Board Thread:Archive/@comment-24866242-20140529013233

Subject: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Mon, Feb 2, 1998 10:59 PM From: Zylinx

In the dead quiet of space, about 7 million 456 thousand miles from New Oregon's borders, a small warp field pulses and grows from no detectable source. It steadily increases in size and intensity until a visible "spark" of energy rips through space like lighting across a cloudy sky. It builds, getting brighter and larger until, like an imploding star, the energy seems to collapse in on itself, getting sucked into the center of the warp field and instantly being replaced by a small, broken down, shuttle. The shuttle streaks through space like a comet, leaving a trail of its own broken pieces, and various gases as its life support systems leak out into space. Within the broken down fighter the chard remains of Zylinxs' body lay slumped across the console, slowly freezing now as the cold chill of space begins seeping through the nearly powerless hull.

An hour and thirty six minutes later the body, considerably less burnt looking, shoots up to a sitting position, Zylinx sucking in what little air is left in the shuttle, his newly formed skin tingling all over his body as he slowly begins to remember where he is and what he has to do. He reaches out to a large black box on the floor, his limbs stiff from his incredibly cold surroundings. Zy manages to press the large red button in the center of the box, turning it on, and sending its program into activation. Instantly *all* of the shuttles power... what's left of it, is rerouted to the box and a distress signal is activated.

With no power left in the shuttles systems at all the coldness of space over takes Zy quickly. His last thoughts being... "Damn, burnt t'death an' frozen t'death all in th'same day..."

It was the middle of the night... if there was truly such a thing as night and day in space... never the less, Kat was sound asleep when Rah woke her. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eye telling him it had better be good.

"Well..." Rah's voice purred over the com. "We got a message from Mr. Stinel's home world. They picked up a distress call a few hours ago.. ummm... 14 hours actually. They say it's from one of our own shuttles."

"Couldn't be. All o' our shuttles are accounted for."

"That's what I told them... their sending over the signal now. Want me to play it for you?"

"Yeah." she sighs, then hops up as the painfully familiar voice crackles through the com.

"Hay babe... Miss me??"

She dashes for the bridge. "Ry!"

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Tue, Feb 3, 1998 2:16 PM From: KatrylleM

She never stopped, shoving people out of her way, not even bothering to take the half second to apologize. Once there, however, all she could do was stand and stare, her mind racing a thousand miles an hour. She was shaking and shaking bad and more than one set of eyes stared openly at her as she just stood.

Rah's soft "cough" drew her full attention and, as she quickly made her way to his post, she started demanding the co-ordinates of the shuttle, her voice cracking several times. She came close to crying more than once as she realized that, although she was in hyper speed, the world around her was going slower....or seemingly slower. It dawned on her at that moment that, if she didn't calm down soon, she'd slip further away from sanity than she had since Ry had left.

Gripping the back of Rah's chair, she barely heard the leather rip as her nails dug into it. She slowed her breathing well enough, but her mind and heart continued at their frantic pace...that is until she felt a soft but firm hand on her shoulder. With that one touch, total calm prevailed. "We will get to him soon."

Mognieo's hand remained on her shoulder as she continued to watch Rah's fingers quickly move over the keys. It had been good to have Ry's mentor.....her mentor now too... and the others onboard. It had been what Ry wanted and, after he had left...before all the craziness on RhyDin, Kat had taken great pains to get them on board. Great pains meaning that, although Yazmen and the boy had agreed quickly, Mognieo was immovable. The trick had been Ilrea. After promising him the moon....or something damn close to it, she clicked on an idea. Ilrea needed guidance....Mognieo's style of guidance. If he could resist the temptation of molding a fresh mind, then there was no way in hell she would ever convince him.

He eventually took the bait....and the moon. As Ry had done with Heaven, Kat had the farm and Mognieo's hut torn down and rebuilt on board the Vextis. Many a tech suffered severe staff to shin bruising in the days that followed, but, in the end, Mognieo was happy and, in turn, Kat was happy.

Now, as they waited for what seemed an eternity, Kat's hand absently slipped over his and she squeezed gently.

"I've got it." Rah's soft voice caused her to jump slightly. Spinning suddenly, she moved quickly to the captain's chair and sat.

