Mama, I'm Coming Home

Posted on Wed Jan 7th, 2026 @ 2:06am by Commodore Wilkan Targaryen & Commodore Loatha Targaryen & Commander Ash Randall & Lieutenant Commander Sora Bernadotte & Lieutenant Urvasi Elandorn & Lieutenant (J.G.) Dylan Blake
Edited on on Wed Jan 7th, 2026 @ 2:18am

7,198 words; about a 36 minute read

Mission: Distress
Location: Runabout Sundweller / U.S.S. Defiant / U.S.S. Enterprise
Timeline: 2439-08-12, 11:15

First Officer's Log, U.S.S. Defiant, Supplemental:

We have temporarily transferred to Deep Space 47's support craft, the older Flyer Class runabout Sundweller, to try to intercept Defiant and Enterprise before it's too late. I can't escape the irony of the choice in shuttle for this mission. The Sundweller was a Vulcan bird that went extinct and now we're using its namesake to try to stop our ships from plunging into a star. I can only hope that we're successful.

Lieutenant Commander Ektis Samti transported into the cockpit of the Runabout Sundweller with Commander Berandotte and Lieutenant Blake beside him. The Sundweller was a Flyer Class runabout that was, essentially, ancient by modern standards. The production model version of the Delta Flyer constructed by the crew of the Starship Voyager while in the Delta Quadrant, the Sundweller was built in the 2380s and was one of the first such vessels produced by Starfleet. As far as Commander Ektis knew, the Flyer Class had been decommissioned shortly after the turn of the century, but the Sundweller and its two sisters escaped because of Starfleet assigning them to DS47. Apparently, the conventional wisdom had been using a decommissioned ship wasn't considered much of a threat.

The cockpit of the Sundweller was more spacious than the Bajoran Commander had expected, especially when compared to other shuttles. Instead it was more like the Bridge of a starship, including distinct, fixed workstations for tactical, operations, and engineering personnel, and a forward-facing pilot's station in a recessed tier. The front window was standard (especially when compared to the asymmetrical window on the original Delta Flyer), and standard LCARS panels had replaced the physical buttons, knobs, and levers of the original. This was a shuttle built for speed, not clunky like other Starfleet shuttles, now was her chance to prove it.

"Alright folks," Samti called out as he stood next to the ramp to the lower level, "we have only a few minutes left to help our friends. Stations, please."

Commander Randall sported a predatory grin as she went to work. "We couldn't have picked a better platform to work with." She announced, a note of excitement in her voice. "Outstanding!" She added as the senior engineer went to work by opening her black bag and fishing out a small box with a selection of positronic chips in it. "A junk MK II is what I had to work with at the academy when I reimagined Slip Stream." She revealed, while she pulled and plugged chips at a frantic pace. "Star fleet Engineering hates it, of course. Its rough...Its ugly and impossible polish up and make it pretty but, it works. For about 2 minutes we'll be the fastest ship in the galaxy that is NOT Enterprise." She finished.

Lieutenant Urvasi Elandorn moved over to another panel and dropped it open. She began changing parameters for the engines and core to match what she was reading from the being created on the fly Positronic Computer System for Warp Engine field control. She could build a control console from Scratch, and she meant it. As she did, she used her holodeck programming experience to reconfigure the LCARS interface to show the new speed positions as well as shift phase sensors holographic near space placement to easier track the Enterprise, Defiant, and the Sundweller. "Ready for Sync when you are, Commander Randall."

Sora immediately sat down at the Operations console in the Flyer's cockpit and ran a systems diagnostic. She had brought the datachip she had used on the station, just in case there were any issues, but it seemed that their enemy had not been quite as thorough with the Runabouts. "All computer systems clear, sensors operational, power systems nominal," she reported.

Feeling as if he'd bought a water pistol to a gun battle Blake looked around the senior crew and unusual craft nervously. Even Urvasi's presence did little to soothe him as they stood ready to jump to the rescue.

"Commander Ektis," he addressed the Bajorian XO. "Where would you like me?" he asked noting that both Sora and Ash had filled both operations and engineering stations.

"Tactical," he answered simply.

"Right," Blake nodded and hurried over toward the empty station taking a moment to familiarise himself with the layout while the runabout continued to power up around him.

"Ready." Ash announced in response to Urvasi as she buttoned up the panel and looked to Samti. "We're ready to go." She informed him.

Urvasi nodded as she synced the improvements and then mirrored her changes to the other stations linked to the data. The telltales came back green. She called out, "Everything's Synced, heading to pilots station."

