The USS Hydden loomed pitifully outside the window in the CMO's office. A good reminder of the lives at stake.

Dr. Rousseau and her staff were busy preparing for the casualties they were bound to get, prepping the trauma and surgery teams, when Commander Shelby called.

"Rousseau here."

"I would appreciate your accompaniment on the away team, doctor. There are probably people hurt over there."

She responded immediately. "On my way."

She left final instructions, then grabbed a medkit and headed out the door, when Shelby called again.

"Shelby to Rousseau. Second thoughts Doctor. Please assemble a medical team for second phase beam down. Our first priority is to secure the ship."

Jacqueline stopped in the doorway. "Acknowledged."

She turned, going back in.

"Dr. Frisk, Nurse Fisher, Ensign McKenzie, and Nurse Jaro. We will be beaming down to the Hydden after Commander Shelby and his team secure the ship to attend to the wounded. Gather your equipment and let's go." She turned to Leah Huntson. "Doctor, you are in charge until I get back."

Huntson nodded her head, turning to direct the remaining medical staff and the staff flowing in.

Jacqueline and her team were stopped once again when Commander Shelby called in an update. She sighed heavily. With all these delays, medical assistance probably wasn't going to be necessary.

"Commander, please keep me posted on your progress. We are ready whenever you are."

Lieutenant Commander Shelby scratched his chin for a moment while he thought about what Ensign T'Nevin had said. The young science officer was correct. If they couldn't get an accurate scan for a transporter lock, then the away team couldn't beam over.

"Let's see if your theory is correct Ensign." Shelby tapped his comm badge. "Lieutenant Commander Shelby to transporter room number two. We are having troubles scanning the USS Hydden with the main sensors, will you be able to establish a transporter lock?"

After a moment, Warrant officer Streb responded. "Sir, I am having a little difficulty because of the Nebula particle traces. However I am fairly confident that I can safely transport you over there sir."

Shelby looked at T'Nevin who simply raises one eyebrow. "Fairly confident? It sounds like your not too sure?"

"All right. Certain. I didn't want to sound cocky Commander!" Shelby could hear the smile in officers Streb's voice as he said it, which made him feel better. Shelby turned to face T'Nevin, whom had moved from his previous position to the opposite side of the science station. Pivoting around, Shelby spotted him again peering into the scanner visor.

"In my frustration with the scanner's inability to detect life forms, I failed to take into consideration that scanning on other frequencies could penetrate the contamination. It is an error I will not make again Commander, I assure you." T'Nevin stood up from the scanner and faced the Lieutenant Commander before continuing. "I am quite certain, however, that once you beam over to the USS Hydden, our transporter will be unable to retrieve you until the contamination from the Kai'Yasha Nebula has dissipated."

"I understand Ensign T'Nevin. Please continue your attempts to penetrate the interference and inform transporter room #2 when the nebula particles have dissipated enough to allow retrieval of the away team." Shelby was anxious to get his team assembled and report to the transporter room, so as he said it, he was turning to leave.

"I will do that Commander." T'Nevin then sat back down at science station number one and continued his scans of the other ship.

As Shelby and Jamson were on their way to the transporter room, Jamson tried to remain calm, he knew that Commander Shelby was the man for this mission but, still...his Human side could not regain control over him, he could feel the fire in his eyes, the desire to hunt and kill...

****Transporter Room****

Most of the crew inside the room was nervous. T'Nevin almost lost his mind, Shelby tried to calm T'Nevin down, and the other security men were also nervous.

Jamson got enough, all the delays..."ggggrrrrrrr...." he thought to himself turning to Commander Shelby and saying : "Sir, why aren't we doing anything?!"

Lieutenant Commander Shelby's away team stood on the transporter pad. Glancing around and seeing that his team was ready, Christopher taps his comm badge. "Shelby here Captain. The away team is assembled and ready to beam over to the USS Hydden on your order."

On the Bridge, the Second officer's voice could be heard through the intercom. "Understood Commander. We will lower the shields for your transport." Captain Price pivoted in his chair and turned to young Zak Baker, the Tactical officer on duty. "Lower the shields Ensign."

