009 : Encounter

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein
Outside Nebula ::


Following David Tan's instruction to disengage the umbilicus connecting the El Alamein with the generation vessel, Captain Komin had decided to take the ship out of the nebula to contact Starbase Forty-Seven .....

Everyone on the Bridge was waiting as Fran Komin returned from her Ready Room:

"The Starbase has begun her transit to the location of the wormhole..." she said as she took her seat, glancing at the swirling maelstrom beyond the Defiant Class Vessel, "... They began their relocation some time ago but were unable to inform us, presumably due to that thing out there. So, it looks like we'll have some catching up to do once we're done here," Everyone was nodding as Alan Ross suddenly frowned.

"Captain..." Fran turned to her Operations Officer, "... If these readings are correct, the Itzamna is beginning to bring power online,"

"The Away Team?" she asked.

"Could be, but I can't see it ..... I picked up an explosion a few moments ago and had been trying to establish the cause. From here reading are sketchy at best, but I did register a matter/antimatter discharge, maybe an auxiliary power supply on the Korowia vessel or something failing when the ships' automated systems began activating systems ..... The only other thing I could think of off-hand would be a phaser," the Engineer said with a shrug.

"So someone is shooting in there?" Milo Van asked.

"I don't believe so Commander, I'd be inclined to suggest it was a phaser overloading,"

"Why would they do such a thing?" Vestidj, the Medical Officer asked rhetorically.

"One thing is for sure, we won't know out here," the Exec' stated.

"Helm, take us back into the nebula, bring us to three hundred meters of the opening we left earlier... Comms, begin trying to contact the Away Team, I want them out of there befo ...."

"Captain, the Itzamna is moving!"

"WHAT?!"

"One meter per second, but it's definitely moving, and under her own power," Ross said from Tactical.

"Get us in there, I want our people off that ship before it repairs itself enough to go to warp!" Komin said quickly, eyes locked on the swirling mass as they entered .....

Aboard Generation Vessel Itzamna ::

They were running along corridors, Clancy and Massa in front waving their phasers from side to side as they approached open doorways. Thankfully so far there had been no signs of the Halanan, but David wasn't relying on the fact that they may or may not have succeeded in disposing of the cannibalistic race with the gas released. Elena was holding onto the still doubled-over Evans while David and Tom Demik brought up the rear.

"Going right....." Massa whispered into the semi-darkness as he reached a cross corridor. As agreed they would try to make their way to the Portside and hopefully the outer bulkhead. This course of action could aid both the Away Team 'and' the El Alamein make contact, providing their path wasn't hindered by untold staving Halanan! ..... They could only guestimate their actual position on the ship, but as power continued to be supplied to services on the ship it was easier as the lighting was sporadically restored, so they weren't risking broken limbs racing through almost complete darkness.

They continued, now moving faster until Mass suddenly lept to his right, slamming his back against the bulkhead his phaser raised, a fraction of a second later Cancy had followed suit. Everyone else stopped in their tracks until Mass finally lowered his weapon and beckoned the others forward. In the adjoining corridor off to the left, were six Halanan, all dead!

"You said they were hundreds of Decks beneath us... How the hell did they get up here so quickly?" de Luca asked Evans menacingly, who grinned in response to her query.

"He said he'd been reanimating them for a while, so maybe these were the first," Massa commented as he moving forward. Aiming his phaser he kicked the corpse hard in the side of its head, then turned to the others, "Dead."

"How much further?" Elena asked, eyeing the Halanan with distaste.

"The ship is approximately one point one kilometers wide, so I'd estimate another two hundred meters before we can assume we're on the Port side proper?" Demik replied. David tapped his Comm badge:

=^= Away Team to El Alamein .. .. =^=

=^= Away Team to El Alamein .. .. =^= he repeated but again no reply.

"They may not be close enough, or can't break through the dampening field yet," Demik suggested, Tan nodded.

"Let's go," he said, motioning to Iorte and Nate to go ahead once more. They had gone less than twenty meters when something caught Massa's ankle for a second, forcing him to crash to the deck. Clancy had seen the movement and was already turning as he discharged his phaser! ..... Plasma energy lanced from the weapon burning a three-centimeter diameter hole through the Halanans' head! .... Massa and Clancy checked further along the corridor but didn't find any others alive. They returned to the others, the aroma of scorched flesh filling the air.

"How the 'HELL' was that alive?!" Tan was asking. He had Evans up against the bulkhead, hands firmly around his throat, Elena nor Tom Demik seemed inclined to interfere. David threw the man to the deck, knowing he was going too far but still feeling like killing the man on a whim would ease his annoyance.

"It's possible the cocktail wasn't dispersed evenly throughout the ship, so the higher Decks might have got less than the lower ones where the gas was initially dispersed," Massa suggested.

"While I would like to take you back to face trial for your actions, do not for one second believe that I wouldn't forego that to see you remain here a corpse," Tan said to the cowering Evans before taking a moment to calm his nerves, "OK, let's go... Keep an eye open, keep our pace to a brisk walk and try not to trip over anything hungry," he said, any humor unintentional. Taking a breath he waited for everyone to begin along the corridor, then with a glance behind him he followed. It was then he felt something beneath his feet, the others turned in his direction.

"We're moving," he said, matter-of-factly ..........

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein
Cargo-bay Four ::

The cube had been transported from Engineering into Cargo-bay Four ..... Komin's worries were twofold: Should the device continue to expand, they needed it out of Engineering, and more worrying, should it continue to increase mass it would eventually do damage to Engineering itself, relocating it meant that should the need arise, the 'bay could be depressurized and the device ejected into space quickly.


The Cargo-bay was empty apart from the rapidly reinforced plinth holding the cube, both were encased in a Level Ten forcefield, Nico Carré, Chief Engineer, was stood meters away, his arms crossed as he stared at the cube almost defying it to react in some way, but the thing remained annoyingly inactive. They had run every scan possible over and over but had no more information than when they discover the sphere within the cube. Thus far it had made one change to size and mass, and he was wondering if this action had coincided with the Korowia vessel beginning to power up her systems ..... The ship clearly had some form of 'self-repair' facility, at first, the minor damage began to disappear, but then Commander Ross had discovered that the vast opening, made days earlier by one of its own scout ships impacting the Portside before emerging from the Starboard, was now beginning to repair. He estimated that in six to seven hours, the opening they had previously entered, would be too small to accommodate the El Alamein!

Lieutenant Commander Carré was about to order yet another batch of scans when alarms began to sound throughout the Cargo-bay ..... The ship's computer informed him that the forcefield was coming under increased stress. Quickly he erected a second 'field around the first, hoping it would at least give them time to make a decision. He looked at the readings as the deck plates made a groaning sound for several seconds:

"These readings can't be right," he said, frowning as the Captain and Exec' entered the Cargo-bay.

