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Xox waited in the shuttle bay of his ship, Executer, as a Urthean shuttle slid into the bay and touched down with a soft thud on the deck plating. A few moments passed before the hatchway on the shuttle opened and D'jonn, Xox's second in command, stepped down into the shuttle-bay.

"Well? Did you bring me anything worthy this time?" Xox sneered.

D'jonn smirked and pulled a Confederation datapad from his officer's coat. "Oh yes, something I'm sure you'll enjoy greatly, Commandant."

Xox snatched the pad and read it.

"He was quite adamant this time. He said to make it look good this time and make sure there are no survivors." D'jonn smirked.

Xox grinned wickedly. It was going to be risky to go that far into Confederation space, but it could be done, if they were careful. It also gave them a chance to try the Empire's new sensor jamming technology. Not as stealthy or as subtle as the Keldryian cloaking device, but he was eager to try it all the same.

"I do not trust this one...he worries me," Xox commented, tapping his boot as he read the information on the datapad. "Deliberately sabotaging the Raptor, putting it's crew in grave danger...all for what? A few thousand kilotons of a rare ore? I wish I understood his motives."

"Does it matter, my Commandant?" asked D'jonn. "As long as he is sabotaging our prey, the better it is for us. Let us hope he doesn't get caught. They are bound to eventually fail one of these times when we pounce upon them unawares."

Xox nodded in agreement. "Yesss...their luck will run out soon enough and then they will be ours...yes...." He grinned a devilish crooked grin.

======================

Starship Down

IDP 2010, 2017,2021

By: Vakash Darkbane

Edited by: Suarex Conoway

======================

Commander's Log Stardate 348012.31

The Raptor has been sent to the Roirishard system as the first wave of surveys in what could lead to the colonization of the fourth planet in this system. We have spent the last two weeks gathering samples and running tests to assess whether the site is habitable for Confederation colonists. Science Officer O'mara has been leading the tests and she has come into her own with this little expedition. I myself, due to the quiet, have also offered my assistance as well, despite the protests of my chief of security, who has decided to join us down on the planet's surface as well.

Harry finished putting the digital tag on another crate of samples and signaled the Raptor to beam it up to the cargo holds. This was the last day of the survey and Harry had enjoyed his time down on the surface, relishing the fresh air and assisting with the survey.

He then walked over and peered at the large flower that O'mara was examining. "It's a shame we've pretty much got this wrapped up, isn't it?"

O'mara nodded in agreement. "Yes, this is a much needed change of pace from what we normally do."

Harry chuckled. These breaks from convoy and border defense were few and far between, but they seemed to help the crew focus on something other than being stressed out and getting on each other's nerves.

"You know O'mara, there is a chance that because of your work here,they may actually name the planet after you?" Harry said, "or at least a species of plant or something. You've earned it."

"You think so, sir?" O'mara asked, blushing under her feathers.

"Sure. I don't see why not. You've done an exemplary job throughout this venture." Harry smiled. "You've been the first to catalogue a list a mile long of new flora and fauna species." He shrugged. "Quite frankly, I'm impressed at all your hard work."

"That's very flattering sir, but I don't think I'll be that lucky," O'mara chuckled.

"You've come a long way since we first met. If accolades do come your way, I'd make damn sure you'd get them." Harry said, excusing himself as his com badge beeped. "Martinez here, what's up?"

"Oh...just peace and quiet and a blue planet spinning on the view-screen," Fara yawned, resting her head on her hand, her elbow on the armrest of the command chair. "How goes things down there with the packing up?"

"Things are going fine. We're just taking our time," Harry said, "trying to milk this for all it's worth, Chief."

"Ah, the old delay until the last possible moment tactic," Fara chuckled. "I think I can accommodate you, Captain. It's just really quiet up here and I figured I'd check in on you."

"I appreciate it, Chief, but I assure you everything is fine." Harry said. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, not really," Fara replied, barely catching herself from yawning again.

"Martinez, out."

Just then, the doors parted and Rivas entered the bridge and headed to his station.

"Hey," Fara smiled at him, "you want to trade places yet? I don't think I can handle much more of this excitement."

"Normally I would, but the Captain and I both think you need more time in the big chair," Rivas said. "It'll be good for you."

Fara rolled her eyes. "If you insist! You had just better be glad they don't need me in engineering."

Down on the surface, Harry took in a long breath of fresh air. It was something one wasn't accustomed to breathing when you were in space for extended periods of time. He spotted Jakar as he came around a stack of containers, phaser rifle in hand.

"The perimeter is secure," he announced, looking irritated as his security detail formed up behind him.

"Thank you Chief, but I assure you, you are being a bit over cautious with this whole endeavour," Harry said.

"Sir, to be quite frank with you," Jakar said, drumming his fingers on the stock of the weapon, "I don't want to be held responsible for not protecting the ship's commanding officer if something should happen."

"I understand, but it's been pretty quiet, not to mention we're well within our space," Harry said.

"I don't know," Jakar growled. "Something just isn't right. Years of experience and my instincts are not permitting me to relax just right this moment."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've figured we could put off sending the weapons crate up till the last minute," Harry added.

"That's a wise decision, sir," Jakar said. "I need to take an inventory of that before we bug out, to make sure everything was returned."

"Be my guest," Harry said.

Jakar nodded and gave a few orders to his men to return to their posts before he headed off to the storage container. Harry walked over and returned to doing his double checking of their sample collections when his com-badge chirped and then made an error signal. He tapped his badge.

"Martinez here."

Again, nothing but static.

"That's odd," Harry frowned, tapping it again. "Martinez to Raptor, come in?"

Nothing but static.

* * *

Above in orbit, several compressor beam volleys slammed into the Raptor's unshielded hull, jarring the ship's occupants.

"What hit us?" Fara asked over the klaxons.

"I've got three Urthean Scutta's on our six," Rivas reported. "I don't know how they evaded our sensors. They may have a new jamming device."

"Great! That's just fricking great!" Fara snapped. "Get our shields up!"

Rivas nodded and started to type in the commands when a conduit near Ops exploded. Rivas cried out in pain and slumped over his console. The bridge was jarred hard and Fara gripped the command chair and tried to shield her face as debris from the explosion cut into her arm and face.

"Land! Get those damn shields up!" Fara screamed when she saw Rivas was incapacitated and bleeding out.

"I'm trying Chief! The systems aren't responding!" Land said. "I'm trying to get this damn bucket moving! That first hit screwed up the impulse controls!"

Fara got out of the command chair and ran over to the engineering station and activated it.

"Chief! The communications relay is still offline!" Terri shouted over the jarring of more shots slamming into the ship.

"Damn it all," Fara growled, bracing against the console as the ship was slammed again. "I've gotten the main impulse engines back online. Terri, man the weapons and let's get some payback!"

Terri nodded and ran over to tactical after calling for a medical team.

"Try it now Land!" Fara ordered.

"We're moving...just only at one quarter impulse..." Land replied. "Their response is horrible."

"Just punch it, the relays will hold!" Fara shouted. "Bring the damn attack mode up!" Fara ordered, quickly walking over to the con and leaning on the chair.

"No good Chief," Land frowned.

"The system is not responding!" Terri shouted.

The ship shuddered violently again as more volleys and a torpedo struck, causing the deck to pitch sharply.

"Get us out of here! I don't care how," Fara snapped in Land's ear, clinging to the back of his chair for dear life.

"What about the team on the surface?" Land growled.

"They won't have any hope if we're glitters! Now punch it flyboy!" Fara said, reaching over him and slamming the impulse control lever forward.

Another volley slammed into the Raptor as it began to break orbit. Fara suddenly heard a creak and felt something rain down on her.

"Land!" She cried out, shoving him out of his chair as a support beam crashed down from the framework and struck Fara across her head. She fell to the deck, unconscious.

"Fara!" Land cried as he got up and quickly shoved the larger piece of debris off Fara.

Terri Lu, seeing herself and Land were the only two left on the bridge, quickly stumbled over to the command chair.

"Emergency medical teams to the bridge! We have wounded," she said, slamming the com switch on the captain's chair. "Mr. Land! Get back to your station!" Terri snapped at him.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Land said, glaring at her in a mix of shock and anger.

"Stuff it! Take us toward the sixth planet, immediately!" Terri shouted.

The ship rolled again. Land grudgingly took his post and gunned the engines.

"Course laid in...I've only got warp 2," Land growled.

"Just get us some damn distance," Terri shouted. "Do what you do best and try not to let them hit us again!"

Land nodded and quickly did a barrel roll, deflecting a few more of the shots, although the ship shuddered as a torpedo slammed into the underbelly.

"Hull breach! Deck 4!" Land reported after jumping the ship into warp. "We're away..."

"Noted," Terri replied, shaking with adrenaline. "E.T.A. until we get to the sixth planet?"

"A few seconds," Land replied, exasperated as the Scuttas were still dogging them not too far behind. "You know, I can shoot the guns two...maybe you can try to get the shields back up?" Land growled, hoping Fara was still alive.

Where in the hell were the medical teams at? He wondered.

Terri said nothing and soon his tactical sub display activated, bringing up the targeting protocols.

"Good. As soon as you can plunge us into that atmosphere, I remember Rivas mentioning it was a gas giant, it should provide us some cover to reconnoiter," Terri said, scurrying over to the engineering station. "Where are the damn EMT's?" She growled as she began typing on the console.

Finally, three medical technicians showed up on the bridge and Terri directed them towards Rivas and Fara.

"No problem...nose dive into the giant gas ball...got it," Land muttered, feeling slight relief now that Fara and Rivas now had help. He tapped in the launch commands and sent in a few volleys of torpedoes out the aft launcher towards their pursuers. "Dropping out of warp...we're almost on top of the sixth planet."

Suddenly, there was a surge of power flowing through the ship.

"Shields back on line," Terri announced with a sigh of relief.

The ship shuddered again as weapons fire hammered into it again as their pursuers followed them out of warp.

"Shields only at fifty percent...engineering is on it, best we got," Terri panted, plopping down in Fara's usual seat.

The ship dropped out of warp and in front of them was the familiar profile of Xox's ship.

"EVASIVES!" Terri barked.

"I'm all over it," Land said, glaring at the image of Xox's ship with its energy weapons already glowing hot with charge. "Hold on to something!"

