Shuttles converge: Part II

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The USS Phoenix arrived near the designated region of space where its shuttles were traveling in formation near the anomaly as helm then cut warp drive down to match their velocity.

From the Ops station, Ensign Adalia Valerous exclaimed "I have the shuttles in visual sight Captain."

Syntron leaned forward in the center seat ever so slightly as he spoke.

"Lieutenant Traynor" the Vulcan commanding officer addressed the helmsman "Bring us into formation with the shuttles."

Bringing his attention back to the Ops officer as he leaned back, Syntron inquired.

"Is our probe ready to launch Ensign?"

Checking again before she spoke, Ensign Valerous looked up and proclaimed "Modified and loaded into torpedo bay three Captain. Just awaiting your order, Sir."

Syntron gave a nod of approval as he held up a finger to signify that she would need to belay that action for a moment.

He then opened a channel to the shuttles.

"Attention commanding officers of the shuttles. We are ready to try the first phase of this operation. Let us see if the combined lowered energy of our deflectors applied in unison at the designated frequency, phase and quantum output from our different vantage points around this spheroid can create a stable opening. If this is established successfully, then we will move onto the next phase."

Each of the three shuttle commanders acknowledged their readiness and awaited the order to be given.

Syntron continued.

"Once initiated, hold the deflector beam for 30 seconds and then release it. Each vessel will scan for aberrant signs or reactions throughout this interval. If anything even remotely seems to be of concern, signal for all vessels to desist with the operation. All vessels should engage maximum shields before we begin and maintain them throughout these phases. Standby."

With everything now ready and in position, the Vulcan was ready to commence with this initial phase.

"Shields up... Engaged deflectors on my mark... Begin!"

The four vessels released their energy beams at four points around a confined center area of the invisible sphere. Immediately, there was not an unveiling of light or energy. But instead, a growing small area of total blackness; as if a veil was covering all of the stars that were seen mere moments ago.

With a slightly raised brow, the Captain merely uttered "Fascinating."

From inside of the spheroid that had already contracted to almost dangerous levels, the perspective was inverse.

 "Look at that!" stated Kathleen watching the viewscreen on the Sagan; as there was now a small patch of stars being unveiled among the surrounding void of blackness.

Before they knew it though, the thirty-second interval had expired and the brief glimpse of stars just as quickly vanished from view.

Even with the slight sigh heard on the Sagan once the stars disappeared again, it did not diminish their renewed hope. The first trial had passed.

Aboard the Phoenix, Syntron inquired to all the individuals monitoring this process.

"Any readings of concerned?"

Nothing was indicated from any of the vessels.

The captain then signaled the Ops Officer.

"Launch the probe... thruster speed"

"Understood Captain"  Ensign Valerous responded as she engaged the switch releasing the probe from its confinement.

"Maintain control of the probe remotely Ensign. I want it entering through the next orifice slowly."

 "Shuttles... commence deflectors and maintain opening until further notice. Let's give this probe a wide berth... adding an approximately 50% larger opening."

"Engage" the captain ordered.

The opening began precisely as it had the first time, except along the edges it seemed to be strangely undulating.

The probe continued its slow momentum toward the forced opening in the anomaly.

They watched from all perspective as it began to cross the threshold through the canal.

Then it began to shutter and vibrate similar to how the first probe reacted. Except that this time it suddenly vanished.

Ensign Valerous looked up with an expression of concern as she explained "That wasn't me captain! It's like that probe was just sucked into that thing!"

Syntron nodded. "Understood Ensign. Are you still in contact with the probe?"

"Just a minute Sir" she stated as she modifies the frequency and phase variant of the probe to match that of the void space.

"I have it now, Captain"  Valerous exclaimed as she kept her attention focused on the controls and her console display.

"Now Ensign, see if you can coax the probe back through the opening again."

"I will try Captain" as she reconfigured its speed.

They all stared at the screen but saw nothing passing through it.

As Valerous increased the thrust, she began to get dangerous readings from the probe.

"Sir, I am getting increasing gravimetric readings near the opening. It seems the more I increase the thrust of the probe, the greater the gravimetric force becomes. At this rate, it will destroy the probe like the last one."

"Cut power to the probe Ensign. Move it further from the opening. Then try a burst of thrust, cut all power and see if it is able to glide through the opening via its own inertia."

"Understood Sir" Valerous indicated, as she cut power to the probe and then directed the probe as instructed.

