Ship to ship contact

Going from normal space to Fluidic Space was an experience much like going underwater; the density and peculiar composition of the other universe offered a slight resistance to the Delta Flyer shuttle when it's triangular hull penetrated the greenish boudary of the other universe.  The small spacecraft shuddered slightly as it entered the realm of the Undines and then went more slowly a few million kilometers inside like a submarine plunging into the ocean's depth.

Although Commander Redding had initially envision only a two-man crew for this comm relay mission, both Yeoman Blackbird and Sisko himself had privately insisted that Starfleet regulations were sound concerning such an away mission in unknown, potentially hostile territory. The acting captain of the Horizon had to allow a full away team and thus, the shuttlecraft was fully crewed when it launched.

"Report status," ordered Commander Sisko heading the away team.

"Transition between the two universes, Sir, " helmsman Moore reported. "Five point three percent drop of velocity upon entry but now at constant full impulse, steady on course. We might want to use oars."

"No damage," engineer Robert Baoule answered with calm confidence, although their was a slight sheen on his blad black skull. "Structural integrity field stable. Power steady but the density of this... space is exerting a four point seven percent drain on engine performance. Would have been over five percent has it not been for the aerodynamic design of this craft."

"Maybe we can go for a swim while we wait," proposed Doctor Frederic Lumquist with a crooked smile and a distant voice, clearly fascinated by what he was looking at outside the cockpit transparency.

"Shields and weapons nominal," then droned the laconic soft voice of blonde-haired, blue-eyed security Ensign Germain De Paul at the tactical station. "nothing yet on tactical sensors."

"I have the warp trail of the Polaris on scanners," said science Lieutenant Norbert Baoule, "bearing 045 mark 15. I am calibrating our instruments to compensate for the peculiar density and composition of this space. I should be able to get them on long range sensor in a few minutes."

"Counselor?"

Sisko was standng in the middle of the cockpit so as to have an eye on each crewmember and their stations while looking through the canopy at the weird swirling environement they were flying in. He noticed immediately the way the Betazoid woman flinched as soon as they came in Fluidic Space. he had thought it was because of the little jolt felt upon coming in, but now she was the only one silent and her hand was at her temple, a frown on her alabaster face.

"Sir... I..."

Suddenly, her eyes and her mouth popped wide open, her face stretched and her body went rigid as if she had received a violent electric discharge. The Half-Bajoran commander instantly was by her side, steadying her in her seat and looking at her with concern. His hand was signaling Doctor Lumquist urgently but the grey-haired healer was already moving and pulling out his medical tricorder.

"Conselor! Marleena! What's wrong?"

"Her encephalographic curve and endocrinal levels have shot off the chart!" exclaimed Lumquist, looking at his instrument.

Quickly he opened his portable medkit and took out a prepared hypospray. A quick adjustment to Betazoid physiology and he injected the black-haired woman in the neck. Instantly her eyes fluttered and she started breathing again, slumping in an exhausted posture in her chair, sweating and panting. But a few seconds later, she waved a weak hand and stood straighter, her breathing calmer. Her face was still etched with some intense emotion that made her voice strain and hesitate.

"Thank... thank you, Doctor... I'm... I'm alright now, Commander."

"Will get you on the biobed. You had a severe shock to your nervous system. You need rest," the medical officer said.

"I'll be alright, Doctor. It is over now.," assured the counselor with a firmer attitude and a stronger voice, her eyes and face once again calm and composed.

"What is over, Lieutenant?" gently asked Sisko.

She took a deep breath then straightened herself to give her report properly as much as to molify Doctor Lumquist still monitoring her with his tricorder.

"It came just as we entered Fluidic Space, Sir. At first, it was like a faint echo at the back of my mind... but then, it reached me fully. I've never felt anything like it before..."

"A telepathic contact?"

"Not... a communication attempt, no," the Betazoid woman specified, closing her eyes a moment like someone trying to recal a fleeting dream that had just left a strong impression but no clear images. "it felt like a... as if hundreds of voices cried out at once... and then... died."

There was an ominious silent in the cabin.

"The Polaris?" softly asked the mission commander.

"No, Sir, not the Polaris; not from any humanoid mind I ever felt.  It was... alien."

"The Undines?"

She didn't confirm it, but it was clear that this could only be so.

"What could have made the Undines... shout... so loudly that you could perceive it beyond the range of our sensors?" wondered the scientist Baoule.

Marleena Sirris looked straight into Sisko,s eyes.

"Anger... pain... astonishment... fear... and death," she whispered. "And something else... something so new and utterly alien to them that it sent them to their death despite their pain and fear."

"Despair?" chanced Sisko. But the Betazoid shook her head slowly.

