Ethav swiveled in his chair, the cool glow of his console reflecting off his pale blue skin. His antennae wiggled uneasily as he looked up at his captain. “Sir, we’re picking up a distress call.”

Horatio McCallister looked up with concern. “The Triton?” 

The young Andorian man shook his head as his antennae twitched. “Vidiian.”

McCallister turned to his first officer and shared the same expression with him. “We’ve not heard from them in a long time.” 

Thaustin agreed with a nod. “But they were the good ones.”

Kazlaf snorted. “Didn’t think we were handing out merit badges to organ thieves.”

She took a breath before speaking again. “Are there good ones?” Kazlaf muttered without looking up from the science station. 

“The ones that don’t want to harvest your organs,” Thaustin clarified, glaring at the back of Kazlaf. The Xindi-Primate looked back at the Andorian operations officer. “Ethav, can we hear what they’re saying?”

Ethav nodded and pressed a button on his console. A crackle hissed through the bridge’s speakers before a voice broke through, distorted and panicked.

“This is Doctor Teren Mala, head of the Vidiian medical research colony on Kezdara Four.” The male voice was rushed, laced with urgency. In the background, indistinct shouting echoed alongside the whine of distant weapons fire. “We are under attack by…” Static then took over the message. The transmission broke off, and an explosion echoed before the static returned. “…our defence force is overwhelmed…please, anybody…”

“Get me Captain Krabreii,” McCallister ordered.

A few seconds later, Orion’s commanding officer appeared on the main viewscreen. Her expression was calm, but the tension in her voice betrayed her concern. “You get the Vidiian distress call as well?”

McCallister nodded. “Yep.”

Krabreii sighed as she placed her hands on her hips. “Well, in this tactical situation, you have command authority, Horatio. You want to go and rescue them?” 

“I don’t think we have a choice; we can’t ignore them,” he replied. “I tell Corella what’s happening and that we’ll be delayed.”

“You can break the news to big brother. I’ll just blame traffic,” she said, with a sly wink.

“Thanks,” McCallister grinned back before the channel was closed. He looked down at the helm. “Rubon, adjust our heading for Kezdara Four.”

The pilot nodded. “Aye, sir.”

“Red alert, all hands to battlestations,” McCallister called over the shipwide intercom.

As the klaxon for red alert blared to life, the lights on the bridge dimmed and turned a threatening crimson. Officers moved with urgency, their faces tense. Once again, they were heading into battle to defend others who were being overwhelmed. Security officers with phaser rifles appeared from the lift and took a guarded position at key areas around the bridge. Handheld phasers were handed out to everyone else. 

Sat beside him to his left, McCallister had his counsellor lean in. “Sir, I hate to bring this up,” the Brikar officer spoke softly, “but what if this is a Vidiian trap?”

McCallister blinked, momentarily caught off guard by the suggestion. His instinct had gone straight to the Vaadwaur, so much of the quadrant’s danger seemed to begin and end with them these days. But the Vidiians? He stared at Oron for a second as he considered his thoughts. Had the Vidiians truly changed? Or was this another elaborate lure, baited with desperation? Eventually, he outweighed the dangers and knew they had something up their sleeve if it was a trap. 

“Then thank T’Penni, Ethav and Rubon for completing the quantum slipstream drive, as it means we can high tail it out of there if it is.”

“Good point,” Oron chuckled as he sat back in his chair.

Thaustin tapped his combadge. “Bridge to sickbay.”

“Go ahead, commander,” answered Doctor Uknare.

“Kamra, we’re about to answer a distress call from a Vidiian medical research colony. You may wish to issue bio-containment protocols.”

“Good thinking, Thaustin. We’ll be prepared.” 

Kazlaf’s eyes widened, and she slowly turned in her chair. Her fingers hovered above her console, forgotten. “Wait, did that doctor say his name was Teren Mala?” she asked, her voice quieter now, touched with uncertainty. Her mind was already connecting the dots.

