"Transported, but to where?"
by Lt. jg Ramone Pescadeiro Beta 2 Station

All hell was breaking loose in Ops. Ramone relinquished his station to Lt Seles, going to mission ops, he got the redirective shields ready to go on-line at a moments notice and then he started doing more indepth scans of that small ship.

"They using a tetryon beam to scan us." Someone said. Ramone thought for a moment.....tetryon.....thats used for scanning on a moleculure level, almost like the.....TRANSPORTER.

Immediately, he stopped his scans, and focused on the stations location. He couldn't find any federation comm beacons anywhere. He couldn't even locate the nearest starbase. The station definitely wasn't where it was supposed to be.

"Captain, that tetryon beam that scanned us, also transported us to some unknown location."

Ramone started to pulled up all the star charts to find out where they were, he overheard "The stars are gone, what happened?" in his mind. No stars, that can't be right. He looked at his monitor and checked a visual of just outside the station, "Holy jumping jehosaphat! There's no stars outside. Captain you'd better look at this!" He put the display on screen for everyone to see. All that seemed to be outside of the station was a VOID.

Lt. jg Ramone Pescadeiro
Operations Officer Beta 2 Station

V: "Where are we?"

***Main Operations***

[Hanson to OPS! Shields are back up to 98%, but that beam acts like they're not even there. Without being able to re-modulate the shields yet, that's all we can do!]

Great. Now Tom was reminding her of how weak their shields were. Seles shouted over to Cohen. "Shields are at 98% now!"

'I don't know how long this will last, but... Seles, configure sheild generators to emit the anti-lepton particles. Cohen, you need to keep the shields going. Take each generator offline one at a time, Seles, that way we'll still have some sheild protection,' ordered Lt. Cmdr. Reix.

"Yes, sir." Lt. Seles started reprogamming the shields to emit anti-lepton particles to counteract the tetryon beam from the probe. "Ops to Engineering. I need to reconfigure the shields. I will start with shield generator 1A. Divert power to the remaining generators." This was going to take a few minutes.

[Ambassador tr'Herrian to operations , I need clearence for the Llair to depart, my staff are evacuating, before you make any comments about the shields I assume you will be lowering them to allow the Galaxy crew to return in preperation for the borg arrival.]

Gutless Romulan. You aren't going anywhere. Seles tapped her comm button. "Ops to Ambassador tr'Herrian. Clearance denied. We are on Red Alert. No ships are to leave the station. Ops out."

Katarina continued working on the shields and she heard Ramone say, "Captain, that tetryon beam that scanned us, also transported us to some unknown location."

What?!? She looked over at Lt. Clay to see if he was trying to raise Deep Space Five on subspace and turned back to Ramone at Mission OPS. "Run a sensor sweep of the area. Find out where we are!"

Lt. Seles, Chief Operations Officer Station Beta Two

After exiting Beta 2's Main Engineering room with Lt. Chiron, the two officers made their way towards the Transporters. While the officers on Beta 2 worked on the station's problems, the USS Galaxy has it's own situation to deal with. A similar situation, however.

Hutchcraft searched himself for a PADD, yet he could not locate one. Chiron handed him a PADD that he kept with him. He needed the PADD if he was to ever talk to the rest of the crew.

-- Lucky you didn't lose any other sense, eh? -- Hutchcraft noted on the PADD, referring to the blinding light that had swept the Station. Chiron took the PADD and smiled. Hutchcraft took back the PADD to write something of a more serious nature.

-- Did Lt.Cmdr Hanson give you his theory? -- Hutchcraft wrote.

Chiron wrote his reply below the Lieutenant's comment -- No. May I be informed? --

Hutchcraft sat down, and took the PADD into his hands, and began to write into the small electronic device.

-- The flash from the probe ... when it struck us, it was at a molecular level. We predict that the probe had transported us to this location. Lt. Morris wants us to work with her on improving the Dish, so we can make doubly-sure that we are where we shouldn't be --

Handing the PADD back, Hutchcraft got up once more, and the two officers continued their quick walk.

As Chiron read through the PADD, the two officers arrived at the nearest Transporters. They beamed up to the USS Galaxy, and arrived in the Galaxy's transporter room.

-- Strange ... there was a Borg ship nearby, as well. Maybe there is a connection? -- pointed out Chiron.

Hutchcraft wrote back -- Possibly. It would certainly be the most powerful Borg weapon to date, if everything we find is to be true. A weapon that can erase it's opponents with a simple flash of light. Stations and Starships will be useless against them --

Both officers froze at the thought. Neither wanted to encounter the Borg again. However, if this was the work of the Borg, then most likely they won't be facing the Borg again.

----------------

Once Hutchcraft and Chiron arrived at Engineering, Ronni began to tell them what she has been ordered to do.

"Ahhh ... gentlemen there you are. We need to improve the Dish on the USS Galaxy so we can increase our sensor's range. We couldn't detect anything out there, as you probably already know" began Morris. Hutchcraft nodded in agreement. Chiron looked confused, not being able to understand what Morris was saying. He decided to wait until Hutchcraft briefed him on the subject, though.

Hutchcraft and Ronni began to argue over how to go about the operation, but eventually agreed on a suitable plan. Hutchcraft wrote the plan into Chiron's PADD, and handed it to the Tamarian.

As soon as Chiron was briefed, the three officer began to organize the reconfiguration. Morris had told Coe that it would only take an hour. Hutchcraft thought that it might take a little while longer, but the prediction was not far off.

----------------

Hearing that the situation outside of the ship, and on the station had not improved, Lieutenant Hutchcraft and the Engineering department finished the reconfiguration. That was his first real assignment, outside minor power-alterations and small retunings.

He tapped his comm-badge "This is Lieutenant Hutchcraft. We've finished the reconfigurations"

A response came back, from Commander Coe. [Excellent work, Lieutenant. We'll be scanning the area once again]

Hutchcraft smiled at Chiron and Morris "Coe is about to do a rescan. Great work, Lieutenants"

With that, the officers awaited the results of the new scan. Hutchcraft felt a little anxious. From what the other officers had found out, there was absolutely nothing out there. It would simply be Station Beta 2, the USS Galaxy and the frieghters nearby. Hutchcraft had decided that he never wanted to go to a Station again, if this was what happened.

The wait continued.

Captain Elitia, CO of the USS Sovereign Sim
Lt.Hutchcraft, USS Galaxy
Lt.SSA, USS St.Louis

"Precautions"
by Lieutenant Joerg Sterner
Chief of Security, USS Galaxy

After the dinner, Joerg and some other senior officers joined the two Captains on their tour of the station. Captain Zahn showed them much of the station's beauty and exotic. When they came to see a small vessel approaching the station, Chief Dawner quickly left the group to check with his security team.

Not having had a chance to discuss the possible security measures with Chief Dawner, Joerg decided also to take some precautions and went back to the Galaxy.

On his way back a bright light flooded the whole station and probably the Galaxy too. He was unable to see for several moments, but proceeded back to his ship once he regained his sight. Before arriving at the spacedock, a message came in on his comm badge.

[Lieutenantt Paran to Lieutenant Sterner. Could you please report to security sir?]

"Acknowledged Lieutenant. Keep security in order till I get there."

[Aye sir.]

Several minutes later Joerg returned to his office aboard the Galaxy.

"Lieutenant Paran, please report." he said while sitting down at his desk.

"I have mobilized every security officer I could contact and stationed them in the vital areas of the ship." Paran answered.

"But unfortunately I couldn't contact Ensign Enquist. The computer said he isn't aboard the ship."

"Good work on those arrangements Lieutenant." Joerg said and felt it was the right decision to have Paran as his Assistant Chief.

"Now grab yourself a phaser rifle and head for engineering. I don't want anyone take over this ship. Dismissed."

Paran left the office to carry out the orders he just got. Meanwhile Joerg was checking the status of his security teams. They were all in position and ready for any surprise. Then suddenly Cadet Campbell entered the office.

"Cadet Campbell as ordered sir." he just stated.

"Well Cadet it seems we could really use some hand here." Joerg replied.

"Ensign Enquist is missing and I want you and Ensign O'Lindey go and find him. Start looking on the station, he said something about meeting with a friend of him, a Lieutenant Straker. Perhaps he knows something about the whereabouts of Ensign Enquist." he explained.

"Yes sir."

"Ensign O'Lindey will meet you at the docking bay. Good luck Cadet."

"Thank you sir." Campbell said and left the office.

After the cadet left the office Joerg had still some orders to give. He tapped his communicator.

"Sterner to O'Lindey."

[O'Lindey here sir.]

"Meet with Cadet Campbell at the docking bay and try to find Ensign Enquist. Campbell has some more details about this and will fill you in. Sterner out."

He also decided to ask the security chief of the station for some help.

"Lieutenant Sterner to Chief Dawner."

[Dawner here.]

"I'm sending a team of security officers aboard the station. They are looking for Ensign Enquist who seemed to have disappeared somewhere on your station. I would appreciate it if you could send someone from your team to give them a hand."

[I'll see if I can spare someone. But right now we have an emergency situation here Lieutenant. I'll do my best. Dawner out.]

Without anything else to do, Joerg also took one of the phaser rifles and headed for the turbo lift.

"Bridge." he stated as the computer asked for the destination.

Several moments later he stepped onto the main bridge. Commander Coe was busily giving orders and didn't see him come in.

Suddenly Lieutenant Morris turned to the Commander.

"Commander, I don't know what happened. I can scan Beta Station Two and all of the docked ships as clear as ever, but everything else is gone." she announced.

"What do you mean 'gone' Lieutenant?" said the Commander.

"I'm not picking up anything. Not even Relay Station 493 or the Yridian Communication satellites. The sensors seem to be working fine, but they aren't picking up anything else, only Beta Station Two and the docked ships." she said.

"What about the Borg ship?" the Commander asked.

"Nothing Sir." she said still scanning the area. "Sir, I would like permission to use the Dish to enhance the scans."

"How long will it take to configure Lieutenant?" he said.

"With Lt. HutchCraft's assistance, about an hour." she said.

"Go do it. Keep me apprised of the situation." he said, noticing Lieutenant Sterner standing near the turbo lift.

"Ah Lieutenant, your report." he said.

"Sir, I have posted every security officer in the vital parts of the ship. However it looks like now that we are all alone we don't need these precautions anymore." Joerg said.

"Not so fast Lieutenant. We don't know where we are and what we have to expect. Until we know more about our current situation everyone stays on his post."

"Yes sir."

After that Commander Coe turned back to the view screen and contacted the station.

As Gavin Lakarr slowly came around, he became aware of strange metallic sounds in the distance, echoing as if across a large space. His head felt as if he had been hit with a two-ton structural support beam. Slowly he opened his eyes.

He was looking up at a dark-colored ceiling, with pipes and hoses visible every few feet. Some of them were ruptured and venting low-pressure steam. That was strange. The Grogers Dream had looked nothing like this. He didn't think even heavy damage could change it this much. Slowly, painfully, he sat up.

And for the first time since T'riana had been dying in his arms, he panicked. He was aboard a Borg ship! He looked around quickly. No Borg were visible, but the Engineer from the Grogers Dream, Billi, was a few feet away and beginning to stir. Gavin's phaser rifle and tricorder were lying next to him. He picked them up and looked them over. They were undamaged.

He scanned himself and Billi using the tricorder, but could find no injuries or abnormalities. Billi opened her eyes. "Don't get up yet," he told her; "you won't like what you see. We're not aboard the Grogers Dream anymore."

"Where are we then?"

"For the moment, I'll say 'a very hostile environment.' We have to keep our heads clear. We'll need to find out why we're here, and see if there are any other crew here with us. And stay together."

She nodded. "Okay." She sat up slowly and looked around, and gave a start of fear when she realized where they must be. "I don't think I'll have any problem with the 'stay together' part."

"I think this must be the same ship that was chasing us earlier. It looks damaged and I haven't seen any Borg. They're probably all working on repairs."

"So. . . how do we find out what we need to know?"

Gavin did not have a ready answer.

As the small frieghter came running towards the station, Jania felt herself thrown to the floor. Red Alert klaxons had been sounding for quite some time and everybody was running around doing various things. Since she was not a regular officer of the ship, assigned instead to Station Beta 2 as a replacement to those Science officers lost in the Scythe incident, she hadn't been asked to do anything and she didn't want to stick her nose in someone else's business. The Betazoid did her best to stay out of the crew's way.

As she made her way down the damaged corridors, someone grabbed her from behind. She screamed, her first instinct was to fight whoever it was.

"Wait!" yelled the nameless person. "I need your help!" Jania looked at him and recognized him as one of the Dream's crew.

"Alright. I'll help you. Just don't sneak up on me again." They grabbed at the wall as another hit rocked the small ship. They began running the opposite direction when they were blinded by a sharp white blast of light. 'Great,' thougt Jania, 'I couldn't have a normal arrival?'

As they adjusted to the light, they made their way down the corridor as quickly as they could. He brought her up to the bridge of the vessel. Then, as quickly as it had come, the light faded.

"Get some readings!" yelled someone on the bridge.

"There's nothing out there, sir! Nothing except the Galaxy and the station," came the reply.

"What? Get it on screen!" The view screen remained black. "I said, get it on the screen!"

"I did, sir." They stared at the screen. "Maybe it's been damaged in the fire fight."

"I'm not picking up anything on the sensors, except the Galaxy and the station. That's about as accurate a picture your gonna get," said someone else. Jania stared about the damaged bridge, dark with red flashing lights. The captain of the vessel turned to her.

