For a few seconds, after the Kraken disappeared beneath the water, with only its oily blood leaving any trace of its previous presence, no one could move or speak.

The crew of the Jolly Roger was still coming to grips with the realisation they had survived the encounter with the behemoth, even as they saw it descending into the freshwater sea, vanishing as abruptly as it appeared. The waves, churning with turbulence only a short time ago, quickly returned to its former stillness, with water lapping against the hull in a lethargic but soothing rhythm. When the breeze rushed over them, it felt as if the wind was attempting to sweep away the chaos of the whole encounter.

Naturally, it was Nathan who snapped back to attention first. His healer’s instincts became immediately mobilised when he registered the blood running down Chris Larabee’s forehead. The gash, no longer held back by the pressure of the depths, was flowing freely. It ran down his forehead and pooled in the creases around his eyes, like the curtain coming down at the end of a play.

“Let me through! Let me through!” Nathan ordered, having retrieved his medical instruments from his pack the instant Josiah and Adam hoisted Chris and Mary back onto the deck of the boat. Fighting his way through the others who were hovering around the Captain in concern, especially at the sight of all that blood, Nathan heard Buck’s voice, not at all hampered by the limitations of his small size, barking just as loudly.

“You heard Nathan!” Buck ordered, making everyone except Adam and Mary retreat from Chris’s side. “Back off and let him work.”

Mary was oblivious to the demand, mostly because her lovely features were etched in fear and it was entirely possible she couldn’t see or hear anything other than Chris at this moment. The same terror that prompted her to jump overboard to rescue Chris, gripped her just as intensely now.

“Chris! Speak to me! Please, Chris, wake up!” Her previously confrontational and obnoxious tone was all but gone. Instead, her youthful voice reeked of pleading desperation. “Wake up right this minute Chris Larabee! I won’t stand for you being hurt!”

Yeah, that was going to work, Nathan thought as he knelt down in front of Chris.

While Adam did not appear as nearly hysterical as Mary, the teenager’s reaction to his father’s condition was no less severe. The fear Nathan saw in his face, stripped the years away and at that moment, he looked no older than any one of them.

“Come on dad, give me a sign here!” Adam added his voice to Mary’s, feeling cold fear running through him at the sight of that blood. Even though Chris Larabee looked like a boy of ten, Adam only saw the man who had welcomed Adam into his life as his son. The idea of losing him so soon after they found each other was more than Adam could stand and it shook him to the core of his teenage apathy.

“Come on you two,” Buck reached for Mary’s shoulder. “Step aside so Nathan can help them. Josiah, can you get one of the bedrolls we brought with us?”

“Right,” Josiah nodded, understanding why immediately. He hurried towards the cabin where they had stored their backpacks shortly after coming on board. With no idea how long, they would be making the trek into the tunnels, it was Chris who suggested they bring the sleeping bags with them in case they had to bed down for the night. Josiah supposed Chris never imagined they would be using one as a shield against the cold after being tossed into the water and almost eaten by a Kraken.

Meanwhile, Nathan lowered himself in front of Chris who was appearing to be coming around. Of course, the physician kept to himself the thought that Mary’s hollering would have woken up the dead. He supposed even if their usually poised and elegant protocol officer had devolved into a little blond brat, her feelings for the captain remained the same. For his part, Nathan was grateful he still retained his medical skills. Using his medical tricorder, he conducted a quick scan of Chris to determine the extent of the injury.

“Chris, Chris, please wake up!” She implored over the hum of Nathan’s tricorder. “Nathan, is he going to be alright?”

The doctor’s face furrowed in concentration as the readings appeared on the small display, immediately prompting him into formulating the appropriate course of treatment.

“I think so,” Nathan answered not looking up from his tricorder. “Looks like he’s got a concussion. I’m detecting a slight swelling in the brain.”

“Does that mean I get smarter?” Chris mumbled groggily as his eyelids fluttered open.

“Dad!” Adam exclaimed with relief. “Thank God you’re okay.”

The teenager was kneeling next to Chris and didn’t care who saw it when he hugged his father in gratitude. Chris winced at the contact, even though he was aware enough to be pleased by the sentiment behind it. At the sound of the slight groan, because his head was aching and he felt cold and miserable, Adam pulled back, his expression of joy withering into concern.

However, it was nothing compared to the reaction Chris got from Mary.

Before he knew it, she was pulling him to her. Chris became aware of warm lips pressing against him in a chaste but intense kiss of passion. If anything had the power to bring him out of his fugue state, it was the electricity in her lips, still there after the first time, he kissed her. Her warmth against his skin felt like he was standing next to the heat of a fire in the middle of a blizzard.

Then just as abruptly, she shoved him away. “Chris Larabee! Don’t you dare scare me like that again! I don’t care if you think you’re the Captain of the Maverick or not! You do not get to frighten me like that! Be more careful!” She swatted him on the shoulder.

“HEY!” Nathan snapped. “Stop assaulting my patient or I’m going to have you sedated.”

“Yeah what he said...” Chris grumbled but he was smiling when he looked at her. Then baser instincts returned to him. “Buck, what’s our status?”

“Your status is you need to sit still while I fix you up,” Nathan broke in before Chris could answer. “Just sit still and let me fix your head, such as it is.”

******* 

They were in trouble.

Even though they scored a victory against a Kraken, something that was going to make for an interesting log entry in Vin’s opinion and everyone’s attention was focussed on the captain, Vin noticed something in the last few minutes that had his undivided attention. At first, thought it was his imagination. In this topsy-turvy situation they found themselves in, anything was possible. After all, he was presently at the helm of a yacht in an underground sea, in the body of a ten-year-old, while his wife, who battled holodeck monsters with him, looked like she might jump out of her skin at any loud noise.

