Clio groaned, blinking as she pushed herself up to a kneeling position. The last thing she remembered was being on the bridge of the Hera, but she now found herself... outdoors? That couldn't be right. After another moment, she scrambled to her feet and looked around. A solitary star shone above where she stood, a large-ish patch of ground surrounded by vertical purple bars and two small structures that looked like some sort of shelter. It took her only a few seconds to realize what had happened.

They'd been taken from the Hera and put in some sort of prison camp inside the sphere. And they'd been separated. Why or how, she didn't know, but they could figure that out later. Right now they needed a way out of the camp. Spotting Thex nearby, she went to the Andorian officer and gently shook her awake.

Draex awoke with a light headache making his head throb, laying face down on what felt like cold concrete. It took a second for his mind to tick over the situation and remember where he had been what felt like moments before. He had been on patrol, preparing to head back to his quarters after a fairly uneventful day. He awkwardly started to scramble up to his feet as the realization of this sudden change in scenery hit him but his balance was still off, leading to him falling back into a sitting position right after trying to stand up. The sudden landing jolted him back to his senses, his head turning like a swivel to get his bearings. He recognized Lieutenant Commander Eneas and Draex was fairly sure the other person she was trying to wake up was the Chief Engineering Officer Thex. He was still fairly new to the Hera but he did at least know the names of those in charge. Unsure of what to do next in this situation, he worked on getting to his feet and looking around for others in the same area as them.

Thex groaned as someone shook her awake. Her head was spinning and it was painful for her eyelids to open. Whoever was shaking her didn't stop causing the androrian to try blindly bating them away. She felt sick and it was painful to open her blue eyes. Feeling up towards her head she realized the source of her discomfort. One of her antennae hung at an angle that she knew it wasn't supposed to. Biting her tongue to prevent herself from swearing she managed to mumble out " Where are we?"

"Damn it, Thex, stop hitting me!" Clio had dodged one swat only to take a solid hit to her right cheek bone, missing her eye by less than an inch. When Thex came around, she couldn't help glaring at the other woman for a moment. "I think we're inside the sphere, though I don't know how we got here. Or how your antenna got broken." Clio looked around, trying to see who else was nearby.

" Teleported here most likely. " The andorian replied as she searched her toolbelt. Almost all of it was gone, apart from one item. Wrapping her hand on the electrical tape that was still thankfully in it's place. " Anyone see a stick or something I need to straighten this thing out." She said jabbing a finger at her broken antenna.

There were no sticks or other debris in the cell. Clio's hand went to her hip where her collapsible staff had been, but she found it missing. "We're fresh out of sticks. I think you'll have to make do with just the tape... should work if it's wrapped tight enough." She wasn't a doctor or even a field medic, but she'd dressed enough of her own battle wounds to have a fair understanding of how to do such things. Holding one hand out for the tape, she used the other to gently re-align Thex's broken antenna.

Schwein had come around and noticed Clio patching up Thex as she was getting her bearings. Checking her pockets for her normal medical supplies, she found she had none of it on her. All she apparently had was her cybernetic eye. Crouching next to the two, she flipped up her eye patch to reveal her glowing red cybernetic eye and scanned them both for injuries. "Lieutenant, your antenna should heal naturally in a day or two, but your balance and hearing will be greatly affected as I am sure you are aware. Commander, you appear to be uninjured."

Ila had come to as well and was starting to rally the others of the crew that were here in the prison camp. Thankfully she still had her personal science tricorder on her and she could start scanning individual life forms and even comm badge codes. Isolating Commander Eneas, she went to her location to report her findings.

Ila also crouched next to Clio. "Commander Eneas! It seems the entire crew has been transported inside of some sort of prison complex. I'm picking up two main groups and two smaller groups. Badge codes indicate you're the ranking individual for this group. The captain is leading a small team from the other group towards us but there is an unknown artificial life form with her. The other group... Is Nexi, Aewia, T'Pral, Cato, and Daytona... And Ma'am... I'm picking up massive black blood readings in their vicinity."

"Fabulous." Clio's tone was very dry as she somewhat impatiently plucked the tape out of Thex's hand and did her best to splint the broken antenna more or less straight. As if they didn't have enough to deal with being in a cage, now the Master was here and doing experiments on the crew. And he had Nexi again! "We need to find a way out of here. Now." Not that getting out was going to help them. Her demon-killing weapons had apparently been left on the ship. A quick touch to either side of her belt showed she didn't even have Mal's friction-less kopis, only a hand phaser. Which she knew would be useless against the Master. "Are there any weaknesses in the bars? Are the shelters tall enough that if we could get on top we could climb out?"

"That's the weird thing..." Ila began, scanning in the direction of the fence and a couple of the prison structures. "Other than the four meter fence, I'm not detecting anything meant to keep us inside or subdue us if we escape. Unless you count the wildlife... I'm picking up something similar to an Earth squirrel but it looks like it... Might? Be able to emit a flaming gas? I'm not sure, I've never seen readings like these before. As for the fence, it only has vertical bars so would be difficult to climb over. If we had a way to bend them further apart or find a break..."

"If we're inside a Dyson sphere, I don't think there are any breaks in the bars." Getting up from the ground, Clio could see a young human male nearby. Wearing yellow, so either engineering or security. She wasn't entirely sure who he was, but his face looked somewhat familiar. She'd probably reviewed his dossier, but they hadn't met. She waved him over, simultaneously looking for anyone else. "Hey, kid. What's your name?"

Draex had after seeing that everyone was up and moving around, focused on getting up himself. He had stayed silent, observing the surroundings and trying to get a nasty growing headache under control. Though nothing had really changed, he had heard someone mention 'black blood'. While he did not know specifics he knew that it was something hazardous. The general tone of the conversation seemed to be leaning in that direction as well. Something bad was going down and they needed to be where it was happening. Draex had been avoiding looking in Clio's direction before she addressed him directly. Not because he had anything against her or her race, but because seeing someone's antenna be realigned with duck tape was not something he really wanted to see in detail. "Security Crewman Draex Ashir Ma'am." He said with a quick salute. Given the situation he didn't waste much time with the small formality. "I have over heard the basics of the situation. Where can we move from here? I may be built like a mule, but i doubt i can do anything about those bars as is." He said with a quick glance to the vertical metal bars that kept them pinned in. Sure he was a six foot seven tall human, but he would not be doing superhuman acts any time soon. With tools maybe but right now he did not even have his Stun Baton. And to make matters even worse, his phaser's power pack was empty and shorted out.

"Well, we won't be climbing out over the top, even if we can get on top of the shelters. You and I are the tallest people here, and I doubt even we could make the jump down the other side." There were no tools to help them. As the others began to cluster around her, Clio noticed that only tricorders and phasers remained. No projectile weapons. No blades. Even her own blades - cleverly hidden beneath her uniform most of the time - were missing. No one had any rope or other equipment. Thex's tape seemed to be the only exception, and they weren't bending prison bars with that.

Clio also had a sneaky feeling that the phasers wouldn't be working, even though Ila's tricorder was. Deciding to test that theory, she drew her phaser from her hip and pointed it away from the group before attempting to fire. Absolutely nothing happened. No beam. The lights that displayed the phaser's setting didn't light up. The weapon might as well be a paperweight. "Can't cut our way out either. I'm open to suggestions."

Thex slowly got to her feet. Her head was still hurting like hell, but at least she could see now. " I could try giving it a small charge if I rigg the power cells from are combadges together. Don't know if it will cut through the bars though. "

Draex was having a bit of difficulty thinking of much of a way to break through the bars so he stayed silent when they were asked for suggestions. A way to apply a lot of kinetic energy into one area might work, but they would need a way to do it... When Thex mentioned making a small charge from their powercells out of their comm badges, a 'light' popped on in his head. "While it may not break it, it might weaken it enough to break it by force. If it does weaken it enough at the ground level, given how there are only vertical bars we may be able to bend it from there. Would wanna check 'em with a tricorder first though, that would be a nasty waste if it didn't work."

"Can't hurt to try it, I suppose." Clio was not an engineer or a scientist. She was smart, but not like that. Whether such a plan would work at all, she didn't know. But she didn't have any other ideas.

As Clio and others discussed their options, a blue-shirted lieutenant approached from the opposite side of the prison camp, holding his head gingerly. The Vorta looked a little disconcerted, plainly making an effort to focus on his surroundings, walking with a drunken man's shamble. The only one in the little leadership group that he knew was Ila, and even then, not well, but he approached anyway.

"Hi," the Vorta said quietly as he got close enough for them to hear, still holding his hands carefully over his large, crescent ears. "I couldn't help but...ow...overhear your plan. I think I have an idea." Realising that they probably had no idea who he was, he smiled weakly. "I am Lieutenant Vaemyn, science officer. Just hopping a ride when all of this...ow...er...began."

Clio quirked an eyebrow at Vaemyn's appearance, surprised to find a Vorta among the Hera's crew. It was rare seeing Vorta at all, let alone in Starfleet. Then again, she was something of a rarity herself. "I'd like to hear your idea, Lieutenant."

Reluctantly, Vaemyn removed a hand from one ear and pulled a tricorder from his belt, then winced at the onslaught of new sound without the protection of his hand. He moved closer to the XO, enough that he could talk more quietly.

“Sorry, Commander,” Vaemyn apologised, “that transporter beam, or whatever it was, doesn’t agree with Vorta ears. Right now, we’ve got loads of tricorders and combadges, so let’s use them. I think can rig two hundred combadges up and twenty tricorders into an improvised directional energy pulse. It may be enough to blast a hole, or at least warp the bars. All we have to do override the tricorder safeties to emit a synchronous polaric energy pulse, while the badges burst-transmit a maximum energy charge into each tricorder to augment the polaric pulse.”

Realising what he had just said, Vaemyn grinned self-consciously. “Uh...I know it’s a bit crazy, and it’ll burn out most of our available hardware.”

"It is crazy," The porcelain faced Malana commented, scanning with her own tricorder as she rounded one of the structures, her large, unblinking, reflective eyes staring at the screen. "I'm detecting forty seven drained weapons. Jury rigging a charger from a pair of tricorders or a replicator inside one of these structures has got to be far easier than fusing several hundred tiny beacons of hope, should the ship regain functionality and attempt to rescue us or regain communications. On top of that, should the worst happen, our comm badges are our easiest means of identifying our dead. Destroying them without exhausting all other options is illogical."

"Or we could show up with an android and bend the bars with ease!" The familiar voice of Captain Telvan rang out over the group from the other side of the bars as they were planning their escape, leading a team of her own.

"Hello, everyone!" said the frightfully tall purple creature walking beside Enalia. It waved in emphasis of its cheerful greeting, then stepped forward to the bars. With a firm grasp on two of the bars, it began to slowly pull them apart until there was just enough room for the people inside to slip out. "Is everyone okay in here? The ship crashed and I was frightfully worried that someone might have been injured before the beam out," the android said as it moved over to more bars to open another space to escape from.

Vaemyn ogled at the huge creature that so effortlessly bent the bars, his headache momentarily forgotten as he pointed at it in amazement. "Er...is that...sorry, I don't mean to be rude, I just mean, are you an Iconian android? A actual Iconian android?"

"Ah, well, the outside of me is, but inside it's just me, Akira," the android replied cheerfully. "And there's a whole lab of these things waiting to be activated, and the lab was super nice! I promised him I would try to come back to talk to him, I think he's lonely."

Enalia scanned the area with her tricorder as she spoke. "I've conformed that she's Akira and that the body is safe enough. Commander Eneas, get everyone out of there and rally with Commander Xustos between the prison camps. I'm picking up what I think might be an Iconian gateway of some sort. Once we rescue the last of our crew, it may be our way back to the ship."

When Aewia woke up she didn't remember anything. Again. She remembered that she'd lost her memories before, but that was all she could remember as the bright ceiling lights glared down on her. Sitting up from the padded operating chair, she steadied herself so her head would stop spinning. "Now was that an ice cream headache or too much alcohol? Do I drink alcohol?" She then looked over her all black Intel uniform. "At least I know how to dress, not that it helps in this bright ass place." She then noticed the others that were waking up. "Does anyone else feel like they got hit by a shuttlecraft?"

T'Pral slowly stirred, taking in her surroundings. Where was she? Who was she was the better question. She couldn't remember anything prior to waking up. She looked down at her clothes to see that she was wearing a black and gold uniform with badge that was pointed at the top...and a phaser. She then heard movement and looked up to see others near her waking up with one asking a question. "I do not know..." she replied as she stood. "Where are we?"

Cato grumbled as his eyes slowly cracked open "...Shit hole..." His eyes open fully now, but his body didn't quite move yet. His standard duty uniform was donned, but the collar wasn't quite zipped all the way up. Continuing to stay down, he closed his eyes again and quieted his mind. "Anyone remember anything from before five minutes ago?"

Daytona Ral didn't rise yet. He didn't speak. His eyes darted back and forth under closed lids. Sometimes his face would twitch. Every now and again his head would turn slightly from side to side and his brow would furrow, as though he was trying to puzzle something out. Who was he? What was his name? Was he in the Monastery at Gol? If so, where was Gol and what kind of Monastery was it? Wait, there was bright light...was he in his room at his parents' house? Was he going to meet Tyra this morning? She was so wonderful to be with...his first and only at the time. She was kind to him. Gave him time to...someone was not with him...someone who should be. Was it Tyra? No...that was earlier...he was older now. Yet, someone special to him was missing, someone he cared deeply for...even loved...yes...someone he loved very much...

Daytona's eyes shot open then quickly closed again. He opened them again, slowly this time and realized that the glare was more manageable now. He blinked a few times. There appeared to be a nictitating membrane over his eyes. It was cutting some of the glare and protecting his eyes. He looked at himself. He was wearing an all black outfit of some kind. He appeared to be unarmed. He closed his eyes and put his fingers to his temples and massaged them. So many images in his head. It was as if hundreds of years of memories were trying to reform in his head, all at the same time. The only thing he was sure of was that someone was missing.

He looked around and assessed the people in the room with him. The most dangerous one in the room was clearly the one with the pointed ears. Not only did she give off the impression that she could kick the crap out of all of them, she seemed to have some device on her hip that he suspected was a weapon. The youngish humanoid male and the dark-haired humanoid female would likely require some effort, but nothing too strenuous. Had the dark-haired female punched him once? If so, why? And if she had punched him, why wasn't she dead? The light-haired female...somehow he knew she wouldn't want to hurt him. Who were these people, and what was his relationship to them? The uniforms were vaguely military, though the pointy-eared female seemed to be wearing a different version of it. There were disks on her collar, two solid, one hollow. Curious, he reached up to his own collar. He found four hollow disks. He looked at the others. There were no disks on the collar of the light-haired female. The dark-haired female had two hollow disks on her collar, the male had one. If they were in some sort of military, in theory, he outranked everyone except the pointy-eared female, right?

"Is your weapon functional?" Daytona asked the woman with the pointed ears.

T'Pral drew the phaser and pushed several buttons. "It appears to be non-functional."

It was at this time that Nexi began to stir; she opened her eyes and upon seeing an unfamiliar location she rolled out of the chair and backed away from the others, her eyes darting about looking for an exit. When an exit could not be found, her hand went to her waist for a weapon as she began to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each person in the brightly lit space, but found no weapons on her person. Also, no belt, but why did the lack of a belt suddenly have her heart rate shooting sky high? But seriously, where the fuck were her weapons?! And her jacket- What the fuck was she wearing?! These weren't her clothes! Where was her stuff!!!

"Who are you people and what the fuck have you done to me?" Nexi said in an accusing tone to the others.

Aewia sighed heavily and hopped off the seat she was on to further explore her surroundings, finally getting her bearings and feeling more like her old self. "Obviously we didn't do anything. It was our captors that did whatever they did to us, which seems to be erase our memories. I'm guessing that's just step one in an experiment. They're likely going to either see how we react without our memories, implant new ones, implant each other's memories in us... Or worse... I don't know, I get the feeling I've been in a situation like this before." As she spoke, she stalked around the room a bit like a wild cat, looking at all the vents and mirrors, inspecting each one for monitoring equipment.

She then looked to Nexi like she was going to eat her. "So relax, sweetie pie. At the moment, the odds of any of us in this room hurting you is slim."

Daytona smiled in spite of himself. Why did he enjoy hearing the dark-haired humanoid female put in her place? Did he know her? Was she obnoxious?

"I have no intention of hurting anyone at the moment," he said. "Though I have this...feeling that I am or at least once was very good at hurting people. Be that as it may, I'm not planning on hurting anyone. However, I do want to figure out where we are and if there are others from our group here. There is someone...missing...someone who needs me now more than ever. I have to find her. Why we are here is a secondary concern for me."

The fuck? Sweetie Pie? Nexi was no one's sweetie pie! And yet, there was something familiar about this girl... "I can't be here..." Nexi suddenly said. "I don't- I don't know why, but it's dangerous... I think I'm dangerous..." Her eye stared darting about as if trying to search her mind for the reasons why. "This is wrong, I can't be here," she reiterated, so certain of this even though she couldn't remember why.

Aewia staled off to stare into one of the full wall mirrors, then touched a finger to it. Her fingernail met her reflection perfectly with no gap, indicating it was a two way mirror. "Look in the eyes of every person here, sweetie pie. We may not have our memories, but we're all dangerous. I can smell death on every single one of us."

"Right," Daytona said. "Well, perhaps we should try and cobble together a few weapons and then see if we can figure out what's on the other side of that door? Since we have no idea why we're here and no idea where here is, I wouldn't advise just opening the door. The atmosphere outside this room might be hostile, if there's even an atmosphere to be hostile. Could be a vacuum."

Nexi gazed into Aewia's dark eyes; she knew this girl somehow... And she could recognize that everyone here was dangerous, but there was something else, another element of danger, something inside her. Could this girl sense it as Nexi could? A malevolence swimming in her veins...

"That," Nexi said, pointing to T'Pral's phaser when Daytona mentioned cobbling together weapons. "I can fix it."

T'Pral tossed the phaser at Nexi. "If you can, it would be appreciated." She felt unsure about the woman as she paced around the cell. She could feel anger and fear within her. She felt as if she should be able to control it but it was eating away at her. 'Who did this to me? Why? When I find them, I am going to rip their throats out with my bare hands!' she thought as she fought a losing battle with her emotions, which she couldn't explain why they were eating away at her so strongly.

Nexi caught the phaser and quickly popped out the power pack; it should have bothered her how she even knew how to remove the power cell, but she wasn't going to worry about it too much with more important things to worry about... Nexi held the power cell in her hand, rubbing her fingers over the contacts on the end. She held it firm and focused, and soon sparks began to grow around her hand, but where Nexi was expect a soft golden current, the power arcing off her hand was red and it was hurting her! "Fuck!" Nexi gasped out in surprise at the pain biting at her hand, causing her to drop the power cell. With a wince she shook her hand. "What the hell!" Nexi said. She looked at her hand and it was still sparking; this wasn't possible! "What's happening to me?!"

Aewia let instinct take over as she quickly crossed the room and took Nexi's sparking hand, her mind reaching out to soothe the other woman's. She let the electricity flow into her, tingling every nerve ending. "Calm down and relax. Just let it go and everything will be ok."

Daytona stood up when the dark haired humanoid woman screamed. He went over to her. He felt a strange sensation pass through him as he got closer to the current the woman had generated. He looked at his hands, then held them out in front of his chest, palms facing each other, about six inches apart. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, first one stream, then another, then several more, electricity began to arc between his hands. He opened his eyes and lowered his hands, letting the electric currents fade.

"I think I know what you were trying to do," Daytona said. "I believe I can do the same thing, but not for the same reasons you can."

He picked up the phaser and brought it over to his chair. Slowly and carefully, Daytona opened up the phaser and removed it's core. It took a moment, but he seemed to recall which end to apply which charge to, almost as if he had done this before. He began feeding the phaser core power from...wherever this power was coming from.

"This might take a few minutes at least," he said. "It's basically a jump start, but I'll need to feed it power until it starts producing its own. Too much, too fast, and I'll fry it. Even then, it is going to take a while to fully power up."

"That's what I was trying to do," Nexi murmured to Daytona as she looked into Aewia's eyes. "How are you doing that?" she asked the girl as the sparks began to subside. Wait, this was clearly a woman, but for some reason in Nexi's mind, this was a young girl... "And why do I trust you?" she continued, her voice softening; this trust wasn't coming from whatever calming effect Aewia was doing, this was from within Nexi herself, she simply trusted this girl for some reason.

Aewia spoke softly as she firmly massaged Nexi's hand. "I... don't know... I think we share some sort of bond. I trust you as well, or I wouldn't have even done this."

Having slowly sat up and watched the show, Cato kept utterly silent watching the events unfold. The woman who attempted to repair the weapon evoked some sort of an emotion response out of him. Oddly enough it made him feel very, very uncomfortable. Hearing the other man talk about about being very good at hurting people made him smirk. Continuing the trend of keeping quiet, he sat quietly with his back up against a wall.

"Just another minute or so and the core should start charging itself," Daytona said. About a minute later, he turned off the juice and reassembled the phaser pistol. He went to hand it back to the pointy-eared...Vul...can...the woman was a Vulcan...and he...his people were related to hers in someway...regardless, he handed her her weapon. It struck him as odd that he would feel comfortable handing over the only actual weapon they had to someone else. Perhaps it was because he could manipulate electricity...and perhaps other things as well? "Here you go. Though I get the impression you can do some serious damage without this."

"That mirrored wall is two way. If the door is locked, it might be easier to break through." Aewia added as she finished massaging Nexi's hand.

Daytona walked over to the door. He examined the panel next to it for a moment. Finally, he selected a button and pressed it. The door opened.

"Well," Daytona said. "It wasn't locked and we weren't sucked violently out the door, so there's an atmosphere and we're not dead from asphyxiation, so I am assuming the air is comparable to that of our home planets. Shall we?"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Nexi said as she headed straight for the door. "Gonna get my ass the fuck out of this creepy place..."

Daytona sidestepped just in time to avoid being bowled over by the dark-haired humanoid. He looked at the others.

"I have to go," Daytona said. "There's someone...someone who needs me. I'm going. It would be best if we stick together, however, that is up to you. Good luck."

Daytona turned and left the lab.

"Be careful and watch for traps," Aewia added as she too left the sterile monitoring room. She then saw why the room wasn't locked. the outer room was filled with bloodied surgical devices of all sorts, some of which was freshly used. Along a far wall was a series of screens and control systems with holographic versions of each of them displayed prominently, their names and biological data scrolling beneath.

Nexi didn't even balk when she saw all the blood, she saw another door and went straight for it. She didn't care that she saw a profile of herself on the wall or whether or not it contained any familial connection to the blond woman who had helped calm her, she wanted out of here, so she tested the door. It opened without any protest, but she was quick to close it again. With a shudder and a deep breath, she opened the door again and then went through without waiting to see if anyone would go with her.

The room was filled with dozens of Iconian cloning tubes. Each one was active and in various stages of cloning the members that had had their memories erased. Purple and red lights lit the tubes from the top and bottom showing the partial bodies as they formed with inky black blood and organs - not from a child to adult stage, but growing whole as an adult and looking very demonic in the process. Several of the more whole ones were moving a little and seemed coherent in the tubes and were leering at Nexi with glowing red eyes as she moved into the room.

Daytona was looking over the names and biographical information and not paying attention at all to...Nexi...her name was Nexi. Staff Warrant Officer. He caught the his reflection on the glass of a monitor near him and compared his face to the holographic images. His name was Daytona...Daytona Ral...Chief Warrant Officer...age...422??? Memories of lifetimes past swirled around Daytona's mind, just out of reach. Daytona reached out an put a hand on one of the consoles to steady himself. Cato West...Warrant Officer, special operator...commando-type. Wildcard. T'Pral Jordan. Half-Vulcan, half-Human. Lieutenant Commander. So, he was right. The Vulcan was in command.

Aewia was more interested in the medical equipment and was poking around with a series of devices that looked like they had something to do with their missing memories. Finding records of the processes performed in the medical computer used, she was able to at least figure out that the loss was temporary and reversible, but not how. She also found that one of them had had a far more invasive cranial surgery prior, which explained the bloodied equipment. She just wished she knew which of them was 'Aewia'.

Cato had gotten up and followed the group out, the display with their information on it was of little interest to him. Following the woman (Nexi) that had elicited an emotional response from him earlier. Stepping into the room behind her, his eyes scanned the room “Looks like we missed the party.”

"This is bad... this is really bad," Nexi said as she looked at one of the more complete clones. She felt drawn to it, or something within her was drawn to it... She raised her hand to the tube and the clone mimicked her movement, then it raised its other hand and she felt compelled to reciprocate. It felt like she was being drawn in, she couldn't pull away! Her heart began to race and her breath quickened. "You guys need to get as far away from me as possible," she warned the man following her.

Seeing herself in a tube being cloned sparked a rage within T'Pral. As she stared at it, the anger inside her grew until she was seething. The anger seemed to be raw, unchecked. "Who did this?!" she screamed and before she knew it, her fist connected several times with the glass until the fourth strike, the glass in the tube cracked, green blood beginning to splatter her knuckles and ignoring the pain, she continued.

As Aewia continued her search, she spotted a belt-like device hanging on the back of a chair that seemed sort of familiar somehow so she grabbed it and tossed it over one shoulder. She also found a database entry for something she assumed was some sort of beam weapon that could unscramble their brains and restore their memories, but that part was rather confusing. What wasn't confusing was that there was a purple glowing double barreled gun of some sort inside of a cryo-vac unit that matched the description in the database so she abandoned the computer terminals she was looking through and unsealed the unit to get at the gun-like device.

"Aewia?" Daytona asked. There was a holographic image of the light-haired young woman with her name and vital statistics listen next to it. He eyeballed her measurements. They matched. "Is that a weapon?"

When the woman didn't respond, Daytona coughed and got her attention, then pointed to the image of her with her name next to it.

"Your name is Aewia," he said. "According to this data, the dark-haired young woman with the malfunctioning electric hands is your sister, Nexi. That device you are holding looks like a weapon. Based on the design features here, the people that built this place were similar to us. It stands to reason that their weapons would follow a similar design, form following function. Is it a weapon?"

"I'm Aewia..." Aewia realized that she was apparently the one that had had the invasive brain surgery in the medical logs she had seen and her demeanor darkened even further. She then looked down at the gun-like device that she held. "These medical computers claim that this has something to do with the recovery of memories. I take it those displays have data on who we actually are. Is there any indication as to why they would have performed extreme brain surgery on me?"

"I didn't dig that far," Daytona said. "I'll check now."

Daytona went back over to the console with the holographic displays and looked at it for a moment. Tentatively at first, and then with more certainty, he began to work the controls. The display with the five amnesiacs on it moved to one side and reduced in size and another display popped up. Surprisingly, he seemed to be able to read the language, but it didn't look like the one he had been speaking. Was it another language he spoke? No. It seemed more natural to him than the one he had been speaking, more like it was his first language. He touched a few more controls and the information changed a few times until it appeared to be in the language that the group had been speaking earlier. It was called Federation Standard. Was he a citizen of this 'Federation'? A wave of dizziness came over him again as vast amounts of memories again swirled around in his head, again just out of reach. He shook his head to clear it.

"Apparently, you suffered brain damage," Daytona said. "It appears to have been intentional, someone else's intention, not yours. There are...some very gruesome details in here, which I'll spare you. It appears that this facility is automated to a certain extent. There is a sort of...artificial intelligence that manages the day to day functions. That AI seems to have detected the damage to your brain and repaired it. I don't think it automatically did what is in that room over there. I caught a glimpse from here when your sister opened the door. My eyesight is apparently quite good. Regardless..."

Daytona adjusted the controls again and yet more information appeared.

"Yes," he said. "I am correct. Watch."

The other information disappeared and was replaced with a holographic image, albeit smaller than real life, of experiments being conducted. The lead scientist appeared to have a similar appearance to Daytona and T'Pral, but...something was off. He gave off a malevolence that was incredibly disturbing. And he seemed familiar to Daytona, but, like the rest of the information he had discovered, he couldn't place why it was familiar.

"Do you recognize this man?" he asked Aewia.

Aewia stared at the man in the hologram for several long moments. She had a feeling she should know him, but she just couldn't remember. Looking down at the gun-like device, she fingered the control mechanism on the back of it. It didn't have a traditional trigger, but an indentation on the back to trigger its use. The computer made it sound really complicated, but in the end, it seemed that all there was to it was a simple point and click interface.

Figuring she should test it out first, she aimed it at the floor before any of them, then clicked it on. A sort of energy ball formed at the end of the two barrels, then fizzled out. "I don't know who that man is, but I think this device might give us enough of our memories back to help us figure it out. Do you want to go first, or would you rather I be the lab rat?"

Daytona seemed to hesitate, then came to a decision.

"I'll go first," he said. "As I have said, there is someone I must find, someone who needs me. I can't do that without my memories. I am ready when you are."

Aewia pressed the business end of the device to Daytona's forehead. "See you on the other side," she said, just before pressing the activation switch. There was a brief glow around Daytona's head, then the device shut off automatically after a couple seconds.

Daytona's eyes went wide and he clutched his head, screamed and fell to his knees, overcome from 422 years of memories flooding into his head, then fell over on his side. He lay there, twitching for a moment, then another, then, slowly, regained his composure. He rose and adjusted his uniform. Tears were running down his face. I a period of just a few moments he'd discovered he had a daughter, and then that she was gone. He remembered friends and lovers past, then remembered that they were gone, either because they'd grown apart from him or because they'd died, some from old age, some through violence. What snapped him out of it was one overriding thought. Akira. He tapped his commbadge.

"Zhuri, Ral. Akira, please respond," Daytona said. When he didn't get a response, he tried the ship. "Ral, Hera, please respond. Ral, Telvan please respond."

He tried Mal and Clio as well and got nothing. He reached out and took the 'gun' from Aewia. He pointed it at her.

"Brace yourself," Daytona said. "This is probably going to hurt."

Without giving Aewia a chance to protest, Daytona pulled the trigger.

Aewia's eyes widened as what seemed like two sets of memories crashed into her head at once at full force, painfully knocking her to her knees. All the memories she had lost of her younger years, her early days in Starfleet, her years as an Intel agent, her torture and incarceration, her rescue and time aboard the Hera... And memories of floating inside a glass jar... Several years on end of it. Now and then the master would visit and talk to her, but she couldn't make out anything inside of the fluid filled container...

Breathing heavily, she stared wide eyed at the door leading into the room the others had gone into. "I think we may be very fucked."

"I assume you don't mean 'fucked' in a good way," Daytona said. "Strange. I feel like being well and truly fucked in the good sense of the word is exactly what I need right now. But I don't have time for that now, and besides, it's not you I want to be well and truly fucked by. Hold one moment please."

Daytona turned and walked into the room where the sound of breaking glass was coming from.

Meanwhile, in the cloning room, things were going from bad to worse. Nexi's presence in the room was stirring all the nearly completed clones to action, and as T'Pral beat on one of the tubes until cracked, the clones figured out they had the means of escape and began to beat on their tubes from the inside!

"Fuck! No no! No no no!" Nexi said as she finally broke the spell drawing her in, backing away cautiously. She quickly tried the door that would lead out, but it was locked. "We need to get out of here, NOW!" she said as she ripped the wall panel off the wall to see if she could crack her way into the system and trick the door into opening; they may need to see if they could escape through the mirror in the first room if she couldn't get this door open...

Without warning Daytona walked into the room and effortlessly shot Cato, Nexi, and T'Pral in the head with the 'memory gun', one right after the other in rapid succession. After they all doubled over, Daytona switched the gun to his off hand, grabbed T'Pral by the jacket, and dragged her back to the other room. He returned to the room of horrors twice more, first for Nexi then for Cato. Once he had them all secured he went over to the panel next to the door to that room and studied it for a moment. It was similar to the one they'd used to exit the operating room, only this one now displayed it's controls in Federation Standard. The AI was learning. Daytona quickly closed and locked the door. He turned back to Aewia.

"Put the belt on your sister," Daytona said. "Now."

Aewia then realized what the belt slung over her shoulder really was and scrambled to get it secured around Nexi's waist. "Fuckin twatwombles, Ral... How many are there? I know he cloned demon versions of me, but how many demon versions of the rest of you are there?"

"I didn't take time to count," Daytona said. "T'Pral had already cracked the tube of one of her clones by pounding on it. It and the others, the remotely coherent ones at least, seemed to realize that the covers to their tubes were made mostly of some kind of glass-like material, something that could be broken if you were strong enough. If I were a demonic Iconian mad scientist, I would have used transparent aluminum, considering how dangerous those things likely are."

"Unless he has a budget," T'Pral joked, looking at her bruised and battered hand more calmly now. It wasn't broken but had she been a human, it likely would have been shattered.

"Welcome back, Commander," Daytona said. "So, there don't appear to be any other exits from this area, just through that room of horrors. How's that phaser core's power level coming along? I have a feeling it's going to come in handy."

"The phaser is sufficently powered," T'Pral replied, checking the phaser power level.

"Every... fucking... time..." Cato grumbled, catching his bearings and standing to his feet. "I swear to god Daytona, you fuckin' sucker punch me one more time... Memories back or not..." he coughed a bit from the hit with the memory gun. "Why don't we get the fuck out of here before those things bust through the transparent aluminum. Any objections to that?"

"We've been over this, Cato," Daytona said. "Last time I had orders and I obeyed them. As to your questions...there. Now we won't be stumbling around blind."

A holographic map of the sphere appeared. Four areas were lit up.

"I scanned for commbadge signals," Daytona said. "This is us right here. I believe that these two groups are made up of the crew of the Hera. This smaller group appears to be on the move. Based on their movement, I'd venture a guess they are looking for us. As you can see, there is a maze of corridors between them and us. As Mister West has stated, it would be best if we started making our way towards them before those tubes break open."

He pulled a device that looked like a cross between a small PaDD and a small tricorder out of one of his pockets. Using it, he downloaded the map files.

"Aewia," he said. "As Cato stated, we need to unass this location RFN. Can Nexi walk? If not, we'll have to carry her."

Unlike the others who seemed to have come around rather quickly, Nexi had not yet show any signs of waking.

Aewia pressed a hand to Nexi's cheek and concentrated on her mind. There was still so much turmoil and she sensed so much more than just Nexi in there now... "I think the black blood complicated things so she's going to take a while longer. Cato, can you carry her out of here? You have the highest chance of survival if she accidentally summons a demon dog or something when she does wake up..."

"Then let's go. I will take point," T'Pral said, drawing her phaser and moving towards the door.

"Aewia, Cato," Daytona said. "You're next. I'll bring up the rear and try to keep those things off of our backs."

Aewia was far from defenseless, but her body wasn't what it was - she almost couldn't believe she'd been so out of it for so long. She had her mind back though and she was going to do everything she could do to protect her sister, the same as her sister did for her. She just needed a makeshift weapon... Grabbing a length of testing cord off of one of the tables, she wrapped one end around her right hand and held the other end in her other hand. She had her weapon for now. Nodding, she took up her position.

Without hesitation, Cato stooped to pick up Nexi, unafraid of the potential dangers that resided within her unconscious body. He knew the black blood was dangerous, but he also knew that Nexi was strong, strong enough to hold back the blood. Once he was certain he had a good hold of her, he nodded to the others that he was ready to go.

Before they could get moving, from the room with the tubes, the sound of shattering glass could be heard, followed by the rushing of fluid and several wet plops. Only a few seconds later, patchy wet hair and red eyes on a demonically misshapen clone of Aewia's face could be seen peeking through the door at the party, silently watching them as more glass could be heard cracking.
When Aewia woke up she didn't remember anything. Again. She remembered that she'd lost her memories before, but that was all she could remember as the bright ceiling lights glared down on her. Sitting up from the padded operating chair, she steadied herself so her head would stop spinning. "Now was that an ice cream headache or too much alcohol? Do I drink alcohol?" She then looked over her all black Intel uniform. "At least I know how to dress, not that it helps in this bright ass place." She then noticed the others that were waking up. "Does anyone else feel like they got hit by a shuttlecraft?"

T'Pral slowly stirred, taking in her surroundings. Where was she? Who was she was the better question. She couldn't remember anything prior to waking up. She looked down at her clothes to see that she was wearing a black and gold uniform with badge that was pointed at the top...and a phaser. She then heard movement and looked up to see others near her waking up with one asking a question. "I do not know..." she replied as she stood. "Where are we?"

Cato grumbled as his eyes slowly cracked open "...Shit hole..." His eyes open fully now, but his body didn't quite move yet. His standard duty uniform was donned, but the collar wasn't quite zipped all the way up. Continuing to stay down, he closed his eyes again and quieted his mind. "Anyone remember anything from before five minutes ago?"

Daytona Ral didn't rise yet. He didn't speak. His eyes darted back and forth under closed lids. Sometimes his face would twitch. Every now and again his head would turn slightly from side to side and his brow would furrow, as though he was trying to puzzle something out. Who was he? What was his name? Was he in the Monastery at Gol? If so, where was Gol and what kind of Monastery was it? Wait, there was bright light...was he in his room at his parents' house? Was he going to meet Tyra this morning? She was so wonderful to be with...his first and only at the time. She was kind to him. Gave him time to...someone was not with him...someone who should be. Was it Tyra? No...that was earlier...he was older now. Yet, someone special to him was missing, someone he cared deeply for...even loved...yes...someone he loved very much...

Daytona's eyes shot open then quickly closed again. He opened them again, slowly this time and realized that the glare was more manageable now. He blinked a few times. There appeared to be a nictitating membrane over his eyes. It was cutting some of the glare and protecting his eyes. He looked at himself. He was wearing an all black outfit of some kind. He appeared to be unarmed. He closed his eyes and put his fingers to his temples and massaged them. So many images in his head. It was as if hundreds of years of memories were trying to reform in his head, all at the same time. The only thing he was sure of was that someone was missing.

He looked around and assessed the people in the room with him. The most dangerous one in the room was clearly the one with the pointed ears. Not only did she give off the impression that she could kick the crap out of all of them, she seemed to have some device on her hip that he suspected was a weapon. The youngish humanoid male and the dark-haired humanoid female would likely require some effort, but nothing too strenuous. Had the dark-haired female punched him once? If so, why? And if she had punched him, why wasn't she dead? The light-haired female...somehow he knew she wouldn't want to hurt him. Who were these people, and what was his relationship to them? The uniforms were vaguely military, though the pointy-eared female seemed to be wearing a different version of it. There were disks on her collar, two solid, one hollow. Curious, he reached up to his own collar. He found four hollow disks. He looked at the others. There were no disks on the collar of the light-haired female. The dark-haired female had two hollow disks on her collar, the male had one. If they were in some sort of military, in theory, he outranked everyone except the pointy-eared female, right?

"Is your weapon functional?" Daytona asked the woman with the pointed ears.

T'Pral drew the phaser and pushed several buttons. "It appears to be non-functional."

It was at this time that Nexi began to stir; she opened her eyes and upon seeing an unfamiliar location she rolled out of the chair and backed away from the others, her eyes darting about looking for an exit. When an exit could not be found, her hand went to her waist for a weapon as she began to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each person in the brightly lit space, but found no weapons on her person. Also, no belt, but why did the lack of a belt suddenly have her heart rate shooting sky high? But seriously, where the fuck were her weapons?! And her jacket- What the fuck was she wearing?! These weren't her clothes! Where was her stuff!!!

"Who are you people and what the fuck have you done to me?" Nexi said in an accusing tone to the others.