"It looks like we won't be getting you the station anytime soon."

Salvine stepped out of his office in his new, clean uniform which was a great deal more comfortable then that dress unifrom. Although his appearance was back to normal, his mood was not. There was no reason for that young girl to die and there was no need for a knife display on the Promenade.

~Not now. You have a job ahead of you~ he though to himself. But weren't the Borg accepted to be here already. The station should be rocking with phaser fire and patients should be entering in a heavy influx but there was nothing....nothing at all.

"Computer, what is the ETA of the Borg vessel?" Salvine demanded of the computer.

"Their is no Borg vessel in the vicinity of Beta Two."

No Borg vessel? Just a few moments ago the station was on alert. That beam had to have something to do with this. Going back to his office he decided it was time he did an anaylisi on the information from the sensors, he had been an engineer and a scientist in the past and now would be a good time to apply that knowledge.

"Computer, bring up all information regarding the white light that scanned the station."

Information poured on the screen and upon a cursory examination of the information.....something rang a bell.

"Computer acess Starfleet Data Banks-Trill Classified Documents-Trill ship Vaxine."

"Processing."

Being joined had its advantages, including getting acess to highly classified Trill information........the joined were the elite of the society and thus they were treated that way.

Again the information scrolled onto the screen.......and.....

He hit his comm badge. "Salvine to Morris and Zahn. I think I found some information regarding the white light...that you might like to see."

Leaving Dr.Havin in charge of Sickbay, salvine raced to OPS.

"Unknown area of space"
by Ramone Pescadeiro Beta 2 Station

****Mission Ops****

Katarina continued working on the shields and she heard Ramone say, "Captain, that tetryon beam that scanned us, also transported us to some unknown location."

What?!? She looked over at Lt. Clay to see if he was trying to raise Deep Space Five on subspace and turned back to Ramone at Mission OPS. "Run a sensor sweep of the area. Find out where we are!"

Ramone had already started running the sweep when Lt. Seles told him to do just that.

"Lt. Seles, I'm working on that sweep as we speak, but so far nothing is conclusive. The one thing I do know for sure is that we're not where we're supposed to be."

It was no good, he couldn't get any known fixed point is space to figure out their coordinates from, all there was outside and as far as he scanned was nothingness.

Morgath blurted out to Russ the instant he came on the bridge, "Captain, all the stars are gone. We can't get any reading other than from the Galaxy and Beta 2. Starfleet, Klingon, Romulans, Ferengi, etc. are not out there."

"Calm down, Morgath. I'll contact Captain Price." Russ opens communitcation to Captain Price. "Hello again, Captain. I have a question: Do you know about the disapearance of all the stars?"

[Aye, 'mate. We detected it about 5 minutes ago. You must have one heck of'a science officer if you picked it up this quickly, Russ. Cap'n Zahn and I are going to try and figure it out, 'mate]

"Do you need any help from my crew?"

[We might, 'mate. Just stay at standby for the moment. Price out.]

"Well, Morgath, there's your answer. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Welcome to Nowhere"
Written by Captain Joseph Zahn
Commanding Officer, Station Beta Two

Station Log, Stardate 49705.18

"Station Beta Two and the ships docked within it have been transported to another region of space, possibly to another dimension or even beyond our known space-time continuum. As of yet, all we know is that there are no solar systems, no stars, no planets, no starships - nothing. The probe responsible for our transportation is also gone. Beta 2 is currently at Red Alert and no one is allowed to leave the station until we have ascertained what exactly is going on. We will be coordinating greatly with the only Starfleet vessel docked at Station Beta Two, the USS Galaxy. We will still preform scheduled repairs and modifications, but our primary mission is to find a way back to the Beta Quadrant. Right now all we can do is gather further information."

* * * Location : Main Operations * * *

Captain Zahn stood gazing out of the main view-window. He was looking at nothing. It was an absolute void. Joseph's heart sank when he thought about was really happening. He didn't like it. Captain Zahn didn't like being an explorer. He was the commander of a space station, not some Federation fly boy. This void was never expected. He turned around facing the Ops crew and their terminals. "Report," he said walking forward to the Command terminal where Kra'lana stood.

Lieutenant Clay cocked his head from the Communications console, "I'm still not picking up any known transmissions. But I am picking up what appears to be some narrow EM bandwidth transmissions. They're too faint to be understood."

Joseph nodded, "Keep monitoring them Lieutenant."

"The only thing I've been able to track on our sensors is a few ion trials," Lieutenant Reix stated, "They don't appear to lead to anywhere directly. They aren't very strong," he said from the Science console.

Kra'lana moved next to the Trill at the console. She looked down at his terminal. "Do you think that could mean the pressence of vessels?"

"Possibly," he responded remotely.

Captain Zahn stood up and thought about the possibility of that probe transporting other vessels to this void, or even vessels originating from this vast nothingness. They could hold the key to transporting back to the Beta Quadrant. But Joseph wasn't going to let finding vessels, that might not even exsist, become priority.

"Commander, contact the Galaxy and request a few of their science personnel. I'm sure Mr. Reix could use their assistance here in Ops. Lieutenant Seles and Commander Morris, I want you to go to the Galaxy and start working on the repairs. We aren't going to let this little problem interfere with our workload. Clay and Cohen, I'll need you both here helping Lieutenant Reix and myself. Everyone had their orders."

* * * Location : Unknown * * *

Within a dark interior atmosphere many different people stood at consoles and terminals buzzing with excitement. They appeared to be of many different races. Some were reptilious, or with speckled skin, others had tufts of feathers, or were covered in fur. A tall, dark and spotted skin male stepped forward. He had a long flowing mane of hair tied behind his neck. His teeth were sharp and his pressence was menacing.

A short reptilious female turned around to face the man from her terminal. "Sir Therio, something was just transported into The Void. It is some type of space station with about five or six ships docked. They have level nine technology. I've reviewed their records. They are a peaceful people. Orders sir?" she questioned.

The tall man grined, "Send a diplomatic convoy to intercept and welcome them to The Void."

"Ambassadors Log"
by Romulan Ambassador Kale tr'Herrian

Ambassador's Log Stardate 49705.19

The Entire station appears to have been transported to an unknown location by an Alien Probe The Embassy staff in the Llair were not clear of the station and were transported also. The Federation has not been particulaly free with information and has not responded to my request for an update so far. From what I have been able to put together Beta 2 and attendent space craft have been transported into some sort of vast Void empty of stars. All attempts to contact Romulan fleet comand have faild all attempts to reach any Romulan frequency via the embassys subspace link have faild, I have decided to temporarly suspend "Hostilitys" with the Federation and offer all the assistence the embassy can provided, while limited in man power, My staff has a number of specialist including the embassy medical officer and the embassy guards whom I am sure could be useful and of course in the Llair, we have the only cloak capable ship.

------

At the mention of the Llair named after his daughter, Kale broke of the Log and called up an image of his Bondpartner and Child. He'd been in some difficult situations in his carrer but none as strange as this, and he seriouly considered posibility he would never see his Home and beloved familiy again.

"The Unknown"
by CPO Jalal Dawner
Chief of Security Station Beta 2

Leaning over part of the front desk, Jalal quickly taps a few keys. "Narrow EM bandwidth h uh?" Turning to look at ensign Ramos, Jalal asks a question. "Normal Bet?"

"That depends on what the exact bet is."

"Those EM readings will be ships. Ones filled with people who will attack the station." Jalal tells the ensign beside him.

"What the hell, like our money is worth much here. I'll bite, how do you know they'll be ships?"

"Easy, this Is Beta 2. That's all I need to know. The bet is that they will be ships and that they'll attack the station. And it will be the normal amount."

"Deal. By the way, how did DeeDee get along with price?" Ramos says with a smle then waits a few seconds. "Go ahead and give me my money, Chief."

"Here." Jalal says handing Ramos the money. "Now back to real concerns. Since we aren't being attacked right this minute. Let gamma shift return to off duty. Except I want them all to keep their weapons with them. The rest stay on duty where they are."

"Are you sure Chief?"

"They just got off a sixteen hour shift. With only sometime off to eat. People passed out at their position aren't going to much good now are they. That reminds me. Try to get ahold of the Civilian Director and have him start finding places to sleep for all the civilians stuck here."

"I'm on it, but the director will listen more to you then to me."

"You're right. Connect him to my office and I'll handle it." Jalal tells him and walks into his office.

Varin nodded to the Captain's orders and went to work... They had to be somewhere, but where this particular somewhere was a complete mystery to him. No stars, No subspace waveguides, no nav beacons... nothing... except...

A faint Ion trail...

Varin intensified the sensors on the ion trail, trying to figure out where it came from and who made it, but his sensor scans showed nothing.... then something...

There was a small pod... almost like a shuttle emerging from the darkness.

'Captain Zahn!'

Zahn walked over to his Science officer. "What is it, Varin?"

'I'm detecting a small pod-like shuttle coming from the void. I can't scan the interior, so I can't get any life readings... It's heading right for us!'

"Orders"
by Ramone Pescadeiro
Ops Officer, Beta 2 Station

Standing at mission ops, the Captain gave his orders to the senior officers. After he was finished, Ramone motioned Katarina over. "Will you be needing my help on the Galaxy, or do you want me to head things up here? The inhibitor the doctor gave me has almost worn off now, so I can use my telepathic powers somewhat more. What would you like me to do?"

-+Lt. Hutchcraft, may I have your permission to communicate telepathically from now on? The situation dictates fast reactions, and typing on a PADD may not be efficient enough.+-

Chiron handed the PADD over, and waited for the response.

V: "To the Galaxy"

***Main Operations***

"Lt. Seles, I'm working on that sweep as we speak, but so far nothing is conclusive. The one thing I do know for sure is that we're not where we're supposed to be," reported Ramone from Mission OPS.

Katarina nodded. "Run a level 3 diagnostic on the sensors. I want to know if our sensors are malfunctioning." Although Katarina could see for herself that there weren't any stars outside or any sign of the Nebula.

"Commander, contact the Galaxy and request a few of their science personnel. I'm sure Mr. Reix could use their assistance here in Ops. Lieutenant Seles and Commander Morris, I want you to go to the Galaxy and start working on the repairs. We aren't going to let this little problem interfere with our workload. Clay and Cohen, I'll need you both here helping Lieutenant Reix and myself. Everyone had their orders."

"Yes, sir." Katarina turned to Ramone. "You have OPS. Keep me informed." She turned to leave when she remembered something. "See if you can use your telepathic abilities to scan for other life signs in this...void."

Katarina headed for the turbolift. "Deck 20." She was dying to get out of her stupid dress uniform.

* * * * *

Katarina was in Docking Bay 5 dressed in her regular gold uniform with an engineering toolkit in her hand. She approached the security guard at the airlock. After verification, the guard let her pass. It had been a while since she had been on a starship and she had spent most of her time below decks training in the holodeck with her Special Forces team. This was going to be different...

Lt. Seles entered Main Engineering. Things were still chaotic because of the Red Alert and she asked someone to point out the Chief Engineer to her. She spotted him at the duty engineer's console and approached. "Lt. Hutchcraft?"

The man turned around to see a half-Klingon woman. "I am Lt. Seles. Captain Zahn sent me here to help you with your repairs."

Lt. Seles, Chief Operations Officer Station Beta Two

Lt. Paran acknolodged Lt. Sterner's order to head to engineering and called for Ensigns Sobra, Sanchez and Taylor to accompany him. Lt. Quall gave him a funny look, like he was doing his job, but Chanor couldn't afford time to fight now. He took a phaser rifle and headed for engineering.

Upon entering he noticed three officers standing round talking. Lt. Hutchcraft was one, the other was Lt. Chiron and the third lieutenant female whom he didn't recognise. She had blue skin, so maybe she was a delphinian. However, when he noticed Lt. Chiron, his heart skipped a beat slightly. Outwardly he looked calm and determined, but inside, he was less than happy with Chiron being here. He started to speak,

"Lieutenant Paran reporting to guard Engineering sir."

[Okay Chanor.] replied Hutchcraft [But we hardly need guarding at the moment. There's nothing out there.]

"Sir?" asked Chanor. He didn't understand "The Borg sir?"

[Don't you know? We've been transported away from where we were. None of us have got any idea of our position at the moment. Lt. Chiron, Lt. Morris and I are working on it now.]

"No, I didn't sir." answered Chanor. Now he wondered what the hell was going on. "However sir, my orders are to guard engineering, so I hope you don't mind?"

[No liuetenant, go ahead.] said Hutchcraft, slight amusement in his voice.

Chanor stationed the other 3 officers around engineering, nodded an acknolodgement to Hutchcraft, Morris and Chiron, and took up position.

Lt. JG Paran Chanor - USS Galaxy

Salvine exited the turbolift and spotted Captain Zahn but Commander Morris was not in plain sight at the moment. It didn't matter as long as someone in the Command staff got this information.

"Captain, excuse me but I have some information for you"

Zahn turned around obvioulsy surprised to see the doctor in OPS.

"What kind of information?"

"I believe it could be related to this void we are trapped in. The bottom line is I know a lot about Trill space travel and the history of it. When I looked over the readings from that probe that scanned us they were the exact readings that a Trill ship, The Vaxine had recieved. This information is highly classified but I have a rather high security clearance in the Trill Hall of Records. Anyway, there was more information but my records seemed to have been scrambled, I suspect it was one of my father's earlier little games."

"Did the Vaxine return home?" Zahn questioned.