After multiple attempts, the probe still had not made it out of the anomaly.

In exasperation, she muttered "This thing is like a booby-trap!"

She began to study the information from the probe as well to get insight as to what was occurring when it reached near the opening.

"Sir, it's like there is an invisible one-way membrane there that prevents the passage of the probe through the opening from the inside."

Syntron leaned back for a moment as he contemplated this situation.

"Perhaps" he began thinking out loud "We may need to apply force from outside of the opening."

He then engaged communications. "Shuttle commanders, shut down the deflectors." 

The opening immediately closed, with the probe still trapped on the other side.

"Reposition the shuttles back into a Delta formation around the Phoenix. This time all three shuttles will create an opening on your own. After which, the Phoenix will enable a tractor beam on the probe and see if we can pull it through the opening."

Moments later, everything was in place for their next attempt.

"Initiate deflectors" he commanded to the surrounding shuttles.

The opening began to emerge, but without the Phoenix's power, the strange undulations on the perimeter of the opening seemed even more prominent.

"Increase power output by fifteen percent" the captain then ordered.

The increase of balanced power from the three shuttles seemed to bring the undulations closer to how they originally appeared.

"Ensign, once you have control of the probe again, have it retreat from the opening as far back as possible. Then give it one long burst of energy, until it is halfway to the opening. We will try to allow the probe's momentum to aid us in this attempt. Then indicate when it is approaching the opening. At that point, Commander Rogers will engage and control the tractor beam to see if we are able to pull this probe beyond the opening."

"I've got it Captain" Adalia Valerous stated as she guided the probe to the opposite end of the sphere and then began its move toward the opening. With its power cut as it reached the halfway point, it glided once again toward the opening.

"The probe is now approaching the opening Captain!" Adalia stated with a tinge of nervousness emanating within her voice.

Syntron turned toward his chief engineer.

"It's now up to you Commander Rogers."

“Aye captain. Engaging forward port and starboard emitters.”

Although gravitron beams could not normally be seen in space, nevertheless, two pale green lines of force were immediately seen to be reaching into view on the main screen and piercing the undulating hole in the black spheroidal space ahead. Adjusting harmonics within the field coils of the emitters, David compensated for the slight tetryon density of the region.

“Stabilizing field coils. Adjusting phase accuracy down point two arc-seconds per millisecond.”

Phase accuracy of the gravitron force beam was a prerequisite for precise control on a tractor beam. Otherwise, catastrophic damage could occur on the target probe. The sub-cochrane subspace field amplifiers within the emitters took the two point five arc-second per millisecond power adjustment in from the variable phase gravitron polarity generators and the pale beams dissipated. Satisfied, David guided the tractor beams onto the probe coasting outward towards them. A subtle shimmer along the undulating hole edges pointed out the fact that the gravitron beams had passed the barrier and entered the pocket.

As the tractor beam grabbed onto the probe, it re-aligned itself slightly to line up longitudinally with the Phoenix. With a beginning sheen of concentration induced sweat on his brow, Rogers manipulated the interference patterns of the gravitron beams to start pulling the probe out of the pocket. When the initial inertia of the class six probe was absorbed by the tractor beam, David had to increase the generators by point one to compensate, but it was an expected transfer of potential versus kenetic energy.

Encountering the seeming membrane that had blocked the earlier attempt, Rogers noticed the increase drag on the subspace force beams. Immediately recalling the phase variance of the deflector’s being used to open the hole by the trio of shuttles, he applied the same variance onto the subspace field amplifiers. The resultant miniscule phase variance colored the tractor beams again. Violently bright indigo beams appeared on the screen as the subspace phase of the graviton beams interacted with the invisible membrane. The main view screen automatically stepped down its contrast ratio in compensation, but twin after images were burned onto the retinas of any who were watching the screen at the time, akin to blinking quickly at a high noon-day sun overhead. The images would fade quickly, but the suddenness was heart-stopping.

David saw none of that while he watched his console readings. The probes mass increased two-fold as it encountered the membrane, and quick compensation allowed for a corresponding gain in the tractor beams. Shaking violently, the probe, seemingly reluctantly, was dragged out of the hole and into normal space. Sweating profusely now, Rogers powered down the tractor emitters and stopped the probe five hundred meters from the ship. Turning toward the centre of the bridge, David addressed the Vulcan captain.