"Feed it t'th' helm, Rah.....an' gimme a channel t'th' Colorado. Let Ben know where we're goin' an' gi' him an' invite t'come along... OH an' let him know we're leavin in less than five minutes." Kat could feel the calm slowly slipping away again and, nervously, her nails tapped the armrest as her legs crossed and uncrossed.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Thu, Feb 5, 1998 3:00 PM From: Ben Stinel

The new bridge was a helluva lot bigger than the old module. The crew had taken to having their morning briefings there instead of in the attached conference room in fact, and Chaz laid out his plan of action for them each day. Ben sipped the raktajino Jarrid had made a staple at these briefings and listened while Chaz issued out orders.

"Okay, Jeff and I are starting the hull modifications today, so I want everyone to stay out of sections five through eight," Chaz was saying. "They're all going to be exposed to vacuum for the next two weeks. Ben, you were working back there, how far are you?"

"I'm about three quarters of the way there I'd guess. There are about fourteen power relays left to go."

Chaz nodded. "A little bit behind schedule, but not bad. Until we're finished back there, I want you working in section twelve on the environmental systems."

"Got it."

"Marisa, you're going to loose power in sickbay for about two hours today. Since you can't work there, I'd like you helping Francine in computer control. Let's see, that leaves… Chico."

Chico looked up. "Si, hombre?"

"I wonder if you wouldn't mind cutting your simulator time today. I could really use you in jefferies tube six."

Chico nodded.

A beeping on Jarrid's console drew everyone's attention away from the briefing. Jarrid swiveled in his seat and tapped a button on the board, routing the incoming communication through his ear piece. After a moment of quiet conversation between Jarrid and the person on the other side, Pallin turned to face Ben.

"It's Vextis on the line. They say that the New Oregon Navy intercepted one of their shuttles adrift near the border and they're going there to recover it and the pilot. They want to know if you would care to accompany them."

Ben raised his eyebrows. He wasn't aware Vextis had left any shuttles at New Oregon. "No, I shouldn't leave the ship again. There's too much to do."

Jarrid nodded and turned back to his display. "Sorry Vextis," he began as everyone turned their attention back to Chaz.

"Well, that's about it for today," Chaz said. "If anyone finishes their job for the day, you've all got copies of the work schedule, so move on to the next assignment. Dismissed."

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Fri, Feb 6, 1998 1:18 PM From: Zylinx

"Scans show the pilot's dead captain."

"Notify the Vextis we're too late and tell them to stand by while we try to identify the pilot. Transport the body directly to med-bay, if their aren't any tags on the body send a detailed discription to Vextis. Alright, scan the shuttle fully, I want to know exactly what happened out here."

"Med-bay to captain"

"Here. What do you have?"

"No way to identify the pilot sir, we sent a discription to Vextis. Do you want us to do a routein aoutopsy? It's pretty safe to say he froze to death but..."

"No. Let the Vextis handl that. For now just put him in the deep freezer and..."

"Uh, Captain it's the Vextis. They're uh... they're saying the pilot's not dead. They're telling us to warm him up and... wait."

"You hear that med-bay?"

"Handling it now, but sir, he is dead."

"Whatever, let Vextis know we're doing what they asked and send the results of the shuttle scans to my ready room once they're done."

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Tue, Feb 10, 1998 2:16 PM From: KatrylleM

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even will her diaprham to work. It was only by sheer luck she had been sitting when the word came through that the pilot was dead or she would currently be laying face down on the bridge floor. She didn't notice that she had been clutching the arms of the captain's chair so hard, several finger nails had practically torn themselves loose from their bedding, her own blood now decorating the sides of the chair.

She heard nothing of the commotions going on around her. Only three words kept repeating themselves in her head; Ryax is dead. Ryax is dead. Her stomach churned and her teeth ground together, not in an effort to hide the tears streaming down her face, but only out of extreme stress and the borderline insanity she was teetering on. Ryax is dead.

She never heard Mogneigo's words that the pilot was not dead. She never heard Dante's entrance and his orders for the New Oregon med officers to simply warm the body. Yes, she was in the same room with them, but she had been lost to her own thoughts and despare with the simple information that the pilot.....the man she was positive was her husband...her life, her love......Ryax is dead.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Mon, Feb 16, 1998 1:06 AM From: Zylinx

The captain of the New Oregon ship, Nelits Nimabenj, looked at the readings of the scans taken of the shuttle craft and frowned. Something about the damage to the shuttles hull didn't sit well with him.

