The Moment of Truth

The astounding powerless warp flight of the USS Artemis was about to reach their chosen rendezvous with destiny. All members of her skeleton crew were now alert at their posts, the most senior and experienced officers seated behind their consoles on the main bridge, getting everything ready for action.

Before them, on the large main viewer, the familiar scene of warp speed flight sent stars streaking by around the unseen disc-shaped hull of what remained of their once majestic starship; proof that there was still a universe left to greet them when they would reenter normal space. But, in the very center of this deceptively peaceful vista, glowed a fixed, single brighter point of light; a luminous yet diffuse golden-orange fire, right accross their path; the Azimuth Horizon.

Like an ominious beacon from some unamed Hell, it heralded the end; maybe the end of the universe... assuredly, the end of their journey, comes what may.

They all looked at it, in silence, but ready to report their readiness to First Officer Syntron as soon as he would step onto the bridge; ready to execute their final orders as soon as Captain Kheren would come and give the word.

The moment of truth was upon them all.

After visiting with each of the remaining departments heads throughout the saucer section of the Artemis to confirm their preparedness status, Syntron returned back to the bridge and took his place besides the center seat.

As he gazed into the image of the Azimuth Horizon Anomaly glowing menacingly yet still rather small on the center of the main viewscreen, he turned his head slightly and reported to the staunch Andorian commander of the ship seated seemingly undaunted beside him.

“Captain, all departments confirm their readiness to proceed with the mission.”

"Thank you, Number One. Sensor readings?"

"Long range sensors are recalibrating themselves as we speak, Sir," answered Valencia Irksos from behind him. But the modified acoustics of the bridge allowed even his unidirectional hearing to catch her answer as clearly as any Human. "Preliminary readings confirm the presence of the anomaly as expected but no exact measurement as to its current status yet. but at least, we know it hasn't engulfed the whole sector yet."

"What we can ascertain however, is that current stardate is 87175.97," added Norbert Baoule, the other scientist on the bridge now manning the auxilliary station between science and engineering. "Time dilation from our initial spacewarp loop was limited to merely hours in relativistic space."

"Still alive and still on time... Let us count our blessings," commented Elliago Nasaro-Myth, once again seated on the other side of the command chair from the Vulcan First Officer.

"Anything on subspace channels, Doc?" then asked Kheren while looking straight at the main viewer, muscular arms crossed with one callused hand holding his chin pensively.

"Nothing; our comm system is back online but we're heading straight for the interference area of the Azimuth Horizon. Starbase 10 and the rest of the fleet are almost right on the other side... and we are right between the anomaly and the rest of the sector; we'll have to wait until we are at short range distance of anyone to attempt any hail, Captain Sir."

"Still blind and still deaf... let us count our curses," grumbled the Andorian.

Straightening himself with a short sigh, he asked in a clearer tone:

"ETA?"

"One point forty-seven minutes, Sir," immediately answered Aguk Snow from the helm station.

Kheren leaned forward to let his elbows rest on his parted knees, hands joined between them in his typical alert posture in the large command chair. He counted his breathing before nodding to Syntron.

The first officer acknowledged the captain’s go-ahead signal and then addressed the chief flight control officer manning the helm.

“Lieutenant Snow, prepare for your… kayaking maneuvers.”

"Paddle is out, Sir," grinned briefly the Inuit helmsman before turning serious again; "Ready to drop out of warp at your command."

This was definitely a crucial moment. Being at warp without any warp engine, they had no way to disengage the warp field outside of applying deceleration through the impulse engine until the forced inertia would simply make them fall back into normal space. Not a complicated maneuver but one that would prove rough for ship and crew; and once done, they would have no way to readily implement warp speed again.

"Inertial dampeners at maximum; all crew report PIDs activated," added chief engineer Baoule as he tapped his own personal inertial dampener as did everyone else on the bridge, his eyes on the structural sensors of the computerized visual representations of what was left of the starship Artemis. "This is going to put quite some strain on our engines and hull, Sir. damage control parties are standing by."

Syntron then addressed the Andorian giantess operating the tactical station.

“Tyvya, prepare for the launching of the first round of trilithium torpedo emitters.”

"Both tubes full and reload chambers online," she confirmed with her fingers on her board. "Dispersal pattern programmed and ready. Activation of the emitters on standby until full deployement is complete. Once we enter the anomaly's corona, estimated time for phase 2 is fifty seconds of successive firing salvos and twenty-eight minutes for complete positioning."