Aewia sighed heavily and hopped off the seat she was on to further explore her surroundings, finally getting her bearings and feeling more like her old self. "Obviously we didn't do anything. It was our captors that did whatever they did to us, which seems to be erase our memories. I'm guessing that's just step one in an experiment. They're likely going to either see how we react without our memories, implant new ones, implant each other's memories in us... Or worse... I don't know, I get the feeling I've been in a situation like this before." As she spoke, she stalked around the room a bit like a wild cat, looking at all the vents and mirrors, inspecting each one for monitoring equipment.

She then looked to Nexi like she was going to eat her. "So relax, sweetie pie. At the moment, the odds of any of us in this room hurting you is slim."

Daytona smiled in spite of himself. Why did he enjoy hearing the dark-haired humanoid female put in her place? Did he know her? Was she obnoxious?

"I have no intention of hurting anyone at the moment," he said. "Though I have this...feeling that I am or at least once was very good at hurting people. Be that as it may, I'm not planning on hurting anyone. However, I do want to figure out where we are and if there are others from our group here. There is someone...missing...someone who needs me now more than ever. I have to find her. Why we are here is a secondary concern for me."

The fuck? Sweetie Pie? Nexi was no one's sweetie pie! And yet, there was something familiar about this girl... "I can't be here..." Nexi suddenly said. "I don't- I don't know why, but it's dangerous... I think I'm dangerous..." Her eye stared darting about as if trying to search her mind for the reasons why. "This is wrong, I can't be here," she reiterated, so certain of this even though she couldn't remember why.

Aewia staled off to stare into one of the full wall mirrors, then touched a finger to it. Her fingernail met her reflection perfectly with no gap, indicating it was a two way mirror. "Look in the eyes of every person here, sweetie pie. We may not have our memories, but we're all dangerous. I can smell death on every single one of us."

"Right," Daytona said. "Well, perhaps we should try and cobble together a few weapons and then see if we can figure out what's on the other side of that door? Since we have no idea why we're here and no idea where here is, I wouldn't advise just opening the door. The atmosphere outside this room might be hostile, if there's even an atmosphere to be hostile. Could be a vacuum."

Nexi gazed into Aewia's dark eyes; she knew this girl somehow... And she could recognize that everyone here was dangerous, but there was something else, another element of danger, something inside her. Could this girl sense it as Nexi could? A malevolence swimming in her veins...

"That," Nexi said, pointing to T'Pral's phaser when Daytona mentioned cobbling together weapons. "I can fix it."

T'Pral tossed the phaser at Nexi. "If you can, it would be appreciated." She felt unsure about the woman as she paced around the cell. She could feel anger and fear within her. She felt as if she should be able to control it but it was eating away at her. 'Who did this to me? Why? When I find them, I am going to rip their throats out with my bare hands!' she thought as she fought a losing battle with her emotions, which she couldn't explain why they were eating away at her so strongly.

Nexi caught the phaser and quickly popped out the power pack; it should have bothered her how she even knew how to remove the power cell, but she wasn't going to worry about it too much with more important things to worry about... Nexi held the power cell in her hand, rubbing her fingers over the contacts on the end. She held it firm and focused, and soon sparks began to grow around her hand, but where Nexi was expect a soft golden current, the power arcing off her hand was red and it was hurting her! "Fuck!" Nexi gasped out in surprise at the pain biting at her hand, causing her to drop the power cell. With a wince she shook her hand. "What the hell!" Nexi said. She looked at her hand and it was still sparking; this wasn't possible! "What's happening to me?!"

Aewia let instinct take over as she quickly crossed the room and took Nexi's sparking hand, her mind reaching out to soothe the other woman's. She let the electricity flow into her, tingling every nerve ending. "Calm down and relax. Just let it go and everything will be ok."

Daytona stood up when the dark haired humanoid woman screamed. He went over to her. He felt a strange sensation pass through him as he got closer to the current the woman had generated. He looked at his hands, then held them out in front of his chest, palms facing each other, about six inches apart. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, first one stream, then another, then several more, electricity began to arc between his hands. He opened his eyes and lowered his hands, letting the electric currents fade.

"I think I know what you were trying to do," Daytona said. "I believe I can do the same thing, but not for the same reasons you can."

He picked up the phaser and brought it over to his chair. Slowly and carefully, Daytona opened up the phaser and removed it's core. It took a moment, but he seemed to recall which end to apply which charge to, almost as if he had done this before. He began feeding the phaser core power from...wherever this power was coming from.

"This might take a few minutes at least," he said. "It's basically a jump start, but I'll need to feed it power until it starts producing its own. Too much, too fast, and I'll fry it. Even then, it is going to take a while to fully power up."

"That's what I was trying to do," Nexi murmured to Daytona as she looked into Aewia's eyes. "How are you doing that?" she asked the girl as the sparks began to subside. Wait, this was clearly a woman, but for some reason in Nexi's mind, this was a young girl... "And why do I trust you?" she continued, her voice softening; this trust wasn't coming from whatever calming effect Aewia was doing, this was from within Nexi herself, she simply trusted this girl for some reason.

Aewia spoke softly as she firmly massaged Nexi's hand. "I... don't know... I think we share some sort of bond. I trust you as well, or I wouldn't have even done this."

Having slowly sat up and watched the show, Cato kept utterly silent watching the events unfold. The woman who attempted to repair the weapon evoked some sort of an emotion response out of him. Oddly enough it made him feel very, very uncomfortable. Hearing the other man talk about about being very good at hurting people made him smirk. Continuing the trend of keeping quiet, he sat quietly with his back up against a wall.

"Just another minute or so and the core should start charging itself," Daytona said. About a minute later, he turned off the juice and reassembled the phaser pistol. He went to hand it back to the pointy-eared...Vul...can...the woman was a Vulcan...and he...his people were related to hers in someway...regardless, he handed her her weapon. It struck him as odd that he would feel comfortable handing over the only actual weapon they had to someone else. Perhaps it was because he could manipulate electricity...and perhaps other things as well? "Here you go. Though I get the impression you can do some serious damage without this."

"That mirrored wall is two way. If the door is locked, it might be easier to break through." Aewia added as she finished massaging Nexi's hand.

Daytona walked over to the door. He examined the panel next to it for a moment. Finally, he selected a button and pressed it. The door opened.

"Well," Daytona said. "It wasn't locked and we weren't sucked violently out the door, so there's an atmosphere and we're not dead from asphyxiation, so I am assuming the air is comparable to that of our home planets. Shall we?"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Nexi said as she headed straight for the door. "Gonna get my ass the fuck out of this creepy place..."

Daytona sidestepped just in time to avoid being bowled over by the dark-haired humanoid. He looked at the others.

"I have to go," Daytona said. "There's someone...someone who needs me. I'm going. It would be best if we stick together, however, that is up to you. Good luck."

Daytona turned and left the lab.

"Be careful and watch for traps," Aewia added as she too left the sterile monitoring room. She then saw why the room wasn't locked. the outer room was filled with bloodied surgical devices of all sorts, some of which was freshly used. Along a far wall was a series of screens and control systems with holographic versions of each of them displayed prominently, their names and biological data scrolling beneath.

Nexi didn't even balk when she saw all the blood, she saw another door and went straight for it. She didn't care that she saw a profile of herself on the wall or whether or not it contained any familial connection to the blond woman who had helped calm her, she wanted out of here, so she tested the door. It opened without any protest, but she was quick to close it again. With a shudder and a deep breath, she opened the door again and then went through without waiting to see if anyone would go with her.

The room was filled with dozens of Iconian cloning tubes. Each one was active and in various stages of cloning the members that had had their memories erased. Purple and red lights lit the tubes from the top and bottom showing the partial bodies as they formed with inky black blood and organs - not from a child to adult stage, but growing whole as an adult and looking very demonic in the process. Several of the more whole ones were moving a little and seemed coherent in the tubes and were leering at Nexi with glowing red eyes as she moved into the room.

Daytona was looking over the names and biographical information and not paying attention at all to...Nexi...her name was Nexi. Staff Warrant Officer. He caught the his reflection on the glass of a monitor near him and compared his face to the holographic images. His name was Daytona...Daytona Ral...Chief Warrant Officer...age...422??? Memories of lifetimes past swirled around Daytona's mind, just out of reach. Daytona reached out an put a hand on one of the consoles to steady himself. Cato West...Warrant Officer, special operator...commando-type. Wildcard. T'Pral Jordan. Half-Vulcan, half-Human. Lieutenant Commander. So, he was right. The Vulcan was in command.

Aewia was more interested in the medical equipment and was poking around with a series of devices that looked like they had something to do with their missing memories. Finding records of the processes performed in the medical computer used, she was able to at least figure out that the loss was temporary and reversible, but not how. She also found that one of them had had a far more invasive cranial surgery prior, which explained the bloodied equipment. She just wished she knew which of them was 'Aewia'.

Cato had gotten up and followed the group out, the display with their information on it was of little interest to him. Following the woman (Nexi) that had elicited an emotional response from him earlier. Stepping into the room behind her, his eyes scanned the room “Looks like we missed the party.”

"This is bad... this is really bad," Nexi said as she looked at one of the more complete clones. She felt drawn to it, or something within her was drawn to it... She raised her hand to the tube and the clone mimicked her movement, then it raised its other hand and she felt compelled to reciprocate. It felt like she was being drawn in, she couldn't pull away! Her heart began to race and her breath quickened. "You guys need to get as far away from me as possible," she warned the man following her.

Seeing herself in a tube being cloned sparked a rage within T'Pral. As she stared at it, the anger inside her grew until she was seething. The anger seemed to be raw, unchecked. "Who did this?!" she screamed and before she knew it, her fist connected several times with the glass until the fourth strike, the glass in the tube cracked, green blood beginning to splatter her knuckles and ignoring the pain, she continued.

As Aewia continued her search, she spotted a belt-like device hanging on the back of a chair that seemed sort of familiar somehow so she grabbed it and tossed it over one shoulder. She also found a database entry for something she assumed was some sort of beam weapon that could unscramble their brains and restore their memories, but that part was rather confusing. What wasn't confusing was that there was a purple glowing double barreled gun of some sort inside of a cryo-vac unit that matched the description in the database so she abandoned the computer terminals she was looking through and unsealed the unit to get at the gun-like device.

"Aewia?" Daytona asked. There was a holographic image of the light-haired young woman with her name and vital statistics listen next to it. He eyeballed her measurements. They matched. "Is that a weapon?"

When the woman didn't respond, Daytona coughed and got her attention, then pointed to the image of her with her name next to it.

"Your name is Aewia," he said. "According to this data, the dark-haired young woman with the malfunctioning electric hands is your sister, Nexi. That device you are holding looks like a weapon. Based on the design features here, the people that built this place were similar to us. It stands to reason that their weapons would follow a similar design, form following function. Is it a weapon?"

"I'm Aewia..." Aewia realized that she was apparently the one that had had the invasive brain surgery in the medical logs she had seen and her demeanor darkened even further. She then looked down at the gun-like device that she held. "These medical computers claim that this has something to do with the recovery of memories. I take it those displays have data on who we actually are. Is there any indication as to why they would have performed extreme brain surgery on me?"

"I didn't dig that far," Daytona said. "I'll check now."

Daytona went back over to the console with the holographic displays and looked at it for a moment. Tentatively at first, and then with more certainty, he began to work the controls. The display with the five amnesiacs on it moved to one side and reduced in size and another display popped up. Surprisingly, he seemed to be able to read the language, but it didn't look like the one he had been speaking. Was it another language he spoke? No. It seemed more natural to him than the one he had been speaking, more like it was his first language. He touched a few more controls and the information changed a few times until it appeared to be in the language that the group had been speaking earlier. It was called Federation Standard. Was he a citizen of this 'Federation'? A wave of dizziness came over him again as vast amounts of memories again swirled around in his head, again just out of reach. He shook his head to clear it.

"Apparently, you suffered brain damage," Daytona said. "It appears to have been intentional, someone else's intention, not yours. There are...some very gruesome details in here, which I'll spare you. It appears that this facility is automated to a certain extent. There is a sort of...artificial intelligence that manages the day to day functions. That AI seems to have detected the damage to your brain and repaired it. I don't think it automatically did what is in that room over there. I caught a glimpse from here when your sister opened the door. My eyesight is apparently quite good. Regardless..."

Daytona adjusted the controls again and yet more information appeared.

"Yes," he said. "I am correct. Watch."

The other information disappeared and was replaced with a holographic image, albeit smaller than real life, of experiments being conducted. The lead scientist appeared to have a similar appearance to Daytona and T'Pral, but...something was off. He gave off a malevolence that was incredibly disturbing. And he seemed familiar to Daytona, but, like the rest of the information he had discovered, he couldn't place why it was familiar.

"Do you recognize this man?" he asked Aewia.

Aewia stared at the man in the hologram for several long moments. She had a feeling she should know him, but she just couldn't remember. Looking down at the gun-like device, she fingered the control mechanism on the back of it. It didn't have a traditional trigger, but an indentation on the back to trigger its use. The computer made it sound really complicated, but in the end, it seemed that all there was to it was a simple point and click interface.

Figuring she should test it out first, she aimed it at the floor before any of them, then clicked it on. A sort of energy ball formed at the end of the two barrels, then fizzled out. "I don't know who that man is, but I think this device might give us enough of our memories back to help us figure it out. Do you want to go first, or would you rather I be the lab rat?"

Daytona seemed to hesitate, then came to a decision.

"I'll go first," he said. "As I have said, there is someone I must find, someone who needs me. I can't do that without my memories. I am ready when you are."

Aewia pressed the business end of the device to Daytona's forehead. "See you on the other side," she said, just before pressing the activation switch. There was a brief glow around Daytona's head, then the device shut off automatically after a couple seconds.

---------------------
Continued in Part 2

Aewia pressed the business end of the device to Daytona's forehead. "See you on the other side," she said, just before pressing the activation switch. There was a brief glow around Daytona's head, then the device shut off automatically after a couple seconds.

Daytona's eyes went wide and he clutched his head, screamed and fell to his knees, overcome from 422 years of memories flooding into his head, then fell over on his side. He lay there, twitching for a moment, then another, then, slowly, regained his composure. He rose and adjusted his uniform. Tears were running down his face. I a period of just a few moments he'd discovered he had a daughter, and then that she was gone. He remembered friends and lovers past, then remembered that they were gone, either because they'd grown apart from him or because they'd died, some from old age, some through violence. What snapped him out of it was one overriding thought. Akira. He tapped his commbadge.

"Zhuri, Ral. Akira, please respond," Daytona said. When he didn't get a response, he tried the ship. "Ral, Hera, please respond. Ral, Telvan please respond."

He tried Mal and Clio as well and got nothing. He reached out and took the 'gun' from Aewia. He pointed it at her.

"Brace yourself," Daytona said. "This is probably going to hurt."

Without giving Aewia a chance to protest, Daytona pulled the trigger.

Aewia's eyes widened as what seemed like two sets of memories crashed into her head at once at full force, painfully knocking her to her knees. All the memories she had lost of her younger years, her early days in Starfleet, her years as an Intel agent, her torture and incarceration, her rescue and time aboard the Hera... And memories of floating inside a glass jar... Several years on end of it. Now and then the master would visit and talk to her, but she couldn't make out anything inside of the fluid filled container...

Breathing heavily, she stared wide eyed at the door leading into the room the others had gone into. "I think we may be very fucked."

"I assume you don't mean 'fucked' in a good way," Daytona said. "Strange. I feel like being well and truly fucked in the good sense of the word is exactly what I need right now. But I don't have time for that now, and besides, it's not you I want to be well and truly fucked by. Hold one moment please."

Daytona turned and walked into the room where the sound of breaking glass was coming from.

Meanwhile, in the cloning room, things were going from bad to worse. Nexi's presence in the room was stirring all the nearly completed clones to action, and as T'Pral beat on one of the tubes until cracked, the clones figured out they had the means of escape and began to beat on their tubes from the inside!

"Fuck! No no! No no no!" Nexi said as she finally broke the spell drawing her in, backing away cautiously. She quickly tried the door that would lead out, but it was locked. "We need to get out of here, NOW!" she said as she ripped the wall panel off the wall to see if she could crack her way into the system and trick the door into opening; they may need to see if they could escape through the mirror in the first room if she couldn't get this door open...

Without warning Daytona walked into the room and effortlessly shot Cato, Nexi, and T'Pral in the head with the 'memory gun', one right after the other in rapid succession. After they all doubled over, Daytona switched the gun to his off hand, grabbed T'Pral by the jacket, and dragged her back to the other room. He returned to the room of horrors twice more, first for Nexi then for Cato. Once he had them all secured he went over to the panel next to the door to that room and studied it for a moment. It was similar to the one they'd used to exit the operating room, only this one now displayed it's controls in Federation Standard. The AI was learning. Daytona quickly closed and locked the door. He turned back to Aewia.

"Put the belt on your sister," Daytona said. "Now."

Aewia then realized what the belt slung over her shoulder really was and scrambled to get it secured around Nexi's waist. "Fuckin twatwombles, Ral... How many are there? I know he cloned demon versions of me, but how many demon versions of the rest of you are there?"

"I didn't take time to count," Daytona said. "T'Pral had already cracked the tube of one of her clones by pounding on it. It and the others, the remotely coherent ones at least, seemed to realize that the covers to their tubes were made mostly of some kind of glass-like material, something that could be broken if you were strong enough. If I were a demonic Iconian mad scientist, I would have used transparent aluminum, considering how dangerous those things likely are."

"Unless he has a budget," T'Pral joked, looking at her bruised and battered hand more calmly now. It wasn't broken but had she been a human, it likely would have been shattered.

"Welcome back, Commander," Daytona said. "So, there don't appear to be any other exits from this area, just through that room of horrors. How's that phaser core's power level coming along? I have a feeling it's going to come in handy."

"The phaser is sufficently powered," T'Pral replied, checking the phaser power level.

"Every... fucking... time..." Cato grumbled, catching his bearings and standing to his feet. "I swear to god Daytona, you fuckin' sucker punch me one more time... Memories back or not..." he coughed a bit from the hit with the memory gun. "Why don't we get the fuck out of here before those things bust through the transparent aluminum. Any objections to that?"

"We've been over this, Cato," Daytona said. "Last time I had orders and I obeyed them. As to your questions...there. Now we won't be stumbling around blind."

A holographic map of the sphere appeared. Four areas were lit up.

"I scanned for commbadge signals," Daytona said. "This is us right here. I believe that these two groups are made up of the crew of the Hera. This smaller group appears to be on the move. Based on their movement, I'd venture a guess they are looking for us. As you can see, there is a maze of corridors between them and us. As Mister West has stated, it would be best if we started making our way towards them before those tubes break open."

He pulled a device that looked like a cross between a small PaDD and a small tricorder out of one of his pockets. Using it, he downloaded the map files.

"Aewia," he said. "As Cato stated, we need to unass this location RFN. Can Nexi walk? If not, we'll have to carry her."

Unlike the others who seemed to have come around rather quickly, Nexi had not yet show any signs of waking.

Aewia pressed a hand to Nexi's cheek and concentrated on her mind. There was still so much turmoil and she sensed so much more than just Nexi in there now... "I think the black blood complicated things so she's going to take a while longer. Cato, can you carry her out of here? You have the highest chance of survival if she accidentally summons a demon dog or something when she does wake up..."

"Then let's go. I will take point," T'Pral said, drawing her phaser and moving towards the door.

"Aewia, Cato," Daytona said. "You're next. I'll bring up the rear and try to keep those things off of our backs."

Aewia was far from defenseless, but her body wasn't what it was - she almost couldn't believe she'd been so out of it for so long. She had her mind back though and she was going to do everything she could do to protect her sister, the same as her sister did for her. She just needed a makeshift weapon... Grabbing a length of testing cord off of one of the tables, she wrapped one end around her right hand and held the other end in her other hand. She had her weapon for now. Nodding, she took up her position.

Without hesitation, Cato stooped to pick up Nexi, unafraid of the potential dangers that resided within her unconscious body. He knew the black blood was dangerous, but he also knew that Nexi was strong, strong enough to hold back the blood. Once he was certain he had a good hold of her, he nodded to the others that he was ready to go.

Before they could get moving, from the room with the tubes, the sound of shattering glass could be heard, followed by the rushing of fluid and several wet plops. Only a few seconds later, patchy wet hair and red eyes on a demonically misshapen clone of Aewia's face could be seen peeking through the door at the party, silently watching them as more glass could be heard cracking.

In Cato's arms, Nexi groaned and writhed as the belt she once again wore sounded off with an alarm; even without waking, she could feel the blood calling to her!

T'Pral took a few steps forward as she looked back at the clone. "Damn," she said, before snapping off a shot that struck the creature in the face. It screamed in agony and then rage as it then rushed forward at an incredible speed. She raised the power setting with her thumb and fired again, hitting the clone again, this time in the chest as it reeled backwards onto the deck. Screams soon sounded from the other room as the rest of the clones rushed in.

Nexi cried out in agony as T'Pral felled the first clone, the black blood reacting violently within her; it felt like something was trying to claw its way out of her.

Daytona gave up all pretense of 'bringing up the rear' and charged forward, impatient to find out what happened to Akira. He grabbed a snarling clone by the throat and lifted it off of it's feet, then, in full on Vulcanoid rage mode, he snapped it's neck with a twist of his wrist. He dropped the clone on the deck faced the other clones, some of whom bore a vague resemblance to him. They snarled and roared at him, but he paid them little mind. Instead, most of his focus was on the fallen clone. Daytona waited a moment, then a moment more...

"It didn't regenerate!" he shouted, his mouth forming a feral grin. "They came out of the oven too early! We can kill them!"

Just as Daytona spoke, A clone got bold and charged forward in a murderous rage. He bowled Daytona over on his back, hit so hard that a Human would have a broken spine, which his stronger bones protected him from. They didn't protect him from having the wind knocked out of him when he hit the deck. He struggled with his artificial created attacker. It was touch and go a moment, but Daytona maneuvered himself until he was on his feral opponent's back and then bashed its face repeatedly into the deck until there wasn't much of a head left.

By this time, Aewia too was on the offensive. Whipping the chord she held around one clone's neck, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around the head of a second, flexing all the muscles in her body just right to pull both of them in and snap both of their necks in one swift motion. As they both fell to the deck in a writhing, quivering mass, Aewia rolled to her feet and moved to attack another clone bare handed, digging her fingers into its throat and ripping out the windpipe of a clone that vaguely resembled her, spraying black blood everywhere.

"Try not to get any of that black stuff in your mouth, your eyes, or anything else where the flesh is more permeable than your skin!" Daytona shouted. "Or you'll end up poisoned like Nexi!"

T'Pral nodded as she delivered a blow to the head of a clone that dropped to the deck. She quickly brought her foot down hard. The clone went limp from the impact as an audible crack could be heard.

Daytona looked over at T'Pral.

"Okay," he said as he stopped struggling with one of the clones, shoved it back enough so he could pull back his arm and then struck it in the nose with the heel of his palm. The clone went to the ground, if not dead, than at least unconscious. "So many I went a little overboard with the skull smashing."

As he moved forward to clear out another clone, he stomped down hard on the prone clone's skull, which collapsed under his foot.

"Is it just me, or are some of these things a little squishier than they've been in the past?" the intelligence officer asked. He ducked a blow from a clone, then knuckle punched it in the throat, followed quickly by a blow to the sternum, knocking the wind out of it. Before the doubled over, gasping, gagging clone could react (if it even could have reacted) grabbed it by head and pulled down while bring one of his knees up sharply and smashing it's face. Literally. "I mean really, I know T'Pral and I are stronger than Humans, and our bones are harder, but it usually takes a little more effort to smash a humanoid's skull like a rotten melon!"

Even Aewia had started to take notice at this point. Circling behind one, she used a move that would normally snap the neck of a sentient with her strength. It sheered the head right off and as the twitching body fell to the floor, she was left holding a demented version of Daytona's head. "Yeah, I've never ripped anyone's head off with just my strength before!"

As Aewia, Daytona, and T'Pral tore the clones apart, all Nexi could do was writhe in Cato's arms. Cato would have done anything to ease her suffering, but there was nothing he could do, and looked on helplessly as she continued to cry out in agony. But then she stilled and grew silent, and the suddenness of it make Cato's blood run cold.

"Guys, I think something's wrong with Nexi!" he called out, laying her out on one of the operating chairs they had woken on. Before anyone could respond to his calls, Nexi's eyes opened, but they were completely black, which wasn't completely unusual for her, but her eyes were blacker than black, empty voids even down to the sclera. She looked at Cato and there was no sense that she recognized him, but tears flowed from her eyes. All too quickly, those tears became black and viscous, and then Nexi reached up and grabbed Cato by the neck.

"Shit!" Cato gasped out, wrenching her hand away from his neck. She moved to grab him with the other hand, but he caught her first, holding both her hands above her head, and then the damned pain in the ass of a woman had the gall to try to shock him! A red current danced over her body and Cato very nearly let go as she burned his hands; but why wasn't it hurting her anymore?

"Hey! I could use a little help in here!" Cato called out to the rest of the team when the intensity of the current passing through him started to become more than he could tolerate, not yet noticing the pool of black blood forming on the ground below them; the puddle was rapidly growing, disproportionate to the tears streaming from her eyes.

In Cato's arms, Nexi groaned and writhed as the belt she once again wore sounded off with an alarm; even without waking, she could feel the blood calling to her!

Daytona rolled his eyes and then fought his way back to the operating room.

"For the Prime Number's sake, man!" he said. "All you have to do is carry one tiny, little woman, who..."

Then Daytona saw Nexi.

"...is apparently bleeding all over the floor without dying while trying to electrocute you," he said. He sighed. "Nothing on this ship is ever easy."

There were restraints on the table for both hands and feet. Daytona rushed over and grabbed one of Nexi's wrists. He seemed to be able to mitigate most of Nexi's electrical discharge with his own electrokinesis. With Cato's help, he forced her into the restraints one limb at a time. However, the puddle of blood at his feet now seemed to be moving. He stepped back out of the puddle to get a better look at what was happening.

"Really?!?" Daytona said, a mix of shock and severe annoyance in his voice. He turned to Cato. "When this is all over, young man, we are going to have a very serious discussion about contraception!"

With Nexi's hands and feet securely bound, it was like she knew she no longer needed to hold back out of fear for Cato's safety, and her eyes closed as searing pain ripped through her; it felt like something was trying to claw its way out of her, so she would let it, anything to make this pain end! The black blood began to seep from her pores, feeding the puddle on the ground until it was finally big enough, and then something began to emerge from the inky pool; the shape was indistinguishable at first, just a series of masses struggling to breach some unseen barrier, but as the mass came closer to emerging, the shape became more defined until finally a massive demon dog clawed its way into the lab and with glowing red eyes stared at Daytona and Cato with a growl. For Nexi, it was a relief, the pain had finally ended and she wasn't entirely coherent with what was going on around her, but she could 'feel' the dog she had unknowingly summoned, like it was an extension of her awareness, though at the moment she had no control over it, especially when it lunged at Cato and Daytona.

Daytona sprang into action, leaping to the side, dodging the dog's lunge while simultaneously knocking Cato out of the dog's reach. Daytona stood up, adjusted his blood splattered jacket, and attempted to look and sound dignified and alpha-dog/pack leader-like.

"BAD DOG!" he said. "Sit!"

The dog wasn't listening to anyone, least of all Daytona, and it lunged once again at the Vulcanoid Rigellian. When Daytona tried to dodge out of the way, the dog quickly adjusted and followed him, and with another lunge it managed to sink its teeth into Daytona's calf. As Daytona fell to the ground, the dog clamped its teeth in harder and ripped, causing a bright red spurt of blood so spray all over the white tile floor.

Daytona screamed in pain as the Hellbeast's jaws clamped down on his leg, almost, but not entirely drowning out the crunch of breaking bone. Then rage took over and Daytona took the beast's upper jaw in one hand and lower jaw in the other, and pulled them apart until once again there was the sound of bone breaking as Daytona overextended the beast's jaws. His severely injured leg free of the beast, Daytona used his good leg to shove the dog away. It wasn't dead and it seemed to be healing, but at least Daytona and the others in the room had a moment to breath. He could see his lifeblood pumping out of the severed artery in his lower leg and he could tell he was close to passing out. His eyes drooping, Daytona fumbled as he took off his belt to use as a tourniquet. Fortunately, Starfleet designed it's uniform belts to be used this way, so it could be buckled down tightly over a thigh or arm. Daytona just managed to buckle the tourniquet on his left thigh when the room seemed to be going black.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave this mess for you to deal with, young man," Daytona said to Cato. He began to mutter, half to himself, half to whoever was in the room. "Akira is going to be so upset with me...find her...please...tell her...I love her and that...it's okay to be angry with me..."

Then Daytona passed out.

Thank God he was silent! 'Either hurry up and die or shut up already!' Cato thought as he checked that the tourniquet was tight enough to stop Daytona from bleeding out, then he went to the demon dog and threw it to get it away from his injured team mate. Then he decided to take his frustration on the beast by stomping on its head to slow its regeneration, then stomped on it again on the ribcage just for good measure; the crunch of bone under his boot was quite satisfying, and he kept stomping every time it started to regain any sort of shape.

Over on the operating chair, Nexi started to wake, but she was far from coherent. She couldn't seem to work out where she was, or even who she was; she had these memories swimming around in her head, but none of them made sense! They were all mixed up and she couldn't figure out if she was a botanist's daughter, a slave, a mercenary, a killer, a thief, a protector.... or a lover... she turned her head and her eyes fell on Cato, and he seemed strangely familiar, but she was having trouble matching him to her memories.

Throughout all of this Aewia had been frozen in shock. She knew the Baskerville Hounds well. She'd been tormented by the Master's hounds on more than one occasion. Seeing one come from within Nexi and attack their friends... it was almost too much for her to process, even with her restored cognitive function.

Knowing that it could be beaten back though, snapped Aewia out of it and moved her into action. She grabbed an IV pole, pulled the hanger off the top, and stabbed it down into the beast into the deck plating with more force than she knew she had, pinning it in place. She then grabbed what looked like a med kit from possibly a twenty third century Federation ship off of a nearby counter and moved to treat Daytona with... Well, there was a tricorder inside of it. And she thought this was a cardiovascular regenerator... Scanning a few of the tools helped and after a few more seconds she was in business.

Aewia didn't even look up as she performed the best emergency field medicine she could on Daytona's leg, thanks to her training. "I think I can get Daytona up and at least walking reasonably well. Can you bring Nexi around and see if she's still on our side or if the black blood has completely taken her?"

"I think so," Cato replied, then returned to the operating chair where Nexi was still restrained, but she was starting to pull at those restraints. "Nexi? Nexi look at me," he said to try to get her attention, and she seemed to respond to her name, which was a good thing so far. "Do you know who I am? Are you with us?" he asked to assess her mental state.

"I.... I don't know," Nexi said, but she didn't sound at all like herself; in fact, she sounded afraid, almost child-like in the way she seemed to shrink back from him. At least her eyes looked normal, for now. "You seem familiar, I feel like I should know you, I just can't remember your name!"

It stung that she didn't know him, but they could work with this. "It's okay, just stay with me," Cato urged her, trying to keep her calm so she didn't conjure another one of those hell-dogs. "The dog, Nexi, do you remember the dog? Can you control it?" he asked, pointing to the dog pinned to the floor.

"That- that was real?!" Nexi said in a panicked tone when she saw the dog. She squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't know! I don't know anything! I didn't- I didn't mean to do that, it just hurt so bad, I couldn't hold it in," she tried to explain.

"It's fine, Nexi, we know it wasn't intentional," Cato said, then took a chance and started to undo the restraints on Nexi's hands.

"I don't know if I can control it, and I think there's another one, but it doesn't hurt much now, I think I can hold it in," Nexi said, rubbing at her now bruised wrists, only to see that her hands were covered in black blood from the summoning. "Shit, it really came out of me, didn't it?" she said, starting to sound a little bit more like herself. The memory was coming back in jagged pieces, leaving her psyche feeling raw, and knowing that it could push her to summoning another one of those monstrosities, she didn't fight the memory, but neither did she try to hold onto it as it slipped away.

Cato finished undoing the restraints on her feet, then helped her up; she wasn't in the best state, but at least she could process what was going on around her. "Yeah, it really came out of you," Cato replied dryly. "And do your best to hold the other one in, but we won't hold it against you if you can't. Just try to give us some warning if you think it's going to happen again."

Nexi nodded, then got to her feet; her whole posture had changed, she somehow seemed less than the person she had been before. "I'll try," she replied in a meek tone.

The final two clones rushed at the group as T'Pral snap fired her phaser, catching one in the chest before grabbing the other one and grabbed it by it's neck and slammed it head first into the floor as the skull smashed open, sending brain tissue and blood flying. T'Pral removed her blood-splattered uniform jacket, tossing it on the floor and replacing the comm badge onto her shirt. "Let's keep moving and see if we can't find our way out."

Back in the operating room Daytona's eyes fluttered open for a moment. He blinked a few times.

"Aewia," he said, sounding disoriented, almost drunk. "I've just had the strangest dream. Nexi cried and sweat black goo and the goo turned into a Hellhound which I attempted to bring to heel with strong language and a firm tone of voice. You'd be surprised how often that kind of thing works on Hellhounds. However, it didn't work this time. Instead, the dog tackled me and used my leg for a chew toy..."

Daytona noticed first his leg, then the dog.

"Okay then," he said. "Not a dream."

Then he passed out again.

"Will he be alright?" T'Pral asked, approaching Aewia while holstering her phaser.

"Yeah, I think I've patched him up enough to at least..." Aewia released the belt around Daytona's thigh as she set the last tool aside and nodded. It wasn't great work, but she could let the Doctor back on the Hera fix that up. For now he could walk. "Yes, he'll be slow, but he can walk out of here." She then loaded up a hypo with an antique version of a stimulant and injected him with it. "How quaint... Starfleet stopped using this over a hundred years ago because of addiction..."

Daytona's eyes shot open and he drew in a sharp breath. For a moment, it seemed as though he didn't remember how to release the breath, but then figured it out.

"What the...?!?" he asked, his eyes darting from side to side. "Did you just inject me with a stimulant?"

He looked down at his leg.

"You know," he said. "The way my heart is pounding in my chest right now, that one little stimulant might just undo all of your...handy work..."

He reached down and touched his leg. It felt like it was asleep. He looked at Aewia.

"Let me guess," he said. "You were able to stop the bleeding but not repair the arteries, so there's no blood circulating through my leg?"

"No, I repaired them... But this old twenty third century tech only goes so far. It can only repair the major and a few minor ones. There's still a lot of damage." Aewia held up an antique cardio regenerator which looked more like a torture device than a medical instrument. "Now please tell us you can walk if we help you."

Daytona grimaced as he pulled himself to his feet. He gingerly tried to put weight on his injured leg and cried out, almost passing out again from the pain despite the powerful stimulant coursing through his veins. He took the weight off of his leg immediately and leaned against the nearest operating table.

"Can you..." Daytona grimaced again. "Can you find me something to use as a crutch?"

"I gotcha," Cato said as as with a nod he offered to support the injured Rigellian.

"Don't get too close to the dog, he has a taste for you now and wants to finish what he started," Nexi said idly, staring into nothing as she waited to leave this place.

"I'll keep that in mind," Daytona said, smiling weakly. He looked at Cato with a silly grin. "Home, Jeeves!"

T'Pral moved out of the room and down a corridor that was too narrow for T'Pral's tastes. After walking several meters, they came to a junction that split off to two corridors. She raised her hand for the group to stop as she listened. Her ears picked up the rapid patting of bare feet hitting the floor and they were coming towards them. "Ready yourselves!" she called just as a clone leaped from the shadows while in full sprint. T'Pral was knocked down hard as she grabbed the clone and rolled with it, delivering a hard blow to the throat and slamming her palm into the nose, driving the nasal bone up into the brain.

A clone no one saw and climbed on top of some of the equipment. Scrambling across the tops of various machines, it suddenly jumped down onto T'Pral, trying to knock her to the ground. Another followed suit by tackling Aewia, while yet another landed in front of Nexi. Instead of attacking, it squatted on its haunches and looked at her curiously, as though confused.

Aewia let the clone land on top of her and used its momentum to roll it into a throw straight into a wall, pressing its head into a crunching blow just hard enough to spray black brain matter all over that wall.

For the first time in her life, Nexi was too scared to do anything; with all the confusion of the jumbled memories in her head, and for a moment she didn't know how to react or how to even defend herself, she was completely paralyzed! But the demon dog she had summoned could sense the danger and growled, lashing about violently to try to free itself so it could defend its master. But Cato had done a lot of damage to it, and Aewia had it sufficiently pinned to the floor for the moment, so it released this unsettling howl to try to call its brother. Nexi gasped, doubling over in pain as she slowly started backing away from the clone.

"No, not again..." she murmured as she fought back the pain building up in her once again.

The clone crouching down in front of Nexi became more agitated. It began to pound on the deck and howl. Several other clones followed suit.

T'Pral slammed back into the wall hard, causing the clone on her back to loosen it's grip. She did so again and this time it let go. T'Pral slammed it's head into the wall, causing it to splatter it's contents over the deck and wall. She spotted the clone in front of Nexi not attacking and in one swift motion, she drew her phaser and fired. The phaser burned easily completely through the clone as it dropped to the deck dead.

With the danger now passed, the dog on the floor stopped howling and the pain gripping Nexi began to subside somewhat, but she knew they would be in trouble if anything else popped up because she couldn't hold back the blood. She knew she had promised to try and she was doing her best, but this was simply beyond her ability to control for the moment.

"Can we leave now?" Nexi asked, wincing as she sagged against another operation chair; she sounded tired and her spirit more than a little crushed, but she was still fighting this malevolence bubbling up inside her, she hadn't given up yet!

"Sure!" Daytona said through gritted teeth. "Just let Mister Pickles there clear a path for us...that is if you think you can keep him from eating my other leg. I'm with Nexi. Can we please get the Hells out of here now?"

"Agreed," Nexi replied, at least to the 'get out of here' part, but she wasn't so sure about letting, Nexi sighed, 'Mister Pickles'.... Yeah, she wasn't so sure about letting the demon dog go free.

At that moment a clone tackled Aewia, knocking to the ground, it's face close to hers, its foul breath blowing in her face.

Nexi once again found herself frozen, unable to help this person she vaguely remembered, but some part of her deep down who know who Aewia was called out in the back of her mind, and Mister Pickles answered that call by ripping itself from from the IV pole that pinned it to the deck plating, viciously attacking the clone to protect Aewia! Of course, once it had ripped out the clone's throat, it began to eat the clone, causing it to regenerate faster, so now they had a whole new problem to contend with...

Aewia stood and backed up towards Nexi. "Nexi... Sister... Is that thing on our side now or is it going to try chewing on Daytona again?"

Sister? That's right, they were sisters, or half sisters, but still they were blood, although maybe not so much anymore with how this black shit was changing her...

"I don't know," Nexi said warily, watching Mister Pickles chow down on a black blooded clone. "I really have no idea how much control I have over it."

"Then I recommend we get out of here before Mister Pickles finishes his snack and decides we're the main course." Taking Nexi's hand, Aewia started heading for the exit.

It wasn't far, but it was locked. "An antique style hinged door... I have a foot-key for such things..." With a swift kick, Aewia had the door open and sunlight was filtering in through the now open doorway. They were now free of the memory lab. "Now which way do we go to find the rest of the crew?"

Daytona hobbled along with Cato's support, his breathing labored. He would be very lucky if he didn't throw a blot clot into his lungs or worse his brain. He pulled out his Intelligence tricorder, almost dropping it from his shaking hand but somehow managing to keep hold of it. He looked at it for a moment to place the other groups, then looked around.