"What's going on Commander?" Van asked.

"According to these readings... The sphere has increased in diameter by... Zero-point six four one on a centimeter, while the mass has increased by, bloody hell, eleven-point nine two metric TONNES!..." the Chief Engineer said hardly able to believe what he was seeing, "... I'm picking up power emanating from the sphere now, I had a feeling it was producing internal power, but we couldn't read anything if it was, but according to this, it is generating the equivalent output to one of our warp cores, in fact, the power output just surpassed one of our cores at the maximum output... Captain, I strongly recommend we get this thing off the ship while we still can!"

"You believe it could detonate, self-destruct?" Komin asked quickly.

"Captain, if that thing decided to go up, then it would take a substantial part of this Star System with it in my opinion," Carré said with conviction.

"Where's the power going?" Milo Van asked.

"My first guess... Would be the Korowia ship..." the Engineer said speculatively, "I think the more output, the faster that ship is repairing itself. Hell, those Korowia knew how to make sure they stayed safe," he finished.

"Makes you wonder why they all managed to get eaten by some cannibalistic race then," Van said with a hint of sarcasm.

"The Itzamna is still only moving at one meter per second, so it's still doesn't have the ability to leave the nebula..." Komin speculated, "It's clearly expending practically 'all' the power on regeneration, hell, if only we had time to study this technology. Think what it would do for the Federation, practically no more need for returning to Starbases, ships looking after repairs, We cou ....." she stopped as the deck shook and groaned in displeasure at the stresses being forced upon her. Nico moved back to the panel and shook his head:

"It's increased size and mass again..." he pointed at the figures, glancing at the straining shields as they tried to contain the mass, "Size increased by, zero point five two centimeters. Mass by, SEVEN POINT ZERO FOUR metric tonnes!"

"Evacuate the Cargo-bay immediately," Fran ordered. As the large doors slid aside she was already instructing her Exec' to jettison the cube the second the doors were closed and the Cargo-bay depressurized, but Milo was ahead of her and was stood at the auxiliary controls outside the 'bay. The sound of the atmosphere being released into space could be heard then a screeching as the metallic plinth was wrenched from the deck and flung into space ..... Fran quickly activated the viewscreen showing a view from inside the 'bay, the cube could be seen tumbling end over end as it passed the Korowia vessel, but suddenly a beam lanced from the vessel, caressing the cube and slowing its chaotic flight. Seconds later, now completely stable, the cube vanished from sight!

"Captain, there's only one place that thing has gone...." Milo Van stated needlessly as they headed for the Bridge.

"Those vessels are 'Generation Ships' so would likely be traveling for hundreds, maybe thousands of years..." Komin said as she dropped into her seat, "... Stands to reason they would require an extraordinary power source,"

"I'm no Engineer, but how is it repairing itself... Where is it getting the materials?" the Chief Medical Officer asked no-one in particular.

"I'd speculate it's drawing basic elements, material if you will, from the surrounding space, it would take Millenium under normal conditions, but well....." Carré said, motioning to the screen as if the image gave the answer.

"Captain, the ship's velocity has increased to ten meters per second," Alan Ross informed Komin.

"Look at THAT!" Doctor Vestidj said. Everyone turned to look at the screen: The gaping maw, hours ago almost two hundred meters across, was now half the size, they could visually 'see' the rebuilding happening before their eyes!

"Captain... What about our people?" Lieutenant Yip at Helm asked quietly. Fran could only sit and watch as the Generation vessel continued to heal ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

Ross reported from his station, "Captain, I've been running a number of scans, and according to this the sphere at the centre of the cube now has a mass of 10²⁰ kilos, albeit -"

"That's impossible," Van said, standing and shaking his head.

"Negative, sir, it is now being held in a magnetic field, the surrounding ship is safe. However if the field were to lose a fraction of its stability for only a second, the vessel will be destroyed, and we will, too." Komin asked how safe they might actually be. "Well, on the face of it it seems to function similarly to the quantum singularity that powers a Romulan warship, however this is of lesser mass, it draws its excess energy from subspace. While the power source was aboard the El Alamein, it drew mass-energy from subspace, magnified it a hundredfold and according to Carre's theory, fed it back into subspace in the direction of the Korowia vessel, allowing it to power up, repair and activate its engine manifolds. Now that it's back aboard, the subspace transit time is logarithmically reduced and thus there's less energy leakage - the ship's able to move much faster."

The El Alamein began scans of the length of the port flank of the generation ship, searching for a way to pierce the dampening field of the section into which the away team had gone, and attempting to gain sufficient resolution of their sensors to pick out the team anywhere else on this side of the vessel.

"The Korowia ship is now moving at 50 metres per second, Captain."


Finding themselves ascending at an uncomfortably steep angle, the team came to an intersection that lead four other ways. Each side of the pentagonal junction was cut through with a circular hatch leading off down a corridor descending at 15-20 degrees. "Does this mean we're on the highest deck?" Clancy asked, glancing around.

"No," Demik said, squinting at his tricorder in the half light, "There's a hatch directly above us that leads into another pentagonal chamber, except in its case the five corridors leading off it all slope upwards."

"So the chamber is five metres on through that," Clancy pointed to the hatch three metres above them in the centre of the ceiling.

Demik nodded, "We're as far to port as it's possible to be; that is, on this deck... I believe that the deck furthest to port on the entire vessel is about 10 levels above us - the external bulkhead and hull curves outwards here until it tapers to the leading edge some 80 metres above us before receding once more towards the dorsal surface."

Tan nodded, "Continuous scans through the hatchway, let's proceed." They began the process of getting themselves up a level, de Luca being lifted by Demik while Clancy crouched to allow Demik to perch on his shoulders before standing up in the centre of the room. Gingerly, de Luca climbed further up onto the shoulders of the swaying form of Demik and began opening the hatch. Iorte grimaced with the weight as Tan tried not to laugh and Massa scanned the opening de Luca then created with the opening of the hatch; Evans crouched unhappily in a corner.

Pulling herself through to the open space above the hatch - just large enough to accommodate the six of them, from which they'd ascend via a ladder to the hatchway that opened onto the pentagonal chamber lying above them at a diagonal - de Luca then lifted Demik up and through, followed by Clancy who was pushed from below and pulled from above; Tan and Evans readied themselves to be lifted on Massa's shoulders.

As Tan climbed onto Evans' shoulders and was being lifted, Massa alerted them to readings on the tricorder held in his spare hand: a Halanan clattered through one of the corridors below, climbing into the lower junction. It reached the team's position, clutched with talons at Massa's ankle as he was hurriedly lifted up. Clancy cried out and the group shouted encouragement as the Halanan began to overpower their efforts to lift the security chief.