“There she is Captain, and I hope I didn’t damage her too much.”

Recalling the mass interference, David continued.

“Sir, we’ll not be accomplishing this with the forward tractor emitters when getting the Sagan. We’ll need the main tractor at the rear.”

As the chief engineer spoke, there was a collective sigh that expelled all of the tension that was maintained throughout the delicate operation on each of the surrounding ships as the probe now hung suspended in space before them.

"Acknowledged and understood Commander" Syntron responded, as his eyes stayed fixed for a moment longer on the probe positioned on the center of the main viewscreen. He realized that this was not the same as extracting the Sagan from its confinement, but it was clearly a sign that they may be on the correct track.

The captain then brought his attention to the Ops station.

"Ensign Valerous, what is the current condition of the probe?"

The ensign was already in the midst of testing the functionality of the probe when the inquiry came from her commanding officer. She briefly held a pointing finger vertically to indicate that a response was forthcoming, as she continued running through a series of system checks.

As she concluded a series of preliminary system responses, Valerous noted "Well Sir, she's a bit banged-up and will need repairs before being sent out to explore again... but overall, I would say that she's weathered the storm quite well."

With a slightly elevated brow, Syntron countered "If I interpret your colloquialisms accurately Ensign, the probe has retained the majority of its functionality."

Trying to contain a wide grin, Valerous merely stated "Yes Captain... that is correct."

Syntron immediately addressed his chief engineer again

"Given your proclivity for precision extractions Commander Rogers, prepare the main tractor beams for the next phase of this operation. But first, finish reeling in that probe."

"Helm" Syntron gazed over to Lieutenant Traynor.

"Adjust the position of the Phoenix one-hundred and eighty degrees.. then readjust position for maximum alignment of main tractors to the opening of the anomaly."

"Understood Sir" Traynor responded as the ship then pivoted into position.

Using the communication method ascertained by the Firebird, Syntron sent a message to the Sagan instructing them to follow a procedure similar to the probe recently extracted from their confined space; except that they were to transfer all available power to shields before reaching the threshold of the opening. He then learned that the small crew had already anticipated this and had increased the available shielding significantly before contact was established. With their crew acting on this foresight, Syntron silently realized that this could make all of the difference in any chance for success in this operation.  

He then notified all three shuttles to engage their deflectors once again, but increase their output by an additional seven-point-five percent.

As the opening began, Syntron sent another message to the Sagan which had already backed-up their vessel as far as it could go.

"We are now in position Sagan. Proceed when you are ready."

"Understood Phoenix. We will commence in thirty seconds.... Mark!"

Fortunately, due to their repositioning and the operation of the sensors aboard the Phoenix, they could now get a fixed ready on the shuttlecraft and its movements.

Syntron then addressed the helm officer.

"Lieutenant Traynor, given that the force required to extract the Sagan will be significantly greater than required to remove the probe, be prepare to move the ship expeditiously... should the Sagan slingshot out towards us... if this operation is successful."

"I am ready Captain" came the response of the eager helsman.

Syntron then contacted the Firebird as the final seconds continued to count down.

"Doctor Nasaro-Myth... have your team ready to aid the injured... although at this point I'm not certain where this will initially occur. Just be prepared... for anything."

"Captain... we can make something out of that anything," retorted the Deltan. "I'm no engineer but I did graduate from Starfleet Academy like the rest of you, gadgeteers and soldiers... Our comm signal is getting through; that means that a subspace connection is clear between where we are and where they are. And transporters are subspace transmitters too! With all the power available on the Phoenix, we can beam them all out of there!"

Kalinda Hunter looked at him with her remaining antenna raised like a flagpole, her eyes wide.

"But... their shields have to stay up to endure long enough...

"Come out of the twenty-third century, woman!" Shot back the Deltan. "We can beam them out through their shields if we match it's known frequency, no? And we have all those people's biometric parameters on record; that's why physicals are so important when you board a starship; we can lock on each of their specific biosignal and transport them out without even a full transporter lock!"

The Andorian's eyes lighted up.

"Of course! A skeletal lock!"

In seconds, she was transmitting the option to both the Sagan and the Phoenix.

Syntron immediately responded back to his chief medical officer as the message and the subsequent transmission arrived.