Syntron stared intently from the first officer's seat of the bridge as the image of the perilous anomaly began to expand in scope within the main viewscreen of the Artemis saucer while they continued their warp pace directly toward it. He realized that once they brought their warp speed to a halt, they would have no opportunity to regain that velocity again; they unfortunately no longer possessed a warp drive. Therefore, like everything occurring throughout this mission, timing was critical. This also meant that they would not have the availability to warp the saucer out of harm’s way should the need arise.

After determining that they have arrived at the maximum juncture to the anomaly and their mission, the first officer turned to the Inuit helmsman and stated resolutely:

“Mister Snow… take us out of warp.”

"Aye, Sir."

The hum of the impulse engine, an incongruous sound when looking at the star-striked warp flight scene on the main viewer, rose around them in the eerie silence left by the loss of their warp core barely more than a day ago. Before their eyes, the stars settled into a deceptively fixed field of diamond dust spread accross the black velvet of space.

And right in the center of this sparkling display, like a golden nugget sparkling in the sun, was the Azimuth Horizon.

"We are back in normal space, ninety million kilometers coreward from the anomaly's corona, twenty minutes at full impulse from contact," reported Aguk Snow in the breathless silence that followed their transition from subspace.

"Captain, I have a vessel at 62 mark 12 on a parallel course to the anomaly's perimeter and moving at warp 9 accross our flight path," then said Tyvya, looking reflexively from her tactical display to the main viewer and back. " Distance, fifty-four million kilometers. Interference from the anomaly makes identification difficult."

"Ping them," ordered Kheren, all four oculars on the large screen as if he could see the other ship despite the immense distance.

A deep echo, all the more startling because of the unusual silence of their warpcoreless vessel, reverberated around them, a long, hollowed "ping" that suddenly bounced back at a higher pitch when it struck the hull of the other ship. She would also hear the sensor contact from the powerful Syntron space sonar as the same echoing sound striking her frame and so, they too would detect the presence of the saucer section of the Artemis... if they hadn't done so already when they had come out of warp. There was no hiding from them anyway.

"Got them," confirmed Valencia Irksos. "Converting sensor scan to visual output and magnifying."

"On the bridge screen, the image shifted from the star-studded blackness of space with it's distant fiery anomaly to an almost blinding gold and orange backdrop against which was clearly profiled an arrowhead-shaped starship with four slim, glowing nacelles directly aft. Kheren's deep voice definitely conveyed the smile his rigid Andorian face couldn't.

"The Alsea."

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

Ship's Log: Oseno Jureth acting commander, Our trip around the anomaly is nearly complete. After nearly thirty-nine hours and one encounter with a subspace tendril, the first part of our mission is at its end. I remain in command of the ship and the crew, while exhausted is performing admirably particularly the engineers. We did manage to catch a saboteur and are holding him in our brig until we arrive back at Starbase Ten. I don't know what his goals were, but suffice to say he failed to achieve them. Now, we will see what the other side of the Azimuth Horizon holds for us.

Jureth closed the terminal on the ready room desk and proceeded back out onto the bridge. Shawn Hunter rose from the command chair at the sight of the Alsea's acting commander, and Jureth nodded in acknowledgement as he approached.

"Report Mister Hunter."

"Sir, we have nearly completed our circumnavigation of the anomaly. In a just about five minutes we will be close to where we-"

Hunter broke off as Ensign Wynn interrupted "Sir, I have a sensor contact."

"What is it Ensign?"

"I'm not certain Sir, interference from the anomaly...perhaps if we come out of warp.."

Jureth nodded "Mister Hunter.."

"On it Sir."

Shawn returned to the helm station as the covering ops officer moved away and Jureth sat down in the command chair.

"Throttling back, coming out of warp Sir." Hunter reported

"All stop."

"Aye Sir, helm answering all stop."

"Mister Wynn?"

"Resolution is clearer Sir, sensors are classifying it as a ship."

"On screen,"

The object from the sensors appeared on the Alsea's viewer, and Jureth could see through the interference that it was vaguely round in shape. Suddenly a thought popped into his head and his heart began to beat faster.

"Mister Wynn, maginfy."

The distored image enlarged and Jureth knew what he was looking at before Ensign Wynn opened his mouth

"Sir its-"

"The Artemis," Jureth said softly finishing the ops officer's sentence with a smile starting to cross his face.

"Lieutenant T'Lana, confirmation?"

"Negative Sir," the Vulcan at the tactical console replied "they are not transmitting and ID signature."

"Mister Wynn open a channel."

"Open Sir."

"USS Artemis, this is USS Alsea, Lieutenant Oseno calling do you copy?"

