The Jeffries tube was stifling. Cramped, hot, and filled with the scent of burnt wiring and the faint tang of coolant leaks.

Chief Anari wiped the sweat from her Denobulan cranial ridges, smearing a dark sludge across her forehead, hands moving rapidly over the open maintenance panel. The small engineering scanner she had rigged into the Vallejo‘s power relay pulsed softly, cycling through system diagnostics.

“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.

Aside from her, Lieutenant Vex knelt near a grated air duct, emerald green eyes focused as she watched the Cardassian engineers hurry about their taken ship on her scanner. They worked fixing critical functions, ignoring weapons and life support systems, preparing the Vallejo for something.

“They’re racing,” Vex breathed.

“Yeah,” Anari growled, adjusting the signal gain on her scanner. “Because they’re not just fixing the ship… they’re modifying it.”

She adjusted her scan bandwidth, piggybacking on the capabilities of the repair drones outside the ship, her brows knitting together. “I’m picking up unexpected power fluctuations near the warp core.”

Vex shifted slightly, keeping her eyes on the movement outside. “Define unexpected.”

“It’s an active energy signature, but it’s not coming from the core itself,” Anari said. “It’s something different. And it’s emitting tetryon radiation.”

That got Vex’s attention. She finally turned, her sharp features tightening. “That’s… not standard for anything we’ve got aboard.”

“No,” Anari agreed. “And its amplification wave is increasing.”

Vex exhaled slowly, her fingers curling around the edge of the vent. “So, whatever they’re installing, it’s not just a repair job.”

A sudden chirp from Anari’s tricorder made them both freeze.

With a crackle of static Anari fiddled with the receiver frequency, “***utenant Vex, Crew**n Anari, co** **. Repeat, Lieutenant Vex, Crewman Anari—this is the Sequoia. Come in.”

Anari and Vex exchanged a look.

“That’s Commander Mehta!” Anari whispered excitedly.

Vex didn’t think twice. She leaned over and touched the control, speaking softly. “Sequoia, this is Vex. We read you.”

“Vex, this is Commander Mehta,” responded the voice through the encrypted communications channel. “Good to hear your voice. What’s your status?”

“We’re alive,” Vex said. “Hiding in the secondary maintenance tunnels. The Cardassians are working fast to get the Vallejo operational, but they’re also installing something… Anari’s picking up tetryon radiation near the warp core.”

A pause. “Tetryon radiation?” Mehta’s voice was sharp with concern. “That’s not good. We’ll deal with it once we’re aboard.”

“You have a plan, then?”

“Working on it. The base has a dampening field over the detention blocks. We can’t get the crew out until it’s down.”

Anari interrupted. “We have limited access to the Vallejo‘s systems. If you give us a target, we can try to help.”

Mehta’s voice came back quickly. “Do we have transporters online? Engines? If we can get to the crew, can we escape?”

Anari’s fingers flew across the controls as she ran a quick systems check. “Transporter Room One is still fully operational,” she reported. “We can beam the crew aboard… once the dampening field is down. Until then, we’re stuck.”

Vex glanced over. “Engines?”

Anari frowned. “Impulse is almost back online, but the warp drive’s a different story. The Cardassians have been messing with the warp matrix, and there’s that tetryon radiation spike near the core. I don’t know what they’ve done yet, but until we figure it out, I wouldn’t risk a jump to warp.”

A short pause. “Alright,” Mehta said. “That gives us something to work with. Priority one is dropping the dampening field—once that’s down, you lock onto the crew and beam them aboard. Keep monitoring that radiation source. We’ll check in when we’re in position.”

“Understood,” Vex said. “We’ll be ready.”

________________________________________________

On the Sequoia, the air was thick with tension. Commander Arjun Mehta sat in the co-pilot’s seat, his fingers drumming lazily against the console as he reviewed the security grid for the station. Across from him, Lieutenant Ilias Amir was already securing his gear, checking the power cell on his phaser rifle before glancing up.

“At least we know the Vallejo transporters are working, this shuttle can beam three hundred people off that rock,” Amir muttered.

“Yeah,” Mehta said, but his tone was far from relieved.

Ryan sat in the back, shifting uncomfortably. He wanted to be doing more, but every plan Mehta and Amir had come up with required him to stay put.

Mehta tapped at the holo-interface, highlighting sections of the station schematic. “This base wasn’t designed for long-term use. It’s on a modified Cardassian power grid… efficient, but weak. The dampening field is powered by an auxiliary generator in the lower levels. If we take it out, it should drop right away.”

“Security?” Amir asked.

Mehta exhaled. “Heavy. If the Cardassians were smart, they locked down the approach to that generator with automated defenses. We’ll have to go in careful and quiet. It looks like the dampening field doesn’t quite cover the entire area. We should be able to beam in here,” pointing to a graphic representation of the base. “It’s twelve levels above where we need to be, but I guess we could use to stretch our legs.”

Ryan leaned forward. “Let me go with you.”

Mehta didn’t look up from the display. “No.”

“Commander…”

“Not happening, Cadet.” Mehta’s voice was firm, though not unkind. “You’re staying here.”

Ryan clenched his jaw. “You need another pair of hands…”

“I need someone on this shuttle who’s going to be capable of getting Lieutenant Vex and Crewman Anari off the Vallejo and back to safety if we fail to rescue the crew.” Mehta finally turned and regarded him, placing his hand on the Cadet’s shoulder. “You’re frustrated, I get it. But this is where you’re needed, Jeremy.”

Ryan didn’t look pleased, but he choked back his objection. He knew better than to protest.

Amir holstered his rifle. “We drop the field, the Anari gets the crew aboard, and we all get out in one piece. Simple plan.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Mehta said, punching in the coordinates of their entry point. “Because if it doesn’t, we’re out of backup.”

Amir grinned as he loaded his rifle. “Then we’d better not screw it up.”