS | COMMENTS | CREDITS | MAIN