Mission 3: The Other Side

Ixarys sat in the chair opposite Drexel while bouncing her right foot in small circles, a nervous habit of hers. She looked into the older man's eyes and sighed, looking away. They were nothing like Xander's. Ixarys bit her lip while deciding what in the world to say. "Sir, I'm not sure any of this will come out right, but let me explain my reasons for such before I continue."

Drexel nodded, listening.

"Please don't think I am holding anything back, I swear on my parents' graves I'm not. I...I just can't exactly make sense of my feelings at the moment for myself, so it's difficult to even attempt to put them into words for someone else."

Drexel slightly raised an eyebrow in puzzlement and intrigue. "Go on, Lieutenant."

"Sir, I am truly concerned for the well-being of Lieutenant Commander Xander. It sounds silly but I feel very....responsible for him. Well, no. Not responsible... He and I seem to share a connection of some sort, though I have yet to place my finger on it exactly," she sighed softly, again trying to gather her thoughts. "I do not mean to go too personal Sir, but for the past four years I have been a shell of myself. I just trudged on through the Academy because I felt there was nothing else to do, no other options." Ixarys took a deep breath as she felt her emotions stirring within her. She had never truly hinted let alone talked about Roan, aloud, to anyone since the day he had left. "I felt as if my heart had shattered, I had no purpose." She stubbornly wiped at a tear that had slipped through her barrier, disgusted with herself for letting it fall. And then met the Captain's eyes. "For the first time in ages Sir, I feel important. Though I have no clue how or why or to what end... I need him to make it through this though."

"Okay, well uh..." Drexel started, though he seemed unsure of where to truly begin.

"This is coming out all wrong." Ixarys complained. "It is a very deep connection, that no offense, but it is deeper than I can give words to, to make you fully understand. I believe it may have something to do with him and I both being telepathic. My instinct just screams inside me, my very existence depends solely upon his."

Bells from electronic slot machines chimed, a faint aroma of scented cigars filled the Bellagio casino, and a soft lull of people's chatter filled the air. The holodeck now ran a simulation of an earlier version of Las Vegas, before all the crime lords messed it up and later a complete reconstruction. This was perhaps the city's most glamorous time. A pair of kings lay in his hands. Aedan could win this round finally. He seemed to have had the worst luck recently, most likely because of recent events. He always believed that you made your own luck, and now was a good time for his comeback. Now he just needed someone or something to give him the chance...

=/\= Bixby to Aschenbrenner. =/\=

=/\= Yes Doctor, this is Aschenbrenner. =/\= A plan had already formulated in his head.

=/\= I am going to send a blood sample down to you that I would like you to check out. I need to know what the origin of the blood is. =/\=

Aedan felt a bit perturbed about the call on his personal time. =/\= I’m extremely busy right now doctor, I will get to it as soon as I can. =/\=

=/\= It’s a sample that I pulled from Xander, its important Aedan. =/\=

=/\= Ok, I’ll see what I can do. =/\= He sighed deeply, glanced around, and shoved everything in the center. "I bet it all."

A few of the others, thinking he was giving up then and there decided to go for it and called it. Strangely (and gratefully for Aedan), nothing beat the pair of kings. He turned his cards over, receiving disapproving glares from the other officers. "Keep on playing, boys. I'll be back shortly."

---

Aedan rounded the corner in the hallway and walked straight for the doors to the science labs--as they opened, Lt. Davis was exiting and he nearly ran into her, narrowly missing by micrometers. Davis was a bit startled, but then regained her composure and greeted briefly. "Lt. Aschenbrenner...I was just here concerning the work on the RF pulse."

"Ah, I see. Did Lt. Lem help you with that?"

"Yes, I am on my way back to engineering to makes some modifications now."

"Good to hear that." He entered the lab, where Lem was piecing together a report of sorts.

"Lieutenant," Lem greeted. "A medical officer brought by a sample of what appears to be blood."

"Yes, I was expecting that. I think the crew needs to learn to depend on you more. It's not like being a Betazoid scientist is a bad thing..." Lem smirked but continued typing. "Anyway, I have a feeling that the story behind this sample has an explanation of a sensitive nature behind it, so that's probably why I was contacted instead of you."

"How was your sleep?"