"Captain."

Nelits blinked, pulled out of his thoughts, and looked to the mini screen on his desk. "Yes Doctor?" "The pilot, he uhh he just woke up sir. He insists on going to the bridge."

"Let him up." Nim, as he's known to his friends, 'cause Nel sounded a bit too feminine, swiveled his chair away from his desk, getting up, and headed out to the bridge. "Contact the Vextis and let them know the pilo--" Nim stopped, catching the expression on his comm officers face. "What's going on?"

"It's the Vextis sir. I - I think it's the captain.. she's requesting the pilots description again. She sounds distre--" the poor comms officer flinched, as the woman's voice came blazing through his ear piece. Nim raised an eyebrow at the officers flinch and the fallowing blush that invaded his cheeks. "We need to send it in now.. uhh, sir."

"Have med-bay send it to them again and let them know the pilot's awake. And ask them what their ETA is. Something about this whole mess stinks. I got questions and I'm ganna want answers."

"Yes sir."

"Forget ETA, an' tell 'em ASAP." Everyone on the bridge turned to look at Zylinx as he entered. "We're runnin' out o' time an' we're runnin' out fast."

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Tue, Feb 24, 1998 3:31 PM From: KatrylleM

The hard slap across her face brought her gaze back in focus. Standing before her, hands on his hips and a look on his face that spoke of concerned anger, Mognieo growled.

"So, you finally grace us with your presence. Now...if you are done listening to your own ghosts, you might be interested to know the man they found is *not* Ryax!"

Kat blinked once, then frowned slightly. Persistant pressure against the fingers of her right hand drew her attention there. Dante glanced up at her and nodded once as he continued to pry her bleeding fingers from the arm of the chair. "Itssss true, Kat. I heard the dissscription myssself. The man they found isss not Ryaxssss."

Kat blinked again, then was suddenly on her feet, nearly knocking Mog to the floor. Moving quickly, she stood behind Rah, leaning over his shoulder to punch the comm button and grabbing the earpiece from his ear. Her voice was panicy as she hailed the New Oregon vessel they had been in contact with, demanding the discription of the pilot once again. The bridge was in complete silence during the wait, the only sounds being the soft beepings of the computer and the hum of the warp engines as they were pushed to their maximum capabilites.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Mon, Mar 16, 1998 12:25 AM From: Zylinx

The New Oregon ship was having communications problems, which was why contact with the Vextis was being relayed through the comm officers of both ships. It's also why Zylinx had to wait till the Vextis finally arrived, and he beamed onto the bridge, to see just how much like hell Kat was looking. It didn't surprise him though, he fully expected it. Especially considering the specialized distress signal Ryax chose to send her. He told Ry that a

New Oregon ship would most likely be the first to come across the shuttle, and his body, and that they would report finding the shuttle and its dead pilot. No doubt Kat would expect that dead pilot to be Ry, but nooo, Ryax just wouldn't listen to him. So here she was, his poor wife, looking like hell. Zy just hopped she'd slap Ry up when she got the chance. *If* she got the chance.

Right now though, Zylinx starts spouting a string of commands for, whoever that's running engineering, to enter into the computers. He explained the wormhole he came through was an unstable one, and that it had to be "pulled" open. He had no idea what he was saying, but he memorized all the stuff and configurations Mishrean told him. Immortals have real good memories. They have a lot more to remember.