"One group is that way," he said. "From the movement indicated by their commbadges, it looks like they are escaping whatever enclosure they've been in. The other large group is that way. They appear still be inside the enclosure. The smaller group is almost to the second large group. I'm getting commbadge IDs now. Captain Telvan is with the small group. Commander

Rigelians, for reasons not entirely known, had an almost perfect sense of direction. The ability worked better when on a planet, where they could orient themselves based on the planet's poles and axis, rotation, and revolution, but it was still effective on, for example, a starship. On the Dyson Sphere, the ability may not have been as effective as on a planet, but it was definitely better than on a starship.

"Well, let's go find them before Mister Pickles decides to come find us..." Nexi said dryly.

T'Pral led the way again, with her phaser drawn towards the smaller group. After a few minutes, T'Pral could make out the Captain's voice. "Captain Telvan. It is Commander Jordan and I am with West, Nexi, Ral, and Larani."

"Commander!" Enalia called out, then motioned for the medic in her team to hurry along. That medkit might come in handy. Hurrying the last of the distance between them, Enalia motioned for the medic to check them over. "It's good to see all of you in one piece."

Enalia then motioned to the tall purple alien standing next to her. "I believe you've met Akira. It seems she had to find a new host after 'landing' the Hera on the hull of the sphere."

"Hey," Akira said with a cheerful wave, but then she saw Daytona and all six of her eyes went wide. "Oh my stars, Daytona!" she exclaimed. "Wha- what happened?!"

But before Daytona could answer, Nexi chimed in. "Uh, yeah, that'd be my fault," Nexi said. "I, uh, kinda made one of them demon dogs and apparently he didn't like being told to 'sit'. And I'm all for a happy reunion, but Mister Pickles is still in there, so we should probably get the hell out of here before he finishes regenerating."

By this time, the medic had finished his initial scans of Daytona and given him a hypo for the pain and moved on to Nexi. "Captain... I..." He then scanned Cato and Aewia before moving his tricorder's scanner over T'Pral as well. "I'm no expert on this black blood substance, but I'm reading trace infection rates in all of them. Furthermore, Staff Warrant Officer Nexi... barely registers as humanoid on my scans."

"I think Mister Pickles is proof enough I ain't wholly 'me' anymore," Nexi said, then sighed. "Seriously, we need to get out of here before he starts howling for his brother again, 'cause I can't hold it in if the other one decides to make an appearance." It worried Nexi that Aewia and Cato were infected, and Daytona and T'Pral too, but she didn't know what to do about that damned dog, so it was in all their best interests to get the hell out of here as fast as possible.

"I can carry Daytona so we can move faster," Akira offered.

"Is Mister Pickles by any chance a giant black hound with seven red eyes and a nightmare inducing grin?" asked one of the crewmen that Enalia had brought along, pointing to a giant black Baskerville Hound gingerly nuzzling Nexi's hand. Somehow it snuck up on them without anyone seeing it or noticing it - probably one of its powers that they had yet to catalog - instant return to its master.

Nexi looked down at the creature warily as she back away from it. "Please don't eat us," she said to the beast. Then it made a sound that was not in any way canine at all, in fact it almost sounded like it was chuckling, but made no move towards Nexi or anyone else, for the moment. "Ok, we can cross 'shit a brick' off my bucket list; who else is ready for this nightmare to be over?"

T'Pral was surprised to learn that she had been infected. Had it occurred while they were unconscious? She hadn't felt any different but hoped the infection could be cured. "Yes, let us leave this place," T'Pral said finally.

"Akira..." Daytona said, taking her hand, his voice shaky. "You can't fool me. I'd know you anywhere, my love."

Akira smiled, or as best as she could in this body. "Of course you do," she said sweetly, then she gathered him up into her arms to carry him back to the camp; if she had been a bit more developed she would have realized that being carried like this probably wasn't the most dignified for a full grown man with Alpha male tendencies, but at this point she was simply concerned for his safety. "Now let's get you to safety and we'll take good care of you."

Daytona, for his part, didn't give a damn about being dignified, though he was a little surprised when she picked him up. Even if he felt as though his dignity was under assault, he was in too much pain to care. He rested his head on Akira's should and closed his eyes, happy she was safe, content to let her rescue him.

Before entering the Nightmare Lands, the Hera had to rendezvous with one last ship to synchronize data and take on a couple more crew before heading in. They were alongside a Vulcan survey ship now, performing the last of the classified data transfers before getting underway and Enalia was in her ready room awaiting the report of the two new specialists Command had assigned her.

One was a Vorta.

Sighing heavily, she leaned back in her chair and decided to look over the other file for a while at least and was instantly creeped out by what she found in it. Was this a sentient Vulcanoid science doll? Command sure did know how to pick them...

Meanwhile, the two individuals in question were beaming aboard. They couldn't have been more different. The Vorta lieutenant was plainly in a good mood, his grin forming even as the shimmering blue sparkle faded away, and he looked around the transporter room with a cheerful, bright-eyed manner. However, even Vaemyn's grin dimmed a few watts at the stony Malana standing beside him.

"Are you okay, Malana?" he asked politely, adjusting the strap of his carry-on. "You look a bit...er...stonier than usual. Did the transport have an adverse effect?"

"Negative, the air is just a bit drier and the shift was less than kind to my skin." Malana turned her unblinking, large, reflective eyes towards the Vorta like a couple of surveillance domes as she spoke in a near emotionless voice. "I'll have to remember to moisturize more often during this assignment, it seems." She then held up a PaDD with her orders on it and stepped off of the transporter pad. "Shall we proceed to the Captain's ready room then?"

"Um...okay," Vaemyn replied with a bemused smile as he followed her. He had a high tolerance for weird, even Vulcan weird, but Malana was a different kettle of fish entirely. He mused that it could be something unique to Ashravenen culture, but hell, even the most stoic Jem'Hadar was a cheerful conversationalist compared to her.

Soon enough, the two scientists made their way up to the ready room with only the occasional odd glance from passing crewmen. After they walked out of the turbolift onto the Bridge, Vaemyn glanced at Malana's doll-like features, shrugged, and tapped the ready room chime.

"Come in," Enalia called, prompting the door to open. She'd seen stranger officers than the two that now graced her office - she couldn't think of them right now, but she was sure she'd seen them before. Thus she did her best to pretend nothing was out of the ordinary that a Vorta and an Ashravena were now about to be speaking with her at the same time. One from a former enemy of the Federation and the other from a race so self-contained and introverted, it took diplomats thirty years of looking at rocks to open a dialog. "Excellent! Just the two people I was waiting for. Please, come in. May I offer you a drink?"

Stepping inside, Vaemyn smiled at his new CO, pleasantly surprised by her friendly demeanour. “I would appreciate that, captain, thank you. To make it all official: Lieutenant Vaemyn, reporting for duty.”

Malana also introduced herself, though without the accompanying smile. "Ahreva Malana, at your service, Captain. I would... also appreciate a drink. Perhaps lemonade? I acquired a fondness for it while on Earth."

"Welcome aboard. Please, both of you have a seat. Lieutenant, what can I get you?" Enalia asked as she punched in an order for a glass of lemonade and a glass of water for herself from her desk replicator. She waited to hear from Vaemyn before punching in an order for his drink.

Sitting down, Vaemyn shrugged at the question, still smiling. “Oh, lemonade for me too, Captain, if you would. It’s been a long time since I had an Earth beverage. Whatever one might think about the humans, their homeworld has an astonishing variety of food and drink.”

"Indeed they do, though the same can be said about many worlds. However, Earth tends to have the least issues with allergies across the most races that I've seen and does tend to be the easiest to reproduce." Punching in the second lemonade, Enalia slid both glasses over to her two guests before taking her own glass of water.

Sitting down as well, Malana took her lemonade and sipped it before chiming in. "Indeed. It must be difficult to find replicator patterns that fulfill the dietary requirements of so many races. Having glanced at the database of Earth delicacies with some personal adjustments on a case by case basis, it may not be a daunting task. My race has some minor dietary requirements which I believe a modified diet of Earth beans and rice seasoned with red clay will compensate for."

Sipping his lemonade, Vaemyn froze mid-motion, his violet eyes glancing at Malana in amazement. "I...uh...can't say I'm familiar with clay as seasoning. But I guess people look at me weird when they see me sprinkle arsenic on my food, so hey, no judgement Malana."

Malana nodded. "Indeed. Clay and arsenic are not part of the common dietary intake of most races and can be extremely harmful when ingested for some, if not most."

Clearing her throat, Enalia set her glass of water aside. "I hope the two of you have read over the classified data on the Master and black blood that I forwarded to you. Also, due to unforeseen circumstances, our Science Chief had to leave for an emergency, so instead of being Assistant Science Chief, Lieutenant, you'll be the actual Science Chief as of now."

"Wait, what?" Vaemyn said, stunned. "Really?"

"Really. Congratulations. Do you need a few moments for that to sink in?" Enalia asked, a lopsided grin on her face as she tapped her desk.

"Um..." Vaemyn trailed off, before shaking his head. "Uh, no captain, it's fine. It's just amazing. Not that your old science chief had an emergency, that's not amazing, that's bad, I mean the promotion, and...er...you get my drift. Thank you very much. I won't let you down."

"Excellent. I look forward to your work then." Enalia pressed a few buttons on her desk terminal, hoping the conversation could move forward to more pressing matters.

Grinning self-consciously, Vaemyn hurriedly changed the subject. "In regards to the 'Master' and the black blood, yes, Malana and I discussed them a little on the trip here. The black blood is a fascinating substance, as is the 'Master" and the beings you have encountered. They certainly seem to have characteristics closer to that of the Organians, or the wormhole entities, than mundane beings like us. It's all really quite awe-inspiring. Terrifying and crazy, yes, but still awe-inspiring."

"We believe the Master is an Iconian and possibly some sort of demon version of one, considering other data that we possess. We had a demonverse version of myself aboard for a time and she displayed almost identical characteristics and abilities. It took three tricobalt devices and the destruction of an entire planet to kill her. We're hoping to kill him with far fewer casualties and cure our people. Unfortunately, that may require the aid of ancient beings that humans used to worship as gods. We've made contact with a couple of them and have two weapons that should harm him significantly, but we still need to find him. Hopefully he's at this hidden lab of his inside these so called nightmare lands."

"The nightmare lands," Vaemyn repeated, his grin fading as Captain Telvan explained the full nature of their threat they faced. "So we're hunting an evil, superpowered perversion of one of the most powerful technological species in known history. It sounds like a fun ride, assuming we don't get blown up by the aforementioned evil superpowered...Iconian...demon. Okay, it sounds even weirder saying that out loud."

At that, Vaemyn shrugged it off. "Anyway, I'll have a closer look at all of your past research, Captain, with your permission. Starfleet classified the majority of the hard data until Malana and I actually got here. My people studied the Iconians extensively and all of that research was programmed into my brain at my creation, so I may be able to combine Federation and Dominion knowledge to attain some new insights."

"That's one of the reasons you're here. That and you're both specialists in your respective fields, from what I've heard." Enalia grinned even wider. "I think with you two and Crewman Ila Dedjoy we finally have the perfect science team for combating this black blood issue."

"Yes ma'am," Vaemyn said with a warm, confident smile. "I know that there isn't much time before we hit the nightmare lands proper, but we'll get to work with Ila Dedjoy as soon as we can. We'll also redouble the investigation of this 'black blood', to try and cure this ailment before anyone else is hurt. Now, the people who were infected...have they deteriorated much? I understand that one of them is still onboard?"

Enalia nodded. "Yes, Staff Warrant Officer Nexi is in stable enough condition to perform her duties within limits as long as she wears an inhibitor belt. The computer is monitoring her status constantly as well. As for Commodore Meowlith... She's on a medical transport ship in quarantine until a cure can be found. She's much further along."

Interlinking his fingers, Vaemyn was quiet for a moment. "I know that the Staff Warrant Officer has to be sick and tired of tests, but I suspect they'll be inevitable to neutralise the black blood without harming the host. Hopefully she'll be amenable."

"Thankfully we've been able to streamline the testing process to just blood samples and daily scans for now." Enalia had taken that into account as well, hence the consideration. "But if there are any tests you need to run I'm sure she'd be happy to help."

“Yes sir, understood,” Vaemyn answered with a nod. “We’ll do everything we can to help her and Commodore Meowlith, preferably without more of those...uh...demon dogs...popping up.” He shook his head, chuckling incredulously. “It’s going to be a while before I can say that with a straight face.”

"I just hope none of them come out of our people." Enalia leaned back in her chair and clasped her hands together as she thought back on when Farenia Meowlith was attacked and infected. "When the Commodore was attacked, those dogs ate her entire support crew. Many of them were good friends of mine. Their Captain was my younger sister. I had planned on leaving a good portion of the family business to her care when she was more experienced. I suppose that it's a good thing that that happened while we were on shore leave."

Vaemyn’s purple skin briefly turned pink, his eyes widening as he realised his faux pas. “Oh. Right. I’m sorry, Captain. Not a laughing matter.”

"Indeed not," Enalia confirmed. "Do either of you have any questions so far? Or would you rather get the rest of the data from Commander Eneas, Crewman Dedjoy, and the computer for now?"

“Nothing else springs to mind, ma’am,” Vaemyn said more seriously, his earlier good cheer gone. He’d known that the mission was important, certainly, but actually meeting someone who had been so profoundly affected by it all...that gave him a newfound determination to help the Hera’s crew win. This wasn’t some dry research project, all maths and hypotheses; this was very, very real, with lives hanging in the balance. The captain wasn’t showing any trace of it affecting her, just like any other good CO, but Vaemyn knew that she had to have a serious emotional stake in this mission.

Glancing at Malana, Vaemyn rubbed his hands together. ”Well, shall we get to work, Malana?”

Malana was motionlessly staring at Enalia. "You and Commodore Meowlith were lovers at one point, were you not? And your younger sister was lost in her defense? Captain Telvan, are you emotionally compromised by these events?"

Enalia stared back wearily while she composed an answer in her head. When she spoke, every word was intentional and the tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with a phaser. "Commander Xustos took command of the ship while I came to terms with the loss of my estranged sister and the injury of my academy lover. This was while we were on shore leave. I am not currently experiencing any more emotional stress from this than I would for any member of my crew. Understood?"

"Clearly." Satisfied for now, Malana finished her lemonade and turned to Vaemyn, lighter in mood, if it could be said that a porcelain doll carved from granite could be. "Ready when you are, Lieutenant."

Vaemyn stood, nodding at the captain soberly as he set down his empty glass. "Thank you for bringing us aboard, Captain. We won't let you or the crew down."

"I'm counting on it. Welcome aboard." As the two science officers left, Enalia finally let herself relax for a moment. Maybe these two could get a little further in this case.

After getting the five crewmembers back from the memory lab and to the rest of the crew between the two prison camps, Enalia made it a priority to get everyone back to the Hera. Thus, she revisited the scans she took of what she thought might be an Iconian gateway system not far from them. It had the same readings she'd memorized a few days ago from scans in the database and she was eager to see if it was a way back or not.

As for the lab they were sent here to destroy...

It was an Iconian Dyson sphere.

There was literally no way for them to destroy it.

They'd have to find a way to kill the Master until he died from it and stayed dead.

After about an hour of rest and recovery, Enalia was fairly sure the crew was all accounted for, Daytona was going to be ok, and the five that were in the memory lab weren't going to go crazy. They had a few medkits between them so Daytona was going to be ok and they were even able to coax the replication systems in the prison camp structures into creating an IV-like system so he was getting lost fluids back.

There was still no word from the Emergency Command Hologram that was left in charge of the ship, so she had no idea if it had stayed online long enough to restore power or even rescue the various pets aboard the Hera. It was troubling, but there was also a chance that there was a communications dampening field in place preventing contact.

And then there were the biologists. They had found a species of purple squirrel here that breathed fire. They wanted to capture a few and take them back to the Hera. Study them. See what makes them tick. At any other time, she'd be all for it. It seemed nothing could kill the curiosity of a true explorer. She had to smile at that. Maybe after all this is over, they could go back to exploring.

But now wasn't the time. Now was the time for action and break time was over. She had to assemble a team now that she knew everyone was ok. Vaemyn would be valuable. As would Akira. Mal would have to stay here again and keep things under control. T'Pral is invaluable if they run into anything. She hesitated a moment, but Aewia knew how to read Iconian as well. Besides, whatever that memory lab did to her, she seemed to have well more than her old memories back and it may come in handy. A small and light group was all she needed.

Nodding, Enalia tapped her comm badge and sent out the message. "Mal, T'Pral, Vaemyn, Akira, and Aewia, please meet me at the command rock immediately." The command rock was a large white rock that stuck up out of the ground about thirty meters and was easy enough to see from anywhere in the lightly forested area that they had gathered. They agreed upon it being a gathering point for command decisions and briefings of a sort.

T'Pral arrived a moment later. "Captain," she greeted as she approached the rock.

A few moments later, Vaemyn arrived, his eyes glued to his tricorder. The little device had been scanning non-stop, connected in a basic network with all of the other tricorders held by other officers, and he had been devouring the sensor data ever since like a starving man.

Mal arrived and addressed Enalia.

"The crew are squared away for the time being," he said. "Enalia, if we're going to kill this bastard, we're going to have to go and get the weapons Hephaestus gave us. That's the only way we can kill him. That means we have to get to the Hera."

Akira was hesitant to leave Daytona with the medics, but she could not leave a call from Enalia unanswered, so she finally left her boyfriend to join the others by the Command rock. As she arrived, she heard Mal talking about going back to the Hera to get the weapons, but that left a huge question in the air.

"Uh, excuse me, sir," Akira said politely as she approached. "H-how are we to get back to the Hera?" she asked. "I only got in because I lack a physical form and was able to transmit myself directly into a Herald probe, and I don't even know how to get out of this body to transmit myself back, which I know was a risky thing to do, but I was able to find all of you, so it was worth it. But still, how do we get back?" she continued to ramble nervously.

"The same way we got here," Enalia replied with a grin, holding up her tricorder as Aewia joined them as well with a nod. "Lieutenant Vaemyn, I assume you're seeing the same readings I'm seeing. Do you recognize them as possibly being an Iconian gateway network as well? One that might be able to do mass teleportations like the system that took the crew off the Hera?"

“I think I agree with you, Captain,” Vaemyn answered, still peering at his tricorder. “These readings are definitely consistent with gateway technology. I’d say they’re coming from a location about two kilometers that way,” he finished jabbing a thumb back over his shoulder before folding up his tricorder. “I should point out that it could also be a ten-kilometer wide starship transporter, an interdimensional portal or just a giant lavatorary. The Iconians were very fond of shoving their gateway tech in every part of their society. We won’t know for certain until we get there.”

"The Herald lab gave me quite a bit of information, and maps of the Sphere, I can sift through some of it to see if I can find anything useful, but there is a lot of data so it may take some time," Akira offered.

"Understandable. For now just try correlating our scan data to the map data you have then. As for what it is, I'll take an Iconian trash bin if it can get us back to the Hera." Handing her tricorder off to Akira so she could do just that, Enalia continued. "Commander T'Pral, as you have the only working phaser we have and have the combat skills of a Valkyrie, you'll be our security detail. Aewia, your knowledge may be invaluable."

"Mal, I'm sorry but I need you to stay here and hnngg..." A sudden sharp pain from her symbiont pouch interrupted Enalia as she was giving orders and a cold sweat formed on her forehead. Leaning against the large white rock, she gently rubbed the symbiont, trying to help ease the pain as it quickly faded.

Mal was at Enalia's side instantly.

"Enalia!" he said sharply. "What happened?"

"I don't think my symbiont likes something," Enalia replied, still in a cold sweat, but looking a little better at least. "Probably some bacteria or pollen in the air trying to kill me. Joined Trill are notorious for being susceptible to such things. If anyone has a medical tricorder handy..."

"Someone fetch Doctor Yale immediately!" Mal shouted. "Enalia, stay put. I'll take Commander Jordan and a team to the gateway and back to the ship. Once there, we'll see if we can get the transporters working and beam all non-mission specific personnel back to the ship, along with you and Daytona. We'll come back with the sword and spear of the Caberi, given to us by Hephaestus. Clio gets one and T'Pral the other."

"Agreed," Enalia nodded. She was in no position to argue with her XO over this. "Just promise me that..."

Suddenly, all senior officer comm badges crackled to life, but just barely. The line was heavy with static, but through it could be heard the voice of the Emergency Command Hologram. "USS Hera to command team. Do you read? Please come...zzzt... This is the Emerzzzt... omanzzt.... ologram..."

Tapping her comm badge, Enalia pulled out her tricorder and started tapping at the controls to try and boost her own signal. "Hera, this is Telvan. We read you. Report."

After a few seconds, a reply came back. "Have restored partial powerzzt... Engines still offlinezzt... Unable to lock on to youzzzt..."

Enalia could have sighed with relief if she wasn't in so much pain right now. "Keep working on main power. We're working on a way to get to you. Copy."

It took a few more seconds again, but the reply came. "Copy. Working onnzzzzzzt...... can't get near... reactor... Will prepare for arrivazzzt....... Over...."

Enalia glanced up at Mal and grinned, pale faced and cold sweat still on her forehead. "Go get my ship, Commander. I'll be here waiting." Tucking her tricorder away, she stood up straight, performed a straightening tug on her uniform shirt, and walked as dignified as she could towards the medical area of the encampment. She only made it about 10 meters before being intercepted by a worried looking medical crewman.

Tags

*** Six months after, "This, Didn't Happen..." ***

---

Flight Deck | 0220 Hours | U.S.S. John Paul Jones

The klaxons sounded, red alert lights flashed on all decks and the John Paul Jones rocked softly from weapons fire. Cato stood in the newest version of his HECA, painted in vantablack camouflage . "Freedom isn't free at all, it comes with the highest of costs. The cost of blood. We've payed the cost, and we'll keep paying it! Because THIS is where we hold them!" Cato paused as he moved slightly as he talked. "THIS is where we fight! AND THIS IS WHERE THEY DIE!!!" he paused "Remember this day, it will be yours for all time!" he paused again "Spartans never retreat! Spartans never surrender!"

His team of twelve yelled "HA-OOH!!!" and it echoed the decks of the Flight Deck.

"Spartans! Prepare for glory!" as he moved his helmet to his head and locked it into place onto of his armor; Activating the PA his voice darkened in tone. "Give them NOTHING! But take from them EVERYTHING!!!"

A echoing sound from Cato's team roared across the Flight Deck "HA-OOH" was roared across the deck.

His eyes looked over to Katee who stood about thirty feet away from where he was with she with her own team. Looking back to his team, he shouted through his PA "Let's go kill some god damn bugs!" Cato said as he turned and motioned for them to move out and get aboard the transport.

Giving her team a final once over, she nodded in approval of what she saw. No apprehension, just eager anticipation. Armed to the teeth and ready to kick ass. "Saddle up gents," she called out loud and clear, her voice carrying to everyone without the aid of her PA yet. As her men hoofed it onto the transport, she brought up the rear, still carrying her helmet. "Ya know, I couldn't find any cans of Raid in the armory, so I guess it'll have to be bullets and grenades for these bastards," she commented calmly to Cato as she came closer, as if discussing the weather.

"Sometimes you need to use a cannon to kill a mosquito, Chief.” Cato said softly through his external PA before turning and looking at his men all strapped in. "Semper pergendum sine timore!" (always moving forward without fear) Cato yelled.

His team responded with resounding "HA-OOH"

Moving to take one of the jump seats, Katee switched on her PA finally and looked at her own team. "Nec misericordia. Et omnes interficiunt!" (No mercy. Kill them all.) she told her men, speaking Latin just as easily as Cato had. Pulling her helmet on, her expression was concealed from the others.

As if trying to be the louder team, her men hollered back, "HOO-YAH!" Which made her chuckled slightly.

Suddenly, the transport doors closed and the transport dusted off the Flight Deck shifting everyone around. "SPARTANS! When we get to the surface, we know what we need to do. Chief Dahl’s team will provide additional mission-critical support, MACO's will provide heavy fire, medical and EVAC. Don't lose sight of our objective!"

Cato's team sounded louder than Katee's this time with a "HA-OOH!!!!!!" He moved to take one of the Officer's jump seats back to back with where Katee was sitting. Cato strapped in and then tapped his suit-to-suit comms to Katee's suit. =/\="When this is over, I need to tell you something." =/\=

=/\= "You sure you don't wanna to tell me now? Before we get boots on the ground? You never know...might not get another chance in case somethin' happens to one of us." =/\= she said cryptically. They weren't strangers to high risk missions, so her asking if he wanted to tell her now was nothing unusual.

=/\="It can wait. Keep your head in the game."=/\= suddenly the drop ship shook violently as it began to enter the atmosphere of the Va'Karan / Void planet. The sounds of weapons fire rocking the drop ship as it evasively maneuvered.


Mirandar Advanced Research & Weapons Development Facility | Various | 0227 HOURS | Oovoo Six

Soon enough, the Pelican had hit the ground with a thud. Their magnetic harnesses automatically deactivated and Cato leapt from his seat. Awaiting the doors to open, he eyed them carefully. The sounds of gunfire, screams and roars all in the distance surrounding the ship.

Oh, she'd keep her head in the game, alright. =/\= "Roger that", =/\= she responded to West, then addressed her men. Katee kept it simple. =/\= "Show time! Crush these bug motherfuckers!" =/\=

Every single one of her team replied at the top of their lungs with an ear-splitting =/\= "HOO-YAH!!" =/\=

Holding her modified TR-116 rifle at the ready, Katee took a deep, calming breath. Her team was providing support, but she needed to get to high ground to provide overwatch as well as taking out as many bugs as possible while keeping them off of the rest of the men.

As soon as the doors open, Cato gave the hold sign to his men as he walked down the ramp calmly. Enemy weapons fire falling short as he calmly checked the sights on his TR-116 before looking around the planet and getting the lay of the land. =/\="West to ST3, change of plan. High ground isn't friendly. Form up on me and let's get into the compound and behind their lines. Bio-masking mode on your suit, stealth approach, keep it quiet.=/\= Cato said, stepping off the ramp and walking across the dry dirt on the hot planet's surface. Enemy and MACO weapons fire lit up the nights sky like fireworks in the distance.

=/\= "You heard him. Do it," =/\= Katee ordered one of the younger team members who seemed momentarily distracted by the display in the distance. He snapped out of it and got with the program. Activating the bio-masking mode on her suit, she followed Cato, leaving enough room to maneuver and fire if necessary. The heat was sweltering, despite it being nighttime, but the combat armor she wore had full environmental protection; including temperature control.

As the group began to enter the complex, enemy fire began to reign down upon them like heavy rain. While others went for cover, Cato and his men didn't flinch. He stood there and allowed himself to watch the rain. Continuing on, their energy weapons hit Cato's armor as if he was a big target instead just a single man. Their weaponry was no longer a threat, the new reactive armor Starfleet had cooked up was truly awesome. Enemy fire didn't penetrate, it was just absorbed into the suits power systems.

He continued on, custom built and heavily modified TR116C2 rifle in hand, he began to move through the entrance to their complex. Shooting selectively, he moved like the wind; His team in tow. They were like ghosts, there one second, gone the next; Moving with accuracy, precision and tactical prowess. Once they had reached the far side of the entrance, Cato used his suit comms again =/\= “Dahl, follow us in. We'll see you inside." =/\=

Suddenly, Cato and four of his men disappeared past the doors leading to the central complex. From there, who knows where they went...

Dahl moved her team in and had them spread out. Moving along, she didn't hesitate to pull the trigger; dropping enemy tangos as they appeared and attempted to fire upon her or her team. A quick glance around and she located some of Cato's team, but not him. Even in his armor, he stood out from the other men. Crossing to one of the Spartans, making sure not to come up in his blind spot and that he saw her, she thumped him on his shoulder. =/\= "Where's West?" =/\=

A soft feminine voice spoke over the comms as she continued to lay down suppression fire from her point. =/\=“Ares went inside with a four man team."=/\= she called out. Selective with her fire, Sam quickly reloaded her updated M14A1.

Grumbling under her breath, Katee took cut down three more tangos; her shots accurate and deadly. Giving orders to hold the position to her team, she headed inside on her own.

Cato was in their equivalent to a R&D lab... Alone, he was pulling the data he needed to get on a modified Borg Data Node, it screamed Section 31. In fact, it gave away who Cato really was. Downloading every piece of data, schematic of their technology, detail of their species... He was getting everything Aspid, Danvers and The Wolf had requested. It was beyond them though and he knew it.

Though Cato was beyond dedicated to his cause, he didn't deactivate the tracking system in his suit as to alert his team to him going dark. It was easier this way...

Making her way in, Katee checked the locations of Cato and the small team with him. Cato was stationary, while the others were moving slowly; most likely sweeping for hostiles. Glancing around, she spotted a catwalk that could give her a good vantage point to provide overwatch from. Her steps were silent as she remained alert with her rifle at the ready and climbed the stairs to gain the high ground. From there, she was able to spot the four MACO's as well as the Cato in the lab. What was he doing in there? Most likely gathering intel, but habit had her raising the sniper rifle to look through the scope to get a better look.

Cato worked quick, bringing up schematics of their weapons now, he began to download everything into that modified Borg Data Node. Moving it from one data-block to the next, he was working furiously. His rifle and helmet were both laying atop one of the consoles as his hands worked. His hair soaked with sweat, he was pouring. The comm-piece in his left ear sounding on his team's frequency, "Copy, I'm almost done." Cato stated "I'll need another ten minutes to finish the download, then we can get out of here." A few seconds later "Don't worry, I'll explain it to the Director myself. You guys get to deal with The Wolf." he chuckled.

Sounds of gun fire and explosions from outside the building didn't distract Katee from what was going on inside the lab. The windows weren't very big, but she had more than enough room to peer inside using her scope for an up close and personal view. Spotting Cato, she frowned. Not because he had his helmet off, but because she could tell he was talking, but she didn't hear a thing through her ear piece. Activating her own comms, she checked in with one of her team members. =/\= "Dahl to Wilson. Comm check. How copy?" =/\=

Barely two seconds passed before the crackle of an open comm line sounded in her ear; the chatter-chatter of automatic weapons in the background. =/\= "Wilson to Dahl. Solid copy. Comms are good. Repeat, comms are good. You're...son of a bitch!" =/\= More gunshots, this time loud and close as Wilson engaged an enemy at close range. His breath rasped over the line as he came back on. =/\= "Rude fuck... you're coming in loud and clear, Lieutenant." =/\=

=/\= "Copy that. Dahl out." =/\=

Okay. So West wasn't on the same frequency as the rest of the MACO's. Why the change? To keep down the chatter? Moving to get a better view, she blinked when she caught a glimpse of classified weapons schematics, specialized ammunition rounds and other data; all of it in the process of getting downloaded into...

"Fuck me." The words were barely above a whisper as she stared in disbelief at the modified Data Node. A Borg Data Node. All of the careful digging and searching through files and reports since she'd been on the John Paul Jones and now she knew why she hadn't found anything. Not him. Not Cato. Even as she tried to deny it, she flipped through the frequencies, searching for the one West's team was using.

Though the frequency was a secure channel, if someone was so inclined to find it they eventually would. Cato worked as quickly as he could, time was not on their side. The information was nearly completely downloaded into the modified Borg Data Node. =/\="Ares to all team members, prepare to shove off. Objective is complete, I'll rally with you at the entrance. Switch to the main frequency and teenage the enemy."=/\=

=/\="Copy Ares, Drogo out."=/\= Laurent said a deep voice over the comms.

Cato was walking a fine line these days, he was pushing his boundaries of his moral limits. The smeared line of right and wrong was so blurred that he no longer cared about what side he was on anymore. Withdrawing his Type II Phase Pistol, he looked down to one of the Va'Karan scientist that he held captive. "This is for Caleb Danvers." he placed the barrel against the man's head and pulled the trigger. Splattering the one all over two other hostages, he looked to the remaining two women. "We can do this the easy way, or the real easy way... I need access to the weapons vault behind THIS door." Cato said talking like a psychotic personality had taken over. "First one to give me the code, doesn't get harmed, you have my word. The one who doesn't is going to be left to get ravaged by every man under my command... over and over and over." he pretended to act sincere, but played it off very well.

Having found the correct channel, Dahl caught all but the beginning of the communications. Just as she was getting over the shock of her discovery that her objective was Cato himself (as well as the entire four man team that had been with him), he pulled his MK23 MOD0 and executed one of the scientists. The Va'Karans were their enemy, but none of the scientists were armed. If Katee had any doubts about how Section 31 corrupted and twisted things for their own objectives, seeing the man she was in love with send a bullet through an unarmed man's skull erased it.

Forcing herself to shut down her emotions, she disabled her tracking system, switching it to a cloned signal of one of the other team members then checked her display and located the others Section 31 operatives. She'd save Cato for last. Keeping low, she kept her steps quiet and unhurried as she stayed out of sight. The hunt was on.

One by one, she stalked the other MACO's silently, a deadly predator in the shadows, taking care to come up from behind them. She had to be smart; keep things quiet lest she alert them of her presence and deadly intent. Activating a short-range jammer, she made it impossible for them to call for help or for a single sound to be transmitted accidentally. The first two met their end when she slid up behind them, silent as death itself. Grabbing hold of their helmets, she gave a vicious twist and broke their necks, then dragged them out of sight. Not one to leave anything to chance, she quickly pulled each man's helmet off and drove the wickedly sharp knife into the back of their skulls and twisted the blade. Both times it only took a matter of seconds before she moved off to find the remaining operatives.

Finding them together forced her to change tactics, but it ended up being faster; more efficient. Though they were decked out in their combat armor, Katee was loaded up with armor piercing ammunition. Taking aim, she took a deep breath, exhaled and squeezed the trigger on the big sniper rifle. The sound of her shots blended in with the rest of the chaotic noise of combat and got lost in the din. At close range, the bullets did a horrific amount of damage; piercing the armor, tearing through flesh and muscle tissue. Shredding internal organs. Shattering bones. All moving at a high velocity to send a gory fountain of blood and tissue out through the exit wounds. After stashing their bodies out of sight, she moved to a new position. One target to go. The cold calm that had settled over her receded some as the reality of who her final target was came to mind again. Why? Why him?!

"Look, I don't want to hurt you... But if you don't give me the code for the weapons vault, I'm going to tie both of you down, naked and let whoever have their ways with you. It won't be quick, it won't be pleasurable, I will see to it that it is the most horrific torture you can imagine." He stood up from his knelt position, both female scientist shaking and shivering.

"FUCK YOU, MONSTER" one of the two said

"Ok, bend over." he grinned wickedly, light a bolt of lightning, Cato smashed the side of her head with the barrel of his MK23 MOD0. He put the barrel of the gun between the legs of the women he had just smashed in the head. Pressing forward, his eyes locked to the other scientist "Code, now." He said plainly looking between the two hysterical women.

"562-9889-2881-Delta" one of them screamed, crying.

Cato stood to his feet and moved to the wall, keeping a glancing eye on them as he entered the code into the panel. When the entry light turned green, the doors began to open for him. "Thank you very much." he said looking at them both, two surgically placed rounds were placed, splattering their brains all over the lab.

His eyes turned to the large weapons vault, the weapon he was after sat in the center of the room. The Tetryon Gatling Gun, it's orange metallic paint caught his eye. "Oh yeah, that'll do." he said to himself. Holstering his sidearm, Cato moved to the weapon and ran his hand over it's six barrels, gripping into the weight as he lifted it from it's pedestal; Bringing the weapon online he stepped back out of the weapons vault into the lab.

Closing on West, Katee found a spot that provided decent cover and watched him. Her gaze dropped to the Tetryon Gatling Gun and her eyes widened. Holy shit. Suddenly her sniper rifle seemed like a pea-shooter in comparison, even though she knew it was more than enough weapon. It just couldn't spit out the blinding amount of rounds at the same crazy rate. If he spotted her, he could cut her down in the blink of an eye. Less than a fraction of a second. Knowing that, she must have been absolutely batshit crazy to deactivate the jammer and switch to their suit to suit comms to talk to him.

=/\= "Did you get everythin' you were after?" =/\= she asked in a deceptively soft voice, doing her best to ignore the painful twist of her heart as it was torn in two different directions within her chest. Despite that, she had the sniper rifle raised and aimed at Cato. Had him in her crosshairs and dead to rights as a Section 31 operative.

A smirk crossed his lips as he heard her voice through his left ear. =/\="Not everything..."=/\= his eyes began to scan around as best as he could. =/\="You know, there's an explanation to this, but you won't like it."=/\=

He heard the rumbling in the distance of Void and Va'Karan soldiers drawing near... It wasn't going to be long before he had a shit storm on top of him. =/\="I guess I don't have a lot of time before you pull the trigger, so here it goes... The same day you got your black PADD, I got mine. I didn't love you any different than I did before, even though I knew you were the one after me."=/\=

Cato's free hand laced around the Modified Borg Data Node and picked it up. Sliding it into an external pocket on his combat armor, he secured it in place. =/\="I have no excuses to make, no regrets, no apologies... I just have to say, everything between us, up to this point, was real-ish."=/\=

He was right. She didn't like it. Not one tiny bit. Didn't like discovering he was working with Section 31. Didn't like that he was the person she was supposed to kill. Didn't like that she was questioning the very thing he had just said. That she'd been wondering if it had all been a deadly game all along? That she'd been wondering if he really loved her at all?

Despite her turbulent emotions, Katee's focus remained razor sharp; her situational awareness too ingrained to the point of being instinctive. She heard the Void and Va'Karan closing in on their positions. =/\= "I didn't know who my target was. Didn't know it was you until I saw what you were doin' inside the lab," =/\= she admitted honestly. Something he had said set off even more warning bells in her head. "Up to this point." Up to this point made her wonder if how he felt for her was different now that he had what he'd been sent to retrieve in the lab? Did he have orders to take her out before she could put a uranium slug through his head?

=/\= "You told me you needed to tell me something when the op was over. What was it? Were you gonna tell me you were on to me before you killed me?" =/\= There was a brief pause as the memory of the stranger at the bar came back to her. =/\= "Is that what you were going to tell me before you 'secured your nest'?" she asked as it clicked into place.

=/\="No..." Cato paused "My objective was never to kill you, it was to complete your recruiting process into the frey and bring you full circle. John Aspid issued the orders himself."=/\= he set the massive weapon in his hands down atop one of the counters in the lab.

=/\="Secure my nest?" He smirked "Wolf, he's a prick... A purist, a fuckin' relic..." his voice trailed off "Though, before you end me and leave me here to rot... I want you to know a few things; I love you more than you could ever imagine. Even if you pull the trigger, I'd still marry you. "=/\= Cato's eyes darted through the labs windows to the doors that were going to breach at any second.

There was no reply over the suit to suit comm line. Nothing but silence as the sounds of Void and Va'Karan soldiers drew closer and closer to their position. One moment he was standing alone in the lab, the next she was standing in the doorway; the big sniper rifle aimed at him. Her approach had been silent, like a wraith stealing through the shadows. The only people that had ever seen her aiming a weapon at them had done so because she had let them see her. She'd let them see that she was Death there to send them into the afterlife.

Keeping the rifle level, she braced it against her body with one arm and reached up to pull her helmet off. "Say it again...to my face."

"I'm not here to play who's the better killer. You have my heart, I love you so much that I can't stand the thought of losing you. We've been through hell together. I can't imagine another woman I'd rather wake up to or get my ass kicked by."