"Horrible, honestly. We've made tremendous scientific breakthroughs in the past 500 years, and still can't solve the problem of bad dreams...ethically, that is. So, instead I went and played a bit of poker. Whipped everyone's ass on my last hand." Aedan slipped the sample into a device. "I don't know why they want me to analyze this sample. I'm sure the doctor could do the same as I can..."

"Maybe he needed a different approach? Like the how of it all."

"Perhaps. And the NMR scan indicates it is perfectly normal...no contagions. However...chemical analysis seems to indicate slight variation of structures...did the medical officer leave a report behind? Ah, yes, here." He read through it, nodding. "Yes, yes, I'm getting the same readings. Hmm...so what is this other chemical?" He glanced at the new data coming up on the screen and back at the report. "That 20%...ah, crap. This is not making any sense."

He glanced at Lt. Lem and excused himself to his office. =/\= Aschenbrenner to Bixby. =/\=

=/\= I'm here, Lieutenant. =/\=

=/\= I need you to verify some things for me. =/\= He brought up the results to the console at his desk. =/\= Are you finding any contagions? Viruses, bacteria, nanobots? =/\=

=/\= No, I haven't. The unknown part of the blood is something blood-like, but I have no idea. =/\=

=/\= Well, scans are indicating that it's just a chemical change. Like the molecules are rearranging themselves. You might know something more about this than me. Tell me, do Vulcans have a disease like the HIV outbreak a few centuries ago? =/\=

=/\= As far as I know, no. I suppose it is like a retrovirus, effect-wise, but we haven't found anything like that. =/\=

=/\= What if the blood cells themselves are acting like viruses? Attacking and converting the other ones? =/\=

=/\= I'll have to observe it to make sure. =/\=

=/\= Where do you think it came from? =/\= Aedan posed.

=/\= Who knows. It may have been a random mutation of one of the cells because of the RF blast, or he may have picked it up due to some contact on the Starbase. Perhaps this is an ancient disease. I don't know, the possibilities are endless at the moment. =/\=

=/\= So are we calling this Vulcan blood cancer? Vulcan AIDS? =/\=

=/\= I wouldn't be making a joke about this, Lieutenant, =/\= Bixby disapproved.

=/\= Sorry, I'm just tired of all the seriousness right now. We need some humor now and then. Most if not all the crew is doused with fear now we are heading back into the Sataran expanse. =/\=

=/\= I know. I can just imagine there being all sorts of new challenges from here on out. =/\=

=/\= I can just imagine. Well, I gotta get back to my poker game. =/\=

=/\= Poker game? Is that what was so important? =/\=

Aedan cursed. =/\= Well, uh, yeah. I had to make it sound convincing to the others. =/\=

=/\= Right...next time, invite me. Bixby out. =/\=

---

Aedan returned to the holodeck, only to find it vacated. Everyone already upped and left. Well, that intimidated them, he thought. But maybe I can run some simulations on white hole theory...

David let out a sigh of relief. The beacon was programmed and ready to deploy. It wasn't a difficult task, just a tedious one, and those were the ones that annoyed Mayne the most.

He looked over to his right. Xander, as usual, was not at his post. Commander Mena was still filling in for the dilapidated Vulcan.

"Commander Mena, the beacon is complete, and ready for launch" David said to the First Officer.

"Excellent, just in time Lieutenant, we are arriving at our previous coordinates in the Sataran Expanse. I better notify the Captain"

=/\=Mena to Drexel=/\=

=/\=Yes Commander, what is it=/\=

=/\=Sir we have arrived at our destination, and Lieutenant Mayne has informed me that the communication beacon is ready to be deployed.=/\=

=/\=Acknowledged Commander, I will be right out=/\=

David felt his adrenaline kick in. They were right back to where it all began, and this time they were looking for trouble. It would not be long now before they were in the middle of the shit storm, and David did not want to be the one whose head exploded. He cast a look back at the where Ixarys should have been, her station currently vacant, and he hoped and prayed the shield modifications she made would keep them safe.

"Looks like our chat is up" Arron said to Ixarys. "I trust you will be able to handle your connection with Xander in a matter that wont interfere with your duties as my Tactical Officer?"