As if in answer, there was a strange, hollowed sound reverberating from the hull itself, as if the entire ship was a gong someone outside had just banged. It sounded astonishingly much like the sonar sound of ancient Earth submarines; and indeed, it was the unique, distinctive subspace contact of the Syntron space sonar touching their entire structure which vibrated enough to be carried through by their own inner atmosphere.

A moment later, the main viewer fizzled for a second before displaying a slightly discolored and frayed but clearly visible image of an indigo face framed with a thick snowy mane topped by far-parted antennae, lighted by startingly bright silvery eyes and with a severe expression that contraste drastically with the joyful tone of the deep-resounding voice.

"USS Alsea, this is the Artemis. Sorry we are late for the clean-up. We are releived to see that you at least managed to show out your own uninvited guests without too many bruises. "

Then, the rigid face of captain Kheren managed to frown perceptibly.

"Lieutenant Oseno? Is Commander Rivers alright?"

To Jureth, even through the interference, the stalwart Andorian's face looked a bit haggard. At the same time however, the senior officer was a welcome sight. but, the Bajoran grimaced almost as if he was in pain at the mention of Rachele Rivers.

"I'm afraid not Sir." Jureth said grimly in response to Kheren's question "During our engagement with the Romulans Captain Rivers was thrown from the command chair and received a severe head injury. She is in stasis in Sickbay, though the doctor is optimistic she will recover with treatment from Starbase Ten's extensive medical facility. I have been in command since we ended the battle."

"And to think some beleived that my ship is cursed with so much sabotage on board..." mused outloud the captain of the Artemis. Then his four oculars darted straight at the Bajoran. "Lieutenant, you are the fifth person I have seen in that chair in less than a year. Now, I want you to stay on that chair at least until this whole mess is over. We will provide you with some of our PIDs; the Personal Inertia Dampeners we have successfully tested here since I took command. With my reduced crew, we have a lot of them available to easily equip your entire ship complement. At least, you will not be thrown out of that chair... that is, until your engineer can build you a safer one."

It truly sounded like a joke to ease up the tension of the words. But it was obvious in his eyes that the Andorian had no clue about how humorous his last comment had been.

"My security officer will make arrangements with yours for the beaming transfer once we rendez-vous in... eight minutes, present speed. Then we both with my First officer and yours will discuss how we will next handle the fire out there."

"Understood Sir, we'll see you shortly, Alsea out."

Jureth addressed Shawn Hunter "Mister Hunter, maintain present course and speed and bring us within transporter range of the Artemis."

"Aye Sir."

On the Alsea's Engineering deck, Niomo had been sitting at his desk, hand covering his face. To the other engineers he seemed to be deep in though, however, he had been catching up on some much needed rest. However, that rest was disturbed when Thompson ran into his room.

"Sir, we've dropped out of warp."

Niomo quickly stood, albeit woozily. "Have we heard anything from the Bridge?"

Thompson shook his head, "No sir. But according to Command's plan, and our reduced warp capabilities, we still had another 3 hours of travel time, plus the return to the starbase."

Niomo rubbed his cheek, partly to wake up and partly to think. He felt the stubble of a beard growing in as he sighed. He had not returned to his personal quarters since the tendril struck the ship, catching cat-naps at his desk when he found some peace and quiet. "We would have known if she was breaking apart. Feel it too. Clearly it's a non-technical stop. However, let's normalize the warp core intakes. If we aren't putting a strain on the cores, no reason to have one run hotter than the others. Divert power from tractor and transporters if you need some extra power to balance everything. I doubt we'd need them out here. Last sensor sweep showed no ships in the immediate area."

Thompson acknowledged his orders and quickly left the room, relaying what was needed to his fellow officers. Niomo turned and brought up an engineering status report to confirm to himself that there was nothing technically erroneous about the Alsea. Finding nothing, he decided that he needed to contact the bridge.

"Engineering to Bridge. Sir, we dropped out of warp. Is this your doing? I'd like to get home before this anomaly tries to eat us again." Niomo asked, allowing a bit of frustration to flow out. They had stopped far too much on this journey, and the ship needed a stardock more than spit-and-glue repairs.

Jureth heard the frustration in the engineer's voice, but knowing that the entire engineering department was likely just as exhausted as their department head the security chief/acting commander of the Alsea let it go and simply answered Niomo's question.

"Yes Commander, it was on my order. We've found the Artemis, or what's left of her, and Captain Kheren and his crew are going to need our assistance. To that end, I'd like you to act as the XO when we meet Captain Kheren or if you'd prefer I will take Lieutenant Steele with me instead."