The distance between them didn't prevent her from locking gazes with him and staring deep into his eyes, as if peering past the outer layers of the man to see into the very depths of his battered soul. So much pain. So many old hurts. He kept most of them hidden or tried to, but she was so attuned to him that she sensed them at times. No matter the darkness that lingered, she loved him.

Pulling her finger off of the trigger, she returned it to the ready position along the trigger guard. "I don't want to lose you either, Cato...but you might still get those orders, since I took out the rest of your team," she confessed. "I'm screwed. On one hand I only partially carried out my orders, so I didn't complete my mission. On the other hand...I just killed four MACO's. I doubt that was part of my 'training' you were tasked with." She laughed bitterly. "As if I needed any fucking training."

"As if I didn't hear the shots over the open comm line." He smirked "You sure they were actually MACO's? I mean, they were wearing armor..." a wicked smirk crossed his lips "Don't worry, those orders shouldn't ever come. If they do, there's always a first time for disobedience." he smiled. "Let me guess, Aspid and Caleb fed you this bullshit story about Caleb becoming your...?"

Before Cato could finish his sentence, the doors that held back reinforcements were blown and revealed a platoon of Void Bezerkers moving through the hallways below them. "GO, NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Cato said, pulling the Modified Borg Data Node from his pocket and shoving it against the chest-plate of her armor. "I love you." Before she could even move, he grabbed ahold of her and placed quick, passionate kiss against her lips.

Peeling away from her, he grabbed his helmet and clicked it into place. He opened up another utility pocket and tossed a magnetic transport targeting enhancer at her armor. "Get out and get everyone off this rock. I'll hold it." he said through the PA in his armor. Armored hands moved to pickup that tetryon gatling gun.

Reflexes fast as a cat, Katee tucked the Data Node securely away and automatically brought the big sniper rifle up and fired a rapid succession of high velocity, armor piercing rounds into the heads of the leading Bezerkers; dropping them directly in the path of those behind them and causing the first few to stumble.

Even has she fired the shots, she was on comms, yelling above the noise for the retreat of all MACO's and to haul ass for immediate exfil. Pulling the trigger again, she blasted several more of the big ugly fuckers. "CATO! DON'T DO THIS...COME WITH ME!" Standing her ground in furious display of bravery, stubbornness and loyalty, she hollered to be heard over the loud shots and enraged bellows coming from the Bezerkers. "YOU DON'T GO, I DON'T GO GODDAMMIT!"

Once his hands gripped the tetryon gatling gun (TGG), the barrels begun to spin. Getting a running start, Cato smashed his way through a window and leapt to the deck nearly two floors below. Crushing the cement below his feet, he stood to his feet and faced the horde of creatures in front of him. His right index finger began to squeeze the trigger unleashing the the rotational spray of weapons barrels onto the hordes of Bezerkers and a larger, more aggressive Va'Karan breed that was new, to them.

=//="WEST TO JOHN PAUL JONES!"=//=

=//="Operations reads you Lieutenant West, ready to transport out?=//=

=//="COPY! LOCK ON TO MY TRANSPORT ENHANCER, EMERGENCY TRANSPORT!"=//= Cato shouted as he continued to suppress the hordes pouring out of what was he guessed to be a cloning and genetic engineering facility.

Suddenly, the TGG became overheated and came to a screeching halt. Cato dropped it to the deck with a thud and switched to his TR116C2, programmed with Tungsten XM855 (Armor Piercing Rounds), he began to selectively take down enemy targets. He had made a significant dent, but the hordes were moving to surround him now... In a matter of seconds, Cato had gone from in control to surrounded.

"NO!!" Katee moved into a new position, covering him from the high ground; screaming and shooting at the same time. Shot after shot slammed into their targets with deadly accuracy, but it wasn't enough. There were too many Bezerkers. For the first time in her life, Katee knew true fear as she watched helplessly while he her fiancee was surrounded and overwhelmed. Still, she wouldn't stop shooting until the dry click sounded. Out of ammo. Ejecting an empty magazine and slapping in a full one, she fired a few more times and felt the familiar tingle as a shimmer of blue surrounded her. She was still screaming for Cato, his name cut off when she disappeared in a flash of blue...

---

It wasn't long before Commander Xustos' team found the source Iconian gateway complex readings and it was definitely not a waste reclamation center. It was a command center. And though there were no life signs, there were automated defenses.

It was a deep purple pit-like structure with a donut shaped building in the center. The door into the command center building could be easily seen, but swarmer drones filtered through the area. Each one was only about a meter long with its trailing tentacles, but the mild shocks each could deliver compounded in a group this large. Starfleet had run into them in the Gamma quadrant in a few remote asteroid fields, but apparently they had been laying in wait here defending this location as well.

Mal eyed the swarmers with caution.

"Let's avoid attracting their attention for as long as we possibly can," he said quietly. "No aggressive moves. We don't have enough phasers to bring them down before they're all over us. First of all, we need to get passed them and to the door. Secondly, we need to get the door open. Third, we need to activate the gateway and 'dial up' the Hera. Lastly, we need to make it to the gateway without getting captured or killed by those things. I am open to suggestions."

Aewia had a suggestion, but she was sure they wouldn't like it. "I have a bad one. Akira, that staff-like thing on your back... The Master used one as a walking stick a few times while he was interrogating me and considering it's integrated into a piece of Iconian tech like a Herald probe... I think it might be an offensive or defensive weapon at the very least. If you could figure it out and use it as a distraction, I think I can hotwire the door while T'Pral covers me. That way I should be able to get it resealed so the swarmers are outside and we're on the inside." Yeah, it sounded worse out loud and it sounded horrible in her head.

"Staff?" Akira seemed confused, and she looked over her shoulder and sure enough there was the head of a staff-like thing, and so she reached back and grabbed. "Oh, okay, I'll try to figure out-" she started, but didn't get very far into her statement when a black anti-proton beam shot out of the head of the staff. All six of her eyes went wide. "oh, so that's what it does..." she muttered, grateful that she hadn't hit any of her friends with the beam, but that had been an accident and she didn't know how to fire this thing for real!

T'Pral wasn't happy with the plan--too many things could go wrong. However, at the moment, she didn't have any other ideas. "You will need to act quickly."

"Akira," Mal said. "Aim the staff...over there, away from the swarmers and the command center. Let's see if we can get you to fire that thing on command. Are there any controls on the shaft? Did you accidentally hit a button, or was it something you thought when you wanted it to do something?"

"I just held it," Akira said with a shrug, pointing the staff in the direction Mal mentioned. "And wasn't thinking about anything in particular, just wondering how it-" And she was once again cut off as the weapon fired. "Oh, I think I see how this works..." The weapon fired off once again, but this time she was actually trying to! "Okay, now what do you want me to do with it?" she asked. She wasn't used to field work, so she was feeling more than a little out of her element, but she could do this, the team needed her!

"Why don't we stop shooting that thing for a moment, before we attract the attention of our friends over there," Mal said. He turned to Aewia. "Miss Larani, this is your plan. What do you want Miss Zhuri to do with her new found toy?"

"Exactly what she's doing... Distract them." Aewia pointed to the area that Akira had been firing in, while scanning with her tricorder. Several of the swarmers had gone to investigate and several more had stopped to seemingly watch them. "They don't seem to be able to lock on to the source of your weapon too easily, but they're scanning the atmospheric disturbances. If you could head around closer to them and destroy a few of them without them seeing you, then meet back up with us, that would be perfect. It should draw enough of them off that I think we can slip down there without too much of a hassle."

"Akira," Mal said. "You can do this. I have faith in you, and I'm not the only one. If Daytona were here, he'd be cheering you on, so if you get really nervous or afraid, just think of Daytona dressed as a Terran cheerleader, in one of those little skirts, waving pom-poms around. Alright everyone, let's go."

"That I would pay to see," T'Pral commented with a grin as she and Mal headed down towards the Swarmers, moving towards their left flank. 'A rookie mistake,' T'Pral thought as she noted the swarmers keeping their attention on their comrades.

Much to her surprise, Akira could feel the cheeks of her android body warming up with a slight blush. "Um, I am confused; what does sex roleplay have to do with this?" she asked. Of course, her only context for a 'cheerleader' was from her mother's database of sex related activities.

Vaemyn, who had staying uncharacteristically quiet as he worked up his courage, facepalmed with a loud smack at the android’s words. “Can we please stop talking about weird dancing humans and just do the stupid heroic thing before I need to change my pants? Pretty please?”

"Daytona Ral isn't human, but sure," Mal said. "If it helps, you can think of him wearing a utilikilt like mine. You might want consider wearing one, Vaemyn, if you feel that you might be in danger of losing control of your bowels every time things get exciting. Much easier than having to pull down your pants in a hurry. Anyway, this gate won't open itself. Let's do this."

"That was more than I wanted to know about anything, ever," Akira muttered as she readied her staff to begin the distraction, moving around to where Aewia had indicated and began firing her weapon.

Aewia shook her head and grinned. This was definitely one of the more fun teams she'd been a part of. Sliding the rest of the way to the double doors, she tapped on the entry control panel and started scanning it with her tricorder. "Oh, this'll be easy... How long do you think Akira can distract the swarmers?" Tapping the control panel a few more times, Aewia got through a few of the menu systems before she was met with a decidedly negative sounding fractal noise. That did give her what she needed though, and her next few taps on her tricorder cycled through a few polaric modulations that unlocked the door, signaling a positive fractal noise from the keypad. Pressing a control, the door behind her wooshed open with an intensity that only Iconian tech could reproduce. "Into the chu'Sui hole, everyone."

The swarmers seemed fall for the distraction easily enough, but after a few shots, they began to track the atmospheric disturbances back to the anti-proton beam. Akira quickly moved to confuse the swarmers and fired in different directions, but with each fire of the staff, they simply got closer and closer. She didn't have a comm badge on her, but the comm signals were programmed into her matrix for when she emulated a comm badge, and she found that this Herald body could access those frequencies directly to communicate with the team while separated.

"Uh, I don't know how long I can keep this up, they're really smart," Akira said.

Tapping her combadge, Aewia replied to Akira's call. "Then get your purple butt over here. The door is open."

"T'Pral!" Mal said. "Cover Akira!"

Mal waited outside of the command center with T'Pral. He would wait until the last possible moment.

T'Pral nodded as she drew her phaser and rushed to meet Akira. "Move!" she said as she moved to shield Akira. The swarmers were now onto their plan and were heading towards the command center. T'Pral fired a wide-beam at the swarm, causing them to scatter and slow.

It was plainly clear that Akira wasn't made for combat, she squeaked in surprise as T'Pral let loose cover fire, but she did as commanded and moved as quickly as she could for the command center. "I do not like this fighting business," she declared once she was safe with the rest of the team.

“Who does?” Vaemyn agreed with an enigmatic shrug, then grinned self-consciously at T’Pral as he belatedly noticed her gold shirt. “Ah, no offence intended, Commander. I am very grateful whenever gold-shirts save my life, which is more often than I like to think about.”

T'Pral shrugged. "It's what I do," she replied.

Glancing outside at the swarmers as they returned to their normal patrol pattern, Vaemyn added cheerfully, “On the bright side, we appear to have bypassed what meager defences this facility possesses. That suggests that we can access the local control interfaces for the gateways without further difficulty. And even better news, I can confirm that this is not a waste extraction facility.”

"Vaemyn, Thex, Akira," Mal said. "Get the gate operational. Aewia, get on one of the consoles and monitor the sphere's security systems as best you can. Try to keep that door shut and give us a heads up if you discover that we've tripped additional security measures. Try to deactivate anything else we trip before it becomes a problem."

" On it." The andorian replied wishing the Vorta hadn't tempted fate. With her antenna bandaged and painkillers flooding her system she still felt horrible. Still, she was one of the few engineers she'd trust with this tech and the sooner they could get it done the sooner she'd be back in her quarters with a nice cold drink.

Aewia was able to relock the door after everyone got inside so they at least wouldn't have swarmers streaming in after them. Now they just had to get this command center under their control. Heading over to what looked like a security center, Aewia started tapping into the systems. "Commander, If I'm reading this right, which I'm pretty sure I am, as soon as the Hera tripped the sphere's security measures, the Master was alerted to our presence. This says he's bringing his actual ship here, which... Ok, I don't understand this part... But he'll be here in about..." Pulling out her tricorder, Aewia did some quick time calculations on it.

"He'll be at the sphere in just under two hours our time. Also, sensors show that an area of the Nightmarelands outside the sphere is clearing up. There's more that I don't understand... But it seems it's because of the sphere. Internal security is..." Aewia paused as she looked for it. There wasn't any though. Try as she might, there just wasn't any. " Nonexistent. The swarmers and I guess those fire breathing critters are it for internal security."

Suddenly an overhead holographic viewscreen came to life showing the Master's face. His booming voice filled the command center as they worked to escape their prison that he placed them in. "That's where you're wrong, my dear. It's so good to see you again. I've been watching all of you scurry around like mice in a cage all this time and you've been quite interesting. I can't wait to see what you plan to do next."

"We'll try not to keep you waiting too long, then," Mal said. "In the mean time, everyone please cover your eyes..."

Mal reached out and took T'Pral's phaser from her, adjusted the setting, and fired into the overhead holographic view screen, destroying it. Sparks rained down and there was now a fair amount of smoke in the air. The holographic image of the Master, however, was gone. Mal handed T'Pral back her phaser, grip first. The command center's ventilation system kicked in and began to clear the smoke from the room.

"Sorry," he said. "I really wanted to do that myself. Well, everyone, let's not stand around contemplating our navals. Things to do, places to go, demonic mad scientists to kill and all that."

"I could've just turned off the projector," Vaemyn commented wryly as he worked one of the strange Iconian consoles, his hands flying over the holographic controls, "but blasting it does have a certain flair. Anyway, Commander, I think that I've found the Hera, crashed on the exterior surface of the Sphere. The computer is labelling it as a 'primitive client race conveyance', but the hull outline looks about right for a Nebula-class. We should be able to create a large gateway back at the crew's location that will connect directly to one of the Hera's cargo bays."

That said, the Vorta's eyes widened, his mouth dropping in amazement as he read the readout. "Or...oh my. this is incredible. I could connect the gateway directly to Starfleet Command, the Senate building on Romulus, any world in the Dominion...anywhere in the galaxy. How did the Iconians ever go extinct with wonders like these at their fingertips?"

"A revolution," Akira answered simply as she watched what Vaemyn was doing. "It does tend to happen when a more advanced race subjugates 'lesser' races, those being subjugated inevitably rise up to overthrow their oppressors; the Herald lab gave me data and a lot of it, the history of the Iconian civilization was part of it," she then explained. "Do you think you can adjust this gate to deposit us someplace else on the Hera? Life support should be restored, so Thex and I can do a hard reset of the computer to restore default coding and eradicate the virus. From there, all systems should reboot on their own, barring any physical damage from the crash, and then it should be safe to send the rest of the crew over."

Aewia shook her head as she worked on her own consoles. "They weren't exactly subjugated. They wanted the far superior tech the pacifist Iconians had and tried to take it by force after a few thousand years of adherence to a form of their own version of the Prime Directive. Two sides to every story, I guess. The Iconians used the other races to improve their own society without impairing them and in return helped the warp capable ones in minor, non-interference ways in their own vision. I've located a security control system that should allow me to retarget the swarmers to another area." After a few more seconds of work, Aewia looked up. "And they are now on their way to the Memory Lab."

"Then let's get over there and get the ship back online," Mal said. "How long is this reboot going to take? And once we get the transporters online, will we need to rely on the gate get everyone back to the ship or can we just switch the cargo transporters to troop transport slash evacuation mode and start beaming them over in large groups?"

"No no, we will definitely need the gate to get everyone back onto the Hera," Akira declared in no uncertain terms. "Sensors were going out, so assuming the transporters even work, there would be no way to lock on to anyone, not to mention the power it would take; I don't even know what kind of power is available to us, and we'll need that for the computer and life support until we can get the Warp core and more reactors online." With that, Akira flinched, then looked to Thex. "So sorry, I know there's procedure for shutting everything down safely, but there was no time. I really hope I didn't damage the Warp core." Then Akira returned her attention to Mal. "As for how long it will take to reboot, I don't know; there's a lot of damage and I don't know how that will effect things. But as soon as we're sure there's a sustainable atmosphere on the ship, we can give a signal to gate people over to start repairs."

"Understood," Mal said. "I'll have Clio get people moving over this way. Now that Aewia has dealt with the swarmers, the path should be safe enough. Vaemyn, connect the gate to the Hera. Get me to the bridge. The rest of you should go wherever you feel you can be most effective in getting the ship back online."

An alarm sounded through the command center as half a dozen iris style vents opened and out popped a swarmer from each of them. Aewia tapped furiously at her security consoles trying to find the controls for them, but she just couldn't find them. "I'm not seeing these anywhere in the system! I think they're some sort of automated defense! We'll have to take them out!"

On top of that, the Master's face popped up on a few of the still functioning overhead consoles. "I'm not so easy to get rid of that you can just destroy the main displays and I'd leave you alone. I'll tell you what, though. Make it back to your precious little ship and I'll let you duel me in mine. If not, then I guess this will be your permanent home. You have about two of your hours... Good luck..." And with that, his face vanished and the swarmers started firing light stinger bolts in the general area of the biological life forms in the hopes of hitting them.

Vaemyn yelped at the sudden onslaught of hissing stingers, dropping to the ground next to his console, although the waist-high metal device provided scant protection. He hurriedly reached up and rapidly worked the controls over his head while he cowered behind cover, wincing at the occasional hiss that indicated a near miss.

"The gateways are open!" he yelled in fright as he finished. Of course, their gateway was a thirty-meter run across open ground, but Vaemyn tried not to think about that as he huddled against the console.

"Go! I will cover you!" T'Pral ordered Vaemyn with a pat on his shoulder and the others before firing off several shots designed more to scatter and distract the swarmers than cause actual damage.

Thex seeing an opportunity ran as fast as she could towards the gateway set to open up in main engineering. Even with her injury, she ran like the hordes of hell were chasing her down as she felt the stingers buzzing around her. She knew she had to get back in and start the reboot of the computer. She hoped the emergency survival kit was still in it's locked with her tools.

With a frightened yelp, Akira was right behind Thex. Passing through the gate, she quickly took note of the conditions on the ship; the air was a little thin and cold, so life support wasn't functioning properly, but what was available should sustain Thex long enough to reset the computer.

"Okay, you get working on the computer, I need to get to Environmental Controls to see what's wrong with Life Support," Akira said. "Oh no, I'll need a toolkit..." she said when she remembered that her kit was still on the Bridge where she last was before transferring herself to the Herald Lab. "I'll find one along the way... Good luck with the computer," Akira said, then headed for the lift; she knew it wouldn't be likely that the lift was there or working, but she could at least climb her way up to get to the right deck faster than crawling through Jefferies tubes.

Mal titled his head forward and ran towards the gate in a full tilt goat charge. Arriving at the gate, he dove through the opening and executed a perfect forward roll when he landed, which ate up most of his forward momentum. He rose to his feet and headed off towards the bridge.

Vaemyn wanted nothing more than to stay precisely where he was, feeling that old Vorta instinct to cower and not risk himself. Still, after seeing the XO jump through the gateway, he gamely looked up at T'Pral, privately amazed by the hybrid's courage as she protected him.

"Moving!" Vaemyn yelled, and before he knew it, he was sprinting for the gateway, panting hardas he eyed his goal, the constant hissing of the stingers only interrupted by the occasional screech of T'Pral's phaser. The other side of the gateway was quite plainly the grey duranium of the Hera and so Vaemyn wildly dove headfirst through the opening, landing ass-first on the deck and skidding painfully.

Aewia was the furthest from the gate, being at the security station. Rather than making a break for the gate though, she kept at the consoles in front of her, using them as a barricade as best she could, trying to find a way to disable the swarmers or at the very least, give T'Pral an advantage in the fight. "I think I've got something!"

Her outburst attracted the attention of several of the swarmers just in time for them to focus on her just as she activated a force field system, trapping all but one of them near the ceiling. Unfortunately that one got off a lucky shot, sending a stinger bolt straight into Aewia's face. Crumpling to the floor, she fell behind one of the security consoles motionless.

T'Pral took aim and fired, destroying the Swarmer as rushed to Aewia's side. She checked her vitals, finding a faint pulse as she holstered her phaser and picked Aewia up, onto her shoulder and sprinted for the gateway, not waiting to know how long the force field would hold the swarmers. Her ears picked up the sound of increased buzzing as the swarmers worked together to try to escape. However, she also knew she couldn't allow the gate to remain operational to allow the swarmers or anything else to board the Hera. With her free hand, she withdrew her phaser and set it to overload as she set the phaser down at the entrance of the gate. The gate soon flashed an empty corridor as she jumped through. The transition was a bit disorienting as she fought to keep her footing. Looking around, she saw that she was on Deck 12. At least she wasn't too far from sickbay. Getting her bearings, she jogged down the corridor towards sickbay--hopefully someone would be there to aid Aewia and allow T'Pral to get to the bridge.

***BRIDGE***

On the bridge of the Hera, the Emergency Command Hologram was still working at restoring power when the first of the crew started boarding on deck 12. "Well, I guess that means my message got through... Computer... Nevermind... I'll take care of it myself."

Heading over to the command chair, the ECH pressed the all call button. "This is the ECH speaking. I've been able to restore auxiliary systems, but the core systems in engineering still need to be purged of some sort of isolytic radiation that disrupts our systems, including my matrix when I get near. Biological systems should be fine, however. If one of you could please come to the bridge and relieve me however, I would be very appreciative."

Suddenly, a Jefferies tube hatch flew open and a the head of a man with a very impressive set of horns came through, followed by the rest of the man's body. Either this man had been recently cuckolded, or (more likely) he was Commander Mal Xustos, the executive officer of the Hera. The latter assumption would be the correct assumption.

"I think I just won the gold medal in the Olympic Jefferies tube climbing contest," Mal said, pulling a handkerchief from a pocket in his utilikilt and wiping the perspiration from his forehead. He'd shed his uniform jacket and overshirt before his record breaking ascent and pinned his rank pips and commbadge to his black t-shirt. "Excuse me a moment, Eeech."

Mal went into his Ready Room and stepped behind his desk. There he found that his cooler had stayed shut through the crash landing. Pleased, he took a bottle of water from the cooler and took several drinks from it. Once he was sure he wasn't going to pass out, he came back out onto the Bridge.

"Alright, Eeech," Mal said. "I relieve you. But don't go anywhere. I may still need your help. Has Captain Telvan been brought aboard yet? We need to get her to Sickbay ASAP."

Moving to the Ops station, the ECH reported. "As of yet, no. Sensors are still at around ten percent and only emergency transporters are online. If I could purge main engineering remotely, I would have main power back online, but being photonic has precluded that possibility for me. I've been able to maintain a basic sensor lock on the crew as a whole, but picking out individual lifesigns is more than I've been able to coax out of the systems. As for life support, I got it to the point it's stable and no longer a drain, but it too will need to be purged of radiation."

"Understood," Mal said. "Xustos to Sickbay. I know you're busy, so you don't have to respond now. Please keep me apprised of the condition of Aewia and Captain Telvan."

"Well, Eeech," Mal said. "Now we wait for the Geek Squad to get us back online."

Mal didn't bother calling T'Pral. He assumed that she'd make her way to the Bridge once Aewia was secure. If she didn't arrive in due time, then he'd call around looking for her.

***SICKBAY***

T'Pral knew the EMH would be able to heal Aewia better than she as she laid the woman down on a biobed. She paused as she recalled that the EMH should be tied into auxiliary systems in the case of an emergency. Going over to a nearby console, she input several commands that brought the EMH Mk X online. "Aewia here was hit by a Swarmer. She needs immediate medical help."

As the EMH activated, he moved to get busy immediately. "Ah, my favorite patient. It looks like she's been through a rough time though. A swarmer, you say? Do you have any more details? What kind of attack it was, perhaps?" As the EMH started the scans and started up the biobed, slapping it when it flickered and died immediately due to lack of power, he shook his head and resigned himself to using hand tools. "I'll have to have a word with Engineering... Computer, lights at full please." When they failed to respond, he nodded and just progressed with his tricorder and whatever he had handy. "I suppose this means the ship is in dire straits and you're needed elsewhere. Don't worry, she's in capable hands now. I just hope my power remains stable."

T'Pral never liked EMHs. They were far too talkative for her liking that bordered on annoying. "She was struck by a stinger bolt and yes, my presence is most likely required on the bridge unless you require my presence here."

"No, I think I can handle things here now. Thank you. If you see any other medical personnel though, please send them my way." As the EMH focused on healing Aewia, he promptly ignored T'Pral as it seemed she no longer needed his services and Aewia needed his full attention.

T'Pral nodded before turning and exiting sickbay, stepping quickly.

***Engineering***

Thex head was killing her again having landed on her damaged antenna. Even still her hands were typing faster than she could see as she furiously tried to get the main computer back online. " Come on girl please don't be difficult. " She hissed to her self in the dark computer core room. With a button press, the screen light up as code began flooding the screen and a familiar noise filled her ears. The isolytic radiation levels began flooding out of the room as the scrubbers got to work. Standing up the andorain tapped her combadge =^= Thex to the bridge. Radiation is being purged from engineering. I'm going to get the warp core and main power up and running. =^= She stated hoping someone had heard her.

=^=Bridge to Engineering,=^= Mal said. =^=Copy that, Lieutenant. Please advise when main power is back online.=^=

=^= Will do. Might take a while. I need to see if the emergency warp core shut down damaged anything.=^= Thex replied already standing up and heading to the warp core. As the console light up she smiled as the results crawled across the screen. Some of the warp core's fail safes had been triggered, but it was nothing that the backup's couldn't handle. Power would be restored in five minutes.

***BRIDGE***

After hearing the report from Thex, Mal called Akira.

"Miss Zhuri," he said. "Lieutenant sh'Zoarhi has cleared main engineering and is working on getting the engines online. Can you do what you need to do to the main computer using auxiliary power, or will we need to wait until we get the engines back?"

***Environmental Control***

Marci had been alone on the ship for what had felt like a long time. When the transporter beam had whisked the crew away, she had been in her lupine form. And she'd stayed that way, not sure what to expect. But now she'd heard a voice coming from somewhere in the corridor? Curious - but still suspicious - she flicked her ears and trotted toward where she'd heard the sound from. Rounding a curve in the corridor, she found what appeared to be some sort of Iconian being in front of her. Growling, she lowered her body closer to the deck and prepared to pounce.

=/\="Uh, sir, I kind of ran into, uh, a hitch.... I'll get back to you later...."=/\= Akira said over her built-in comms, staring at the white beast growling at her. "Nice doggie...." she said warily as she slowly backed away from the dog; while she liked to pretend that Moriko could understand her when she spoke, she held no allusions that animals were in fact intelligent enough to understand humanoid speech, but for some reason the words simply came out regardless of logic or reason. "Just let me by so I can fix Life Support so the nice biologicals on this ship don't die."

Still snarling, Marci listened to the words. The being looked Iconian, but it talked about fixing the ship. It was confusing, and Marci couldn't use human speech in this form. Which meant not being able to ask questions. After a few tense moments, she decided to take a chance and gradually retook her humanoid form. "Who are you?"

"Oh my stars, you're a person!" Akira exclaimed. "If the situation were not so dire, I would be squealing with excitement and bombarding you with endless questions, but right now I need to flush the radiation from Life Support!" It wasn't until after all that she realized that the dog-person had actually asked her something. "Oh, and I'm Akira Zhuri; don't mind the appearance, it's temporary. Anyway, gotta go!"

"Do you need some help? I mean, I'm not an engineer, obviously." Marci motioned at her teal-accented uniform. "But jobs like that go faster with two people. I do know that."

"Uh, uh..." Akira muttered as she looked down the corridor. "Okay, but be careful with what you touch, Environmental Controls are very sensitive," Akira cautioned, then continued down the hall to Environmental Controls. Once there, Akira accessed a console to check the state of the system, then looked to the dog-lady. "Uh, find the controls for the air vents, make sure they're all wide open; I'm going to try to flush the all radiation in one go," she said as she worked.

"Air vents, got it." Maybe Marci wasn't an engineer, but she could read the panels well enough. Finding the one that controlled the air vents for the environmental system, she looked at the readout and then opened the ones that weren't open yet. "That should be all of them. What else can I do?" It dawned on her then that she knew Akira's name, she hadn't shared her own. "I'm Marci, by the way. Marci Ulfred."

"Hi Marci," Akira said distractedly. "Okay, I think I have the air circulators working, so monitor the O2 and radiation levels while I try to get the purifiers back up. Uh, just let me know when things change; O2 should go up, radiation should go down," she continued, then proceeded to practically rip a panel off the wall that wasn't meant to come off that way, then her upper body disappeared into the wall as Akira attempted to re-polarize fused relays behind the consoles.

"Okay..." Marci watched as Akira halfway disappeared into the wall, shaking her head slightly. Returning her attention to the oxygen and radiation readouts, she hoped the robot woman wasn't going to end up stuck inside the wall. She'd have to call engineering to get her back out, and that was not something she wanted to try explaining.

"How's it looking? Any changes yet?" Akira called out, her voice echoing off the duratanium.

"Oxygen level is rising, but no change in radiation just yet." Marci glanced over at Akira, shaking her head again. "Are you sure you should be in there like that?"

"No, probably not, but we don't have time to do this the 'right' way," Akira replied. A few more modifications later and hopefully the radiation would be lowering. "How about now?" she asked as she started to wiggle her way out, only to stop, then try again. "Oh no," she said when the realization struck her. "I think I'm caught on something... I'm stuck."

"Radiation is dropping." Marci couldn't help snickering a little at Akira being stuck. "So. How are going to get you out?"

"I don't know," Akira admitted in a somber tone. "If I was still just a hologram, I could disable my forcefields or simply appear somewhere else, but I don't know how to get out of this body!" she added with frustration. "Look around, see what I'm caught on. If the stick on my back is stuck on something, don't touch it; it fires an anti-proton beam and we can't have anymore damage to the ship."

"All right, keep still." Leaving the console to help Akira, Marci stuck her head just far enough into the gap to take a look. At first, she didn't see anything, but after a moment or two the darkened area came into better focus. "Well, it's not the stick. You've got an armor plate jammed under... something." Marci slipped her hand up Akira's back, steering clear of the weapon. Reaching the wedged armor plate, she gently pushed Akira forward and down. "If you stay low, you should be able to get out."

"Right," Akira said, then with Marci's hand on her back to guide her she carefully eased herself out. "Goodness, that was embarrassing," she said once she was finally out and standing tall. "Thank you for the help; that would have been quite awkward if I had to manage all on my own." Then Akira turned her attention to the console to see how the oxygen and radiation levels were doing. "Excellent! As long as the system keeps this up, we should be clear of radiation soon, and once the computer has been rebooted, everything else should start kicking on automatically without the radiation's interference," she said with a pleased smile. Or it might have been a smile, the Iconian faces didn't emote the same way humanoid faces did. "And the sooner we get the computer back at full power, the sooner I can get out of this body! Now, are you Science or Medical? Uh, nevermind, either way you should probably get down to sickbay; once the crew starts gating back to the Hera, they will need all the help they can get down there as we have several injured."

"Medical, and I was headed to sickbay next anyhow. It was nice to meet you, Akira." Marci quickly scurried away, leaving environmental control to go to sickbay. She didn't know what sort of injuries to be expecting, but she knew sickbay would be filling up quickly once the rest of the crew began arriving.

Akira made a few more checks on the environmental systems before finally departing as well; the heat wasn't working properly, there was a problem with power distribution hindering the heat, but thankfully it was working out to prevent the crew from freezing to death, and hopefully once they sorted things out with power and the computer then it should return to normal functions on its own.

=/\="Zhuri to Xustos," Akira said as she walk back to the lift tube to being the climb once again. "Apologies for the delay in the status report, I got held up at Environmental Controls. Life support is operating within levels to sustain the whole crew and the radiation affecting the ship is being filtered out; it may be a bit cold for a while longer, but we'll survive," she reported. "I'm about to check in with sh'Zoarhi to see how the computer is doing and once that's good to go I'll assist with power distribution."=/\=

***Bridge***

"Copy that, Akira," Mal said. "Quick as you can."

Mal turned to the ECH.

"Eeech," he said. "As soon as we get sensors functioning, start keeping an eye out for the Master's ship. He said we had two hours to get the Hera up and running and ready to fight him, but he's not exactly the most upright, decent, or honest person in the galaxy. I wouldn't put it past him to show up early."

The ECH resumed his position at the operations station. "I'll keep working on restoring long range sensors then. I almost had the pod flushed and operational so it shouldn't take much longer. I'll just need main power online."

**Deck 12**

T'Pral entered the jeffries tube through the access hatch not too far from sickbay as looked at the vertical shaft and the eleven decks above her that she would have to traverse to get to the bridge, as recalled the layout. She tapped her comm badge. "Lieutenant Commander T'Pral to Commander Xustos, I am on Deck 12, having drop Aewia off at Sickbay. I am heading to the bridge via the jeffries tubes. I should arrive in approximately 4 minutes." She then began her long climb to the Bridge.

=^=Copy that, Commander,=^= Mal replied. =^=See you when you get here.=^=

***Deck 12***

Back on deck twelve, those that were still on the sphere had gotten the gate re-secured and reopened and were filtering through a few at a time starting with Enalia and a small team of engineers and medics. Tapping her com badge, Enalia reported her status to the Bridge. "Telvan to the bridge, we're starting to filter through the gate now, if that's ok. I'll be in sickbay for a while and I'll send the few I brought through with me initially with me to help with getting the ship running."

=^=Copy that, Enalia,=^= Mal said. =^=Anyone who can help is welcome.=^=

***Engineering***

Telair emerged from Access Hatch 3F in Upper Engineering looking much worse for wear, tossing his toolkit onto the floor before extricating himself. =^=Rybeena to Thex. More bad news...RCS thrusters are totally off-line. The primary Control Interlink Junction is a mass of fused components. The ODN Relay is down as well, and there are also a few hundred ISO Chips burned to hell. The EPS Manifold through that section appears to be intact at least, so restoring primary power is possible without any major rerouting required. =^=

" Down here." Thex called from her position in front of the warp core. Her good mood was now replaced with frustration as with more power the full amount of damage the ship had sustained. Her head was still stinging causing her to look up and call out. " Can you toss down the medical kit?"

Telair leaned over the railing to see Thex on the main level. "OK boss...hold on a sec." He made his way to the the damage control cabinet and retrieved one of the portable med-kits from within. Returning to the railing he shouted; "Heads up folks...coming down." Making sure that Thex had eye contact and nobody was in the path, he tossed the kit down to her. "I'm going to go to the main breaker room and see what all has tripped. I'll let you know what I find as soon as I can."

" Good idea." Thex said as she caught the kit with ease. " Be careful I'm getting no response from the starboard plasma pulse matrix. If it's blown and we fire up the ship we could blow the starboard nacelle off. " The blue-skinned officer said as she looked and the ever-growing list of systems that weren't responded.

It was then that Thex's communicator sounded off. =/\="Zhuri to sh'Zoarhi, I managed to get Environmental Controls to start filtering the radiation ship-wide, so you should run into less interference soon," came Akira's Iconian voice. "Were you able to get the computer to reset or do I need to make a stop before coming to Engineering?"=/\= she then asked.

=/\= Zhuri I have the main computer working, in main engineering, but i need to make sure nothing critical damaged before starting up across the ship. Can you get someone to the starboard nacelle and check the state of plasma pulse matrix? It's the first thing you encounter when you step through the door. If it's damaged and we power up it could blow up and take the nacelle clean off. =/\= Thex replied feeling slightly better at hearing Zhuri's voice.

=/\="Roger that, I'll head there," Akira replied, then changed her route through the ship to get to the starboard nacelle pylon. It kind of amazed her how training could simply take over and override any fear or anxiety that existed in her, and she couldn't rightly tell if it was her own training or the remnants of her father's memories within her, but either way she was thankful for it all now. "We should have more crew coming through the gate at anytime to help relieve the workload, but until then it will take longer to find someone than to just do this myself."=/\=

=/\= Roger as soon as we get more people i can get this girl moving. Telair how's the breaker room? =/\= Thex stated as she tapped her badge.

=/\= "There are a lot of tripped circuits down here. Most are not important at the moment, but Circuits J-L16 through J-M 34D are all tripped and locked. Something in the starboard nacelle has some serious issues. We need to get eyes on as soon as possible, and definitely before we try to restore flow to the nacelle." =/\=

Just as Thex was about to reply she looked up as the door slid open as a few more engineers arrived. Nodding to the most senior to take over in main engineering. Grabbing another kit from the locker she hurried out the door.

=/\= Telair get the tripped circuits fixed. I'll head down to the starboard nacelle to help Akira get whatever broken up and running.=/\= She said a she took of at a run.

Telair didn't bother to answer...he immediately started to run diagnostics on the EPS Power Relays that were tripped. it was not going to be a fun time.

*** Starboard Nacelle ***

When Akira reached the starboard nacelle, she was surprised to learn that with enough emotional shock that all the air could be sucked from her android body; Aunt Enalia was gonna kill her when she saw what happened to the Bussard scoop! Thankfully, the nacelle could work with the scoop damaged as it was so long as the other one was functional, and she really hoped that it was otherwise she was REALLY going to be in trouble! But, her body finally took a breath as she refocused on the task at hand, which was to find and assess the damage to the plasma pulse matrix and make repairs. Finding it was easy enough, it was right where it was supposed to be, but assessing the damage would be a bit tricky as the atmospheric vents for the nacelle were still partially closed, so the radiation was not being properly siphoned out, so there was enough to interfere with the diagnostics functions. She took a moment to fix the vent, then attempted to access the scanners built into her many eyes to see if she could diagnose any issues with the pulse matrix that way. It took a few attempts to figure out how to make her eyes worked the way she wanted them to, but finally she started to get some usable feedback from her sensors; the matrix itself seemed to be fine, but her sensors were reading an obstruction with the line, which would cause an issue if power was restored before she could find the obstruction. And so she went searching through lines of conduits to find the obstruction so they could get the nacelles operational once again.

Thex zipped through the door at speeds most officers would think was impossible. Her blue eyes started looking around the nacelle. Her working anttena started buzzing as she heard a slight alteration to the usual hum. Hurrying along the long chamber she noticed Akira imminently though she was rather hard not to notice. " It sounds like something's broken off and blocked the line. We need to find it and remove the blockage." the andorian said as she ran up.

"I think I've found it," Akira said as she hunted down the elusive gremlins in the lines. And there it was, a conduit with a fragment from another conduit stuck inside! "Check around for a broken conduit or this whole line could rupture when we restore the plasma flow; a shard like this can't get too far down the line, so the segment you're looking for should be nearby," she said as she uncoupled the conduit and worked to fish out the obstructing fragment. And they were lucky the damage wasn't worse! There was still damage aplenty, but considering this nacelle took the brunt of the impact, Akira was thanking her lucky stars that the damage wasn't any worse than it was.

Thex grinned as Akira pulled out the mangled remains of one of the filters. " Well if that's all it was we are luckily. Get is sealed and i'll make sure it works properly. " The andoran stated as she ran back towards the controls the annoying buzz gone from her hearing. Her hands rushed over the controls as the computer thankfully showed a working nacelle. She let herself breath slightly before she began powering up as the Akira finished re-coupling the conduit. Looks like the girl would be okay.