"Yes, with all hands intact."

"Assignments"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

It was like a dream. Gazing out of the observation portals in the main conference room. Captain Price stood there, hands held behind his back as he waited for the rest of his Senior staff to report as requested.

Price was still wearing his dress uniform, though now unfastened and folded forward making the uniform jacket a bit more comfortable. Physically that is. Mentally the Captain was far from comfortable with the current events. Lee stood there and peered out at the total blackness of emptiness. He never really realized just how beautiful and reassuring the millions of flickers of lights from distant stars were to him. But like many things, sometimes you don't really get a chance to appreciate them until they are gone.

Two quick tones sang out. ["Captain, incoming transmission from Commander Morris on Station Beta Two."]

Captain Price turned around and stepped over to the head of the conference table, taking his seat. "Put it through Ensign."

["Hello Captain. Zahn asked that I contact you and request the Galaxy's assistance. We could use a few Science and Operations officers to aide us in configuring and operating additional sensor arrays to try and figure out what has happened."]

Lee nodded. "Of course Commander. My officers are at your disposal. I'll have Commander Coe arrange to have all the personnel you require assigned to your command."

["Actually Captain, have them report to Lieutenant Commander Reix our Chief Science officer. Captain Zahn wants me, Lieutenant Seles and Lieutenant Commander Hanson to continue with the scheduled repairs to the Galaxy Sir."]

Lee smiled slightly. Either Zahn was very confident in their officers abilities to figure out what had happened and get them all back home, or he wanted to keep e veryone busy and on schedule with their normal routines to help keep everyone calm. It really didn't matter which it was.. Lee thought it was a good idea.

"Business as usual 'ay Commander?"

Kra'lana smiled brightly. ["Best run space station in the quadrant."]

With a nod, "Very well, I will look forward to having you on board Commander." Lee pauses for a moment as a thoughtful look crosses his face. He then adds, "Tell Captain Zahn my security personnel are standing by and are at his disposal. Coordinate any requests for additional officers through Chief of Security, Lieutenant Sterner."

["I'll pass that on Captain. I'm sure Chief Dawner will be taking you up on the offer Sir. Captain Zahn has ordered a lock down on all docked ships until we know what we are dealing with... Already some of the freighter pilots are getting uneasy."]

"Understood. The Galaxy will be glad to be of whatever service we can Commander. I will see you when you come on board to begin repairs. G'day Commander Morris."

["Commander Morris out Galaxy."]

The comm channel closed. Lee glanced around the conference table. Sterner was there, already typing himself a note silently on his padd about the possible security assignments for his officers. Next to him, Lieutenant Hutchcraft, Chief Engineer looked like he had a question.

"What is it 'mate?" Price asked openly.

Lieutenant Hutchcraft looked down for a moment before looking back at the Captain. He still wasn't fully comfortable in these Senior staff meetings, and in this case, even felt less so as he made his inquiry.

"It's about Lieutenant Chiron Captain..."

Lee adjusted his posture in his seat as he reached for his cup of steaming hot Bajoran coffee and cream. "How is the Lieutenant... adjusting 'mate?"

The Captain's voice was calm and genuinely concerned. Andrew was glad, it made his request that much easier. "Fine Captain... Better than fine actually. That's what I wanted to ask you about. I'd like to place Chiron back on active duty sir. He's one of my most qualified officers, and right now,... I think we could really use his skills sir."

Lee nodded. He liked Chiron. The Tamarian Engineer had been an asset to the Galaxy since he first was assigned. It wasn't his fault, several weeks ago, when an alien entity took over the Engineer's mind. Still, five officers had been killed. Lee didn't want to have a repeat performance with so many civilians around as Station Beta Two offered.

"Has the Counseling department evaluated Chiron since the transporter separation 'mate?"

Hutchcraft reached down and picked up his padd, sliding it across the table for the Captain to review. "Just got it sir. Counselor Poitier says other than Chiron's hearing loss, he's perfectly fit for duty."

Lee looked at the padd. Andrew was correct. Counselor Poitier had cleared him for duty. Still, Lee wasn't comfortable with letting Chiron on his own unsupervised.

"Very well Lieutenant. You have my authorization to put Lieutenant Chiron onto the active duty roster." Captain Price paused for a moment as he placed the Padd back down and added, "However, I still want an armed escort to remain with Chiron until the hearing has fully cleared him of these charges." Lee glanced over to Sterner that looked up as security was mentioned. "Understood Lieutenant?"

Sterner nodded. "Consider it done sir."

Hutchcraft picked up the padd. "Thank you Captain. Chiron will be glad to hear that."

As the officers we talking, Lieutenant Mitchell, Chief Science Officer, walked in, followed by Lieutenant Ti, Chief helmsman and Lieutenant Casey, The Galaxy's acting Operations manager and Ti's fiancee. Lee smiled when he was them each enter together, noticing that they took the time to change out of their dress uniforms. His expression quickly faded as he thought about their present situation.

"Okay 'mates." Captain Price started as he took a sip of his coffee before continuing. "Let's begin. I've just communicated with Station Beta Two. Commander Morris informs me that the scheduled repairs to the Galaxy will proceed as scheduled."

The officers that had just entered exchanged puzzled glances, particularly Casey. It seemed that, in light of recent events, repairing the main shuttle bay doors would be the last thing on anyone's mind.

"As scheduled sir?" Casey asked. His tone relaying his concerns much more effectively than he realized.

"That's right 'mate. So be sure you have the appropriate personnel ready to assist Commander Morris as needed."

Casey just nodded, still with a questioning glint in his eyes.

"Captain Zahn has requested that we send any additional Science and Operations personnel that we can space to Station Beta Two. They are to report to Lieutenant Commander Reix to aid in determining what has happened with this probe, and where exactly we are located."

Casey nodded again, his expression relaxing as he began to understand.

Price looked over to Commander Coe. "Commander, work with Deiran and Commander Morris at Station Beta Two to be sure the appropriate personnel get assigned..." the Captain paused as he glanced down at the last part of his coffee, swirling the cup around slightly. "I am afraid that the shore leave has been canceled for now 'mate."

"Aye Captain." Coe replied solemnly. "I'll see that it gets done sir."

"Good. Okay, Let's start with you Lieutenant Mitchell. What do we know so far 'mate?"

James swallowed dryly as he prepared to go over what they had learned in the last hour.

Well sir, since the probe emitted that energy beam, it seems that Station Beta Two, and all of the ships docked or in the very immediate vicinity have been... 'moved' to our present location."

Captain Price leaned forward, both elbows leaning on the table slightly, his practically empty coffee cup cradled in both hands as he taps a finger lightly on the rim of the cup. Lieutenant Casey jumps in.

"Moved Lieutenant? Why do you say that?"

"The beam the probe emitted had traces similar to our own transporter beams. Similar but not completely alike. In all honestly, we didn't get very good data on the phenomenon, it happened so quickly..."

The thought was mind boggling. Someone with the technology to transport an entire Space Station and surrounding ships so far away...

"Have we any idea where we are Lieutenant?" Price asked flatly.

Mitchell's expression grew dim. "No Captain. None at all. Sensors detect nothing as far out as their range will allow. Our navigational computer systems are useless as well sir. They have no star clusters to use as a reference in calculating our current position." There was a grim pause before James went on. "Station Beta Two launched a class one probe to see if they could detect anything further."

"Did they find anything?" Doctor Rousseau asked, having remained unusually quiet throughout the meeting, until now.

James shook his head slightly. "Not really. Minute traces of decaying ion trails. Small quantities of inert gasses stretched out through the emptiness of space. Then the probe simply flew out of range."

"Out of range? A Class one probe!" Casey injected. "That's a pretty great distance to cover."

"Yes it is." Mitchell said flatly. "Communications systems have all checked out as have our sensor arrays Captain. We are not picking up and Federation beacons because there simply aren't any within range other than Station Beta Two."

Lee continued tapping his cup. "What other 'problems' does our present position present us with Lieutenant?"

Mitchell looked over to Hutchcraft, then Sterner and Doctor Rousseau before answering. "Well Captain, structurally I believe the Galaxy and Station Beta Two are fine. The probe that was launched returned enough data about the environment to establish that where ever we are, it is behaving just like open space back home."

"I see..." Price says before glancing over to Lieutenant Ti. She had a concerned look as she sat there quietly. Captain Price noticed her holding Casey's hand, but didn't bother to say anything. "Lieutenant Ti, would it be helpful if we were to send out a shuttle craft to do a reconnaissance of the area?"

Ti thought for a moment. "It may Captain, however care would have to be taken. Our navigational computers are currently useless in this... Void, so if a ship flies out of sensor range with the Station, there is a good chance they could get lost and not find their way back."

Lee leans back, finishing the last of his coffee. "That is a problem. Do you think we could find a way to safely navigate in this, Void as you call it Lieutenant?"

Miran scratched the ridge of her Bajoran nose. "I'm not sure Captain. Without the nav computer, basically all navigation would be based on sight. We can use the sensors as long as we are in range, to locate the Station, but once out of range... the pilot would be completely on their own."

"Real 'seat of your pants' flying 'ay?" Captain Price said with a wry smile.

"Yes Captain... only you'd have absolutely no idea where you were, or which way to head to get back." Ti's tone was dead serious. The Lieutenant was the best helmsman Captain Price had seen in a long time. He respected her opinion when it came to navigating a Starship. And right now, she sounded like this Void was not a friendly place to do so.

"I'll take that under advisement Lieutenant." Lee turned back to Doctor Rousseau. "Doctor, how is the crew holding up through all of this?"

Jacqueline's eyes lit up as her name was called. "Fine Captain. As Lieutenant Mitchell said, if it wasn't for the unsettling absence of stars, I'd say it seems we hadn't gone anywhere at all."

"Have there been any side effects from this energy beam the probe emitted Doctor?" Lee questioned. An air of concern in his tone.

"No Lee. Everyone is concerned naturally, but physically, everyone seems to be fine. The only additional activity I've seen since this happened has been minor accidents from when we were all blinded by the energy field."

Lee sighed. He then glanced around the table at all of his officers. "Okay 'mates, this is what I want done. Lieutenant Mitchell, I want you to gather whatever Science officers we can spare and get in contact with Lieutenant Commander Reix at Station Beta Two. We need to try and figure out what has happened and where we presently are. Lieutenant Hutchcraft, I want you to aid Commander Morris and the rest of the Station Beta Two crew with the scheduled repairs to the Galaxy. Whatever personnel you can spare that are not needed for the repairs should be made available to Station Beta Two. There may be adjustments or modifications that need to be made to the sensor and communications systems as the Science department dictates. Lieutenant Sterner, I believe Station Beta Two will be contacting you shortly to have some of the Galaxy personnel sent to the Station for supplementation duty. You might want to prepare for the request. Lieutenant Casey, You should work with station Beta Two to help coordinate between all of the Galaxy departments and the Station's. Lieutenant Ti, I'd like you to try and find a way to safely navigate through this Void. Work with Commander Coe to get the resources you need."

Lee paused to catch his breath as he glanced around the table at his senior staff. "You 'ave your assignments. Let's do it 'mates. Dismissed."

"The PADD"
Lieutenat Troy Blair
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Galaxy

*** Bridge ***

"What's our status on weapons, Ensign?" Troy asked

"Well sir, all I can say is I hope we don't run into any hostiles. Photon and Quantum torpedoes are useless." Ensign Reys returned

"No guidance systems?"

"Exactly, without anything to use as reference for tracking, they'd probably just fly straight"

"What about phasers?"

"We still have those, sir. Though aiming may take a bit longer" Reys stated with a smile.

"Well, lets just hope we don't have to use them. You can go now Ensign" Reys exited the bridge

Troy remained at Tactical, looking over the data on the probe that he asked Ensign Reys to gather. There wasn't much that was useful to him now, before the transport there might have been, but to a science officer it could probably explain a lot. However, considering most of the science staff was on Station Beta 2, or scattered throughout the Galaxy, getting the information to them would be difficult. He put the PADD down and continued with his work, until he saw someone to give the information to.

*** 30 minutes later ***

There were no science officers in sight, but Captain Price was on the bridge. Troy grabbed the PADD and approached the Captain.

"Excuse me, sir." Troy said, holding the PADD with both of his hands.

Looking up from his chair Price answered "Yes. Lieutenant?"

"Captain, when the probe first appeared I asked Ensign Reys to gather all the data he could and download it to this PADD. I thought it was a new class of ship I haven't seen, and wanted to study the specs. But, after the transport the information is of little use to me, so I figured the science department could use it" The Captain took the PADD and skimmed through the information.

"Very good 'mate. I'll see to it that both the station's staff and ours gets a good look at it. I'm sure they'll appreciate the information." Price smiled

"I hope they find something that can get us back home" said Troy

"I'm sure there's something here that ca' be of use."

Troy nodded his head and returned to his duties.

USS Galaxy
Lt. Deiran Casey
"In The Middle Of Somewhere"

Casey had been listening intently to what Lt. Mitchell was saying to the Captain. He also took into account Miran’s thoughts.

He heard the Captain’s assignments and after Captain Price gave out the assignments he spoke up,"Captain, I was wondering if I might assign Ensign Freeman to coordinating the repairs of the Galaxy and talk to you about an idea I have of navigating through this void?"

The Captain smiled at Casey, knowing that he’d have something to present,"What is it ‘mate?"