The Vextis's engines had to be reconfigured to emit an increasing, stationary, warp field away from the ship. This had to be done in order to make the wormhole he had come through a few hours ago open up. That was the easy part. The hard part would be making the wormhole stable enough to pass through without ending up dead. Luckily Zylinx new what to do, but it would take an enormous amount of power and one ship couldn't do the warp thingie and generate enough juice to make the passage through a safe one. The good news is, there are two ships in the area. Vextis and the New Oregon ship, Sokie. The bad news is the captain of the Sokie finally recognized the some of the marks on Zylinx's shuttle as being done by Borg weapons and doesn't want to take the chance of bringing them into this sector. And the *really* bad news? If the wormhole isn't opened up soon, and Kala and Ryax don't make the trip through the hole, the next time Vextis runs into Ry... he'll wanna assimilate it.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Mon, Mar 16, 1998 12:18 PM From: KatrylleM

She didn't know who or what these Borg were and, apart from the fact that they were endangering her husband, she didn't really give a damn either. The stress of the past several hours had built into a pounding migrain..one her now bandanged fingers could not relieve no matter how hard they pressed into her temples and eye. Apart from asking for a brief explaination as to what was going on, she let Zy give the commands that were needed to bring Ry and Kala home. When the questioning looks of the crew finally made it past the pain induced haze, she only nodded her reply. She knew she should have just left it all in Zy's hands, but she could not leave the bridge...not until Ry was safely back where he belonged.

When the captain of the Sokie expressed his regret for being unable to help open the worm hole, everyone on the bridge sense Kat was about to come unglued. Only the withering glance from Zy and the slight shake of his head kept her from screaming the obsenities that had almost slipped past the grim set of her lips. She was barely able to acknowledge that she was not in the best condition to deal with this situation. Visably shaking, she merely closed her eye and held her breath for a very long time, praying to some unnamed diety, promising anything and everything if only he would return Ry to her safely. Her life and sanity were now in Zy's hands

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Tue, Mar 17, 1998 10:37 PM From: Zylinx

Zylinx sighed and just stood there for a moment in silence. The only sound on the bridge was the soft hum of the engines. Every eye was on him, waiting for what seemed like hours. It was only a few seconds. He calmly walked to the com station and slipped a head seat on. He spoke to the com officer on the Sokie, telling him that he wanted to speak to the captain directly. Only the two com officers heard the conversation going on between Zylinx and the captain of the New Oregon ship. Zy told him that there was a good chance the Borg wouldn't fallow them through, and that the wormhole would be destroyed as soon as Kala and Ryax arrived. The captain wasn't as optimistic, he didn't think the lives of two people were worth the risk of a Borg invasion, and that thousands of lives could be lost. He was right, Zy didn't deny that thousands of lives could be lost but the fact was two... three, lives *would* be lost. Zylinx didn't believe in Ifs, Ands, or Buts. He didn't care too much about; what *if* the Borg came through, he only knew that there were people on the other side of that wormhole that would be dead if they didn't do anything.

He tried to reason with the captain one last time, then quietly took the headset off, looked to Rah, and told him to open the com channel so that everyone could hear. Rah nodded and did just that. When the com line was opened it became clear to everyone that Zy had left the captain of the Oregon ship talking to himself.

"......I have dozens of reports about the kind of destruction the Borg..."

"Captain..." Zylinx cut him off. Again, all eyes went to Zy. Something about his voice unnerved the whole crew. It wasn't that his voice was shaky or anything. What unnerved the crew was that, for the situation they were in, his voice was seriously calm. Too calm. "...Captain right now I'm lockin' our weapons on ye." He nodded to the acting tactical officer, who hesitated for about a second, then locked phasers onto the Sokie. In all of Zy's years he learned many things, and one of them was that there's a time for diplomacy, and then there's a time to shove a sword, gun, or photon torpedo in the face of the person your dealing with, to get what you want. This, was that time. "We're runnin' out o' time 'ere Captain so I'm givin' ye ten seconds t'reconfigure yer shields t'send out th'energy puls we need or we're ganna cripple yer ship, come aboard and do it ourselves." The bridge of both ships went totally silent. No one said a word but everyone started counting down the seconds mentally.

10

9

8... "FIRE!" The hearts of every person on the Vextis bridge skipped a beat at the sheer force of the command. The tactical officer didn't even dare blink till after he sent the photon torpedoes screaming towards the Sokie. They all watched the vid screen as torpedoes hit home, and listened to the surprised screams of the Sokies bridge crew come through the com. Then everything went silent again, and slowly every eye on the bridge turned once again, but this time, they were staring at Kat.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Wed, Mar 18, 1998 12:48 PM From: KatrylleM

If she had been able to think, she *would* have considered the fact that something was terribly wrong. Not with the situation at hand. She knew Zy would handle that well enough. But in the past several minutes, the time it took for Zy to take command of the Vextis and hold his discussion with the captain of the New Oregon ship, the migraine that had been so painful before increased ten fold. No one had noticed that she had been fidgeting, or, if they had, they would have probably thought it was due to the anxiety of the danger her husband was in. Kat couldn't get comfortable. She couldn't find a position or a pressure point that would ease, rather than increase the pain roaring through her head.