"Resolve... a single, powerful, compelling common feeling of coming all together to a single point in space to be strong... or perish."

Silence filled again the entire shuttle for almost a minute. Then Sisko stood straighter and turned again to face the alien vista of Fluidic Space beyond the transparency of the cabin.

"Lieutenant Leône; raise the Polaris and establish a link with the Horizon."

The orion ops officer aknowledged without raising her eyes from her console.

"Dropping a subspace relay in our wake... Relay signal loud and clear, signal even stronger than expected..."

"That's because of the higher density of this... space," scientist Baoule explained, like sounds travelling better in water as it is denser than air."

"I have the Horizon on channel 1, Commander," continued Leône. "Sending a hail to the Polaris on channel 2. We should be able to act as a link between us all in less than a minute, Sir."

"What do you think is happening out there?" asked Lumquist in a soft whisper.

"I don't know," grumbled the Half-Bajoran, crossing his arm and putting his thumb to his lower lip in thought. "But I have a feeling that we will have to work all together to face whatever is happening out here... and it's assuredly worse than facing the Klingons."

"And the Polaris might just be in the thick of it," commented Ensign De Paul in a tense, monocord voice.

***

The Polaris moved as swiftly as she could manage through fluidic space toward a confrontation with the powerful entity that the Undine dreadnought had evolved into. The discussion regarding her deflector modifications was continuing, but before Lieutenant Solis could answer Jureth's latest question they were interrupted by Lieutenant Variel Palos from the operations station.

"Captain, we're being hailed!" 

"Mister Hunter, all stop," Oseno ordered "By who Mister Variel?"

"Starfleet signal Sir, ID is one of the Horizon's Delta Flyers"

"Origination point?" 

"Not able to calculate precisely Sir, but they must be in fluidic space." 

"What are the chances it's a false signal?"

"Sir, if it is, whoever is sending it is very good. The computer identified the signal immediately and there is no variance at all."

"Alright, open a channel." 

"You're on Sir," 

"Hailing vessel, this is Captain Oseno Jureth of the United Federation of Planets starship U.S.S. Polaris, please respond and identify yourself." 

"USS Polaris, this is Commader Sisko aboard the shuttlecraft Dawn," answered the Half-Bajoran standing behind the Orion chief of ops confirming with a nod the IFF signal with the escort vessel. " We have deployed a subspace relay at the border of this sector with normal space. We will act as relay as well with the Horizon. Horizon, this is the Dawn; we have made contact with the Polaris. Do you confirm subspace link?"

Aboard the Horizon the comm officer reported receiving the hail.

"This is Commander Redding, good to hear your voice Commander Oseno. We've had a few changes in our orders since we last talked and now it looks like we'll be joining you in fluidic space with-in the next hour I hope you've had more luck in your task than we have."

The area clean-up was nearly complete and soon they would be entering fluidic space them selves, unless the Polaris just happened to be on it's way back with the captain, as unlikely as that was, it was still possible.

*     *     *

Once the commanding officer of the Polaris had finished his report regarding the cataclysmic situation in Undine space and the possible status and involvement of Captain Kheren in it, there was a long moment of silence aboard all three vessels. It was like they were asked to face the V'ger incident, the Borg at Wolfe 359 and the Whale Probe all at once; one of their own was unwillingly part of a powerful entity about to whipe out and entire species... or more probably die trying.

Even as deep inside Fluidic Space as she was, the Polaris could not get any reading of the actual drama being played at the heart of the Undines'universe. Even at maximum warp, they could not reach the stage where that drama was about to play out before it was over. And even once there, they would face not only the awesome power of the merged entity but most certainly the largest Undine fleet ever assembled.

Only one starship could manage to get so far in time and deploy enough ressources to possibly make a difference; the starship Horizon.

But how... now that was the question on everyone's mind.

"Commander Redding... what are your orders?"

Before the big man could answer, tactical officer Mrriish spoke with a grim tone in her growling voice:

"Commanderr; thrree objects on a dirrect apprroach vectorr at high warrp frrom 180 marrk 45, closing rrapidly... too farr away forr positive identification."

Everyone on the Horizon already knew what, or rather  who they were nevertheless.

"They're still too far away for even our advance sensor suite to clearly identify them," explained science lieutenant Baoule. "Fortunately, that means also that they have not detected us yet... but at their current speed,  they will get a sensor contact on us in... five point three minutes."

"And they too will guess who we are..." commented helmsman Snow, his hands already hovering over the controls, ready to send the immense vessel towards the greenish tear accross space looming before them on the large viewer.

"All deployed crafts are back and secured in our launch bays," then reported ops officer Cheonghi, his shrill Edoan voice charging the air with added nervousness despite it,s calm, professional tone.

Engineer Robert Baoule completed the status report.