"Well, sir, I would need to check the data. But,

what about reconfiguring our probes and setting them up in space like a buoy, or a trail of crumbs? We set them up east, west, north and south with Station Beta Two and extend them out for as long as we travel in the void. We could turn off the probes’ thrusters and use our sensors to find our way back to Beta Two and the Galaxy. What do you think sir? We can use the supply of probes from Beta two or anything else that they might have that would stay stationary in space."

Casey looked at the Captain as he considered the validity of the idea. Casey waited for the Captain’s answer.

Katoc Malron Kenit,
"Memories of Home"

Katoc was still a bit shaken from the experience with the light and the fact that the stars were gone. Not only that but he was hearing roomers or a Borg cube approaching the station.

But all he could think about right now was what he had seen in that shop earlier... *Oh well, I suppose it won't be any safer in my quarters that out there, and they haven't ordered us to stay in. I may as well go see about it now.*

Katoc got up from where he had been watching the... Well, the void was as good a description as any for it., and headed for the small shop on the promenade.

**********

Katoc's eye fell on a small flute. He picked it up carefully and turned it around, examining it. He looked at the price, 2 bars latinum.

Katoc kept the flute in hand and looked around the shop sore more but found nothing else of interest to him so he approached the shopkeeper. "Where did this come from?", Katoc inquired.

The shopkeeper took the flute and checked the tag number, entering it into his padd, "A trader sold it to me.... About 3 weeks ago, it originated on a small planet, Merid, in the Ratk system." The shopkeeper gave Katoc the coordinate.

"Thank you, I would like to purchase it." Katoc handed the mad two bars of latinum and the shopkeeper started to put it in a bag for him but then reached under the counter and got out a small, ornate wooden box. "Here, this came with it, I was planning to keep it, it was so beautiful and doesn't really match the design on the flute but... The flute seems to be very important to you, I can feel it."

The shopkeeper sensed Katoc's confusion and said, "I am an empath." He smiled and put the flute in the box and handed it to Katoc.

Katoc wondered why he had not senesced that the man was empathic, but then relised that he had not been hearing any other peoples thoughts for a while now, *Must have something to do with the memory of my parents...*

"Ah, thank you... It does mean a lot to me... It may even hold the key to where I came from and what happened to my race. Thank you." With that Katoc left the shop and found a place to sit, and think...

Web page - HTTP://members.tripod.com/~nickgosey E-mail - nickg@bellsouth.net Alt. e-mail - dr-bashir@juno.com

Jania and the nameless officer who had found her came to in the exact spot they remembered themselves in, on the bridge. She looked at him to make sure he was okay and noticed that others were coming to as well.

"Someone make sure everyone's here!" shouted someone through the dim lights.

"We're missing three people." Jania stood helping the other man up while they identified who was missing.

"Damage report."

"We're dead in the water," came a sarcastic comment. "We've got no propulsion systems, life support is failing, shields are dropping drastically."

"Where's the Borg ship?"

"It's not there."

"That disappeared with the stars, I take it?"

Jania just listened to the banter and barely heard the Com panel chime. Her escort answered it.

=/\= "Beta 2 Station to the Frieghter Grogers Dream," came a garbled message. Jania thought the voice sounded familiar. She shook her head. The man pounded the terminal and got it to work.

"Grogers Dream here, go ahead."

=/\= "We know your situation, lower your shields and prepare to be tractored in."

"Acknowledged, dropping shields now, and thanks. Grogers Dream out." He turned to the other two assessing the situation and managed to call their attention. "We've got to drop what's left of the shields so Station Beta 2 can tractor us in."

"Understood. Do it."

"We've got no shields to drop." Everyone felt the slight tug as the station's tractor beam caught them and pulled them in.

As they were placed on the floor of the bay, Jania began helping the wounded assemble at the outer door to be unloaded to the station's medical personnel. She hadn't been paying attention to the nagging feeling in her head that someone she knew was on the station. She hadn't seen him in a long time and, if he was here, it could cause some problems.

The Groger's Dream crew was escorted, carried, and supported down the corridors of the station to Sickbay. As they walked across the prominade, Jania looked out the window from habit. The lack of stars caught her breath in her throat, but she remembered that there had been nothing there after that bright light. She sighed and continued on.

"They still are missing," complained an officer nearby. "We're missing three people. I don't know what happened to them. They disappeared with the stars!"

"And the Borg ship," said someone, setting off a whole other set of concerns for the missing crew. Jania wished she had gotten to know her transport crew better. Of course, she'd probably have all the time in the world to get to know all but those three.

aka Lt Jania Fowler Assistant Science Station Beta 2

"Lt. Cohen, what do you think?" Mr. Pescadeiro glanced over at him. His hands were still poised on the various controls for the shields and weapons of the station, monitoring the tractor beam, watching comm-traffic to and from the Rihannsu consulate craft...

"I think it is a threat, most obviously." Always suspicious, that was the best way to defend his post. Granted, at the moment, almost everything was useless without...

"Sir." Cohen glanced across Ops. "I think it advisable to deploy a series of navigation buoys or probes about the station. It might be of assistance, should the Galaxy need to move off." He left the rest unspoken. The truth of the situation was, this would also let the two groups of officers use the guided weapons, in addition to phasers, should the inbound craft be hostile....

"Freighter Rescue"
by Ramone Pescadeiro
Operations Officer Beta 2 Station

"You have Ops. Keep me informed" Lt. Seles had told him. Ramone returned to his previous post at main Ops. He started the level3 diagnostic Seles had asked for. A few minutes later, the dianostic had run its course. [Sensors are functioning within established parameters], came the computers voice.

Ramone did smoe checking on a few other minor systems, and then he noticed it. Very slight, but he seemed to be picking up telepathically on a mind he knew very well, but she couldn't possibly be here. He checked the space close to the station and found a disabled frieghter adrift near by. It had a lot of damage and there life support was at a minimum. From the ship's signature it was the grogers dream.

Looking around and not seeing any command person nearby, Ramone tapped his comm badge.

"Ops to Captain Zahn."

[Zahn here go ahead.]

"Captain, it looks like the grogers dream was transported here with us. She's heavily damaged and losing life support. I request to lower the shields and tractor the frieghter in. All scans are clear, so there doesn't appear to be a threat to the station."

Captain Zahn thought for a moment, [Go ahead, get her in as quick as you can and reraise the shields. We don't want to be open to attack.]

"Yes, sir"

He closed the channel. Ramone tapped a few commands onto his console. Then he opened a channel to the frieghter.

"Beta 2 Station to the Frieghter Grogers Dream"

There was some interferance, but the Grogers Dream replied.

[Grogers Dream here, go ahead.]

"We know your situation, lower your shields and prepare to be tractored in."

[Acknowledged, dropping shields now, and thanks. Grogers Dream out.]

Ramone watched as the frieghters limited shields went down. He locked the tractor beam on the frieghter and started to pull it in.

Ramone tapped his comm badge.

"Ops to sickbay"

[Sickbay here.]

"Send an emergency team to docking bay 2. We have a heavily damaged frieghter being tractored in and they may have casualties."

[Understood, sickbay out.]

Ramone made sure the frieghter docked and then he reraised the shields. He continued to scan the area, then just coming into sensor range, a small ship appeared from the void.

Ramone tapped his comm badge again.

"Ops to Captain Zahn, please report to Main Ops."

Without waiting for a reply he closed the channel. He started scanning the small ship as it closed on the station. The ship was of an unknown configuration. He had never seen anything like it. He checked to make sure the shields were up, which they were. He looked over to Cohen, he fed the information he was receiving over to cohen's console, "Lt. Cohen, what do you think?"

Gavin scanned as large an area as he could with his tricorder. "There's a human life sign about fifty meters this way. It's showing a Starfleet communicator, but not moving."

"Let's go, then," said Billi, "That person may need help."

He handed her the tricorder. "You're the engineer, you can probably put this to better use. Tell me where we're going." He led the way, with the phaser rifle ready and held in both hands.

"Check In"
Written by Captain Joseph Zahn
Commanding Officer, Station Beta Two

"I believe it could be related to this void we are trapped in. The bottom line is I know a lot about Trill space travel and the history of it. When I looked over the readings from that probe that scanned us they were the exact readings that a Trill ship, the Vaxine had recieved. This information is highly classified but I have a rather high security clearance in the Trill Hall of Records. Anyway, there was more information but my records seemed to have been scrambled, I suspect it was one of my father's earlier little games," Salvine said.

"Did the Vaxine return home?" Zahn questioned.

"Yes, with all hands intact."

Zahn smiled, "That is good information to know if we are in the same prediciment as the Vaxine. But nothing in our databanks even compares to our situation. I don't want to jump to conclusions right now. That could be dangerous. Thank you for the information Doctor," the Captain said to the Trill.

"No problem sir, I need to get back to the Infirmary," he said exiting Ops.

Suddenly sounds emitted from the Science and Communications terminals. Captain Zahn moved down into "the pit" of Operations with Commander Reix and company. "Captain! Sensors are picking up a very small ship on an intercept course with the station. It doesn't match any ship configurations known to the Federation. They have full defense systems, but it appears they're offline at the moment. I'm guessing about ten to twenty lifesigns, all varying and all unknown to our bio-sensors."

"And they're hailing us," Lieutenant Clay added to the Chief Science Officer's lengthy description. Zahn nodded. This just might be the oppourtunity they needed to find their way home. "Put it on the main view-window Lieutenant," Joseph said with a tint of joy in his voice.

The screen popped up with an image of a very beautiful woman with long feathered hair and dim brown skin. She smiled and began to speak, but no one in Operations understood what the stranger was saying. Joseph glanced at Ramone. "The universal translator is having difficulty determining her speech patterns. I'm attempting to modify sir," he said tapping his console as the women continued to speak. "I think I've got it now Captain," Pescaderio said.

"I am Captain Joseph Zahn of the Federation. This is Station Beta Two, formerly of the Beta Quadrant in the Milky Way," Joseph said standing facing the viewscreen. He was still wearing his dress uniform from last night.

The woman smiled and began to talk again. "I am Madam Vyrissla of the Void Cooroperative. We would like to welcome you. There is much we need to discuss Captain Joseph Zahn of the Federation. May we dock at your station?"

"We have many questions," Joseph said, "We invite you to dock and come aboard Station Beta Two." Captain Zahn looked over at Lieutenant Pescaderio. "Assign them to Shuttlebay Three, Ramone. Lieutenant Clay, please open a link to Captain Price."

Captain Lee Price appeared on the main view-window in Ops. Joseph stepped forward. He was happy to finally be the bearer of good news. "We have a visitor Captain," Zahn said. "I know 'mate. We monitored the transmission. I suggest you, Commander Morris, Mr. Coe, and myself meet the lady and her crew."

"Right, I'm going to jump in the sonic-shower and get into my normal uniform real quick. I'll meet you, Kra'lana, and Coe in Shuttlebay Three."

"Message to the Captain"
by Romulan Ambassador Kale tr'Herrian

----------------------

Message to Captain Zahn
From Ambassador Kale tr'Herrian

Captain,

I have received word that you are about to make contact with inhabitants of this place, I would request that I be allowed to participate in meetings with them. As a trained Diplomat I have considerable practical and theoretical experience in first contact situations and dealings with new and unknown specise. I would like to put my experience to use to our mutual benifit.

----------------------

Kale quickly sent the message, he wondered what Zahns response would be, his relationship with the captain had been decidedly poor due to recent events, he hoped Zahn was profesional enough not to allow emotions to effect his profesional judgment, that was the problem with humans you never new which way they would turn at a given point, it was what made his job so intresting.

Gavin and Billi advanced toward the human life sign. "It's just around that corner." Suddenly there was a suspicious sound and the unpleasant odor of sizzling flesh. Gavin felt her hand on his shoulder. "Stop. That was a directed-energy discharge. There's nothing we can do. We've got to get away from here."

Gavin knew she was right and ran in the direction she pointed him, but he felt sick. If there were more people here, he hoped they were conscious and able to elude the Borg troopers. Finally they stopped, out of breath. "We must have run through five miles of passages. I wonder if we've been here before?"

She shook her head, "There's no way to tell." They looked around, and she noticed a socket in one of the berths where Borg rested. "Hey, I can plug the tricorder into this and maybe get some information." She set to work, trying to make her spying appear harmless.

Gavin looked over her shoulder. "They're not doing anything right now. Concentrating on repairs. See if you can get some external sensor data."

She pulled up another screen and tried to interpret the results. "They seem to think we're in some kind of 'container,' being held for study by powerful aliens. > There aren't any stars visible, but there are some ships. . . USS Galaxy and Beta 2 are almost out of sensor range >. . closer in, there's. . . USS Republic!" Billi turned to Gavin excitedly. "I think I can use the subspace transceiver in the tricorder to activate a site-to-site transport and beam us to the Republic - if any of its transporters are working."

He cocked his head and held up his hand.

"What?" She looked confused.

"Do it. Fast. We've got company." He raised the phaser rifle and moved to cover her as she started entering commands.

A Borg trooper lumbered around the corner, stared at them for a moment, then raised its left arm, which

was a cruel-looking weapon attachment. Gavin fired the rifle on setting 16, and the Borg literally exploded, sending tiny drops of molten metal flying everywhere.

He and Billi dissolved in a flash of blue and were reassembled on the battle bridge of the Republic. No one in sight was alive, and broken panels were dangling from the ceiling. Gavin pushed a dead body out of the helm and assessed the situation. "We've got half-impulse. Can you figure out which heading the station was from here?"