She heard nothing either. With the pain came what appeared to be the crashing of waves, timed perfectly with each throb and, at the point where she thought she could take no more, what seemed to be soft whisperings. Had she been better suited for the entire affair, she probably would have strained to hear the whisper, but now, it was all she could do to keep her head in one piece. Amazingly, however, the whispers seemed to accommodate her current situation, becoming louder with each new wave.

"They want him dead. They want to take your life away. They must die for what they are doing. You must kill them all. He will die and there is nothing you can do to save him." As Zy put the headset back on the comm. desk, the whispers had grown to almost a banshae like scream and, feeling the bridge spinning out of control around her, she doubled over, arms over her head. She never heard his proposition to the captain of the Sokie, she never knew of the silent count to the probable destruction of the much smaller ship...all she heard was the voice in her head.

"Kill them to end the pain. FIRE!" At the same instant the voice in her head gave the command, her own voice let it be heard. Also, amazingly, the pain receded to the more bearable status of minor migraine, taking with it the words that had been tormenting her. She blinked the tears from her eye and slowly sat up. Chewing her lip, she realized suddenly that the bridge was deadly silent and all eyes had been turned to her. Confusion flashed across her face for the fraction of a second then her expression became emotionless as her gaze fell on Zy.

It hadn't taken long for all attention to be drawn back to the Sokie as Rah's deep purring voice echoed around the silent room. "They want to know what you want them to do, sir." Zy returned to Rah's side and proceeded to give orders that Kat hadn't bothered to listened to. She trusted Zy to know how to get Kala and Ry back home and, in truth, didn't much care for the details as long as they worked. Slouching back in her chair, she rubbed her temples and, as she had done more and more lately, wondered what the hell had happened. She remembered none of it. She never did.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Wed, Mar 18, 1998 8:44 PM From: Ben Stinel

"Helm, bring us about hard to starboard! Tactical, arm the phasers!"

"Phasers and photon torpedoes are off-line captain. Shields are down to fourteen percent."

"Captain, I can't bring us about, the impulse engines have been destroyed!"

Sparks were flying out of the opps console and smoke was billowing out of a blown panel behind the tactical station. The operations officer was slumped in her chair and her uniform was stained a deep red. Beside her the helmsman was doing his best not to look at her. That could easily have been him.

"Switch to maneuvering thrusters. I want to show them our best side. Chief Engineer, damage report!"

"Captain, the chief is dead. He was in jefferies tube six working on an EPS power shunt that exploded when the torpedo detonated, sir."

Captain Nimabenj couldn't believe his ears. This was why no person had stepped outside of the New Oregon system in three hundred years. He had thought the closed door policy was ridiculous but now he saw the truth of it. Outsiders Could Not Be Trusted.

Vextis was supposed to be a friend and they had killed who knew how many people in his crew.

"We'll get the casualty list later. Who's in command down there?"

"I guess that would be me, sir. Lieutenant JG Sorenson, sir."

"Well, give me the damage report, chief engineer."

"Yes, sir. The torpedo detonated about half a kilometer to our port side, sir. If it had been any closer we wouldn't be here now, sir. It heavily damaged our-"

"The short version, lieutenant. We're in a battle situation here."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Impulse is gone, weapon relays are fused and shields are down to fourteen percent. There is a hull breach on deck six."

"Communications?"

"Checking, sir. Operational, sir."

"Understood, bridge out. Ensign, send a distress signal. Tell them the Vextis has fired on us and include our status."

"Aye, sir." The helm officer sent the automated signal and continued the laborious task of bringing the ship about on maneuvering thrusters alone.

"Tactical, what's Vextis doing?"

"She hasn't made a move since the torpedo, sir."

"Can we rig up something using our deflector dish?"

"Possible, sir, but it took minor damage from the explosion."

