The chaos was a matter of how one could see it, the bridge crew was in scrambles trying their best to recover the away team as the breathing heat of the hostile vessel awaits for an answer. T’Prin fingers slides over the console trying her best to stabilize the transport buffer, but the patterns of the away team still slipping out of her fingers slowly degrading.

It didn’t help, as Samir looked up from his console, temporary taking over some operations task, “Captain, the hostile ship has given us a final ultimatum. They are still demanding the return of their property, or they shall retaliate against us” There was concern in his voice as he felt the vibe of the bridge getting more intense.

Standing next to sh’Irath, Rina took a deep breath, “What are the possibilities here Lieutenant? Can we break free from them without causing more problems to our transporting systems” Rina knew that she was asking the impossible. But she needed to find any kind of tactical advantage to the given situation. Her people were in need of action, and seeing T’Prin focus on her console, made her more concern that time was not in their favor.

Meanwhile, taking a deep breath, Ander looked at his console for the options that were in front of him. Diplomacy, deception or simple force. The older Captain narrows his eyes, he had to make a choice.

Transporter Room

Nervous petty officers looked at each other and then at the Transport Chief who worked tirelessly with Lieutenant T’Prin to stabilize the signal “Come on come on” He repeated, seeing a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. He looked up as the lights of the platform started to light up, flickering as it tries its best to reshape, reform the bodies of the away team.

But something was off, the system had difficulty to stabilize the transport buffer. Slowly seeing the away team materialize incorrectly, their bodies phasing between states. Agony, pain, and horror developing right in front of the three enlisted officers.

Bridge

Narrowing her eyes, “I am losing them” T’Prin shrugs as her Vulcan frustration was slowly showing in her facial expression. Her eyes slide to the side, seeing the Glasgow survivors stuck in the partial transport, their condition deteriorating. She looked back at her attempt to get the away team reassembled.

“You got this, Lieutenant?” Samir looked with concern at his co-worker.

She slams onto the console, “I need…. I require this manually. I am losing them” Without waiting for confirmation from the command team, she started to work. T’Prin had to attempt a manually reassemble of the away team and the Glasgow survivors, pushing the transport systems beyond its limits. She noticed the power boost that she gained from the engineering and nod in a thanks, knowing that Samir pitch a message to engineering.

Ander had all the faith in his team, and looked at the data log from the Glasgow, fragmented, but available. He narrows his eyes seeing the reason the hostile ship, destroyed the ship only moments ago.

Transporter Room

Feeling sick to their stomach, but keeping themselves ready to jump in and provide assistance in the transport room. The enlisted team stood ready, looking at the reassemble before them. A rainbow color of particles was flying on the transport platform. The awful sound of disgruntled voices pierce to the very soul.

But slowly the people were getting back into shape, until the team finally arrived on the platform. The team pushed forward, providing backup. The transport chief taps his badge, “Transporter room 1 to bridge, we got them!”

Bridge

A feeling of relieve was felt throughout the bridge, as the away team and Glasgow survivors were successfully pulled back together. But Ander and Rina were more concerned with the information they found of the Glasgow. Rina stood there with her arms crossed and looked at Ander “It was a cover-up, they were transporting high classified experimental technology, not of Federation origin” She shrugs “That doesn’t tell us one bit, but the guest outside want it?”

“Perhaps” Ander leans on his knees holding his hands together “They believe what was rightfully theirs was stolen, and this civilian ship was on the wrong spot, dragging Starfleet into the mud with it” Ander looked at the screen, knowing his time was running out “When Doctor Sar is …normalized please let him gain information from the survivors if possible about this…cover-up”

Rina nodded slowly “What about that” She looked over her shoulder to the hostile ship “What do we tell them?”

Taking a deep breath. Ander knew that this was going to be a difficult path to walk. Return the cargo, risking Federation interest but preventing war with an unknown race. Deny the enemy’s claim to knowing about this cargo, but this would provoke a retaliation. Finally, a bluff, misleading them into believing them about the cargo and state it was destroyed.

“Contact them” Ander orders as he sees Rina nod and move away from the sight to let her Captain do his job while she tends to the away team. “Lieutenant sh’Irath get ready, Lieutenant T’Prin keep an eye out on them” Ander looks at Rina who stood ready “Commander, coordinate where needed. Let them through” He looked at the screen, seeing only the audio symbol.

“Your answer” Was the only thing that came.

“We don’t have it. We checked our cargo, we only manage to gain the survivors of the Glasgow, a ship you destroyed without valid proof. Starfleet doesn’t involve themselves in these cases, but your actions almost cost the lives of my crew members. I advise you to approach this situation in the future with finest”

For a moment there was no reply, until “You are lying, we shall take it with force” The line cuts off.

“Captain, I am detecting energy fluctuations, I suspect there will be reinforcements inbound” T’Prin saw from the Grim Wall fluctuations bleeping “I advise we leave”

Taking a deep breath seeing the hostile ship powering up “Yellow Alert, Lieutenant sh’Irath get us out of here!” Ander orders short and direct. The Kusanagi suddenly started to move away from the hostile ship, as the ship began to fire at the Kusanagi hitting the shields. With the skills of sh’Irath performing a risky escape maneuver and Rina coordinating emergency repairs throughout the ship. The Kusanagi manage to get out of this dire situation by an inch. But the questions about the cargo were unresolved, people needed to get answers on the table and hopefully the Kusanagi crew gets them before arriving back at Hecate.