Without a workstation of his own in the cockpit of the Sundweller, Commander Ektis chose to stand in the center at roughly where the Captain's Chair would be. The Bajoran nodded at the announcement, "Let's get this over with. Seal the airlock, Commander, and get me the dock master."

Seconds passed until the channel between the Sundweller and DS47's Operations was open. Ektis spoke, "Control, this is Sundweller requesting permission to depart."

The answer was immediate, "This is control. Sundweller, you are granted permission to depart. Departure sequence initialized."

Urvasi keyed in the sequences to go to full control when the space station released her kept charge.

Through the forward viewport they watched as the runabout began its ascent on the elevator toward open space above. It took less than thirty seconds for the runabout to be exposed to open space and under its own power. Ektis crossed his arms as he looked around at the personnel, "May our journey be blessed by the Prophets. Set course to intercept Defiant and Enterprise. Slipstream Factor 1. Execute."

Now he became a spectator, watching as their miracle came together.

Urvasi moved the ship away from DS47 at high impulse speed. From what she gathered in seeing the updated metrics go through her changes, she needed some distance from the space station before engaging the drive. As she did this, her console requested updated sensor readings to lay in quick courses to skim by anything between the Sundweller and the other two starships.

Ash glanced at Ektis, standing in the middle of the cockpit with his arms crossed, and mentally smiled. "There's only one speed, Commander, and its not Factor 1." She stated, with a little giggle.

"Funny," the Bajoran answered, "Just get us there!"

Sora grinned. "Let's show the dear Commander how we do things the Enterprise way," she remarked, before chuckling. She hadn't been on the Enterprise crew long, but she certainly felt like a key part in the machine. "Looking at long-range scans, I am not sure we will be able to force both ships out of warp at the same time. If we are unable to do so, Ash, do you think you'd be able to beam me onto Enterprise's bridge while you go after Defiant? I've brought the chip with the system override virus, that should immediately reset the computer if needed."

Defiant's XO interrupted, "The priority will be to repair Defiant first, followed by the Enterprise." He turned to Blake, "Mister Blake, prepare to emit Inverse Graviton Bursts once we intercept Defiant and Enterprise. We can use the bursts to destabilize the Warp Fields of the ships and knock them out of Warp. Once we restore Defiant, we will turn our attention to Enterprise."

"Y-yes sir," Blake hesitated before starting the process he'd been instructed to carry out. "Save the Defiant first, sir?" he asked unable to hold his tongue at the prospect of saving the smaller vessel over the superior might of the Federation Flagship. Of course the Commander may have just been putting his ship and crew first self consciously.

"I don't customarily explain my orders, Lieutenant," The Mission Commander continued, "We've seen that this virus has advanced capabilities, but what defenses does it have? Are we going to find ourselves attacked by these ships? If so, we need the Defiant to help us in combat against the Enterprise."

Blake paused again. The XO made a good point, while the Enterprise had more tactical sense to save first, she had a lot more teeth that could harm the runabout. "It would be a mistake to dismiss the possibility."

Ash gave a mental shrug and remained silent, for the moment. All things being equal, it didn't matter which one of the ships they 'fixed' first as either one would vaporize the Sundweller in a heartbeat at the ranges they would be at. Hell, the point defense systems of either vessel would turn them into space junk without difficulty because, as Ash calculated things, there was only one position they could be in relative to both vessels to force them out of warp and they were doomed if either went on the offensive. "Brace yourselves, this may be a bit of a bumpy ride." She announced as Urvasi engaged Slip Stream and off they went.

"It's already been that, Commander," Ektis joked. "Let's go."

Ash rolled her eyes, locked the engineering console so it was, practically, on top of her and synched her seat and shoulder restraints down, tight.

Seeing Ash prepare for a bumpy ride, Sora chuckled. "I'm sure it's not going to be as bad as flying through the atmosphere of a planet perpetually battered by hurricane-level storms, with no inertial dampers," she remarked, while casually buckling in. "All systems ready, inertial dampers at full efficiency. All other non-essential power redirected to engines. Let's get this show on the road already. And remember, I have the override chip in my pocket. If we can't get both ships at the same time, beam me onto Enterprise. I'll take care of her."

Commander Ektis really wanted to ask more about when Commander Bernadotte had flown through the atmosphere of a planet perpetually battered by hurricane-level storms with no inertial dampers, but his focus was instead on making mental preparations for what was to come. "My orders have been relayed, Lieutenant Commander Bernadotte. You'll beam to the Defiant first and restore its systems in case the virus we are dealing with has safeguards where we are placed under attack. We'll need the Defiant's weapons," Ektis reminded as the Runabout entered Slipstream.