"Work on it. Ensign, bring the Vextis back on the comm."

The screen flickered and a distorted view of the Vextis bridge came on the main viewer. Part of the distortion was because the viewer had a four foot hole in it, but most of it was from something else.

"Can you clear that up, ensign?"

"Vextis is emitting a jamming signal of some kind. It started after they realized we were sending a distress signal."

"Mute," the captain said.

"Aye, sir."

"How much did you get off?"

"Uncertain, sir."

The boy's voice was quaking with fear. Captain Nimabenj couldn't blame him, he was scared to death himself, as long as it didn't interfere with his work. "Mute off."

"Mute off, sir."

"Damn you, Zylinx! I should have left you in that shuttle craft where I found you like Captain Dent advised me to. What the hell do you think you're doing? Without me you haven't got a chance in hell of getting that wormhole open!"

"Why do you think you're still here?"

"If you destroy us you'll never escape. We are a vengeful people, Mr. Zylinx."

"Captain!" The tactical officer interrupted.

"Mute."

"Captain, I have reconfigured the deflector dish to emit a phased subspace particle beam. If successful it will disrupt their warp drive and phaser arrays for ten minutes.

"Long enough for us to get away."

"Not entirely, sir," the tactician didn't look entirely pleased about this part. "It will disrupt our own warp field as well, limiting us to warp six. They will overtake us just as we enter New Oregon sensor range."

"Hmmm…" the captain said. "Let's hope they got that distress signal then or this is going to be the shortest lived victory in history. How long until we can activate it?"

"Five minutes to charge the dish."

"I'll see if I can't stall five minutes then. Mute off. Mr. Zylinx, it appears you have us at a slight disadvantage."

"I should say so."

"Our shields are severely damaged, sir. It's going to take us at least five minutes to adjust them to your specifcations…"

"Captain, the casualty list is coming up."

Captain Nimabenj of the New Orleans class starship Sokie made his way to the rear of the rubble strewn bridge and looked at the first officer's panel. Out of a crew of two hundred and twelve there were twenty dead and seventy-two wounded because someone on the Vextis had thrown a temper tantrum. Half his bridge crew was dead out of the twenty. His operations officer had been removed from her chair and the useless opps console had been deactivated to stop the sparks. The bridge was clear of smoke thanks to emergency bridge life support.

"Half the engineering staff is on the wounded list. We've got a JG Lieutenant running engineering for God's sake.

"He's a good officer, sir." Commander French told him.

"He's twenty-two years old is what he is. We never should have come all the way out here to meet Vextis. We should have done it on our ground where we would have been safe."

"If we had done it there they would likely have tried to open the worm hole in our own back yard, captain. We can't handle a Borg invasion. Not when we're on the verge of a civil war."

"Hmmm. At least if they do it way out here the Borg won't think to look for us for a while. They will eventually though. They'll spread all through this sector and then move out until they reach ours."

"Captain, the Vextis is hailing us," the tactical officer said. They want to know if we're ready."

"Are we, Mr. Jenson?"

"We are, sir. Plus… We have partial phasers and photons. We can fire one half powered torpedo and a single full power phaser blast."

"Excellent," Captain Nimabenj said as he picked his way through the rubble to his chair. "Target their engines when I give the word, Mr. Jenson. Let's slow them down as much as possible." He tugged down his uniform tunic and sat down.

"Put them on screen, ensign."

The bridge of the Vextis appeared on the damaged viewer, slightly less distorted this time.

"Yes, Mr. Zylinx, we are indeed ready. Fire the deflector, Mr. Jenson."

A beam of violet energy burst forth from the deflector array, surrounding the Vextis in a purple glow. As her warp field collapsed, rendering the energy reaction in her engines useless, the Sokie simultaneously let loose her half powered photon and fired all of their phaser energy into a five second stream before shooting into warp six headed home.

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Thu, Mar 19, 1998 3:18 AM From: Zylinx

Zylinx returned Kats gaze and shrugged lightly. Damage was done. He *did* plan on firing at the end of ten seconds but really didn't think it would have come to that point. And who could blame the acting tactical officer for shooting off a whole payload of torpedos. The force behind Kats command just screamed "Kill", not cripple as Zylinx had mentioned. Of course though, it didn't matter now. Some people over react, and you deal with it.