"Absolutely Captain"

"If you feel compromised because of your telepathic link, i expect you to inform Doctor Bixby immediately. Now, report back to your station, things could get crazy around here"

"Yes Sir" said Ixarys. They both rose from their seats and stepped onto the Bridge.

"Go to Red Alert, Commander Mena, Report!" Arron called as he took his Captains Seat.

"We are holding steady Captain." said the First Officer as the lights went red and alarms sounded.

"Shields up, weapons charged, and the new targeting program is on standby" Ixarys informed. She looked back to her screen, "I'm not showing anything on the sensors"

"Looks like they don't know we are here yet" Said Mena confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure" said Drexel. " Its possible we are being watched" Drexel said starring out of the viewscreen intently.

"Alright, Lieutenant Mayne, release the communication beacon"

"Aye sir"

=/\=Bridge to Engineering. are you ready recreate the RF Pulse?=/\=

=/\=I believe so Captain=/\= Came the voice of Lindsey Davis

=/\=Then you may proceed, Bridge out=/\=

The turbolift doors opened and out stepped Aschenbrenner.

"Red Alert?" he asked hurrying to his station.

"We have arrived Lieutenant. Engineering is beginning the RF pulse recreation. Standby to receive telemetry." Drexel ordered.

"Aye Captain" said the Chief Science Officer.

Captain Arron Drexel
Commanding Officer
USS Discovery
Bridge

Lindsey watched from her work station as a communications beacon was released. It was encased in a photon torpedo casing per her instructions. The beacons momentum carried it a few thousand feet off the ships hull. Lindsey waited until she deemed the distance perfect to begin releasing the tetratholium gas. A dark red mist began to disperse from both of the Ram Scoops located on the front of each nacelle.

"Dispersion rate is at maximum" called Ensign Jameson from a seperate terminal next to Lindsey.

"Lieutenant! Im reading a large power surge coming from the plasma manifolds!" cried Petty Officer Mena.

"What!?!" Lindsey shrieked. 'Shut it down! Shut it down now!" She boomed.

"I'm trying" the NCO said, panic evident in her voice.

"Jameson help her out! If that surge hits the nacelles, it will ignite the gas, blowing us all to hell!" Lindsey bellowed.

"Dammit!' said Jameson who had rushed over to Mena's workstation. "I cant reroute power, the manifolds power couplings have completely fused. The surge is going to spill into other systems, starting a domino effect that will be impossible to contain."

"Fuck!" =/\=Davis to Drexel, Captain we have a situation. Something has caused a power surge in Engineering, we have been unable to contain it, and now we are at risk of igniting the gas cloud if the surge hits the Nacelles. =/\=

=/\=What kind of damage are we looking at from an ignition?=/\= the Captain asked.

=/\=The explosion will be short lived due to the vacuum of space, but the shockwave will knock us on our ass sir. Needless to say it wont be pretty=/\=

=/\=What are our options?=/\= Drexel demanded.

=/\=We can power off the ship, that should be enough to stop the surge, however, it will cause damage to whichever system its running through at the time of the powering down. Otherwise we can shut off the Ram Scoops, and warp out of the area, but our warp field will neutralize the gas and make it useless for our RF Pulse. Which ever we do, we better decide quick=/\= Lindsey advised.

Arron's brow furrowed as the two choices rolled over his brain. Commander Mena looked back at him. "Sir, obviously we can’t just sit here with the power out, look what happened last time. We need to retreat; we can get more gas back at the Starbase"

"NO!" Arron said, the harshness surprising even him. "We can’t waste anymore time" thoughts of his wife and daughter were haunting him now. The longer they spent going back and forth meant the chances of finding his family grew increasingly slim.

"Sir! We can not endanger the lives of the crew, we have already lost good men and women, lets not throw anymore lives away needlessly."

"Commander, I will not spend another 48 hours preparing for this mission, we are here now, our assets are in place, and I will not wait any longer.'

Mena looked as if he was going to make a rebuttal, Arron shot him am angry look, his eyes flashing with menace. Arron had suddenly become enveloped with the fear that wasting more time would cost him the chance to find his daughter. The locket he kept in his pants pocket was burning a fire in him.

=/\=Lindsey, power down the damn ship=/\=

=/\=Aye sir=/\=she said, sounding relieved a decision had been made.