Walking to the lower level, he flipped open the wall mounted seat and sat next to Lieutenant Elandorn, "How long until we arrive?"

Urvasi glanced over at him as the runabout reached its target space for going into slipstream even as she updated her navigation routes. She grabbed the flight stick controls even as she responded with, "Commander Ektis, at our speed when I engage? 77 seconds. Safe distance reached, Engaging."

"Oh," Blake whispered fumbling slightly with his seat restraints and locked them into place just in time to feel raw speed released in a truly shocking event.

The ship seemed to stretch itself into a long, far, corridor, as it entered into the speed of 230 LY an hour. The ship blinked out from the 'safe distance' spot even as the long, stretching sensation returned to a more normal 'picture' of the bridge. However, that was not quite the case. The speed shift had at first brought a sudden 5G felt thrust against them despite the updated programming to the inertial dampers. The strengthened integrity fields barely kept the ship together, but it did, thanks to the fact the ship was built for speed in mind.

As those on board caught up with the presence of the ship, there was some tiks, groans, and weird sounds coming from the ship, sounds normally not heard. At the helm, Urvasi's attention was fully upon sensor data and ship feeds, nothing else even mattered to her. Right now, at this speed, she had to get through the gravatic and space mote elements trying to slow them down or even drop them out of their created slipstream. Except, she still had one ear trained back to listen for Ash and Ektis.

A new element was added to the sounds. Shudders, vibrations, and hard shifts were being felt by those on board. The main display in front showed a countdown timer, which was at 74 seconds and proceeding to diminish. An up/down/up/down stutter force was felt as Urvasi shifted her hands in small twitches as she dodged edges of gravity fields that could have effected them. A sideways force of 3 gs occurred as she performed a 1080 degree roll with shift distance to sidestep a heavier particle field in their path. The time was at 72 seconds.

At the Engineering console Commander Randall had her eyes closed and shifted her body position, slightly, leaning a little this way and then a little that way in anticipation of the maneuvers by Urvasi. The Chief Engineer had a little bit of a smile on her face as if she were enjoying the ride.

Sora closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat as the shuttlecraft accelerated, and Urvasi began maneuvering. The sudden acceleration was not particularly pleasant, but, on a whole, this was much less awful than she had expected.

While unseen as Urvasi was in an EVA Suite, her muscles were tensed as she guided the runabout through the hazards of space. It was an 'easy' job when doing normal warp factors, and while slip stream was a more intensive endeavor, this was on a whole other level. It was like practicing the speedruns at the Academy on a simulator in hypermode... you had to be really good with controlled and knowing twitches that went into an intuitive realm. Well, she had done that, just to prove to herself that her asteroid flying days in her Advanced Scholastic Studies on Existent Point Planet. Now, that time in the simulator was paying off. She could do this, get the team there safely. The ship performed an impossible left-up shift followed by a middle-down shift with an up-right roll shift and then a right roll left-down-up shift to get through a cloistered area of large sun gravity wells.

Sitting not far from Lieutenant Elandorn, Lieutenant Commander Ektis smiled as the runabout did its best to survive the transit What should've been scary as Hell though was far from it for him, instead it was a Hell of a lot of fun. It was almost like riding a Terran roller coaster as the Sundweller navigated through the Slipstream Conduit. He couldn't help but smile as they traveled.

A smirk began to form on Sora's face as the adrenaline kicked in. She opened her eyes, and glanced at the readouts on her console. "All systems holding. Structural integrity at ninty-nine point nine-three percent. Inertial dampeners at three hundred percent capacity. Make that four hundred. We're good, for now."

Countdown time: 60 seconds

Urvasi could not help about the turbulence as she continued with the guidance. She was so glad she had preprogrammed major obstacles via the nav computer as she now could concentrate on just the sensor data and flying through it. Everything the occupants were feeling was because she was exceeding what the internal dampers could compensate for. What was it her room mate said? Oh yes. She said out loud, "Sorry about the fun house roller coaster ride during an earthquake, it can't be helped."

"It's more fun than I expected," the Bajoran said with a grin.

Sora chuckled. "You're a better pilot than the guy who tried to impress me in those storms, for sure."

Urvasi said out, "Thanks." as her concentration took her fully back into flying.

Countdown time: 45 seconds.

Urvasi found a pathway of least amount of obstacles to allow for just a light vibration of the ship even as she kept the vessel on its course. She called out, "Reprieve for 30 seconds before next dodging session..."

"Nicely done." Ash advised her. "There were multiple paths to pick from." She added, with a little nod to herself. "We're going to pay for the respite in the final stretch though." She mused, a little note of amusement in her tone.

