“Message”
written by David Moody
Captain Lenti Utex

Lieutenant Commander Revos eyed security officer as she entered from behind him and stepped forward to the security arch. Lowering his voice, he asked her, “Have you been cleared for duty yet, Lieutenant?”



Captain Lenti Utex, having heard the translations of the lip synching the Bridge crew had just heard, ordered the security chief to release the tractor beams, his jaw tight and set, his hands beginning to clinch into fists. “Target the conjectured location of their engines and fire to disable,” he ordered briskly.

On the viewscreen, before anyone present could protest, the tractors of the Victory winked out of existence, to be replaced by six lancing orange beams that impacted with what appeared to be empty space. The vessel they had struck rapidly dropped out of it’s cloak.

“Got you,” Utex said. “Lock on to Torme and Kennit and get them back here,” he said.

Sito’s hands rushed across her panel faster than could be seen. He brows drew together, and she reported, “No luck, sir. They musty have some sort of secondary dampening field.”

Jackson spoke up, “I wouldn’t recommend hitting them again, sir, their structural integrity is down to thirty percent,” she reported, looking to Revos for confirmation.

The Security Chief nodded. “Reading multiple ensuing explosions aboard that ship as well.”

Utex’s set jaw clenched so tight he would have been certain it would burst, had he been paying attention to it.



Krannik left the room abruptly, the room having shifted on an odd axis. Torme seized her opportunity and rushed to the Commander. “Let me in,” she said.

Kennit looked up at her, blood caking already on her face and arms. “What?”

“Let me in,” the counselor repeated.

“I don’t understand,” the Commander fairly moaned.

Torme stared at Kennit, searching her mind. She was astonished at what she found. The glaring anomaly had not seemed to be there before, but it appeared that the Vaiul were working it slowly to the forefront of her mind. Silently, she multitasked and called out to the nearest telepathic humanoid mind she could find, in the hopes that the Victory was searching for herself and the Commander.



On the Bridge of the USS Victory, Revos inhaled sharply, then began to speak. “Sir,” he said, “I’m in contact with Lieutenant Torme. I think you’ll want this information in private.”

Utex nodded, gestured to the Ready Room, and headed there himself, “Let’s make this quick, Commander,” he told the man.



Moments later, Torme had worked Kennit free of her bonds, and the two slipped quietly out of the room, searching for some egress from . . . wherever it was that they were.