The hum of the engines stopped. The slight vibrations throughout the ship faded, and the lights began to dim. The silence was broken by Ixarys voice, as she called out words that sent a chill down Arron’s Spine. "RF Pulse detected!" Before Arron could tap his comm badge to cancel the shutdown, the bridge went pitch black. A distant explosion could be heard as the power surge caused the destruction of some unforeseen ship system. Arron didn’t need any lights on to feel the blood in his face drain. <My God, what have I done!>

“Xander…. Wake up Xander”

Xander’s eyes slowly began opening. He could see a faint image of someone standing above him. It was Dr. Bixby.

“Where am I? What did you do to me? asked the groggy Vulcan.

“You’re in sick bay. I sedated you a couple hours ago in your cabin and transferred you to sick bay a little while ago. We have been running some tests on your blood and examining those lesions on your shoulders” replied Bixby.

“What were the results doctor?” asked Xander.

“We haven’t finished analyzing the last sample I extracted from you, but we believe you may have become infected by someone or something. That may explain your erratic emotional behavior” replied Bixby.

“And what about the lesions?” asked Xander.

“I cut the hard part of the lesion out of your shoulder so we can examine them further. And few shots of hypospray and now you can barely tell they were there”

Xander looked down to his feet. It appeared they were in a special boot. “And what about these?” asked Xander.

“I have placed your feet in special walking boots that over time will allow your feet to return to their normal form. Honestly Xander, we won’t know much more about what has happened to you until we complete some more tests on the blood and tissue samples we took from you”

“Am I cleared to return to my post?” asked Xander.

“Your vital signs are normal, and your neurological functions also checked out. I don’t see any medical reason why you can’t return to your post, and that is the recommendation I will give the Captain” explained Bixby.

“For now I would suggest you head over to the mess hall and get something to eat. You need to recharge your batteries and get re-focused on this mission. If your lesions come back or you have any problems at all, please let me know. In the meantime I will let you know if we come up with anything at the lab regarding your blood or tissue samples” said Bixby.

“Thank you doctor” said Xander now smiling.

Xander sat up from the sick bay bed and made his way to the exit when the sound of the ship’s red alert sirens and lights filled the sick bay.

<What’s going on now?> Xander wondering to himself.

Xander was out of uniform wearing only a sick bay gown. He did not have his communicator with him. He made his way out into the hallway outside the sick bay. Several members of the crew were running through the hallways. Xander stopped a young male Ensign;

“Do you have a status update Ensign? Why is the ship in red alert?” asked Xander.

“I….. don’t….know……” the Ensign said clamoring his words together as he continued his way down the hall.

Xander’s cabin we several decks up from the sick bay, so he decided to make his way to down to the docking bay to see if he could find another officer that could get him in touch with the Captain.

There was a lot of commotion near the docking bay doors as crew members were rushing supplies in and out of the area, preparing the ship for anything that might occur during a red alert. Near the end of the hall Xander spotted an officer directing crew members around docking bay. As Xander approached the officer he could hear the engines of the ship shutting off. The lights began to dim as everyone in the area suddenly stopped what they were doing. Xander crouched down as the hallway went black. For a few seconds there was complete silence. Then…..

“Breach! Everyone get down!”

Xander made his way through the crowd of people that began leaving the area. The crashing sound and violent movement of the ship told Xander they were in big trouble.

“Don’t let them through that door!” yelled out Xander to the officer near the docking bay doors. The loss of power on the ship left the docking bay doors open about half way.

“My god!” shouted the officer.

The officer pulled out his phaser and began shooting through the door. Xander was only a few feet away when the officer was shot right in the face. The smell of burning flesh made Xander’s stomach turn. He had never seen anything like it. He ran up to the officer and pulled him away from the door. More shots were going off in the docking bay which meant more people were dying out there.

Xander felt helpless, not sure of what to do. Xander grabbed the phaser out of the officer’s hands and stood up. A rush of adrenaline went through his body as he grabbed both sides of the doors and began closing them. He could see the shots going off in the docking bay. He could not see who was shooting though; it was almost as if they were invisible. And the high pitched sound they were making was almost deafening.

Once Xander got the doors closed he grabbed the officer’s PADDS and jammed it into the bottom of the doors. He also grabbed the officer’s communicator.