"Aye sir, dropping shields now." Ensign Baker tapped the controls and the energy shields dropped around the ship.

Captain Price was about to instruct the transporter room to go ahead and transport the away team when his thoughts were interrupted by the three materializing transporter beams near the main view screen of the Bridge. Captain Price stood up, shocked at what he saw. The beams materialized into three humanoids, armed with phasers.

"Intruder alert!" the Captain yelled, as the security officers on deck quickly fumbled with their phasers. "Security team to the Bridge!"

As the security officers drew their weapons, one of the intruders opened fire, striking one of the gold uniformed officers in the chest. One look at the darkened, black scorch mark on his chest told everyone what setting the phaser was set to.

Seeing an opening, Ensign T'Lein leaped from the Helm console and managed to grab the phaser arm of one of the intruders. The Vulcan was surprised at the shear strength this person possessed, as they struggled for control of the phaser, and staggered back towards the main view screen.

Another intruder, the one that killed the security officer seconds earlier, began firing again. The other security officer dodged the blast as he returned fire, hitting him square in the chest with heavy stun, staggering him only slightly.

The third intruder aimed his phaser at the shouting Captain Price. Seeing that there was little time to act, Commander Gael shouted as she jumped back from the Ops console. "Captain look out!" The intruder's aim was true. His phaser blast hitting Commander Carla Gael square in the back as she fell into the Captain's arms, gasping for breath. Captain Price caught her as she fell forward into him. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as he held the Trill officer in his arms and could smell the burning flesh from her back.

Another blast flashed near Counselor Shivok, which he easily avoided. Ensign T'Lein was still wrestling with the first intruder, and managed to knock the phaser out of his hand as it slid across the bridge to the opposite side of the main view screen. The angered intruder grabbed the Vulcan by the throat, holding him off of his feet with one hand, before tossing him over the Ops console like a rag doll. T'Lein was unhurt as he landed, rolling slightly, then pausing to get his bearings.

T'Nevin was watching from the science station, and saw the phaser slide across the room. Seeing an opening, he dashed across the Bridge and grabbed the phaser. Training it on the intruder that killed the first security officer, T'Nevin fired. The intruder was jolted from his feet, slamming against the wall near the main viewer screen. Unfortunately for Ensign T'Nevin, he now had the attention of the other intruder who quickly turned and fired. The science officer scrambled to get out of the way of the blast.

Having shaken his head after being thrown over the Ops station, T'Lein decides to take advantage of the intruders momentary distraction, and his fortunate position. Ducking down low, as to not be seen, the Vulcan reaches up to the Ops console and begins activating the controls. A shimmering localized force field appears, trapping the Bridge intruders to the left of the main view screen.

One intruder takes aim at T'Lein and fires his phaser. But even on the deadliest setting, the phaser is unable to penetrate the force field.

Everyone on the bridge gets back on their feet. Mr. Shivok approaches Captain Price who is standing in front of his chair, still holding Commander Carla Gael in his arms. "Captain, let me help you with the Commander..." Counselor Shivok could sense that this surprise attack had shocked Captain Price. The swelling of emotions was easily felt from the Captain as the smoldering body of Commander Gael laid in his arms. Shivok was tempted to go further into the Captain's thoughts, but refused to breach that level of professionalism.

"No." Captain Price scooped up the Commander's body into his arms as he spoke. "The Bridge crew needs you here right now Counselor. I will be in Sickbay." The Captain began walking to the turbolift, pausing near the body of the dead security guard.

"Captain! Sensors indicate that this was not the only boarding party to beam on board when we lowered shields. I am counting, four, no five! Additional transport signatures on various decks, including Main Engineering." T'Nevin sounded a little excited, but that was understandable.

Captain Price looked at all of the young faces that stared at him as he stood there near the turbolift. Commander Carla Gael's limp body in his arms. Without speaking he kneeled down, and took the phaser out of the hand of the dead security officer. Pressing the controls with his thumb, he adjusted the phaser to it's maximum setting. He then looked back to the bridge crew. "Security protocols Ensign T'Nevin. Ensign T'Lein, you have the Conn. Raise shields, and disable the USS Hydden's transporters. I will return once the ship is secure."