"Everything's holding, but the inertial dampeners are getting very close to burning out," Sora reported. "Shifting around some power to compensate. Sorry, I've got to turn off the A/C, but I think that's preferable over getting turned into goo when we decelerate."

"Ugh," Blake's small voice sounded from across the compact bridge. While the others appeared to be enjoying the thrill of the turbulence he wasn't so much. Thrust into the depths of his seat and his eyes squeezed closed his body was tense and yearned for this hellish ride to stop.

Countdown Time: 12 seconds

Once more the ship went into contortions of trying to make its occupants feel like a small, metal ball in an old arcane game known as a Pinball Machine. And then, Urvasi saw the place they needed to be. She managed to twist the ship towards that exact placement, the shuddering seeming to rapid fire, as she counted down, "10, 9, 8..."

Urvasi finished the countdown, "2, 1, NOW." The ship switched modes from slipstream to Warp drive, 5.001, exact placement for their warp field, now exaggerated by going from slip stream to warp, and going into both the Enterprise and Defiants Warp fields. Now it was time for the team to spring into action. She got them there, even though the strain and concentration had wrung her out. She wondered if her beau Dylan would be up to give her a massage later when this was all done and in the past.

Sora shuddered and let out a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding in. "Whoa," she exclaimed. "Okay, this was almost worse. That was some fine flying, Lieutenant." She went over the systems and simply nodded as she unbuckled herself. "Systems are fine. We are in position, and we have exactly one minute until we reach the point of no return. Blake, it's now or never. Graviton bursts ready."

Urvasi's tail moved in acknowledgement of Sora's kind words. She truly felt all in for the moment, just deeply breathing to regain her energy. Her wrists and fingers hurt from the very controlled twitches to the manual control sticks. She still had the presence of mind to switch to the LCARs interface to maintain the runabouts course between the two errant ships.

Undoing the restraints of his chair, Commander Ektis rose from his seat and took a second to regain his bearings. The runabout's intertial dampeners were finally getting back to normal, but it made his legs feel a little bit like they were made of jelly. It took a moment, but he got back to normal. Walking up the railing, "Fire when ready, Lieutenant."

Feeling as if he'd just shaken the teeth out his jaw and his organs had been jumbled up inside Blake wasn't sure he could force his hands to work let alone find his voice. Miraculously both seemed to be working in order: "Firing."

"Structural integrity fields have done their job. No real damage to speak of...the Sundweller is a tough, little, ship." Ash announced, quietly, while Blake took his shot.

Sora got out of her seat, and briefly touched Urvasi's shoulder. "Seriously. Great flying. Last time I had a flight like this, the pilot puked." She turned to Commander Ektis. "Ready to transport on your command. Beam me directly onto the bridge, ideally next to the Ops console. I'll have the systems reset in a blink."

Urvasi managed a very tired, "Thank you very much, Commander Bernadotte, very much appreciated."

Having taken the Operations console that Commander Bernadotte had vacated, Commander Ektis nodded, "Energizing to Defiant now."

The older transporters on the Sundweller took a second longer than the current generation, but the transport was successful and Commander Bernadotte found herself on the Bridge of the Defiant. That was the good news, the bad news was that the safeguards that Commander Ektis had feared were real. Alarms started to blare in the cockpit of the Flyer Class Runabout.

"Defiant and Enterprise are both raising shields," the Bajoran informed. "Weapons are charging! Evasive, now!"

The order came fast, but the small runabout was already taking heavy damage from the Enterprise.

"On it" came from Urvasi as she was already working to evade the fire from the Enterprise, but the runabout was a speedster, not a combat vessel, and systems were already struggling. "Not Good... " she said to no one in particular as she tried to pull out a miracle.

"We can't take much more of this Commander," Blake called out. "If the Defiant joins in we'll be toast."

Urvasi saw another volley incoming as she called out, "Incoming.... brace yourselves..."

The crew disappeared in transporter swirls of energy before that final brace of Enterprise weaponry reached the Sundweller...

The Bridge of the Starship Defiant was not what most people expected. While the earliest Defiant's Bridge was long and narrow, the current generation's command center was short and wide when compared to its predecessor. Sharing the same design as the Battle Bridge for the Enterprise, it was at least familiar.

Commodore Loatha Targaryen sat in the center of her Bridge reading the information on the datapad that she held carefully. Defiant and Enterprise both were on approach to Idran and, so far, their crews had been unable to break through the safeguards of whatever virus they'd been infected with. One of her technicians had tried to directly access the Computer Core itself and a forcefield engaged, bisecting him. Whoever made this they were brutal, horrible monsters.