Massa screamed, being dragged down by the nightmarish being beneath them. In his desperate scrabbling, Nate incidentally pulled Evans down. The S31 operative collapsed to the lower deck's floor, grunted, climbed to his feet and crashed off down one of the corridors leaving the metal grille flooring ringing. Demik aimed his phaser but the Halanan leapt up and batted it away, it clattered to the deck below. The team again tried to reach Massa; Iorte found purchase on his right arm while the Halanan had the other limb.

[David Tan]

They had begun clambering up into the upper level when all hell had broken loose!

Evans had dropped back onto the level where the Halanan was attempting to take Nate Massa, Iorte, now in a veritable 'tug of war' with the Security Officer as the rope... The Halanan had been momentarily diverted from its task of pulling Massa back through the hatch as it focused on the retreating Evans, this thankfully had given the Starfleet Officers the break they needed, and with one final pull, they were able to wrest Nate from the taloned grasp of the fiend!

Elena ripped the bloodied sleeve from Nate's tunic and eyed the damage, thankfully, though lacerated, the wounds were not as deep as expected, and she couldn't detect any nerve or musculature damage, so hopefully, with minor surgery, he would be as good as new. She used one of her own sleeves to bind the lacerations and stem the blood flow until they could reach a Medical Bay or come across some form of Med-kit en route.

Tan and Demik had been securing the hatch they had climbed through but the Halanan was defiantly keeping several of the twenty-centimeter talons firmly in the gap, using its other hand to push against the hatch cover... It was clear that despite their numbers, the Halanan would eventually succeed in gaining access, David reached over, taking the phaser slung on Demik's hip and adjusted the settings, he gave the Tactical Officer a silent countdown then leaned away from the hatch. The sudden release of pressure allowed it to rotate open to slam into the catch plate used to secure it in the open position. The Halanan, caught by surprise quickly recovered and crouched down, eyes on the small opening above. Without further warning, it leaped high and fast!

David was ready ..... As the fiend passed beyond the threshold of the deck, he began to fire ..... The beam lanced through the skull and shoulders of the Halanan down to its waist, carving it into two. The scream, lasting only until its vocal cords were sliced into two, was horrific. The Halanan had already taken purchase, but as its lifeless weight took over it almost surreally began to lower itself through the aperture until out of sight. The scorched flesh negating any need for anyone to peer into the lower level to confirm the Halanan's demise.

It took Elena a full fifteen minutes to ensure there was no further loss of blood from the Security Officer, then they began to plan their next moves:

"What about Evans?" Elena asked as she helped Massa to his feet.

"We're not going down there after him..." David said defiantly as he handed the phaser back to Demik, "... It's clear that the gas didn't do as it should have,"

"There's no way it could have failed David..." Massa insisted painfully, "... The only viable explanation is that all or some of the Halanan aboard have developed stronger resistance to chemical attack," he finished with a shrug.

"Either way, Evans is on his own!" Tan stated.

"We're turning," Demik commented in the lull. Everyone could feel the almost imperceptible pull to their right, meaning the ship was turning to Port, clearly, the ship was still making running repairs to some of its primary systems, Inertial Dampers, Artificial Gravity, were both still not at one hundred percent, possibly that was what was keeping them at such a low speed, making it plausible that once those systems were running at full efficiency, the Korowia vessel would begin to increase velocity very quickly, which made finding a means of escape more imperative than before!

"Which way?" David asked. Massa, having picked up the tricorder, was slowly rotating, the device held ahead. He looked up then back at the tricorder for clarification, then motioned towards a pair of doors in one of the corridors.

"They all lead upwards, but this one should get us to the outer hull quickest..." he said, eyeing several of the other options before returning his attention to the one he'd pointed out, "... I suggest we secure all bulkheads as we pass through them, I'd prefer not to come into any further close contact with our clawed friends,"

Another fifteen minutes of cautious progress and Demik, several meters ahead f the others suddenly held up a hand ..... As the others joined him he pointed to a set of quite ornate doors:

"There's a large auditorium-like space beyond those doors..." he informed them, before moving closer to rescan, "If I'm reading this right ....." he lowered the device and walked to the doors, seeing what looked like an activation panel, he reached out, the doors gliding silently aside at his touch. The five Starfleet Officers couldn't help but regard the room in awe! It was approximately one hundred and fifty meters in diameter, the whole of that expanse encased in a clear roof. They took several steps over the threshold and the doors closed behind them with barely a whisper.

It was clear this was one of the Korowia recreation centers, the center of the room held an enormous pool of crystal blue water, beds, tables, groups of chairs, what could only be described as the Korowia equivalent of Earths' palm trees, were scattered around in clearly organized randomness... The five couldn't help but smile. Elena moved to the water's edge and crouched down, lowering a hand into the liquid, it was cool, refreshing, almost inviting. Clancy and Demik had been moving around the pool but not too far, Massa, in turn, had lowered himself into one of the long chairs beside the water and was removing his tunic. He stepped into the water up to his ankles then lowered himself to bathe the dried blood away from the wounds. The blood had no time to disperse as it was somehow cleaned by the surrounding fluid and Nate realized that the pain he had been in was subsiding quickly until after only a moment he could feel no effects from the several fifteen to twenty-centimeter gashes running the length of his arm.

Approximately thirty meters around the pool a small automated cart began to move towards Massa, who understandably began to retreat.

"Wait," Elena instructed as she walked beside the cart, which came to a halt in front of the Security Officer.

"Well?" Massa asked. Eyes flicking back to the cart as a sphere, roughly five centimeters in diameter detached and began to glide towards his wounded arm. It appeared to scan the length of his damaged appendage several times then a small opening appeared on the front side of the cart, a ring, toroid in design, rose from the interior and moved towards Massa, green light blinking patiently.

"Put your arm in there?" de Luca suggested as the others joined them.

"What is it?" Demik asked skeptically.

"Automated Med-Bay maybe?..." Elena speculated, "... Only one way to find out, well, its that or possibly bleeding to death," she said with a snide grin. Tentatively, Massa sat back down and extended his damaged arm ..... Slowly, the toroid began to move forward then as his fingers entered the hole, he felt a cold sensation beginning to climb up from his fingertips. The group watched in fascination as the yellow-green glow of the toroid moved along Massa's arm to the shoulder over and over. By the fourth pass, the wounds were noticeably lessened, three more passes saw the skin rejuvenated to its former condition. Seemingly satisfied, the 'ring' made one last pass, this time warming the newly repaired skin to allow blood flow, then it moved off his arm and back to the cart, which in turn returned to its previous location.

"Bloody hell!" Nate said, tentatively feeling along his arm, "... That has 'GOT' to come with us,"

"How did it know?" de Luca was asking, her gaze meandering around the room.