Billi grabbed tactical and scrolled back through her tricorder readings. "It's no good, there aren't any constant reference points."

Gavin let out an aggravated sigh. "Computer, open hailing frequency. This is Gavain Lakarr, in control of the starship Republic. The ship has heavy casualties and can make only one-half impulse power. We require vectoring to disengage from the Borg cube." He punched a random heading into the helm and the ship began to move away. Then, abruptly, the deck quaked beneath them and a fresh set of alarms and warnings were triggered. He looked at his panel. "We're losing antimatter containment, the ejection servos are fused solid! We'll be coming in with shuttlecraft!"

He grabbed Billi. "Beam us to the main shuttlebay!"

Chiron couldn't help but feel a twinge of ironic humor.

He was assigned to help rebuild the very Bay door he had blown out of the housing. He was very glad that Captain Price had decided to reinstate him, but he sensed concentration on his every move... Security officers... An understandable precaution... Well, Chiron HAD destroyed the shuttle bay, killed six people, and then caused the destruction of a shuttle. The shuttle 'Waterloo'.. more irony.

An Ensign handed him a PADD, and Chiron nodded his thanks.

--Ya know, it sure is hard not to reflexively reach for my comm badge to call you. I need you to come to the shuttle bay to start working. I still haven't decided about the telepathy, yet, so hold off for now. Lt. Andrew Hutchcraft--

Turning on his heel, Chiron left the plasma relay he was cleaning, and headed to the shuttlebay.

The female on the screen wanted to dock with the station, from the Void Cooperative she said... Whoever or whatever the Cooperative was, Varin hoped they were friendly. After months of dealing with Klingons, Orions, Romulans, and the occasional unknown, it would be refreshing to make first contact with a peaceful species.

Varin had command of the operations and science departments of both Galaxy and Beta 2. {What am I gonna do with all those people?} He thought, allowing himself a wry grin... There was another Science officer transferring over, she was to be on the Grogers' Dream. Varin hoped his new assistant cheif would be able to get here soon...

In the meantime, he busied himself with assigning the separate teams he had made to the multitude of tasks that were at hand.

He had decided on mixing the teams to include both Beta 2 and Galaxy officers... {Let's see how they work together...}

'Science Alpha team will consist of me, Ensign Hathaway, Lt. Malenson, Lt. Youta, and Ensign Tavish. Science Beta, you will be lead by Galaxy's Cheif of science, followed by Lt. Reaver, Ensign Iikat, Lt. Murphy, and Lt. Fisk. Operations Alpha, coordinate with Lt. Casey of the Galaxy, Cheif Tellis, Ensign Keller, Lt. Bean, and Lt. T'Kal. Operations Beta, your team will be headed by Lt. Pescadiero. Walton and Bates, I want you in that group, you'll be working with Lts. Thak and Jelis from the Galaxy.'

'Now that that's established, I'll give you your assignments. Ops Alpha, I want to get Captain Zahn's permission to speak with the members of the alien crew. If we get cleared, I want you, and my team, Science Alpha to as much information as we can learn from these beings. Ops Beta, you guys start working on a plausible way to deploy the nav beacons so we can navigate if needed. Science Beta, Help Ops Beta with the nav beacons, and when they're done, launch another Class I Probe, keeping it in range this time. Those aliens couldn't have just appeared from nowhere...'

Varin took a deep breath, and then asked the question all good breifing sessions end with.

'Any questions?'

[Chief Winston to Chief Dawner...Shuttlebay three is prepared for you to go over. Oh and Chief, be aware, that morale down this way is fairly low...there may be some problems. I'll see what I can do to head it off at the pass.]

"Thanks Winston, I'm on my way. Jalal out." Looking down at the grenade hanging from his belt, he thinks. I don't know what the Captain's going to think about that. Turning he walks into his office and puts the grenade back into the hidden panel. After glancing out of the portal into the void he leaves his office.

"Ramos, have Alpha-One and Adoni sections meet me outside shuttlebay three. And have the Dragoon mobile section ready at transporter room three as backup. If these people are friendly fine, if not they won't leave the shuttlebay."

"Right away Chief. Be careful Jalal."

"You can always trust me to do that." Jalal says with a small smile as he walks onto the main promenade deck. Just as he reaches the lift, Alpha-one comes up behind him.

"Tatalia..guys, the station's going to have some visitors in shuttlebay three. They seem friendly, but we don't Know that." Pausing to enter the lift, Jalal continues. "You all and I are going to be visible to our visitors, just in case. Section Adoni will be near as our backup. We are there for one thing, to finish anything they start. And by the light, I hope we're only wall flowers. Any questions?"

"First Contact"
Written by Commander Kra'lana Morris
Executive Officer, Station Beta Two

Kra'lana wished that she had the time to go change but she was busy trying to review the probe results. The probes were picking up a large power signature. She reviewed the readings for a little before she forwarded them onto Varin's Science station.

She pulled the clasp out of her hair, brushed it, and then re-fastened it. Straightened her dress uniform and headed down to shuttlebay three.

As she was getting ready to enter the shuttlebay she couldn't help but remember the tragedy of the explosion. Karen had just sent her a message stating that the Scythe had been found at Outpost 77 and that the explosion had really been an act of sabotoge caused by Captain Alexander. She sighed and pushed the button to enter the shuttlebay. Captain Zahn came around the corner and said, "Hold up Kra'lana."

He did a half jog and caught up with her. "So," he said with a sarastic smile, " are you sorry you left Medical?"

"Not yet," she said, "give me another 15 minutes."

He laughed and they entered the shuttlebay. Captain Price and Commander Coe teleported directly from the USS Galaxy to the shuttlebay's new pad.

Looking around, nobody could have guessed that this had been the site of a large scale fire fight and explosion only a couple of months ago. Chief Winston and Lt. Cmdr. Hanson's crews had done an excellent job in promoting the repairrs. The shuttlebay was completely state of the art.

The ship belonging to Madam Vyrissla of the Void Cooroperative came gracefully into the shuttlebay. The design was long and sleek with metallic colors of reds, oranges, and greens covering the ship. It was truly beautiful . . . . .

The four Starfleet officers stepped over toward the round door as it irised open and out stepped the very beautiful woman with long feathered hair and dim brown skin, Madam Vyrissla. She smiled and said, "Welcome, gentle beings, to the Void."

Gavin and Billi materialized inside the main shuttlebay. "Let's take separate shuttles," said Gavin, racing for the first one he saw. Powering up, he was pleased to see that his shittle and the one Billi had chosen were both equipped with phasers. So rather than go through the time-consuming process of opening the bay doors, he simply blasted a hole in them and let Billi through ahead of him.

Outside the ship, he looked at his sensor screen and saw another shuttle coming out of bay 2 behind them. "There's some of the Republic crew." The next thing he saw was that the cube's power levels were rising. "They're going to chase us! Beta 2, we need that approach vector now!"

"Schedule"
by Lieutenant Andrew Hutchcraft

Obviously, when Andrew joined Starfleet, he chose the wrong Department to start work in. Compared to Security, Engineering was constantly buzzing. There seemed to always be something new on the Schedule. In this case, new things kept being added to the schedule, that the originally scheduled tasks were postponed.

But now was a suitable time to continue with the repairs on the Shuttle Bay doors. Before Hutchcraft and his Engineering crew could continue the work on the doors, he needed to meet up with his officers in Main Engineering. When Hutchcraft arrived in his new Head-Quarters, the place was bustling with life. Another thing Security was often without.

Hutchcraft looked around "Where's Lt. Chiron?" he asked a mature-looking Specialist.

"He's in the Shuttle Bay, with some of Lt. Sterner's men" came the reply.

Smiling, Hutchcraft tapped his comm-badge. No reply. The Chief soon realized his mistake, and hailed another Ensign on the work-site. He gave the Ensign a quick message referring to Chiron's telepathy, before beginning the meeting.

"Officers, I'm sure you've heard many rumours about Borg-attacks, strange probes and being far away from home .... rest assured we are perfectly safe, for now" he began "We appear to be in some kind of Void, we're currently trying to work our way out. In the meantime, though, we've got a job to continue with"

The staff nodded, before Andrew continued. Authority didn't really suit him. He had the urge to make a sarcastic and unwitful comment about the situation straight after, but he conceiled his desire. He needed to stay serious, and calm, in a situation like this.

"The Beta 2 Staff have already restarted their work. I've already assigned a small team to work on the doors. Your job will be to keep the ship running while they are working on the shuttle-bay doors. While it would be nice if this was a totally non-hostile area, nice things don't seem to happen too much on this ship" Hutchcraft bit his lip. 'Stay serious, Andrew' he thought to himself "I need a good strong team at the ready at all times"

Hutchcraft continued by assigning Engineers to various areas, ranging from the Shuttle Bay, the Warp-Reactor Chamber, along with men on the bridge, cargo-bay and other smaller sections.

Hutchcraft approaced his console and began re-preparing the repairs. As he did, a Half-Klingon woman entered, and began speaking to him "I am Lt. Seles. Captain Zahn sent me here to help you with your repairs."

Rumours that the Klingons were in fact enemies of the Federation must of obviously been false, as Hutchcraft had ended up serving with more Half-Klingons than he cared to remember.

"Great, I'm on my way to the Shuttle Bay ..." began Lieutenant Hutchcraft "I'll brief you on the way"

Seles agreed, and both officers began their trip towards Engineering. As the officers entered the Turbolift, Hutchcraft thought to himself. Klingons were certainly not the most attractive species. Though Seles did look slightly nicer than Assistant Chief Security Officer K'arta.

Strange, Hutchcraft had noticed that his fellow officer Lieutenant Blair seemed to like Half-Klingons. His friendship with K'arta was more twisted than any of Hutchcraft's odd friendships, but there was some kind of connection there, at least. The rumours of Blair being attracted to a Half-Klingon on Beta Two also seemed to bare some truth.

Hutchcraft cringed. He couldn't believe he had thought about such horrifying things as strong-friendships and meaningful relationships.

"What's wrong, Lieutenant?" Seles asked, staring at the cringing officer. Hutchcraft didn't notice he was actually cringing.

Hutchcraft froze. "Nothing Lieutenant .... just thinking of some things I have to do later on" he mumbled straight after. "I should go into depth on these repairs ... did Hanson show you the blueprints?" he asked.

"Yes, he did. Looks like some nasty damage. I hope none of our staff becomes posessed by any strange nebula-created beings." returned Lieutenant Seles.

Hutchcraft smiled "Well ... there doesn't appear to be any nebula outside ... that's one advantage of this mess"

Hutchcraft then suddenly remembered. He needed to confirm to Chiron about his choice on the telepathy. He looked for a PADD in the Turbolift. As the Turbolift came to stop, and arrived at Deck 4, Hutchcraft opened his mouth once more "Lieutenant, do you have a PADD?"

Seles shoke her head. The officers entered Main Shuttle Bay to see the Engineering team hard at work already. Hutchcraft managed to obtain a PADD, and began writing into it. He approached one of the only Tamarians in Starfleet, and handed him the PADD

-- I've decided that while in an Emergency situation, yout telepathic powers should be used, despite the disorientating effects. However, in less serious situations, stick to PADDs -smile- --

Chiron nodded as he read the note. *thank you sir* he telepathically spoke into Hutchcraft's mind. Andrew felt slightly disorientated, but it wasn't as bad as he thought.

*Actually ... whenever Chiron. Whatever works ...* he thought to himself. Chiron nodded. The only problem was, Andrew needed to concentrate on his work harder than before, in order to not reveal any of his more deeper thoughts.

Hutchcraft finally approached the huge doors of the Shuttle Bay, and began to seriously co-ordinate the reconstruction with Seles and Chiron.

Captain Elitia, CO of the USS Sovereign Sim Lt.Hutchcraft, USS Galaxy Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/7432 Chief Engineer

"Scans"
by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rr'lonni Morris
Asst. Chief of Science, USS Galaxy

Ronni switched the order of the isolinear chips for the fifth time. She had never realized how much the communications grid and the sensor relays depended upon the Federation relays and substations. With the system designed with so many redundancies, to be without any was turning out to be a real headache.

"OK Lieutenant, try to initiate the scan now!" she said into her communicator.

She heard the loud buzz through the comm badge and saw the flash of light through the grid. She didn't need Lt. HutchCraft to tell her . . . "It didn't work Ronni!" came his voice over the comm badge.

She softly swore in Delphinian and tried the setup again. On the ninth try, the grid came to life and Ronni heard the "Woo hoo" from the Engineers and slid out of the Jefferies tube. By the time she was out of the cube Lt HutchCraft was already beginning a scan of the area.

There was nothing . . . .

After running the search, one of the probes sent out by Beta Station 2 started sending back traces of a large object, about the size of a small moon, about three days travel at Warp 5. Without the ability to effectivly triangulate the information it was receiving, the probe would have to close the distance before anymore accurate information could be obtained. At the probe's Warp 3 maximum, it would be awhile . . . . At least it was a start.

"Nav Beacons"
by Lt. Jg Ramone Pescadeiro
Operations Officer Beta 2 Station

Verin Riex was talking to him:

Operations Beta, your team will be headed by Lt. Pescadiero. Walton and Bates, I want you in that group, you'll be working with Lts. Thak and Jelis from the Galaxy.'

Ops Beta, you guys start working on a plausible way to deploy the nav beacons so we can navigate if needed. Science Beta, Help Ops Beta with the nav beacons, and when they're done, launch another Class I Probe, keeping it in range this time. Those alien

s couldn't have just appeared from nowhere...'