Zy turned slowly and made his way over to Rah, ready to deal with it, when the vid screen flickered with a picture of the Sokie's bridge. Apparently whatever communications problems they were having just got knocked back into place by the blast. No sound came through though, so Zy figured, correctly, that it was muted. He quirked a brow and walked back to where he was standing; just beside the captains chair. He took the time to glance down at

Kat as she sat in it and tried to calm her obvious nervous condition with a reassuring smile. It made everyone nervous, more nervous than they already were, seeing how calm Zylinx looked. Like nothing wrong was going on at all. He even glanced back at Rah and told him to send the shield specs to the Sokie.

Zylinx's eyes looked back to the vid screen when sound finally started coming through. He quickly struck a pose, standing all official like with his hands held behind his back. All official, except for the casual grin on his face as Nelitz began to speak.

"Damn you, Zylinx! I should have left you in that shuttle craft where I found you like Captain Dent advised me to. What the hell do you think you're doing? Without me you haven't got a chance in hell of getting that wormhole open!" Zylinx's grin broadened.

"Why d'ye think yer still 'ere?" His pose changed. He placed one arm across his belly, the hand holding the elbow of his other arm while he stroked his chin as though in deep thought.

"If you destroy us you'll never escape. We are a vengeful people, Mr. Zylinx."

"Captain!" The tactical officer of the Sokie interrupted and the sound was muted again. Zylinx took the time to walk around the captains chair and sit in the chair reserved for the second in command. Again, he shot a reassuring smile Kats way, then slouched, propping his elbow up on his thigh and resting his chin on his upraised palm. He managed to look like he was in full control and that he had the Sokie right were he wanted it.

"Mr. Zylinx, it appears you have us at a slight disadvantage."

"I should say so." He sat up slightly.

"Our shields are severely damaged, sir. It's going to take us at least five minutes to adjust them to your specifications…" Zy nodded and communications were cut. He stood, suddenly looking very serious, and turned to look at the whole bridge crew. Zylinx didn't know the first thing about starships and wormholes or shield harmonics, but one thing he did know in all the thousands of years of his immortal life, was people. People and situations. He was calm in any given situation because he's been in pretty much every given situation. He carried a "Been there, Done that, Got the T-shirt a thousand times." attitude, and he carried it well.

"That man 'as no intentions o' helpin' us. 'E can't fight back, or 'e would 'ave. Which means right now 'e's comin' up wit a plan t'get out o' 'ere without us fallowin' 'im." He scratched his chin. "Reminds me o' that time back in 86... er was it 68?" Zy mumbled to himself as people his age had the tendency to do. Shaking his head clear he looked back to the crew. "Now.. somebody tell me 'ow 'e would go about this. And tell me fast 'cause we don't know 'ow much time we 'ave." The bridge was silent for a split second before some one chimed in.

"First we would have to know what they're dealing with."

"Yeah..." The guy at Ops said. "I did the standard scan of their systems right after the torpedoes hit." He looked down at his console and read it off out loud. "Their Shields are down, impulse engines seem to be offline, they suffered a hull breach...."

"I need t'know what they're ganna do. What're their options people? Talk fast." Zy cut the Ops officer off.

"There's just no way to really know sir."

"I jus' don't know enough 'bout this kinda tech. I need t'know what that Captain's thinking, I need..." he stopped. Damit why didn't he think of it before! The Vextis had three telepaths, that he knew of, on board. One was on the bridge right now, though granted, she was a bit dazed. Zylinx walked up to her, his voice and mannerisms as calm as always, as he knelt in front of her. "Kat, I need ye t'probe th'captains mind. Hell, probe *any* mind." She only looked at him for a long moment. He sighed, she blinked he stood, she spoke. All on the bridge went silent again. "Come again?" He asked her to repeat.

"D-dish" it was hardly audible but the guy at Ops picked it up.

"Dish?" he thought for a moment, looking back to his console and the readings of the standard scans, before finally belting out. "Dish! Deflector dish!" Not even a heartbeat later, the guy at engineering piped in.

"They're ganna disrupt our warp drive!"

"'ow?" Zylinx looked over them. "And more importantly 'ow can we use it t'our advantage? We 'ave t'get that wormhole open."