*** Sickbay***

Enalia was paler than usual as she finally entered sickbay and flopped down on the nearest biobed. Glancing over at the EMH as he worked on Aewia, she grunted. "Is she going to be ok?"

"Yes, though with a black blood infection, I'm going to keep her sedated until I'm finished. She's also had some rather extreme neurosynaptic... Ahem... Her brain looks as if it's been rebuilt while she was out of our care, and with technology far superior to ours. I would be impressed if I wasn't so worried." As the EMH worked, he spared a glance to the Captain. "You don't look so well yourself. Nurse Ulfred, could you please see to the Captain?"

Marci had only just made it to sickbay when Enalia and Aewia arrived, but she moved quickly to Enalia's side when she was called by the EMH. "Come with me. Let's get you situated on a bed so I can take a look at you." Her touch was gentle yet firm as she put one hand on Enalia's arm and the other on the captain's back. "We'll go over here where the EMH can help us if we need him, but we'll be out of his way."

Getting back up, Enalia let herself be guided to the biobed and laid down on it without complaint. "I've been having stabbing pains in my abdominal region. I think it might be symbiont related because I'm cold and clammy and I've always been told that that's a sign of host rejection."

"That sounds serious. When did this start?" Picking up a tricorder, Marci used it to scan Enalia's abdomen. Some of the readings were a bit unusual, even for a joined Trill, but none of them screamed anything specific... except the isoboramine level. It was low, and slowly dropping lower.

"After we were abducted. It's been getting worse since then." Enalia groaned and broke out into a cold sweat as the stabbing pains started again. After a few seconds they subsided, but she felt even more drained than before.

"Sounds like your symbiont doesn't like Iconian transportation technology." Saving a record of her scans, Marci quickly consulted the medical computer, using the terminal next to Enalia's bed. "I'm going to try an isoboramine infusion and see if that helps stabilize you and Telvan." Even if it didn't heal Enalia, it might give them time to find the actual problem and fix it. "Don't run off. I'll only be a minute." Without waiting for an answer, Marci darted away and quickly collected the necessary supplies and medication. Bringing it back to Enalia's bedside, she set up the infusion device before turning to the captain again. "Okay, I know this looks super old-school, but it's the best way to get your levels stabilized and keep them there. I'm going to hook you up to it, but it shouldn't hurt any more than a hypospray injection."

Enalia smiled weakly. "I trust every member of my crew with my life, This may be a chance to prove it."

Marci smiled warmly. "All right, we'll get started then. Hopefully, we'll get you feeling better in a bit." With deft hands, Marci connected the hypospray adapter to her infuser and gently placed it to Enalia's neck, so it could infuse into the jugular vein. Mentally crossing her fingers, she turned the infuser on and silently prayed - to any deity that might be listening - that this would work.

After a few seconds Enalia relaxed a bit. She didn't feel so cold and alone, but she still felt horrible. It was an improvement at least.

***BRIDGE***

T'Pral climbed out of the jeffries tube hatch on the starboard side, grateful to finally be back on the bridge. She spotted Commander Xustos as she crawled out and decided to announce herself. "Lieutenant Commander T'Pral reporting for duty," she replied in her typical stoic Vulcan tone as she got to her feet and began to make her way to her station.

Barely seconds later, another hatch on the port side opened with the purple-skinned Vaemyn clambering out. The Vorta lieutenant was sweating profusely, his uniform jacket open, although he sprang to his feet with surprising alacrity. He looked at T'Pral in amazement, glancing at the hatch that she had just emerged from.

"Well, there's coincidental timing," he said with a rueful grin at the security chief. Glancing at Xustos, he added more properly, "Lieutenant Vaemyn, sir, also reporting for duty. Sorry for not checking in. There's some kind of EM interference around the mission pod and I couldn't get a comm signal out. I did some quick and dirty maintenance, so as soon as main power is online, we'll have some long range sensors up and running. I got the torpedo launchers in the pod online as well."

"Impressive work, lieutenant," T'Pral commented with a slight grin as she logged into her station.

"Welcome, both of you," Mal said. "If the Master sticks to his schedule, we have about one hour and forty minutes until he arrives. We need a functional starship by then. Commander Jordan, if we engage the Master's vessel and manage to damage it enough for a boarding action, I'm going to need you and Commander Enaes to arm yourselves with the weapons we got from Hephaestus and join the boarding party. To be clear, if we are able to board the Master's ship, you and Commander Enaes are to go over there and kill him once and for all. Is this understood?"

"Understood, Commander," T'Pral replied as her fingers danced across her station. The weapons seemed in working order, they just required the power to make them lethal which was up to engineering.

Vaemyn moved over to the console manned by the red-shirted ECH, nodding at the hologram. "I guess you're the one who's been working on the mission pod remotely?"

"I have been. I've been the only... living thing, loosely speaking, on the ship that's been working towards getting things back online since the crash. After I secured enough life support to make sure the ship's pets didn't die... I focused on power systems and sensors." Tapping a few more controls, the ECH finally brought the pod systems back online. "Commander, the pod has been flushed and fusion reactor three is coming online. We should have fifty percent pod functionality in less than a minute. Lieutenant Vaemyn, if you check sensor platforms nineteen through twenty three, they should now have enough power to locate the remaining crew."

Just then several darkened bridge consoles lit up, displaying full library computer access and the computer spoke over the bridge speakers. "Library computer access restored. Processing. Authorized biologicals detected aboard USS Hera. Cancelling Celium Protocol 3. Self Destruct cancelled. Welcome back."

"Well, that's nice," Vaemyn commented with a shrug.

A few minutes later the turbolift doors opened and Enalia hobbled out with Marci in tow. "All right all right. I'll rest, but I'll rest on the bridge. The Captain's chair is very comfy, you know." With a sigh, Enalia flopped down in her chair and relaxed into it like molten Trill.

"This does not count as resting!" Marci's tone was one of pure exasperation, and it was no wonder. They'd be arguing this same point since leaving sickbay. "At least go to the ready room. The bridge is too stressful for someone in your condition."

"Too late. I'm already sitting." Enalia slumped lower into her chair to seemingly punctuate her reluctance to move. "As for my condition, there's a medical station right over there. As Ventaxian biology seems to have been incompatible with Iconian tech and we've lost yet another Chief Medical Officer, this time to a gruesome bodily inversion, you are now the ranking member of a nearly one hundred member medical department. I recommend you either find a way to save me or find a new compatible host for the Telvan symbiont aboard the crew of the Hera while I rest here where you can see me and I can see my ship."

"I swear, you're going to be the death of me." Feeling the wolf within her rising, Marci took a few meditative breaths to keep her wilder instincts at bay. "There is no one on board that can host Telvan. So your orders are not to die before I find a cure for... whatever that Iconian death transporter did to you."

"Then I'll let you know when I start feeling cold and alone again. That probably means my isoboramine levels are too low." Enalia smiled weakly at Marci. "Just do your best. I trust you."

Somehow, that didn't make Marci feel any better, but arguing certainly wasn't getting them anywhere. "I can do you one better. The medical station has integrated scanners, for monitoring the health of... well, everyone on board. I'll know before you will."

"In that case... What's our status? Will we be combat ready when the Master arrives?" Most people may not find this sort of thing relaxing, but Enalia did. She worried less when she knew what was going on.

"Phasers and torpedo launchers are in working order," T'Pral reported. "They should be fully powered within 5 minutes as I am currently running a Level Three diagnostic to ensure they are in perfect working condition and I am calibrating our targeting computer as it seems to be off by two percent. Shields are still offline, however, they should be operational within fifteen minutes."

As the senior staff present on the bridge began their status reports, Marci went over to the aforementioned medical station and sat down. Bringing up the integrated medical scanners, she set them to keep an eye on Enalia. It wasn't as good as having the captain in sickbay, but at least it would give her early warning if something started to go wrong.

"Long range sensors are now online," Vaemyn called out happily, working the science console to analyse all the new data. Then over the next few seconds his enthusiasm dimmed, and he visibly gulped. "Uh...captain, we have a ship on approach at very high warp. Its warp field is cutting through spacetime with a severe angular power coefficient...we can detect it clearly already, even from this distance. If this is him, he isn't being subtle."

Enalia closed her eyes and tilted her head back at hearing that report, seemingly at peace with it. "Let me guess. The ship is around seven hundred sixty meters long, eighty meters wide, has several armatures coming off of it... That would be our guest of honor. Make sure our boarding party is ready with the special weapons. T'Pral and Clio heading up the team. If either one of you get a chance at a killing blow, take it. As for support, take Nexi. Mister Pickles looks like he might be able to distract his own hellhounds long enough to give you an opening. As for more people... I think that's going to have to be it but find Crewman Dedjoy as well. She's figured out that transport system in the pod we got from Section 31 so let's use it. Also, I'm permanently transferring her to Intel. Please inform Clio."

Mal hit the comm on his chair.

"Commander Enaes, please report to Section 31 Transporter Room, armed with one of the weapons loaned to us by Hephaestus," Mal said. He switched channels. "Staff Warrant Officer Nexi, report to Section 31 Transporter Room kitted out for a boarding action."

Mal rose from his chair and went to the tactical station.

"Commander Jordan," he said. "As best you can, please cobble together a boarding party and have them report to Section 31 Transporter Room. I assume that Commander Enaes will be using the sword, and I assume you've been training with the spear? Grab the spear and report to Section 31 Transporter Room ASAP with as many boarding teams as you can assemble and prepare to board the Master's ship. I think I can remember how to handle your station. If I remember correctly, I was once a CSTO myself."

Mal said this last part with a smile.

T'Pral nodded, already knowing which officers to take. "Aye, Commander."

http://swa.split-world.com/Hera/Deathshadow-class.jpg

***USS Hera Bridge***

The bridge was strangely silent as the Hera gently glided away from the dyson sphere to meet the Master's ship. The entire senior staff and all the specialists Enalia had gathered were now on the bridge staring at this black mass of warp 'cloud' coming at them and it was not pretty. The specs that Intel Command had found on the ship did nothing to prepare them for the sheer terror that now lay before them. it looked like something out of an old ghost story brought to life.

It generated its own nightmare cloud as it flew along but it abandoned it when it left warp and got closer to the Hera, which elicited a gasp from the junior crew members as the bow of his ship came into view - a dull white alien skull and crossbones with red glowing eyes set across a dull blackened hull streamed from the cloud followed by spinal ridges leading to a circular rotating collar section covered in weaponry in the middle. The aft of the ship had six armatures coming off like vicious claws reaching out to attack anything in their path. The command section was unique in that it looked more like it belonged on an antique sailing vessel than on a starship.

Ensign Gonadie at helm worked up the nerve to speak up first. "Captain, the Master's ship is almost in weapons range. Thirty seconds."

Pressing the intercom on her chair, Enalia braced herself for what she was about to commit her ship and crew to. "Red alert. All hands to battle stations. In less than a minute, we engage our greatest enemy to date. I know every one of you can do this. Just trust in yourselves, your skills, and your fellow crewmates." Releasing the intercom, Enalia nodded to Mal. "Let's get this party started then."

"Ensign Gonadie," Mal said. "Attack pattern Xustos-Gamma-Four. Advise me when we are in weapons range."

"Xustos-Gamma-Four, Aye..." Gonadie copied as she tapped in the orders and began the maneuver. The helm was still a bit sluggish with all the damage to the starboard nacelle, but she was managing well enough. "Five seconds to contact." Tension was so thick in the air, you could cut it. "Now in weapons range."

***Master's Bridge***

The Master was in his rather large and darkened bridge in a sole high backed throne, his hellhounds to either side of him. The image of the Hera floated in a projection in the middle of the room. Massive windows behind that gave him a superior view of the entire battlefield. He grinned at the readouts beneath the display. "Well, my dear... It seems you may be a bit of a distraction after all. Let's see how well you'll dance for me."

***USS Hera Bridge***

As Gonadie spoke, the Master's ship opened fire, all gun turrets simultaneously firing some sort of blackened orange energy beams towards the Hera. Most narrowly missed, but a few grazed the ship's shields and sent sparks flying from EPS conduits all across the ship as the shields were strained just from the initial salvo.

Enalia gripped the armrests of her chair tightly as the ship shuddered. "Return fire! Full salvo of quantums and phasers! signal the boarding party to beam over when ready!"

Phaser beams and quantum torpedoes shot out from the Hera and towards the Master's ship as Mal's fingers flew over the tactical console with practiced ease. Without missing a step, Mal signaled the boarding party.

"Commander Eneas," he said. "You, Commander Jordan, and the boarding teams may begin beaming over to the Master's ship immediately."

"We were already preparing to do so, sir," Clio replied with a crisp politeness. "We'll call you when we've finished him."

***Section 31 Transporter Room***

Crewman Ila Dedjoy was one of three people on the Hera that even knew about this transporter system, let alone how to operate it, and here she was about to send three people through it. All of her tests had come through safely. She even sent herself once with no ill effects. She also discovered that shields had no effect on them, so that was no bother. she just needed sensor coordinates and that was the hard part. With a link to any Starfleet system, she could send a biocanister to anywhere in Federation space... in theory... but she hadn't tested that yet. The logs had a few residual traces of some interesting transports that she was still investigating, like a trip from the Regulus system to DS9 that had no return displacement.

Anyway, she was now looking at three living, breathing sentients about to step into the transport chamber. There were three pads, so that was convenient. They were just inside a sort of clear aluminum booth with sliding doors to contain the... quasi-quantum Celium particles? The system was vague on this subject and it was likely going to take her a while to figure this part out.

Nodding, Ila stepped behind the controls. "Commander Jordan, Commander Eneas, Staff Warrant Officer Nexi... You may experience a moment of disorientation after transport. This is because this is a bit faster than the normal transport action. I also recommend you exhale as soon as you arrive. It helps with transition. I just wish we had gotten the normal transporters working in time."

"No sense wishing. We'll use what we've got." Clio did give Nexi a bit of a sidelong glance. She couldn't help it... she'd heard the story many times over about the demon dog that had tried to eat Daytona. "Whether you're ready or not, this is our only chance. Let's go."

T'Pral nodded as she focused on the situation before her. "We will be fine," she said as hefted the spear on the pad.

Nexi winced as she stepped up to the odd looking transporter, then looked down at the hellhound at her side; it could not realistically come into the chamber with her, though she suspected that even the vacuum of space would not be able to separate her from this monstrous beast. And though agitated, Mister Pickles seemed uninterested Clio, T'Pral, or Ila, but his awareness of the tense situation seemed to be riling up his sibling, causing Nexi great pain.

"Let's just hurry this up before the blood kills me," Nexi said in rough tone as she fought back against the clawing pain building up inside her.

Suddenly the ship shook violently and the sound of the pod weapons firing could be heard through the deck echo bars. A few seconds later, the signal to transport the away team came through the console and Dedjoy nodded to the trio that it was time.

Dedjoy gulped as the trio filed into the transport chamber. "As soon as you're over there it'll take a little bit to recharge the system but I'll send over backup as soon as I can, if you want. I'll also be monitoring your vitals. Just take a deep breath and give me a thumbs up when you're ready and I'll have you on the bridge of that ship."

Nexi didn't need to prepare mentally, she was ready to do this. "I'm good," she said with resolve. Looking over at T'Pral and Clio, she flashed them her trademark smirk. "When we get there, I'll run interference with anything the Master can throw at us, you two just focus on him; you make him pay for what he's done to me, to all of us."

"That could be too much. Should you require it, request Security from the Hera to help protect you. I have chosen Read, R'Tor and Shavni as our backup," T'Pral offered.

"I'll keep that in mind." Taking a few breaths to steady herself, Clio ran her hand over the hilt of the sword that hung at her hip and prayed it would work as advertised. This would be their only chance to rid themselves of the Master forever. She let a moment or two pass and then gave Dedjoy the thumbs-up signal.

Ila nodded and released light particles into the chamber, starting the reaction. It only took a second or two for the reaction coefficient to get high enough before she could activate the transport and glancing at the target, she slapped her hand down on the large red button. Immediately, all three of them vanished and the light particles dimmed, having been consumed in the transport.

***Master's Ship Bridge***

Without a sound or shimmer, the three Hera crew members popped into existence right on the Master's ship's bridge, a few sparkles of light fading around them. A moment later, Mister Pickles crawled out of Nexi's shadow with a low growl. The bridge itself was about thirty meters long and ten meters wide with a series of windows along the bow and ceiling. A circular holographic array sat in the middle of the bridge and behind it was a three meter tall throne in which sat the Master himself. On either side of him were his two hellhounds. A salvo of fire from the Hera rocked the Master's ship, but it didn't seem to be anything but an annoyance.

Without hesitation, Clio drew the sword from its sheath as the team simply 'popped' into existence. The Master and his dogs had not yet moved, but she was ready for them the second they did. The distance was far enough that if they tried to run and take him on, the hellhounds would be on them before they made it halfway. Their only advantage appeared to be Mister Pickles.

T'Pral grasped the spear, which was rather easy for her to learn considering she was already proficient in using the Lirpa. She took several steps as she moved towards the chair. She held a hand up for Nexi to stay back as she continued to move forward. That's when one of the Master's hellhounds sniffed the air. It's head snapped in T'Pral's direction, letting out a vicious growl as the other hellhound joined it.

The Master stood and glowered at the trio that suddenly appeared on his bridge. "I don't know how you got here, but you'll pay for this trespass." With that, he pulled a pike from his throne and sent his hounds after the trio. Compared to Mister Pickles, these two were absolute beasts, but he leaped at the throat of one of them to defend Nexi with absolute gusto.

All fear and confusion lingering from the incomplete memory restoration was gone as training took over; Nexi drew her pike, snapping the staff open and igniting the mono-filament plasma blade just as her beast lunged. The other hell-beast inside her was clawing to get out, but Nexi pushed down that feeling and grinned as she attacked the Master's other hellhound, the heated plasma blade slicing through the maw of the Master's beast like a hot knife through butter; she knew the beast would recover, such a weapon couldn't kill them, but she could slow it down and keep their attention off of Clio and T'Pral.

"Go!" Nexi shouted as she threw herself into the fight along side Mister Pickles against the Master's pets.

Shadowy figures moved along the edges of the bridge as the ship lurched and returned fire on the Hera, the blackened orange light shining through the massive bridge windows. The brief lighting gave the bridge an almost surreal yet eerily sinister look for just a moment as the hellhounds grappled in mortal combat with Nexi and Mister Pickles. The hellhound on Mr P, though it was several times his size was having trouble with the slightly more vicious hellhound as he could seemingly move faster. The one facing off with Nexi was wary of her after that first attack so was circling her, looking for an opening as it regenerated its misplaced jaw, black ooze dripping as it stalked. This foe smelled of its Master but it was a foe, nonetheless.

T'Pral stepped quickly, holding her spear with two hands as she closed the distance with the Master. Normally it would be in Starfleet's directive to offer an enemy the chance to surrender but after witnessing what this Master was capable of doing and under Captain Telvan's orders, death was the only logical end for this Master. "Normally I'd offer you a chance to surrender however, the galaxy would be better served by your death," she stated just as she lunged, thrusting her spear forward at the Master.

While Nexi dealt with the demon dogs and T'Pral went for a frontal attack, Clio instead slipped into the shadowy area at the edge of the bridge. Moving silently, she crept around to a flanking position where her approach wouldn't put her at risk from T'Pral's weapon. Hoping T'Pral had the man distracted enough that he wouldn't turn to see her, she took several quick steps out of the darkness and attacked the Master from the side with her sword, taking care not to hit herself or T'Pral with it.

The Master took a step back as he parried - he was not happy to see the auras that radiated off of the weapons these two carried. To top it off, the one he fought before had summoned her own hellhound? They were still far from his equal in combat, but combined... No! This was not how it would turn out! Leaving a shadow clone of himself behind to die in a high pitched screaming mass of black ooze that disintegrated quickly with Clio's strike, he evaded their attacks with seeming ease as he used the same shadows she did to get right into her ear and whisper... "You missed me..." He then reformed a few feet from his throne, looking cocky but a bit drained. He wouldn't be able to repeat that trick for a few seconds at least.

T'Pral was impressed by the Master's tricks, knowing she would have to try to keep him distracted long enough for Clio to hopefully make a strike. She took a few steps forward, pressing her advance. "A novice could have dodged those attacks," she insulted with a grin, hoping to anger the Master before charging again with all the speed her legs could muster.

The splatter of black goo was unsettling enough without his voice in her ear. Clio spun to strike him again, but he vanished and appeared across the room instead. Clio growled, a sound more worthy of Mister Pickles and the other hellhounds. They'd had him for a split second, and they hadn't known he could do... that. She let T'Pral press the attack, slowly circling around behind the man this time.

The Master parried T'Pral's spear thrust hard, stepping back behind the throne but careful to keep both of them in his sight. He had to find a way to end this fast. Another salvo of fire exchanged between the two ships lit up the bridge in orange and blue lights and rocked the ship, this time a bit harder as blue electrical bolts seemed to dance around the edges of the bridge. The Master was no longer smiling - instead a snarl twisted his darkened and horrid features. "You think you can win this! You think you even have a chance!"

"I'm part Vulcan. Of course I have a chance," T'Pral replied. "And I am not the one hiding." She moved to the right of the throne, keeping the spear leveled at the Master. She waited until Clio moved to his other flank. This time she rushed again, grasping the lower end of the spear and swinging the bladed end out as she dropped down.

Since T'Pral went low, Clio went high, aiming for the Master's head and neck. He wouldn't be able to avoid both strikes before his little disappearing trick.

The Master jumped into the air, high enough to dodge T'Pral's strike and made an attempt to parry Clio's strike with his pike. However, Clio had broken his range. His attempted block was not as successful as he intended it to be and he screamed in pain as Clio's sword sliced into his collar bone. He stood there a moment, looking confused as his wound failed to heal.

"What?" he said. He glared at the two women as blood spilled all over his torso. He brandished his pike one handed in an effort to keep his attackers at bay. He could still use his right arm, but his left appeared to be too painful to use. "Fine. You think that will stop me? You are mistaken! I'll kill you both for this! I'll kill you all!"

The Master threw his pike at Clio and made a dash for his command chair. He pulled a sword from a scabbard on the chair and turned to face his opponents.

The clumsily thrown pike glanced off Clio's shoulder as she dove away from it, leaving a shallow gash that oozed shimmery green blood down her left arm. While aware of the cut, she didn't feel the pain of it. No, she was too focused for that. She regained her feet easily, turning to face the Master again.

"Is that fear you're feeling?" T'Pral asked with a grin as she approached The Master, using the balls of her feet, poised to strike as she waited for Clio. "It is only logical for someone such as yourself to feel fear before their death." As Clio moved in position, T'Pral knew she had the advantage against The Master with her spear as she again rushed and leapt forward, thrusting her spear forward at The Master's sword rather than The Master himself, planning a risky move to lock weapons with the Master and hopefully offer Clio a chance to deliver the killing blow.

Clio let T'Pral do the talking. It seemed that the Master fixated on whomever was speaking to him, and it gave her the opportunity to come up behind him again. She'd injured him once. If she could aim the sword well, another strike could end him.

The Master parried T'Pral's thrust with a wave of his sword. He panicked when he lost track of Clio. He turned around to find her, then back to T'Pral, then back around looking for Clio, then back again, frantically trying to defend himself as he bled profusely from his shoulder.

"No!" he said. "You can't defeat me! You won't...you can't kill me! I am undying! I am immortal! I am an inescapable fact!"

Taking advantage of the Master's panic, Clio moved with him and kept just barely out of his sight each time he turned. She couldn't help scoffing a bit at his claims of being immortal. That was worth breaking the silence she'd so far kept. "I can and I will," she growled in a low tone, laying the edge of her sword against his neck with just enough pressure to begin splitting the flesh. "You've avoided death for too long. It's time the two of you were acquainted." Before he could teleport away again, she moved the sword in a lightning-quick slice, severing both the carotid artery and jugular vein in the Master's neck. "Say hello to the devil for me."

As Clio and T'Pral held the Master's attention, Nexi continued her dance with the Master's hounds, Mister Pickles was fast and had inherited Nexi's cunning, so he was putting up a valiant fight but the Master's hounds were so much bigger and stronger, Nexi and Mister Pickles could not hold them back without more help. Nexi had been holding back the clawing pain inside her, but she decided not to fight it any longer. Mister Pickles sensed Nexi's resolve and howled, causing her to grunt in pain and stagger back from the hounds. One of the Master's hounds took advantage of this momentary lapse in focus and lunged at her, knocking her to the ground and biting her arm when she brought her hand up to shield herself. Nexi was beyond pain, beyond caring, and didn't cry out as the beast tore through her arm; and there was blood, so much blood, quickly forming a puddle around them.

Mister Pickles attacked the hound tearing at Nexi, knocking him away and freeing Nexi to get back up. Her arm hung limp at her side, dripping black blood into puddle from which something began to emerge. The Master's other hound began to back away, now growing apprehensive about taking on two of Nexi's hounds; they had been a force when there was just one hound, now there would be two! With her good hand, Nexi tightened her grip on her pike and stalked towards both the hounds flanked now by her own hounds.

"Run," Nexi said in a menacing tone. Nexi had been holding back for far too long and the dogs could suddenly sense it and were frightened, but they couldn't get away from her fast enough when she attacked, unleashing hell on the Master's dogs. The Master's hounds were quickly on their way to becoming shredded when suddenly the fighting stopped; not just the Master's hounds, but Nexi and her hounds too, they all felt it when Clio sliced through the Master's throat, could feel him gasping and bleeding out. Nexi and all four dogs stopped and looked on in disbelief; was it finally over?

As the Master gushed boiling black blood all over himself in an attempt to heal, he stumbled back away, dropping his sword and grasped at his gurgling throat. Tripping over the deck plating, he fell backwards and splattered like a ball of snot against a frozen windshield as his black tar-like blood slowly stopped boiling and what remained of him began disintegrating into a sticky mess. A few moments later, his two hellhounds laid down with a whimper and did the same. The ship around them then fell eerily silent as the shadowy figures faded and all the lights of the bridge consoles went dark. The ship was dying as well - and it was already starting to decay.

Nexi stepped closer, heedless of the impending danger of the ship dying around them, and she began to stab at the decaying puddle of the Master's corpse with her pike; she knew it wouldn't mean much, her pike didn't have the fatal blades like the ones gifted to them by Hephaestus, but the act helped to work out some of her pent up rage, and it also had the effect of working her dogs into a frenzy and they jumped in, attacking the corpse. And then they went one step further; they began to eat the Master's remains. Nexi didn't seem to notice, instead focused on this empty pit of sorrow within her as tears and black blood streamed from her eyes; killing the Master stopped him from hurting anyone else, but it couldn't save those already infected by his malevolence, couldn't save her from what it was turning her into. With a primal cry of frustration, Nexi dropped her pike and fell to her knees; her dogs immediately abandoned their feast and returned to their master. It seemed strange to her that these beasts should want to show her any kindness or affection, but it was much needed.

The appearance of another hellhound failed to surprise Clio. After the fight they'd been through, it would have been more surprising if it hadn't appeared. At least with the death of the Master, his hellhounds had vanished. But now the ship seemed to be dying around them. Ominous creaking noises from the shadows had her hoping Ila was ready to bring them back. Raising her hand to her commbadge, she wiped a layer of black blood off of it before pressing it to open the channel. "Eneas to Hera. He's dead. Get us out of here before we join him in the afterlife."

Ila's voice came through as the air started to cool. "Stand by for transport. Six second countdown."

TAGS all

*** Section 31 Transporter Room***

Ila had the system recharged and ready just barely in time to get the away team back and had a lock on all three of them. Unfortunately, the biofilters weren't exactly designed to remove the black blood, so she'd have to bring them back with whatever was on... or in... all three of them. Cycling the chamber, she filled it with the sparkling particles and slapped the big red button, instantly absorbing the particles and making all three of the away team appear inside the transport chamber instantly.

"Crewman Dedjoy to the Bridge, the away team has returned alive but we could use a medical team... And a quarantine unit." Pressing a few more controls, Ila activated quarantine protocols. Not only were they covered in black blood, but the one person she knew wasn't infected with it was now bleeding black.

Taking a deep breath, she unsealed the transport chamber. "Welcome back. Medical and quarantine teams should be on their way now. Commander Eneas, you're now bleeding black as well, it seems."

"Not surprised." Seeing as how Clio's uniform - and hair - were soaked with the Master's black blood, she imagined she'd have been infected even without the now painful gash in her shoulder. Leaning on the wall of the transport chamber, she slid down to sit on the floor, taking care to place her sword where she wouldn't cut herself with it.

Nexi stepped out of her chamber and her dogs melted out of the shadows to rejoin her. Mister Pickles licked at her injured hand, which was already mostly healed and Mister Pickles' attention seemed to be speeding this up, but Nexi hadn't yet noticed.

"Don't worry, we'll find a way to fix this before it gets as bad as me..." Nexi said in a quiet tone that was quite uncharacteristic for her.

"Thanks." Clio smiled just a little. It wasn't like Nexi to offer comfort, and even if it wasn't all that reassuring, Clio appreciated it anyway. Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes for a moment. "What's taking medical so long?"

Almost as if on cue, Marci scurried into the room with her quarantine team in tow. "Sorry! I didn't know where this place was! And... well... no one else did either. Had to find it on our own. What are we dealing with?"

"All three are contaminated with the blood now and covered in it. Also, it looks like Commander Jordan might be the only one uninjured." Ila replied, stepping back so they could work their magic.

It was then that Nexi finally noticed that her hand was now once again whole. She held it up to study it for a moment, before finally sighing, then she unbuckled the belt around her waist. "I'm beyond saving, so focus on Clio's injuries." Once the belt was free from her waist Nexi held it out to Clio; the readings on the belt were so confused, it didn't know what to make of Nexi anymore. "This can't help me anymore, but maybe it can help you."

Clio took the offered belt and set it on the floor next to her. It wouldn't pick up accurate readings until she'd showered, and she wasn't going to be showering any time soon.

Marci looked at the three of them, noted that Nexi's hand seemed to be fine now, and crouched down to examine Clio's injured shoulder... without touching her. The gash was shallow but bled freely, not closing despite how Nexi's wound had healed. Perhaps Clio's infection was too new to have such an effect. "Full isolation protocol. Commander Jordan and Warrant Officer Nexi need to take decontamination showers. Commander Eneas... I'm afraid you'll need to come to sickbay. I didn't bring an autosuture, and we'll need to take some detailed scans to compare your blood to the others who are infected."

"Yeah. I thought you might say that." Clio sighed, not really wanting to get up and walk to sickbay. Fighting the Master had taken most of her strength. "Now?"

"Yep. Now." Getting off the floor, Marci quickly tugged on an isolation suit before pulling Clio up off the floor. The Cervan woman was heavier than she looked, nearly knocking Marci over. "You two." Pointing at T'Pral and Nexi, Marci then gestured for them to follow a member of the team. "Decon showers and you'll get a cursory scan to make sure your condition hasn't worsened."

"Keep your extra hands, we'll take Dedjoy," Nexi said with a gesture to the extra medical crewman approaching them. Truth was, Nexi felt more comfortable with Ila taking scans and samples than anyone else, mostly for consistency since they had been with and without a proper Doctor or Chief Science Officer to oversee her care, so it made sense to Nexi to keep the familiar pattern going. "This is gonna be a bit more... invasive than a usual decontamination, but... better safe than sorry," Nexi cautioned T'pral as she headed for the showers, Mister Pickles and the new hound right at her heels.

"There's a decon station not far from here - it's part of the science and medical labs we got from the Section 31 suite." Ila wasn't entirely sure about some of the options it had, but she was certain they could at least safely use it. Motioning to the group, she set the transport system to sterilize itself of all foreign biomatter as soon as they had finished vacating the room with a baryon sweep. "There are also a few medical kits that way as well as a full miniature biomed suite if you'd like to treat Commander Eneas up here."

"That's... probably a good idea." Marci wobbled slightly under Clio's weight and then breathed a sigh of relief as a male member of the quarantine team slipped his shoulder under Clio's other arm and started moving toward the biomed suite. "Call me if you need any help with T'Pral or Nexi, but I'll probably have my hands full!" Scooping up the dropped belt, she then darted ahead of the rest of her team to set up the biomed suite for treatment purposes.

The moment Marci and Enalia materialized in trauma suite 2, there was a flurry of activity. A pair of orderlies physically lifted Enalia onto the biobed and starting prepping her for the procedure while Marci scrubbed in. They quickly set up the biobed's monitoring systems and opened Enalia's uniform jacket to raise her undershirt and expose the symbiont pouch. As they worked one of the nurses rolled a mobile rapid infuser over to the bedside and started hooking it up. Noticing this, Marci nodded slightly as she scrubbed. "Set it for the highest concentration of isoboramine it will allow, at the fastest infusion rate. It'll buy us some time."

"Yes, ma'am." Working quickly, the nurse programmed the infuser and placed the hypospray attachment against Enalia's arm before setting the machine to infuse. "I hope you have some ideas."

"I might. Won't promise they're legal though." Sufficiently clean, Marci returned to the bedside and switched on the sterile field. "I'm sorry, Captain, but you'll need to be awake so we know if what we're doing is working."

Enalia was barely aware of what was going on but she was awake enough to reply. The infuser did help at least so she fluttered her eyes open a moment. "I'm awake. I can handle... Handle this... Just let me know... What you need..."

"Just... stay awake for now." Knowing it would be difficult, Marci quickly added, "Tell me about how you were chosen for Telvan." As she spoke, she gently eased Enalia's symbiont pouch open, exposing Telvan for examination. The symbiont didn't seem as active as it should be, so she held her hand out for someone to hand her something. "I need an isoboramine syringe. Not a hypospray, a sixty milliliter catheter tip."

The orderlies exchanged 'wtf' glances as the other nurse retrieved the item and handed it to Marci. "Are you sure about this?"

"Nope." In fact, Marci had no idea if anything would work. But she confidently depressed the plunger on the syringe and squirted Telvan with the isoboramine mixture.

"Found out I was... Compatible... But due to family... Rejected... Mother didn't take kindly to that..." Enalia grinned at the memory of her mother ranting about the decision over subspace comms. They weren't entirely close, but apparently she had felt slighted. Enalia herself hadn't tried that hard and didn't have that much interest in it, but her mother did. After all, to her it was a high mark of honor. The results of her mother's overreaction however, did pique Enalia's interest... Greatly... "She bribed them... Paid for three years of... Literally everything they needed... So I was reassessed... And chosen for the youngest ever symbiont to be joined..."

"Is that why you're so weird?" Marci chuckled a bit at the story, gently prodding the symbiont and looking for a response. "I mean, the symbionts take a really long time to mature. Even I know that... and if yours is practically a baby, that would explain a lot of weirdness." Telvan seemed to quiver slightly but did not strenuously object to being touched, like most symbionts did. At least, that's what they'd said at the academy.

"Yeah... First host... Baby symbiont... Spoiled rich pirate heiress for a host..." Enalia grinned at the thought. "Yeah... Recipe for weirdness... Never mind my three castles... And millions of teacups... I have a spa filled with chocolate spring water... You should try it some time..."

"That sounds pretty awesome. I've never heard of chocolate spring water." The isoboramine flush wasn't having the desired effect, and Marci frowned slightly. Either it wasn't what Telvan needed or the concentration was too low. Or perhaps it couldn't be absorbed in saline, like she'd had it mixed. She wasn't sure how to proceed, and her gentle physical manipulations of the symbiont weren't telling her much. She did notice a small amount of a gel-like substance in the pouch, but she wasn't sure if it was the normal amount or not. She wasn't an expert on Trill!

"I went to one on Earth... Japan... and it was amazing... So naturally I had to have one... No actual chocolate, but just scented... So divine..." Enalia drifted off a bit before refocusing. "I could really go for some tea right now..."

"I will personally make you some tea once you're stable. That's a promise." Withdrawing her hand from Enalia's symbiont pouch, Marci gave the mysterious gel a studious look. As she studied it, her head tilted to the right, like an inquisitive dog. "Hey, Roberts!"

The assisting nurse turned just enough to look at Marci, raising an eyebrow at her. "...yes?"

"Scan this stuff. Tell me if we can replicate it. I have an idea." Marci dropped some of the gel into a specimen container, nudging it aside so Nurse Roberts could scan it. As far as she could tell, it was something that either Enalia's body could produce, but not enough was being made. And the way the symbiont sat in it, she was willing to bet it was being absorbed somehow.

"Should be easy enough," Nurse Roberts confirmed after a quick scan. "How much?"

"As much as we can, and infuse it with isoboramine. As much as possible." Maybe it would work and maybe it wouldn't, but Marci wasn't willing to give up.

"It sounds like you've come up with something, Doc..." Enalia grinned again. "That's good... Let me know when my tea is ready..."

"Marci. I'm not a doctor." While she appreciated the compliment, Marci didn't want people getting the wrong idea. Someone set a large container of the requested gel next to her, and she grinned a bit wolfish-ly. "All right this will probably feel cold, but we don't have any time to waste." There wasn't really a non-messy way to do it, but Marci did her best to contain the mess. She kept Enalia's symbiont pouch open with one hand and used the other to dip a scoop into the bucket of gel and pour it over Telvan. I hope this works, otherwise everyone will think I'm just crazy...

As soon as the goop started soaking in, Enalia and Telvan shivered then relaxed visibly relieved. "I feel... I think I feel more... Whole..."

"More whole is good." Hoping that meant this crazy idea would work, Marci poured a little more of her isoboramine gel into Enalia's pouch. "Starfleet Medical would never approve of this..."

"I approve..." Enalia grinned a bit more as color started to return to her face. "Remind me to promote you later."

"Just doing my job, ma'am." Marci paused to check the readout from the biobed, breaking out into another wolfish grin. It was working. Enalia and Telvan were stabilizing nicely. She didn't know if it would be permanent, but she'd at least bought them plenty of time.

Enalia nodded and peeked her eyes open again. "I'm starting to feel better. Not good yet, but better. Thank you."

Marci breathed a sigh of relief, letting Enalia's symbiont pouch close and sealing the goo inside. "You're welcome. We'll keep an eye on you for a bit, and if you remain stable... I'll get you some tea." Marci was going to need something stronger than tea, however. Tequila. Bourbon. Maybe some vodka.

tag

***USS Hera Bridge***

That was it then. The Master was dead. His reign was over. The Hera was mostly in one piece. The Nightmarelands were starting to dissipate, but it would take a few thousand years for that to finish and likely never fully. Now they just had to figure out what to do with the giant sphere of neutronium built around a brown dwarf sun behind them.

Enalia wasn't cured of her affliction still though, and it was showing. Her skin was turning grey and cold sweat was forming on her face. She still refused to go back to sickbay during the fight with the Master though. "Have Akira... Contact that lab that she got that body from... See if there's a way to disable that Dyson sphere... Or send it away... Where's my doctor at? I think it's time to go back to sickbay."

"Captain," Mal said. "I can summon Hermes if you think Artan Fortress or even the Trill Symbiosis might be able to help you better than we can. You know he can get here quickly and get you where you need to go even quicker, far faster than we can."

Mal was worried about Clio, but had to trust that she was in good hands. The Captain looked like she might expire right here and now.

"As much as I trust Hermes, I'd rather not owe him any further favors. Have one of the runabouts prepped just in case though." Taking a deep breath, Enalia slumped a bit lower in her chair and closed her eyes. "Akira and Vaemyn head up a team to figure out how to neutralize the Dyson sphere. Thex, focus on making sure the Hera can get us home safely as fast as possible. Gonadie, start plotting a course that'll get us to... Damages being what they are... It might be best to put in at McKinley station over Utopia Planitia for a couple weeks. Oh and that specialist... What was her name? Malana or something? have her work with Clio, Nexi, and Ila and see if they can do something with the newly infected."