Land quickly initiated a tight rolling dive through the enemy fire and plunged the Raptor straight into the gas giant's upper atmosphere. The Urthean ships tried to follow, but the Raptor accelerated its dive into the planet's swirling atmosphere and quickly disappeared into the maelstrom.

* * *

"Track them quickly D'jonn!" Xox barked.

"Attempting to sir, but they have immersed themselves too deep for our sensors to track them," D'jonn said calmly.

"Damn! We had them that time! It was so close!"

"Sir, if we wait and take a moment to readjust the sensors, we can track them a bit better. It will take a few minutes or so." D'jonn said, looking at the planet on the screen. "In their present condition, they can't go too far."

"Excellent, yes...." Xox sneered, leaning back in his chair. "Then we'll wait. Tell the Scutta's to keep their sensors open for any sign of the Raptor! If it shows up again, destroy it with extreme prejudice."

* * *

A Short Time Later

"Where are we?" Terri asked as she observed the murky haze of the atmosphere. Fara, Rivas, and the medical teams had dissolved in a wave of transporter energy as soon as they had been stabilized by the medics.

"We're about one hundred fifty kilometers down. We appear to be in a layer of Ammonium Hydrosulfide Ice," Land replied, looking at his scanner.

"Will it give us cover for now?" Terri asked.

Land shrugged. "Not sure...I assume so. Do I look like a science expert?"

"A simple 'no' would have sufficed." Terri grumbled.

"Have you heard anything about--"

"No, I haven't. Just focus on flying," Terri said, grasping the damaged tatters of her tunic together.

"Yes sir," Land grumbled.

Terri stayed quiet as she shoved a piece of support beam off the command chair and climbed into it.

"So, what? You're the Captain now?"

"Looks that way," she said, biting her lower lip and fidgeting with the damaged systems display panel. "Last I checked, you're still an Ensign and I'm a Lieutenant...no offence."

"Okay..." Land shrugged. He was still cross with her reaction earlier. Their friends had been laying there bleeding on the deck for quite some time before help had arrived. He had no idea if they were dead or not.

"Ter--er--sir," he said, turning in his seat. "About earlier..."

"Have you gotten the Attack Mode protocols back online yet, Ensign?" Terri asked, quickly typing away on the control screen, not looking up.

"Not yet, but--"

"I suggest you get on it," she said tersely, tapping a com button.

Land looked a bit sullen, but he nodded and turned back around to his console to see if he could get the ship's Attack Mode functioning again.

"Bridge to Engineering, this is acting Captain Lu, please give me a status report on our condition."

"Eh, give me a moment or two, miss. We're still trying to straighten that out ourselves here," Knackt's voice said over the speaker. "We're messed up bad...that much I can tell you."

"Please inform me when you have a more accurate report Mr. Knackt," Terri said crisply.

"You got it," the rat said, signing off.

Terri sighed and leaned back in the chair and cupped her paw over her eyes.

"Anything yet?"

"Nope," Land said simply. He waited a few moments. "What do we do now? The Captains still down on that planet with the rest of our people and we're here."

"We hope that Xox doesn't figure that out," Terri said, "and hope they've got a good place to hide."

"That's really not good enough," Land growled.

"Jonathan," Terri hissed, "this is not the time nor the place! We're badly damaged. I have no idea what condition we are in and I can't really do anything about our situation at the moment. Now you are acting like you have a problem and I'm starting to get a migraine, so spit it out."

"Ok fine," Land growled, spinning around. "Why didn't you let me take care of Don and Fara?"

"Because I needed you at the helm."

"Terri! Fara is one of you friends! She needed help. Why didn't you--"

"Damn it Jack!" Terri snapped, her eyes tearing up slightly. "Don't you think I know that? When we got attacked, I was the only one of high rank on the bridge left. Don't you understand that I had less than a few seconds to weigh that over the survival of the rest of the crew?"

"You could have helped is all I'm saying!" Land snapped back. "I could have flown us out of there with or without your help."

Terri looked deeply hurt and bit her lip. "Ensign..shut up and return to your post."

"Whatever," Land grumbled, returning to his console, trying to get the Attack Mode functional again.

He soon heard Terri get up out of the chair and move to the back of the bridge. She was working on something on the operations table in the back of the bridge. He was losing track of his emotions. Fara had taken a possibly fatal blow for him and because it took so long for the EMTs to get to the bridge, she could die. He was angry and a bit scared over the sudden attack. He was trying to get his nerves back and a small part of him felt terrible about snapping at Terri the way he did. It only got worse when he heard a few muffled sobs behind him.

"Damnit," he whispered to himself as he worked, "that was stupid!"

* * *

"Anything yet sir?" O'mara asked.

"No. I've got a bad feeling about this," Harry said. "I think we should maintain silence for now. Something isn't right up there. Everybody, stop what you're doing!" He ordered.

His people did as told and looked at him with curiosity.

"I need everyone to drop everything where it is and start rounding up any supplies we might need. We need to get as far from here as possible."

"What's going on sir?" A crewman asked.

"I don't know yet, but the Raptor has gone silent and we can't reestablish contact with them yet. I can only assume the worst. Now, gather up anything you might think we need and we'll head for those caves we found when we got here. They should provide protection from any enemy ship sensors. Break out the camouflage kits for the heavier equipment and power down the shuttles. I don't know how much time we have, so everyone move quickly!"

Everybody present acknowledged and jumped into action.

"What could have happened sir? We're in our own space," O'mara said,0 a tone of worry in her voice.

Harry furrowed his brow. "I don't know...but some sage advice from a friend is the only thing going through my mind at the moment. You'd better get all your data backed up to a portable unit so we can get going. Be quick about it."

"Yes sir," O'mara nodded and quickly headed for the hut where the scanning equipment had been kept.

"Jakar, let's have a look at the weapons container and start issuing phasers." Harry called. Jakar nodded in agreement, following him. He quickly keyed in the access code and the container opened. Harry peeked inside.

"Damn Jakar," he whistled in astonishment.

Inside, neatly tucked away, was what pretty much equated to a small arsenal. Phaser rifles, hand phasers, several types of grenades, mobilized auto turrets, and a few pieces of battle armor. Rows upon rows of charge packs for each weapon lined each rack.

"Isn't this a little excessive, Chief?"

"I always plan for any contingency. You should be grateful," Jakar smirked.

"Let it never be said you weren't thorough," Harry admitted, grabbing a phaser rifle.

"Indeed, sir," Jakar smirked.

"Start issuing these as they finish packing up. I want to get out of here quick," Harry said, slinging a few charge cases over his shoulder and a few stun grenades. "Aya! I knew we were getting it too easy lately. Something was bound to happen...." He clipped the grenades to his belt. "I just hope they are ok up there."

"I'm sure they are doing just fine," Jakar grunted.

* * *

Terri had called as many people as she could to the bridge, seats needed filling and with repairs underway, she needed a command staff. Doctor Okan had told her that Fara and Commander Rivas were in critical condition and probably wouldn't be returning to duty any time soon. She called Ensign Jax up to take Jakar's position. Fara's assistant, Knact, had already pretty much taken Engineering over and Remmick to take over Ops.

She was pacing around the bridge. For the moment, she was furious at Land for his comments, but she had more important matters to deal with and she was trying her best to not get overwhelmed. Suddenly, the deck pitched as an explosion went off near the ship.

"What was that?" She demanded, trying not to sound startled.

"Torpedo detonation...'bout half a kilometer off our port bow," Sonya reported. Another one went off again, and this time it was closer.

"Same thing. I think they're tryin' to rattle us into bolting," Sonya spoke up.

"Well it's working!" Terri muttered, bracing herself as another detonation went off near the ship. "Land, can you take us deeper?"

"Um...sure...but we're going to have to burn more shield power. The atmospheric pressure out there is getting pretty high."

"How much can we take without the shields?"

"I don't know. I'm not an engineer or a scientist, but I assume, since it's a spaceship, somewhere between zero and one?" Land groused.

Terri glared at him. She was obviously still upset with him. Sighing, he glanced down at his instruments.

"I'm guessing we could probably plunge down another hundred clicks or so before we should start worrying. As long as the S.I.D.F. indicator doesn't start screaming at me we're good," he said, pointing to a display on the helm.

"Make it so," she said, "if they are that intent on trying to drive us out perhaps we can keep their attention a bit longer."

"Aye, Aye Skipper," Land said, moving the ship down further into the atmosphere. "Let's just hope they don't hit a methane or hydrogen pocket."

"I'm aware of the risk. Try to avoid those, if you don't mind," said Terri.

"Can do," Land shrugged.

"Knackt to Bridge," Knackt's voice said over the speaker. "Um, can you get Ensign Jax down here? You'd better come down here yourself to, Skipper. Deck 4, section 5."

Terri said, "We'll be right down. Sonya, with me. Mr. Remmick, can you handle things up here?"

Kai looked around the battered bridge and shrugged. "I think so, not too much to handle that's left working."

Terri and Ensign Jax made their way to Deck 4 and arrived at the mentioned section, located near the engine nacelle. Knackt was standing outside a force fielded area with another technician.

"What was so important?" Terri asked curtly.

"That," Knact said, pointing to the elliptical object smashed through the deck plating.

Terri gulped. "Is...that...a torpedo?"

"Yup," Knackt said, "and it's hot too."

"You have got to be kidding," Terri sighed. "Can't we beam that thing out of there?"

"Nope," Knackt said, shaking his head. "These damn things are too touchy for that."

"So what do we do with it?"

"Well, that's the thing," Knackt said. "We're gonna have to take it apart."

"So why haven't you started doing it yet?" Terri said irritatedly.

"Because I need someone whose got the know-how. I ain't doing it by myself." Knackt said matter of factly. "Sonya there's got the know-how and I need another pair of hands." Knackt emphasised his point by waving a tool at Sonya.

"What?" Sonya said, a bit upset. "Nuh-Uh! No way!"

"I guess we can't just leave it there," Terri sighed.

"Oh yeah, we could do that and hope that it doesn't decide to explode or take a hit from a stray compressor bolt and blows us all to hell! Yeah, sure, we can just leave it there!" Knackt chuckled bitterly. "No problems with that idea at all!"

"I get it, ok," Terri growled. "Ensign Jax, assist him as best you can. Get that thing disarmed."

"Aye, sir," Sonya said, looking a bit perturbed.

The ship shuddered again from another detonation nearby.