"Doctor, get the shield frequency from the Sagan directly and then be prepared to initiate transport of the unconscious Sagan crewmembers to the Firebird once they reach the opening; since you and your team have triage prepared there. Your team can immediately begin their diagnosis and treatment of these wounded crew while we attempt to retrieve the shuttle. If there are any signs of danger while the ship is crossing the threshold, we will commence with beaming the remaining officers here to the Phoenix."  

"But... Sir!"

The Deltan's protest was cut off as channels switched.

Simultaneously aboard the Sagan shuttle, science officer Lieutenant Kathleen Friedman was absorbedly glancing down at her console; measuring the distance to reach the outer threshold of the aperture in conjunction with the remaining time until it would potentially be breached. She then nodded to the security chief.

"Cut all engines" Josh Vincent yelled. "Raise shields to maximum levels!"

Flight control officer Lieutenant Commander Daniel Foster immediately felt the power of the ship nullified as he skillfully steered the shuttle directly on a path toward the tenuous perforation.

A signal then arrived to the Sagan from the Firebird requesting their shield frequency. Without hesitation Josh Vincent sent it to them immediately.

"Fifteen seconds" Kathleen called out as the crew aboard the Sagan prepared for the worse and hoped for the best as the opening began to draw closer.

On the bridge of the Phoenix, ensign Valerous exclaimed "All power has be nullified on the Sagan. Twelve seconds until they reach the apeture!"

Captain Syntron sat calmly in the center seat as he faced momentarily toward his chief engineer.

"Alright Commander Rogers... this time it is for real. Bring that shuttle and its crew back to us."

Something nagged at Rogers’ thoughts. Something important. But the Sagan was seconds from the portal. Activating the main tractor beam, David put aside the fact that lives were now at stake and in his sweating hands. This would be tricky indeed.

The gravitron beam reached through the invisible membrane separating this universe from that within and grabbed the shuttle securely. This time there was no delta v correction. Mr. Foster had lined the shuttle’s flight line perfectly. Quickly readying the necessary phase corrections for immediate application, David was prepared when the Sagan met the troublesome membrane. As he was applying that variance, David also transferred his screen to one-half of the main bridge viewer, allowing the rest of the crew to follow along with the extraction procedure.

Super-imposed on a grid square were four green triangles representing the Phoenix and her shuttle’s. a grey, cloud-colored spheroid was depicted five thousand meters aft of the avenger class symbol. Force field lines emanating from the shuttle’s deflectors were graphically represented by pale orange tracks reaching from them to the dull cloud. The Phoenix’s tractor beam spread from her aft emitter and into the cloud, the emerald green representation disappearing at the event horizon of the pocket.

Suddenly, another green triangle shimmered onto the screen, dissipated and then sprang into view again at the terminus of the emerald beam as the Sagan was finally caught on the ship’s sensors. The only sign from Rogers was his fingers moving frantically in the struggle to maintain control on the tractor beam. A tremendous weight increase on the emitter read out was becoming evident. It was then that the reclusive, nagging thought sprang onto David’s consciousness. “The core!”, David thought. Or yelled. David almost jumped from his seat, but kept his hands controlling the straining tractor emitter.

“Open comms to the Sagan”, David yelled to the bridge and then, without waiting he continued with addressing the errant shuttle.

“Sagan! Eject your core. Now! Do it now!’

Frantically David fought the sudden stupendous weight gain on the Phoenix’s tractor system. When the probe’s minute power source had crossed this threshold earlier there had been a doubling of weight on the forward tractor beam emitters. The small core’s energy field interacting with this mysterious membrane. Now, with the Sagan’s more powerful core, the weight gain was increasing exponentially. As the shuttle’s energy field emanating from her warp core approached the membrane barrier, a corresponding tension built up on the Phoenix emitter. The apparent mass of the Sagan doubled and then quadrupled. Within a few seconds more the apparent mass of the Sagan, as seen from the normal universe, reached the eighth power of magnitude. The Phoenix started dragging herself backwards toward the now heavier than her Sagan.

Aboard the Sagan, the message from the Phoenix came in amongst the intense vibrations, shaking and the resulting noise as the shuttle's navigator struggled to maintain control through the opening.

Kathleen yelled "Shield effectiveness is diminishing."

Fallon cut in "The Phoenix is correct... we need to eject our core now!"

Without waiting for a response, she ejected the core and it immediately drifted back toward the center of the spheroid.

The intensity of the vibrations diminished but the havoc on the shields continued.

"Adjusting shield harmonics and phase modifications" Kathleen yelled "However, radiation pouring in from normal space is reaching critical levels!"