"Now... If you'll excuse me... I need to get to sickbay..." Enalia's voice was smooth and tempered through most of that, but towards the end it started tapering off. The last few words, she faded and rather than heading to sick bay, she just sat there. Unmoving.

"I haven't released you from sickbay!" Marci growled as she came out of the turbolift behind a slightly battered looking Clio. "We don't know how the black blood will affect you. It might not be safe!"

Clio rolled her eyes without saying anything. The 'it might not be safe' argument didn't hold much water with her. She wasn't safe to be around when she wasn't infected with creepy black blood. As she reached her station, she caught sight of Enalia slumped in the command chair and immediately changed directions to see what was going on. "Marci!"

"Shit," Marci breathed, rushing over to Enalia and fishing a tricorder out of her lab coat pocket. Scanning Enalia, she uttered a few curses in her native tongue. The readings were worse than the last time, but she would have known that without even looking at the scans. Clenching her jaw a bit, she tapped her communicator badge. "Ulfred to sickbay. I need a stat medical transport for myself and Captain Telvan. Prep trauma 2 for symbiont stabilization. Energize."

A moment later, the transporter beam took Enalia and Marci to sickbay, leaving Mal in command of the bridge.

Mal started doing some calculations on the Tactical Console and called for some help.

"Lieutenants sh'Zoarhi and Rybeena," he said into the comm, hailing the ship's two top engineers. "Please respond. Commander Jordan and Miss Zhuri as well. Mister Vaemyn, I require your assistance."

"Thex here," The andorian said into her combadge not bothering to hid the exaustion in her voice as she ran to help get another fault fixed. "Please tell me he's gone Commnder because some parts of the ship are being held together by brown paper, vinegar and happy thoughts."

"The Master is dead, Lieutenant," Mal said. "Please standby until I have looped everyone into this conversation."

=/\="Zhuri responding,"=/\= Akira said, somehow sounding just as fatigued as Thex.

"Excellent," Mal said. "Please standby."

From his post at one of the aft consoles, Vaemyn perked up, although the Vorta looked less cheerful now, more somber and intense. He didn’t know Captain Telvan very well, nor Commander Clio or the other wounded, but he was still worried about them as his shipmates. Still, as he always did upon feeling such feelings, Vaemyn took comfort from his simple ability to feel them. Compassion was, after all, not a trait that had been engineered into his genetics, but rather something he had learned.

“Ready when you are, Commander,” Vaemyn said, shaking off his private musing.

"Thank you," Mal said. He activated the comm again on all call. "Now hear this: if anyone sees Lieutenant Rybeena, please have him call the bridge at his earliest convenience."

Mal wasn't overly concerned. Communications were still spotty throughout the ship.

"Alright everyone," he said. "Let's get started. I need to come up with a way to destroy or render inoperable that Dyson Sphere. We also need to get Lieutenant Vaemyn and Miss Zhuri over there to the Herald Lab. To do the former, we're going to have to figure out how to do the latter. We can't beam through the Dyson Sphere's hull, and we can't penetrate its hull with our weapons. However, if we can get Vaemyn and Akira over to the sphere and back again, then presumably we could place an explosive device inside at the same time. We can't risk trying to open any of the hatches large enough to get a the Hera or a shuttle through. The sphere's security systems might disable us again. Before we start talking about how to render the sphere permanently inoperative, can we remotely activate the Iconian Gateway? Signals can get through, since Akira was able to send herself over there. Could we remote access the gate and get through that way?"

"I'm not an expert on Iconian gates, but I don't see why we couldn't do that." Since she couldn't investigate such things from this part of the bridge, Clio went over to her station and started sifting through the data they had on the gates and spheres. "If we know the frequency, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Engineers and scientists?" Mal said. "Do you concur?"

"It was a great risk transmitting myself to the Sphere the first time, I'm not entirely comfortable doing it again," Akira replied. "What about how the team got onto the Master's ship? That, uh, secret transporter in the pod, it ignored the MAster's ship's shields and defenses, right?"

" I could try using the transporter to beam someone over to the sphere to open up a gateway. May burn out the transporter, but it would be safer than trying to access the gateway remotely." The andorian chief engineer added as she headed to get her gear. She had a feeling she'd be going over to help blow something up.

Clio shook her head. "I don't recommend sending anyone else through that thing. Especially not anyone who hasn't already been through it. Besides, the Dyson spheres were built by the Iconians. They have defenses against transporters... the tractor beams are the only way in."

"To be clear," Mal said. "The Hera is NOT getting tractored in there, period, end of discussion. Anything that goes in that way might be going on a one way trip. Nobody is getting killed over this. Worst case scenario, we have Starfleet Intelligence scramble an emergency demolitions team and they blow the thing up. If the transporter is no good, why can't we remote activate the gate? We don't need to send Akira's program over there to access it."

"If I can get back to the lab, I believe the computer there will help us find a way to disable or destroy the sphere from within," Akira asserted. "No one knows the sphere better than its own computer, and if he proves to be unable to help or simply uncooperative, then we can activate the gate and call back for more help."

"Okay," Mal said. "So our standard transporters won't work, getting tractored in there is unsafe in my opinion, Thex doesn't like the gate, and Clio doesn't like the Section 31 transporter. One of us is making an incorrect assumption. Ideas?"

Thex paused for a moment as she ran through idea's in her head. " Akira you used the transporter to reach the sphere right? Couldn't we use that way to get back in the sphere and open a gateway from that side? " She inquired

"She downloaded into the body she's in now," Mal said. "Or uploaded, depending how you look at it. So, no, no one has tried beaming over to the sphere, which is why we're trying to decide if it would work.

Ila Dedjoy, who snuck in a few moments ago, overheard the tail end of the conversation. "Commander, if I may... The Section 31 transporter may be jarring, but the fact that we transported through the Master's shields and hull to his bridge is proof enough that we can use it."

"How so?" Mal said. "If the Master's ship was made of neutronium, we would never have been able to damage it. How does beaming through that ship's hull translate into being able to beam into the sphere?"

Ila nodded and continued, admitting just how much she'd experimented with this transporter. "Because scans showed the same security systems against beaming. As for the neutronium, I ran tests on that during our last shore leave by beaming bio-canisters in and out of the Artan vaults which are lined with it."

"Alright then," Mal said. "We'll send them over there via the Section 31 transporter. Once there, they'll do what they need to do regarding Miss Zhuri's new form and discuss with the sphere's computer how best to render the sphere safe. In the mean time, the rest of us can brainstorm about how to, say, supernova the sphere's interior 'star'. A protomatter bomb, something like the genesis device, perhaps with the addition of tekasite and maybe trilithium resin, would certainly do the trick. The device wouldn't need to be all that large, it would certainly fit on a transporter pad. Unfortunately, I don't know that we have any of those things. Perhaps we could simulate some of them? Alright, everyone has their orders. Mark and move."

They were lingering over the remains of breakfast. For Elle, that meant toast spread with mascarpone and topped with sliced strawberries, while for her long-time friend, Siobhan Reardan, that meant a two-egg omelet with broccoli and sharp cheddar, toast slathered in butter and bacon. To accommodate Siobhan's need to introduce her to new experiences, Elle had agreed to try bacon which meant that one piece, with just the tiniest bit eaten, now balanced precariously on the edge of her plate. A piece of crust formed a fence separating what Siobhan had called 'actual bacon' from the rest of her meal and it was to that makeshift barricade that Siobhan directed an amused look.

"That bad," she asked as she leaned back in her seat to accommodate Mama Cass, Siobhan's aging cat.

Elle offered an apologetic shrug. "Its just easier when such things are replicated. The idea that the .. pig? ... gave up its life so that I could eat? Call it the curse of empathy. I know what pain feels like," she said and her voice dropped, roughened, as she continued, "what death feels like."

Siobhan nodded and leaned forward to pluck the offending strip off of her friend's plate. "Sorry," she said. It wasn't perfunctory either. Elle could feel the compassion and regret pouring off of her friend. "I should have thought."

"Of course not," Elle said. "You were trying to do something nice ... if it helps any, the strawberries are wonderful."

Siobhan brightened considerably as Mama Cass bumped her head against Siobhan's unoccupied hands. Using her fingernails to stroke the top of the cat's head, Siobhan asked, "So ... what about Lionheart? Have you given the idea any thought?"

Elle, who sat cross-legged on the chair and still wore the loose-fitting drawstring pants and camisole top she had slept in, reached for her tea cup, drawing it in. She was huddled within the folds of an old afghan Siobhan kept on her sofa, savoring the warmth as she sipped on her tea, studying Siobhan over its rim while she considered her answer.

Siobhan held up a finger and said, "Wait. Where is Lionheart now?"

As if in answer to her question, A tiny black cat peeked out of the folds of the afghan and then settled back into Elle's lap with a contented purr.

"I know Lionheart is not the stuff that heroes are made from," Siobhan said, chuckling slightly because they both knew what a complete coward he was, "but you're the first person he's taken to since he was born and I can't keep him. I have an engineer friend who will make him the perfect hideout, with enough tech to protect him from anything ... literally anything."

Elle set her teacup down and slipped her hand into the folds of the blanket to stroke the top of Lionheart's head. He was entirely black, not a bit of white anywhere, which made him unusual as far as cats were concerned. It is true, she mused, that we have a connection. More often than not, I wake up with him sleep against my neck. "Anything," she asked. "Service on a ship can be ... difficult."

"Anything. Jack may be ambivalent when it comes to anything other than the ship he's on but he does love a challenge," Siobhan said. She broke off a tiny bit of bacon and fed it to Mama Cass as she continued. "He's got a medallion for his collar that will make sure he can be found. And his bed, completely covered of course because you know how Lionheart is if he can't hide at the first sign of strangers, has all the tech installed to protect Lionheart should the ship come under attack. Jack said it can even function as a miniature escape pod if need be. He'd be safe ... I made sure of that."

"Alright," Elle said after a moment. She could hear Lionheart's purrs, feel his contentment, and found herself smiling. "Alright. I'll take him."

"Excellent. Jack promised that as soon as the ship reaches Starbase 12, he'll get the last part he needs and send it all along. You should it have in plenty of time."

Elle didn't have to be Betazoid to read the smug look that crossed her friend's face. Sioban, already dressed for work, with riotous strawberry blonde curls that refused to be tamed, were a complete opposite to her own impossibly straight black hair. In some ways, they were complete opposites but they'd been friends since the Academy and somehow, they got along.

" Now, about that dinner tomorrow night ..." Siobhan leaned forward, her voice taking on a wheedling singsong tone as she added, "there will be dancing ..."

Elle sighed dramatically as she picked up her teacup. It was, as Siobhan had pointed out more than once and Elias before her, one of her tells. She thought of it more as a non-verbal signal that she needed a moment. Dinner and dancing did sound good. "Alright," Elle said, "but I draw the line at you picking out my clothes."

Siobhan laughed. "That's my girl," she said as she leaned over, setting Mama Cass on her feet, then stood up. "Though that black dress ..."

Elle threw her napkin at Siobhan who laughed and caught it deftly in one hand. "Gotta go or I'll be late for my shift." In a whirlwind of last minute activity, Siobhan made her departure and, mercifully, left Elle alone to finish her tea in peace. She pulled back a fold of the blanket and looked down at the sleeping kitten. "Well Lionheart," she said softly. "Its you and me now. You okay with that."

Lionheart stretched slightly and rolled over, exposing his belly, paws curled hear his head, and meowed softly.

Elle chuckled and stroked him, gently, as she whispered, "Ill take that as a yes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready." She picked up Lionheart and rubbed his favorite spot along the jawline then set him down on the chair amid the folds of the afghan. The seminar was on Brainwashing Techniques in a Custodial Setting and focused not on incarceration but on familial custody battles with an emphasis on xenological and cultural issues. From a clinical perspective, she had seen in her practice how parents sought sometimes to brainwash a child or children to support their own position and in so doing, weaken the bond with the other parent. She was looking forward to gaining new insights and techniques she could use in treatment.

Humming softly to herself, she made her way back to the guest bedroom; Lionheart jumped down from his spot on the chair and followed, black tail sticking up straight in the air as he went. In the three weeks she'd been staying with Siobhan, this had become the pattern. She was his person. As long as a stranger didn't show up, he would be there.

In the blink of an eye, three figures suddenly appeared in the Iconian Sphere's Herald Lab. There was no shimmer of a traditional transporter, just a soundless pop, like a THUMP!, and then there they were, the very breath knocked from the organic passengers, and even Akira in her Herald body was unsettled by the abruptness of the Section 31 transporter that had been hidden in the Hera's pod. But it served its purpose, and once her companions had caught their breath, Akira led them through the lab where there were rows upon rows of more Herald probe androids resting in their pods, waiting to be activated.

"Herald Lab Omega Nine Nine Omega Nine, it's me, Akira, I came back like I said I would," Akira said as they ventured forth, tracing her way back to the activation station where she had awakened before.

"Welcome back, Akira. It is pleasing to detect your presence again in such a short period of time. I see you have brought two of your crewmates with you. I will not be able to interface with them as well, but I will do what I can to answer any questions." The lab computer spoke in common this time but had the same soothing voice. However after this initial greeting, it continued with a slightly proud undertone to it. "During your absence, I have configured a probe to match your holographic specs. Would you like to see it?" Without waiting for a response, it pulled one of the probe racks out of a configuration bay and moved it towards the group along the maglev rail systems. As it neared the group, the front panels unsealed and opened with a slight burst of steam to dramatically reveal a perfect android replica of Akira's blue holographic form, motionless as if sleeping.

"Wha- oh, I..." Akira stammered, uncertain how to respond. "This is... so thoughtful..." Then her six eyes blinked rapidly as she remembered why they were really here. "I- I do not mean to sound ungrateful, but we're here for something important," she said, but she kept glancing at the modified android, a small smile tugging at her lips. "We, uh, can't leave this facility here, we need to know if there is some way to disable this Sphere or somehow destroy it?" she asked, then a though occurred to her and she frowned. "I know that could mean harm for you, but we don't have much of a choice; we can't let bad people find this place and use the technology here to do more bad things," Akira implored softly.

"That is perfectly understandable. There is much harm that could be done in the hands of the younger races with the technology inside of this structure, should they obtain it. In your own policies, it would constitute a galaxy-wide breach of your prime directive, if I were to let slip more than the tiniest bit of advanced Iconian technology past the outer neutronium skins. The Herald Probe body you inhabit now is only marginally past your technology level and your culture's development should reach it within six hundred years so it was deemed a necessary risk. As for this body I have prepared, I approximate it to be within one hundred years of your society's development as it is configured." For a moment, the lab systems went silent as if thinking.

"In the end, we do not wish to end our own existence by configuring a Herald probe to collapse the brown dwarf at the center of this sphere. However, if it comes to that we will." The lab computer paused only a moment before proceeding this time. "You should know that this sphere has the ability to jump through space. It has not been used since the fall of the Iconian peoples however, so I do not know the current state of the jump drive, nor if the capability still exists. Also, the AI in control of those systems are likely infected with the same virus that you are already familiar with. The risk is considerable but if that works, we will endeavor to regain complete control of this sphere so that one day we may greet your peoples as equals, should you discover us again."

"I don't know if we have the authority to make that kind of call, we were sent simply to destroy the sphere," Akira replied hesitantly, looking to Vaemyn as the ranking Officer for feedback.

Overwhelmed as he was by their surroundings, it took Vaemyn a few seconds to realise that Akira was talking to him. Given how many eyes she now had in such a tall body, it was a little difficult to know what the AI was looking at, after all, but he was unfazed as he peered up at her.

“Destroying this Sphere would be a crime against science and civilisation,” Vaemyn said adamantly, his violet eyes seemingly brighter than usual. “We have to try and save it. The captain didn’t know that there was a chance that the Sphere could move, but if she did...” Then, he realised with a sinking feeling in his gut, she might still order its destruction, even if she knew that. There was no denying the horrible uses that Iconian technology could be put to.

"I think I would like to try to preserve the Sphere as well, but our orders..." Akira was truly torn; while she was fascinated by the intellectual pursuit as much as Vaemyn, her reasons were entirely personal, she didn't want to see her new friend, albeit a lab computer, be forced into a position where he would have to destroy himself. "I think the Captain would only consider it if there was some way to ensure that the Sphere was truly safe from tampering, but that could only be possible if the virus corrupting the main system was gone. Perhaps we can assist with this, maybe a purge of the system to eradicate the virus?"

The lab computer spoke up again. "I have been studying the other systems across the sphere. While my AI core has remained intact without the presence of the world heart, the others have not and have degraded in the presence of the virus over the intervening time. I believe that I have the necessary capabilities to easily wrest control of the jump systems from the original main systems AI and take control. If I do, I will relocate to outside this galaxy and work on purging all systems in a safe and secure manner. If I do not, I will leave you with the means to destroy the brown dwarf."

“Brilliant, that should keep even the most destructive of Starfleet captains happy,” Vaemyn said with a relieved grin, looking around the chamber with naked envy. He had the look of a man already sketching out tests, planning on how to best build up a lab, beaming like a child on their birthday.

"Then let's do it! But we must be quick about it; there are those on the Hera who could use more medical attention than the Hera can provide at this time, I do not want to endanger anyone's well-being by wasting time," Akira affirmed. "How can we assist with the success of this plan?" she then asked the Herald Lab. "And will you be okay all by yourself once the jump to isolation has been made? You sounded so lonely when we first met..."

Glancing between Akira and the computer, Vaemyn ran his fingers through his hair. “Wait, wait, hold on. We’re talking about an Iconiansoftware conflict here, which is a bit beyond an organic like me. He looked at Akira, plainly conflicted. “Uh...Akira, do you have any direct experience with cyberwarfare? If you’re watching our...er...” he paused, looking at the computer, then grinned. “If you watch our friend’s back, in the Sphere’s virtual space, that adds to its odds of success. Your program may have much less complexity than an Iconian AI but your core architecture is fundamentally different. As often as not, cyberwarfare is defined by novelty, not brute force.”

Then, before Akira even had a chance to respond, Vaemyn jerked as an idea struck him, his mind moving faster than his common sense. “We could load you up with offensive software, a sort of virtual ammunition. Bynar heuristics, some of the weirder Vulcan programs, maybe even some Borg programs if we have them in the ship’s computer.”

Ahreva spoke up for the first time, having been slightly more interested in her surroundings than the conversation. "While that may be a viable avenue, the risk of permanent and lethal damage to Akira's core software is a very real and high probability. I recommend against it. Instead, I recommend arming these systems with all the data we're able to in order to combat the Iconian virus itself. In particular, we should give it the methods of removal that Starfleet has come up with. Once the virus has been removed, the opponent AIs may become more... Amicable..."

The lab computer replied quickly. "Indeed... As this virus is designed to spread to my systems, any method of preventing it from doing so, even rudimentary, would be a great help."

"Yes, the Herald Lab assured me when I first arrived that contact with the virus would most certainly be fatal for me despite the extensive firewalls and safeguards I have used to protect myself, and I would very much like to avoid chancing fatality at all costs," Akira affirmed. "But I do have the the necessary information from the Hera's computer regarding the containment and eradication of the virus; I will upload that data now." Although Akira wasn't entirely certain how to transmit the data! For that matter, she wasn't sure how to even get out of this body to claim the new body or even to get back to the Hera computer! But the Iconians were clever, and so she thought inuitively; well, she could access the Hera's computer directly through contact with any console, perhaps the same would follow true for Iconian technology? Approaching the main console for the lab, Akira touched an access panel, and sure enough she felt a connection between the lab system and the Herald probe. Smiling slightly, she accessed the information in her matrix and transferred it to the Herald Lab. "There, will that help?" she asked.

"Processing..." came the reply. A moment later the lab computer replied and hundreds of racks of Herald probes lit up and activated simultaneously. "You were eighty nine percent complete with a full antiviral for all systems against the virus. I have completed it and activated enough probes to cleanse the entire Master Systems Control AI and take control of the jump system. Thank you for this assistance."

"You are quite welcome!" Akira replied cheerfully. "How long before the status of the jump drive is known?"

The lab computer did not respond for several long moments and while the away team waited, several of the probe chambers blinked out one after the other. After about a minute, the lab computer finally responded, sounding weary from exertion. "Akira, I have cleansed the Master Systems Control AI and taken control of the jump system. It seems that it is functional enough to move the sphere halfway to what you know as the Andromeda galaxy but its use would forever scar this area of space for approximately three diameters of the sphere. You will need to vacate the area before the jump is initiated."

"That's massive!" Akira exclaimed. "I hope there's nothing inhabited within that range," she said, approaching the altered Herald body to claim it. "Before we leave, there was an alternate appearance profile in my matrx; the main difference is a different skin tone... can you alter this probe to match that appearance profile?" she asked, gazing with mixed feelings at the slumbering features of her own face. "Also, can I keep the pretty shooty-stick? I know it's ahead of our time, but it is quite nice! I promise to take care it does not fall into the wrong hands."

The probe casing with Akira's new android body resealed and began reconfiguring the body to match the requested specifications as the lab spoke. "The only detected objects in range are nine ships, seventeen artificial satellites, massive anomalous gaseous disturbances, and a small barren moon. Of the nine ships, seven have no signs of life aboard. As for the antiproton beam projector... It is not sufficiently advanced enough beyond your level to cause a disruption in your society's developmental cycle."

"Thank you," Akira replied, both for the assurance that the area was uninhabited and for permission to keep the staff weapon. "Are you going to be alright on your own? I know you'll have the other AI's to keep you company, but... You seemed so happy to have people to interact with once again, I feel terrible about abandoning you to isolation," she said while she waited for the reconfigurations to be completed.

The lab computer paused a moment to contemplate this line of questioning. "I will do what must be done for the greater good of all. I feel it is what my creators originally would have wanted had they survived."

Ahreva spoke up again to ask another question. "We have several crewmembers infected with the Master's black blood and it's... Not treating them well. Do you have a method at your disposal of removing it from them or otherwise treating them?"

The lab computer paused a moment again, seemingly deciding on what to reveal and what not to. "The technology to do so is well beyond your technological development. I am sorry, but I neither have access to it, nor do I have the power to share it with you if I did. You will have to find treatment options along another avenue."

“That would be a little too easy, wouldn’t it?” Vaemyn said sadly. The Vorta scientist looked around the lab wistfully, knowing that he could probably solve the black blood issue in a day with just the equipment in this laboratory. “I would offer to share our cultural library to add to your database, but I’ll bet that you downloaded it and everything else in our computer hours ago, Iconian systems being what they are. Are you sure there’s nothing else we can do for you before you leave our galaxy?” Vaemyn steepled his hands together in an odd gesture, vaguely similar to old Terran prayer. “We value your existence, and if there’s any assistance that we can provide, we shall endeavour to do so.”

The lab computer sounded mildly amused as it responded. "I actually have not interfaced with your systems. I have respected your data privacy thus far. If you care to share anything with me, I will scan your computers and databanks for the information you would like to share now, but I highly recommend vacating the area soon. Also, reconfiguration is complete. Would you like me to assist in the transfer?" As it spoke the final words, the Herald Probe casing once again opened to reveal Akira's new android body this time in her chosen color configuration.

"I think I've got this," Akira said as she approached the new android body; it was amazing to essentially see herself in the pod and it gave her the shivers. She reached out to touch her face, finding it already warm, and with a thought she felt her consciousness being funneled from one body into the next. The tall Iconian styled model she had been inhabiting drooped as it shut down, but otherwise remained standing, and Akira in her new body remained still for a moment as she settled into the new architecture; it seemed the Herald Lab had reworked some of the base programming in the probe to be more compatible with her matrix, and Akira found herself oddly comfortable in the new body. Finally she opened her eyes and carefully stepped out of the pod, being mindful of the changes in dimension of her limbs compared to the other model. She took a few hesitant steps to make sure she had control of herself, then she took the staff weapon from the other android probe.

"Herald Lab Omega Nine Nine Omega Nine, thank you very much for all you have done for us," Akira said with a bright smile. "We will depart as fast as we can. If you can, please find a way to send word to us that your jump was successful so that I do not have to worry about you, and if you cannot make the jump... I'm sorry that we had to ask you to destroy the sphere and thus yourself, but if the jump is not possible then this is the only other possible course we can allow, and I would like the chance to say... goodbye... if I can," Akira continued with much reluctance.

"I will do what I can Akira. If it is not possible though... Thoknaktolakniku... Until our paths cross again." The lab computer started a countdown on its screens for 600 cycles before activating an Iconian gateway to transport them back to the Hera's bridge. "Now please return to your ship. You have very little time."

"Thank you," Akira said once again, then removed the commbadged from the other probe android for a transporter lock, giving the device to make contact with the Hera. "Zhuri to Hera, three to beam up," she said, and with another gut-churning pop the S31 transporter snatched them up.

Nexi was silent as she and T'Pral made their way to the locker room where they could clean up. Ila Dedjoy was close behind, but keeping a fair distance away from the dogs that padded along at Nexi's side; the dogs were creepy looking and downright scary, but actually Mister Pickles and his brother were being remarkably well behaved, especially considering how Mister Pickles reacted to Daytona's attempt to be an Alpha male. If anything, the new one was unusually happy, its tail was wagging so excitedly it was thumping against the bulkhead of the narrow corridors they traversed, and this was enough to finally break Nexi's silence.

"Well ain't you just a fucking ray of sunshine," Nexi said to the bizarrely chipper hellhound with its tongue lolling out of its mouth with a goofy grin; well, she knew what she was calling this one! They finally arrived at the locker room and Nexi sighed. "I know the drill," she said to Ila, then began removing her clothing so that Ila could process the samples on the garments at her leisure. "You need anything from me 'fore I hit the shower?" she said, standing there in only her undies and a tank top.

"No, I think I can manage enough samples for now from this before I dump it into a baryon incinerator..." Ila used a sample container and collected a couple small samples before just dumping them into a processing chamber. The clothing, she just dumped into the baryon incinerator, the blue glow turning orange as everything was turned into quantum particles.

"Are you keeping those...things? Or can you cause them to disappear again?" T'Pral asked curiously, looking at the two creatures as she also removed her clothing.

"Not like I asked for them..." Nexi said dryly as she looked down at the dogs; Mister Pickles seemed uninterested in the conversation, but Sunshine seemed happy that Nexi was looking at him now, his tail wagging even harder. "Disappear," Nexi commanded the dogs, but nothing happened other than Mister Pickles yawning. "Go, vanish, I don't need you anymore," she continued, but still nothing happened. "Yeah, I got nothing, I can only assume they're here to stay," Nexi said to T'Pral.

"That's good, because I think I'd like a couple of samples from them as well. If you keep creating these things... we're going to run out of places for them..." Ila pulled on a fresh pair of sterile gloves and picked up a fresh hypo, readying herself to possibly lose a limb in the process.

"You want to what now?" Nexi said in disbelief. She looked back down at the dogs, then back to Ila. "I am not responsible if you lose a limb."

"It may be best if you handed the hypospray to Nexi as they seem to trust her," T'Pral advised.

"I think I agree, Ma'am..." Handing the hypo to Nexi, Ila stood back just in case.

Nexi took the hypo, then looked down at the dogs. With a heavy sigh she took her chances and knelt down, pressing the hypo to the, uh, surface of Mister Pickles; it was weird, he didn't have skin or fur, he just seemed to be a mass of.... something, almost like tar. She managed to fill a vial, then handed it off to Ila to get another one to do the same to her little ray of sunshine. All in all, it wasn't too bad, but she was still glad she did it instead of Ila, because there was no telling how the dogs would have reacted otherwise.

"Anything else or can we go?" Nexi asked.

Handing out two more hypos and a couple generic uniform jumpers, Ila shook her head no. "Just a blood sample from each of you. I'd like each of you to stop by the black blood lab later once you feel up to it, but for now, that's it."

Nexi pressed the hypo to her own exposed arm and watched as it filled with blood; before today, her blood had been a sickly shade of dark brown, but now it was completely black, much like what she extracted from the dogs, and it turned her stomach looking at the vial attached to the hypo as she handed it off to Ila. With nothing else to say to either T'oral or Ila, Nexi entered a shower stall, only to find her dogs still following her like shadows.

"Seriously?! You're gonna follow me in here too?!"

T'Pral had pressed the hypospray against her skin as it filled green with her blood. It didn't appear to be out of normal and T'Pral hoped her Vulcan immune system would be able to fight off whatever infection that she did have. She then entered the decon showers after Nexi. She hadn't really had a chance to speak with her about Cato since the recent mission. Although the thought still hurt, she was no longer angry at Nexi. "How are you feeling?" she asked finally.

For a while, Nexi didn't answer, she simply stood in the shower letting the mist and sonic waves clean and relax her tired body. "I don't know," she finally answered, feeling all the more numb now that she had admitted it out loud. "I think I'm scared," she admitted with a hint of a shudder in her voice. "Before coming across the Hera and reuniting with my sister, I kinda always knew I'd die young, I never really had a reason to look forward or plan for a future, but now... I don't want to die..."

"You must stay positive...besides, you are much too stubborn to die," T'Pral said with a hint of a grin.

Nexi smiled as much as she could in this moment. "I don't think the blood cares how stubborn I am," Nexi said, her head rolling back as tears formed in her eyes; she tried blink back the tears, but they would not be denied, she simply wasn't ready to go! "I can feel it changing me, I won't be me for much longer, and then you'll have no choice but to end me..."

"That might be more difficult than you would think..." Ila chimed in, having been scanning the samples with a tricorder. "You're now at one hundred percent so effectively you're immortal now. We'd have to 'end you' the same way we did the last two..."

"Fuck, I didn't need to hear that..." Nexi groaned as she ran a hand over her face, wiping away the mist that had accumulated as well as removing those damned tears. "I shouldn't be surprised considering the Master's dog chewed up my arm, but now it's fine."

T'Pral was silent for a moment. She knew little of biology but fighting a disease was much like combating an enemy, which she understood well. "I do not wish to end you, Nexi." She then looked at Crewman Dedjoy. "Could my blood be used to help fight the disease? Vulcan immune systems are far superior to that of humans and yet it appears that Vulcans have an uncanny resemblance to the character Pan that we met not too long ago."

"You forget, the Master was Vulcan too, more or less," Nexi replied. "And you're infected too, so just worry about yourself for now." Nexi shut off the shower and grabbed a towel to start wiping herself down to dress, when she saw her newest hellhound making a funny face, then he started to shake. "Oh no, don't you- don't to that! No, NO!" But it was too late, Sunny shook his body to remove all the moisture, flinging tar-like goo all over the shower and Nexi. She stood there for a moment, silent and fuming, and while Mister Pickles had the good sense to back away slightly, her ray of Sunshine just grinned up at Nexi with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his wagging tail indicating that he was still as happy as could be. "You should feel lucky that you can't die," Nexi remarked to the dog as she discarded her now filthy towel and turned the shower back on.

"I um... That..." Ila was speechless for a moment before she found her words again. "We tried several antibodies on Commodore Meowlith before giving up. We had high hopes for Vulcan antibodies in particular since she's Vulcanoid Rigelian, but in the end, it just made the infection... and her insanity... worse... Lab testing after that indicated that the mixing of DNA keeps the blood stable... But it increases the infection rate and is likely what drove the Master's madness. And we're trying to destabilize it so we can kill it."

"Yeah, I didn't need to hear that either," Nexi said dryly. She could feel the madness encroaching on her consciousness, but she had her own madness lurking beneath the surface, and years of holding back that madness was being put to good use now with the black blood, but she knew she couldn't fight it forever, inevitably it would take over and the crew, her new family, would be forced to put her down... Although thankfully, whatever the black junk that Sunny had flung all over her cleaned up easily enough, and she once again shut off the shower. "If you shake again, I will reduce you to a puddle," she threatened Sunny, and managed to successfully dry off and escape the shower.

Ila finished her scans and collected up all the samples and gear to take them all back to the lab. "It's not all bad news though. That new specialist, Ahreva Malana, has some interesting ideas on treatment that I think will have some interesting results. In fact, the samples from the newly infected will likely be put through the systems as soon as the simulations are complete."

"Let's hope you're correct," T'Pral said as she dried off. She honestly didn't know what would happen--did that mean she would become essentially the new Master so to speak? She felt her hand shake involuntarily and looked at it as Dedjoy and Nexi spoke. She closed her eyes and took a breath as the shaking stopped. Flexing her hand, she moved to get dressed in the overalls.

Nexi wasn't trying to overhear T'Pral's thoughts, but anytime a strong emotion was associated a thought, it just made it so easy... "You don't need to be afraid of that," Nexi said as she dressed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, you know, listen in... again... it's just kinda hard to block out random thoughts when I'm also tryna hold back the madness," she explained with a hint of sadness. "But you don't got nothing to worry about; lookit how long it took for the blood to get this far in me, and that was with my anger feeding it, and the Science and Medical nerds, they must've learned lots from studying me and Farenia, they'll be able to take better care of you then they could with me... And we're looking for a cure, I'm sure they'll find something, maybe not in time to save me, but you guys... you got a real chance of kicking this, so don't be afraid because the fear just feeds it."

T'Pral shook her head. "You will not die, Nexi...you have much to live for." She paused for a second before continuing, deciding to swallow her pride. "Cato has chosen you and you have to be strong to make it through for him."

"H-hey, about that..." Nexi said, clearly uneasy about this part of the conversation. "I really didn't know... I knew you two had a thing, but I didn't know you thought it was a thing thing, ya know? H-he was- I mean the sense I got from him, he was so certain it was a one time thing, if I'd know otherwise, I'da kicked his ass all the way to your door to make him feel bad about two-timing you."

"I know," T'Pral replied after a moment. "I allowed my emotions to cloud my thinking and he is human. I should not have expected him to handle a relationship such as a Vulcan would. You are a lucky woman, however."

"I don't know about all that..." Nexi said, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "He keeps tryna get me to talk about my feelings, how bizarre is that!"

"Quite bizarre. However, perhaps you should talk about your feelings to him...or at least someone," T'Pral stated as she finished getting dressed.

"I would rather knaw my own arm off than even admit to having feelings," Nexi said with a groan. "I talk to Aewia... Well, not really, but we sit in the same room together and she's a telepath, that counts, right?"

"Not really. Holding in feelings never helps--trust me," T'Pral smirked. "However, if Aewia is helping you then that is a start."

"You know, there's irony there; Vulcans suppress their emotions with logic, and here's one telling me not to hold them in..." Nexi replied in a dry tone. "I'll talk to someone, though... Thanks," she added with a meek grin.

"I may be Vulcan," T'Pral said. "However, I also do not suppress my emotions as most Vulcans do--I was never much for meditation as well as many of the Vulcan nonsense that went with it."

"Fair enough," Nexi relented begrudgingly. "Thanks... And if you need someone to talk to about the black blood, I'm here, for a while anyway."

"Thank you," T'Pral replied.

All was quiet and still as Nexi made her way into the dimly lit Sickbay, her dogs conspicuously absent for the moment. Clio had been moved here once basic functions had been restored to the ship, and she was now resting on a biobed. Nexi wasn't sure why she was here, it was like some sort of obligation or something, but Nexi found her way to a neighboring biobed and simply watched Clio for a moment, waiting to see if she was awake or not.

Clio had always found it difficult to sleep in a sickbay, and today was no different. She could hear approaching footsteps and the sound of someone breathing but not speaking. Propping herself up on her elbow, she looked over to find Nexi lingering nearby. "Um... hi?"

"Oh, uh... hey," Nexi said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "I, uh, just came to see how you were doing," she continued after a moment's hesitation. "This, uh, thing... I mean, the infection, I know what you're going through and I know it's- it's a lot and... just thought it might help to know that you're not alone." Nexi really wasn't the 'comforting' sort, but she was trying her best, despite how uneasy it was making her.

"I'd be better if she'd let me leave." Clio glanced toward the CMO office, where she knew Marci had retreated to do some work. "She's scared that something... dramatic might happen. I tried telling her how your 'puppies' didn't appear until later but she didn't believe me."

"Heh, yeah..." Nexi replied with a grin and a nod. "Well she's new to all this, just give her a chance to see that you're fine for now. And you are, you know, fine." Again, trying to be reassuring, but Nexi was fairly certain that she was failing. "I have a feeling I'm gonna have this talk with a lot of people in the coming days, but with you being the center of attention, I think you need it right now... At first, it weren't so bad, I was battling my own fear and anger more than this, but I was okay, I was still me. Then after I while I could feel it in me 'cause my anger was feeding it. I don't rightly know how to explain how it felt, but you'll know it when it's there; it's just... evil... And I don't just mean from a telepathic sense, I could physically feel it crawling in my skin. But you can't let it get in your head, you can't let fear or anger take hold or you're gonna end up like me," she cautioned. "I don't know if it'll be the same way for you being what you are, different species react differently to the same things... But for as long as I'm still here, I won't let you go through this alone."

"Great. It feeds on anger. I'm completely fucked." Clio sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Marci didn't know either. So far you're the only one to manifest any dogs or other exterior things. We don't even know what the standard symptoms of this virus are."

"Well, until now only me and Farenia have shown any signs of infection," Nexi said with a shrug. "Even I know there's only so much you can learn from two people. But what I've told you does seem to be consistent between me and her. And if you ever get to the point where you manifest the dogs too, don't fight it, isolate yourself so they don't hurt no one and just let it happen; hurts like nothing I've ever felt before, but tryna hold it back makes it so much worse."

"That's the last thing we need. Me, manifesting hellhounds." Clio had to laugh a little at that. She knew damn well if she manifested a dog, it wouldn't be as controllable as Mister Pickles and his sibling. "I just feel tired. And colder than normal, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, it is pretty cold in here, I think that Akira-girl is still getting things back online," Nexi remarked. Then she looked around and hopped off her biobed, then found an extra blanket. "I was really sleepy at first too, it should pass," she said as she spread the blanket over Clio.

"Thanks." Clio pulled the blanket a little tighter, appreciative of the extra warmth. "I'm not sure if it's the blood or just the fight. I'm completely drained, but I can't sleep."

"Well you are injured, so don't forget that," Nexi pointed out. "I don't usually do all this, but is there anything I can do to help you get to sleep?"

"Well I was anyway. Marci managed to fix that." Clio knew there were a few things that would help her sleep, but most of it involved being in her own cabin. Where her stash of herbal teas resided. "I have a chamomile and valerian tea I drink at night. The replicator doesn't have the recipe, and Marci won't let me go get it."

"I think I can get that for you," Nexi said with a nod. "Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back."

Clio smiled a bit. "I appreciate it. Thank you."

The trip up to Clio's quarters took longer than it should have, the lifts were only working partially in some areas, which meant either waiting or getting creative, but she made it without any incidents, picking the door lock to let herself in with ease. She should have asked Clio where the tea was because Nexi had no idea where one even kept something like tea, but seeing as how the replicator would be needed for at least the water, she checked around the replicator and eventually found a canister filled with all kinds of things that smelled vaguely tea-like. Having no idea which tea was which, Nexi just grabbed the whole canister and made her way back to Sickbay. Along the way, her dogs found her and happily padded along beside her as she returned to Sickbay and set the canister of tea on the biobed beside Clio.

"Now water, you need that, right?" Nexi said, then went over to the replicator with the understanding that it could at least manage boiled water; after all, that's how she made her coffee!

"Yeah, I need water to make tea." Chuckling, Clio opened her canister and poked through it until she found the tea she wanted. "Oh, and a mug or a teacup. Well I guess you could have it replicate the water in the mug... that would work." She gave the oddly happy hellhounds a somewhat wary look, but she gingerly held her hand out and patted the nearest one on the head.