"The blood?" David speculated, "... Maybe it picked up the blood when he washed the wound, some sort of automated Medic?"

"You guys should try this....." They turned to see Tom Demik, he had moved to one of the large platforms and was eating something that looked very much like a large slice of watermelon, or at least would have had it not been bright blue! ... He placed several slices on tray and brought them over, "I scanned the food, its edible, in fact, it has more of what we need than our own food does. This ship certainly went above and beyond in keeping these people alive for generations. He took another bite as the others helped themselves to segments of the 'fruit' and tentatively tried it. Elena moved over to what seemed to be another of the dining platforms where all manner of produce seemed available, from cooked meats, cold delicacies, drinks, there was also an interface, presumably for personal dietary requirements?

"It's possible the ship took detailed readings of our biochemistry while treating Nate..." Elena speculated, "... It then produced whatever our nutritional requirements necessitated?" They were still discussing this when the ship made another small turn, this one they could see through the almost 18,000 m² perfectly transparent ceiling material as they continued their passage through the gaseous nebula ..........

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein ...
One Thousand Meters off Korowia Vessel - Port Side ::

"Sir, velocity now two hundred meters per second and increasing," Shana Yip informed Komin from the Helm.

"Still no signs of the away team?" the Captain asked.

"No... We did pick up sporadic readings toward the Starboard side, but when we attempted to triangulate they disappeared..." the Operations Officer confirmed, "We could climb above the Itzamna, try to use our sensors to cover the full width of the ship. It's likely the away team will be trying to get to one side or the other or will make their way to the Bridge area," Commander Ross speculated.

"How long do we estimate before the ship is warp capable?" Milo Van asked.

"We have no means of scanning the interior, so can't begin to speculate on repair progress to their drive systems..." Ross replied, "Though going off how quickly the structure is beginning to self-repair, I wouldn't count on it being days, we might be looking at six, maybe eight hours before we exit the nebula, by that time we could be travelling at one-quarter impulse, Captain."

"It's a given that as the ship continues repairs, it will also be pushing more power into its shields and possibly weapons systems," Milo speculated.

"OK..... Lieutenant Yip, bring us up above the Itzamna and move us over the ship, Tactical, begin full short-range scans of each section as we move over it," Komin ordered, "First sign of them shout out, understood." she sat back in her seat, watching the viewscreen as the El Alamein began to climb upwards, the Korowia vessel looming very large on their Starboard. Soon the ship fell away and the Defiant Class vessel began to slide to Starboard, the upper hull of the Generation ship could now be seen along with several structures that rose slightly, akin to semi-flattened domes, from the sleek hull itself. Shana Yip commented that they looked transparent.

"Is that a swimming pool!" Van asked in disbelief.

"Same there..." the Tactical Officer said, pointing to one of the other domes as they passed over.

"Hold us here," Komin ordered, getting up from her seat before walking to the front of the Bridge, she couldn't help but be impressed at the facilities the Korowia had provided for the occupants of these Generation vessels, almost nuable to comprehend the idea that a person could be born, live a full life, growing into old age then passing away, without ever setting foot on solid ground, without ever breathing natural air, feeling the warmth of the Sun on their faces, "Helm, move us forward until we are behind their main Bridge, lower us until we can clear the domes by two hundred meters, Tactical scan each dome as best you can as we pass," .......

Generation Vessel Itzamna ...
Recreation Area Three ::

The away team, their hunger fully sated, were discussing their next moves: It was a given that they could not backtrack knowing some of the Halanan had not fully succumbed to the gas, it was suggested they repeat the process and this seemed viable if only to ensure they had no further unexpected guests whilst trying to escape. Massa, still seemingly fascinated with the repair the 'Med-bot' as he had decided to name it, had done on his arm, his blood levels were rising back to normal now he had eaten, and his strength was returning rapidly. In fact, he had even taken five minutes to leap into the pool on the pretense of washing off the dried blood from his arm and tunic.

"Well, it could be worse....." Demik said, returning from his circumnavigation of the Recreation Area, dropping onto one of the beds beside the pool.

"Ways out?" Tan asked.

"Yes, well, no. There are sixteen exits, all sealed, but on the good side: There are more than enough meal replication areas, private rooms, spread around the outer walls, ablutions, bathing areas if you don't fancy the main pool, well, lake..."

"Meaning?" Elena asked, eyes narrowing at the man's apparent laxity.

"Well, if we can't get out, or the El Alamein can't get us out, there's more than enough space for us five to live here for the foreseeable future," Demik said with a grin, clearly hoping to annoy de Luca further.

"Live here ..... In a glorified bloody ..... Bloody ..... SPA!" she asked, taking several steps towards the Chief Tactical Officer, who held up his hands in mock submission.

"Just stating the options," he said with a grin as Tan frowned at him, "Then again we could always tape a phaser to the dome and take our chances," he said with a final shrug.

Had any of them chosen that moment to follow Demik's finger as he pointed it towards the clear dome of the Recreation Area, they would have seen the for'ard section of the USS El Alamein drift slowly into view ..........

[David Tan]

Generation Vessel Itzamna ...
Recreation Area Three ::

The Away Team had made a second thorough search of the Recreation Area with no success, they were still effectively imprisoned in an albeit lavish jail. With no means of knowing if any more of the Halanan had escaped poisoning, venturing beyond the door they had so effectively sealed, could be suicide! ..... Nate Massa had been walking around the second level of the Recreation Lounge festooned around the circumference with lounges and refreshment areas. Twice he had sat down watching the others below as they too considered their extremely limited options, he rubbed his eye and stretched out his arms hoping to ease the tiredness when his eyes drifted upward. He sat in complete silence for several seconds then jumped up, running to the glass railing:

"TAN... ALL OF YOU... LOOK!" he was pointing at the enormous glass dome or so the others thought until they caught sight of what he was trying to show them. The USS El Alamein could be seen, drifting almost serenely across their sky" lost as one they began to wave frantically as the Defiant Class continued her pass above them, both Tan and Massa had slammed their Comm badges and were trying to contact the ship, but received only static in reply ..... Elena had been watching the ship and suddenly ran to Massa, taking his phaser from his side and quickly adjusting the settings.

"There's no way you can contact them with that, the forcefield is too strong, besides puncturing a hole up there will only see us reach the El Alamein as so much soup," the Security Chief said, but de Luca had had another idea and wanted to try it out whilst the ship was still in sight. She raised the weapon and fired a sequence of shots:

∙∙∙∙ ∙ ∙—∙ ∙

Keeping the phaser aimed at the same spot she repeated the sequence several times with no outward result, cursing beneath her breath she reset the phaser to a higher setting and again fired:

∙∙∙∙ ∙ ∙—∙ ∙

∙∙∙∙ ∙ ∙—∙ ∙

Everyone had realized what she was trying to do, and they began to watch the almost snail-like progress of the El Alamein as it continued to traverse the massive dome .....