=/\= Xander to Captain Drexel =/\=

It was no use, the power was out. He needed to alert the bridge about what was going on. Xander ran down the hall and entered a utility closet. He sat down and began working his mind into deep thought. He was trying to reach Ixarys telepathically.

Ixarys, this is Xander. There has been a breach of the ship down at the docking bay. Someone or something is on the ship. We are under attack; I don’t know how long I can keep them in the docking bay area. Please alert the Captain.

Nothing…….

Xander kept trying, hoping the message would reach Ixarys before it was too late.

Ixarys was grateful she had seen the detection before all power was lost, but wished more than anything it had been a trick of the eye. They were now essentially sitting ducks and one could almost taste the hysteria building on the Bridge. Fighting a slight nauseous wave, Ixarys steadied herself against the console. Typically she had control over her telepathy but there were times, usually in an atmosphere of sheer panic, when things began to overwhelm her. She closed her eyes despite that the Bridge was already black, and attempted to slow her breathing. She felt a soft nagging in the back of her mind and tried to shake it off. She needed her head clear more than anything at the moment. It came again, this time a gentle pull. But why? It was like something or someone was trying to get her attention. Xander! she exclaimed to herself. She then began ordering her mind clear, pushing out the panic and thoughts of her close-by colleagues and those of her own. She felt the pull slightly stronger this time, but heard no words. After multiple attempts to establish a connection, Ixarys began to feel her own panic spread throughout her, bile rising in her throat. She knew this was important, but even for the strength of these two telepaths, the distance was further complicating the matter.

There had been constant chatter and exchange of feelings and ideas since the power had gone out, but the internal thoughts that kept streaming through Ixarys' mind that were not her own were getting to be too much to get in contact with Xander. Losing control over her temper slightly, Ixarys yelled into the darkness. "Everyone shut the hell up!" Of course the exact opposite happened. She earned a few harsh marks in return and she had to yell louder to be heard. "Damnit this is important! Lt. Commander Xander is trying to contact me. I need everyone to shut their mouth, and for the love of all things holy, think of absolutely nothing for one minute!" Fewer voices than before began to throw out a retort when Captain Drexel cut them off. "Do as she says, damnit....that's an order!" Ixarys nodded gratefully in his direction though he could not see it through the darkness. Too slow for her personal taste, the crew upon the Bridge began to calm and quiet themselves enough that Ixarys felt she might be able to hear Xander.

She waited.

She called out to him. Xander.

Silence.

Damnit, Xander, I know it's you. Where are you....

The silence continued.

Just before her panic could return, she heard him.

Ixarys? His gentle voice warmed her to the core as if she stood in broad daylight. It pushed away at the fear that had begun to build.

Xander, it's me. What's going on?

There has been a breach of the ship down at the docking bay. Someone or something is on the ship. We are under attack; I don’t know how long I can keep them in the docking bay area. Please alert the Captain.

The nausea hit Ixarys instantly. They had been boarded?!

She quickly responded Stay safe..and stay in touch. I'll keep you informed. Please Xander, please be careful.

"Captain! We've been boarded and are under attack! There is a breach in the docking bay. Xander is unsure how long he can hold them off."

The voice of his tactical officer was ringing in his ears. Arron was trying to force himself to think, but the shock of what happened was keeping his mind fuzzy.

"Captain! What are your orders?" came the voice of of Commander Mena, somewhere in front of him.

The Commanders voice was enough for Arron to snap out of his mental disarray, and suddenly his mind was free.

"Ixarys, Stone, Mayne, get down to Xander to provide some backup. Mena, I need you to get to Engineering, and find out why the power is still offline. Aschenbrenner, you and I will hold down the Bridge with the rest of the NCO's up here. See if you can get some of the backup lights operational, we should still have battery power available. You were all given side arms earlier, we were prepared for something like this. Trust in your training. Now get moving" Arron said.

"Right, sir," muttered Aedan after the captain dished out his orders. "I'll just pop out the alien baby that I was impregnated with last attack and hook him up to the ship and use its bioelectrical energy to power the lights..."

"Pardon?" Drexel turned, obviously hearing the grumble.

"I said, sir, I think I know of an access to one of the ship's microfusion generators through your ready room. It'll take some time to find it, but once I do, it's just seconds before we have back up power."

