"Return"
written by David Moody
Captain Lenti Utex

The vessel arched easily through space, then suddenly dipped sharply downward, her duo-twin nacelles shining brightly, their energies rising to a fair hum. The ship's shields flared angrily to life, a protective blue bubble around the ship that seemed to snap into place as if by magic, surrounding the ship with a crackling energy of their own design.

Within her hull, just beyond the surface of the uppermost forward section of the starship Victory, Captain Lenti Utex had just moments ago given the order for engineering to implement the plan designed by Lieutenant Talnar Ray, his Chief Engineer, to return Utex' ship and crew back into normal space.

Deep within the bowels of the prometheus class vessel, Lieutenant Talnar Ray was sweating. It was not necessarily hot, but the main matter antimatter reaction assembly was pulsing exponentially faster, building up the energies it took to create a static anti-warp bubble, one that would throw the Victory out into normal space. "Mistress," he called.

Tal, the computer responded informally. The ship had been modified with a personality subroutine that would recognize Lieutenant Ray and respond to him in said routine accordingly.

"As soon as your engines reach full capacity implement program Ray zero nine six normal four space," he said, tapping feverishly as his console as the low lub dub of the assembly pulsed like a heavy heartbeat. "Yuri," he called, "make sure the dampeners are locked down we might make a rough ride of it this is a procedure we are not really programmed to undertake but I think we can handle it as long as the inertial dampeners remain in place so lets make sure the crew doesn't get bumped around to much okay?"

Ensign Gagarin cocked his head and processed the steady flow of orders from his departmental chief. "Got you Chief," the Ensign responded succinctly, then dove with his hands back into his work. The vessel flared brightly and was lost in a sea of white.

Colonel Ty N'Desp watched the spectacle on the screen. "Well that was unecessary," she breathed lowly, arching an eyebrow. "Helm," she called, "set course for The Shroud. Make sure you keep that vessel locked tightly in tow at all times," she finished.

Admiral Cerita Dowi of Starbase 416 watched out of her window as all the stars beyond were dwarfed in luminance by the arrival of a starship from out of nowhere. The space outside flared to bright white, which quickly died down and was replaced by a vista of the normal stars that spanned the cosmos and the planet her station orbited. "Welcome back," she whispered tot he starship Victory.

Moments later, he said, "I'm sorry."

Lenti Utex was loking at the prone form of his Executive Officer, holding her hand. Doctor Frobisher was on the other side of the biobed Kennit had been lain on, and turned away as the man's eyes brimmed with moisture. He cleared his throat, and she looked back at him. No race of the emotion he had been exibiting moments earlier remained, but instead the eyes seemed instilled with a cool, calm rage. "When will she be ready for duty?"

Frobisher looked at Kennit's hands, seeing that the one Utex had been grasping was singular once again. "She got a lot of contusions, sir. Exposure. Another twelve hours and she might have died. She'll be fine." She turned toward Torme on the biobed behind her. "Torme however," she said, "might need some help to pull through. " She turned back to the Captain. "She has really been though-" she stopped, seeing that Utex had left. " Captain?" She visually searched Sickbay for the man, but failed to find hide nor hair of him, then shrugged and went about the task of tending to Lieutenant Torme. "Harrier," she called. "Can I get some help over here - she's got Betazoid readings, and - something else I can't quite identify," she pointed at the diagnostic. " Right here," she ran a finger along a series of interruptions in the normal Betazoid physique.

Lenti Utex rode the turbolift boiling with rage. "Computer," he called, as the lift rose toward the Bridge. " Open a channel to Admiral Cerita Dowi, Starbase 416. Patch through to my Ready Room," he said. With that, he determined to solve the mystery of the Bith war with their unseen neighbors, the Vaiul.