"I will meet you at transporter pad 3, sir." Niomo quickly said as he moved out of his office. "Thompson!" he shouted, looking around for the other engineer.

"Sir?" Thompson replied somewhere above Niomo.

"The Aretemis has shown up. Captain and I are going aboard. You are in command here. Ready four away teams for emergency repairs. Last I heard the Andorian Captain felt he only needed a skeleton crew. God knows how many engineers were included. Simulate what tractors and warp field enclosure around them would mean for our systems, should we need to get out of here in a hurry." Niomo stated as he left the room, heading towards the transporter room.

He arrived in record time, still wearing his dirty engineering jumpsuit. Only the transporter officer was in the room, so he decided to wait.

On the bridge Jureth nodded satisfied at the engineer's response, he had half expected Niomo to want to remain with his precious engines especially given the stress they'd bee under in the last few days.

"Mister Hunter, range to Artemis?"

"Almost there Sir, intercept in two minutes."

Jureth tapped his combadge "Oseno to Steele, meet myself and Commander Lire in transporter three please."

"Understood be there in five."

Jureth closed the channel and tapped the device again "Oseno to Sickbay, doctor please send a medic to transporter three, we'll going aboard the Artemis."

"Acknowledged, Sickbay out."

"Sir," Shawn Hunter said "we are in range Sir."

"All stop Mister Hunter, and the bridge is yours."

"Helm answering all stop Sir, I have the conn aye Sir."

Jureth left the bridge and rode the turbo lift down into the Alse's superstructure, and when it stopped he made his way to the transporter room. When he arrived he found Lire, Steele and a medical officer waiting for him. He approached the medical officer

"You have a standard med kit ensign.."

"Marques Sir, and Yes, plus some additional painkillers and radiation treatments if needed."

Jureth nodded and motioned the group up on to the pad, then he tapped his combadge.

"Oseno to bridge, signal Captain Kheren we are ready to come aboard."

"Aye Sir," came Shawn Hunter's reply "I'll let you when I get a reply, T'Lana is showing their shields are still up."

"Understood, Oseno out."

Jureth turned to the rest of the party and shrugged, and then waited for the Artemis to respond.

Niomo gave the captain a quisitive look. "I'm surprised they have the power for shields. Let alone warp power. I am very interested to see how they pulled that off...and what the structural integrity field looks like after their little stunt."

On the main viewer of the starship Artemis, the dagger-like shape of the Alsea showed it's sleek hull pockmarked with leftovers from the short but intense battle it had been through. Behind it, the blazing fires of the Azimuth Horizon silhouetted it against a golden glare of raging energies.

"The Alsea is within transporter range on a standard parallel course with us," confirmed Tyvya from her tactical sensors.

"They are requesting permission to beam aboard," Elliago aded from his own console.

The silvery eyes of the captain beside him blinked twice before he ordered:

"Lieutenant Tyvya, initiate Security Protocol 1 and come with me. You too, Mister Syntron. Doc, ask Counselor Lyrya to join us in transporter room 1. Mister Cheonghi, you have the conn."

And so saying, not even waiting for the answering "ayes," he rose from his chair and headed for the turbolift with his officers in tow.

The ride was nevertheless swift from deck 1 to deck 10, the lowest remaining level of what was left of the once large starship. Once they were all inside the room, Kheren stood on the right side of the transporter console with his First Officer and his arriving Chief Counsellor while Tyvya herself went behind it, leaving both security officers Mrriish and Graalthrii each side of the locked door.

"I have four lifesigns on sensors from their own transporter room," reported the Andorian giantess from the transporter scanners readout. "One Bajoran, three Humans; combadge signals identified and matching Starfleet medical records."

Kheren tapped a callused finger on the readout twice then crossed his hands behind his back.

"Energize."

On board the Alsea, the telling tingling and dancing lights of a transporter beam were noticed by all. When the beam out was completed, both Acting Captain Oseno Jureth and Chief Engineer Niomo Lire stood in the oddly old styled-modernly equiped transporter room of the Artemis, facing from the transporter pad the Andorian ship commander and his officers.

And they were the only two people that were beamed in from their ship.

"Subatomic scan in transit completed. Identity confirmed, Sir; physiological and brainwave scans match records.No weapon or potentially threatening instrument, biological, chemical or otherwise harmful element detected. Transmitting transport confirmation to Alsea," then said the towering chief of security.

At the door, neither the black-furred Caitan female nor the compact, bearded Tellarite male relaxed their vigilance or posture despite the time taken by their chief to thoroughly scan each and every atom of their guests and everything on their bodies before materializing them and dropping the level 10 forcefield that had been erected between the transporter pad and the rest of the room.