Looking up from her PADD, the Captain's eyes went to the combined console that housed the Operations and Flight Control stations ahead of her. Andorian Lieutenant Etohl ch'Chavis was busily typing on his console trying to break into navigation to reset their course and Security Chief Wodran had temporarily taken Ops trying to break through the security lockouts around the Main Computer. She certainly appreciated both of them for being so dedicated. She only hoped that they were better than whoever it was that programmed this virus.

"Anything?" the Commodore asked hopefully.

Lieutenant ch'Chavis answered, but kept working as he did, "No, Ma'am, not yet." His ice blue fingers dashed over the computer panel trying to break the encryption lockout on the Helm. "I almost had it, then the challenge code reset."

Having moved to one of the ancillary stations next to her chair, Loatha replied, "Keep at it. We only have a little time left."

"I'll try, Ma'am," he never stopped trying either.

A series of alarms rang from the Tactical station. With Wodran occupied at the Helm, Loatha herself went to find out what was going on. Standing at the freestanding console, she was surprised to see that there was a high concentration of Inverse Graviton Bursts in the area. She smirked, knowing already what was happening.

"Hang on," she ordered as the Defiant passed through the field. In an instant the Valiant Class escort was no longer a Starship traveling through the stars. Instead, she was like an old vessel of wood and iron caught in the white-knuckle grip of the ocean. The world around them fell away in a sickening, weightless drop as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up with the strain. Then came the impact, or lack their of, of the ship losing its warp field. A bone-jarring thrum vibrated through the soles of the crew’s boots as the hull screamed from the strain, being pushed to its absolute limits. Unsecured objects became projectiles, clattering across the tilting deckplate as the lights flashed around them. Consoles sparked a storm of electricity from multiple consoles as Defiant reached her limits.

Commodore Targaryen pulled herself back to her feet, right in time for a transporter beam to appear very near to her. Looking over she was surprised to see a face she hadn't anticipated. A Starfleet Officer appeared in the working uniform that her husband on the Enterprise preferred his crew wear, the woman's ashy blonde hair highlighting her high cheekbones and well-defined jawline. She wore glasses, which Loatha found surprising, but not if what was long suspected turned out to be true.

"Welcome to Defiant, Commander Bernadotte," Defiant's Commanding Officer greeted. "Since you weren't on the Enterprise when I was talking with my husband I hope that means you're here with a plan."

She didn't have time to answer. Instead, Defiant caught up with the galaxy around it. The Tactical console began to scream in alarm as the sensors locked on and discovered the source of their rather abrupt escape from Warp. "You may've wanted to stay on 47. Defiant and Enterprise have found your shuttle and they're locking on."

As soon as Sora materialised, she made her way to the Ops console, unceremoniously pushing aside the officer at the station. "This should only take a second," she stated, completely skipping any formalities, as she inserted the datachip and activated it with her command code. "Please work," she muttered under her breath as the override virus executed.

A moment later, all screens on the bridge went dark, before coming back online, now showing the familiar emblem of the Earth-and-Dagger. "There. System override complete. Commodore, you have your ship back. Now all we need to do is get me onto Enterprise to do the same thing."

"I have a feeling that's going to be an easier said than done kinda thing," Loatha looked at the Enterprise's Ops Officer, "Take Ops, Commander, I need my Tactical Officer at his station."

"Aye," Sora simply replied, as she sat at the console and moved to turn the brightness down, before remembering that it was now running a Terran UI - and thus the brightness was already set lower than Federation standard.

Loatha sighed as she said it. On the viewscreen Enterprise actively began attacking the runabout, its Phasers hitting the outer shields of the Flyer Class runabout. "Helm, get the runabout within our Shield bubble. Once we're in position I want you to bring the flight crew aboard," she ordered Commander Bernadotte.

"Yes Commodore," the Andorian answered.

As soon as Sundweller was in range, Sora immediately hit the transporters. "Got them," she exclaimed. "Now, how do we deal with that?", she added, waving at Enterprise on the viewscreen.

"An hour ago Will and I were arguing over which ship had tactical superiority," Loatha said with a bit of melancholy, "Looks like we're going to find the answer. We're not fighting my husband, we're fighting his ship, hopefully that AI isn't as tactically adept."

The door at the rear of the Bridge slid open, allowing the crew of the Runabout Sundweller entry on to the Bridge of the Defiant. Lieutenant Commander Ektis ignored his own station and took the General Access console to the Commodore's left, "We're alive, Commodore, and accounted for." He looked at the viewcreen and the Sundweller, "Tough little ship."