"Understood."

Turning to Walton and Bates, Ramone pauses, collecting his thoughts.

"Walton and Bates, I want you two to manually configure the Class I Probe. Reset the range to 200,000 km, that way it'll stay within range of our sensors."

Looking around and not seeing Lts. Thak or Jelis. Ramone taps his comm badge.

"Lt. Pescadeiro to Lts Thak and Jelis, please report to Beta 2 Ops."

[Lt. Thak, here. Acknowledged, I'm on my way.]

[Lt. Jelis, here. On my way.]

With that done, while he waited for the two Lts. to show up, he looked into the nav beacon problem. {We're gonna need a shuttle to drop the beacons. They better be set up to relay communications as well, that way the shuttle will never be out of communications range.}

Ramone tapped his comm badge:

"Lt. Pescadeiro to Chief Winston."

[Winston here.]

"Chief, how many nav beacons do we have with the capability to relay communications as well? We're gonna need a shuttle to drop some nav beacons, which one could we use?"

Just then the two Lts exited the turbolift into Main Ops. Waving them over, Ramone introduces himself to them. "Looks like we're gonna be working together on this thing. I'm not going to ask you to do anything I wouldn't do myself. Therefore, once we've preped a shuttle with some nav beacons, I'm going to need one of you here to monitor the shuttle. The other will join me in the shuttle to drop the beacons. I want them to also be able to relay communications, so we won't be out of touch with the station or the USS Galaxy. That way we can be upraised should the situation change. Which one of you volunteers for the shuttle mission?"

V: “Visitors-Part 2”

"Tatalia..guys, the station's going to have some visitors in shuttlebay three. They seem friendly, but we don't Know that." Pausing to enter the lift, Jalal continues. "You all and I are going to be visible to our visitors, just in case. Section Adoni will be near as our backup. We are there for one thing, to finish anything they start. And by the light, I hope we're only wall flowers. Any questions?"

“Yes, how are the visitors getting here? Last I looked we were in a void.” Tatalia asked confused. The lift arrived and the officers entered the lift.

“Shuttlebay three,” Jalal ordered. The lift started to move to the destination. Tatalia waited for Dawner’s answer. Her eyes saw a grenade hanging from Dawner’s belt. Her eyes grew wide and she drew a quick breath.

‘What are we getting into,’ she thought.

"Where's Oracle?" Written by Captain Joseph Zahn Commanding Officer, Station Beta Two

Joseph stepped out of the shower and padded his face dry. He glanced at himself in the mirror and a sudden thought came to his mind - The Oracle. Where was he and why hadn't he been around pestering the Captain? Joseph quickly dressed himself in normal attire and moved out into the living area of his quarters.

"Oracle? Can you hear me? Are you behind this void nonsense?" he yelled out. All was quiet. Joseph turned around in a circle looking for the mystical myst that was The Oracle. But nothing could be seen. It didn't make sense. "I need your help Oracle," Captain Zahn cried out. Nothing but the hum of the station came out into his ears.

Suddenly the door chime beeped. The Oracle nevered used the door before. He usally just swayed into the Captain's quarters. Joseph opened the door and spotted Kra'lana standing there. "Ready to meet our visitors?" she said gleefully. Zahn smirked.

"Vyrissla"
Written by Captain Joseph Zahn
Commanding Officer, Station Beta Two

* * * Shuttlebay Three * * *

"Welcome, gentle beings, to The Void," the feathered woman said standing in front of two of her crewmates. She smiled and acknowledged them. "May I introduce to you Sir Kallok and Madam T'ere'e. We are diplomatic liasons of The Void Cooroperative. As I said in my transmission, we have much to discuss," her soothing voice added.

Joseph was in awe of the creatures. They were magnifficent looking. He had never seen anyone like them in his life. "Of course Madam," he said assuming that was her title. "I would first like to introduce you to my first officer, Commander Kra'lana Morris." Morris nodded with a bright smile. "And this is Captain Edward Lee Price and Commander Coe of the USS Galaxy, a Federation starship docked here." Vyrissla nodded at the two men.

Suddenly the enterance door opened and Ambassador tr'Herrian stepped into Shuttlebay Three. The security officers lining the back wall jumped up with their phasers. Chief Jalal smirked at his Romulan friend. "And I am Senior Ambassador Kale tr'Herrian of the Romulan Star Empire, located in the Beta Quadrant," he said walking forward. Vyrissla looked confused.

"Perhaps we should all go to one of the station's observation lounges for a chat?" Captain Price said diplomatically. Commander Morris agreed and the entire party slowly moved out of the shuttlebay. Joseph walked along side Kale. "You make quite an enterance Ambassador," he said as his voice changed tones, "Don't ever do it again."

* * * Senior Conference Room * * *

"The Federation is a peacful society made up of hundreds of member races and planets. We are located in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants in the Milky Way. The Romulan Empire, as represented by Mister tr'Herrian, is a society made up of those of Romulan descent. Ambassador tr'Herrian represents the empire in politcal affairs. He was stationed here when the probe fired upon us," Joseph said explaining their situation.

"Your Federation sounds much like The Void Cooperative, Captain. We are made up of hundrends of races and thousands of starships and stations that were transported here by the probe, like Beta 2 and the Galaxy. We work peacefully together to maintain a living standard within The Void. No one has been able to acheive what we have within The Void. We have created life in a lifeless world," Vyrissla said explaining her situation.

"Is there anyway out of this void?" Joseph asked.

Vyrissla was silent before she answered, "No. There have been those souls who have dared to go beyond The Void, but they have never been heard from again."

Commander Coe looked up skeptical, "How come we haven't detected anything on our sensors except a few ion trails and a moon?"

Sir Kallok smiled amusingly. He was short bald man with what appeared to be spikes emgerging from his head. Edward couldn't tell if they were hair or parts of his skeletal structure. Kallok spoke up, "Those faint ion trails are emissions form our vessels. We also use them as navigational tools. As for the moon, that is the heart of The Void Cooperative. But it is no moon. As Madam Vyrissla stated, there was no life here in the begining. That moon is The Void Cooperative Fortress, a collection of stations and starships melded together to create a home for us."

"That brings us to our reason for visiting you. We'd like you to join The Void Cooperate. Your technology and culture would be most benefical. As would ours. If you'd like, we could take you to the fortress for a tour," Vyrissla said.

Everyone sitting at the conference table was silent. It was a bit of a shocker. They had all hoped to hear thoughts and solutions to escaping this void, but Vyrissla and her fellow diplomats spoke as if it were their homeland, as if it were another Federation.

A cargo shuttle dropped out of warp and slowed as it neared the station.Home at last Jonathan thought as the shuttle landed with a bump on the shuttlebay's floor.He grabed his bags and exited the ship. Jonathan walked down the dimly lit corridor until he found a turbolift,and stepped inside,"deck 23".The computer complied and the lift started for its destination.

*** Deck 23 ***

Ensign Fielder stopped at the entrance to his quarters and typed in his personal code,and the doors flew open.He set his bags down on the bed and started to unpack them.

When he was done he got ready for bed.Jonathan was so tired after piloting his shuttle for over 13 hours.He climbed into his bed,"Computer,wake me up at 0730 hours."

V: "More Shuttle Bay Repairs"

After Lt. Seles introduced herself to Lt. Hutchcraft, they both made their way to the Shuttle Bay on Deck 4. Katarina noticed that Lt. Hutchcraft was quite reserved and didn't seem too comfortable around her. Not that many people were. Although, she had tried to soften her style for this Beta Two assignment, she had been known to rant and rave on occasion. Especially with Lt. Cohen and Lt. Pescadeiro.

On the turbolift ride, she noticed a pained expression on Lt. Hutchcraft's face. "What's wrong, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing Lieutenant .... just thinking of some things I have to do later on." He probably likes Klingons as much as Matthew does. It was nothing new to Katarina. She had never really fit in at home on Earth or the Academy.

"I should go into depth on these repairs ... did Hanson show you the blueprints?" he asked.

"Yes, he did. Looks like some nasty damage. I assume Tom told you we have had quite a bit of experience repairing shuttle bays." Shuttle Bay Two had been blown to pieces by the Klingons, Shuttle Bay Three went up with the shuttlecraft explosion, and Ambassador tr'Herrian damaged Docking Bay Three by engaging the cloak on his ship while docked. "I hope none of our staff becomes posessed by any strange nebula-created beings."

"Well ... there doesn't appear to be any nebula outside... that's one advantage of this mess." The shuttle bay repairs seemed like low priority work compared to the mess they were in. And even if they did find their way back to their own space, the Borg were probably there waiting for them. But she had her orders.

She looked around the shuttle bay and surveyed the damage. After speaking with Lieutenants Hutchcraft and Chiron, Katarina picked up a heavy duty welder and started working.

Lt. Seles, Chief Operations Officer Station Beta Two

They were docking in shuttle bay 3. Ramone turned to the Captain, "Captain, I was wondering since this was a first contact situation, would you like a telepath with you to sense they're intentions?"

Ramone waited for the captains reply.

Kale listened to this "Vyrissla" spoke her offer, she was holding something thing back Kale was sure of it, maybe it was his finely honed diplomatic instinct, may some vauge psychic hunch a legacy from his far removed vulcan ancestors, but he did not trust what he heard. Any way he had no intentions of joining this "void coperative" even if the rest of the station did, he would find away out by himself if need be. He glanced across at Zahn the captain looked thoughtfull but something in his eyes told Kale he had not given up either.

Kale wondered what there guests response would be to a refusal or even an ofputting of the decisions Kale held a suspicision that it would not be calm acceptence. Alone in this void the co-opratives greatest enemy would be entropy, every lost moloecule, every wasted erg of energy would be irriplaceible in this vast emptyness they would need regular influxs of raw material and fule sustain themselves, he doubted they would simply let a large a resource as Beta 2 to be 'Wasted'.

Kale interuppted the scattered musings of the Federation officers and addresses the alien diplomats in his politest tones "You said those who dared go 'beyond the Void' have never been heard from again, what did you mean by that? and why do you assume that these people have not escaped?" .........

"Why are all jerks higher ranked then me?"
by Cadet Christopher I. Campbell

Cadet Campbell hurried to the security office. Lt. JG Paran had told him to hurry.

However, when he entered the office, Lt. Sterner was there instead of Lt. JG Paran.

"Cadet Campbell as ordered sir." he just stated.

"Well Cadet it seems we could really use some hand here." Joerg replied.

"Ensign Enquist is missing and I want you and Ensign O'Lindey go and find him. Start looking on the station, he said something about meeting with a friend of him, a Lieutenant Straker. Perhaps he knows something about the whereabouts of Ensign Enquist." he explained.

"Yes sir."

"Ensign O'Lindey will meet you at the docking bay. Good luck Cadet."

"Thank you sir." Campbell said and left the office.

*In one of the smaller docking bays*

When Christopher arrived at the docking bay, to meet Ensign O'Lindey, an Ensign with red hair nodded at him.

Chris guesed that he was Ensign Don O'Lindey. He was perhaps twenty-three, twenty-four. And when he greeted the Cadet, Christopher realized he had a heavy Irish accent.

"Hello!" Don said smiling. "Ready to track down Ensign Enquist?"

Chris nodded. He was. Ensign Enquist had helped him to adopt to the Galaxy, when he was new on the ship. He had answered his questions about where to eat or where the weapon storage was and so on. And now he was missing somehow.

"I guess they sent us sheep-dogs to round up the run-away officer!" He laughed at his own very lame joke. O'Lindey sounded like he was trying to swallow his own tounge when he laughed.

Christopher forced himself to smile. "Yeah, ha... So, " he tried to change the subject, "let's go find him!"

On their way to station Beta Two, Ensign O'Lindey, started talking about all the knew women he would meet at Beta Two.

"It'll be a change to all the women on the Galaxy", he said. "I served on the Galaxy for three years, you know. All the women there are getting a little, I don't know, boring." He laughed and elbowed Chris' stomach. "If you know what I mean!" He laughed even harder.

"Yeah..." he said quietly. "What an idiot!" he thought rubbing his stomach where O'Lindey had elbowed him.

At there arrival to the station, Christopher waited for Ensign O'Lindey to take charge of the situation; after all he did have higher rank.

"Now what, sir?" Chris asked.

"Now what what?" he asked as his eyes followed a dark-haired woman with long legs.

"What about Ensign Enquist? How are we going to find him?" Although Chris had only known the guy for a few minutes he was ready to punch him.

"Oh, yes... Wasn't there a friend of his or something he was going to pay a visit", he said, only paying half attention to Chris, his eyes stil following the dark-haired woman as she walked away.

Seconds passed.

"SIR!" Christopher yelled.

"Yeah, what?" O'Lindey said finaly looking at Christopher. He sounded irritated.

"What next?"

"Let's split up", he said. "You go find that friend of his and I'll investigate the matter from the promenade. Maybe somebody knows something. I'll ask her over there!" He strolled off to a woman wearing a dress that really didn't cover that much.

Cadet Campbell just stod there looking after Ensign O'Lindey.

"But...but, you didn't even say when we're to meet up again!" he shouted. Ensign O'Lindey, however, didn't respond. He was already busy "asking her about Ensign Enquist."

"Looks like I'm going to have to handle this", Chris thought as O'Lindey's sickening laugh filled the air. He decided he was going to look for this Lt. JG Straker and maybe try to get a hold of the Station's Security Chief.