"I'll be back on the bridge. Get to it you two," Terri said, walking off.

"Eh. Well, it's just you and me now toots, flip you for who gets to crack the casing," Knackt said, trying to break the tension.

Sonya glared at him. "How 'bout I don' kick your ass and you do it?"

"Fair enough. That means you get to find the trigger mechanism!" Knackt smirked. "I'll get the tools."

* * *

"They appear to have dived deeper into the atmosphere," D'jonn noted from his station.

"Well follow them!" Xox snarled.

"Sir...with our--"

"Not this ship, you idiot! Send the Scutta's down there!" Xox sneered.

"Of course, sir, right," D'jonn said, glad that one of his leader's brief moments of sanity happened to take hold right this moment. "They are underway, sir."

"Something troubles me...yess," Xox said as he steepled his fingers. "The rodent is not showing his usual bravado. I would have figured by now they would have at least come charging out of there. They've had ample time to at least fix some of their damage...unless we hurt them worse than we thought...."

"It could be," D'jonn replied.

Xox thought for a moment. "What was it they are up to down there...I only skimmed the coordinates from the datapad...."

"Some type of survey to possibly colonize this world."

"Is this planet of any use to us?" Xox mused.

"I don't find any mention of it on our databases," D'jonn replied. "However, even with our new sensor jamming technology, we're tarrying in this region of space for too long would garner unwanted attention."

Xox again was quiet, thinking. "Keep trying to goad them out D'jonn. They can't stay down there forever."

"As you wish, sir."

* * *

They had done a hard march over a few miles to the caves and were quickly pouring into them. The fact that the weather had suddenly decided to turn rainy hadn't helped. Harry's people were tired, covered in mud, and wearily dropping their things in the cave mouth and trying to catch their breath.

"I don't like this. It's been more than three hours and still nothing...it's not like Fara to stay quiet this long." Harry panted as he leaned against the wall of the cave trying to catch his breath.

"Then something is definitely wrong," Jakar said, taking out an auto turret and assembling it.

"Do we have the scrambler?"

Jakar nodded. "Of course, as per regulations. Unless...whoever it is detected the micro satellites we had set up, they shouldn't notice us."

"That's what I don't understand. We're well within our borders," Harry said. "There aren't any hostile forces other than the Urtheans, but there is at least ten light years between them and us."

"Well then, that kind of narrows it down," Jakar said. "It's not unheard of them straying far into our space, even you know that."

Harry growled. "Believe me I do! I'm going to find that scrambler and see if we can't contact them."

Jakar nodded. "I'll be setting up defenses. Let's just hope that new toy works and doesn't bring whomever has the Raptor occupied down on us."

Harry moved out from the mouth of the cave and opened up the kit that contained the scrambler. This so-called scrambler was one of the new toys that had been given to them as part of the continuing program to use the Raptor as a test bed. It could supposedly transmit on a band the Urtheans wouldn't be able to detect. It had been developed to help stranded crews awaiting rescue near hostile borders, the idea of it being a rescue beacon that wouldn't attract attention from anyone other than friendly spacecraft. If it was working properly, Harry should be able to contact the Raptor and find out just what the hell was going on. He started reading the instructions.

"Sir?" He heard O'mara say behind him.

"Yes?" Harry replied, still looking through the instructions.

"Could you use some help?" She asked.

"I think I can figure it out, thank you," Harry replied.

"Oh, well, I really don't have anything else to do at the moment and things are really tense back there...I just thought..."

"Ok," Harry said, nodding in agreement and handing her the antenna assembly. "Set this thing up and then," he glanced down at the device and picked it up, trying to find the access panel, "you can help me find the damn control panel on this thing."

* * *

"How long until repairs are done, Mr. Kurtzman?" Terri asked. She had decided to have a video conference on the main screen due to the fact that everyone was needed where they were due the circumstances.

"Maybe an hour or two," the Cornerian badger replied. "They banged us up pretty good, Captain."

"Any chance of getting the Attack Mode back online?"

Kurtzman sighed and shook his head negatively. "It's not really a priority at the moment. Shield generator two and four are down, and we've got some damage to the port nacelle. I gotta take care of those things first."

"Are our weapons at least functional?"

"Yes. All of our primary weapons systems are still functional." He then tugged at his chin fur. "Although...I wouldn't recommend taking us into battle, if you can avoid it. I could do more for you, sir, but we're down a few people."

"Understood. Do your best." Terri said. "Doctor? What is Mrs. Phoenix's status? We could really use her right now."

"Fara is in bad shape. That blow damaged several vertebrae in her neck and nearly caved her skull in. I stabilized her, but she's in stasis. I can't really finish working on her with what I have on board, given how bad her injuries are." Doctor Okan replied. "I'm sorry, but the best I can do right now is keep her alive."

"What about Commander Rivas?"

Doctor Okan shook his head. "He's in pretty bad shape as well. I won't be able to return him to duty."

Terri scowled. "Is he conscious?"

Doctor Okan nodded. "For now. He's in pretty serious pain."

"I need to talk to him."

"You better make it quick," Doctor Okan replied.

Terri nodded. "Is there anything else," she asked the two images.

"Not at the moment sir," Kurtzman replied.

"Then get to it. I remind you that our Captain is still down on the planet and is in great danger."

"Understood, Lieutenant," Kurtzman nodded.

The screen changed back to the swirling gasses of the planet. "Mr. Land? You have the bridge. Page me if anything happens."

"Don't worry, I will," Land said.

Terri arrived in sickbay shortly after she left the bridge.

"Where's commander Rivas?" She asked Nurse Twila.

"Follow me Lieutenant," Nurse Twila said. "Doctor Okan is busy with other patients, he said to make it quick."

The medical birth was full of the wounded. The small medical staff was working quickly to triage them the best they could. Terri was heartened by the sight. She had been in their place before, lying on a bed, gasping for air, nearly drowning in her own blood not that long ago. This was different being on the other side of it, being among her shipmates as one of the lucky few to not have been hurt in the ambush.

She walked up to the bio bed Rivas was on. His eyes were open, although he looked like he was in a lot of pain.

"Hey kiddo," he rasped. "What's up?"

"We're in bad shape...I need your advice."

Rivas coughed. "No kidding!"

"Well, I don't know what to do. I've never taken the commander test. You aren't supposed to get hurt so I don't have this dumped on me."

"Feeling a bit overwhelmed?" Rivas asked with a pained smile.

Terri nodded.

"Terri...you know this ship well...you helped put it together." He winced, drawing a quick breath as the bio-sensors started to whine. "If worse comes...to worse...get the ship home. That's the best you can do in a...really...bad...situation." He was starting to pant. "Just keep your head...do what you think...is right...we're counting on you...."

Doctor Okan showed up. "Commander, I need to put you under. If you stay conscious much longer, you will only do yourself more harm."

"One sec, Doc." He reached over to the pile that was his shredded uniform and weakly picked the pips off. "Give me your paw." He said to Terri.

Terri did so and he pressed the pips into it. "You are in charge now...."

She felt Twila's paw on her arm. "Ms.? If you wouldn't mind," she said patiently.

Terri nodded and was led out of the sickbay.

"Is there anything I can do for you ?" Twila asked, concerned.

Terri shook her head. "I need to get back to the bridge," she said quietly and quickly slipped out the doors.

The Captain's ready room was a place where the captain could gather their thoughts when they needed a moment's peace. Terri needed some peace right now.

Clutching the pips tightly in her paw, she stepped inside trying to avoid the few personal effects of Harry's. She picked up a small model ship and gently stuck it in a cubby hole so it didn't get smashed. Would such a gesture even matter, she wondered as she unbuttoned her tunic and tossed it on the small couch near the desk. She slid into the chair behind the desk. Harry's duty landet was hung carefully over the back of the chair. As she laid her head back, she could smell his scent still on it. For a moment, she had the comfort she had been looking for.

Even with the strange incident with a doppelganger a while back, she always felt safe around Harry. That day, when that duplicate attacked her, she knew it wasn't him...it couldn't be. When she found him lurking in her quarters, everything just felt wrong. A lot of people wondered why the whole thing hadn't bothered her. To tell the truth it just wasn't worth dwelling on.

She looked down at the pips in her hand. What was she going to do?

Her mind flashed back to a time long ago...

"Be brave and be strong Terri," she heard her father's final words to her from that horrible day, long ago, before he and her mother left on that final mission. "You have to be, because others need you to be so they can be strong too. I know you don't understand now, but you will someday...."

A tear welled up in her eye. Another day, when it seemed like the whole world had been overturned. She had overcome the loss of her parents. She could get through this.

The words helped steel her nerves and she wiped the tears from her eyes as a chill passed through her. Harry liked to keep it a bit cooler in here and she grabbed the duty landet and slipped it on. It was a little big on her, but it fit well enough.

She took a deep breath and started to clip on the pips, taking her own off.

"Computer, this is acting Captain Terri Lu. Please verify the status of the Command crew on the ship."

The terminal on Harry's desk activated and displayed the symbol of the Confederation of Worlds.

"ACCESSING AND VERIFYING CURRENT COMMAND STATUS OF USS RAPTOR." The computer said.

It quickly scanned through their personnel files. Terri tried not to glance at the pictures of the people still stuck planetside, their situation still unknown.

"VERIFICATION APPROVED. COMMAND CODE AUTHORISATION TRANSFERRED TO YOUR PROFILE. CONGRATULATIONS, CAPTAIN LU."

No turning back now, she thought. She hit the ship's intercom button.

"All hands, this is the Captain speaking," she said, keeping her tone level. "Our situation is dire, but it's not impossible. If anything, over the last few months, this crew has shown that we can overcome any challenge thrown our way. This time is no different, even though it may seem so. We need to focus our efforts and get this ship functioning again before anything else. We can deal with the rest when and if we have the time. I need a ship's status report by all department heads in the next five minutes. Snap to it."

She toggled the intercom off and stood up. Her reflection in the black top of the desk caught her attention. She was a wreck. Quickly she straightened her hair and wiped the soot off her face before she straightened the jacket. Not having her normal tunic on and just her undershirt made it a lot easier for her to breath. She could see why Harry occasionally wore it. It was a bit big on her, but it looked good on her. She grabbed her combadge and affixed it to the jacket, stood up, and headed for the door.

A few quick steps and she was back on the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge," Remmick announced crisply from the Ops station.