"Mister Oseno, Mister Lire... welcome to the Artemis," greeted Captain Kheren formally in typical Andorian reserve, with no offering Human handshake or Bajoran bow. "Lieutenant Commander Syntron and Lieutenant Tyvya you already know..."

Syntron bowed slightly to the officers of the Alsea as Captain Kheren introduced him.

The captain then continued "Allow me to also present my Chief Counsellor, Lieutenant Lyrya."

The tall, willowy woman with a blue collar topping her formal black and grey uniform bowed her thickly haired head, hair as white as her almost transluscent skin and from which a pair of typical Andorian antenna sprouted. But she did not look at them;, her large, white eyes were focusing on nothing before her. Like all of her rarely seen kind, especially in Starfleet where she had been the first of her people to ever join, she was blind.

But, as everyone knew about the Aenar, the most elusive, half-legendary subspecies of Andoria, she was a telepath; one that could even best famed Betazoids.

Obviously, the captain of the Artemis did not rely on machines alone to ensure the safety of his ship and crew.

"Please forgive our... proceedings with your coming aboard. I am sure you understand that this is no time to be lax," Kheren then said with sincerity but with no hint of any regret or apology in his deep, soft tone. "Please come and join me in our lounge. We have much to discuss."

"I'd be happy to join you Captain Kheren," Jureth replied attempting to be as respectful as possible to a much senior officer who was immeasurably more experienced than himself "though I don't understand why you left my other personnel on the Alsea. Lieutenant Steele is my defacto chief of security and tactical officer and the other member of my crew was a medic with extra supplies and radiation treatments in case any of your people need them. I understand the urgency of the situation Sir, but if we can help your ship or your crew please allow us to do so."

The Andorian looked squarely at the Bajoran.

"I distinctly recall that I asked for you and your XO, not for a rescue team."

Not being very sociable to begin with, even by Andorian standards, Kheren was nevertheless aware that his abrupt remark might ruffle some feathers in these Humanoids. And so, with a softer tone, he added:

"Thank you for your concern, Acting Captain Oseno, but even with our skeleton crew, I still have at my disposal as much if not more technicians and medical personnel than you have aboard your entire ship. There is not much of ours left, granted, but what is left is in perfect working condition and my whole complement is safe and sound for the time being."

"I understand Captain," Jureth said not really surprised by Kheren's response and taking into account that this ship and her captain had been through much more than the Alsea had in the last few days. "I was only trying to think ahead not knowing what crew you had left since I knew that you'd left Starbase Ten with a reduced complement."

Niomo didn't move from the pad. There were more important things to do than sit down for a cup of tea and chat about universal happenings.

"Forgive my rudeness Captain Kheren, but we do not have time to chat in the lounge. I would like to get to engineering as soon as possible and get my staff working on repairs and stabilization of your science experiment here." Niomo stated, looking around in the room, mentally making repair notes. It seemed as though the remains of the ship had been though some tough times.

Jureth looked over at the engineer, but didn't rebuke him or apologize for him. This was a man who had commanded a starship, he didn't need a green commander, nevermind one that he technically outranked, making excuses for him.

The only reaction from Syntron was a subtle elevation of the Vulcan’s brow.

And obviously, what seemed to be rudeness from a Human was not even making the Andorian Captain blink as he retorted with the same tone as that of the Alsea chief engineer:

"I am not inviting you for tea and cookies, Mister Lire. My ready room is rather cramped for all of us... The Bow, our main lounge, is also our observation deck, facing directly our foe... and I prefer to look face to face at my enemy before I decide to kill him. Old duelling habit..."

His heavily callused hand showed them the door the towering Andorian woman was unlocking for them.

"Thank you for your offer of assistance, Lieutenant Commander, but unless you can install us a brand new warp drive and nacelles in the next few hours, there is nothing you can do that my own chief engineer and his people already did in the last thirty hours; and the science part has been thoroughly worked out by Mister Syntron here and his team, something that our precipitated departure prevented all of us to discuss back at the starbase. What we now need is to debrief one another as to what has been done... and what must be done next."

And he lead them all out of the transporter room towards the nearest turbolift.