"Get to it, then."

Aedan nodded and relocated to the ready room. The claim he made to the captain was an outright lie, but it gave him ideas still. He followed the energy route that powered the console and panels in the ready room--systems like this were usually powered by a local source, just as a precaution, and if he was lucky, he could probably get a hold of one. After removing the outer layers of the works underneath a panel, he stood up, seeing if there was something on the desk that he could use to pry when, shockingly, he noticed a microfusion generator resting on the desk. Does the captain usually have generators for paperweights? he wondered, as his eyes rested on a greenish sticky note resting on the generator. "What the hell..." he cried, and then glanced around, searching for someone. "Are you here? Anyone?" There was of course no reply, and Aedan hastily took the note and put it in his pocket folded up.

Now here was the gamble: what the note only lead to more confusion. It wasn't mere chance that it the generator was placed here--but by whom? If the Katesh placed it there as a trap, it may destroy them all if he hooked them up. But if it was a friend...

Aedan rushed out to the bridge with the generator under one arm. There was an access before the turbolift that he could hook up to for basic systems--lights, maybe life support. After tripping over more than his own feet a few times, he made it to the access and ragingly worked to connect the generator. About a minute later, the lights on the entire level flickered on. "Give me another minute, and I think I could have the communication system also hot-wired into this." He was glad that the generator had worked, but had overlooked something before. "Aw, shit. Captain, it looks like this generator was damaged. We only have about a half hour on it and if we overload it, we might see something catastrophic."

Ixarys didn't need to be told twice, nor did she wait for Stone and Mayne.

Hold on Xander, we're on our way! Just keep them at bay until we can get there!

Trying.... he responded.

Before she was halfway through the Jeffries Tubes heading towards Xander's position, the lights flickered on, aiding the trio's pace. In much shorter time than most would deem possible (considering the circumstance), she found Xander crouched for cover around a corner bulkhead. Stone and Mayne rushed forward, taking Xander's spot, dodging shots and returning fire. Xander retreated for a brief moment to fill Ixarys in on everything that had happened with the breach. Her heart hammering at seeing his distress, Ixarys hurried into his arms and kissed him fiercely before he could utter a word. Realizing her actions, Ixarys blushed slightly and broke the kiss.

<ooc> Won't be around for the next two weeks, so I'm going to post something now to put me out for a bit. </ooc>

Aedan diverted a small portion of the energy to the science station and ran through some of the logs of scans right before the power shutoff. He found what he was looking for. "Captain, our sensors picked up local white hole activity...whatever these white holes are, I have strong proof that they are linked to the Katesh."

"Can we predict them in the future?"

"Of course, we can. If we have a future." He shut off the console's power. "Looks like we have 20 minutes remaining on the generator. Captain, I need to get in contact Lt. Lem--I think I have an idea of exactly how things went wrong this time..." The doors opened at the back of the bridge and everyone turned. Nothing was there.

"Is the power routed to those doors?" someone asked.

"No," Aedan replied, "it looked like it was opened manually." Everyone, now on guard, watched the doorway for anything that moved.

In an instant, several phasor pulses sprayed into the room, and everyone retaliated aiming at the unseen target. Aedan was hit in the shoulder near his neck, fell back, and passed out, while whatever was at the door snarled and stopped firing. "Did we hit it?" someone asked.

"I can't tell. I can't see it at all."

David was hunkered down in the corridor. There was a strong smell of sulfur in the air, along with burned metal from the phaser fight. Xander had some how managed to keep the Katesh from advancing any further than the docking bay section, but they had repeatedly fallen back to a position where they were now in danger of losing control of the deck. Mayne was sure that he had seen some Katesh enter a turbolift they had lost control over. Unfortunately with comm system down they had no way to inform the Bridge. And the Katesh...they truly were horrific. Unlike anything David had ever seen before. Their skin was a deep red, tough looking, and almost lizard like without scales. Their eyes were purple and large, and the creatures were powerfully built. Man to man combat was definitely not recommended.