Terri gave him a wry smile as she sat back in the captain's chair.

* * *

Sometime Later

Knackt and Sonya continued to work quickly and carefully on the torpedo.

"Ok...I think we got the mag clamps disabled," Knackt said, taking a deep breath, "grab a hold."

"On three?" Sonya asked.

"Now, remember, one clean motion...no bumps."

Sonya nodded, biting her lower lip.

"One...two...three!"

They counted together and slowly lifted the casing off before setting it off to the side. Once done, they both took a deep breath.

"That was easy," Sonya finally said, panting.

"Yup," Knackt sighed, twitching and looking at the mess of tubes and glowing electronics they had exposed.

"Ok smart guy, now what?" Sonya asked, suddenly pitching forward as the alert sounded.

"Great! Now what?" Knackt growled, hitting his combadge. "Hey! Bridge! Can you tone it down up there? We're trying to diffuse a damn warhead!"

"We got three Scuttas on our tail! I don't have too many other options," Terri's voice said curtly over the speaker.

"Tell the flyboy up there not to show them our belly! They get a hit on this thing, you won't have a ship left!"

"He's already been informed," Terri replied, cutting the channel off.

"Recommendations?" Terri barked, targeting one of the ships chasing them and scoring a few direct hits on its nose. It spiraled off into the atmosphere and was lost.

"Um...there are some hydrogen pockets about twelve kilometers off our port bow. They might be stupid enough to follow us into them," Land said quickly, checking his instruments. "Wouldn't take much to set one of them off."

"And you are basing this on...?" Terri asked, more focused on keeping the Raptor's weapons trained on its pursuers.

"Experience?" Land shrugged.

"Mr. Remmick? Do we have the shields to survive a massive detonation?"

Remmick glanced up from his readouts on the ops board. "If you are planning on blowing us up, I am sure we don't have enough shielding."

"Land, can you get us into one of those things, and out, quickly enough to detonate the pocket?"

"Yeah, but it's going to overload the G-Diffuser and Structural integrity fields," Land replied, "especially at those speeds."

"Do it," Terri said, calling up the ship wide com system. "All hands! Brace for tactical maneuvers!" She said, quickly putting the restraints on herself.

"Ok folks, hold on! Here goes nothing," Land said as he pushed the impulse controls forward.

The Raptor accelerated through the murk of the gas giant as the Scuttas pursued it closely. It quickly disappeared into the hydrogen cloud and two of the ships followed it while one pulled up short. Once inside, Land spun the Raptor on its side and accelerated back the way they came, narrowly clearing the gap between its pursuers. Everyone who wasn't secured was tossed about as the ship's gravity systems were tapped to maintain structural integrity. However, the Raptor suddenly emerged back from the cloud, it's pulse phasers pouring out punishment against the ship that had stayed behind. Round after round of pulse phaser slammed into the Scutta's already weakened shields and burst through, tearing into the ship's exposed hull. Even as the Raptor passed, it kept firing until the Scutta was a crippled wreck of twisted metal that disappeared into the maelstrom below. A parting shot into the hydrogen cloud with a fully charged phaser blast ignited the cloud with the other two Scuttas inside.

The hydrogen erupted, sending a thunderous shockwave through the various other liquid and gas pockets nearby. The Raptor was rocked from the stern as the shockwave struck and sent it spiraling out of control.

"Shields down to seven percent!" Remmick screamed over the shuddering hull and shorting circuitry on the bridge. "Structural integrity field at critical!"

"Reroute power from every system we got into the structural integrity field!" Terri snapped, her eyes closed, leaning back into her chair, bracing for the worst.

"Attitude control and impulse engines are gone!" Land shouted. "We're being pulled into the planet's gravity well!"

Terri leaned forward and activated the tractor beam, targeting one of the damaged remains of a Scutta that was still maneuverable. "Engineering! Impulse units are offline! I need them back, now!"

"We're working on it!" Jenna Rydel's voice said over the speaker. "On the bright side, we got the antenna working!"

"Not really a priority at the moment!" Terri snapped. "I need those engines!"

"Terri, the Scutta we're grappling onto isn't--" Kai started to say.

"I'm on it!" Terri snapped, grappling the console and switching to weapons controls, sending several crimson beams streaming towards the already damaged Scutta. However, the ship was in worse shape than it appeared and its shields were gone. The phaser beams ripped into the sides of the vessel and sheared off one of its nacelles. The Scutta spun out of control and disappeared into the swirling mass of clouds below them.

Terri cheered and slapped the console. "Land! Spin us so our guns point right at them!"

"No problem! We got thrusters," Land said, spinning the ship around. Terri then hailed the Scutta they were grappled to. "Attention Urthean vessel! If you don't want to join your friends, I suggest you don't try anything stupid. We have all of our weapons trained on you, so don't try anything! Don't even call for help."

There was a beat or two of silence and then the response came in.

"Release us! You have taken us out of this fight," a female Urthean voice replied.

"Afraid I can't do that yet," Terri replied. "So, I suggest you be good little foxes and sit tight till we are ready to let you go. Remember, no calling back to your flagship."

There was a pause. "We will comply. However, whatever you are doing, make it quick! You are putting a tremendous strain on our own engines and, inevitably, we will both die."

"Not a problem...as long as you play nice," Terri responded.

"Wow, that was easy," Land exclaimed as Terri shut off the com channel.

"I'm desperate and capable of anything at this point," Terri said, "and I'm pretty sure they know that."

* * *

Knackt came to find himself pinned under Sonya. As nice as it was, he nudged her with his elbow. She glanced down, realized the awkward position they had ended up in, and rolled off him.

"Sorry," she said, looking embarrassed.

"Meh, don't worry about it," Knackt shrugged, hitting his combadge. "Yo, bridge! I told you to take it easy up there! Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"Apologies. We had some problems," Terri said over the speaker. "I think we have the situation mostly under control at the moment. We just don't have impulse engines."

"Well, again, do you want the engines taken care of or the torpedo? I can't be two damn places at once!" Knackt snapped. "I'll tell Kurtzman to get on it, just stop playing bouncy rat with me! I ain't made of rubber!" He growled, gathering up the tools that were scattered all over the corridor.

"We're doing our best," Terri said, shutting off the channel.

Knackt tapped his badge again. "Kurtzman, please tell me you are getting the impulse units back online."

"Yes, I am! It's gonna be at least a few minutes. We have to reset the power inverters."

"Just do it before that crazy woman up there gets us all killed," Knackt said, rolling his eyes.

"No problem," Kurtzman replied, signing off.

"Gods help us if that gal ever does become Captain," Knackt growled. "Come on, let's get back to it."

They crawled back over to the torpedo and gathered up the tools.

"Please tell me we got the damn tampering switch disabled," Knackt said.

Sonya checked the device that they had magnetically attached to the casing of the torpedo and then the connectors as well.

"Looks like it's still attached," she replied.

"Good. Now, fetch the damn Stasis Field Generator. I think I saw it go bouncing down the corridor that way," Knackt replied. "I'll start working on trying to get to the damn warhead shut down. When you get back, grab the number eighteen hyper spanner and start working on those stem-bolts."

* * *

"Anything yet, sir?" Jakar asked, as he walked past Harry, who was monitoring the scrambler.

Harry shook his head and looked glumly out the mouth of the cave at the rain. "Not a peep. This doesn't look good," he said, setting the headset down and rubbing his temples. "I knew I should have stayed on board."

"What do you mean, sir?" O'mara asked. She was scanning the cave walls to get an idea of what kind of protection the rock could give them from Urthean weapons.

"Don't worry about it. Just monitor this and tell me the instant you hear a peep," Harry said dismissively, walking up to the edge of the cave, phaser in hand and leaning against the wall.

"Sir?" O'mara asked.

"Don't bother him," Jakar said quietly. "He needs some time to himself. What have your scans shown?"

"Well, it's a conglomerate type rock," O'mara replied. "I think it should provide adequate cover from fire from orbital weapons and most of the materials outside are composed of the same substance, so I think you can use those for cover."

"Excellent. Take the Captain's place monitoring the scrambler for now," Jakar said.

O'mara nodded and slipped the headset back on and continued to broadcast the hail.

Harry looked out into the valley the cave overlooked, deep in thought. Despite a calm façade, he was worried about his ship. Fara would have called by now. It had been hours since they heard from the ship. If not her, then surely Rivas would have made an effort to contact them, unless the ship's subspace antenna had been damaged. That would have happened only if they had come under attack. He hated it, but for the first time in his life, he actually felt hopeless. He had been in some pretty dire situations beforehand.

The best they could hope for was to not be found until someone could swing buy and rescue them. Even then, they could be here for a long time.

* * *

Computer Core Room, Deck 2

The main computer control console sat vacant, running in standby mode as the station was currently unmanned. The station suddenly started to blink erratically, then it blinked on and off, making several error sounds. It came back online with all of its displays in an emerald green tone. Screens came on and data started streaming by at a blinding speed.

More terminals snapped online. Displays showed access to the automated repair systems being activated and reprogrammed. The symphony of lights continued briefly until everything suddenly and returned to normal.

The door to the control room entered and Jenna Rydel stepped in. "Hello? Is someone in here?"

No response. Jenna took a tricorder from her belt and did a scan.

"Ok, someone was in here screwing with my terminal! Show yourself!" She said, putting her hand on her hip holster.

She checked her tricorder and didn't see any readings. "Computer? Has anyone accessed my terminal in the last few minutes?"

"NEGATIVE." The computer replied.

She walked over to her console and logged into it, checked everything she could think of. She didn't find any evidence of tampering. She shook her head in frustration. Perhaps the computer had an error and then corrected it.

As soon as she left the room, the terminals began working again at a furious pace.

* * *

A groan sounded throughout the Raptor and the power flickered on the bridge.

"It's the tractor beam," Remmick said solemnly. "It's not meant to be a grappling hook."

"I know," Terri-Lu said, keeping her finger hovering over the trigger button and her eyes fixed on the belly of the Scutta struggling to keep them both afloat. It's engines were starting to faintly glow as they were beginning to overheat. "It will either burn out or tear free of the hull...I know."

* * *

"D'jonn! Why haven't we heard from our ships?"

D'jonn growled, looking at the read out. "Two vessels are gone...one is remaining, however; it appears crippled."

