Tom and Dathasa sat in the silence of the small cockpit for a long while, hours after the USS Leif Erikson was fully out of view. “You didn’t have to come with me.” Tom said finally, turning his head to look backwards towards Dathasa’s seat. “I cannot guarantee your safety.”

“I understand that.” Dathasa replied, “but I’d rather be here than sitting around and waiting to hear news. I’m not sure if it was made clear to you, but I prefer to be in the thick of things, not just on the sideline.”

“That is a sentiment I can get behind.” Tom grunted. “I also do not like waiting. The opportunity to give my life…”

“Yea, yea, dying in combat, seeing Kahless, blah blah warrior Klingon nonsense.” Dathasa cut across him dismissively. “Dranoj says the same thing when she does something reckless and crazy too.” she laughed, and it echoed off the transparent canopy glass, “I almost miss hearing her say it.” The sardonic tone of her voice had disappeared, and Tom heard a loneliness in it. 

“Are you two…” he began to ask, but let the question trail off into the silence. 

“What? No!” Dathasa replied, realizing his implication. “No, we’ve just been through a lot together. Saved each other’s lives. That kind of thing tends to draw people together.” 

“I feel the same way with my crew mates.” Tom nodded his agreement. The two lost themselves in their thoughts for a minute, before Tom spoke again, “Can we tap into their comm traffic?”

“Yes,” Dathasa replied, “Hang on.” she scanned the buttons and switches around her, then, finding the switch she needed, flipped it. The silence of the cockpit was shattered by a stream of strange, guttural language, which the universal translators worked to decipher. Before long, the radio communications were being properly translated, and Tom and Dathasa were now receiving streams of information about the status of the collection. It seemed the Vaadwaur were nearing completion, having abducted a large chunk of the population of Stardust City. 

“Let me see if I can pinpoint the location of the ship, based on where the signals are going.” Dathasa said, typing into a keypad on the bulkhead to her left. “I see the Vaadwaur have not yet joined the 24th century.” Moments later, a ping sounded, and Dathasa let out a whoop of success.

“Got it?” Tom asked over his shoulder. 

“Sure do.” Dathasa replied, “you should see it on your radar screen, now.” 

“I can see it.” Tom said, adjusting the course of the small craft to match the new heading he was given. “Wait, I think I can actually see it.” he said, sounding slightly amazed. 

Looming in the distance, its strange form becoming larger and larger, was the impressive Vaadwaur Battleship. Long and menacing, the side facing them seemed to bristle with Polaron cannons. Swarming around it was a dozen or so of the same small fighters Tom and Dathasa were currently flying. Tom awed at the imposing ship, noting the location of the bridge, perched high on the spine of the ship, towards the rear.

“We’ll need to get closer if we are going to scan for the prisoners.” Dathasa said, shifting slightly in her seat to peer around Tom’s seat, catching a glimpse of the ship for the first time. “Holy shit” she said softly. 

“Here’s hoping we can sneak in without someone noticing which direction we came from.” said Tom, wiping his now sweaty hands on his pants. They continued on the same course, eventually falling into the swirling formation of ships flying along the underside of the large ship. Dathasa started typing frantically, running scans of every part of the ship she could. “I’ve found the shield generator.” she said. “Well, not the generator specifically, but I’ve found a bit of conduit that runs to it, and is close to the surface.” They did another pass, this one taking them in view of the ship’s bridge. “Don’t get too close.” Dathasa hissed, “We don’t know how well they can see, and we sure don’t look like them.”

“I don’t have much of a choice now.” Tom said through gritted teeth, “If I move away now, that is a dead giveaway.” 

A tense silence fell over the small craft as they cruised smoothly along the spine of the ship, then a slight left past the bridge before dipping back below the battleship, and running the length from underneath. The pair held their breath as their cockpit canopy came level with the Battleship’s bridge. Tom could see Vaadwaur soldiers moving about inside, but could not tell if anyone had identified them. Once they were beyond the bridge’s view, they both exhaled heavily, and Dathasa slumped back into her seat. 

“Have you located the prisoners yet?” Tom asked, “ I don’t want to do that again.” 

