“Approaching system N-221, dropping out of warp.”

The name sounded oddly sterile considering they were hurtling themselves towards a planet that was under siege from the Gorn. It had taken them days to arrive at the planet; between being restricted to warp 2 and having to stop for a full 24 hours to finish repairs, it had been slow going. There was a benefit in that the ship was (mostly) repaired. There was cosmetic damage scattered across the ship and several of the systems of lesser importance, such as the holodecks, were still offline but they were more than ready to face the Gorn.

The streaks of bright blue gave way to the dark of space. A damping field, typical Gorn behavior, had gone up the second day of their trip and since then they had precious little info to go off of. 

“Captain.” Conklin nodded towards the screen. 

A swirl of brown and gold lay a short distance away from the blue and yellow of the planet. What was missing was the Gorn ship.

“Is that a stable aperture?” Inquired Demar.

“It would appear so. No idea where it leads but the sensor scans indicate there is nowhere near the amount of instability that the other two we encountered showed.” Alex cocked his head to the side. “Curious. I think it’s been used recently but I can’t tell by who, just a vessel that uses a matter/antimatter drive.”

“I think I can answer that, Captain.” Interjected T’Keu. “Sensors no longer pick up the Gorn vessel; I don’t believe they are in the system any longer.”

Demar slumped back in his seat. “Damn it. We’re too late. They got what they wanted and left.”

“Not necessarily.” Countered T’Keu. “The damping field is still present and being emanated from the planet’s surface. They could still be present on the surface.”

Alex bit his bottom lip, trying his best to focus the sensors on the cities on the planet. “I’m not able to get a solid reading anywhere but why would they set up shop on the planet and then just leave?”

Brex turned to face Demar and Myers. “They must have gone through the aperture. They got whatever they wanted off the plant, probably people, established a base or something on the surface, and took off.”

Demar shifted in his seat. It made sense on some level; the Gorn were just as advanced as the Federation. They had to of gotten the same readings from Underspace, they knew it was bigger and more expansive. It was a shortcut to a planet away from prying eyes in space that belonged to no one from the Alpha or Beta Quadrants. 

Demar closed his eyes, his stomach churning a bit as he connected the dots. “They set up a breeding planet. Somewhere away from the prying eyes of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant governments. They’re banking on the apertures being permanent, which is a big question mark, but even if something happens it’s just close enough from the Bajoran wormhole at high warp that they could still get here and back in less than a single lifetime. They either bring their victims here or they’re keeping enough people alive done there to serve as breeding stock for years to come.”

The bridge was silent for a moment as that sunk in. 

Conklin rested his face in his hands for a moment. “How in the hell can anyone do something like that.”

“Every single one of the cultures each of us belong to did absolutely horrific things throughout their history,” Myers interjected. “It’s not our place to judge their way of life or assume that every single Gorn subscribes to whatever beliefs these particular Gorn do but it is our duty to right this wrong when they subject others to acts like this.”

Conklin knew she was right, Starfleet had drilled that belief about other cultures info him, but he wanted nothing more than to throw that thought process out the window. It was sick. It was perverted. It was torture. Just because one society viewed it as right did not mean that the rest of the galaxy should turn a blind eye to it in the name of tolerance. 

Myers turned to Demar. “Gather the away teams and deploy in the Runabouts. They’ve only been on the planet a short time; get down there and get the lay of the land and we’ll see what we can do to put a stop to this. I don’t trust transporters to be able to retrieve you in case we need to get out of here before that damping field can be brought down.

The massive door to Shuttlebay 1 opened slowly, the forcefield lighting up blue as tiny bits of interstellar matter drifted into the field. The Danube Class runabouts USS Leo and USS Libra lifted off the bay floor and slowly moved outward into space before speeding towards the planet.

In the cockpit of the Libra, Demar watched the sensors like a hawk as they grew closer to the planet.

“Entering the atmosphere now.” Announced the Lieutenant at the controls.  

The runabout shook slightly as they pushed through the outer layers of the planet’s atmosphere, the sensors showing more and more as they got closer. With a series of sharp beeps, the computer announced it was finally picking up life sign readings.