"We can bounce the particle beam off of our shields."

"Wont be enough power."

"We can send our own beam along with it."

"We'd have to know the phased frequency their going to use. That could be one of thousands." Zylinx, who had stood back and let the crew talk, cut in on that last statement. He pointed a finger at the one who said it and spoke is such a voice that a chill ran up the spines of every person on the bridge.

"Pick a frequency... now!" The crew member visibly rocked back. "That will be th'one they use." Zy let his arm fall back to his side and stood back again. The officer instantly went to work, not knowing how he knew, but he knew.

The bridge, after a short silence, flared up with the sounds of a working crew. People dashed in and out. Systems were being reconfigured. They had less than five minutes to get it all done. And on the fourth minute, it was done. The crew took a minute to calm down, and as per Zy's orders, look like nothing wrong was going on at all.

"Hail them Rah." Zy sat beside Kat again and waited for a response. It didn't take long to come in.

"Yes, Mr. Zylinx, we are indeed ready. Fire the deflector, Mr. Jenson."

A beam of violet energy burst forth from the deflector array of the Sokie, surrounding the Vextis in a purple glow. A half second before the beam hit, the Vextis emitted a warp field away from the ship, opening the wormhole. The violet energy passed over the ships new shield frequency and rode over it like a wave, then shot out directed for the wormhole. Her warp field then collapsed, rendering the energy reaction in her engines useless, and the

Sokie let loose her half powered photon and fired all of their phaser energy into a five second stream before shooting into warp six headed home.

The bridge of the Vextis shook violently, but the blasts from the Sokie were ignored. A damage report wasn't even taken as all attention went to the open wormhole.

"I'm reading two shuttle crafts. It's them!"

"The wormhole is still unstable. The energy burst wasn't enough."

"This is Ry! we got a hell o' a bumpy ride 'ere... an' worse o' all we 'ave a Borg ship on our tail! I want ya t'collapse th'wormhole as soon as Kala an' I are clear!"

Phasers were locked and the tactical officer began reconfiguring them frantically. No normal phaser could collapse a wormhole. Everyone watched it intently. Again, the only calm face on the bridge was Zylinxs as he leaned back on a console and watched the vid screen. It seemed like hours before the first shuttle came flying out. The second wasn't too far behind and as soon as it cleared the wormhole, phaser fire came blaring out of the Vextis.

It almost looked like the Borg ship was going to make it through. Almost. The wormhole imploded, letting loose a colorful shock wave to stream across open space like fire works on a festive day. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and began applauding. Zylinx chuckled and waved the applaud off. It was just another in thousands of intense situations he had to face.

In no time at all Ryax was on the bridge, and no sooner did he step on the bridge, than Kat was in his arms. They kissed long... very long, and passionately, before Ry finally looked up to Zylinx and smiled.

"So what took ya s'long??" Zy chuckled lightly.

"Well, some people over react." He grinned. "But I dealt with it."

Subject: Re: That slow, freezing feeling Date: Thu, Mar 19, 1998 1:55 PM From: KatrylleM

She couldn't let go of him. She *wouldn't* let go of him. She tried to regain some form of composure as he spoke to Zy, but she couldn't stop her traitorous body from shaking so badly. He was home. He was real. This was not the holographic recreation she had spent long nights talking to.

Both arms wrapped tightly around his waist, she pressed her cheek against his chest, reveling in both the softness of his fur and the scent of him. She couldn't trust herself to speak. She couldn't trust herself with much these days, but none of it mattered now. She was right where she wanted to be. Even the pain in her head seemed to have receded greatly the moment she had touched him and, although it was a jumble of thoughts and emotion, her mind was crystal clear.

She coughed softly and regretfully pulled her cheek away from his chest, yet maintaining a firm grip around his waist. Quirking her lips into a familier, though somewhat shaky smirk, she winked at him. "M'thinks there's a little girl downstairs who hae missed her daddy fer entirely t'long. Wha' say we surprise her, eh? This place kin take care o'itself fer a while." She couldn't resist. Quickly, she leaned up and kissed his chin before gently pulling him towards the private lift to their quarters. She was already planning a full night devoted to a family reunion. 