"Aye Captain. And what should we do with our,... guests over there?" T'Lein motioned to the intruders who were still struggling with the force field he had erected.

Captain Price stepped onto the turbolift. He stood there, holding Gael's body in both arms, a phaser jutting out of one hand. "Once the ship is secure, have them transported directly to the Brig. Standard weapon deactivation procedures." T'Lein nodded affirmatively as Captain Price ordered "Sickbay." And the turbolift doors slid closed.

Sickbay was still preparing for casualties when, quite unexpectedly, Captain Price came running in, carrying a very unconscious Commander Gael and a phaser in his hands. Jacqueline took one look at Gael and knew it was serious.

"What happened?" she asked as they headed for the Biobed. She took out a tricorder and began scanning.

"The bridge was visited by some unexpected guests."

Jacqueline looked at the readouts from her equipment. The phaser blast had struck her square in the back, and it's energy had traveled up her spinal cord an fused it at the base of the head. She had died instantly.

Jacqueline grimaced. She hates it when things like that happen, and the fact that it was the ship's new first officer didn't help matters at all.

There was still one problem. Carla Gael was a joined Trill, and the symbiot, Gael itself, was still alive.

"We have to keep the symbiot alive. Get her on a life support unit. NOW!!" She turned quickly to the captain, still standing in the background. "Sir, I can keep Gael alive for no more than two days inside Carla. After that, something needs to be done. But we need to get to Trill, sir, or we lose Gael too."

****Transporter Room2****

"Shields have been lowered, Sir" the transporter chief said.

"Why aren't we doing anything Sir?!" Jamson asked Commander Shelby.

"Jamson......." Shelby tried to reply Jamson but then the red alert sounds started to work with Captain's Price voice in the background : "Intruder alert!"

Shelby turned to the transporter chief and asked : "What happened?"

"Sir...there are 4...no 6...transport signatures on various decks..." the transporter chief responded.

Jamson looked at Shelby and thought to himself : "Now is the time to act!" and then he said to Shelby : "Sir?"

As a phaser bolt zips by the arm of Ensign Hoyt it skims him barely. "We need more security down here!!!" yells Steve. A security guard gets hit dead center in his chest. Steve rushes to the security guard.

"You gonna be all right?"

"unnn". Grabbing his phaser rifle, Steve takes aim and fires. (missing the intruders) The intruders take a shot at Steve hitting his arm (luckily its on a low setting)

"@#$%!!!". More security officers come in.

"How many are there?" questions on of the officers.

"Three" yells Steve.

"STEVE!" as Ensign Smith jumps in front of Steve a phaser bolt hits him.

"AHHH" yells the female officer, Ensign Bates, as she is thrown by one of the intruders against a bulkhead.

A security officer yells out "Chief, I need your help!"

Steve runs up the stairs to where he was. "This control panel is severely damaged and ..." Steve pushes him as a phaser bolt flies past them. They get up and Steve pries the panel open and starts to rearrange wires and conduits and other stuff.

"Working" .

"Good, now I can bypass a program to secure them." says the security officer. He starts to push buttons and a bolt hits him.

"fi nn n iisshh thhe commmmma." with that he dies. Steve gets up and finishes the sequence for the force fields. "With out those codes we would all be dead now." Steve says to himself. The intrudes struggle in the force fields.

"Capizzi to Dr. Rousseau. Can you send a medical team to engineering?, NOW!!" Steve picks up the body of the security officer next to him and brings it to the corridor out side as the medical team arrives. They turn on there medical tricorder and examine him. Steve goes back and picks up the body of Ensign Bates and brings her to the team. The team spreads out and starts to turn on there medical tricorders.

"@!$@, my arm hurts." As a medical officer starts to run a medical tricorder over Steve, "Hmm, Thats not good we should get you to Sickbay."