Niomo silently followed along, tapping on his PADD. Using short hand code that he and Thompson developed while they were on the Lotus, he developed, encrypted and sent a message to his friend. "T- Art room has no paint. Return drawing supplies to the closet and return to your desk. L" Something seemed off about the Andorian, and Niomo was not taking any chances. The sensor readings of the Artemis had shown obvious signs of damage and multiple serious structural weaknesses. Not to mention the reduced staff, of which Niomo was positive were not all engineers. His staff almost reached the current crew compliment of the ship, despite the Andorian's comments of having more technicians. Not to mention the fact that Niomo was the best engineer in the fleet. Niomo had survived a long time by following his gut. And his gut was screaming for him to get off this shard of a ship as soon as possible.

Oseno listened as the Andorian captain corrected his chief engineer and, by default, executive officer. Then he followed Kheren and the rest of the group out of the transporter room. As they were walking Oseno's combage suddenly came alive

"Alsea to Oseno,"

Jureth recognized Cat Steele's voice and knew that she was checking up on him after being left behind on the ship.

"Oseno here, go ahead."

"Sir, is everything okay?"

"Commander Lire and I are fine, thank you. Maintain station keeping, and keep your eyes open for any threats."

"Understood, Alsea out."

The channel closed and Jureth noted that he was getting a curious look from Tyvya, the Artemis security chief.

"My chief of security," he said by way of explanation "she's a former Marine, and nearly as paranoid as I am."

"No need to explain, Sir," the giantess answered matter-of-factly. "On Andoria, where even your own sibling can slit your throat over any slight, lack of paranoia is considered insanity."

Then in turn, she explained herself:

"Since the take over attempt of the Horizon Children on the Artemis a few months back, the security on board is second to none in this Quadrant. For example, here on this ship, no communication whatsoever can come in or out without being detected, monitored and authorized from our own comm central... including PADD encodings."

As she spoke, her eyes were falling down from her well over two meters of towering height to the Alsea's chief engineer. It felt almost as if her rigid face was smiling; but it was the smile of a crocodile.

Jureth noticed the look that Tyvya was giving Lire and wondered what his chief engineer was doing, and then decided he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"It might interest you to know that we caught a saboteur of our own. He tried to access the ship's computer, but one of my security patrols saw him enter the secondary computer core and we were able to isolate him and detain him."

Nodding an acknowledgment, the first officer of the Artemis stated dispassionately “Consequently Lieutenant Jureth, this is incontestably why the Artemis has instituted such intensive security measures… to readily avert any such occurrence from transpiring within this ship again.”

"I certainly understand Commander," Jureth replied "one of the reasons I took the recommendations Lieutenant Tyvya gave me before we left Starbase Ten to heart was to prevent such a thing on the Alsea. Unfortunately one of the Children's agents slipped through the screening process, but fortunately for us the security patrols I instituted proved their worth."

“Indeed Lieutenant,” Syntron responded. “The measures you implemented aboard the Alsea proved to be most effective in thwarting these saboteurs’ destructive intentions.”

"True enough," Oseno replied "but really I have Captain Kheren and Lieutenant Tyvya to thank. My security protocols were adapted from those the captain had set up during his tenure on the Lotus, and the recommendations Tyvya gave me after our briefing on Starbase Ten. Without them the Alsea might be drifting in space, or worse. That said we certainly seem to have larger things to discuss. The mission orders in the Alsea's computer have us slated to return to Starbase Ten after circumventing the anomaly, but I take it you have something different in mind Captain Kheren."

Niomo frowned, shaking his head. "Whatever we do plan, captains, we should not prolong our journeys beyond another 10 hours. The miracles myself and my team have worked to keep the Alsea from imploding will be in the textbooks next year. We will not survive any additional 'friendly nudges' from the anomaly. Our initial scans of the Artemis state the same. If at all possible, I highly suggest we transfer whatever plan is to one of the more healthy ships. I'd even agree with coming back at a later date! With all the other factions beaten down we can shut the anomaly down at our leisure."

By the time the chief engineer of the Alsea spoke, they had reached the Bow, the main diplomatic lounge, social area and observatory deck of the Artemis. As in all large starships, this was a vast, curving stateroom at the very front of the saucer section's rim, like the celebrated Ten Forward of the no less famous USS Enterprise D of living legend Jean-Luc Picard. On the Artemis however, it was on deck 8, not deck 10, but most of all, it had a look and flavor quite unique and discticntive to a ship named after an Ancient Greece's Goddess of the Hunt; the roof showed the holographic successive skies of planets of the Federation and the floor covered with a green carpet reminding everyone of grass; every piece of furniture and wall-mounted panneling were of authentic wood from multiple worlds and on the walls hung tridimensional animated scenes of various hunting scenes from History accross as many planets, enhanced by a soft aeration system carrying wind and floral fragrances from those diverse ecosystems. In the center of it all, at the end of the customary serving area, loomed the life-size bronze rendering of the goddess herself; Diane Chasseresse, the masterpiece of 18th Century sculpting master Jean-François Houdon still displayed at the Louvres Museum of Earth in Paris, France.

But everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the large curving wall opposing the bar, where vast transparencies displayed the universe outside; and looming over everything, the fiery inferno of the Azimuth Horizon.

As they sat at a table on an elevated dais at one end of the lounge, the obvious Captain's Table, the master of the starship Artemis offered no refreshment. True to his word to Niomo Lire and in typical Andorian pragmatism unfettered by social niceties, Kheren eschewed any atempt at distraction or casualness and immediately came straight to the point.

"You are quite right, Mister Lire; as they say on your planet, always in haste but never in a hurry. I would agree that, once the first phase of Operation Horizon is completed, we should fall back, take a breath, effect repairs and return afterwards to complete the job."

The "but" was hanging in the air as plainly as a torpedo blast. And the Andorian quickly dissipated any doubt.

"Unfortunately, there are forces at work against us. Despite their crushing defeat, the Romulans will not sit back and just wait for us to do our thing; and whatever the fate of the Klingon forces that might have been arrayed also against us, you can be sure a simple defeat, even a major one, will not douse their will to come back into the fight and complete their goal. As for the Horizon Children... how can you fully stop and ideal, even a twisted one and especially a destructive one like theirs?"

Speaking like the professional tactician he has been since joining Starfleet, he added:

"Even as we speak, any one if not all of those forces might be launching their retaliation against us. And by your own words, Lieutenant Commander, time is not on our side. If we are to face another Romulan task force in the next hours or days, I fear we might not be so successful in the second round. Therefore, we must act now... while we still can."

Looking at the two officers of the Alsea sitting in front of him, he finally asked:

"So... what is the current status of the operation?"

"Sir," Jureth began in a measured tone "This is our first circumnavigation of the anomaly, and I have not heard from any of the other ships of the fleet. In fact our communications and sensors have been useless since we started navigating around the anomaly. During our engagement with the Romulans we suffered a fair amount of damage to not only our warp cores, but the structural components that allow the Alsea to separate and recombine. We also encountered a subspace tendril that, if not for Lieutenant Pel's detection program might have left us adrift, but it didn't help our already diminshed warp cores. Our max speed right now is warp nine, and we are unable to engage multi-vector assault mode and will not be able to do so again until we've had significant repairs. Commander Lire and his team have performed on the fly repairs and modifications just to keep us operational. Our tactical systems are still functioning fully so we could hold our own in a fight. As I said before our orders indicate we were to return to Starbase Ten after we finished navigating the anomaly and prepare for the next phase of the operation. However, Sir, since you are the senior officer present I will proceed as you deem fit."

Kheren didn't move or even blink as the acting captain of the Alsea made his report. Once the Bajoran finished, his silvery eyes glanced at his first officer and former chief of science.

"Mister Syntron; what is the latest sensor reading on the anomaly?"

As the officers of the Alsea and Artemis were conversing back and forth, Syntron was scanning through his sensory data on his PADD and continued to do so as he responded the captain’s question.

“According to our latest sensory analysis Captain, the energy output of the anomaly has increased by zero point zero-zero-one percent since last reading forty-two hours, twenty-one minutes ago.”

Completing further calculations, the first officer and science chief then swiftly proclaimed “According to calculated projections, the power output of the anomaly continues increasing at a rate of zero point fifty-three percent faster than previously recorded.”

Looking up from the PADD and without waiting for a question, the first officer concluded stoically.

“These readings indicate a definite rise in the anomaly’s energy levels.”

Looking down angularly and working through additional data, he added “The current spread of the phenomenon is ninety-three million kilometers beyond last measured boundary, yet its rate of expansion seems to have stopped.”

Looking up again, Syntron added “Unfortunately, there are no clear measurements currently registering on our ship sensors. However, subspace fractures were detected at the periphery of the anomaly, and they were all converging on subspace holes dotting a large one along the recorded path of the Alsea.”

"That must be the one that almost smacked us into the middle of next month," Jureth stated "sounds like nothing we're doing is having a whole lot of effect."

With a slightly raised eyebrow, the first officer of the Artemis responded to the Lieutenant’s statement as he looked squarely at the acting commanding officer of the Alsea.

“Lieutenant Jureth, you may be minimizing the level of impact that you and your crew actually had on the perimeter of the anomaly. The subspace trench made by the misaligned warp core off of the Alsea alone has apparently been successful in corralling the expansion of the anomaly… with all subsequent fractures in its wake effectively stopped by it.”