"Invitations"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

Things were happening rapidly now Captain Price thought as he quickly changed out of his dress uniform. Since holding a senior staff meeting with the Galaxy officers, Station Beta Two had detected an approaching alien shuttle. "Finally, some possible answers to all of this." Lee thought.

His officers all knew what they were assigned to do. The repairs continued on the Galaxy shuttle bay doors as Captain Zahn had requested. It was a good decision. It had given both crews something to concentrate on other than their current predicament.

Already plans were being made on how to navigate the Federation shuttles and starships through the void. The absence of stars for the navigation systems to use as a reference

provided a difficult challenge. Speculation was made that the Stations and ship's weapon's systems would likewise be ineffective. Those doubts were put to rest however when all sensors and targeting systems checked out fine. Once within range, the sensors could easily be used to target phasers and torpedoes, just as telemetry was readily available on the Galaxy and the other docked ships at Station Beta Two. No, the real threat was what would happen if a ship ventured beyond sensor range. In this vast emptiness, one could easily be lost forever with no hope of finding their way back home.

Price straightened his duty jacket, running a hand quickly through his white hair before exiting his quarters. Zahn had said to meet him in shuttle bay three on the station. Lee hustled to arrive just in the nick of time.

The alien ship was an amazingly beautiful design. The myriad of colors left the impression that these were a very artistic people. Soon they had landed and three people exited.

Polite introductions were made before the diplomats from "The Void Cooroperative" were escorted to the observation lounge at Station Beta Two.

In the Senior Conference room, Vyrissla, the lead diplomat for the Void Cooroperative finally brought up the reason for their welcome but unexpected visit.

"That brings us to our reason for visiting you. We'd like you to join The Void Cooperate. Your technology and culture would be most beneficial. As would ours. If you'd like, we could take you to the fortress for a tour."

Everyone sitting at the conference table was silent. It was a bit of a shocker. They had all hoped to hear thoughts and solutions to escaping this void, but Vyrissla and her fellow diplomats spoke as if it were their homeland, as if it were another Federation.

Kale, the Romulan Ambassador on Station Beta Two, interrupted the scattered musings of the Federation officers and addresses the alien diplomats in his politest tones. "You said those who dared go 'beyond the Void' have never been heard from again, what did you mean by that? and why do you assume that these people have not escaped?"

Vyrissla glanced over to Sir Kallok. As she did her rounded eyes penned slightly, very reminiscent of a birds. That seemed to make the most sense, as her head covering was most obviously made up of beautiful feathers. Glancing at Sir Kallok, Lee got the definite impression that of the three diplomats sitting before him, Kallok was there as a tactical, possibly military evaluator.

"Perhaps you could help answer that Kallok?"

The short gentleman cleared his throat slightly. "We have been here for many years Ambassador, some for generations. In the course of that time, many attempts have been made to explore this great Void. Expeditions have been launched to try and venture out, in an attempt to discover a way out of this place. To find the mystical passageway that would return us to our native homes. All that have ventured out beyond the reaches of the charted Void have either returned discouraged, or were never heard of again."

Ambassador tr'Herrian makes a steeple with his fingers as he barely touches the joining fingers to his lips. "Then you really don't know if those that didn't return haven't escaped this place."

It was a valid point. Still, Kallok disagreed. "The Void is a very unforgiving place gentlemen. Once beyond familiar territory it has a way of opening up and simply devouring ships in it's utter vastness. Without the resources that the Void Cooroperative can provide, such expeditions will prove to be deadly."

Glances were exchanged around the table. Lee didn't know if he agreed with Sir Kallok's assessment of the Void, but he was certain that Kallok was 100% sure of his observations. And this Void was not a very inviting place.

"Thank you Kallok." Vyrissla said, reestablishing her lead in these talks. "So gentlemen, our invitation stands. If you'd care to come and tour the Cooroperative Fortress, we would be honored to act as you escorts." Vyrissla bowed her head slightly as she made the offer again.

Joseph looked at Lee. In a look Zahn was able to relay that he wasn't ready to give up on getting back home to the Milky Way just yet either. But both Captain's realized that, given their current situation, it was only logical to visit this "Cooroperative", if nothing else to get a tactical evaluation of their technology and possible threat potential.

"I don't know about you 'mate, but I thing a tour of your Fortress would be just lovely."

Zahn nodded to Price. "Yes, I think it would be a good idea to get to know our new neighbors."

Vyrissla smiled. "Excellent, then if you gentlemen would come with us, we'd be happy to take you in our shuttle."

Lee raised his hand momentarily. "Actually, we will need some time to prepare ma'am. Why don't we talk among ourselves to decide who will be going, and who will be staying here." Lee glances at Commander Coe before continuing. "And if there are no objections, I'd prefer if we followed your shuttle in one of our own. I'm sure Lieutenant Ti and Lieutenant Casey are anxious to test out the modifications they have been making to the shuttle USS Yosemite anyways." He said with a grin.

Vyrissla's eyes darted to Madam T'ere'e. When she simply nodded in response, Vyrissla bowed again. "As you wish, Captain. We will return to our vessel until you are ready to depart."

"Thank you." Captain Zahn said before adding, "It shouldn't take too long before we are ready to go."

"We will look forward to sharing our Cooroperative with you Captain Zahn." As Vyrissla and the other two diplomats began to get up, she looked over to Lee. "And you as well Captain Price."

With a nod and smile, everyone stood up. "Lieutenant, please escort our guests to the shuttle bay and see that they are cleared to launch whenever they are ready." Zahn orders one of the security officers.

"Aye Captain. If you will follow me?"

The Security officer and three diplomats exit the conference room. When the doors shut, Lee turns to Captain Zahn.

"Well 'mate, what do ya make of their invitation?"

Varin tapped his combadge. 'Reix to Captain Zahn.'

{Zahn here, Go ahead, Commander.}

'I would like to ask permission to talk to our visitors. They no doubt have much that we could learn, and I have two teams standing by ready to learn. We would also be well-equipped to answer any questions they might have as well.'

"Yes, how are the visitors getting here? Last I looked we were in a void." Tatalia asked confused. The lift arrived and the officers entered the lift.

"I would guess sometype of shuttle or very small ship. There seems to be a moon not far from the station." Jalal stops as the lift chimes it's arrival.

"Shuttlebay three," Jalal ordered. The lift started to move to the destination. Tatalia waited for Dawner's answer. Her eyes saw a grenade hanging from Dawner's belt. Her eyes grew wide and she drew a quick breath. 'What are we getting into,' she thought.

"For some reason I don't trust these aliens. No evidence, but just a feeling on my part. So keep on your toes, just in case. Hopefully, my worries will be for nothing. The four of us will follow where ever they go. Far enough back so as to not cause any problems, but close none the less." As the lift stops Jalal lets the Tatalia and her section out first. Then quickly puts the grenade up into his sleeve out of sight, but reachable.

Stepping back in front, he leads the section into the shuttlebay. "Spread out along the back wall here." Moving to the opposite side of the door Jalal taps his com-badge.

[Jalal, Adoni are you in position?]

[Yes we await farther orders, Chief.]

[For now just stay where you are, out of sight. Jalal out.] Just as he finishes that both of the Captains walk into the shuttlebay. Captain Zahn makes introduces to the unique people from the void. Then the bay doors suddenly open and ambassador tr'Herrian walks in. With a quick look to the section brings them to attention.

I'm sure that Kale liked that. Hopefully the captain won't nail me for it. After some more polite diplomatic the whole groups heads out of the bay. With the section he follows at a small distance to the observation lounge. Stopping outside of the room both he and the section awaits the next things to happen.

"More Than Less"
Written by Captain Joseph Zahn
Commanding Officer, Station Beta Two

"Well 'mate, what do ya make of their invitation?" Captain Price asked.

Zahn shook his shoulders and stood upward. He moved over to the replicator as he spoke. "It seems out of sincereity, but I just have a hard time grasping the concept that thousands of people from different quadrants, different worlds, and different dimensions can work as peaceful as Vyrissla states. There has to be some kind of conflict," he said ordering a glass of lemon water.

Joseph motioned to the replicator and gave Price a would-you-like-something-to-drink look. Lee shook his head. Captain Zahn sat back down at the table and took a gulp of his water. "I also don't like the idea of riding along in their shuttle alone in this void. It's too dangerous. Instead of just the USS Yosemite with Lieutenant Ti and Lieutenant Casey following Vyrissla's vessel, perhaps their same modifications can be made to the entire USS Galaxy. Hopefully Vyrissla won't have objections."

"Good idea 'mate. We'd be able to retrieve more telemetry and data that way. But it might take a few hours, and we'd have to speed up the shuttlebay repairs," Lee said pondering the thought.

"We'll talk to our people and see what they can do. It'd be much safer to take the Galaxy than risk being kidnapped. Speaking of people, I'd like to take my Chief of Science and Security along with my Strategic Security Officer. Kra'lana will command the station in my absence."

"Fine by me 'mate."

Joseph took another slow sip of his water. Just then it came rushing into his mind. He was going to go into this void with a group of aliens he had never even heard of. Captain Zahn had nevered felt this way before.

Apparently several injured crew men from a ship caught in the viod had been brought to sickbay while Salvine was gone but all had been succesfully treated.......his staff was damn good and it was a good thing, he always seemed to be off doing something.

Sitting down at his desk he activated his terminal.

"Computer, open a channel to Galaxy-Sickbay-Dr.Rousseau."

Dr.Rousseau's face appeared on the screen and she seemed in a rather good mood, probably judt the guise that all doctors wore, even around one another.

"Dr., I think that we should get together and discuss the medical ramifications of this whole event. Whenever you are free is fine for me."

After being cleared for duty, Jania stepped from Sickbay to the prominade. She strolled around, familiarizing herself with the setting, being friendly with the locals. She glanced out the viewport again. The blank sight still caused strange flip flops in her stomach. She hoped they wouldn't be there long.

She gave a quiet sigh as she stepped into the turbolift and headed for the Science Labs. She hoped the chief would be there, but as she peeked into each one, she noticed he wasn't. She sighed again as she headed back to the turbolift.

"Computer, locate Lt Varin Reix," she said.

=/\= "Lt Varin Reix is currently in Ops." The voice sounded so much like her sister's first employer. She stepped into the turbolift and stated her destination. "Ops." The 'lift hummed quietly towards the nerve center, parting it's doors for her upon arrival. She stepped in and noticed the busy atmosphere. A Trill in a blue Science uniform caught her attention. She approached. "Lt Varin Reix?" she asked. He turned. "Lt jg Jania Fowler reporting for duty, sir."

"I'm surprised you made it. We've had some interesting things happening." He looked at the list of teams he had made to study the situation. "I could probably use you now." Jania nodded.

"Just let me know what you need me to do, sir." She grinned, not noticing the familiar Betazoid staring at her as he left Ops for Shuttle Bay 3.

"Getting things done"
by Lt. jg Ramone Pescadeiro
Assistant Chief Operations Officer Beta 2 Station

"Looks like we're gonna be working together on this thing. I'm not going to ask you to do anything I wouldn't do myself. Therefore, once we've preped a shuttle with some nav beacons, I'm going to need one of you here to monitor the shuttle. The other will join me in the shuttle to drop the beacons. I want them to also be able to relay communications, so we won't be out of touch with the station or the USS Galaxy. That way we can be upraised should the situation change. Which one of you volunteers for the shuttle mission?"

The two Lts. looked at each other for a moment, "I guess I'll stay this time," Lt Thak replied.

"Ok, with that settled, Lt. Jelis go down and prep the shuttle Clinton for launch. Load up as many pilot training beacons as you can into the shuttle and configure them as nav beacons. Also reconfigure their comm systems to relay mode."

["Yes, sir"] Jelis replied, leaving Ops to start his assignment.

Turning back to Lt. Thak, Ramone notices a young betazoid science officer talking to Lt. Reix. Sending a quick thought to her {Jania Fowler, is it really you?} he returns his attention to Lt. Thak. Showing the Lt. how things worked on the station was simple enough. It took all of about 20 minutes for him to accustom himself to the way they did things on the station.

"Lt. Thak, you have Ops."

[Yes, sir.]

***An Hour Later***

Ramone had gone to his quarters to get cleaned up. He took a quick sonic shower and changed into a clean uniform.

This away mission was very important, not only to him, but to the station and the USS Galaxy as well. Wether or not they could get out of this void may depend on how well they can navigate. He was going to see to it that they could navigate, even if it killed him.

Then his comm badge chirped at him.

[Lt. Jelis to Lt. Pescadeiro]

"Pescadeiro here, go ahead."

[Sir, the shuttle is prepped and ready to go. I've loaded 80 beacons. They've been reconfigured to the necessary specifications.]

"Good work Lt., I'll be there shortly. Pescadeiro out."

He closed the comm channel. Just then his door chimed.

"Enter."

The door opened and Dalia came in. "What's happened to the station? Where are all the stars? What's going on?"

"Dalia, dear sister, I can only tell you this. The station some how was transported into an unknown void of some sort and we're trying to figure out how to get home. I'm on my way to set some nav beacons out there so we can try and navigate this strange place."

"I hope you won't be in any danger," Dalia said, concern showing in her face.

"I don't think so, but the shuttle is equipped with phasers anyhow. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but I'm in a bit of a rush right now."

"That's okay, I'll see you when you get back then."

With that Dalia leaves going back to the school. A moment later his comm badge chirped.

[Walton to Lt. Pescadeiro]

"Pescadeiro here, go ahead."

[The class I probe has been reconfigured.]