"Well, obviously they aren't too bad. They are still flying! What are they doing?" Xox grumbled.

"They appear to be maintaining their position and...wait a minute," D'jonn said, making a few sensor adjustments. "The Raptor appears to have a tractor beam on them."

"Hail them! I want an explanation," Xox snapped.

"They are not responding."

Xox leapt up and stomped to Dijon's console. "Attention Captain of the Saberclaw! Report immediately or there will be consequences!"

Still nothing.

"Patience, sir, perhaps they are unable."

"I want to know why they have our prey hanging from them and they aren't blasting that ship into pieces!" Xox snarled.

"Give them a few minutes," D'jonn insisted.

"Fine. They get 15 cycles and then I'm going to correct their behavior," Xox sneered. "Arm a spread of torpedoes and target both of those ships."

"Sir, isn't that--"

"Do as I say or you will find yourself strapped to the lead torpedo!" Xox snapped.

* * *

Impulse Engine, Deck 4

Lt. Kurtzman and several other engineers worked on the damaged impulse units as quickly as possible.

"She's not going to like this. The whole damn relay is fried," Kurtzman growled. "It will take weeks to get this damn thing fixed."

"What if we try to bypass the fluxing unit," one of the engineers suggested.

"I don't know if it would hold...we still have to fly out of this big gas ball," Kurtzman sighed. "I may as well tell the bridge it's no good."

However, before he could make the call, the room started to fill with smoke and an alarm sounded.

"WARNING. IMPULSE COOLANT UNIT MALFUNCTION. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!" The computer announced.

Kurtzman coughed, catching a waft of the sickly sweet smell.

"Clear out people! Drop your stuff and move!"

The other engineers quickly dropped what they were doing and ran out into the hall. Kurtzman, being the last one out, sealed the door once the last person was clear.

"Damn it!" He cursed. "That's all we need now!" He said, hearing the door's seals close, keeping the gas inside the room.

On the other side of the door, the ventilation suddenly kicked on and dumped the gas out of the room and into the impulse system. The alarm still sounded as a green sparkling haze enveloped the damaged equipment and it started to repair itself.

* * *

"Still nothing?" Xox rumbled, his eyes glowing brightly.

"No, sir," D'jonn replied.

"Then it's time to educate them," Xox roared. "Fire torpedoes!"

Gods damn you Xox! They are your own kind...even if they aren't desirable as citizens! D'jonn thought, maintaining his composure.

He slid his finger over to the fire controls and launched the deadly missiles down towards the planet below them. He didn't like doing this, but what choice did he have?

"Torpedoes away," he announced sourly.

* * *

Terri sat in the command chair and drummed her fingers nervously.

"Captain," Remmick suddenly said, breaking the quiet, "something is happening on our power grid."

Terri got up out of her chair and leaned over his shoulder. "Can you be more specific?"

"Just some strange readings," Remmick replied, calling up a display of several subsystems. Suddenly, the lights flicked back to life as the ship seemed to thrum, full of renewed life. Terri looked back up and smiled. Finally, something was going right.

"Report." She directed the request at Land.

"I don't know how they did it, but all of our systems are coming back online," Land said spinning in his chair. "Impulse, shields, Attack Mode...everything!"

An alarm sounded. Remmick checked his console. "Good, because we've got incoming torpedoes! They appear to be locked onto us and the Scutta...."

"That bastard!" Terri snarled. "They're going to kill their own people!"

"How is that any different from us doing it?" Remmick asked.

"I'm not going to allow that! Quickly, lock onto as many of their crew as possible and beam them to the cargo bay. Seal the bays and we'll sort them out when we get around to it." She settled back into the captain's chair, trying to not tense up. "Mr. Land, on my mark, cut the tractor beam and engage the cloaking device."

"Aye, aye Skipper," Land replied.

"Time to impact 10 seconds," Remmick announced.

Terri hailed the Scutta. "Attention Urthean vessel, prepare your crew transport."

"Five seconds!" Remmick said, frustrated. "I can't get a lock on all of them Captain, there is something interfering with the targeting sensors."

"Do your best Kai. Energize! Mr. Land, mark!" Terri said, slamming her paw on the armrest of the chair.

The Raptor's tractor beam disengaged and it went into freefall, seconds before the first wave of torpedoes slammed into the Scutta, utterly obliterating it. Land quickly brought the ship around and fired the impulse engines, swinging the ship out of harm's way causing the second volley to pass by them harmlessly. The cloaking device engaged as they moved.

Terri let out a celebratory whoop. "How many did we get?

"Forty or so...about half of their presumed complement," Remmick said. "Sorry...I tried my best."

"We'll sort it out later. We still have one more problem to take care of, that damn torpedo stuck in our belly," Terri said. "If Sonya and Knackt can get that thing disabled, we're getting the hell out of here and getting the rest of our people."

* * *

"I've lost track of the Raptor, sir," D'jonn reported. "It is no longer showing up on our sensors."

"Farewell, you accursed vermin," Xox sneered. "A pity, I had hoped to bring at least something back to the Emperor. With them out of the way, let's go see what they were doing back on the planet."

"The survey team," D'jonn reminded him.

"Perhaps...maybe a few prisoners would make this venture a bit more profitable." Xox grinned. "Break orbit and head for the other planet."

"As you command," D'jonn replied.

* * *

Sometime Later

"Any progress on the torpedo yet?" Terri asked over the com channel.

"No! It isn't gonna go any faster if you keep pestering us!" Knackt replied. "I've got this section sealed off, with the emergency bulkheads down, it should maybe keep the ship from being totally blasted into pieces."

"Are we ready ta strip this thing down ta th' warhead yet?" Sonya asked.

"As ready as we can be. The damn thing ain't taking itself apart," Knackt sighed.

"Understood," Terri said, switching it over to engineering. "Mr. Kurtzman?" She said as the badger's face appeared on screen. "Some congratulations are in order. That was some quick repair work you did and it saved our butts."

"That's great, but I didn't do it," Kurtzman said, looking a bit worried. "The ship somehow initiated a full auto repair procedure through some glitch we haven't tracked down yet."

"That's unusual. We'll have to look into it later," Terri sighed. "All I'm concerned with is this ship ready for combat."

"As ready as it can be. I can't guarantee how long our luck will hold, sir," Kurtzman said. "With this ship, glitches are blessed curses."

"We'll take it as a good good omen then and wonder about the how and why later."

"Works for me, Skipper," Kurtzman shrugged.

Terri sat in the command chair, typing up a report she'd have to transmit to Starfleet as soon as they were able. The bridge was filled up with crewmembers again manning each station after the relief shift arrived. The debris had been cleared and despite the remaining damages to the ops console, it at least looked serviceable.

She felt someone standing in front of her.

"Yes?" She said, not looking up from her typing.

"Lieutenant, Captain...er...whatever," Land said with forced formality. "Can we talk in private?"

Terri continued typing. "Ready room. Ensign Dorik, keep an eye on things."

"Yes, sir," the female Altairan said, getting up from the Ops station.

They left the bridge and crossed over into Harry's office.

"What do you want, Ensign?" Terri said with a huff.

"Can we talk without all this formality?" Land asked.

"Fine," Terri said, crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier," Land said, unable to look her in the eye.

"That's the best you can do?" Terri said, annoyed.

"Hey, there's no need for--"

"Stuff it," Terri shot back. "You need to understand something: the instant command fell in my lap, before anything else, this ship and everyone on it is my responsibility." She took a breath. "Everything else is a secondary concern. Maybe if you would bother to stop being such an ass and take on a bit more responsibility, you would understand that, Ensign."

"Hey! I like where I am! I fly ships, that's what I'm happy doing," Land said defensively.

"Well maybe some of us have actual aspirations," Terri glared, her frustration with him growing. "What really pisses me off is I needed you and you were less than helpful. Wanting to argue with me when every second wanted endangered the crew. If that's how you are going to act when things get bad with me," she shook her head, "then maybe we don't need to be seeing each other off the bridge anymore."

"What? Hey...wait...I said I was sorry. I meant it!" He said, looking wounded.

Suddenly a com signal sounded and Terri pressed the acknowledge key. "Yes, what is it?"

"This is Doctor Okan. Our passengers have been examined." There was a pause. "I think it would be best if you came down to see for yourself. Their captain also wishes to speak with you."

"I'll be right down," she replied, closing the channel. "I don't really care if you are sorry or not." Terri sighed as she headed for the door. "I look at it this way: I'm not always going to be a Lieutenant. I may get transferred or even get my own ship someday. You, on the other hand, seem perfectly content to just sit there and fly. Quite frankly, I'm having trouble restraining myself from throwing you in the brig for insubordination, but I need a pilot at the helm. Return to your post, Mr. Land."

Land, deciding it was not wise to push it further, kept his mouth shut and let her pass as she left the Ready Room. It wasn't his ego that was stinging however; it was his heart. He wanted to do something, but as he trudged back to the helm he was forced to admit he couldn't do anything.

He returned to the bridge and sat at the helm, almost in a daze, a strange mix of emotions wheeling up in him: pain, anger, confusion, all combining at once. He gripped the edges of the console, breathing heavily. It felt like a panic attack, or at least what they were described as. It was unfamiliar to him. Fear started overriding everything else.

"Land? Are you ok?" Dorik asked

"Hey buddy," Kai said from the engineering station. "You're looking a little pale...."

Land screamed, trying to channel all the rage and exasperation into something he could understand. Out of instinct his fist lashed out against the console. The unit beeped in protest as a crack of plasteel echoed on the bridge. He yelped, aware of the gash in the soft part of his fist.

Dorik and Remmick just sat in awed shock.

Land looked at the nasty cut in his hand. The cold shock of the pain brought him out of his anger, but still his breathing was heavy, causing his blood to spurt all over the console.

"Kai," he breathed in a daze, trying to staunch the bleeding. "I need to get to sickbay."

"Sure buddy...I've got you...go on," Kai said, sliding into the helm while he got up.

"Thanks," he said, heading for the forward doors to leave the bridge.

Terri headed down to the cargo bay, where a few security guards were watching the door as Doctor Okan tended to the injured Urtheans. They nodded to Terri as she slipped between the doors and stepped inside. What she saw was not what she had expected. The Urthean's were not colored in red, but green, greys, and a few oranges. They all looked sickly and weak. The uniforms, as one might call them, were no more than utilitarian outfits with markings to indicate whatever their position on the ship was.