Urvasi had removed her EVA Suite Helmet on the way to the bridge. Once on the bridge, she called out, "Lieutenant Elandorn, ready to take the helm if desired." A sweat sheen could be seen across her muzzle, forehead, and neck, but her eyes were focused as she looked about the bridge to the helm and began studying the controls. The Enterprise AI was probably used to how the Defiant was piloted by its current Chief Flight Control Officer, but she could give a wildcard if that became apparent.

Loatha considered the option carefully, running the variables through her head. It did make sense, to a point, to use Lieutenant Elandorn for the Helm of the Defiant, but Enterprise would have detailed knowledge of her flight skills. She was going to answer when their world was interrupted. The runabout hovered in the distance, but Enterprise had lost interest. Instead, Enterprise had changed targets. Phaser beams struck the outer shield bubble of the Defiant, causing alarms to blare throughout the Bridge.

"Evasive maneuvers," Commodore Targaryen turned away from the viewer, "I'm more worried about the big ship than the little one. We need options and we need them now," she ordered as the Defiant tried to evade the Enterprise's Phasers.

Commander Randall peered at the main view screen for a second or two before she spoke up. "Blind her by adding a pair of sunburst warheads in a Quantum torpedo spread and then use a wide dispersal tractor beam to throw her shields out of sync with her weapons." The Chief Engineer of Enterprise suggested. "Coordinated with precise phaser fire synced to what you've modulated their shield frequency to, target the ventral power distribution node. She'll be, pretty much, helpless." Ash added, with a look to the Commodore. "For about 2 seconds. No shields, no weapons. Nothing. Long enough for someone to transport aboard." She finished.

Sora nodded. She had seen a very similar strategy in use before to get a landing party over to a hostile ship, and it had worked. With Randall's intricate knowledge of Enterprise's systems, this was going to be their best bet. "Since I am the one with the override chip, and more importantly the only one here who knows how to use it, I will have to be the one transporting over. Directly onto the bridge, as we did here." She looked around. "We will have a very short transport window. I've gone through what weapons and other systems Defiant has, and, unfortunately, there's nothing on this ship that could throw Enterprise into temporal desync to make things easier."

Commodore Targaryen listed to the suggestion of Commander Randall, followed closely by the additions of Commander Bernadotte. It wasn't going to be easy, regardless, but those three had the best chance of finding a way to penetrate the Enterprise's defenses successfully. "Coordinate with Tactical, Commander Randall, implement your plan."

"Aye, Commodore." Ash replied, while she moved over to tactical and quickly commiserated with the tactical officer. "Defiant will have to close her eyes for nearly a full second to avoid being blinded by the sunbursts. Enterprise will be sensor blind for, approximately, 6 seconds. In those six seconds we have to maneuver into position, modulate her ventral shields while syncing one Defiant's Type XX phaser arrays to the modulation frequency and lay in a 4 pulse burst on her ventral hull in, precisely, the right spot." She explained while 'helping' to stage the Torpedo spread, the precise tractor beam spread, power load and modulation shifts to sync with, and then the phaser firing solution to match it. "WE should be ready here." She advised, after several seconds. "Helm, be advised to move into position only after Enterprise has been blinded or we'll take a bull broadside in the face before we can modulate her shields." Ash admonished as she moved away from tactical to be ready to for transport.

The Commodore turned toward Ektis, "The second that Enterprise's shields are down beam these four directly to their ship."

"Yes Ma'am," the Bajoran answered as he took his station back from Commander Bernadotte.

"Well," Blake looked to Urvasi with a smirk in an attempt to hide his fear. "This is certainly not the day I envisioned this morning."

Urvasi yiffered gently with mirth as she replied, "Definitely."

Loatha laughed as the Defiant took a direct hit from Enterprise's Phasers, "Likewise."

Sora chuckled. "I don't think any of us did, Mr. Blake. When this is over, I am going to need a long, hot shower, with actual water. And a strong drink."

"We're not there yet." The Chief Engineer advised, quietly, as she handed off her black bag to her prehensile tail to keep her hands free.

"No, we're not," Loatha reiterated. "Are we ready to go?"

Sora nodded. "Ready as we'll ever be. Let's get this over with."

"Well, let's get on with it," she motioned to Ash as the Enterprise's Phasers hit the ventral shields. "When you're ready, Commander." She didn't like to give up control over her ship, but she knew Ash was the better choice this time.

"Aye, Commodore." Ash replied. "Tactical, fire torpedo spread and initiate sensor black out window." She ordered, the main viewer going black a second afterward. "Helm! Now!" She commanded as the main viewer came back up and Defiant slipped into position to modulate the shield frequencies and fire her phasers. "Tractor beam engage and Fire!" She ordered, the command surprisingly forceful for being said so quietly.