Doctor Fallon responded "We need to get off this shuttle before it's too late!"

Kathleen nodded as she contacted the Phoenix.

"This is Doctor Friedman to the Phoenix. Our injured crew were successfully transferred to the Firebird just before we reached the opening here. However, the continuous phase shifting between our locations is now affecting the integrity of transporter signals. We were hoping to guide this shuttle through the opening, but radiation levels are reaching critical levels here. You may need to beam the remaining four of us out of here... sooner rather than later!"   

On the Firebird, Elliago was dismayed to find that only the injured personnel had been transported back. While he directed his team to check the portable stasis units they had rematerialized in, he refrained his urge to contact the Phoenix and berate whoever had decided that recovering a standard shuttle was worth risking the lives of several people.

"They should have all been beamed out! Who cares about a flying breadbox?" he grumbled, but loud enough for everyone aboard to hear.

He tapped his combadge as soon as his team confirmed all vital signs stable in the units.

"Phoenix, this is Firebird. Transporter room 1; medical emergency transport directly to sickbay, all stasis units and personnel in this section, authorization Nasaro-Myth-One-Blue-Alpha-nine."

He could feel despite the distance the slight hesitation in the transporter chief; but a medical emergency surperceded any order in the field. And as soon as he rematerialized in sickbay, he could see that his code had also alerted Doctor Gray who instantly went to the injured people.

"Computer, activate isolation ward protocol around the occupied stasis unit and transporter room 1 transporter pad."

He didn't even made a pause as he activated again his combadge.

"Captain, Doctor Nasaro-Myth here. We are safely back on board my team and I and all injured Sagan people. But you have to get the others out now!"

"It is favorable to have you back with us Doctor. We are now working on getting the remainder of the Sagan's crew here as well. I will check back with you shortly. Syntron out."

Having heard the desperate message from the Sagan as well, Captain Syntron immediately called down to transporter room 1 on deck three. 

"Transporter Specialist Krystal Dontae here" the human female with long auburn hair responded.

"Prepare for emergency transport of the four remaining crew members aboard the Sagan shuttle. There may be difficulty with this transport related to phasing and interference due to their position within that anomaly. Have backup specialists available to ensure that you have a stable lock on them before attempting to bring them over.

"Understood Sir. I have a team by my side right now. We will prepare for this immediately Captain!"

"Acknowledged" Syntron stated before closing the communication.

"Status Commander Rogers?" the captain then inquired.

While responding to the captain’s request, David dropped the power to the tractor in order to lessen the drag on the Phoenix. The Sagan stopped, partially through the barrier, and Rogers held her there while he reconfigured the phase harmonics.

“Compensating for inertial mass increase captain. Recommend the Sagan cut all power. Everything. I think I can bring an inert powerless mass through now, but the crew will have to shut down everything and abandon the shuttle.”

As he spoke this, David glanced at the other screens on his board and noted the radiation levels reported by the Sagan’s science officer. The phase corrections that transport would need would be tricky, but the immobile shuttle would now allow for a more precise confinement beam for lock-on of the crew. Looking back across the bridge toward the captain, David continued his recovery synopsis.

”Sir, they have to kill all power if I am to save the Sagan. I cannot have so much as an light emitting diode burning aboard that ship now.”

From three deck below, a call came in just as the chief engineer finished his statement.

"Captain, we have a transporter lock on the passengers of the shuttle. It's not one hundred percent, but it should be sufficient."

"Prepare for transport on my mark" Syntron responded.

"Understood, Sir" Krystal Dontae confirmed.

Syntron immediately hailed the Sagan

"Sagan Crew... cut all power... I repeat all power"

Aboard the Sagan, Kathleen began to protest.

"But Captain Syntron... the shields! Without them the radiation..."

"We are prepared to beam you aboard the Phoenix. Cut all power."

Kathleen swiftly looked around at her crewmates.

"Well... here goes nothing" she uttered as she switched off all power in the shuttle.

Seeing the energy levels immediately drop on the Sagan, Ensign Valerous yelled out.

"All power is off on the shuttle!"

"Transport now!" Syntron ordered to the transporter specialist.

Suddenly within the noisy darkness of the Sagan, the four remaining crewmembers each felt the shimmering effect of a transporter beam envelope them.

Seconds later another call came from transporter 1.