The unexpected boarding of the ship has sent casualties in from all over. Ten officers have been wounded, four are serious. So far, there have been three fatalities. One of them, Commander Gael, is being kept on life support until we reach Trill and find a new initiate to place Gael in.

"Just a second more . . . there." Dr. Rousseau let out a long sigh as she pulled away from Ensign Bates. "Okay, close it up. Give her ten cc Corophizine to ward off infection."

Jacqueline stepped out into the very busy examination ward, making a beeline for Ensign Capizzi. She took out her tricorder and waved it over Capizzi.

"Well?"

She looked up and smiled at him. "That arm is healing, and will be fine in a few days. Just don't get hit again, Ensign. So go!"

"Dr. Rousseau!" Jacqueline turned at the sound of Ensign McKenzie's voice. She was looking after the security officer that had been hit in Engineering. His nervous system was shutting down.

"Five cc Tricordrazine!" It didn't work. His system shut down completely. "Get a Neural Stimulator on him." The unit was placed on him and activated. Nothing.

"Again . . ."

There was a flicker in his life signs before they leveled out again.

"Again!"

The meter was still.

"Again!!!!"

It was thirty minutes later that all hope was abandoned. The time of death was recorded. The death toll was up to four. Jacqueline shook her head and slammed her fist into a wall.

"Damn!!!"

***Conn***

As T'Lein accepted the order Captain Price gave him to take the Conn and secure the Galaxy, he became a little pre-occupied with excessive thoughts of confusion. He could hardly begin to sort out all the chaos that previously took place on the bridge, but he initiated a small meditative process in his mind to gain control over his thoughts.

Ensign T'Lein ordered, "Ensign Baker, lock phasers at minimal power on the Hydden and fire at your discretion to disable the ship. Be cautious ensign...the ship has already sustained major damage. We only want to disable her, nothing more." ( The first order of business for the ensign, as ordered by the captain, was to raise the Galaxy's shields and disable the Hydden)

Ensign Baker replies, "Aye Sir. Locking phasers at minimal power...FIRING! The ship has been disabled sir.

T'Lein replies, "Excellent shot, ensign. Raise shields and transport the intruders to a maximum security brig."

Ensign Baker raises the Galaxy's shields as ordered and, seconds later, the intruders are dematerialized off the bridge.

Ensign T'Lein walked over to counselor Shivok, who was moving around the bridge to calm those who needed his assistance, and asked the counselor if he did the right thing. Shivok, looking into the ensign's face with a very stoic expression, assured him that captain was pleased with his performance. T'Lein turned without any gratitude whatsoever, not even a thank you, and walked over to Ops. He looked down at the console to see reports coming in from all parts of the ship. He could only hope that the other four intruder parties were contained.

Captain Price stood by while Doctor Rousseau and her trauma team worked on Carla. He already knew she was dead, from the moment she collapsed into his arms. The Captain was in shock. While the blur of the medical staff rushed around to stabilize the Trill on life support so that Gael, the symbiot being living inside of Carla's body, could survive, Captain Price examined the events leading up to the surprise attack. "What did I miss?" Price thought. "What should I have done to prevent all of this from happening?"

Ultimately, it was the wailing of the red alert alarm that shook the Captain out of his guilt trip. Tightening his grip on the phaser, he exited sickbay and stood in the corridor. Reaching up, he taps his comm badge.

"Capizzi report." The Captain's tone was no-nonsense and direct.

"Capizzi here sir. The boarding party in main engineering has been contained. I have several wounded men sir, and at least one fatality." The Ensign's voice drifted as he looked around the engineering department. "It looks like there is no significant damage sir. Pretty amazing considering the amount of phaser fire that we just weathered."

"Good job Ensign. When the security team arrives, initiate standard security protocols. I want to make sure everyone is armed in case another boarding is attempted. Captain Price out."

The Captain looked up the corridor at some crewmen bringing more wounded to sickbay. Stepping out of the way, they carried the injured officer inside. Price tapped his comm badge again.

"Ensign T'Lein, report."