USS El Alamein
Two Hundred Meters Above Korowia Generation Vessel ::

"Is there no way we could narrow the scans further?" the Captain was asking her Operations Officer currently at Tactical.

"Any more and we would need to make numerous passes to ensure we didn't miss any areas of the ship," Alan Ross replied suddenly frowning, "Wha ....."

"Commander?" Komin asked, noting his sudden change of tone.

"Hold on..." Ross said scrutinizing the readings a second then a third time, "For a second I was sure I recogn... and there AGAIN!" Komin got up and moved to his side.

"What am I looking at?"

"Wait a moment, 'THERE' see?" he said, slapping the console with the palm of one hand in excitement, "I'm narrowing the scan," he informed the Captain, doing so without waiting for a reply either way.

"It looks like fractional distortions to the Itzamna forcefield it could be anything," Fran said, not seeing the pattern immediately.

"No, it's too uniform, man-made, and if ....." again he fell silent, making a copy of the minuscule flashes before moving it to a dedicated screen where it repeated over and over, he clapped his hands, "H,E,R,E ... Bloody hell, MORSE CODE." he quickly told Komin that someone on the Korowia vessel was trying to contact them using old Morse Code pulses. Somehow they had figured a way to impact the force field and by a million to one chance it was picked up on our sensors.

"HELM... Hold our position relative to the Itzamna," the Captain ordered ..........

[Elena de Luca]

Elena had sent the message seemingly countless times when the El Alamein suddenly began to slow, finally coming to a stop over the massive roof of the Recreation Area ..... After several long moments, the away team could see a small service access bulkhead slide aside. A figure, clad in an EVA suit drifted into the darkness, he or she was holding a large lamp and began to flash a message to those below:

... . . / -.-- --- ..-

"They can see us," Elena said, the relief in her tone mirrored by the others.

... - .- - ..- ...

They are asking our status..." de Luca explained needlessly before replying they were safe but there were Halanan aboard, then asked about progress on getting through the shields. The reply was long and hardly encouraging, "They are working on the force-field, trying to get Comms up, they ask us to wait until they contact us one way or the other," she said with a resigned shrug as they watched the light holder disappear into the lock, the hatch sealing behind them.

Demik, who openly admitted that his morse code knowledge was lacking, had been moving around the Rec' Area was stood in front of one of the doors they had previously used the phasers to weld closed. He looked at where he was relative to the group and frowned. He called Tan over and pointed:

"These were the doors we came in through, right?" he asked.

"Possibly, erm, yes," David said, glancing around the large area before turning back to the El Alamein Officer, "Why?"

"Well, I was pretty sure we had sealed the doors, but there is less than half the weld here now, and I'm confident we went top to bottom," Tan took his phaser, adjusting the setting then took several steps back, Demik followed suit as David aimed and fired a continuous beam, running it from the deck up to and over the top of the doors.

"Well, they have sealed again now,"

"You think the ship is doing internal repairs as well as the exterior?"

"Highly likely," David said turning to return to the others, "Let's hope our friends out there are not patiently waiting to come in,"

Over the next two hours, messages were passed between the away team and the ship using the only means open to them, though the ship had begun to use one of the navigation lights to communicate rather than having to go through sending someone EVA over and over. The consensus was they were no closer to breaching the force field. Worse, the 'field appeared to be extending away from the hull as the Korowia vessels' velocity increased. Komin believed that time was of the essence if they wanted to get the away team back before both ships left the nebula, at which time it was likely the Itzamna would go to warp!

The El Alamein relayed a message that they were concerned but were still working, suggesting the away team delayed their recreation in favor of assisting.

..-. ..- -. -. -.--

"Funny," Elena muttered sarcasticaly as she replied, "It seemed Captain Komin is concered at how much liesure time we are taking,"

Clancy and Tan were sat together talking, David was speculating on their prospects of getting through the force-field as Elena approached, dropping into one of the empty seats.

"How thick would you think that glass is?" she asked.

"It wouldn't need to be thick, it's protected so less than eight, ten centimeters possibly?" Iorte speculated.

"So we could blow a hole in it you think?" de Luca asked.

"Why would we want to exactly?" David questioned.

"Maybe if we could blow a considerable hole in there, the El Alamein could possibly get a lock on us before the ship began her automated repairs," Elena replied.

"In the meantime, we would be sucked through the hole to slam into the underside of the El Alamein," Tan commented, the sarcasm obvious, "Decompression, even in such a large space as this is still tantamount to a quick death, if we didn't suffocate in seconds, we'd likely be crushed by everything in here trying to get through the same hole we are,"

"Well we're hardly being inundated with suggestions," she replied, annoyed for a second at their attitude but knowing they were running through scenarios as she was .....

USS El Alamein
Captain's Ready Room ::

Since their last lengthy communication with the away team, the Senior Officers of the El Alamein had been deep in discussion. Numerous suggestions had come forth, some possibly viable, others dismissed out of hand, throughout, Captain Komin had constantly reminded her Staff of the time constraints involved, knowing that should the Itzamna go to warp, any and all chances of retrieving their away team was gone!

"We still have no proof that any of the Korowia are still alive over there, so why is the ship making such efforts to regenerate?" Commander Ross was asking.

"Maybe it's a 'built-in' system, a default mode?" Nico Carré suggested, "Repair, recommence heading, or return to origin maybe?"

"It must be aware that there is an unauthorized presence aboard, must be aware of our presence above," the Duty Tactical Officer commented.

"Either way, we're running out of time... If this ship gets into open space it 'will' go to warp, and there will only be so much chasing we can do," Fran Komin reminded them.

"We could always drop back and put a couple of photon torpedoes into their main drive engines," the Operations Officer suggested, only half-serious, "It might slow them down, a bit,"

"I know this might sound ridiculous, but how about trying to contact the ship directly?" everyone turned to look at the Chief Engineer, "If we could work with the away team to establish an interface, we might be able to simply 'ask' that our people be allowed to leave. If nothing else it would give the away team time to come up with something viable," Carré said with a shrug ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

In his own explorations Iorte came upon a lounge that seemed to double as a sort of conference room, even if the crew or rather inhabitants might've only discussed trivial matters. On the wall along one side of the ovoid mass that passed for the table was a panel showing a schematic of the Korowia ship, the same strange glyphs decorating the image which seemingly only Evans, or perhaps also Demik, knew how to decode.