"Lieutenant," Doctor Okan said, approaching her and snapping her out of her shock at what she was seeing.

"Yes Doctor," Terri finally said, trying to take in the enormity of the scene. This was not the fierce enemy she had expected. "You said their captain wished to speak with me?"

"Yes, and I need to speak to you about..." Okan thought the words: this situation.

"Is there a problem?"

Okan's face became a mask. "I just need to consult you on the care of these people who are now my patients, sir."

Terri nodded, catching what Okan was subtly implying. "First things first."

Okan nodded. "Follow me."

He led her over to what appeared to be a group of officers with an orange female standing out among them. She was extremely gaunt. Even her fur looked faded and dull, like she was old or malnourished.

"Are you the Captain?" Terri asked as she approached. She spoke their language without use of a translator. It left her with a thick accent.

"Yes," the female replied. Terri instantly recognized her voice. She had spoken with her earlier. "I understand you are the reason we are here."

Terri nodded. "It was that or--"

"A fate our superiors concerned was deserving of our defeat," the female captain replied. "However, you have yet again spared us the wrath of your vessel. Mercy is something we have not equated with the infamous Raptor."

Terri was a bit unsettled by that statement. "Forgive me for being blunt, but enough blood has been spilled."

The Urthean captain nodded. "You need not worry about that. For sparing us when you clearly could have left us to die, we are eternally grateful. We have no wish to return, however; my crew and I wish to seek asylum with your Confederation."

Terri was a little startled, but recovered quickly. "I'm sure I can see to that."

"I hope so because, as you can see," she gestured to her crew, "we want out of the Empire. I myself am willing to help you as best I can. I would like some...payback against my former superior."

"I'll think about it. Any cooperation you can provide will only help your case," Terri said. "My Chief Medical Officer will see to it that you are all taken care of as much as possible. Our resources are stretched at the moment, but we'll do what we can. Until then, sit tight. Due to our current situation, the cargo bays are as safe as anywhere else."

"I understand completely," the captain said with a slight bow of her head. "We haven't been formally introduced. I am Gel Fenrix. You are?"

"Captain Lu will do for now," Terri replied, trying to be friendly. The ghastly scenes around her were making her uneasy and she was trying her best to watch her inflections and the beat of her voice to convey confidence.

Gel Fenrix nodded. "Very well. Again, you have the gratitude of my crew and I. Now, if you will excuse me," she said, heading back over to where she was sitting, "I have some rations I wish to finish."

Terri nodded and felt Doctor Okan's paw on her arm. He motioned for the door. Terri followed him into the hall.

"I gather you have something important to tell me," Terri guessed.

"These people are in need of serious medical attention. Half of them are extremely malnourished. Many of them have untreated chronic conditions, even some lingering wounds, lots of internal stuff. I'll do what I can, but I don't have the proper facilities or enough resources to take care of them and the crew at the same time."

"Do the best you can. We still have to get our people off the planet, but I will keep the safety of our passengers in mind. Do the best that you can, ok?"

"I will. I am working with the two or three medical personnel we pulled from their ship," Doctor Okan grumbled. "I haven't really dealt with Urthean physiology before and I'm having to learn a lot on the fly."

"Doctor, if anyone can do it you can," Terri told him.

Doctor Okan smirked. "Feeding my ego does help, cap. Thanks for the vote of confidence, but keep the situation in mind, ok?"

"I will," Terri said.

"I got to get back to work, if you'll excuse me," Doctor Okan said, heading back into the cargo bay.

Terri took a deep breath and let it out. That was an ordeal. She really felt for those Urtheans. They looked so weak and sickly, it made her ache. She recalled the other ships they had destroyed. Had the other crews been in as poor shape as this one? She tried to push that thought out of her mind. She had enough problems without her conscience beating her down for her actions.

She winced, feeling a headache come on. She rubbed her temples. All she could do in the moment was deal with this mess as it was dealt to her and the best place to be was the bridge, so she started making her way back to it.

* * *

Later

After what seemed like an eternity, they got the torpedo stripped down to the warhead. Much to their dismay, the triggering device was a mess of wires and circuitry that made Knact think of pasta.

"Right then...now what?" Sonya asked.

"Shit," Knackt said, scratching his head. "Well, we gotta cut the battery from the trigger, but I don't know where that line is on this thing."

Sonya scanned the device. "I'm not detecting any differences in voltage or current." She closed the tricorder. "Could be any pair of these three though, from what I can tell." She pointed to the different circuit relays. "I assume we gotta disengage this here." She scratched her head. "That's as best I can figure."

"You know, if we figure this out, we'll be famous," Knackt snickered. "We could publish the procedure and make a ton of credits."

"If we don't blow ourselves up," Sonya smiled. "I could use th' extra credits next time I have shore leave."

"So...eh...you go first," Knackt said.

"Right." Sonya retrieved a laser cutter and cut one of the wires. As soon as she did, the weapon started beeping rapidly. "Ah shit! What'd I do!"

"You didn't do it. The damn thing has a self destruct. Son of a bitch!" Knackt exclaimed.

"What? Do? We? Do?!" Sonya screamed, trying to keep her hands steady.

"Er...um...we gotta find it real quick!" Knackt said, grabbing a paw full of tools and sticking a mini light in his mouth so he can see down inside of it.

"Knackt! We tore this thing apart to the bare essentials! I don't remember seeing a self destruct device!" Sonya screamed back.

"Yeah yeah," Knackt growled around the light. "We gotta calm down or we're gonna get very, very dead!"

"Right," Sonya said tensely.

"Take a guess then! It's gotta be one of these damn connections!"

Sonya nodded and motioned for the tool. "I think I 'ave it."

Knackt handed her the tool. Sonya took a deep breath and winced as she severed the connection. Seeing they were still alive, she cut another one. The countdown display winked out, but the device was still beeping. Sonya growled with disappointment.

"Nice start," Knackt said, trying to be encouraging, "but still ticking."

She handed him back the tool.

"Let me try," Knackt said. He cut two more connections and something popped out of the side of the warhead, releasing steam. He quickly checked his tricorder. "Damn it! That was the cooling system!"

Sonya grabbed her laser scalpel and tried again. "Anything?" She asked.

"Still hot getting hotter."

Sonya's eyes bugged at what they had left. "We 'ave two connections remaining."

"Yup," Knackt said nervously. "You do it."

"Hell nah! I don' wanna die with this on my conscience! You do it!"

"Now is not a time for arguing toots!" Knackt balked.

"Ok! Fine! You cut it and if we don't die I'll buy you dinner and take you around the universe!"

"Are you insane?" Knackt said, although the offer was tempting. "Wait...did you just offer--"

"You do it, you get some me and you get to be the big hero as well," Sonya said, blushing and cutting him off.

"Oh cripes! Don't pressure me or anything!" Knackt panted, actually starting to sweat. The beeping was becoming more rapid, with fewer and fewer beeps in between.

Sensing now was not the time to chicken out, Knact took his best guess, and snipped the final connection. For all the good it was going to do, they both quickly jumped back.

After a brief tense moment.....

...the torpedo powered down.

A woosh of steam came out of it and it ejected its deadly core onto the deck, inert and inactive.

Sonya and Knackt looked at each other and started laughing nervously, which devolved quickly into near hysterics. They were quite glad to be alive.

"Bridge to Ensign Jax, has the torpedo been disabled yet?" Terri's voice asked over a speaker.

"Yeah! It's disabled. Dead as a doornail!" Knackt crowed after a celebratory whoop.

"Good job. The whole crew is in your debt, the both of you."

"Hey, no prob! Just leave it to the rat to get the job done!"

Terri closed the channel.

"So, about that offer," Knackt noted, gathering up his tools. "I got tomorrow off."

Sonya flushed. "Um...I need ta get back to th' bridge."

"Hey, a deal's a deal," Knackt smirked as she quickly gathered her tools and scurried down the corridor. The emergency bulkheads retracted into the walls and they passed between them.

* * *

Harry sighed and stared out at the rain with a pair of binoculars, peering out into the darkness and murk. The tang of coffee in the air caused him to lower the binoculars. He saw O'mara standing beside him with a cup and a rain poncho draped over her arm.

"Sir, you're getting soaked. You might want this," she said, holding out the poncho. Harry took both and then slipped off his over shirt. He had gotten quite wet standing on watch.

"Any luck with the scrambler?" He asked.

"Not a peep," O'mara replied, taking his over shirt and draping it on a rock. She drew her own poncho around her. "You should come inside, sir. We don't need you getting sick."

Harry said nothing. He drank some of the coffee after slipping the poncho on and feeling slightly drier and warmer. There was a moment of silence as the rain continued to pour. Harry seemed to sigh and stare off into the gloom.

"I worry too much...." He said solemnly.

"Sir?" O'mara asked.

"It's something someone told me a long time ago." He took a sip. "And they were right."

O'mara starred in concern. This was new, Harry opening to her like this.

"My ship is out there somewhere. She could be hurt. She could be lost and all I can do is stand here and wonder." He paused and recomposed himself. "The only hope I have is the faith I place in my crew."

"I'm sure if something happened they are working on it," O'mara said hopefully.

"I'm counting on that," Harry smiled. "I have a lot of faith in all of you."

O'mara seemed to blush a little from that complement. It made her feel a sense of pride instead of intimidation around him for once.

"In a short time, all of us have come together to become one fine crew," he said, "and, because there are so few of us, we have something a lot of crews don't. We have a sense of familiarity with each other. When we lose someone, we all feel it. It isn't like a big ship where you barely get to know anyone, but with the Raptor, it's easy." He took another drink and stepped into the mouth of the cave. "Which makes disaster hit all that much harder." He set the cup down on a small rock outcrop. "That has taken a lot of getting used to." He stretched. "So, here I sit, worrying...."

He made a disgusted hiss at himself and shook his head.

"Sir, why are you telling me this?" O'mara asked as she walked over beside him

"Because you're here...and I needed someone to confide in." He said. "I thought maybe you could empathize and keep this between us."

"Cross my heart," O'mara smiled. "I just didn't think you got scared."

"Everyone gets scared," Harry said. "You just learn to deal with it and not let it cloud your mind. You of all people should understand that."