"T'Lein here Captain. The bridge is secure. Shields have been raised and are at 100 percent operating efficiency. Ensign Baker has disabled the USS Hydden's transporters with a precision phaser blast as ordered sir."

"Are there any reports on the other boarding parties?"

"Ensign Capizzi has secured main engineering. Ensign T'Nevin was scanning to try and determine what decks the other parties transported to. He had expressed concerns over the Battle bridge, and the science labs on deck 6, which I believe is Ensign Vo's station..." the Vulcan's voice trailed off as he looked over to an empty science station one.

"What is it T'Lein?"

"I can't seem to locate science officer T'Nevin. It appears he has left the bridge Captain." T'Lein sounded puzzled at the fact that T'Nevin could have left the bridge without his noticing. "I am expecting a report from Lieutenant Commander Shelby and Lieutenant Commander Jamson. It is my understanding that they have split up the away team and are conducting a deck by deck search."

"Understood. It's a fair bet that T'Nevin is headed for the science labs. I will check the Battle bridge on my way back to the main bridge. Captain Price out."

The Captain tightened his grip about the phaser, squeezing tightly. He was still angry over the boarding attempt. And still upset over his first officers death. Carefully, he proceeded to the turbolift in route to the Battle bridge.

"Halt."

T'Nevin stood in the middle of the turbolift, his mind all a focus about the events that just occurred. Moments earlier, he had scanned the ship to find that intruders made their way to deck 6. This was Ensign Vo's command station. He took a moment out to assess all scenarios of what might have happened down there. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about Ensign Vo and whether or not she survived, and quickly wiped it away.

He thinks to himself, "Now I will have already expressed my grief, if the situation down there causes me to do so." He shakes his head slowly at the thought of his expressed emotion for a co-worker and is content that no one else has witnessed it.

"Resume." The turbolift continues to descend.

**Beta Science Lab, Deck 6**

T'Nevin walks in through a bent and warped set of doors that are partially open, into the Beta science lab. The walls have been littered with carbon scoring from numerous phaser blasts. Broken glass, lab equipment, and containers are all scattered across the laboratory floor. The deck crew move from place to place, securing this and fixing that and stabilizing some of those over there.

"Deck officer!" T'Nevin yells over the milling science personnel. He knows Ensign Vo is the CO of this deck, and hopes that she answers.

"Ensign T'Nevin." The half-Klingon, half-human female, Ensign K'saol approaches T'Nevin. "Not good here, as you can see." She turns and looks around the room. "There were about 4 of them. There." She points to a row of bodies, lying on the floor, and covered in phaser burns. A security personnel stands by them.

T'Nevin was not very concerned with them at the moment. He wanted to ask about Ensign Vo, but didn't want to show an interest in just her, so he held out. "What about Alpha lab? Is it secure?"

"Yes. I had it secured before I came down here."

"How many casualties?" T'Nevin walks further into the lab, towards a team of medical personnel bent over a few injured bodies.

"Seven. 2 fatalities, unfortunately."

T'Nevin stretched his neck to see the faces of the casualties... No Ensign Vo.

"As soon as the medical personnel are finished, have all equipment moved up to your lab. The last thing we need is carbon follicles falling into a flask of tribarium cobalt plasma." T'Nevin turns to leave.

Ensign K'saol puts her hand on T'Nevin's shoulder, momentarily stopping him. "You haven't seen Ensign Vo, have you? I wonder what has happened to her?"

T'Nevin turns his head to the side and looks at Ensign K'saol over his shoulder. "Vulcans..." he pauses to give her a moment to consider what he is about to say. "Never wonder." He begins to walk off again.

"So that means you're half wondering, right?"

T'Nevin grins to himself. "I will be on the bridge."

Ensign T'Nevin, acting CSO
USS Galaxy NCC-70637

Shelby was still thinking about the current events.

"Sir? What should we do?" Jamson asked Shelby again.

"What....?" Shelby asked and added : "Oh...yes, I want maximum alert! Jamson and Ensign Fallows, come with me. The others you search near the upper decks for Intruders or wounded"

Noam.