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| - “Could you hand me the hydrospanner Destiny?” I nodded and handed Chief Todd the tool. It had been a week since the incident with the Guandians. Since then we had returned Graven and the other soldiers to the outpost and towed our shuttle back the Infinity, but repairs to it proved to be futile; it was too badly damaged to salvage. Chief Todd had suggested we use what we could of its remains to upgrade the other shuttlecraft, and Chekov had readily agreed. If we couldn’t restore power to the Infinity’s warp core soon, we would have to start using the shuttle to bring supplies back to it. I had eagerly offered to help the chief with the upgrades; with the helm disabled, I wasn’t very useful elsewhere on the ship. I gazed at the shuttle; we had attached two extra nacelles to it and expanded its warp matter tank by almost 30%, allowing the engines to cycle and maintain warp seven indefinitely. The crew’s quarters had also been expanded, and could now fit a total of six crewmen. We had added walls and an extra transporter pad, making it into a sealed three-person mini transporter room. Its sensor range had been increased by 20%, and the addition of a roll bar would give it significant added handling and mobility. Normally, it would’ve taken weeks to make the modifications, but with the second shuttle’s spare parts, there was almost no need to replicate anything. With these new additions, it could now technically be classified as a runabout rather than just a shuttlecraft. I glanced at Chief Todd. “Chief, can I ask you something?” She pulled herself up and turned to me. “Of course. “ I paused for a moment, and looked at the ground. “Do you think we’ll ever get back home?” She sighed. “I’m not sure.” I was taken aback; I had expected for her to quickly reassure me that there was nothing to worry about. She smiled at me. “There is one thing I am sure of though; we’re here for a reason. Whether it be to help the species of the Beta Quadrant, or to thwart the plans of the Bioleeches, there is a reason we’re here. There’s someone out there guiding us now, and they know what they’re doing.” I had heard stories of supernatural beings before in many cultures’ histories, but had never really considered it a possibility. Perhaps she was right. Before I could ponder the concept for long, my thoughts were interrupted as I heard a voice on my combadge. “Red alert! Intruder in engineering!” I heard the sound of the automatic doors opening, and whirled around. There was a blur of motion as a figure rushed through the doors and into the hangar. Moments later, Ensign Martin and Denarchia followed, their phasers aimed at the thing that had entered the shuttlebay. My eyes tracked its movement; it was a Bioleech, and it was heading for one of the shuttlepods! The creature spun around and spat a pair of acidic projectiles from its mouth. Denarchia dodged the first, but the second clipped Ensign Martin, and she fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The Bioleech turned and entered the shuttle. Chief Todd shouted, “Computer, lock out shuttlebay door commands; authorization Todd-three-seven-three!” But Chief Todd’s attempt did no good. The shuttlepod lifted into the air and fired a phaser blast at the door, tearing a hole through it. I grabbed the side of the shuttle and held on as the hangar’s seal was broken, allowing the vacuum of space to begin sucking anything not nailed down out. I turned and watched as Denarchia and Ensign Martin were lifted off their feet. I grabbed ahold of Denarchia as she flew towards me, and the chief managed to catch the ensign as she went by. An emergency force field materialized a moment later to cover the hole, and we all fell to the floor as the room repressurized. Denarchia gasped for breath. “We have to go after it!” I replied, “Are you crazy?!” Chief Todd scrambled towards the shuttle. “No, she’s right!” We headed for the shuttle’s hatch, and I turned to look at Samantha. “What about Ensign Martin?” Alyssa powered up the shuttle. “A medic will be here soon. I need you to pilot the shuttle while I finish the modifications to the warp core.” I moved to take her place at the helm, and winced as I started to the take-off sequence, hoping the console wouldn’t explode in my face. We hadn’t done any complete tests yet, but I was pleasantly surprised when it powered up without a single hiccup. The hangar door lifted and we flew out into the dark open vacuum of the Beta Quadrant. I plotted a pursuit course, and the shuttle shot to warp as we followed the stolen shuttlepod. “Captain, the intruder just left the hangar in Shuttlepod A!” Chekov stood up from his chair. “Can