The very happy hound, now dubbed Sunny, seemed all too happy to receive pets, and his tail wagged so furiously that they could hear him thumping his brother with it. It was an odd feeling of this beast, he didn't feel quite solid; obviously, there was resistance against her hand, like a very viscous fluid, or more like an environmental force field, there but not quite.

Shortly, Nexi came back with a couple mugs of steaming water and pulled up a little tray table to set everything on. "Outta the way, dummie," she said to Sunny who seemed oblivious to how in the way he was, but he did move at her command, though he was disappointed that he was now out of petting distance.

"He's a strange one." The feeling of the dog's body had been odd, but his behavior was stranger still. Clio didn't quite know what to make of the strangely happy hellhound. He almost had a dopey look about him, whereas Mister Pickles look intelligent and fierce. "You'd think they'd be identical." Dropping a tea bag into one of the mugs, Clio gave the water a quick swirl and set the cup back down to steep.

"You think that's weird, check this out," Nexi said with a grin. She held up her hand like she was hold something, and made few gestures like she was going throw this something just to get Sunny riled up, then she drew her arm back and threw and Sunny took off like a shot to fetch this nothing that Nexi had thrown. "Dumbass... And it gets better, he'll bring something back too." Even Mister Pickles looked exasperated at the sight of his brother being a total dope, then he just yawned and calmly lay down on the floor beside Nexi while Nexi fished out a teabag from the canister and popped it into her mug, doing as Clio did by giving her mug a swirl.

Clio snorted at the hellhound racing off to find something to fetch, shaking her head. "It's almost like Pickles came from you and the other one came from Aewia. Only I saw you summon him."

"Yeah, he definitely came from me, and it hurt like hell," Nexi said with a nod. She stared off into nothingness, her gaze hollow and faraway for a moment. "I think Sunny is a part of myself I buried a long time ago..." she said softly. "Before everything that... made me what I am today, I vaguely remember that I was kinda goofy; you know, when I was a kid and all." Then she actually smiled slightly and some memories started flashing back to her. "Me an' Aewia, we really ain't that different, we just just had different things to shape us as we are now."

Clio nodded. It made sense in a semi-twisted kind of way. "He's your inner child, for lack of a better description. Pickles is who you are now." She didn't even want to think about how any hellhounds she might produce would act. "Maybe you can learn from Sunny. Let him show you how to love life again."

"Assuming I get to live long enough for that," Nexi said dryly. "Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be cheering you up, but I know I don't have much longer; Dedjoy has pretty much confirmed that I'm immortal now, but the blood is... it's chipping away at my mind, driving me mad, and I don't know how much longer I can..." Nexi trailed off with a sighed; she knew it was inevitable, but she wasn't ready for it, she wanted to live! "When it happens, you guys won't have any choice, you'll have to use Hephaestus' weapons against me to put me down. I know we're looking for a cure, but I don't think we'll find one in time to save me."

"You never know. We just might." Clio knew it wasn't very likely. After all, Nexi had been pretty crazy to start with. "I'm not prepared to use that sword against someone I consider a friend."

"I know, but if I can't control myself, I just don't want to hurt anyone," Nexi replied, staring down into her mug. "Is this stuff ready?" she asked, pointing to the cup.

Sunny had been gone a while, and to be perfectly honest Nexi had forgotten about him, but then he finally came back and her eyes went wide with what he came back with: there Sunny was, looking so proud as he dragged the EMH along the floor with the holographic man's leg in his mouth.

"What the-" Nexi started, utterly flabbergasted. "Get that out of your mouth, you don't know where he's been!" Nexi scolded the hellhound, whose only response was to wag his tail at the attention, smacking the EMH in the face.

The EMH was more dour than usual, not even moving out of the way of Sunshine's tail. "I don't even have a way of reacting to this situation... There's nothing like this in my program. I mean, I have the knowledge to treat animals should the need arise, but I'm not programmed to actually interact with them so this is... Highly unusual..."

Clio couldn't help snickering, even as she reached to pat Sunny and distract him long enough for the EMH to get away. "Yes, the tea is ready. You can leave the bag in and let it get stronger as you drink it or you can take it out. I usually leave it in for herbal teas... they don't get bitter."

"We were chilling out in my hangar when I started this game before, and he brought me an induction coil from Engineering; at least this time he stayed in the same general area," Nexi said, offering a hand to the EMH to help him up, even though he probably didn't need the help but it still seemed reasonable to offer it anyway. Then she returned to Clio and tried the tea, then looked into the mug as she smacked her lips. "Well that's definitely not coffee."

"Well, no." Clio took a few sips of the tea, letting its heat warm her up some more. "I like coffee just fine. But most of my teas are medicinal in nature. Some for calming, some for pain, a handful for other complaints." She shrugged slightly. "I mean, they don't replace traditional medical treatments, but they help."

Nexi nodded as she sipped at the tea; it wasn't what she normally drank, but it wasn't bad, she could maybe get used to it. "So, you gonna be okay tonight?" she asked.

Clio nodded at her. "I'll be fine. I'd be better if I had a dog, but I haven't had one in years so that's a moot point." Looking at the two hellhounds, she added quickly, "A fuzzy one, I mean."

"Well, if you find yourself that desperate, you can have Sunshine for the night," Nexi offered. Said goofball was laying on the floor on his back in the hopes of getting some belly rubs, and the sight of his goofy grin and wagging tail wrenched a reluctant chuckle from Nexi; he was a weird one, but he did remind her of Aewia, so he was kind of growing on her...

"Well, he is kind of cute. For a hellhound." Clio reached down and rubbed Sunshine's belly. "I don't think he'll stay though. He'll wander off looking for you eventually."

"Then let him, but he can keep you company for a while until then." Even Nexi found it odd that she was suggesting a monstrous beast born of black blood could be a good companion, but Sunshine was just so happy, how could he not make a good buddy to break the isolation!

"Thanks. He'll make this place more interesting at least." Sipping some more of her tea, Clio watched Sunshine flop around on the floor some more. "I should probably try to get some sleep. Before Marci comes out here to scold me for not resting."

"Then I'll let you rest," Nexi said. She picked up her mug and finished off her tea then took the mug back to the replicator. Then she pushed a chair closer to the bed, and whistled to get Sunny's attention. Nexi patted on the seat of the chair and Sunny seemed to get the idea and hopped up in the chair to be closer to Clio. "Alright, dummy, you keep her company for a while. Got it?" Sunshine's only response was try to lick Nexi's face. "I'll take that as confirmation," she said with a roll of her eyes, then grinned to Clio. "If they decide to keep you for much longer, I'll come around to make sure you don't get too lonely, or bored."

The Hera had limped back to the Sol system at warp six, but she did it on her own power. The crew were all mostly stable, the ship was mostly stable, and repairs were underway. the starboard nacelle was in need of a refit already and there weren't even a thousand hours logged on the coils. At least the strut hadn't been damaged. That would have limited them to warp three and it would have been better to have been towed home. Enalia counted their lucky stars they didn't have to suffer that indignity. It was bad enough that no one will ever know of the missions they do - they didn't need to make up a story as to why they needed a tractor ship to tow them to the nearest refit facility.

"Ensign Gonadie, please inform Control that we have arrived. They should have a spot clear for us." Enalia ordered.

"Aye, Captain." Gonadie typed in a code sequence before replying. "We have our billet. Frame two one seven."

Enalia motioned toward the viewscreen. "Let's not keep them waiting then. Commence docking procedures at your pace."

Gonadie nodded and started the ship moving again. "Aye, commencing docking. We'll be in their tractors in just a moment."

As the Hera glided through space, a few workbees flew around her to begin the scans for repair preparations. It was fairly obvious what they were here for, but you could tell that several of them were taking pictures of just how badly damaged the starboard bussard was. It apparently wasn't every day they got to see a completely shattered dual bussard system, after all. Especially since the Venture series nacelles were built tougher than the old ones. Even the radiation grilles were torn from their mountings. On the bright side, they probably wouldn't have to replace the entire nacelle.

"Tractors engaging now..." Gonadie shut down the engines as the docking frame took over and pulled the Hera in, the docking ports extending and cables plugging in. "Now switching to external power. Docking successful."

"Excellent. All hands, this is the Captain. Stand down from stations. Until further notice we are on repair and relaxation cycle. Department heads will determine rotations but please don't wander past the Sol system without prior authorization. That is all." Standing, Enalia stretched before heading towards the turbolift. "If anyone needs me, I'll be on the station going over the refit schedule in person. Ensign, the bridge is yours."

A couple of corpsmen brought Daytona Ral into Sickbay on an anti-grav stretcher. The lower left leg of his pants had been cut off. The lower leg itself was a mess. A rush job had been done on the leg and it was turning a sickening combination of colors from lack of circulation. His leg had been closed but, but they had nothing to put the bones back together with and even if they did, they couldn't have gotten it all. A sharp end of a broken bone had re-opened a wound from the inside and was protruding. The wound was bleeding badly.

"Marci!" one of the corpsmen shouted. "We need you and the EMH right fucking now, ma'am!"

"Computer!" the other corpsman said. "Activate Emergency Medical Hologram!"

Marci was getting frazzled. With the crew trickling back onto the ship, they'd had a lot of medical emergencies. They didn't have the medical staff to support this kind of activity. She knocked back the rest of the protein shake she'd replicated, shoved the glass into the replicator, and bounded over to the corpsmen bring Daytona in. He was in bad shape. She didn't have to scan him to know that. "Get him to trauma suite one!"

"And I'm already active and treating three patients! Seriously, the next time you lose a chief medical officer, try not to let them get inverted by some alien transporter." The EMH gave a hypo to a crewman and moved on to another one without even pausing. "Honestly, this ship is cursed in some ways. Maybe if you clone my program..."

The crewman the EMH was prodding on piped up, interrupting that thought. "We'd get the treatment we'd need, but at the cost of yer lack of bedside manner. Sorry doc, but as much as I like ya... I wouldn't have a drink with ya..."

The EMH was slightly miffed at that comment but was reluctant to concede. "Yes, well... You can blame Starfleet for that... They expected me to only be used in emergencies where bedside manner is less important and efficiency is paramount." With that, he finished up with a quick and dirty shoulder relocation and gave that crewman a hypo, then began running a tool over the shoulder. "By the way... That will hurt..."

"I am well aware of how many patients you are treating, but they're not critical. This man is, and I need you in trauma one stat!" Marci realized after saying it that she was probably out of line, but she didn't care. She'd have shouted the same thing at a biological doctor too. Not waiting for the EMH to reply, she ushered the corpsmen and Daytona into trauma suite one and helped them put him on the exam table. She knew from looking that the leg would never heal. There was too much damage and infection had already set in. And it was obviously painful, so she grabbed some morphenolog off the nearby supply/medical cart and gave Daytona a dose of it before she set about cutting the uniform pant leg off and peeling it away.

"Yes well..." The EMH set aside his current tools and followed Marci. "Do you prefer I help amputate that or prep a tank to start growing a biosynthetic graft to replace it?"

Performing actual surgery was outside her scope of practice, and Marci suspected the EMH knew that. She didn't know why he had asked. "I know how to prep the tank. I need you for the cutting part."

"Then you prep the tank while I amputate. Mister Ral... You won't feel a thing, will you?" Picking up a laser scalpel and adjusting the length to an insane length, the EMH stared at it rather seriously. "...But I'm told ghost touches can be disconcerting."

Already working on setting up the tank, Marci rolled her eyes and suppressed a groan at the EMH's odd remarks. She had to remind herself that he had basically been running non-stop since the loss of the chief medical officer... and that she would probably find that hilarious once she'd had time to unwind. "At least give him propofol first," she suggested. She had fentanyl ready too if they ended up needing it, but she hoped just the propofol would be enough.

The EMH then proceeded to ensure Daytona would remain asleep for the duration with proper anesthesia and began the amputation with a few scans and a medical grade force field stasis clamp designed for such things. Then with a few deft incisions and a quick cap on the clamp, the procedure was over. He then injected Daytona with a mixture of mild anticoagulants and antibiotics as a safety precaution. "There. The patient is stable and the offending limb has been removed. I would normally recommend follow up to check for further infection before the new leg is attached... But considering our lack of available technical expertise other than us... I'll do it when I perform that surgery as well. For now, as the replacement limb will take a while to grow I will leave it to you whether he spends the time awake or asleep. He will need to eat though, so that may be a consideration. In the meantime, do you prefer that I return to assisting other patients or should I assist you with the biosynthetic limb?"

Thankfully, it had been quick. Marci felt like she could breathe again. "I'll stay with him and monitor the cloning chamber. When the propofol wears off, I'll feed him. If he feels up to it, anyway. Please... go see who else is waiting." After a moment, she added, "And call if you need me. I can set the biobed to alarm if his condition changes."

The EMH paused on his way back out of the trauma ward. "Indeed... Limb removal is simple. Putting a new one on... Well... You'll be thankful I'm holographic and can't get tired. I just hope we'll have a few more nurses soon to help you and to rotate out so you can get some rest. I'll be treating other patients if you need me."

Chief Warrant Officer Daytona Ral lay on a biobed in the recovery area of the Hera's Sickbay. The intravenous line feeding him fluids and, of equal importance at this point, painkillers, had been inserted into his right hand in order to keep his left side clear for the amputation of his left leg below the knee. Somewhere in Sickbay, in a tank, a new leg was being grown for him. At the moment though, a part of him was missing and had not been replaced. Though sleeping, his face twitched and he winced periodically, seemingly aware on some level of experiencing both pain from the amputation and phantom limb pain. Every now and again he would make a little noise, perhaps in response to a particularly noticeable twinge of pain. At least once, if the medical staff were paying attention, they would have heard him mutter a name.

"Akira..."

The medical staff may have been so busy to not notice, but Akira certainly noticed; the young hologram inhabiting the remodeled Herald android had taken a small break from the Hera's repairs to come check on her lover. Her heart ached to see Daytona in such pain, and she reached out to take his hand and give it a squeeze, hoping the contact would offer some sort of comfort in his time of need. She looked down at his distressed slumbering form, tears forming in her eyes at the sight of the void where a leg should have been; she knew they could fix him up good as new with a biosynthetic replacement, but it was still jarring to see him this way for now.

Daytona's eyes suddenly opened wide and for a moment he looked panicked. Then he became aware of Akira. He smiled weakly.

"You're here," he said in a raspy voice, his thoughts not entirely coherent. "You're...you again, while it seems that I'm...a bit less than myself. You are...unharmed? I was so worried. Even when I...couldn't remember...I could remember you...the idea of you. I tried to find you..."

"I'm fine, Daytona," Akira assured him softly. Her holographic matrix had emulated a warm, living body well enough, but there was something different about her now, something more solid, more real as she held his hand and gently stroked his brow; not to mention her skin was no longer blue... "My experiences thus far have taught me that in this part of the conversation I am to ask you how you are doing, but clearly you are not well; is there anything I can do to help ease your discomfort?"

Daytona swallowed with difficulty, his throat parched.

"Could you get me a cup of water?" he said, his voice scratchy. "Or better cup of ice chips and a spoon? I might need you to feed them too me. I feel like a Hellhound tried to eat me..."

"A hellhound did try to eat you," Akira informed him. "I don't know the full story yet, but... I'm not sure I want to." She leaned in to give him a kiss on the forehead, then released his hand to go get some ice chips and a small cup of broth (in case he wanted something that resembled sustanence) from the replicator. Then she pulled up chair and help lift his head to put an extra pillow underneath to support him. "They say you will be going into surgery again soon to get a new leg," she said as she gingerly fed him ice chips.

Daytona gratefully accepted the spoonful of ice chips from Akira and sucked on them, letting the cool water trickle down into his throat, soothing it. He looked over at Akira and reached out with his hand to caress her face.

"You're not blue anymore," he said. "And you feel...soft and warm as always, but more solid. I like it. Whatever you've done to your matrix...wait, this body isn't holographic, is it? How did that come about? I remember seeing you in the body you were in when my group linked up with yours...I knew it was you, without a doubt. But something has happened since then, I assume?"

"Yes, I was inhabiting a Herald probe android when we found you," Akira confirmed with a nod. "I guess I still I am, but this one... this one the Herald Lab customized for me, it is mine now. I suspect that once the chaos has died down that I will have much to do to secure this body for only my use so that it cannot be manipulated by someone else, but for now I am simply adapting to the new dimension of this frame, as well as all the new sensations."

"You look beautiful," Daytona said. "How does it feel?"

"It feels... foreign," Akira admitted as she fed him more ice chips. "But not in a bad way, it's simply new to me. And making contact, it feels the same, yet somehow... more... Truth be told, it is a little overwhelming, but I do like it."

Daytona let the most recent spoonful of ice chips melt in his mouth before speaking.

"I'm glad," he said. He looked down at his leg. "You know, thinking about it now, I'm surprised this is the first time I've lost a limb. I suppose I should be glad I lost it now and not a few hundred years ago. Back then, I wouldn't have had access to Federation bio-synthetics. I might have ended up with a peg leg, like some pirate from Earth's 17th Century. And, of course, if I did that, I'd have to lose an eye, so I could wear an eyepatch, of course, and a hand so I could replace it with a hook. Though...the hook might have made our first meeting uncomfortable for you."

Daytona's ramblings seemed to tire him out and he closed his eyes and rested.

"Oh my," Akira replied with a blush, chuckling softly when she noticed how he had tired himself out. She set the cup of ice chips aside for a moment, at least until he was more lucid. "I'm sorry you got hurt, but I am glad we have the medical technology and resources to fix you," she said, taking his hand and rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb in a soothing manner. "And I'll take good care of you while you recover; any minute I'm not working, I'll be here with you, I promise."

Daytona chuckled.

"I'll hold you to that, my love," he said. He stopped laughing. "I'm sorry. I should have taken the Hellhound more seriously. I won't let you down again."

"You didn't let me down; no one could have predicted that Nexi would be able to create one of those dogs or how it would react, so you have nothing to apologise for," Akira assured him with her gentle smile. "No regrets, just focus on getting better."

"At least I'll never have to see that damned Hellhound again," Daytona said, relaxing back against his pillow.

"Oh, I don't know about that..." Akira said uneasily, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Ah, Mister Pickles still follows Nexi everywhere... and so does the other one she named Sunshine..."

"Ex...cuse...me?" Daytona said. "You're telling me not only that there are two of those vicious, mangy things, but that I have to share the corridors of this ship with them?!?"

Daytona sighed, and then started laughing, though it was not long before he was laying back again.

"Oh, well," he said. "I'll try to get along with them...or maybe I'll bite...wait...which one of them bit me? Never mind. Maybe I'll bite one leg off of each them for good measure. Did Moriko make it through the crash alright? I need at least one quadruped on this ship that's not hostile to me."

"Moriko is fine," Akira replied with a smile. "All the pets on the ship got a little chilly, but they survived with no lasting injuries, and I'm sure Moriko can't wait to cuddle up to you once you're released from Sickbay." And Moriko wasn't the only one looking forward to a good cuddle... "As for Nexi's dogs, as I understand it Mister Pickles is the first one and the one that bit you, and when she came back from the Master's ship she had a second one with her as well, and apparently he's not too bright; I wonder if that's why he's called Sunny..."

Daytona shook his head and smiled.

"Ah, the indignity of it all," he said. "Laid low by a Hellhound named Mister Pickles. At least it was the smarter one that bit me. Having my ass handed to me by a stupid Hellhound might actually have been worse."

He winced again, and his body twitched once like he'd received a small electric shock.

"Ow," Daytona said. "For something that isn't there, my absent leg certainly hurts like it is there...and itches. I swear that I can feel an itch on the left side of my non-existent calf. Maddening, really. The very first thing I'm going to do after the doctor attaches the new leg is scratch that itch! Then I'm going to beg the doctor to let me out of here so we can try a little Rigelian medicine."

His tone managed to sound suggestive, barely, but the painkillers were making Daytona feel and sound a little 'floaty' and euphoric.

"There will be plenty of time for that later," Akira said with a sadness in her eyes as she watched her boyfriend struggle to cope with his condition. It was so strange to her that he could still feel the limb and that constant nagging itch even though it was no longer there. She would have to look into this, research this phenomenon so she would have a better understand of how to help him. "You are barely awake, would you like me to leave so you can rest?"

"Could you just sit with me a while?" he said. "I feel better with you here to make sure they don't cut anything else off or perhaps put my leg on backwards or some such thing."

Though his tone was light, he was telling the truth, a very real truth. He he felt safe when Akira was with him.

"Of course, anything you wish," Akira replied, then slipped her hand into his. For a long while she was silent, content to watch him rest, but the curiosity got the better of her and she could not contain the question that bubbled up. "Daytona, how did you know who I was when we found you on the Dyson Sphere?"

Daytona reached out and gently touched Akira's face.

"Rigelians have an uncanny sense of direction," he said. "And you are my true north."

Akira tilted her head curiously. "I don't know what that means."

Daytona laughed.

"I'm not sure what it means either," he said. "It was sort of a corny line. I think...I guess it means I'd know you anywhere. It's like...when I'm planetside, I can tell you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, which way is north, or any other direction on a compass. The ability has something to do with how Rigelian physiology interacts with planetary magnetic fields, at least that's what our scientists think. Regardless, I know. I felt just as absolutely certain that you were in the Herald's body the very first moment I saw you, but not because of magnetic fields...I'm not really explaining this very well. Suffice to say you can't hide your true self from me. I've seen your true self and you've made a lasting impression on me."

"Hmmm, this may require some investigation and study to see if we can recreate this unusual reaction," Akira in that emotionless way when she would get just a little too analytical.

Daytona grinned.

"That's my girl," he said. "When it comes to you and me, I enjoy exploring reactions."

Akira smiled brightly; in some part of her father's memories, she was vaguely aware that not everyone was so accepting of other people's quirks, and that her response had been one of those quirks, and it made her happy that he accepted her so completely, he didn't make her feel at all strange because she wanted to study emotional reactions.

"Here, your voice is sounding a bit dry again," Akira said, gently offering him some more ice chips. "I've got a broth for you to sip on if you want something more than just ice," she offered,

"Thank you," Daytona replied. He sucked on the offered ice chips and enjoyed the sensation of the cool water cleansing his mouth and soothing his throat. "But I'd better stick to ice if they are going to put me under again. Can I have a raincheck on food until after I get my new flipper?"

"Absolutely," Akira replied, then after a couple more chips she set the cup aside. "I'll do my best to be here when you come out of surgery, maybe I can feed you then," she said teasingly in the hopes of raising his spirits.

Daytona grinned.

"I look forward to it," he said. "I really do like the new look. I remember when you first showed it to me. Why did you decide to do away with the blue?"

"Actually, I don't know," Akira said with a look of bemusement as she came to that realization. "I guess, well... I feel different when I'm in this body, so I maybe it felt right that I look different?

"That is as good an answer as any," Daytona repled. He rested his head back against his pillow. "So, can you explain how it feels different? Is it the way your new physical body interacts with the environment? It's senses?"

"It feels... heavy." Attempting to put the sensation into words was difficult for Akira, but she was trying. "As a hologram, I have no weight, but I can feel every bit of this body, not just the weight, but the substance of it, and the mechanics of moving; goodness you would have laughed if you had seen my first attempts to move in the other body... But the longer I'm in here and the more I do, the more it becomes, I don't know, automatic? All the littlest things I notice in this body, it's starting to fade into the background as it becomes more familiar. But until my matrix is done adapting, there's still just so much input, it's almost too much, and that's not even counting my sensory perceptions!"

"Does your new body have enhanced sensory capabilities?" Daytona asked, and grinned mischievously. "Do you have 'X-Ray Vision' like that Old Earth superhero? Superbman or whatever his name was, and his cousin, Superb Girl? Are you sneaking a peek at my naughty bits through this blanket? Because that's cheating."

"Oh, I've got all kinds of sensors in my eyes, I'm still figuring out how it all works!" Akira replied. "I don't think I can see your naughty bits through the blanket, but I can try if you want..."

Daytona chuckled.

"Most likely you'd see through them," Daytona said. "Depending on how it works for you. If it was a true 'x-ray', it would bypass the flesh and go for the bone. Besides, you don't need X-Ray vision to see my naughty bits. I show them to you as often as I can. Is it just your eyes? Are any of your other senses similarly enhanced or expanded? I am I being to curious?"

"I don't know; as I said, I'm still figuring things out," Akira said with a perplexed yet thoughtful tilt of her head. "Maybe once you're feeling better, we can explore some of the new enhancements?"

"Of course," Daytona said. "That will be fun."

Daytona rested back against his pillows and closed his eyes again.

A corpsman walked up and politely cleared his throat. There was another corpsman with him.

"Miss Zhuri," he said. "Mister Ral. Sorry to interrupt, but they are prepping the new leg now and they asked us to get you ready as well. We're going to check your vitals, then we'll transfer you to an anti-grav stretcher and bring you into surgery. Once we're there, we'll get you set up on the operating table, and the nurse anesthetist will come by and put you under. The surgery is quite long, Miss Zhuri. If you want to go get some rest, I can update you in a while. We still don't know the limits of that new body of yours. Be careful not to over do it."

"Oh yes, of course, do what you need to do," Akira said, standing and pulling her chair away. Before departing completely, Akira leaned in to give Daytona a gentle kiss. "I will be here when you wake. Good luck," she said softly to Daytona, then pulled away so that the medics could step in and do their jobs. "While he's under, I'll go to Engineering to get this body checked out; call me as soon as he comes out of surgery," she then said to the medics.

"Yes, ma'am," the corpsman replied. "Alright, Mister Ral, let's get started. How's your pain?"

Akira watched as the medics took Daytona's vitals and prepped him for surgery, and she stayed by his side as they moved him to the surgical suite, waving to him as they finally had to part ways. She lingered for a moment longer, then headed out to seek out Thex in Engineering, her heart heavy as she counted the seconds until Daytona's surgery would be complete.

Mal sat in the XO's Ready Room, preparing for his day. The recent mission had been very difficult, and wasn't entirely over. Clio, T'Pral, Aewia, Nexi, Daytona, and Cato still needed to be cured of the black blood infection. A cure had yet to be found. To sooth his troubled thoughts, Mal picked up his lyre and began to play.

While the sound was dampened because listening in to the command staff was decidedly frowned upon, she could nevertheless make out the unmistakable sounds of music. She smiled, cocking her to one side, as she took in what she could of the melody, and felt more than a little reluctant to disturb whoever was playing. Still, it was an appointment and it was with the second in command of the ship and that all meant, being late, however good the intentions, was not an option. So, she pressed the chime and waited, tucking her hair behind her ears as she did so.

Mal stopped playing for a moment when he heard the chime. He touched a control on his desk console and an image of the area right outside the doors to his ready room came up. He recognized Lieutenant Raintree from her file photo.

"Enter," he said, then went back to playing his lyre.

Elle entered and moved quietly to the desk. It almost felt wrong to speak though she knew that was what was required. "The music is lovely, Sir," she said softly. She had this sudden image of dancing right there in his Ready Room and smiled at the thought. "I don't play an instrument myself but I think there's nothing better than listening to someone else play." Or, she amended silently, dancing while someone else played. That was good too.

"You're too kind," Mal said. "Please, sit and relax. We're docked and with our nacelle in the middle of being replaced, we're not going anywhere too soon. The crew are on a liberty rotation except for those off on a mission. So we'll talk, get you caught up on the happenings around here. I've already seen that Starfleet was kind enough to get your clearances squared away before you got here, so I don't have play silly spy games with you."

She dropped lightly into a seat, automatically folding one leg beneath her as she did so, and settled in. "Yes," she said as she offered a somewhat sheepish grin. "It might have gone otherwise except that I made a point of visiting the individual responsible every morning since I arrived. Things started moving very quickly once he realized I wasn't going away any time soon." She laughed at the thought of the clerk's expression. "I've found that direct eye contact tends to provide motivation."

Mal chuckled.

"Yes," he said. "I'm ashamed to say I've pulled the angry satyr stare on people from time to time. Works on people surprisingly well, considering I'm usually wearing a utilikilt like I am now. It really is quite amusing how many people seem to be afraid of an angry six foot satyr in a skirt."

"A physically imposing male with rank and position?" She cocked her head to one side and pretended to give it serious consideration then smiled. "Not that surprising. Now, me ... I've had to learn other techniques since I rarely intimidate anyone ... by shear presence anyway."

"Well, most of the time I'm just a friendly neighborhood satyr," Mal said. "What's the Human phrase? You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar? It can be annoying how true that saying is. So, what have you heard about the Hera?"

"Not much I'm afraid which is why I sought you out. Anything you can share would be of help. The state of the crew, anyone that I should pay particular attention to, that sort of thing."

"Well," Mal said. "This will be a bit of a long, somewhat unbelievable, story. Would you like some refreshment before we start?"

"Tea would be good, thanks." She shifted slightly as she considered the many kinds she liked and then added in a way that a replicator would understand, "Vulcan Spice Tea. Hot."

Mal stood up, still plucking his lyre and walked over to the replicator. He ordered Elodie's drink and stopped playing long enough to bring it to her before sitting down in his chair again. Once there, he began to play again.

"Your assignment here will be far from ordinary," the satyr said. "I joined at the tail end of a series of missions intended to eliminate what we determined was an Iconian 'demon' who called himself, I kid you not, 'the Master'. He conducted horrifying genetic experiments and created monstrous creatures. His blood infected Staff Warrant Officer Nexi first. Commander Enaes, Commander Jordan, Chief Warrant Officer Ral, Warrant Officer West, and a civilian member of the crew named Aewia Larani were recently infected as well. The 'Master' had enhanced regenerative abilities and was very difficult to kill. We were only able to do so because we acquired special weapons from the alien who posed as the god Hephaestus on Earth a few thousand years ago. We encountered him through the alien who posed as the god Hermes. Hermes is the father of the alien who posed as Pan. Pan is the progenitor of my people. He and a nymph created our race. This is not Starfleet's first encounter with this race. Well before Starfleet encountered my people, the USS Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk encountered the alien who called himself 'Apollo'. According to the mission logs, Apollo possessed highly advanced technology that would have made him seem godlike to the Humans of Ancient Greece and Rome. The mission logs state that these 'gods' left this plane of reality, and that Apollo had stayed behind. They came to collect Apollo and that was the end of that...until they encountered my race. Recently it was discovered that a courier that did odd jobs for Starfleet Intelligence was, in fact, Hermes, who had also stayed behind. My people had an encounter with Hera's forces early in our development. so we know she stayed behind as well. What we learned from Hermes, however, was a surprise. All of these godlike aliens have returned, Lieutenant. Some are harmless, some are benevolent, and some are cruel or at least have little respect for 'lesser' beings. They are not quite 'Q', but they are formidable. So, Lieutenant, have I scared you off yet?"

She listened quietly, sipping her tea at first and then leaving it forgotten as the Commander continued. "I remember reading about the Enterprise's mission back at the Academy. A race that likes to style themselves as deities, exhibiting what sounds like extreme narcissism, coupled with power and technology beyond our own, is indeed dangerous. Their choice to leave, to move beyond the need for worshipers, was seen as a positive step. The fact that these beings have returned ..." she shrugged slightly as she continued, "... not so much. A narcissist needs worship, adoration if you will, and his or her demands are essentially insatiable." She took a long sip of her tea then set the cup back down, an act that she used to give herself a moment to think. "I'm not scared, Commander, but I'd be foolish not to be concerned especially for the members of the crew who have suffered as a result."

"That's good to hear," Mal replied. "This crew needs someone looking out for their mental and emotional well being. Your work will be stressful. You may hear things you wish you hadn't and things that you will not be able to unhear. You will have limited support from your professional community since anyone you'd want to discuss a case with would have to be cleared to even know about some of what we do here. Some of the people here may not be what you've come to think of as Starfleet material. But if you can see past their exterior, you will see what I see in them: the potential to do great things."

She nodded as she listened; she'd been a ship's counselor before and understood much of what he was saying. That is, until he reached the last part. "What you mean about 'not Starfleet material'?"

"Some of our personnel are very unconventional," he said. "Mister West has worked in covert operations for most of his career. Over the past four hundred years or so, Mister Ral has been everything from a monk, albeit not a celibate one, a police inspector, a mercenary, served on merchant vessels, and spent the last hundred and thirty odd year working for Starfleet Intelligence. He has spent a large portion of his four centuries of life knee deep in the seedier parts of the Galaxy. Staff Warrant Officer Nexi was raised as a Ferengi slave, then worked as a liquidator and bounty hunter. She was only recently brought into Starfleet at her current rank and what training she received you would not call conventional. Our Captain is the head of the Artan Family, whose areas of expertise include salvage, privateering, smuggling, and even outright piracy. Our Captain's wife is a hologram...and the ship's masseuse. Our Operations Officer is not more than four months old. Until recently, she was a photonic lifeform, a sentient hologram. Now her program inhabits an Iconian android Herald that she was able to modify to resemble her current form. I'm descended from an alien who once posed as a god on Earth. One of our nurses can transform into a wolf. Very little is run of the mill."

"I see," she said softly. And to think, she amended silently, on Betazoid I'm unusual because of my eye color. "Well, it will certainly make things interesting. I'm looking forward to getting to know the crew and to being of any assistance I can."

"Good to hear," Mal said. He set down his lyre and tapped at the controls on his desk console. "There. I've sent you a list of who I think will need the most attention due to recent events. If anyone gives you a hard time about sitting down with you, let me know. If I have to, I'll order them into your office."

"I'll certainly keep you informed. For some, speaking about what's wrong makes it more real, more unavoidable. It wouldn't the first time I've dealt with that particular behavior."

"Well, I've read your record," Mal said. "It speaks for itself. It says you are both highly competent and extremely compassionate. I expect good, possibly even great, things from you. But don't let me keep you. Between settling in and finding some time to enjoy some liberty before we leave, I'm sure you're busy."

"Its more than a job," Elle said as she stood up. "I know the price that some pay for a career in Starfleet and I really do want to help but you're right, I have a lot to do today. I'm sure we'll talk again soon."

"Of course," Mal said. Rising, he walked Elodie out of his office. At first, he went to return to his lyre, but changed his mind and picked up his flute. Sitting down at his desk, he began to play, feeling the tension evaporate from his body.

Elodie Raintree, Elle to most everyone who knew her, crossed the Bridge, quiet now that the ship was in for repairs, and stopped at the Captain's Ready Room door.Slim and on the short side of average, her physical presence could never be considered imposing nor did she want it to be. Her uniform was neat and presentable, her hair, black and the kind of straight that defied even the most determined efforts to be otherwise, hung to mid-back and was tucked behind her ears. What stood out about Elle were here eyes. Gray, which was rare for a Betazoid, and brimming in equal measure with a lively intelligence and interest in the world around her. She pressed the door chime and waited, hoping that the crewman who'd directed her here hadn't been misinformed.

While the bridge had been replaced during the Hera's Intel themed refit some time ago, Enalia's ready room , while it had gotten a face lift, had not gotten any bigger. Apparently there were only so many square meters available in the standardized bridge module layout in this saucer socket type. As the door chime went off, Enalia set aside her 14th century replica tea cup and pressed the door control to reveal just who she hoped would be visiting her soon. "Come in and have a seat. I was just looking over the repair docket again so you have perfect timing. You're our new Chief Counselor? Ellie Raintree? Did I get that right?"

Elle entered and took the offered seat, tucking one foot up underneath her from long habit. "Yes, Captain, I am though its Elle, like the letter. You know, that's a lovely design," she said as she nodded in the direction of the tea cup. "What kind of tea do you drink?"

"My apologies then. The records aren't the sharpest when it comes to personal preference at times." Enalia held up the tea cup and saucer set with a smile. "Thank you. It's a replica of one of the originals in my collection. It was used by Guar 'de Ru'mon over a thousand years ago on Trill. As for my tea, it's an herbal concoction my wife prepared for me. It's supposed to bring the color back to my face and the pep back to my step. Normally I'd drink a nice chamomile or chocolate mint tea, but she insists."

"I've never tried chocolate mint," Elle said, "which is saying something. I love tea and am always trying something new though I do have my favorites. A friend sent me some Dragonwell recently, if you're interested, I'll bring you some to try."

Enalia beamed brightly at the prospect. "I'd love to. I'll have to let you raid my supply of teas as well sometime. And if you prefer alcohol or coffee, I have a supply of both of those as well. Since I never took a yeoman, I converted the quarters assigned for them into a small distillery and storage facility. Captain's prerogative."

"I have a small hoard of my own, " Elle said and smiled in return, delighted at the prospect of trying new teas, "though mine's tucked into a small chest in my quarters generally. You're welcome to anything I have, Captain. May I ask what it is you distill?"

"Moonshine, whiskey, and brandy for the most part. Things that you'll want to mix with other things or slowly sip over ice." Enalia grinned as she reached into her desk to pull out a wine bottle with a rather ostentatious purple label with five rather deadly looking exes in the shape of bones scrawled across it and handed it to Elle. "Consider this a welcome aboard gift?"

"Thank you," Elle said as she accepted the bottle, inspecting the unusual design, and cocking her head slightly to one side. "An interesting label. What is it exactly? And also, what is moonshine? I know whiskey and brandy having tasted both back at the Academy." She wrinkled her nose slightly, bouncing her head back and forth a time or two. "Liked brandy better than straight whiskey but really liked bourbon." She offered up a wry grin. "Which I found out later is a type of whiskey."

"It's mostly alcohol. That is a bottle of moonshine. Highly explosive, so watch where you store it. I recommend either sipping it very slowly over ice or mixing it with tea or juice." Enalia chuckled softly. "It used to be made outside the law and as close to pure as possible, but the Artan family moonshine tends to be made from berries and syrups rather than grains so it has a bit more flavor. One of the perks of being the heiress of a pirate empire is inheriting the recipes and methods of creating the family booze."

"I'll be ... cautious ... with it," she said as she cradled the bottle in one arm. "If I might ask, how did you go from the child of a pirate to the Captain of a Starship?"

Enalia leaned back in her chair thoughtfully. "I guess I wanted a normal life and with my outgoing personality, then the joining... Some bribes from my mother... I kind of had a fast track to the Captain's chair. Now that I'm the sole heir to the Artan family though... And my mother being retired... I probably shouldn't make Starfleet a lifelong career. And I'll need to come up with the next generation of Artans somehow."

"You may just be," Elle said as the corner of her mother quirked upward slightly, "the first starship captain I've met to say so." Her index finger found the edge of the label and smoothed a rough spot with short strokes. "An interesting way to phrase it." She cocked her head slightly to one side. "Are you interested in having children one day?"

"That's the classical method of providing an heir..." Enalia replied with a chuckle. "And it's the only way that's traditionally recognized in any pirate family so eventually I'll have to settle down and do so. Having a holographic wife, that's a bit problematic... But I'm sure once word gets out, there'll be no limit to the number of potential donors. Anything else you'd like to know about my back history? Am I crazier than you expected?"

"Apologies, Captain. This isn't an evaluation and I hope it didn't come across as such. I confess to being naturally curious, a trait exacerbated by my profession and culture. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave and get on to my next appointment."

Enalia nodded. "I've had a few surreptitious evals in my career so I tend to expect them now. Have a good day. If you ever need anything, my door is almost always open. If you need a massage, my wife is the ship's masseuse."

"Thank you, Captain ..." she said as she held up the bottle, "for everything."