"There are too many of them!" David called out. "We cant hold this position much longer"

"I have an idea!" Stone bellowed over the firefight. "We need to start a fire on the deck, that will allow us to manually decompress the deck, forcing all oxygen out of here. They wont be able to breathe"

"Neither will we!" Ixarys said ducking behind a bulkhead as a laser slammed into the spot she just was. "Thats why you and Ensign Fairchild will retreat to the emergency locker down the hall, obtain some breathing masks for us, while Xander, Mayne and I hold the position"

"You wont last!" said Fairchild, the security officer they had met up with minutes earlier.

"We will if you hurry" Mayne called.

"Once you make it back, we can figure out how to destroy the life support system on the deck." Stone added.

David watched as Xander and Ixarys looked at each other. Xander nodded, which seemed to be all the encouragement Ixarys needed. "Okay, stay alive, we'll be right back" Xander and David both popped out from their cover to provide covering fire as Ixarys and Fairchild took off running down the hall behind them.

The bridge was dead quiet. Everyone was straining to hear any movement coming from the turbolift from the unknown assailant. "Mena, check it out" Arron ordered to his first officer.

Felix slowly approached the turbolift. Ensign Krage'ek a Klingon weapons officer drew up next to the Commander. Both had their phasers drawn, smoke poured out from the turbolift, burn marks were everywhere from errant phaser fire.

"There is a body in here" said Felix. "Like nothing Ive ever seen before either" he remarked. Krage'ek snarled, and stooped low to examine the body in the turbolift. "So, these are the Katesh" he said. "Consider me unimpressed" The Klingon said arrogantly. Felix took another step into the turbolift, when 2 red bodies dropped from above. One kicked hard out at Felix, who took the blow in the chest. He was hurled back into the bridge, crashing against the railing. Krage'ek cried out in rage, and tried to melee one of the Katesh with his phaser rifle. The rifle snapped as it hit the shoulder of the alien, seemingly doing no damage. The Katesh's mouth opened, and it screamed, a horrible, high pitch shriek. The other Katesh warrior grabbed Krage'ek, and lifted him off the floor. Arron was stunned as he witness the strength of the species. The warrior held the Klingon by the waist, and in one sudden shocking move, tore the Klingon in two. Arron raised his phaser and fired. The other bridge officers did the same. The two katesh were able to absorb the phaser blasts. Their thick skin seemed to protect them. Arron dialed the phasers power up to a higher setting, his next shot burned a hole through the skin of the nearest assailant. The katesh screamed in pain, then charged Arron. Arron fired again, striking his attacker in the face. The Katesh continued his rush of Arron. Arron tried to dive out of the way, but a powerful forearm sent him sprawling to the floor 2 meters from where he once stood. Arron felt blackness encroach his vision, but fought off the desire to sleep. Amazingly, he was still clutching his phaser. He fired repeatedly into the Katesh, who was closing in for what could only have been the killing blow. Suddenly the aliens eyes went wide. Arron could see his reflection in the purple iris of the Katesh, whose limp body fell forward landing inches away from the Captain. Commander Mena stood behind him, covered in the purple blood form Krage'ek. "Get me a medical kit!" Arron said, as he crawled over to Aedan's body.

Lindsey and her team were working at a furious pace under the sparse lighting from the emergency back up stations. Cables had been pulled out of work stations, and were being splice together to route power to the ship. The power overload earlier had blown the main breaker in Engineering, and now the warp core could be powered up, but there was no way to channel that energy to the ships systems. Lindsey had her team working a bunch of ODN cables together, almost like an extension cord. They would direct power from the Warp Core to a station were back up generators are generally plugged in. In theory it would then be able to power up the ship to full until such a time as they could replace the parts in Engineering.

Lindsey watched as technicians began to stretch the mass of cables across the floor.

"Ma'am, were just about set here" Called one of the techs, whose face Lindsey couldn't see in the poor lighting.

"Excellent, hook it up, I will throw the switch"

A few minutes were all that passed before Lindsey was informed the cables were set. She pulled down the lever of the manual release, and sparks flew out of both ends, but the main lights flickered, and then stabilized. The Engines hummed to life, and power was restored throughout the ship.

Xander shot a few phaser pulses in the direction of the invading Katesh. He wasn’t sure if he was hitting anything, he only wanted to provide enough of a distraction so that Ixarys could get to the emergency locker.