"We've got them Captain!" Krystal Dontae exclaimed. "They appear to be fine. I have a medical team here already escorting them down to sickbay.

Josh breathed heavily from the intensity of the ordeal as he rematerialized on the transporter pad of the Phoenix. That was too close, he thought. He slowed his breathing as he looked around the room, spotting the transport officer who'd pulled of the timely escape.

"Thanks for the rescue," he said to the transporter specialist. "Are the injured crewmembers safely aboard?"

Before Dontae could answer, Josh dematerialized and appeared behind a forcefield in sickbay.

As per the medical rpotocol established by the deltan Doctor, the remaining personnel of the Sagan were beamed directly from thhe isolated transporter pad to the erected isolation ward of sickbay, the level 5 forcefield allowing only dematerialized particles to get through. Of course, Doctor gray, being a photonic lifeform with emitters in and out of the isolated zone, could immediately go to them and start looking them over.

"Doctor Gray," then said Elliago, " I will take care of the standard medical procedures. I want you to please connect yourself to the science computer and start analyzing them over for any trace of abnormal effect on their physiology; radiation, quantum frequencies, bio-discrepancies... anything that could divert from their last recorded physical."

The holographic doctor nodded but frowned. 

"Even with the superb state of the art sensors and computers on board this ship and my advanced capabilities, this will take some time."

"I know that, Doctor. But what we do not know is what they could have brought back with them from that... whatever they were in... or how it could have affected them... and then if anything could affect us in turn. I will not have another Naked Time incident on board this ship while I'm her CMO."

Gray nodded again. his instant access to medical memory banks provided him with the references Elliago was giving him. Once in the mid twenty-third century, the USS Enterprise under the command of federation legend James T. Kirk brough aboard a then unknown virus that almost destroyed the whole ship and crew. And then, a century later, the same but evolved microorganism almost destroyed the USS Enterprise D oc living legend Jean-Luc Picard after decimating the USS Sikorsky. The deadly lifeform had been born out of the forces of an imploding planet the first time and then of an imploding star afterwards.

As a xenologist, Nasaro-Myth was thus well aware that life could be born out of what seemed like purely astrophysics aberrations. Maybe that is how all life was created in the first place, who could tell?

But what he could tell, was that different lifeforms could rarely live with one another without consequences. And it was his job to foresee, or forestall, those consequences.

"Bridge; sickbay here. Things are under control for now. You will get a full report in eight hours.

"Acknowledged" the captain replied. "Excellent work performed by your team. Syntron out."

The captain then turned to his chief engineer again.

"Now Commander, let's see if we can pull that abandoned ship out if that intractable container."

“I’m on it sir”, David replied tacitly.

Without lives at stake now, David felt a little better about what his manipulations could do to the shuttle. Taking a small breath, he settled down into his seat and started increasing power to the emitter again. Power levels registered the gain and the mass index of the Sagan started to rise again. ‘I hope I don’t pull the beam emitter out of the hull!’ David thought stoically to himself. Within the dark confines of the Sagan were the creaks and groans of metal under terrific stress. Tritanium and duranium alloys were starting to tear apart under the stress of passage through the implacable membrane.

David thought it felt as though something was pulling the shuttle back into the unknown region abaft. Grimly, he tweaked more power into the emitter and shifted the phase another point zero one percent. Grudgingly, the Sagan inched forward, now almost three meters of hull protruded out of nothingness into normal space. Again, the panels warned of increasing mass and drag. David inched another few percent of energy into the tractor beam in compensation. Or perhaps in defiance. He was starting to get angry at this damnable … whatever it was.

The groaning within the shuttle rose in pitch above human hearing and suddenly both of the nacelles tore loose and drifted away within the pocket. The port side window shattered and explosive decompression blew the atmosphere out the new exit along with everything within the shuttle not attached. The Sagan, now bereft of two points of contention dragging against the re-entry into normal space, suddenly shot forward. David almost lost control of the beam as the Sagan emerged as if under maximum impulse. Reversing the power, he repulsed against the shuttle until it came to an abrupt halt some eighty meters aft of the Phoenix.

David shut down the main tractor emitter and lightly collapsed back into his chair again. Without turning, he spoke to captain Syntron.

“There she is sir. A little worse for wear I guess. The boys down in auxiliary docking can bring her aboard now.”

To himself he thought that right about now he could use a couple of good, stiff drinks.

((ran out of space here. Continue on in Part III))