Nexi was having fewer and fewer good days as the time passed. Even though she had already reached 100% infection rating, the black blood continued to change and distort her, and the madness grew harder and harder to push away. And then, while the Hera was en route to the Sol system, something inexplicable began to happen to her; spontaneously and with no warning, Nexi would be consumed by this shroud of... darkness, for a lack of a better term, and then immediately afterwards she would appear elsewhere on the ship. At first, these jaunts wouldn't take her very far, usually just blinking her into the next room, but soon they were blinking her all over the ship and she had no control over when it happened or where she would go. Once they had arrived at the Sol system and were making their way to dock at McKinley Station, the unthinkable happened and Nexi blinked outside the ship. Thankfully the Hera was not at warp and was able to beam her back almost immediately, and amazingly she recovered with no physical damage, but the damage to her psyche had been brutal; being out in the void of space unprotected for even that short time had broken her, and since then she struggled to hold back the madness.

Sometimes she would have good days, she was clear headed and communicative, but most days she was nearly catatonic meaning she was confined to Sickbay for daily care, and when approached by someone familiar it was rather hit or miss whether or not she recognized them. Today as Aewia entered the room Nexi was isolated in, there was a glimmer of recognition in her eyes, but the Brekkian woman said nothing, simply sitting on the floor slumped against a wall with her hounds resting on either side of her; today it was taking all her mental fortitude to hold back the urge to unleash the madness and hurt the people around her, especially her beloved sister, and that sadness was reflected in her black eyes.

Fortunately, the black blood inside Aewia seemed a bit more stable for now - it was the vast number of voices driving her mad. Kneeling next to Nexi, she reached out with her mind and offered a soothing sort of support with her own. Smiling, she reached out physically and touched her on the shoulder. "Hey. How are you doing? Do you recognize me today?"

Nexi's mind recoiled again Aewia's telepathic contact, presenting with a flinch of her physical form, and the look of warning in her eyes was clear: I'm here, but I don't want to hurt you. But she didn't shy away from the physical contact, and it even helped her relax a bit, and her hounds responded by shifting closer to Aewia; even on days when Nexi seemed completely vacant and unrecognizing of her visitors, by now the hounds trusted Aewia as completely as Nexi herself and sought comfort from Aewia as often as they could.

Aewia gave a few scritches to the hellhounds, smiling brightly at the friendly beasts. "Have you two been good? Hmm?" Pulling a couple pieces of jerky out of her uniform, she slipped them to the multi-eyed beasts as a treat, watching them eat.

Mister Pickles and Sunshine didn't really 'need' food, but that never stopped them from enjoying the tidbits visitors would bring them. In her silence, Nexi watched her sister; it was strange, Aewia used to be the crazy one and Nexi the sane one, but now their roles were reversed. Lonely, Nexi's voice drifted through Aewia's mind.

Aewia sat down next to Nexi and pressed her shoulder against hers. "I'm here for you, sis. Just like you were for me. We'll find a cure soon. I promise you'll be back to your old self before you know it. We'll be flying through space on your ship out on some mission again before you know it."

That sounded nice, really nice... Nexi leaned her head against Aewia's shoulder with a sigh. Tired, Nexi 'said', and it was no surprise since Nexi hardly slept anymore, lest she find herself in some strange area of the ship or outside it again.

"You should get some rest. There are systems in place to make sure you stay in this room now, so don't worry about if you pop somewhere else, ok?" Aewia wasn't sure how effective the Iconian 'teleport' inhibitor Ila threw together would be, but she knew the backup would be effective enough. Transporters had a constant lock on her and would beam her back the moment she teleported away if she managed to do so. The down side to the inhibitor was that it was the size of Nexi herself and only covered the size of sickbay.

Can't, don't wanna hurt anyone. And it was a sad fact of the matter that she could take out this whole ship if she wanted to, even before she was infected with the black blood, in the days before she had truly accepted her place among the crew of the Hera Nexi studied the ship and her crew, looking for weaknesses and exploits should they turn on her and she required an escape; the only real wild card was Aewia, Nexi didn't know this new lucid version of her sister, and given their emotional ties, Aeiwa was likely the only one to have a chance of stopping Nexi if she went wild. Nexi couldn't risk it, if she slept, she might lose control, and if she lost control then people could die.

Aewia sighed heavily and snuggled in closer to Nexi. She knew exactly what was going through her sister's head and she recognized the sort of thinking she was sorting out. She was worried she would fall to the level of the Master. Aewia couldn't blame her. The black blood was enticing and offered great power. It wasn't a power any of them could control though and they were all finding that out firsthand. Then a memory of the Master seemingly enjoying himself with one of his hellhounds wafted into her mind. "What if... What if you used your hounds to help you keep control? The Master seemed to do that at times - to help stabilize himself. Why not try that yourself?"

Nexi raised her head to look at Aewia; this was a thing, she could do this? "How?" Nexi asked, finally speaking aloud; her voice sounded faint and raw, like maybe she had spent a lot of time screaming at the top of her lungs.

Aewia smiled for a moment at Nexi's use of her voice. She hadn't heard that in a while now and it was good. "They're a part of you. The Master sort of used them as mental props for his sanity. He used this mental link with them that sort of... soothed him? I think? I saw it when he was petting them and talking about how good they were and it was like they were indistinguishable from each other and his mind was less crazy and harder to read for a while. I think you should be able to do the same."

Nexi looked down at her hounds. She didn't have the strength or fortitude to speak again, but she managed to move her hand and began to pet Mister Pickles; he was a really good dog, wasn't he? Mister Pickles looked up at Nexi and they shared a gaze, like he was telling her that it was okay, she could rest now, for a little while at least, and he would keep her from succumbing to the madness. Slowly, Nexi's eyes began to close, her hand still moving over Mister Pickles' head in that constant soothing manner.

Please, Aewia, hurry; I don't know how much longer I can do this. Nexi 'said' before sleep finally claimed her.

"Clio, come have ice cream with me..." came Aewia's thoughts, drifting into Clio's mind from wherever Aewia was as clear as if she was standing right there in her office. Aewia was in the Intel lounge though - with a triple fudge banana split in front of her.

Having drifted off at her desk, Clio suddenly jolted awake with such force that she nearly fell out of her chair. She just barely caught herself on the edge of the desk, looking around as she righted herself. Confusion drifted in to replace the brief anxiety of being startled awake. No one else was there. She thought for a moment she'd imagined it... and then there was a flood of voices. All the background chatter she usually ignored, but louder.

And above it all, another crystal-clear invitation to eat ice cream with Aewia. "How..." Clio trailed off, remembering that Aewia wasn't in the room with her. "Aewia? Why can I hear you?"

Aewia chuckled through the mind link. "The black blood boosts our innate powers in various ways. We seem to have gotten a boost to our telepathy. Now wake up and come have ice cream with me. My sister got other gifts it seems. I estimate that T'Pral will likely have a boost to her already amazing combat skills. As for Cato and Daytona, I can only guess."

So Mal had been right and she wasn't crazy. That didn't make Clio feel any better about it. "Um, okay." Somehow, she knew that Aewia was in the lounge, so she left her office and headed that direction. She found Aewia easily enough, seeing as how they were the only two people in the lounge at the moment. "So... this blood. It's not exactly an infection, is it?" She wasn't sure if she was really expecting an answer, but it gave her a minute to skim through the replicator menu and find a small-ish sundae that didn't contain chocolate but still looked like it would taste decent. After a moment of perusal, she settled on strawberry with whipped cream and coconut flakes.

"No... It's... I think it's more of an invasive DNA system that boosts the host based on the DNA you already have." Aewia took a few bites before continuing. "And I think the missing parts of my brain were replaced with parts from one of those clones."

"Um... ew?" Even Clio found that disturbing, having parts of one's brain replaced by demon clone tissue. Picking up her ice cream, she joined Aewia at the table and sat down. "I thought maybe I was imagining it all. Or losing my mind again."

"Yeah it's not the most comforting thing in the world. I have all my memories and more, not to mention all my faculties returned... But at what cost?" Aewia stared into her banana split for a few seconds before taking another bite.

"And Nexi's immortal. With two freaky weird dogs that follow her around all the time." Clio wasn't sure if that was always the end result of the black blood phenomenon, but it wasn't all that appealing. That was for sure.

Aewia went over the data she had in her head as she spoke, filtering it over to Clio's mind as well. Unfortunately, that had the side effect of sending the emotional side of the memories as well and a couple of them weren't as pleasant. "Not to mention her static powers are super powered. I've been on the receiving end on that trying to calm her down. It wasn't pretty. No, I think the black blood is intended to turn what the Iconians called servitor races into Iconians. Then take in servitor race DNA to improve themselves. That's just a guess though. As for the Master and the current state of the blood... Well, you lose a lot over the course of two hundred thousand years. Plus who knows if he was a proper Iconian or a demonic Iconian... There's just so much we don't know."

"...so Nexi's an Iconian. Greaaaaaat." Clio brushed aside the emotional bits of what Aewia was 'sending' her. And while she knew that Nexi wasn't really an Iconian now, it wasn't a lot of difference between what Iconians were and what Nexi was now. "I just find it confusing that T'Pral seems to be semi-immune to it but the Master was not. And I'm not. I mean, we share some common ancestry."

"I'm sure we're all going to be affected differently." Aewia took another bite of her triple fudge banana split, savoring the flavor of the triple fudge and sending the full flavor of the fudge to Clio mentally.

Clio poked at her own ice cream, swirling some of the strawberry together with the whipped cream before eating a few bites. "It's already been different for me than for Nexi. Our exposures were different... that probably has something to do with it."

"Indeed. The Commodore, Nexi, you, and I were all infected in different ways. As for Cato, T'Pral, and Daytona, they all seem to have been infected effectively in a similar way you were from the way the medical staff were talking." Aewia waved her spoon in the air a bit in an effort to explain. "They're used to treating me like a child so they tend to let things slip now and then. Not that it would matter. I can hear all of them all the time now. Speaking of which... Why is it that I seem to be a major source of exposition for this ship?"

Aewia turned and stared at the wall behind her for a moment before shrugging and going back to her ice cream.

"Well... it probably has a lot to do with how this ship rescued you and how... odd you were before your brain was reconstructed." Clio knew how it could be, being the center of attention like that. But she also couldn't blame those who chattered about such things. "I don't know about Cato or T'Pral and their initial exposures. But Daytona was attacked by one of the hounds."

"One of Nexi's hounds, no less. His exposure levels may be higher and different because of it. Whatever happened in that lab while we were unconscious..." Aewia swirled her ice cream a bit before fishing out a bit of banana and cream and nibbling on it, her worry about that missing time almost palpable.

"I don't think we'll ever know what happened there." Clio was curious, but with everyone in the lab having been unconscious... well, finding any information would have been difficult. "Honestly, I'm not sure what happened in the prison camp either, or how long any of us were unconscious."

"Only Akira could account for all the time that elapsed and she doesn't know when everyone woke up." Aewia nodded and ate a bit more of her ice cream. "For all we know, every single crewmember is secretly infected with a delayed version and we're all screwed. Or we're all slowly being cured now that the Master is dead. Either way, we still have the same goal."

"Yeah. Cure this junk and fix Enalia. We're going to need a bigger medical staff for that." Clio shook her head slightly, pushing her half-eaten ice cream to the side. "There's maybe five people working in sickbay. I'm not sure Lieutenant Ulfred has slept since everyone started coming back to the ship."

"Technically the department has nearly one hundred people in it. The downside is that many of them are dual assigned crew between other departments. They work a couple shifts in medical and a couple shifts in their other department. Right now we're just in a position where they're all working in their other departments making repairs. The Chief Medical Officer or Captain would normally mobilize the augmentees as needed, but as the Acting CMO doesn't seem to know or have that authority..." Aewia finished her own ice cream and pushed her empty dish aside. "...we're in a bit of a cucumber, as the humans would say."

"Pickle. Bit of a pickle." Clio smiled a little. "As for mobilizing the augmentees... the acting CMO is the EMH. He can't give orders like that, I guess. And Ulfred doesn't have the authority. Enalia's off duty until Ulfred or the EMH releases her. And Mal's too busy to think of it."

"And the other three surgeons don't have the authority. That's how things stand." Aewia leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, listening to all the voices on the ship. "And all these voices are enough to drive anyone crazy if they weren't already."

"Tell me about it. Mal told me I wasn't going crazy... I wish I knew how to explain it to him." Telepaths often didn't understand such complaints. Clio knew that, but she still wanted him to understand. No, she needed him to understand, and she didn't have the right words to express it.

"I think that with just a little more power, I could show him. Let him hear all these voices. I could link all the minds on the ship, if I wanted..." Aewia was fading out for a moment before shaking her head to clear it. "It's almost mesmerizing in a way. And I think I can hear more than just the crew. I think I can hear the ship itself."

"Well if we're going down that road, I have the means to show him. But it would require weaning off a medication that prevents the telepathic bonding Cervan women are capable of forming with potential mates. I haven't told him I can do that." Clio wasn't sure why she was so hesitant to share such a detail, unless it was because some previous significant others had been so appalled by it. "As for hearing the ship, I hear her all the time. But not in my head... with my ears. Different decks sound different."

Aewia nodded and recomposed herself. "I can hear Hera with my mind now. She's taken some damage and is crying in pain, but it's subtle. More of an undertone to the gentle thrum of strength and motherhood. The pain is centered around the starboard nacelle and along the bow of the saucer where we took a few direct hits against the Master's ship."

"She should feel better once the refit is done." Some people would find this turn of conversation odd, but Clio understood it well enough. While the Hera wasn't a bioship, there was a life to her. "If we were on a Gekli or a Leviathan, I could tell you everything about how it was feeling. So it's not so farfetched for you to hear Hera the way you do."

"Yeah, while the ship may not be programmed with feelings specifically, there is research and data to support the theory that matter does feel pain and pleasure at least with the flow of energy to and from the points of contact. There's also beings like Akira. I can feel her emotions as clearly as yours." Aewia stood and returned their dishes to the replicator. "Well this is waxing more philosophical than I expected."

"I think you're entitled to be philosophical after what we've been through in the past few weeks." Clio almost couldn't believe it had been that short a time. So much had happened that it almost felt like years.

"Few weeks... Yeah..." Aewia knew it had only been a few weeks but she too thought of it more as a lifetime ago that they were arriving at Artan Orbital Fortress. "So... Is there anything else we need to do to wrap this case up for Intel Command? I think we've written all the reports we can in triplicate by now."

"Hell, I hope they haven't found anything else for me to write about. If I write one more report, my brain is going to implode." Clio was being a touch dramatic, but she knew Aewia would understand. "You know they asked me six times how exactly I killed the man? Who was there, what weapons were used, why did we use swords and not phasers... it went on for hours."

"They of all people should know that unconventional enemies mean we needed to use unconventional methods. At least we didn't need to deal with Temporal Investigations as well. Enalia is glad for that little favor as well." Aewia sighed heavily and rubbed the back of her neck as she rocked back and forth. "And that's not a thought I needed to hear, Maica..."

"Nope, you can keep that one. I don't wanna know." Clio snickered, knowing what sortof thought it likely was despite not hearing it herself. "And, yeah. You'd think they'd realize that. But they frown on an officer cutting a man's throat. Something about unbecoming conduct..."

"And yet Vulcans can go kill each other with barbaric gladiator weapons every seven years when they go into heat and want to fuck the same woman. Go figure." Aewia waved her hand in the air like it didn't even matter.

"And no one bats an eye. Because it's tradition. It's older than the Federation itself." But what Clio didn't say was that combat - and killing - were traditions for her people. The difference was that Vulcan was a member of the Federation.

"And Cervan, Klingon, Ferasan, and other traditional violence is frowned upon," Aewia replied. "So is Betazoid nudity."

"Exactly. It's a double standard, and it's not fair. It also conveniently ignores that it was Starfleet who taught me to kill and gave me license to do so." Clio shrugged slightly. None of it had ever made sense to her, how Starfleet Intelligence had extensively groomed her to do such unsavory things and then later wanted to reprimand her. "Anyway, we're getting political. Let's not."

"The mission is done and over and that's what matters. We followed orders and now it's Enalia that has to justify our methods in the end." Aewia started heading towards the door but stopped. "If there's nothing left that needs to be done today, I'm going to head out and get a shower."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm sure there's something I've forgotten to do, but there are too many voices for me to deal with so I'm going home anyway." Clio wasn't normally the type to duck out early - or even to leave on time - but whatever this black blood had done to her brain was making work rather impossible.

Aewia was sitting in her quarters listening to the thoughts of the ship, meditating on them as she'd been doing for the past few days now. She'd not seen the black blood infection as entirely bad but in some ways a blessing, but it was taking some severe mental discipline to control her own mind. At the rate things were going, the background sounds of all the people in the Sol system would be hers to eavesdrop upon within hours. But then what would she do with it all? She could hear every single voice, both biological and machine, near them which included all of Mars and Earth. Jupiter station was on the other side of the system at the time so she couldn't quite hear that far. If she could stretch just a bit farther...

Then she heard something interesting...

A voice inside of her.

Asking to be let out.

Opening her eyes and gasping slightly, she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of a computer console. Her eyes had gone pure black and a tar-like substance was pouring from them, her mouth, nose, and ears. If she could scream, she would have as the black fluid pooled around her.

Before long the fluid started forming into a lump in front of her, drawing in all that had come from her. The flow of the black blood stopped and Aewia collapsed as the new entity finished taking form, completely drained.

A black and red multi eyed demonic panther now stood and stretched.

It then nuzzled at Aewia, making sure she was ok. She pet the panther and giggled softly. She too now had a black blood familiar like her sister and it made her terrifyingly happy.

The Autolycus, the sleek, ultra-fast courier ship owned and operated by Hermes, slipped quietly into the Sol system and made it's way to Mars and McKinley Station. The ship was named after Hermes' son with a Human woman, a 'mortal' for lack of a better term. Mother and son had died long ago. Hermes had chosen not to activate his cloaking device, for the same reason he chose to slow to a warp speed more commonly seen in the Federation prior to entering the Sol System. He didn't want to attract attention to himself.

Hermes, in his work as a courier, frequently worked with a courier for Starfleet Intelligence. They had given him clearance codes that would allow him to enter any Federation port under the guise of delivering messages or even goods. The codes made him look like he had perfectly boring and mundane business to conduct. He transmitted one of the codes to Mars Orbital Control and was given permission to dock at McKinley Station. Once there, he sent a coded message to the descendant of his son Pan, Commander Mal Xustos, executive officer of the Hera. Not long after, he and Mal were waiting in the Hera's conference room for a few other officers to arrive.

"They'll be here shortly, Grandfather," Mal said. "Then we can begin."

Hermes nodded but said nothing. He had news for his new friends, just not the news he'd been hoping to bring them.

The first to arrive was Enalia, followed closely by the Baroness. "I heard that Hermod would be visiting us shortly. I assume that that's actually you, just your name from the Norse pantheons. We won't be to have a full staff meeting - some of the staff are tied up with repairs and won't be able to make it. I think once Clio, T'Pral, and Akira get here that should be enough. Vaemyn might be able to make it, but we'll see."

Hermes groaned.

"Ugh," he said. "Don't remind me of my time with the Norse Pantheon. Plenty of sex and booze and carousing, with a side of bad personal hygiene."

"Personal hygiene aside, Odin sends his regards. His ravens said you may have found a lead and will be visiting soon. Of course the one eyed bastard didn't have anything other than that to say... So it's all on you." Taking her usual seat, Enalia relaxed into it as Schwein took up a seat at the other end of the table.

Akira was already on a break when the call came in for a conference, having made time to help care for Daytona as he recovered from the leg amputation and subsequent bio-synthetic replacement attachment, and while she hated to leave him in the hands of the nurses helping him through his physical therapy, duty was duty and she responded promptly to the summons. Normally, she would simply blink into the room, but the computer was still being rebuilt so she was relying on the Herald probe android to sustain her, and so she entered the through the doors like a normal person then took a seat at the long table.

"How is Daytona doing?" Mal said. "We need him up and running as soon as he can be."

"He is well, very optimistic," Akira answered. "The biosynthetic limb attachment went well and now it's up to Daytona and his therapy. I have no point of reference for what a 'normal' or healthy reaction might be, but I think he's dealing with it well; he was clearly upset at the loss in between surgeries, but he's staying positive."

"Good to hear," Mal said. "And you? How are you adjusting to your new body? We need you, too, you know."

"I am well enough," Akira said uneasily. "The body is fine, more or less, it's an adjustment and I will be fine, but I'm finding myself quite rattled by Daytona's injury, and I'm not sure why; he is fine, I shouldn't have a reason for worry now, and yet I can't seem to stop worrying."

"That's perfectly normal," Mal said. "Daytona is strong and capable, even dangerous, both mentally and physically and now he's been temporarily hobbled, weakened, and it's hard seeing him that way. I'm sure he feels as rattled as you do. He's been wounded before, I'm sure, even seriously. But I don't think he's ever lost a limb before. Physically adjusting to the new leg will be only part of the battle. The mental and emotional battle will be just as difficult to win, if not more so. Just be there for him. Balance honesty with kindness and compassion. Daytona Ral is as close to being an inescapable fact of the universe as you're likely to see in a living being. He'll recover in time, and you'll do fine supporting him."

"Thank you, sir," Akira said with a small smile. "Also, repairs are coming along on schedule, no foreseeable delays at this time."

"Excellent," Mal replied. "Keep up the good work."

T'Pral entered the conference room, feeling unsure about being near anyone. She felt her Vulcan antibodies would fight the black blood more efficiently than non-vulcans but she was discovering that was not the case--even progressing faster than others. She felt on edge all the time for the past few hours. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, ignoring the thoughts in her head to rip the others' throats out. Recently her thoughts have included violence and suffering of others, which she attributed to the Black Blood. She sat down at the far end of the table. "Greetings," she said finally.

"Welcome, Commander Jordan," Mal said. "Please, sit, relax. We'll begin in a moment or so. How are you faring?"

Clio was usually a bit more prompt than this, but she was at least relieved to see that the meeting hadn't started yet when she arrived. There were, however, some unusually strong emotions running through the room, and she wasn't entirely sure just who they were coming from. She did notice how tense T'Pral seemed and gingerly placed herself some distance down the table from the Vulcan woman. She trusted T'Pral, but she didn't know how the black blood infection would affect either of them in close proximity.

Mal nodded and smiled at Clio.

"I'm glad you could make it," he said. "We'll go ahead at begin. Lieutenant Vaemyn can be caught up when he arrives. As some of you know, Hermes offered to seek the aid of his kinsman Asclepius the former Greco-Roman 'god' of medicine in finding a cure for the black blood infection back when our only infected crewmember was Nexi. Now that there are so many others, his report is even more important than ever. Hermes?"

"Yes," Hermes said. "Thank you. First, the bad news. While Asclepius has heard of similar infections, he was not able to offer a cure himself. The good news is that he thinks he knows who might have a cure for the disease. He believes that Celtic 'goddess' Danu may have the ability to cure the black blood infection, possibly involving the use of her cauldron. The different pantheons have had varying degrees of contact with each other over the years. As you know, most of them have been away from this plane of existence until recently. Like me, Pan, Hera, and Apollo, and a few others, never left this plane of existence. Danu is one of those. Asclepius believes that he knows where she set up shop after leaving Earth. I've given Mal the coordinates. Mal?"

"Thank you," Mal said. He called up an image of a star system, followed by a planet. "We believe that Danu and her 'cauldron', whatever it actually is, can be found in this system, on a planet known in Federation records as NGC-193475. A Nova Class survey ship recently visited the system and the planet. From orbit they took scans and even sent down a few covert survey teams once they realized the planet was inhabited. Civilization on the planet is pre-Industrial, roughly similar to Earth's Iron Age. According to Hermes, Danu has not been very social with the other pantheons since their return and Asclepius can't get us an audience with her. We're going to have to go there and find her, or at least her cauldron, on our own. Captain, with your permission, I'd like to start making preparations to leave for NGC-193475 as soon as repairs to the Hera are complete and we've been restocked and rearmed. The sooner we get our people healthy again, the better for everyone."

Enalia was already looking over the survey reports of the planet as soon as the name was mentioned. "Please do so. And begin picking your away team, Commander. It seems initial reports indicate that people like yours live in the mountains and are sometimes revered as spirits. I also want the entire crew screened before then to make sure we don't miss anyone. I know medical has had their hands full, which is why I wanted Lieutenant Vaemyn's department to head that up. As for Danu... Let's try going about this the right way first - ask for an audience the same way her current followers do and go from there. That way we seem respectful at the very least."

"You might want to do more than 'seem' respectful, my dear Captain," Hermes said. "Danu was a Celtic goddess. You can be sure she's probably got a 'Celtic' temper."

"And I have a Pirate Queen temper." Enalia looked up at Hermes with a glare that would wither most mortal men instantly. "You, her, Odin, Hera, Apollo, Q, Prophets, Founders... None of you are gods. You are merely more advanced aliens. If you deserve and earn our respect then you receive it. If not, there are Starfleet protocols and they will be followed." Looking back down at her files, Enalia continued. "As for Danu, she is as yet an unknown entity in that set of protocols so she will be afforded every respect, courtesy, and opportunity by doing things the way she's chosen to do business before we do business our way."

"We'll be fine, Hermes. Daytona and I handled Hephaestus well enough, and as far as her Celtic temper... my people are well-known for having fiery tempers of our own. And yeah, Enalia's a pirate princess. And somehow Mal puts up with us." Clio smirked just a little. "Probably best to be judicious and not send anyone who will piss her off though."

T'Pral glared at Hermes. She was sick and tired of hearing about customs and as far as she was concerned these so-called greek 'gods' could sit on a Vulcan Lurpa and rotate. She felt the anger grow within her--a part of her wanted to leap across the table and beat the living tar out of this so-called 'god'. She could feel the black blood wanting to take control as violent thoughts ran through her mind. She gritted her teeth and grabbed the arm rests of her chair tightly as her fingers dug into the fabric of the seat. She closed her eyes as she took a slow deep breath in an attempt to slow her heart rate and calm herself down.

Clio blinked and reeled slightly as the ferocity of T'Pral's anger slammed into her. With how the blood amplified her telepathic abilities, it was almost overwhelming. She didn't know precisely what had T'Pral so riled up, but she had a few ideas. "Simmer down, Jordan." Maybe T'Pral would hear and maybe she wouldn't, but it was worth a try.

"If you do anger her," Hermes said, ignoring what he deemed pointless bravado on Enalia's part. "Your best bet is to target her power sources, if you can find them, or the control center for her technology if you can find that. If she's been able to work fast enough, she likely has more than one power source already and possibly an auxiliary computer core or two. They'll all be shielded from your sensors. She would have learned from Apollo's mistakes. However, if you target her tech, you run the risk of disabling or even destroying her 'cauldron'. So, again, probably best if you don't piss her off. She may not be an actual 'goddess' but she is a highly intelligent being with access to highly advanced technology."

"Alright, Grandfather," Mal said. "We understand. We'll tread lightly and do our best to reason with Danu. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Ah, yes, actually I have a question," Akira spoke up timidly. "But it's not mission related, so maybe could I have a moment of Mr. Hermes time after the meeting?"

In a classic example of terrible and inconsiderate timing, the room was then filled with the loud whine that signalled an incoming transporter beam. Sure enough, moments later a somewhat dishevelled Vorta appeared in a whirl of sparkling blue next to one of the empty chairs, as if he had somehow planned it exactly so. Vaemyn looked somewhat off-kilter, his uniform jacket a little ruffled and half open, but even so, he sat down smoothly in his chair as if nothing was amiss.

“My apologies for my tardiness, Captain,” he said, inclining his head politely at Captain Telvan, before looking around the room, reading the various expressions. He smiled sheepishly. “Ah...I do believe that I have interrupted something. My apologies to you as well, Miss Akira, Mister Hermes. Please...um...continue as if I’d been here the whole time.”

T'Pral looked at Vaemyn. He had impressed her during the recent mission but his recent act was causing the Black Blood to stir even more. It was undisciplined, tardy, and disrespectful. 'Don't lose it T'Pral,' she mentally told herself as she fought the evil thoughts swirling in her mind.

"That would be dumb, Lieutenant," Hermes said. "You don't know what's going on and you won't be able to contribute intelligently. I suppose it's possible that you're an idiot and don't have anything intelligent to contribute, but as I understand things, Starfleet tends to attract the best people it can find, so I assume you're intelligent."

"Grandfather," Mal said. "If you don't mind, I'll take from here."

"Of course, young one," Hermes said, graciously.

"Ahem," Mal said. "You know, Lieutenant, about our recent encounter with Hermes, who he is, who his people are, and about their time impersonating deities on Earth, and that though most of these 'gods' left this plane of existence, some stayed behind, and that the rest appear to have returned. Hermes, upon learning of Nexi's condition prior to our experience on the Dyson Sphere, offered to seek out the aid of the Greco-Roman 'god' of medicine Asclepius in finding a cure. Asclepius does not have a cure, but believes that one of the Celtic 'gods', Danu, might. The cure may have something to do with Danu's 'cauldron'. Whether there is an actual 'cauldron' or if the term 'cauldron' refers to something else, we're not sure. However, we think we know where to find Danu. The information is on the screen now. It is a pre-Industrial society, primitive, and apparently loyal to Danu. As soon as the ship is ready to leave, we will be heading out in hopes of finding a way to cure our crewmates...our family of the black blood infection."

"Yes, which more are infected due to dealing with that damn Master!" T'Pral spoke up, her voice filled with anger. She felt herself lose control as the Black blood within her took over, filing her head with thoughts of violence, pain, and suffering. She was now suffering--all because this damned Hermes and his race of supposed 'Gods'. "I would also expect a fake 'God' to have more insight and stop criticizing others as if you are better than them!" T'Pral's hand rested on the grip of her phaser as she glared at Hermes--her eyes were bloodshot with an edge of blackness around the outer edges of her Scleroses.

A voice inside Akira sounded off in her mind; until now she had never displayed any sort of instinct or intuition, and maybe she wasn't now, maybe it was simply the remnants of her father's experiences guiding her, but Akira reached over to the Vulcan woman sitting next to her and grabbed T'Pral's phaser hand, holding it in vice-like grip to keep the weapon holstered.

"These gods are not responsible for the infection and are under no obligation to help us," Akira reminded T'Pral with a sternness that was uncharacteristic of her normally soft-spoken demeanor. "Demands and aggression will not get us what we want, you need to calm down."

T'Pral looked at the program as the blackness around her eyes seemed to increase. "Aggression? My dear, you have no idea how much aggression I am capable of. Now, release me or I'll reprogram your matrix to make you believe you are nothing more than a simple cleaning program. Then again, how is a mere program even allowed to intermingle with biologicals? Go back to the holodeck where you belong, program! You'll never be considered sentient." T'Pral felt herself lose control more by the moment. She truly respected Akira but at the moment, the Black Blood was taking control--it seemed the harder she fought, the harder it was to keep the blackness at bay. Was her life doomed already? Would she become like the Master? Would she end up killing those aboard the Hera?

There was a blur and a gust of wind and suddenly Hermes appeared behind T'Pral with a hypo-like device in his hand. He quickly injected the Vulcan in the neck and relieved her of her phaser. He stepped back from T'Pral and tossed the weapon to Mal, who caught it easily.

"What did you inject her with?" Mal asked.

"Something Asclepius whipped up," Hermes replied. "It was designed to keep Nexi calm. If I'd known that a Vulcan was infected, I would have had him concoct something stronger. Still, this should take the edge off."

There was another blur and gust of wind combination and Hermes was back on the other side of the table from T'Pral.

"Now that I'm out of reach," he said. "How are you feeling, Commander Jordan?"

T'Pral blinked several times. She looked at everyone, recalling what she said to Akira. "I am obviously not doing well...I apologize for my words, Akira."

Akira withdrew her hand from T'Pral now that she had been pacified and disarmed, but she remained in stunned silence in her chair, looking very much like she had been physically struck by T'Pral's words; no, T'Pral couldn't reprogram her, would never do it even if she could, but why did that not bring Akira any solace?

While everyone was distracted by T'Pral's outbursts, Clio quietly clenched her left hand into a tight fist under the table. The sharp pinch of her nails digging into her palm kept her from losing control, but it was a close thing. She was shaking ever so slightly under the strain of her own impulses combined with the anger and aggression she felt from T'Pral, and she didn't trust herself to address the situation without making it any worse.

Enalia was torn between having the room vented with anesthezine gas and continuing the meeting. Her grip on her own retro phase pistol did ease up a bit in the hopes that they could continue though. Yes, she constantly had her old pre-Federation days phase pistol on her at all times now. What the rest of the crew didn't know is that it had been modified to fire a normal stun beam or a calibrated transporter beam that simulated full disintegration but actually beamed the target to a secret and secure room in sickbay. She'd only had need to use it once in her time as Captain of the Hera so far, but it was always an option.

Glancing around at everyone in the tense silence following T’Pral’s outburst, Vaemyn looked supremely awkward, still an outsider to the crew who had clearly been through a lot. It didn’t help that T’Pral was clearly not doing well, a deeply troubling fact given that she had selflessly saved his life back on the Sphere.

“I suppose this would be a good time to mention that we have developed a procedure to mitigate the black blood’s more deleterious effects,” he said hesitantly, glancing sheepishly at T’Pral. “With...um...with your permission, Captain, we have a team standing by to convert one of the decontamination chambers near Sickbay. Forty minutes in the chamber a day should be enough to bolster the infected individual’s control of their emotions, and hopefully retard the progress of the black blood infection. It’ll be quite hot in the chamber while the procedure is ongoing, rather like a sauna, but it should help.”

Enalia nodded. "If you think it'll work, then let's give it a try. And see if you can get more of those belts that Crewman Dedjoy created made up. I'll take any little advantage we can get right now."

T'Pral feeling hopeless and depressed and yet she still felt the anger stirring within her at her predicament. "Captain, I am obviously not well and request to be relieved of duty and restricted to quarters for the ship's safety. Fail that, it will best to simply kill me before this disease progresses any further."

"We have yet to kill anyone else yet and you seem to still be able to carry out your duties for now. Request denied. However, I want twice daily medical checks and reports on any changes in your condition." Enalia needed her Security Chief as long as possible and wasn't about to give her up now. "If there comes a time where we need to confine you to sickbay, we will. Until then, you have a responsibility to this ship and crew. Now is there anything else?"

T'Pral bit her lip to keep from protesting as that would likely cause her to anger again. "No, Captain," she replied through a strained voice as she sat back down slowly.

"Alright then," Mal said. "I'll have my recommendations for the away team to the captain for approval shortly. Those crewmembers who will be joining the team will be informed shortly there after. Until then, you are all dismissed. Please be prepared to leave as soon as the Hera is mission capable. Thank you all."

The briefing regarding Danu had been concluded and one by one everyone present began to disperse to tend to their duties, all except for Akira and Hermes. During the meeting, Akira had mentioned that she had a question for Hermes, one that was not mission related, and she was relieved when he stayed to hear what she had to ask. It hadn't been easy for her to speak up, to even admit that this question was even on her mind, and once the conference room was finally cleared of all other Officers, she was finding her voice stuck in her throat as she wrung her hands nervously.

Hermes got up from his seat and went over to sit next to the nervous hologram...no...android. Mal had told him she was inhabiting an Iconian Herald's body that she had somehow managed to reform into a body image she was comfortable with.

"May I sit with you?" Hermes asked.

Akira nodded slightly, offering a meek smile as he moved to the chair next to her. "I understand that you and your kind are not truly dieties, however... after researching the histories of deities on Earth, I still feel compelled to ask you something, something I am uncertain if you are capable of providing an answer for, or if you can then you might be unwilling to part with that answer. Is it wrong that I still wish to know?"

"Wanting an answer to a question isn't usually a bad thing," Hermes said. "Asking questions is how we grow, even if we never get a satisfactory answer to those questions. Word of warning, though, some questions don't have definitive answers, or at least don't have answers that remain static over the course of time, even just the course of one person's life. It doesn't mean that you should stop asking, just that some questions need to be asked many times as people, or even societies, grow and change."

Akira nodded in acceptance, then took a moment to formulate how she wanted to ask what was on her mind. "I-is the soul a real thing?" she finally asked. "A-and does anything happen to it when- when someone dies? I ask hoping that you will know because in each religion I have researched to familiarize myself with how your kind operates, there is always someone who claims dominion over an afterlife, and someone to ferry souls to that afterlife. Was it all a charade or is there some truth in it?"

Hermes considered Akira for a moment before responding, then spoke.

"For all of our advanced technology," Hermes said. "Even we haven't definitively answered those questions. And...you hit the nail on the head with the word charade. I'm not foolish enough or arrogant enough to believe that I'm a god. I was a charlatan, a huckster, a magician with tricks the primitive Humans had no comprehension of. They were just forming the concepts that would lead them to just begin to understand that it might be technology and not magic. However, we know there is...something beyond the body. A...lifeforce...a spark. Starfleet's history contains encounters with energy beings who can download themselves to existing bodies, of devices that can swap this lifeforce from one body to another body. So, clearly there is something that exists beyond one's physical form, something that can, with the right technology, be contained and possibly transferred to another form. But as to what happens if that...spark...leaves the body and goes...somewhere else, I'm really not sure."

Akira smiled a sad sort of smile. "I appreciate your honesty and that you have no intent to deceive me in this," she said softly. "I'm aware of the transference of consciousness; my father was once a biological, and as he lay dying his father transferred his consciousness into a holomatrix. I had no such beginnings, I was manufactured, but my design was based on my father's, I came from him. But... I was still made, and I have enough presence of mind to ask these questions, but does that confer me with sentience? Is it possible that I too have a soul?"

Hermes smiled at the little android.

"You laugh and you cry," he said. "You love and are loved. You seek answers to important, fundamental questions. A computer can be programmed to seek answers to fundamental scientific questions, but you seek answers not only to the question of how does life work, but also about life's meanings. You study philosophy, religion, spirituality to find these answers. All of these things combined seem to me to be indications that you have a soul. But I bet you have better evidence. Mal told me he heard a rumor about what Daytona said to you when you two found each other after you were separated on the sphere. What was it?"

"Y-yeah, he-" Akira started, somewhat startled that he was aware of this. "He was injured, barely lucid, and I was in another android body with an Iconian appearance, yet he still knew it was me; it shouldn't have been possible, but he still knew... And after we were safe on the Hera, he said that I was his true North, and I'm not entirely certain I understand what that means, but it meant something to him, something significant."

Hermes grinned.

"So," Hermes said. "Your lover knew you despite the fact that you looked nothing like the physical form he was accustomed to seeing you in? Hmmm...he must have seen something of you, something that transcended your physical form. Now, I wonder what that might have been?"

Akira blushed. "Yes, I suppose you make a fair point," Akira said sheepishly. "Thank you for staying to hear what I had to say; I know you had no obligation to hear me or to try to answer, and I appreciate the generosity of your consideration," she said with a warm and contented humility.

"It was my pleasure, young one," Hermes said. Hermes rose from his chair. "Well, now that this existential crisis has been dealt with, for the moment anyway, I'm going to deliver more of that concoction I used on T'Pral to your sickbay and then pay a visit to Nexi. Be well, young one. Keep asking questions and keep seeking answers."

"I will, sir," Akira said, considerably more cheerfully than she had been before, especially after the scathing words from T'pral. "If you would like, I can escort you down to Sickbay; I say it as a courtesy, but guests are required to be accompanied."

"Of course," Hermes replied. The 'god' offered Akira his arm. "Shall we?"

With a smile, Akira slipped her hand in the crook of his arm to. "I hope Danu can help our people," she said softly as they walked. "I guess more importantly, I hope she will help us..."