Xander crouched back down after a brief stint of giving cover fire to Ixarys. Even with the passing of laser pulses around him, his thoughts remained focused on Ixarys. Why did she kiss him? The reasons weren’t clear, but it put a smile on Xander’s face for a brief moment.

Xander looked over at Stone;

“You sure this plan of yours is going to work Stone?”

“Hell if I know X, I’ve never tried something like this before. I know we wont last much longer if we don’t do something now, and I didn’t hear you offer a suggestion that was better!” yelled out Stone as he did his best to hold back the Katesh with his phaser pistol.

Within minutes Ixarys was back, breathing masks in hand.

“Man are we glad to see you” Mayne said smiling at Ixarys.

Xander didn’t say anything. He just gave Ixarys a passing glance and smiled at her intently.

“Ok here are the masks” Ixarys said handing them out to each of us.

“You’re up Stone” Ixarys said as she tossed a mask over to him.

It was late in the evening. Mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner (she always preferred doing this) while he continued planting the last few tulip bulbs along the edge of the garden bed. Tara, their honey-colored cocker spaniel was running around the lot chasing off birds that dared enter into the yard. He sat there, knees of his pants dirty, thinking--he knew he forgot something, but what? There was something he just had in the front of his mind but he couldn't recall it now...

Arwen wandered through the gate trying to be inconspicuous. "Hmmph," Aedan grunted, laying eyes on his sister, "what a nice time for you to drop by. We've got just about everything planted."

"I'm sorry, I just got tied up with Jenny and...one thing let to another..."

"Mum's disappointed. She...we were counting on this being a family day."

"Let me explain," Arwen insisted.

"Explain away, but it won't matter to mum."

Arwen opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out, so she closed it again. After seconds of her shifting side to side, she dropped her jacket and knelt next to the flowerbed, dug a two-fist hole, moved one of the flowers from the planter to the hole, and covered the rest with excess soil. Aedan watched, having mixed emotions. Angry, annoyed, sad, yet glad she had planted at least one plant. Her only one.

Her only one. Something didn't jive there, Aedan realized. He knew it was her only one. It was deja vu. No, it was something stronger than that, as if it happened once before.

The bomb.

Aedan jerked his head around toward the garden, where Tara was digging around.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Drexel rummaged through the medkit and pulled out a hypospray and a vial of kelotane to inject into Aedan's shoulder. Just as the hypospray was against the skin, Aedan jolted up, half asleep, half awake, and cried, "The bomb!"

"Calm down, Lieutenant, you are just getting a few shots," assured Drexel.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"The bomb!" he shouted at Arwen, who hardly noticed his worry. He stood up and tugged at his confused sister's arm, who replied, "Calm down, Lieutenant, you are just getting a few shots." Only, it was in the voice of the captain.
That's when Aedan realized it was just a dream. A reliving of one of the most horrid memories he and his sister ever witnessed as young teens. That's when a the fifty year-old hidden mine left in the vegetable garden exploded, taking their beloved dog with it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"It's just......hypospray...." someone assured, as Aedan's eyes widened.

"Hold on! There's a bomb!" No one seemed to understand what he was saying, and they held him down as he received his shots. "Captain! The generator I hooked up--it's rigged to blow."

"Lieutenant?" Drexel finally getting the clue pursued. "Explain."

There's not much time to explain...I believe the generator was rigged to be a bomb."

"And you knew this, yet activated it anyway?"

"No, sir, not at the time. It probably has a...an output gauge coupling...it's set up in a feedback loop." Aedan gasped, finally feeling the increasing pain in the shoulder and simultaneously the diffusion of the anesthetic. "It was given to us to be used as a bomb, not as a generator!"

"Hold on...as a bomb? Given?"

"Sir, we need to teleport that device off the ship."

Drexel took a moment to comprehend whether Aedan was just delusional or if there truly was an imposing threat. "Mena, disconnect that generator."

Commander Mena went over to the interface and ripped out the cables. "It's still running, Captain."

"How long do we have?" Drexel demanded.

"How long was I out?" His arm and shoulder was in between numb and on fire.

"A few minutes."

"Then we have about fifteen minutes. I must get down to the teleporter room..."

"No, Lieutenant. Stay here. Lt. Davis got the power on again. Commbadges are once again functional, I'll call someone on a lower deck to do it."