V’Rel, who insisted on coming with a medical team to assist, walked up behind him. “What’s it showing Commander?”

It was easy to see the level of destruction on the planet now that they had cleared the outer portion of the damping field. Four of the five cities that the ship had detected were obliterated; not a single life sign was found in the rubble. The fifth city was a different matter entirely. 

Geden pointed to the screen. “There are around 8,500 humanoid life signs clustered in that one city. The clustering of the signs indicates they are being held in groups at multiple locations. I’m also picking up about 350 Gorn life signs but that might not be accurate considering how much our sensors struggle with picking them up.”

V’Rel grumbled low in her throat. “I can’t say with certainty since I have never examined whomever these people are but the readings indicate they may be sedated or subdued somehow. They aren’t moving and some of the bio readings seem odd. I won’t know for sure until I get down there.”

Geden pulled up a topographical map of the area around the city. There was a small area about 5 kilometers away from the city edge; it’d be quite the hike but they’d avoid detection that dar out. “Demar to runabout Leo, transmitting coordinates for touch down. ETA, 3 minutes.”

On the bridge of Galaxy Conklin kept an eye on the readings being relayed by the runabouts. They were grim but it showed their hypothesis was likely correct: the Gorn were setting up a breeding planet. The bridge was oddly quiet with Demar, T’Keu, and multiple other officers absent. 

Over the last several weeks of shakedown, they had all settled into a fairly comfortable routine, to the point he looked forward to his regularly scheduled lunch with Demar. It wasn’t always apparent on the surface but Alex had found the Trill to be kind, thoughtful, and whip smart. He even had a very dry, but wicked, sense of humor. It didn’t always show to most people but Geden had slowly gotten more comfortable around everyone and it was hard for Alex to shake away the worry he felt in the pit of his stomach now that the Trill was in a dangerous situation.

A soft beeping started on the portion of the console to his left, an insistent but non-critical noise that as the minutes ticked by grew more and more urgent. It was likely related to the probe they had launched into the aperture to see if they could at least map some of it. Alex turned towards the read-out, eyes growing wide as he took in the data.

“Captain!” Outright panic filled his voice. “Underspace is collapsing!”

Clara practically jumped out of her chair, moving quickly to the science station. “The aperture in the system?”

“No.” The readings were clear; all of Underspace in the local area was collapsing. “The entire local system. The gravimetric and tachyon readings are beyond anything I have seen so far. I don’t know if all of the Undersace is collapsing but a massive amount of it is. Unless we want to be trapped here we have to go. Now.”

“Lieutenant Brex, recall the runabouts. Ensign Erith, plot a course to enter the Underspace aperture at full impulse and engage as soon as the runabouts dock and are secured.”

“No” Alex interjected before the other officers could respond. “We don’t have time to wait for the Runabouts to dock. If they follow us in a full impulse they should make it but we can’t sit here and wait for them to dock. We have to go now.”

“All hands, this is the Captain. Secure stations and brace for Underspce transit. Galaxy to Runabouts Leo and Libra, the Underspace network is collapsing. Return to orbit now and follow us into the aperture. There isn’t enough time for you to dock.”

“Aye, ma’am.” The voice of Demar filtered over the speakers. “We just landed but haven’t deployed. Conducting an emergency lift-off now.”

“Punch it, Ensign.” Clara gripped the arms of the captain’s chair, doing her best to brace for a rough ride. If the Underspace network was collapsing then the Gorn would have to wait; they’d be trapped on the surface and (hopefully) wouldn’t be able to do more damage than they already had done.

The large vessel pulled itself out of orbit; lifting upward and turning hard to port as all three impulse engines pushed the ship forward at emergency speeds. Moments later the two Danube Class runabouts burst out of the atmosphere of the planet, hot on the tail of the Galaxy. The three ships passed the event horizon of the Underspace aperture and vanished; moments later the aperture itself twisted and contorted, almost as if it was in pain, before it vanished as well, leaving behind the pitch dark of space and a planet besieged by the Gorn.