we get a tractor beam on it?” P’Trell replied, “Negative commander!” Chekov cursed under his breath. Cmdr. Forrester turned. “Sir, shuttlecraft 02 just left the hangar and is pursuing the stolen pod!” A voice came over the bridge comm. “Captain, the warp core just came back online!” Chekov didn’t even bother to ask how such a thing was possible. “How fast can we go lieutenant?” The Vulcan replied, “I can give you warp three at best, sir!” Chekov sat back down in his chair. “Mr. Arch, lay in a pursuit course.” Christopher turned to Chekov. “Course plotted, sir.” Chekov replied, “Punch it ensign.” The stars twisted and the starship stretched as it shot to warp, leaving a trail of blue plasma dust in its wake. The shuttle slid out of warp, and I was amazed when the warp core shut off and the engines switched over to impulse almost instantaneously. Normally, we would’ve overtaken the shuttlepod far sooner, but with the warp core modifications still in progress, we could barely match the pod’s max speed of warp four. Chief Todd entered the cockpit. “Cadet, have you ever performed a shuttle-to-shuttle docking procedure?” I turned and replied uncertainly, “Only in simulations.” She replied, “Well then, this’ll be a good chance to practice; I’m going to have to activate the docking hatch manually.” I glanced at the chief. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to beam over?” Denarchia shook her head. “No. It’ll be waiting for us. Why do you think it stopped? Because it realized we were catching up and decided to set the field rather than letting us make the first move.” I replied, “Couldn’t we pretend to dock; make it think we’re boarding, and then surprise it by beaming over?” Denarchia raised an eyebrow, and Chief Todd glanced at me. “That might just work.” She grabbed a phaser from the armory panel and turned back to us. “Destiny, get ready to dock; Denarchia, prep the transporter.” Denarchia nodded and headed for the transporter room, and Alyssa came over and stood behind me. “Just keep your eyes focused on the hatch, and take it slow.” I nodded, and she headed for the transporter room. I took a deep breath and eased the vertical thruster control downwards. A moment later, I heard metal and metal meet, and activated the docking clamps. I switched on Denarchia’s visual monitor, and watched as she and the chief materialized inside the shuttlepod. The two of them entered the cockpit, and Denarchia aimed her phaser up, mumbling something about, ‘always from above.’ But there was nothing in the cockpit. I heard the sound of something materializing behind me, and ducked as a ball of acid flew over my head. I slapped my combadge and shouted, “Chief, it beamed over here!” I dove out of the way to avoid being hit by another acid ball, and it instead tore through part of the nav board behind me. A moment later the chief and Denarchia materialized inside the cockpit. Denarchia aimed and fired, and I felt blood spatter across my uniform. I sidestepped as the creature fell to the ground, writhing and shrieking. A few more shots from Chief Todd and Denarchia left it lying motionless. I looked uneasily at it. “Is it dead?” Chief Todd shook her head. “Only stunned.” Denarchia added, “I’m not sure if it can be killed; that thing is way stronger than the ones that attacked us a few weeks ago.” I replied, “I wonder why?” The chief snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it! I’ve been wracking my brains out trying to figure out why they went after the warp core.” She held out her tricorder. “Just as I thought, this Bioleech has high amounts of antideuterium in its bloodstream.” Denarchia replied, “The antideuterium makes it stronger?” I added, “Shouldn’t it be killing it?” She shook her head. “Bioleeches have a special coating inside their digestive tracts and blood vessels that protect it from most acidic compounds. That's how they’re able to hold all that acid in their stomachs. It would only be dangerous if it was combined with deuterium.” Denarchia turned to the chief. “So, now what do we do?” Before Alyssa could reply, a blip appeared on my sensor board, and I said, “Chief, a ship is coming out of warp; it’s the Infinity!” We all watched through the window as the silvery-blue starship came into view. I smiled; it was quite the sight for sore eyes. I was about to pull us around, but I was distracted as another blip appeared on my monitor. I looked at it quizzically, “Chief?” Alyssa turned and came over. “What’s that?” I opened my mouth to tell her I wasn’t sure, but before I could, the answer to her question came out of warp. Denarchia turned, her eyes wide. “Bioship!...”
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