“Not yet, I’m still looking.” Dathasa replied, sitting forward again to resume scanning. “Wait!” she said, her voice brimming with excitement. “Here! There is a large concentration of life signs that are not Vaadwaur. This must be where they are keeping them. Hang on a moment, I’m going to see if I can tap their shield harmonics.”

“You can do that?” Tom asked, sounding slightly amazed. 

“Don’t sound so surprised.” She replied with a cool tone that belied her excitement. “I have to learn this shit on my own, I don’t have a team of officers ready to do it for me.”

“Sorry.” Tom said, “I forget that the Rangers do most jobs flying solo.”

“I’ll try not to be wounded.” Dathasa replied, the playful air with which she usually spoke returning to her voice. “Mostly because I think I’ve done it. Their shields seem to modulate, so there’s no guarantee it’ll work once we’re in the thick of it, but we can always hope it’s on a repeating modulation.” 

“That will have to do.” Tom said, “Are we ready to go?”

“We should probably get moving, yes.” Dathasa answered. Tom maneuvered the fighter out of the formation, and started moving away from the battleship. “Hang on,” came Dathasa’s voice from behind him, sounding a little alarmed. “I think we’re being followed.”

Tom gritted his teeth. “Damn.” he said under his breath, “How many?” 

“Just one on the scope, but it has matched course and speed.” She replied. 

“Okay, let’s lead it away from the rest, and we’ll see if we can lose it.” Tom said, continuing his course until they were well away from the battleship, then he punched the throttle forward, and took off away from their pursuer. He pushed the ship down, weaving his way around at maximum throttle, but the pursuing ship was stuck to them. “He may not know we are a threat yet, so let’s use that hesitation to…” but his words were cut short by a flash of light over the cockpit, and the rocking of a ship that had just been hit with a Polaron blast. 

“They know!” Dathasa called out, flipping a switch so a tactical readout was displayed on her screen. “I don’t feel like today is a good day to die, so let’s survive this shall we?” 

“I will do my best.” Tom said. He slammed the throttle back and pulled hard on the control stick, whipping the fighter around to face the oncoming ship. Firing a volley of his own, the polaron bursts hit the opposing ship’s shield and forced it upwards over them. Dathasa ducked instinctively as the ship barely cleared them, then was pushed back into her seat as Tom forced the throttle forward and pulled back hard on the stick, bringing them upwards in an arc to get behind the enemy. The radio was blasting chatter about a rogue ship, but they did not give coordinates. Tom fired another few shots at the back of the enemy fighter, again being reflected by the shield. 

“They’re onto us, big guy!” Dathasa called, “Finish this guy off and let’s get the hell out of here! I’ve input the shield modulation code into the computer. Let’s see if it works.” Tom smiled wide as he pushed and pulled the control stick, sliding slightly in his seat as the ship worked hard to follow his commands. He lined up the fighter and fired again. BOOM! Another flash of light, and Tom had to shut his eyes for a moment as one of the nacelles on the fighter exploded from the volley. “Its systems are down, Tom.” Dathasa said, “Life support is critical. We should go before his buddies show up.”

“Agreed.” Tom relied, punching the throttle again and speeding away from the wreckage. Dathasa watched the scope vigilantly, but no additional ships appeared. After a few minutes with no activity, she let out a large sigh and slumped back into her chair, breathing heavily and wiping sweat from her forehead.  

“Damn Tom, you are a good pilot.” She said finally, with a small chuckle. 

“I flew fighters during the Dominion War.” Tom replied. “They weren’t as agile as this though.” 

“Well, I for one, am glad you did.” Dathasa said, “ I don’t think a lesser pilot could have gotten us out of that.” 

“Your shield code certainly helped.” Tom replied. 

“I’m afraid we will have our work cut out for us when we return though.” Dathasa said, closing her eyes. “May Kahless smile on us that day.” she added with a smile. Tom let a smile play across his face as the small space fell once again into near silence, the only noise being the panicked calls from the comm traffic, still searching for the rogue ship. After a while, they too fell silent, and Tom guided the little fighter back to the Leif Erikson to relay their news. This would not be a happy meeting.