McCallister hadn’t made the connection until Kazlaf had just mentioned it. “Belire, I think you’re right.”

Ethav looked up from his controls after rechecking the message. “Confirmed, Doctor Gereth Mala.” he looked over his right shoulder as his left antenna twitched. “You don’t think he’s related to Captain Mala, whom we saved last year?”

“Maybe,” Kazlaf remarked. 

“She did mention to me that her husband was a medical researcher and was part of the team that deployed the Think Tank cure,” Oron added.

“Well, we’ll see soon if it’s the same guy,” Jarata remarked from the helm. “We’ll be arriving at Kezdara in six minutes.”

Six minutes passed in a heartbeat.

As the Constitution and Orion dropped out of warp, the battlefield erupted into view. Kezdara Four hung below them. A scorched, amber-coloured planet with plasma fires marking the upper atmosphere from earlier orbital strikes. Above it, chaos reigned.

Three Vidiian warships, bulkier and uneven in shape, had their hulls patched and scarred. They were locked in a desperate dance with five agile Vaadwaur escorts and a group of fighters. The Vidiians were clearly outgunned; one of their ships had lost all propulsion, slowly spinning, bleeding plasma from its ruptured nacelles. Another fired wildly with an exposed port side, shields flickering under sustained Vaadwaur fire.

“Multiple Vaadwaur targets,” reported Kazlaf, her voice tense. “The Vidiians are trying to retreat behind the colony’s orbital station, but they won’t make it.”

“Ethav, send a message to the Vidiians that we are here to help,” McCallister ordered urgently. “Rubon attack pattern delta-one, Natima, fire at will against the Vaadwaur ships.”

All three officers responded with a round of ‘aye sirs’ as the crew got into action and started to fight off against the Vaadwaur again.

The Constitution banked hard to port, cutting across the battlefield. Twin bursts of phaser fire lanced from the ship’s dorsal arrays, striking a Vaadwaur ship that had been tailing one of the Vidiian vessels. The Vaadwaur shields flared blue, then buckled under a photon torpedo barrage launched from beneath the saucer section.

“They’re breaking formation!” Lonar called. “One of them’s turning toward us.”

The Orion joined the fray, swooping in with elegant precision. Captain Krabreii’s ship unleashed a punishing spread of quantum torpedoes, disabling one of the Vaadwaur cruisers with a direct hit to its engines. The explosion bathed the battlefield in white fire. As this occurred, Orion’s starfighter squadron launched and started engaging the smaller Vaadwaur crafts. Quickly supporting them, Orion’s phasers also hit out against the Vaadwaur fighters. Every strike landed true, cutting through the swarm with surgical precision.

The Vaadwaur responded. Two of their cruisers veered toward the Constitution, weapons lighting up the void.

McCallister called out to his pilot. “Rubon, evasive manoeuvre, pattern alpha-four!”

The ship shuddered as the first barrage struck her forward shields. Sparks erupted from the rear console as Ethav frantically rerouted power.

“Shields holding at seventy-two percent,” Lonar called out. She retaliated, launching a focused volley of phaser fire that carved across the Vaadwaur hull. Rubon twisted the ship beneath the enemy arc, giving the Cardassian officer a clean angle.

The battlefield briefly turned in the Vaadwaur’s favour until the Vidiians rallied.

One of the remaining Vidiian ships surged forward, its weapons reconfiguring mid-flight. Green lances of modulated beams struck a Vaadwaur cruiser amidships, punching through its weakened shields. 

“The Vidiians are turning back to help us, sir!” Jarata announced with a slight cheer in his voice.

“Then let’s finish this,” McCallister said with a sense of renewed confidence. 

The Constitution, Orion, and Vidiian ships moved as one. Another Vaadwaur ship exploded in a cascade of plasma and debris, its escape pods firing off like sparks.

“Two left!” shouted Kazlaf.

“Target their lead ship’s engines,” McCallister ordered.