O'mara shuddered, remembering her time on the Exeter with the strange alien life form and Paraxenos closing in on them and ammo running low. She had been scared out of her mind, but eventually something pushed through and she actually reached a state of calm.

The miracles of adrenaline, she thought to herself.

"Unfortunately, I do know," she said with a half hearted smile.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a repulsor lift as a vehicle flew over head. Harry quickly grabbed his binoculars.

"We got company," he said, spotting the vessel using the binoculars scanning function. "Urthean shuttles! It looks like they found our base camp." He lowered the binoculars. "Now we know what happened to our ship. Looks like quite a few of them too."

"But, what are they doing this deep into our space?" O'mara asked. "We're over ten light years from the border."

"I don't know," Harry said, biting his lip.

Suddenly, the scrambler started beeping.

Harry rushed over to it and put on the headset. "Commander Martinez here!"

* * *

"Captain!" Terri said on the bridge. "It's good to hear your voice again!"

"The feeling is mutual. Who's in charge up there?" Harry asked.

"I am," Terri replied.

There was a pause as that sunk in. "What's your situation?"

"We were attacked by several Urthean vessels with our shields down. We had to retreat to make repairs, but we're fully operational now." Terri replied.

"Understood. How many were there?" Harry asked.

"Four from our count. It's now down to just the big one," Terri replied, "which was heading for you last we saw. We're getting ready to intercept."

"Good. We'll try to hold out. They already got people on the ground down here, so if you're going to make your move, make it quickly. Is that understood Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir," Terri replied. "Good luck Commander."

"Same to you," Harry said, closing the channel.

This has been one hell of a day. Terri thought to herself.

With the torpedo disarmed, they could actually take time and assess the full extent of the wounds to the Raptor. None of it was good. The ship was running at 65% operational status in normal cruise mode. Amazingly, they hadn't suffered any fatalities. They had shields, weapons and engines, but they were all shaky at best. The Raptor's Attack Mode, with all the power it gave them, simply augmented their existing systems. If the base systems were damaged, then the Attack Mode wasn't nearly as formidable.

Gel Fenrix was asked to be on the bridge to offer her assistance as promised and the Urthean was more than willing to comply. She even provided some tips on what to target Xox's ship to make the fight as short as possible.

"You might want to grab a seat," Terri suggested, "this can get bumpy at times."

"I prefer to stand," Fenrix replied.

"Suit yourself," Terri said. "Are we ready to get underway?" She asked,looking over at Remmick.

"All systems are in the green, sir," Remmick reported.

"Weapons fully charged," Sonya reported.

Fenrix spoke up. "Captain, the tactical information I provided you with is all that I know. I am not familiar with all the Executer's systems. It wasn't my place to know the information of our Commandant's ship. There could be unexpected surprises."

"As long as that Lateral Relay is there, that's all I care about," Terri said. "If it is, I'm going to tear every piece of that hull off to get to it. I appreciate your honesty."

"Will you destroy them?" Gel Fenrix asked.

Terri was quiet for a moment. "Only if I need to. If they'd just go home I'd be perfectly fine with that too."

Fenrix nodded.

"Engineering, status report," Terri said, hitting the com switch.

"Engines are a little shaky," Knackt reported, "but within tolerances."

"Very well," Terri said, taking a deep breath. Now they'd be taking the fight to their pursuers instead of trying to evade them. "I've always wanted to do this..." she smirked, "engage Attack Mode."

"Aye, Aye," Remmick said, entering the commands. "Attack Mode, initiated."

The Raptor surged with power and shuddered as its ablative armor deployed and it's full complement of weapons raised out from the hull. The ship continued to shift and contort. The lights changed their hue as power was rerouted and diverted across the ship. The armament snapped into place and sealed up the ship's more vulnerable areas. Its alien weapons slid out of their hidden compartments.

"Attack Mode is engaged," Remmick reported.

"Mr. Land, I hope you're ready to chase that command ship when we get clear of the planet."

Land rubbed his bandaged and stitched hand. Instead of using a dermal regenerator, Doctor Okan had done it the old way: shot him full of antibodies and sent him back to duty again. When he protested at the archaic method, Okan had told him to keep that in mind the next time he decides to injure himself.

"Ensign?" Terri said patiently.

"You can bet your pips on it," Land replied, facing forward and making a few adjustments on his console. "Course laid in and set."

"Take us out," Terri said, leaning back into the command chair. The ship's engines rattled the deck plates and she felt a slight press into the chair from the slight lag in the ship's inertial dampeners. She felt a slight sensation of terror in anticipation of the battle ahead, but she kept her composure. She quickly called up a quick readout of the ship's systems. "Mr. Remmick, the pulse phasers are showing a slight drop-off in their charge."

"We're working on that. Something in the capacitors has been damaged. I've already had engineering check it out and they said they should hold."

"Just in case keep the photonic missile launchers primed, we may have to switch to them in a pinch," Terri ordered.

"Aye, Captain," Remmick said, "should we engage the cloak?"

"No," Terri replied quickly. "I'm going to ram this ship right down their throat! Does anyone have an objection to that?"

"No, sir," Remmick smiled. "Rerouting all power to forward shields."

A few beats passed.

"Skipper, we are coming up on the target in seven seconds," Land said, eyes never leaving his work. "They've spotted us."

The swirling mass of gas on the main viewer soon parted to reveal a star field. As they cleared the atmosphere, the stars turned to a brief flash of light only to drop back into real space, with the Executer appearing as a small, rapidly growing, image.

Terri hit the com switch. "Attention Urthean vessel, you have intruded into Confederation space. You are in clear violation of the Treaty of Nebulous. Withdraw immediately or suffer the consequences."

She switched it off and watched as Xox's battleship tilted towards them. "Ms. Jax, you may fire at will."

"Gladly, sir." Sonya grinned.

* * *

Down on the surface, Harry steadied his phaser rifle and aimed it at an approaching Urthean thug who was strolling towards the caverns, scanner in hand. Behind him were nearly a dozen more soldiers.

"Orders, sir?" Jakar asked in his ear piece.

Harry looked toward the back and zoomed in, spotting what might be the officer. This officer was a rather tall and ragged looking Urthean, red with spiky black head fur.

"Heavy stun the leader. I'll work on the next three. Delegate the other targets to your men."

"Understood," Jakar replied.

"How are you holding up Lieutenant?" He asked to his side.

"I'm having trouble actually aiming one of these things," she muttered. "It's hard to steady the crosshair!"

"It's simple: aim, breathe in, squeeze the trigger, breathe out," Harry said, not breaking his steady hold of the weapon.

The Urtheans moved steadily closer.

"Mr. Jakar, you may fire," Harry said.

Crimson bolts lanced out from the security team's position and sizzled through the falling rain. Through his scope, Harry saw the officer crumple to the ground. He started firing as O'mara and the others opened up as well. In a matter of moments, most of the Urtheans were prone, unconscious. A few had dove off to the side at the sight of the first few shots and started rapidly firing their weapons up towards the cave's opening. As soon as the first bolts lanced across the arched opening, the auto turrets snapped online and started peppering the area with charges.

Shards of rock exploded all around them and Harry and O'mara ducked behind it as the piece of granite they were using for cover splintered, sending hot shards of rock showering all around them. Harry popped back up and returned fire, only to quickly dive back down as more shots from a different direction slammed into the piece of rock.

"Stay down," he said to O'mara as compressor beams rained around them.

He glanced over and saw Jakar and his people getting equally pelted as well, but they were equally dishing out return fire. Pieces of the jungle came crashing down as errant phaser blasts lanced into them and the air reeked of ozone and steam.

* * *

Far above, space was lit up by fire and returned fire between the Raptor and Xox's ship. The Raptor quickly spun and zipped around the shots from the repulsor beam turrets. The Raptor fired a full volley at the turret firing at them and it exploded.

Several panels on the side of the Executor slid back and small Mass Accelerator Cannons fired numerous rounds into the ship's aft section, tearing through the Raptor's aft shields and ablative armor, perforating the hull. The damage spread to the aft torpedo tubes, but one more volley of torpedoes made it out before they went offline.

"Good shooting," Terri said to Jax as she watched the Urthean weapons that had done some match damage to them explode into fragments on the viewer. "Damage report."

"Transporters and aft torpedo launcher offline, Impulse engines took a hit but somehow they are still operational." Remmick rattled off quickly. "We also lost a good chunk of our ablative armament."

"Mr. Land, swing us back around. We are hitting that side again. Now that we took out that little surprise and return the favor!" Terri barked.

"Hang on to something. This turn is going to be a little sharp," Land said, making the Raptor rapidly pivot to come around for another strafing run.

On the viewer, they watched as a torrent of pulse phasers bursts and photonic missiles shot out ahead of them towards the Executer, slamming into its weakened shields, breaching them and chewing into its hull.

The deck pitched as the return fire struck the Raptor's shields, but they held as the Raptor continued it's frenzied assault, plunging through the return fire from the Executer.

"Ready the cutting beams!" Terri ordered. "Short sustained bursts on the following coordinates," she said, typing it in and transferring it to tactical.

"Got it!" Sonya replied.

The Executor was now looming enormously on the viewer as they drew closer. A conduit overhead blew out, raining sparks down on them as they took another hit.

"On my mark," Terri said, gritting her teeth and hanging on to the armrests of the captain's chair for dear life.

A collision alarm sounded from ops.

Now or never, Terri thought. "FIRE! Helm! Break off attack as soon as those hits make their mark!"

Sonya fired the cutting beams and they lanced out as ordered, tearing through the Executor's weakened shields and biting deep into its primary hold, where the drive core was located. The larger vessel began to try to roll to evade taking any further damage, but fractures were appearing in it's hull.

"Hang on!" Land shouted as he suddenly had to perform a maneuver that resulted in the Raptor somersaulting around one of the Executor's engine struts as it nearly collided with it.

* * *

Xox was pinned against his chair as the Executer quickly tried to avoid the Raptor's fire continued to tear holes into its starboard side.

"Damage report!" He shouted as the ship shuddered around them.

"Our shields are down to twenty two percent...impulse reactors two and four are down. Commandant, it might be best if we retreat while we are able. We cannot take much more of this."

"How is this happening?!" Xox roared. "That ship was dead in the water and now it's tearing us apart!" He slammed his fist so hard into his armrest, and it broke. Another volley slammed into the ship's hull and the lights began to flicker.