As Syntron continued reviewing and compiling the data on his PADD gathered before they lost sensor contact, he added “Our analysis also corroborates that the deeper subspace holes indicated in our data are each at the calculated coordinates given to the shuttles sent from Starbase 10 to "picket the fence" around the anomaly’s perimeter, to further ensure the stability of our first phase of the operation.”

Gazing around slowly at each of the officers seated at the Bow’s table in the lounge of the Artemis, Syntron extrapolated.

“Accordingly, the overall lack of expansion measured from the anomaly to the size of the anomaly dreaded by initial projections would suggest that the other ships may also have been successful in their endeavor; although a complete circumvolution of the anomaly would be necessary to actually confirm this. However, this augmentation of intensity also corroborates such a success occurring; resulting in a subspace compression of the plasma reaction as it can no longer expand freely across space.”

Oseno shrugged off the stern Vulcan's correction "I'll admit to not being a scientist Sir. So if we are having an effect on the anomaly the question still remains as to what we do next. Do we have sufficient resources to continue with the next phase of the operation? The Alsea is short a couple dozen torpedoes in that regard."

Cogitating briefly the acting commander’s question, Syntron placed his PADD onto the table and bestowed his full attention to the Bajoran officer.

“There is a trade-off on these results Lieutenant. Although the anomaly has been effectively corralled for the moment, the plasma pressure building within its core is mounting much faster than we anticipated. There now exists a potential danger of implosion if the reaction continues to expand and burgeon within the confines of the subspace trench.”

Gazing for a moment at the anomaly itself displayed through the wide expanse of the bay windows, the first officer continued with his analysis.

“Our efforts thus far have successfully provided a reprieve... but sooner rather than later, this plasma reaction will build-up until it blasts out the only avenue left to it: the entrance to the pocket universe. Therefore to address your question Lieutenant, we simply cannot afford to delay phase 2 of the Operation too much longer or else we may have saved our universe at the price of another.”

Allowing for the magnitude of that foreboding message to sink in for a few moments, Syntron proceeded with his recommendations as he brought his attention back to the officers gathered around the Captain’s table.

“Therefore Lieutenant, we will immediately transfer over additional trilithium emitters for your crew to utilize for the next phase of this operation; which we must begin expeditiously. However, this will also place us in the quandary of having virtually no margin of error in our deployment. Because of this, precise positioning and timely detonation of these trilithium probes within the anomaly is paramount if we are to achieve the desired effect of nullifying the plasma reactions throughout the vast region of this expansive phenomenon.”

Glancing around at each of the officers positioned around him, Syntron summarized their situation simply and succinctly.

“To put this rather bluntly, we will not have another opportunity, additional materials or remaining time available for a second attempt at this aggressively cumbersome endeavor.”

"And that will not be as easy as it sounds," then said Kheren. If he was making an attempt at levity, none of his too few facial muscles betrayed such intention. In fact, his tone of voice was even lower and deeper than usual. "Mister Syntron's team found out that the Pel system that so aptly saved your life will spell doom for any ship going deep within the anomaly... where there is no choice but to go to ensure this successful deployement of the emitters."

Using one of the holoprojections of wildlife nearest to them as a display screen, the captain of the Artemis showed the Alsea senior officers the simulation studies science officer Baoule had shown to Syntron and their unavoidable disastrous result of flying into the cosmic inferno.

"Fortunately, our helmsman came up and trained with an effective, if somewhat unorthodox solution."

With his words, the Andorian added the flying simulation chief navigation officer Aguk Snow used to prepare for his manual thruster flight around the neutronium masses and on the eddies and currents of the plasma maelstrom.

"We already have on board more than enough probes to do the job," added Kheren. "But, in addition to our surplus we will bring aboard the Alsea, both our crews should work speedily on implementing the modifications on your remaining probes as a back up to our own... planting operation... in case something goes wrong."

His ominious stare that started with these last words deepened even further.

"Your torpedoes however should remain operational as part of your arsenal. If we are confronted again by hostile forces while working on the anomaly, your ship will be the only one able to fight it off."

Before any of the two officers of the Alsea could comment, the ship's internal comm channel came alive with the soft, musical tone of Lieutenant Lyrya's voice, as she had left them earlier to releive Doctor Nasaro-Myth from communications monitoring duties.

"Bridge to captain."

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"Sir, We are receiving a subspace transmission."

The antennae of the Andorian captain shot up in obvious surprise.

"Through all this interference?"

"Yes, Sir. And it's from Starbase 10."