He didn't need to know how to read Korowian however to understand several things - particular areas of the ship were highlighted with data streams and lit up blue, while other sections lay dormant, greyed-out with no streams at all, including the area where the small scout had impacted. On a visual scan, it seemed the engines were now at full capacity, and so were weapons, but shields and life support remained only partially functional.

The most shocking thing, however, were the lifesign indicators: hundreds of dots crowded the lower levels, and considering they hadn't come across a single live Korowian occupant but only Halanan intruders, it made Iorte believe these dots were lower-caste Halanan. They were at their maximum density on the deep levels beneath the bridge section, seemingly trying to work their way up, with the pattern diffusing slowly to low density around the aft dorsal area.

"There are at least ten Halanan within a fifty metre radius of this room, according to a schematic I've seen up there," he reported to the others, pointing to the second level and the partitioned lounge rooms. After a brief swim, he returned to watching the El Alamein above, he asked to borrow Demik's phaser and fired a sequence of bursts.

"I'm asking them whether they've considered adjusting the structural integrity field or the transporter relays to the resonance frequency of the dampening field, to take the ship through or take us out it..."

"No, Iorte, the dampening field doesn't function in that way," Demik protested.

"Then you find a better option..." He paused and flipped the phaser in his hand, returning it to Demik and then blinking, "How much of the Korowia glyphic language do you remember from Evans instructions?" Demik said he knew only the basics. "Enough to turn artificial gravity off in this room? We could push off a surface and take ourselves to the section of ceiling opposite the El Alamein... Perhaps they can position a sort of mobile airlock their side of the dome, and from within it create a small aperture from which they can recover us - that is, if we're floating the other side of the glass. That way the atmosphere wouldn't rush from the room, it would merely come into contact with the atmosphere in the airlock. It would only require one or two El Alamein personnel in there to work on the glass."

There was a pause. "And do you volunteer to tell them all this through Morse Code, Iorte?"

Iorte looked uncertain, eventually taking the proffered phaser and hoping his Morse knowledge was intact, he didn't want to fail in putting the solution across. "Ok..." he readied the weapon, "What is 'R' again?"

* * *

Meanwhile on the Defiant class the officers were preparing their interface to make remote contact with the Generation ship; there was no method they could discover of having the away team interface from their side but they had managed to accomplish it themselves. "Computer is attempting to interface with Generation ship mainframe. Connection established. We're being rejected..." Carre reported worriedly, he pressed buttons in rapid succession, "Overriding safety protocols; I've pierced their firewall... Ready, Captain. We have onscreen."

Komin nodded and replacing their view of the recreation area dome was a wide-view image of an impressive, multi-levelled bridge, cast in various shades of blue and orange. Scale was hard to judge without the presence of humanoids, but it seemed the space was some fifty metres across, forward to aft, and as much deep and broad.

~ Itzamna ~ a curt male voice spoke, mechanical and dry.

"This is Captain Komin of the starship El Alamein. It is a pleasure to greet you, after a manner, at last." There was silence from the Itzamna computer. She coughed, "There are six of my personnel aboard your vessel. If it may please you, we would like them returned. We are unable to penetrate your dampening field."

The disembodied voice replied, ~ This vessel is soon to enter the supraluminal realm. Your intervention is ill-timed ~

"Please, we will be on our way immediately upon our people being received... Do you know of the other lifeform, or forms, you have aboard the Itzamna?"

~ This vessel is aware of 722 other biosignatures, identification... 718 Halanan of the second class, 4 Halanan of the first class ~ Komin realised it meant lower and upper caste. She asked about the latter, curious regarding them. The Itzamna's computer explained, ~ First class: of humanoid form; from them the Korowia learnt the arts of self-repair, self-sufficiency and rapid building on planetwide scales, 55 generations before present ~

"Is there anything you can do about the second class? If you can't send us our people, can you at least deal with them? Our officers are at considerable risk."

"Captain, the away team is contacting us again..." Commander Ross reported, "I've signalled back to ask for confirmation I've understood; the idea is somewhat strange." Komin held up a hand, nodding impatiently.

~ Korowia moral precept, life is sacred. The Itzamna will not harm its inhabitants ~

"Then send us our officers, or they may well be killed by the Halanan aboard the Itzamna, wouldn't that also violate the same moral precept?"

[David Tan]

Over the last hours, the recreation room and all the smaller side rooms had been investigated thoroughly, it was clear that there was no real avenue for them to take from their location to somewhere they could exit the korowia ship before it reached the edge of the nebula and went to high warp... Iorte's idea, to attempt to disable the artificial gravity was looking more and more like their only viable option unless the ship itself chose to help them .....

Nate Massa had been looking up at the hovering El Alamein when he realized someone was messaging them:

"David, everyone..." Nate said, getting the others' attention, "... Our ship is in contact with this one, they say there are over seven hundred Halanan aboard, along with at least four that are in some way superior to the others. Several of the erm, 'lower caste' are close by and it's likely they know we're holed up in here,"

"So only a matter of time before they try to get in then?" Elena commented dryly.

"Where are we on disabling the gravity in here?" Tan asked.

"It can be done..." Demik replied, glancing up at the El Alamein before continuing, "... Is there no way Captain Komin can ask the ship to help us?" for a second the Defiant Class vessel above began to fall away until it increased speed to match the enormous Generation ships. They didn't have much time, at last estimate they would reach the edge of the nebula in less than a day!

"Something just occurred to me..." de Luca said with a frown of concentration, "... If we do manage to breach the dome, what happens when we disengage... Well, there will be a hole approximately two meters in diameter, it will rapidly decompress this area, likely damaging the El Alamein in the process. At this point, the Itzamna hasn't interpreted our presence on board or the close vicinity of 'our' ship, as a danger, but if we try to cut a hole in the dome that could change, and rapidly, the ship could reinstate gravity, or even increase it. Anyone up there will come down at a proverbial rate of knots, and ....." she didn't finish the sentence, everyone had got the message.

The El Alamein was signalling again and the group sat silently decoding the Morse. It was ascertained that the Itzamna would not intentionally harm and lifeforms within her, so at least they could rest easy and forget about the possibility of being slammed into the deck and killed. It still didn't erase the possibility entirely though.

"Elena... Reply appraising them of our idea, let's see what they think before we go leaping into the unknown," David commented. Moments later the reply was positive, Komin was having no luck persuading the Itzamna's computer to simply allow a means to extract the away team, but had made no suggestions that it would act aggressively should they try themselves. They watched as the El Alamein began to approach the dome, curious as to why the Korowia vessel had allowed them through its shields ..... When it looked from their perspective that the Defiant Class was going to come right through the glass, it halted its approach and held station twenty meters from the transparent span. a ring of lights, indicating access was activating, began to blink.

"Well, it looks like we're on..." Demik said, eyeing Clancy "... Hey, it 'WAS' your idea," he said with a grin before glancing at the dome almost seventy meters above them and shaking his head ruefully as Massa handed the Exec' a phaser.