"Sir! We've just lost another impulse reactor and our main drive system is starting to go critical. We need to shut it down or it will explode!" D'jonn shouted, shielding himself from a shower of sparks. "I suggest we parley now! We can't take much more of this."

Xox's eyes glowed a deep dark crimson as he mulled this over. A few tense moments passed. The power finally went out and the auxiliary system kicked on. He hated it, but D'jonn was correct. They were not in a position to continue this fight. He ground his teeth, trying to prolong the moment when he would have to give the order.

"COMMANDANT?!" D'jonn barked.

* * *

Terri looked down at her control panel. The Urthean vessel was hailing them. She acknowledged it, getting up out of the com chair and approaching the screen, placing her hand absentmindedly on the back of Land's chair. His shoulders tensed, but she missed that detail.

The screen flickered and Xox's visage appeared. His eyes were glowing, standing out from the dim lighting around him.

"Raptor...cease fire! We will comply and leave immediately," Xox said and then he raised a brow. "Who...who are you?"

"Acting Captain Terri Lu," Terri said.

"Where is the other rodent?" Xox sneered, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"That's none of your concern," Terri snapped back. "If you want to live to see the next thirty seconds, I suggest you call off your goons on the surface, pack up, and get the hell out of our space."

Xox glared. "Very well...yes...." He nodded off to someone off screen. "I will need time to recover my ships."

"Make it quick," Terri said. "You have worn my patience thin, Commandant."

"As you wish," Xox replied. "Give my regards to your Captain. In his absence, he has provided me a cunning adversary. Pray we never meet face to face." Xox said with a savage sneer that made Terri inwardly shudder. That being said, the transmission cut off.

"That was impressive," Gel Fenrix said to Terri. "I appreciate you allowing my attendance on your bridge."

Terri nodded and sat down in the command chair, taking in a deep breath. "Take us into orbit, Mr. Land. Let's get our people home."

"I need to return to my crew. I trust you will see to it that we are taken care of once we return to your Starbase," Fenrix asked.

"I'll see to it myself." Terri replied. "It will take some time, but if you are seriously considering defecting, I'm sure you will be granted asylum."

"You have my thanks," Fenrix said with a bow.

"Security, if you would escort her back to the cargo bay," Terri said.

Fenrix got up and was escorted off the bridge.

* * *

Later

Terri stood in the gangway and activated the lowering mechanism. Sunlight and crisp air flooded into the compartment as she held tightly to a wall mount. The new world's smells and air surrounded her. The ship gently thudded as it's landing struts struck the ground as the gangway made contact with the ground. She stepped down only to hear the cheers of the away team as she did so. She shielded her eyes from the sunlight as she held the handrail on her way down. Harry, Jakar and O'mara were at the front of the group approaching the ship.

"Captain! It's good to see you again," Terri grinned.

"You too Captain," Harry said with a smile. "Is she still shipshape, Lieutenant?" He asked more formally, glancing up at all the scorch marks dotting the Raptor's surface and the various holes in the hull.

"As best she can be. We've got a lot of holes to patch up, but I think we can get home," Terri replied.

"The entrance was a nice touch."

"Transporters are down," Terri admitted, blushing a little. "We may not have much time. I figured this was the fastest way possible to get people on the ship."

"Good Idea," he said as he led her off to the side. "Ok, everyone get on the ship. I'll need teams to grab one of our remaining shuttles and go get the others with Jakar and O'mara. Be sure we get all the samples we came for."

Some hands shot up in the group. "Good. Get to it. The rest of you get on board and get to your departments. It sounds like we got a lot of work inside."

Crew members started up the gangplank. Jakar and O'mara went ahead and headed into the ship.

"Nice landet," Harry teased Terri, making sure everyone got on board.

"Oh! Thanks...I...."

"Don't worry about it. You can keep it. Just change the frills so you don't get in trouble." Harry smiled. "It looks good on you."

"Thanks," Terri blushed, a little embarrassed. "We have some passengers."

"Oh?"

"A crew of one of the Scutta's that attacked us. I transported them off their ship before it was destroyed. It's all in the report and..." she suddenly started feeling dizzy and she stumbled a little. Harry caught her.

"I'll get caught up, Lieutenant. Why don't you go get some rest? You've done enough," He said smiling.

Terri smiled gratefully and nodded.

* * * "

Captain's Log Supplemental:

With the away teams recovered from the surface, and all of us safely back on board, with Xox retreating back to Urthean space, we are on our way back home. We did successfully complete the survey and after the appropriate tactical measures are taken, the planet will be colonized.

The wayward crew of the Urthean Scutta that was destroyed will be picked up by Starfleet and processed. They have requested asylum and they will be taken care of after they have been properly convalesced. I can only hope that something good will come out of all this.

Why and how Xox knew where to find us is a mystery that I intend to get to the bottom of. That will take some time. It could be paranoia, but I suspect there is something at work behind the scenes. For now, I have a junior officer for whom I need to get a report from, whom I hope took my advice and got some rest.

"So," Harry said. He sat at his desk, fresh off a hot shower and change of uniform. "After you had nearly been crippled, the ship somehow repaired itself? With no notification of any systems?"

"Yes sir," Terri replied. "I've had Jenna check the whole database and there is no record of it anywhere. However, it did happen and here we are." She paused in thought. "I think, if anything, we should be grateful it happened."

"Yes, in any normal ship I would agree," Harry said, leaning back in his chair. "However, this is the Raptor. It's a hybrid of alien and Confederation technology and I will have this ship thoroughly checked out when we get back."

Terri nodded in agreement.

"Regardless, for your first time as acting Captain, and considering the circumstances," Harry smiled, "you didn't do too bad."

"Thank you, sir." Terri blushed slightly. "I think you are being overzealous in your praise though."

"Why?" Harry asked, leaning forward and interlacing his fingers as he rested his elbows on his desk. "The ship is in one piece, you rescued the away team, you saved the Urthean's crew's lives, and we are heading home." He smiled, letting that sink in. "That, in my book Lieutenant, is a supreme job, all things considered."

Terri seemed a bit swollen with pride, but she simply nodded.

"Since we are out on the frontier, Mr. Rivas and Fara will recover within the next month from what the Doctor tells me. I will be needing someone to fill in temporarily as my first officer. Will you accept the position?"

Terri was staggered by the offer. "Sure...I think...I mean, yes sir!"

"Very well," Harry smiled, interlacing his fingers as his hands rested on his desk. "You are one of the hardest working members of this crew and a very capable officer. You are familiar with the ship's systems and how it operates and, right now, I have an ops and first officer position that needs filled. At least, until Mr. Rivas recovers from his injuries. As of right now, I am granting you the rank of Lieutenant Commander for outstanding leadership and performance in a combat situation." He grabbed a small parcel that was obscured by his desk terminal. He stood up and walked over to her, opening the box. There was a pip set for Lieutenant Commander inside. He held it out to her.

"Don't I have to take a test before it's official?"

"Yes, there is a written one, but the simulation won't be required. Upon reviewing your performance in the preceding events, I think the simulation would be unnecessary. You carried yourself admirably, even when it looked like all was lost and the crew carried on based on that. Most people can't stay calm like that when they are looking death straight in the eye, and when death blinked, you fought like hell to keep the ship and your crew out of its grasp."

He placed the box in her hands. "It's yours. You have earned it."

Terri nervously took the rank pins off and set it on the desk before she placed the new pins on her uniform above her left breast.

"Congratulations, Commander," Harry smiled. "Tomorrow, turn in your golds for reds."

"Thank you, Captain," Terri said, smiling, feeling scared and proud all at the same time.

"Now, I have a few things I need to take care of and a lot of calls to make," Harry said, heading back to his chair. "If you wouldn't mind taking my place on the bridge?"

"Yes, sir," Terri replied, turning to leave.

As she left the Captain's ready room, her head was swimming. It was like being in a daze as she stepped back onto the bridge. Land turned to glance at her as she entered and turned back to his station. She walked over to his chair and peered at the readouts. They were still a few hours from home.

"Everything, ok, sir?" Land asked.

The old venom of animosity still rippled under her otherwise joyous mood at the moment.

"For now. Anything to report?"

"Nothing on scanners, not even a subspace eddy current," Land replied.

"How's the hand?" Terri asked, still not sure how he had gotten injured or why the hand wasn't patched in the normal way. It was held together with traditional stitches.

Land flexed the hand. "It's nothing."

"Then steady as she goes, Ensign," Terri replied, heading over to the command chair and crossing her legs as she sat down.

O'mara looked over at her and smiled. "Congrats Terri!" She said, pointing to her own pips.

"Thanks," Terri replied, "I'll be taking Lt. Commander Rivas' place until he returns to duty."

O'mara nodded. "You'll do fine, don't worry."

Terri nodded and leaned back in the command chair, sighing. Her eyes drifted down to Land. She was still hurt about what had happened earlier and wasn't quite sure what to do with him. She knew he couldn't possibly understand how deeply he wounded her, but she would try to forgive him. It would just take time, but maybe he'd catch on.

If he didn't, then it was his loss.

She stared at the sea of stars on the view screen, took a deep breath and lost herself in them.

* * *

Elsewhere

"Yes, did you take care of it?" A voice asked as D'jonn's image appeared on a screen.

"No, they managed to get away," D'jonn replied.

There was a sigh.

"Look, I am not out here to do your dirty work, for you." D'jonn snarled. "If you want these pests gone, contact the Paraxenos or Argosians. I'm not going to stick my neck out with what compensation you are giving us."

"What would be appropriate compensation?" The voice sasked.

"Seven hundred and fifty million credits," D'jonn snapped back.

"That's preposterous!"

"Then go find a better deal." D'jonn said. "My Commandant was less than pleased with the outcome of this operation."

"Fine, I'll find other means. I still expect a shipment of ore within the next week."

"You will have your blasted ore," D'jonn growled. "We will be taking payment in advance this time. We have repairs that need to be made."

"Very well..." The voice replied. The sound of fingers typing on a keypad was heard.

D'jonn looked to something off-screen and seemed slightly less aggravated.

"Pleasure doing business with you. I will let you know when it is ready to be picked up," D'jonn sneered, cutting off the channel.

"Damnable Urtheans," the voice growled. If only he didn't need that ore, he would be done with them. However, the project was nearing completion and once it was he would soon turn it against them.

And the sooner he was rid of them, the better.

The End