"Captured"
written by David Moody
Captain Lenti Utex

The prometheus-class vessel dipped sharply downward, avoiding the debris of the mangled peregrin fighter. She screamed forward at nearly the speed of light, pacing what appeared to be nothing, but was in fact a faint ripple in the dark matter permeating space, which was speeding away from the vessel in sooth.

Quad beams of orange fire lanced through the void from the Victory to strike the ripple, knocking to it's port side. It slowed, and the LaGrange swooped in close, her small stature lending to her speed at getting into close quarters with the enemy vessel. She struck again and again, oversized ports opening and closing.

Suddenly, the impulse engines of both vessel flared brilliantly to life. The two Federation vessels slowed to a stop, then shifted to flank and empty area of space. With a devastating revealing ripple, the smooth, black surface of the enemy vessel came into view. Looking like nothing more than some sort of strange interstellar bean, it rotated slowly on a skewed axis, small flares erupting on it's surface, the remnants of its cloaking technology shorting out.



Lenti Utex looked to Revos, who stood before the security console behind him. "Get them out of there now," the Trill Captain commanded, a deep force backing his words. He looked at the Chief, a fair plead registering on his face.



Revos, for his part, was shaking his head from time to time, furiously working across his panel. "Sir," he said finally. "They just aren't there." He shook his head again, his brows pulling tighter together at the onslaught of emotion inundating him from around the bridge. "I'm sorry sir," he said. "The only lifesigns I see are non-human, non betazoid." He looked up to the male Trill. "She's not there," he added. "Torme, I mean."

TogHa spoke up, "Agreed. There are no lifesigns aboard that vessel that match anything we're remotely familiar with. No tissues no DNA traces, nothing, so if the Commander and the Counselor were there, they weren't there for long," Tal informed him.

Sito said, "Sir," a warning in her tone.

On screen, the black bean had gone still, the eruptions across her smooth surface ceasing. The vessel began to slowly sink away from the Federation ships flanking it, leaving the Victory with a clear view of the LaGrange.

"Signal coming in," McCain reported. "Two feeds: Colonel Ty and the alien vessel."

TogHa proposed, "On screen, sir?"

Utex told him, "Let's see it."