"OK... Anyone not going up had better secure themselves." Tom Demik said as he knelt before an open panel. Once everyone was ready, Clancy now on top of a table, one knee on the surface, for some unfathomable reason, he disengaged the artificial gravity in the Recreation Hall ..... Taking a breath, Iorte looked up then pushed off the tabletop and began drifting up towards the dome. He had risen less than two meters when there was an almost deafening 'thud' against one of the doors giving access to the room!

Before Clancy could get too high Demik told him he was bringing the gravity back online. Iorte changed position and waited for the inevitable fall ..... When it came he dropped towards the table, landing in a half roll before glancing off to crash into the thankfully plushly carpeted deck. The phaser bounced away as he saved himself from any injury, finally clambering to his feet, knowing there would be one hell of a bruise on his side soon. As everyone released themselves from their makeshift restraints, the sound from the door reverberated around the room once again.

"It won't take them long to get through," Elena said needlessly ..........

[David Tan]

Despite all their efforts to find a way out, none was found, and the Starfleet Officers had concealed themselves approximately one hundred meters away, behind the larger of the two bars, the only 'fixed' structures in the recreation center apart from the swimming pool, which was now between them and the soon to enter Halanan.

"We have no way of knowing how many will come through when those doors fail, so don't fire until you can be sure of hitting a target, understood," Tan said as he checked his phaser, knowing that with only three phasers between the five of them it was going to be hard to ensure their safety. He glanced up through the dome, the El Alamein, less than thirty meters from the barrier seemed to be hanging in anticipation of coming events but powerless to help .....

Without warning the double doors burst inwards!

Eight, then more Halanan rushed into the large recreation area, sliding to a halt as they peered left and right trying to find their prey. One sniffed, then spun as if it had seen the group, a wild howl erupted from deep within its throat, massive canines seemingly glowing in the artificial light could be seen, their almost meter long claws glistening jet black as Tan, Clancy, and Massa raised their weapons. David counted fifteen Halanan but was certain there were others outside the room, maybe these were predominant, the ones allowed first 'pick' of the prey ..... Three began to circle left, three right, while the two largest began to make their way across the floor. To Tan, it felt as if both were looking directly into his soul.

With less than twenty meters separating them, the six flanking the group began to move quickly, Tan and Clancy spun their phasers to cover but instantly realized it was a ploy, to draw their attention away from the prime two. Both were already in the air when they turned back, Massa fired at the closest, the beam of almost pure energy lancing from the weapon, but before it could disintegrate the Halanan, the beam froze, as did the oncoming animals!

David turned, seeing all of the Halanan were seemingly held, possibly something akin to a confinement beam, but their headlong charge had been stemmed, at least for the moment ..... Cautiously rising from behind their flimsy barricade, David looked closely at the two prime Halanan, realizing that despite appearances, they were still in motion, just slowed down considerably, so to was the phaser fire, that too was moving towards its intended target.

"Wha ....." Demik muttered as he approached the two who had been a second from slamming into them. Elena realized that the El Alamein was frantically trying to contact them via morse and she took Massa's phaser to quickly reply.

"It's the ship," she quickly explained after the message was relayed, she was about to continue when they heard a voice:

~ This vessel will not allow wanton violence ~ We are a ship of life ~ Dedicated to ensuring the continued survival of species ~

~ We became aware that the K'Ynnoi ~ A race far beyond your knowledge was to become extinct ~ We acted appropriately ~

~ The same applies to the species you know as 'Halanan' but in their language, they are the Fe'Dorznll'ci ~ These too were on the brink of extinction ~ We acted appropriately ~

~ We thrive to ensure the continuance of life ~ Longevity ~ We transport to far Galaxies for life to sustain ~ Over many of what you know as Generations ~

~ There are twenty-nine lifeforms within us ~ We shall prolong ~ Your compatibility is negative and thus harmful ~ We will act appropriately ~ the voice suddenly fell silent as if it had explained what was happening.

"What about us?" Elena asked ...... There was a long pause before the Itzamna replied.

~ You are ~ Fruitful ~ You cannot remain ~ We will act accordingly ~

~ The Fe'Dorznll'ci will be returned to their habitat where sustenance is plentiful ~

~ We will continue ~ We act accordingly ~

David felt something in the air, a thickening, almost cloying odour, but it dissipated as fast as it had appeared. He felt light-headed then passed out .....


**********


"David ....."

"David ....."

"David ..... Can you hear me?"

Slowly he opened his eyes, sterile light flooded into his vision and he quickly raised a hand to shield the glare... Slowly his eyes accustomed themselves and he was able to look in the direction of the voice:

"Where?" he wheezed, his throat dry.

"You're on the El Alamein... Everyone is safe," he realized it was Captain Komin.

"Water," he croaked. A nurse raised his head and held a glass to his lips, warning him to sip only a small amount, "What... happened?" he said finally free of the shards of glass seemingly surrounding his vocal cords.

"The Itzamna sent you back here, apparently it wasn't too happy about our presence, but had repairs to contend with so couldn't devote the time to getting rid of you, or making you permanent residents..." Komin began with a shrug, "... That ship is over three millennia-old ..... 'Three millennia' David ..... It has traveled through no less than seven Galaxies in its time, picking up those in need. It will continue for who knows how long once it has left here. Those ships can hold hundreds of individual species, regardless of their environmental requirements, and hundreds of thousands of each race, it simply 'adds' what it needs as it goes along ..... Incredible is an understatement!"

"It's still here?" Tan said, trying, and failing, to get up off the Bio-bed.

"Yes, we are about to leave the nebula together, we'll put some distance between us then they will leave,"

"No, we need to get what we can, the technolo ....."

"No David, it was a condition of your return. We have already deleted all information on the Korowia and the Itzamna herself, we will have a record of encountering a Generation Vessel, but nothing more," Fran said.

"Where are the others?"

"Next door, recovering," Vestidj said, placing a hypo-spray against his neck and activating it without asking. David put a hand to his neck but remained silent, "It will help you relax," the Doctor said before moving away.

"Oh, the Itzamna informed us that one 'Human' has requested sanctuary," Komin commented as Tan lay back, his eyes already heavy.

"Evans?" he slurred, seeing the Captain nod before he fell into a deep sleep ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

As Iorte stood behind the bar with his phaser aimed, he saw in his periphery the mobile airlock on its tether from the El Alamein being lowered into place, two EVA-suited crewmen riding the tether downwards to the airlock as it began slotting into a position on the dome, where the two crewmen would start drilling through the glass. Already he had a feeling the device wouldn't be needed as the Halanan began to dive for them - but they were held in mid-lunge. A string of terse and somewhat cryptic remarks came from a disembodied voice - the Itzamna itself it seemed - and the next Iorte knew he was being swiped sideways and rendered unconscious; thankfully it wasn't the Halanan.