"All traces of Federation propulsion and debris have been erased. Thruster output will dissipate among standard floating space particles a little over four minutes after we leave this part of space."

They all knew what he meant by that. And now, they all waited on the word.

"Guess it's true, no matter how long you live life can always throw a surprise at you."  He said with a whimsical look.

"Take us into the aperture and prepare to close it, Dawn, stand by for pick up. Retrieve the Polaris's beacon and your subspace relay.  I don't want any evidence left behind on that end either."

"Aye, Sir," Sisko aknowledged and the orders were implemented promptly.

"Oseno, continue course and speed towards the event. If for some reason we can't join you, every minute might count. If successful in collapsing the gateway, we should be able to catch up to you soon enough, so be prepared for a high warp docking maneuver upon regrouping."

Redding still would have preferred a stand up fight with the Klingons, but with the fate of another universe in the balance he was suddenly glad that choice was no longer viable.

Still being on the bridge, Snowfire spoke up the moment she heard anything about collapsing a gateway. "Captain, if I may ask, why are you intending to collapse a naturally formed rift between our universes? Such action could easily be seen as another attack by our universe against the Undine again."

Normally Redding would have been chafed by such an interruption, but it was in fact a fair question.

"Our primary orders are at this time to 'cover our tracks' in this area Commander, so we had to come up with a way the Klingons couldn't follow us. We did how ever find a way to do so without destroying it.. we think." there was a small measure of doubt in his voice.

"But I'm willing to entertain another suggestion if it can be implemented in the next two minutes."

"Captain, if you seal the rift - a rift already known to exist - then even if it could have sealed itself it will be seen - and heralded - as proof by the Klingons that we were here. And closing it will create an energy burst so vast that it will be seen by every scanner post in the quadrant - and could cause permanent damage to both of the universes connected by it." Snowfire sighed. "I cannot in good conscience advise such a course of action." She waved the doctor working on her away, reaching for her PADD. "I expect that you've destroyed all sign of us on 'our' side of the rift, the only thing we need to do is make sure that the Klingons won't find any evidence of us on this side. Considering the Horizon's speed, that's fully within our ability."

"Recover the beacon we laid for you and the subspace relay dropped for this communication. Then we can use the nature of this space to our advantage." Her fingers blurred across the PADD as she talked. "Fluidic space's nature will distort any sensor readings except massive ones. Our sensors would have trouble finding each other at long range, and Klingon hardware is not nearly as advanced in that regard. When you enter Fluidic Space, go to full emission control and initiate the protocol I'll be sending you in the next minute. It'll smooth away the subspace shear of your warp trail. It wouldn't work in normal space without severely limiting your speed, but it'll work here. Once you're far enough from the rift that you can't isolate it, you should be able to safely initiate transwarp, at which point we should be able to catch the Captain before the next wave of Undine response reaches him. So far he's only been running into fast reaction forces, I don't really want to consider what a full fleet will be like."

She tapped a final button on her PADD to send the core of the swiftly written plan. "Will that suit as an alternative?"

"Snowfire.." Redding grinned. "You took longer than 2 minuets just explaining that." Indeed, the large federation vesicle was making its way into Fluidic space even as he spoke.

"I'll explain in detail later but for now,,  were not destroying it, there will be no explosion and lastly, anything we do with the transwarp drive in there will be an unknown variable and we just don't have time to chance that." Inside he was delighted at her ambition and brilliance, he always had a thing for head strong women.

"My orders stand, Lt Commander." His tone was unyielding.

Oseno glanced from Snowfire to Commander Redding, and while he agreed with the Ilythiri science officer he was obligated to support Redding as the Horizon's commander. 

"We will proceed as ordered Sir," Oseno responded cutting off any response by Snowfire. "we will  see you when you arrive. Polaris out." 

Jureth signalled Variel to end the link and then addressed the helmsman Hunter. "Mister Hunter resume course, best possible speed."

"Aye Captain,"

Jureth then addressed Snowfire "I'm sorry Commander, but Commander Redding is in command, and we only had time to lose by prolonging the discussion. I'm sure that whatever he has planned he has thought out thoroughly. I accompanied Admiral Redding on a mission just prior to Operation Horizon and if there is one thing I know about him it's that he makes calculated decisions. He won't do anything that he doesn't believe is necessary, and it sounds like he has higher orders....as do we." 

The Romulan waiting for the Commander to finish their conversation before he continued, "Sir...as we were discussing. We can use the torpedoes exclusively, yes. But as you know, there are only so many in our compliment. Of course, if or when we run out, I can have the deflector plan standing by and hopefully we do not explode as I get the systems online. That probably would be the best course of action. And..." he paused, looking down at his PADD, "Re-calibrations are already mostly complete, so we are ready to go."