"Good, coordinate with Lt. Thak and Lt. Reix. Launch when they're ready. I'm on my way to shuttle bay to drop the nav beacons. If you have any questions, speak to either Lt Reix or Lt. Seles."

[Understood, Walton out.]

Picking up a PADD, Ramone jots down everything he's done and is doing. Specifically noting the shuttle mission that he's undertaking. On his way to the shuttle bay he drops the PADD on Lt. Seles desk in her office.

Tapping his comm badge,

"Pescadeiro to Seles"

[Seles here, go ahead.]

"Lt. I've left a PADD on your desk in your office. At your convenience please look it over."

[Will do, I'm a little busy at the

moment, though.]

"No rush, Lt. Pescadeiro out."

***Shuttle Bay 1***

Ramone entered shuttle bay 1 and went directly to the shuttle Clinton. Seeing Chief Winston, Ramone thanks him for the use of the shuttle on such short notice and his help with the beacons.

Entering the shuttle, Ramone see's Lt. Jelis making the final preparations for departure. Closing the rear shuttle door, Ramone walks up to Jelis.

"Everything ready to go?"

[Yes, sir.]

Sitting in the pilot's seat, Ramone primes the engines for take off. Opening a channel

"Shuttle craft Clinton, requesting permission to depart?"

[Shuttle craft Clinton, permission granted, good luck and come back soon.]

The shuttle bay doors slowly open. Increasing power, Ramone pilots the shuttle out into the void.

"Collaborations and Decisions"
By: Jacqueline Rousseau, MD

Jacqueline had taken a moment to look out into the stars earlier that day...those travelling companions that were disturbingly absent from sight. It had disturbed her when the captain had asked about the crew's status...

'Playing the cards as they're dealt. Playing the ball in the lie. Coping...adjusting as they had always been told and taught and programmed to do.'

She wondered if anyone else felt as she did...she was sure they did. She was alone, literally in the middle of nowhere, now likely to miss her brother's graduation.

The stars, which normally brought her comfort, were no longer there. There was nothing to comfort her.

As patients began a light but steady stream in, hailing from a disabled ship, rerouted from a full medical facility on Beta 2, she realized that wasn't entirely true.

She still had her work.

She was in the middle of setting a broken arm when she got the hail from Salvine...and the young man winced as her concentration slipped in that moment. Murmuring an apology and righting the wronged limb, she found her way to the nearest terminal.

"Dr., I think that we should get together and discuss the medical ramifications of this whole event. Whenever you are free is fine for me." The smooth, even tones of Dr. Salvine's voice flowed through the small alcove. Jacqueline, realizing the necessity of such a meeting, nodded her head.

"Of course. Perhaps at the end of alpha shift, around 1600 hours."

" First Contact."
By Commander JT Coe

**** Bridge, USS Galaxy ****

With a shudder, the light stopped, and everything was silent. Coe pulled his arm from his face and gave his eyes a few seconds to readjust. He cleared his head and began to think normally.

" Lt Bliar, what just happened?" Coe asked, retaking his seat.

" Sir, I cannont say for certain. It appears the ships sensors have been damaged..." Bliar stated as he continued to enter commands into the tactical console of the Galaxy.

" How so Lt?" Coe raised his head in anticipation.

" Well Sir, the sensors are trying to tell me that we are surrounded by nothingness. The only thing the sensors are registering are a few ion trails. Apparantly the star, navigation becons and everything else have vanished." Coe relaxed, he had expected something worse than a little malfunction with the sensor. He smiled. Not realising what had just happened.

" See what you can do to fix the problem Lt."

" Yes Sir."

**** Captains ready room ****

" Well mate, what do you think?" Price asked from behind his desk. Coe thought for a moment. When the sensors turned out to functioning, the Galaxy and Station Beta Two had discovered that the white light and unknown probe had somehow transported the station and ship into some kind of void. Because of the disappearance of all starfleet relay stations and communications satelites, many of the systems on the Galaxy and SB2 had been rendered useless.

" Okay, this is my recomendation." Coe handed the Captain a PADD. and began....

" The Galaxy should..." Coe continued outlining his plan for the Galaxy and after about 3 mins of pointing to a map and explaining different stages he concluded.

" ...therefore we would create a sensor net for early detection of other vessels and a means of navigation." Price listened carefully, nodding his head periodically.

" Okay mate. I'll think it over."

**** Shuttle Bay three, SB2 ****

Coe watched as the void cooperative descended from their ship. The security team present in he room blended into their surroundings perfectly, Coe was pleased to note. Captain Price took a step forward along with Captain Zahn.

" I am Captain Price, commanding Officer of the USS Galaxy. A starship belonging to the united federation of planets. Welcome. This is Commander Coe. My first officer." Coe nodded politely, hands binded together in front of him. Captain Zahn introduced him self and then conintued with Commander Morris. Soon the delegation was headed toward the senior officers conference room.

**** Conference room ****

"And so, our purpose for this visit is to invite you to join the void cooperative." Coe flinched, physically. Not expecting that, we has hoping for a discussion and joint effort on finding a way out of the void. Coe's mind wandered as he imagined what life would be like living in this lifeless place, with no family, no friends and no outside contact, for the rest of his life. He forced his mid to concentrate.

" ..... we would be interested in a tour of your fortress." Captain Price added.

" Very well." The meeting ended and Coe meet Captain Price outside.

" Commander.."

" Yes Sir."

" Get back to the ship and get it ready for immediate departure. Make all the necessary modifications. I will be here with Captain Zahn. Have the ship ready by 09:00 hours."

" Yes Sir." Coe began on his way back to the Galaxy.....

Chris N
AKA: .Commander Johnathon Thomas Coe
First Officer, USS Galaxy Email Sim NCC-70637
Indentification: Foxtrot delta 769

As Lt Reix explained a few things for her to do, Jania's senses prickled. Someone she knew was in Ops, but he wasn't anywhere she could see him without drawing attention to the fact that she was only half listening to what Varin was saying.

{{{{Jania Fowler, is it really you?}}}} came echoing through her mind. She jumped.

"Is something wrong, Lt jg?" asked Reix.

"Sorry, sir. I've just been thrown off by the whole situation." He nodded, accepting her excuse. The voice in her head was familiar as well, but it had been so long. She searched for him again, but didn't find him since he had left Ops for his quarters. >

As Jania took on the task assigned to her, she searched the station and the surrounding ships for the mind that had touched hers, just recently and so long ago. She didn't find him until over an hour later, on a shuttlecraft departing the station. She touched his mind carefully, identifying who it was. Ramone Pescadeiro! A flood of memories overtook her for a moment. Memories she had chosen to forget. He had promised, yet never returned. Her touch had registered in his own mind.

{{{{I thought it was you,}}}} he said.

{{{{We'll talk later,}}}} she said. {{{{We both have a lot of hard work ahead of us. Just be careful.}}}} She had tried to keep herself cool in the exchange, but a bit of concern seeped out and across their link. She quickly pulled back before he could say anything else.

"Viewpoints"
Written by Captain Joseph Zahn
Commanding Officer, Station Beta Two

Electra stood behind the bar in Club Spectrum. It had been almost five months to the day since she came to Beta 2 and opened the lively Promenade club. Many of the civilians had taken refuge at the Latinum Palace and Club Spectrum. In times of crisis, it was good to be in the company of others. And this was definately a time of crisis.

"Captain, here is your Sping Wine," the Orion woman said sliding Captain Levask from the SS Mendeleev a slender clear glass.

The Flaxian Freighter Captain sat next to Nurse Blla-Nora on his right side and Yridian Transport Captain Jarlok on his left. Electra swiped the bar clean with a rag as Roentgen Levask attempted to make conversation with a somewhat quiet group. "So what does everyone think of this void mess?" he sniped.

"I think everyone wants to get home Levask, or least back onto their trade routes. Did you hear about the others that have been held in this space? From what I understand they've built a space station 30 times the size of B2. I also heard the Federation is going to join them if we can't find a way home," Jarlok said taking a swing of his beverage.

"That simply is not true Yridian," Blla said coldly. "The Federation nor Captain Zahn would never join some freak aliance. Everyone working on this station will stop at nothing to find a way home. The Science Trill Reix is already making progress."

Electra leaned up, "She's right gentlemen. I wouldn't get used to this void. Besides, we've only been here two days. Paitence is a virtue." Blla and Roentgen nodded in agreement. Beta 2 had come up againist Klingons, Founders, Tholians, and Orions. Finding a way out of a void didn't seem too far out of reach to them.

"Well I've talked to my crew," the Yridian began, "and we'll join that freak aliance if push comes to shove. I am not stupid. I know when I see a loosing battle and my eyes are open to this void. I give you a week before your hope is gone and within that week I'll be safe with that freak aliance and you'll be stranded."

Blla-Nora stood from the bar, "I have a loyalty to the Federation, to the Orexian Empire, and to my family that your Yridian mind obviously doesn't understand. I will not give into the demands of others. I will not be weak," she said strongly walking out of Club Spectrum.

Electra removed her glass from the bar. Captain Jarlok smiled coyly. He turned to look at Captain Levask. Electra glared mystically at Jarlok. Deep down inside she knew he had the true possibility of being right. Jarlok whispered to Levask, "The Orexian nurse will see in time. They'll all see in time."

Kra'lana turned her head as she was locking up the Promenade Clinic. She wondered to herself it would ever open. As she was keying in the lock, she heard the cry of a child.

Quickly, she turned and went over to the source of the sound. A little girl was crying as she clutched onto a Betaziod Pupaille Doll. She was frantically looking around her. Kra'lana walked up and croutched down in front of the girl.

"Can I help you find someone?" she said.

--I can't find Mama!-- she said telepathically so she wouldn't have to stop crying.

"What's her name?" Kra'lana said calmly.

--Mama. Where is she?-- she projected. The tears slowed down a little.

Kra'lana pulled out her tricorder and said, "This won't hurt. It'll help me find your Mama." She did a quick scan and then compared it to the Station's records. She was the daughter of the Furier on the Upper Promenade. Kra'lana patted her shoulder and said, "Hold on, I know who your parents are. Let me take you to them."

The little girl's tears slowed to an occassional sob and she took Kra'lana's outstreatched hand. The two of them walked down the Promenade until the girl was reunited with her parents.

The sensors started beeping on the bridge. "Morgath, report."

"Sir, there is a shuttle heading into Beta 2."

"Keep an eye on it, Morgath. I'm heading over."

Russ got up from his chair and headed to the docking port.

Upon arriving, Russ was greeted by security guards. "Sorry, sir. No attmidance."

"I'm headed to see a member of my crew in sickbay. Now let me pass."

Russ starts to go through the security guards, but they block his way.

"The only way you can get through, sir, is if I accompany you."

Looking mad, Russ complied.

After arriving in sickbay and asking the docters about Ash's condition, he went in to talk to Ash. "Ash, if you can hear me, I'm right here. Don't leave this world. We are so close to finding your sister. I can feel it. Just a little more time and we'll find her. Russ then but his head down on the bio bed and went into a troubled sleep.

Ensign Jonathan Fielder
Engineer - Station Beta 2

Jonathan walked out of his quarters enroute to engineering to start his work day.He stepped into a lift,"Engineering," the computer complied and started downward.Ensign Fielder looked out of his window this morning to see no stars,again.The thought of never getting home again sent chills up his spine.

The lift stopped and he got out and started walking down the corridor toward his destination.

Main engineering was very busy this morning,almost all the consoles were occupied.Jonathan scanned several PADDs and got to work.

"Insubordination"
by Lieutenant Joerg Sterner
Chief of Security, USS Galaxy

With the ending of the senior staff meeting, Joerg returned to his office on deck 38. The strange and unknown Void still on his mind he sat down at his desk. The security teams, that were in position in the vital areas of the Galaxy, have returned to their daily routine.

Joerg was thinking about possible reinforcements for Beta 2, when another important matter crossed his mind. He tapped his communicator to check out the situation with Ensign Enquist.

"Sterner to O'Lindey." he said.

Moments passed and there was still no reply. 'No, not another one missing' he thought and repeated his call.

"Sterner to O'Lindey, please respond!"

Suddenly the astonished and somewhat exhausted voice of the Ensign answered.

[O'Lindey here sir.]

"Ah there you are. What are your findings concerning the disappearance of Ensign Enquist?"

[Ah, what?]

Joerg eyes widened and he stood up as he heard this answer. 'O'Lindey must be somewhat distracted' he just thought.

"Ensign, what's the matter? Are you drunk?"

[No sir. I mean I just had two little whiskeys and a couple of ...]

"What!!! Are you telling me that you spend the whole time in a bar instead of searching for Enquist!!!" Joerg couldn't believe O'Lindey's answer.

[No sir. Actually I have spend the last two hours with this nice lady here in her ...]

"That's enough. Report to my office in 15 minutes. Sterner out."

Joerg sat down to relax. Sill he couldn't believe what he just heard. One of his officers spend his time amusing himself instead of doing his duty. No wonder everyone was thinking of security as a bunch of bruisers and bullies.

He spend nearly all of the 15 minutes he gave the Ensign to come there, thinking about what to do. He wasn't used to the fact that someone ignored his order and took his shore leave while on duty.

Right before O'Lindey came into his office, Joerg received a call from Beta 2's Security Chief. He could only hope it had nothing to do with the incorrect behavior of his officer.

[Chief Dawner to Lieutenant Sterner.]

"Sterner here. What can I do for you Chief?" he asked