Urvasi followed what was happening and just prayed to the Creator that Ash's tactics would be successful and she would materialize on the Enterprise Bridge with Ash, Sora, and Blake.

"Enterprise's shields are down," Tactical Officer Wodran reported.

Ektis didn't delay, 'Energizing."

The four disappeared in the swirling energy of the Transporter.

Commodore Wilkan Targaryen typed rapidly on the controls of his chair trying desperately to overcome the lockouts that had essentially taken over his ship. It had been a little under an hour since the Enterprise had been infected with the virus from DS47 and, so far, all their efforts to stop it had been unsuccessful. Even resetting the Main Computer and reinstalling the systems from the protected backups failed which, as far as any lesson he'd ever had in computers had gone, was impossible. Whatever this was it was even more dangerous than the Iconian Software Weapon that protected their homeworld.

Glancing up at the viewscreen he watched as the Enterprise's Phasers struck the Defiant again, the sensors showing that the Valiant Class ship's shields had dropped down to half their normal capacity already. Defiant had managed to get a few shots in so far, but Enterprise had barely registered the assault. Whatever this virus was it had been able to interface with Enterprise's full tactical array and brought the experimental S.H.I.E.L.D.S. online. Three protective bubbles defended the Enterprise from harm right now, a far cry from the one around the Defiant.

The Commodore had pressed the emergency override control so many times he's actually started to cut his finger after damaging the display. It was to no avail though. If they didn't do something soon Enterprise would destroy Defiant and continue on its merry way to plunge into a star. Too bad they hadn't named it Phoenix. At least then he'd have some hope.

Retreating from the computer console, Wilkan rested against the back of the chair a moment. There was one program that was isolated and they still had access to. If it looked like Enterprise would take out Defiant, if Enterprise would be the source of such horrible destruction of people who had recovered their vessel, he'd engage the self-destruct system. The Secondary Command Processors were still under their control, and it would only take a single word.

The Defiant suddenly did a spread of torpedoes. However, instead of a strategic strike for survival, the torpedoes unleashed massive blinding sunbursts that caused the Enterprise sensor systems to be blinded for 5.872 seconds. In that time, despite the S.H.I.E.L.D.S. coming online the phasers modulation synched to the shielding, going through the layers. While the phasers actually did no damage, they did create a hole through the vast array of shielding to allow transportation of four individuals onto the Bridge of the Enterprise.

As soon as she and the others materialised on board Enterprise, Sora jumped towards the Ops console, moving her temporary replacement out of the way, before inserting the override chip and entering the relevant command codes. "Third verse, first as the first and second," she muttered under her breath as she waited for the code to execute and return control of the ship.

Urvasi leapt to the Helm and gently removed the person within the seat. She took it, already preprogramming courses to shift the Enterprise away from the star ahead while also shifting away from full weapons upon the Defiant. She looked at the main view screen, hoping to see the emblem of the Earth-and-Dagger appearing and showing the Enterprise was once more under commands control.

This time things didn't happen as planned. The emblem of the Terran Empire did not appear on the display as the software deployed. Instead, this time, nothing happened as the software was stalled by Enterprise's antiviral programs. Galatea's Artificial Intelligence was fighting the functions of the isolinear chip that Commander Bernadotte had used, and she was winning the battle. The problem was if she won, Enterprise would die.

"I take it that wasn't supposed to happen?" The Commodore asked from his seat.

Sora cursed. "No. It was not. Of course, neither the station nor Defiant are equipped with an advanced AI that would know to fight the override." She paused for a second as Enterprise regained her sensors and restored target lock on Defiant, when she realised something. There was another function of the chip, one she had not needed to use on the other two occasions - but it may be worth a try this time. "Commodore, you are not going to like what I am going to do next," she explained. "But it's either this, or blowing up Defiant." With this, the Operations officer entered a few more commands into her console.

Suddenly, the computer's voice sounded out on the bridge. "Confirm command level override."

"I did not expect that one to work so quickly," Sora remarked, before taking a deep breath. "Computer, execute command code override and transfer full control. Lock out all other operators. Authorisation, Commander Sora Svanirsdottir, code Asha-Nine-Five-Delta-Nine. Confirm and acknowledge."

"Code confirmed. Access Denied."

Wilkan's eyebrow rose, "I'm taking it that's still not what you expected, Commander."

Sora chuckled. "Whoever designed this ship's computer system was smart enough to know how to defend against these little toys. I take it you can work it from here, sir?"