In a murky confusion, he made his way down back alleys, knowing they would be after him. He looked skywards, expecting to see hundreds of airlocks descending towards him, but noticed only the gunmetal cloud-cover and smog, the pallid light of Virtace's three moons and spindly remnants of ancient, leafless trees.

He was a Reaver, one of the secretive sect within the Raiders that plagued the rest of the species, that majority section he, the Reavers and Raiders had forsaken. Sixteen years of age, he and his fellow delinquents were as usual being chased by the Raider authorities in the outskirts of the metropolis. He remembered this well. As he dodged an automated emplacement's tracer fire, he turned into a narrower alley, knocking trash-cans flying and stumbling in the muck. As he rose, he was no longer on Virtace, but Romulus, because Carpoln was here. And yet as he looked around this well-appointed, opulent room, it seemed to have all the trappings of a Virtacian aristocrat's quarters.

Carpoln Johnson was sitting in a lounge chair next to a fabulous table which had on it several ornate pitchers and a dozen lit candlesticks - which suddenly seemed to be the room's only illumination. Watching as Carpoln poured himself a drink, Iorte approached the table cautiously, pointing a finger at his fellow operative from the Romulus mission, "You can't be here. I must be dreaming."

"Hah! You're already awake, Iorte," Carpoln said, holding the glass up and gesturing to Clancy as if he was toasting him.

Iorte frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I simply said, you're already awake!" Johnson leant over the table and blew out the row of candles; the extinguishing flame opened up a whole new world, luminous and glowing about him.

He tried to rise from the biobed but was held down by a junior nurse, attempting to complain he stopped his own mouth - though he was sure his voice would be weak, reedy, if barely there at all - as he saw Dr Vestidj enter from the other part of sickbay. The CMO explained what'd happened and just over two hours later Clancy was permitted to leave. He headed to his quarters, choosing to take the early duty shift for the next day - as part of the Intel detachment's standard rotational duties - as the ship made its way back to Starbase 47.

* * *

It was to their surprise that they learnt en route the Starbase had left its position next to the dark matter nebula where it'd come to a halt three years ago; a comm from the base as well as a navigation buoy dropped at the site of its previous location let them know the station had been moving at high impulse towards the aCen system where a wormhole to the Beta Quadrant had been found. The El Alamein changed its heading and increased speed as Iorte was relieved from his vigil on the bridge - standing to the side of and behind Komin's chair - by Tan as the afternoon came on.

"Have you been informed of the situation?" he asked Tan, who told him all that he knew, Clancy nodded and updated him on the latest received from Starbase, "Apparently the Section's starships have been involved in combat as well as somewhat strained diplomacy with two groups, the Ireuken Confederacy and the Alarodian Coalition."

"We have two new enemies?"

"No, the two are at war, or were, now there's an uneasy truce. We're ostensibly on the Ireuken Conferacy's side, at the moment; they have access to the wormhole."

"Very well," Tan nodded as he headed towards Komin and Milo Van's location off to port where they were surveying Nico Carre's work.

"Something else," Iorte called him back, "You may not believe it, but the Halanan have been involved." Tan stopped in his tracks; they'd already seen the back of over 700 of them. "One of their ships, allied with the Alarodians, has been disabled. And a Halanan infiltrator was present on the USS Enzio from the time of its leaving base."

[David Tan]

SD: 2406.04.0610
Arrival at Starbase Forty-Seven::

With the necessary course change, it had taken the El Alamein seven days to reach the aCen system and the Starbase .....

"There she is," Shana Yip announced as the Starbase came into view. Everyone watched as the ship closed the distance, no-one missing the fact that there were other vessels, not all Federation, in proximity. The Starbase was now only one hundred fifty thousand kilometres from the chaotic event horizon of the wormhole beyond, the swirling maelstrom of gasses highlighting the actual wormhole itself.

"Captain, the Dockmaster is contacting us..." the Comms Officer informed Komin, "... He is transmitting coordinates for our approach,"

"Understood," Fran said, knowing the Starbase would take control of the El Alamein before it ventures into the enormous dome.

=^= El Alamein .. Dockmaster .. Stand by to transfer helm to docking control =^=

=^= El Alamein standing by .. .. =^=

=^= Transfer of helm control complete .. Welcome back El Alamein =^=

The helm officer sat back, her hands well away from the control panel as the ship was manoeuvred remotely through the massive doors into the interior itself. Slowly the ship rotated to Port the Starbase seemingly rotating around them for several moments until it reorientated to face the docking port. Thrusters moved the ship forward until it nestled into the port snugly. Umbilicus extended and attached to the Defiant Class vessel, power and life support was now being supplied solely by the starbase as the El Alamein's warp core was shut down and taken offline. They watched, somewhat surprised, as two arms extended from the dock either side of the ship to a point midway along the warp nacelles, closing on the ship until everyone felt the minor shudder as the arms connected. Komin knew immediately that these were additional stabilisation arms, very rarely used, which meant that the Starbase was expecting to be under stress at some point.

They were about to begin disembarking when Admiral Lemond entered the Bridge:

"Captain, David, Iorte, Elena, good to see you all back safe and well..." Nia said, shaking Komin's offered hand before continuing, "... You can let your crew go Captain, but I would like to debrief here if you don't mind," Fran shrugged, it was unusual but then these were 'unusual' times, to say the least, she asked Commander Van to see to the crew then motioned for Lemond to take the center seat.

"I read the preliminary reports you sent prior to leaving the Generation Vessel... Interesting read... I believe one of the conditions of our people was you retained no data on the Korowia?" Nia asked.

"Yes Admiral," Komin replied.

"Pity, whatever technology they used to repair their ship would come in very handy to the Federation," Nia mused.

"Not to mention our enemies," Elena commented with a shrug.

"You weren't able to keep 'any' of the data?" Lemond asked.

"Nothing... The Itzamna scanned everything and removed all but the basic encounter information," David assured his Commanding Officer.

"Damn, there are several science types that are going to be disappointed..." Nia said with a wry grin, the ships' chronometer showed it was almost seventeen hundred, "... Ahh well, let's call it a night, we'll reconvene in my office at say, zero eight hundred hours, I'm sure that will give you all ample time to wt your proverbial whistles and get some rest," As they left the ship several technicians entered, they would do all the necessary maintenance before the ship was put on minimal power until needed again ..........

~~~ Mission 009 : Encounter ~~~

***** CONCLUDED *****

Our latest mission has come to an end
We will begin Mission 010 in due course

Thank you to everyone for another exciting outing

Regards

David Tan