The Orion led the charge, breaking through the Vaadwaur’s formation and drawing their fire. The Constitution and the Vidiian flagship flanked the enemy from opposite sides. A perfectly timed pincer movement. The final Vaadwaur vessel attempted to escape, but its attempt was too late. A synchronised torpedo barrage from all three allied ships crippled its engines. The ship spun out, powerless, before it exploded into tiny bits. 

The battlefield fell still.

“Sensors confirm all Vaadwaur ships are destroyed,” Kazlaf reported. “I’m not detecting any others.”

A scattered but sincere applause briefly filled the bridge, weary yet heartfelt. This was more than just another victory; it once again represented survival.

McCallister leaned over with a crooked smile. “Still think we walked into a trap?”

Oron gruffly chuckled. “No, but it’s hard to trust people who want to dissect every healthy and phage-free living being.”

“Sir, we’re being hailed from the planet below.” Ethav shared.

McCallister exhaled, then nodded to Ethav. “Open a channel.”

The viewscreen changed to show the face of a disfigured Vidiian man. “I am Doctor Gerath Mala. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, Doctor Mala. I’m Captain Horatio McCallister of the Federation starship, U-S-S Constitution.” 

“We don’t get many outsiders come to our aide, captain. My people’s reputation has been tarnished for centuries now.” Mala said solemnly. 

“Well, as long as you promise not to harvest our crews, we were more than happy to help,” McCallister replied. He stood up and took a few steps forward towards the viewscreen. “In fact, my ship and crew had the fortunate chance to visit one of your deep space colonies last year. By any chance, is your wife an engineer and living on a far away Vidiian colony for those not infected by the Phage?”

The doctor appeared confused by the directness of the question but nodded. “My wife, Brennara Mala, is a chief engineer on board a Vidiian warship. It’s called the Gerath.”

McCallister smiled at him. “Well, I can tell you we’ve recently met her, and she’s now a captain.”

Mala blinked, stunned. “Seriously?” He looked down briefly, absorbing the news. “That is good news. I recently lost contact with her colony after the interspatial flexure collapsed.”

  “Unfortunately, it was closed to prevent the Kazon from destroying the colony.” McCallister shared. “She and the other leaders on the colony wanted to preserve the settlement from any more Kazon attacks.”

Mala’s shoulders dropped slightly. “That colony was one of our last holdouts.”

“And it remains a shining beacon of how your civilisation could thrive without the phage, doctor,” Thaustin said as he joined McCallister by his side.

“Your wife is more than just alive,” McCallister added. She’s thriving. She’s now a captain and was assigned to us as a liaison. She is eager to return home.”

“Maybe… one day I’ll see her again.”

McCallister gave him a sympathetic look. “She hasn’t given up hope.”

The Vidiian doctor gave a weary smile. “Neither will I.” He took a breath and looked back at McCallister. “The Vaadwaur attack was unexpected. They said we were an abomination and that we should’ve died with our disease by now. However, we have received news that they have attacked several of our colonies and border outposts.”

“You’re not alone in this, doctor,” McCallister explained. “They have attacked the Talaxians and Haaknonians, too. We don’t know why yet.”

“This seems coordinated,” Thaustin shared. “Almost like they’re targeting specific areas.”

“I will speak to my government and share your heroic actions today, captain, and your news. Perhaps we can repay your debt and help our neighbours someday,” Mala suggested.

“We’d appreciate it. Do you require any further assistance?” McCallister asked.

Mala shook his head. “We should be able to help ourselves, now the Vaadwaur have gone, but thank you, captain.”

“Understood. Call if you need help.” McCallister shared before nodding to Ethav to close the channel.

Once the viewscreen went blank, Thaustin looked at his commanding officer. “Did we just build a bridge with the Vaadwaur Sodality?”

“I think we did, commander,” McCallister replied, sharing the same surprised expression Thaustin had. “Let’s not keep the Triton waiting. Rubon, get us out of here, maximum warp.”

The Constitution and Orion both jumped to warp side-by-side, resuming their previous heading.