Enterprise's Commander walked down the small set of stairs and stopped at the Operations console. Reaching down to the interface, he placed his hand flatly on the display. "Computer, execute command code override and transfer full control. Lockout AI program. Authorization Grand Admiral Willian Targaryen, One Pi Seventy Sigma One Alpha."

"Code confirmed. Access Granted."

"Purge all active datafiles not matching Starship Enterprise primary operating protocols, as defined in protected backup datacore. Authorization Grand Admiral Willian Targaryen, One Pi Seventy Sigma One Alpha," Wilkan said with a smirk.

"Code confirmed. Commands confirmed. Purging datafiles. Operation complete."

Still with his handprint, "Restore primary access protocols for Starship Enterprise. Restore AI to last maintenance point prior to virus infection. Lockout datachip from further override authorizations unless released by my voiceprint, including biometric data, both now and future."

"Commands confirmed. Operation complete."

At the helm, Urvasi shuddered slightly as she released the tension she had been holding while waiting for the Enterprise to become 'theirs' again from the virus. Her hands flew over the console to get the Enterprise into a trajectory away from the Star and Defiant and then await orders from the Captain.

"Eject chip," he ordered as the computer chip rose from the Operations console. He took it in his hand, "You know I should probably keep ahold of this for a rainy day. Instead, I'll just keep memories I picked up during my intel days." He handed off the chip.

Sora raised an eyebrow at the mention of Grand Admiral Targaryen. "I am impressed. Very impressed. And surprised the chip reacted to anyone's authorisation code other than my own. I'll have to have a chat with Shi-, I mean, with the hacker that made it, next time I'm in Japan." She looked at the chip in her hand, then held it out to the Commodore. "Since you've locked me out of this thing now, you might as well keep it. Like you said, never know when it might be useful."

Wilkan looked at the chip, recognizing the handiwork of a particular person with whom he was acquainted. Saying nothing about it, he looked at Ash, "Commander, I want a full damage assessment completed of the Enterprise prior to our return to 47. See to it personally, with Lieutenant Blake's help."

"Aye, sir." She responded, and headed over to the MSD to begin the assessment process. The Chief Engineer waved Lt. Blake over. "Grab some terminal, Mr. Blake." She ordered

While both Urvasi and Sora leaping into action to wrestle control of the ship Blake wisely remained a witness from a distance with his fingers crossed they'd succeed. It had felt a little touch and go as the Computer initially rejected the code but with some pressurisation they'd finally won out. The Lieutenant's relief was very apparent as he visibly sagged forward, but he caught himself having heard once more his name being called to carry out additional tasks.

The Commodore looked at Communications, "Send a message through the Morse Lamp. Make it simple: '47.' Loatha will understand. Tactical, bring that runabout aboard. We need to return it to 47. Lieutenant, set a return course for DS47," Wilkan ordered as he walked back up the stairs toward his chair. "All ahead Warp 5."

Working on her breathing, Urvasi called out, "Captain, Helm, course set, going to Warp 5." She shifted in her EVA suit and frowned to herself. She was sitting in her own sweat trapped in her fur within the EVA. She was definitely going to need a quick sonic shower then a bath after this.... besides a purge and clean of the suit as it performed its duties admirably.

"Lieutenant," he looked first at the Helm then to Ops, "You've both had a challenging day. Zero and One can maintain Helm and Ops for now. Go ahead and return to your quarters and rest." He input a sequence on his control panel as he issued the directive. Glancing at Ash and Blake, "Once you've completed damage assessment same goes for you two as well."

Sora shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, sir, but I would prefer to stay at my station until we're back at 47. Just in case we run into more issues."

"I'm fairly sure that we'll be fine now, Commander, and I highly doubt that either of you got anything to eat while you were over on the station. Shift ends at 13:00 anyway. Let's just call it an early dismissal," the Commodore said, noticing the twin Bynars, "besides, the four of you are probably exhausted. If the ship runs into trouble, I don't want you fighting to solve it at the same time you're fighting your own fatigue." It wasn't an argument they were going to win, this time at least. Wilkan continued, "Don't make me make something friendly into an order."

"Understood, thank you sir," Blake nodded trying not to grin at the prospect of shower and substance.

Sora was ready to challenge the Commodore, but finally decided against it. "If you insist, sir. I, however, insist that if there is a problem, you call me back to the bridge. I've been through longer days of stress. Although a bite to eat definitely sounds like a good idea right now."

"We'll manage," Targaryen reassured.

"Yes sir." Ash responded, quite happy to take the rest of the day off.

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