However, the advantages of having Vulcan ears meant better acoustics.

Something had changed and he could hear it. Listening intently, the loud hiss of rushing water was increasing on the cusp of becoming a roar. The boat was also moving again, even without the benefit of Julia working the rigging to change the positioning of the sails. With the growing strength of the currents propelling them forward, Vin glanced over his shoulder at the billowing sails and realised it wasn’t just the currents but the wind that was picking up.

Averting his eyes, Vin tried to see into the darkness beyond the range of the torch he set near the wheel so they could have an idea of what was ahead of them. Despite the craftsmanship of the yacht’s construction, it’s design was straight out of the nineteenth century, before the advent of electric lights. The hiss continued to get louder, the muffled sounds sharpening like jagged chords and he knew soon enough, they would all be aware of it.

“Alex, can you scan what’s ahead of us?” He asked his wife who was presently using her tricorder to ensure the Kraken didn’t come back without warning.

Alex looked up immediately, her brown eyes widened as the sound reached her ears. She had been so focused on scanning for life forms, she hadn’t noticed it before but now that Vin brought it to her attention, she tried to identify the noise in her head.

“Oh no,” she met his eyes and saw that he was way ahead of her and needed the confirmation.

“Do it darlin’!” he ordered and Alex nodded, lifting the tricorder and scanning ahead, perfectly aware of what to look for.

Ezra, who was confident the situation with the captain was under control with Buck Wilmington in charge, was not about to rest on his laurels after his impressive harpooning skills. He had no doubt the Kraken's retreat was only temporary. Once it had finished licking its wounds (did Krakens even have tongues?), Ezra knew the creature would be back an understandably vexed at the grievous injury inflicted by him. The Jolly Roger needed to get moving and fast.

However, as he approached the helm and heard the alarm in the voice of Vin and Alex, he realised they might be facing yet another calamity.

“What is wrong?” Ezra demanded, realising from this vantage point, just how fast they were moving. He assumed Julia’s wizardry at the sails and Vin’s expertise as a helmsman were responsible for their rapid speed but judging by the worry displayed by the duo at the helm, Ezra realised they were not.

“Oh, God...” Alex gasped, looking up from the screen, her eyes meeting theirs with nothing less than full-blown panic.

“What is it?” Vin asked, stomach knotting. He guessed the what of it, but not the how bad.

Ezra wasted no time, waiting for her to respond. Ever the Security Chief, even in this pint-sized version, Ezra hurried next to Alex and stared at the readings on the tricorder, before he too went equally pale “Mr Tanner, we need to stop this craft right now.”

“How bad?” Vin asked tautly.

There was no need for Ezra to answer because Vin was soon able to see for himself. Directly ahead of them was a deep chasm and they were heading straight for it. Whether or not it was an immense sinkhole or a whirlpool, it mattered little, the fall was unsurvivable. The currents were drawing them towards the drop-off and beyond it, Vin could only see darkness. No wonder they were moving so fast, Vin thought frantically as he calculated how much time they had to steer away from the edge.

Not enough, he thought grimly.

“I can’t say!” Alex burst out. “All I know is the boat will break apart it if we go over!”

That was enough for Ezra. Rushing to the railing overlooking the main deck, the Security Chief yelled on top of his lungs. “EVERYBODY HOLD ON!”

“What?” Buck’s voice returned first.

“There is little time to argue Commander!” Ezra barked. “JUST DO IT!”

No sooner than Ezra made the demand, Vin spun the wheel around sharply, hoping to steer the craft away from the edge they were fast approaching. The turbulence made a return to the water as the boat began to heave and shudder from the chop leading to the drop. White froth churned around them as the vessel banked hard. Alex was thrown against the wheel and almost knocked Vin away from it. Ezra had wisely grabbed on the rail to avoid being tossed over it.

However, they were still getting closer.

Even as the boat started to turn, it was being still dragged towards the edge, until the bow was almost parallel. Alex could see the water cascading off the edge, disappearing into depths so vast, her tricorder had been unable to measure it, beyond noting its existence. Everything was so black and not even the illumination of the cavern was able to penetrate the abyss. Alex wondered if the sailors of ancient times thought the edge of the world was like this.

Desperate to stop them from dying right now, Vin hollered once more. “Ezra! Get Julia to drop anchor! It might give us enough drag to turn around!”

Ezra nodded mutely and went to do that, praying Vin’s gamble paid off.

Alex remained close to him even though he knew she wanted desperately to hold his hand Fortunately, enough of the scientist and second officer remained in her to know hindering Vin’s movements at any point right now would be a fatal mistake. As Alex stood next to Vin, she saw his jaw taut as he struggled to keep the Jolly Roger from plunging over the edge. Suddenly, a glint of something caught her eye on the yoke of the wheel. It was a brightly polished, brass button embedded in the wood.

Alex stared at it, certain it had not been there before. Something like that would have stuck out in their minds and would have surely been investigated. Her mind screamed out its importance even though she didn’t know why.

“Vin! What is that?” She shouted at him, pointing to the button.

Vin who was about to tell Alex he really didn’t have time to talk, not when the yacht was veering dangerously close to the edge, the twin masts were tilted at an angle and their friends were pressed against the starboard railing, saw what she was pointing at. The brass button mounted along the yoke of the wheel gleamed with a high polish and left him stunned by its presence. With absolute certainty, Vin knew it hadn’t been there before.

Just like the harpoon gun, he thought fleetingly.

Without thinking, and because at this point, there was nothing to lose since his best efforts to steer the Jolly Roger away from the chasm had failed, with the ship tilting at an almost 45-degree angle towards a chasm, Vin slapped his palm hard against the flat metal button. It depressed soundlessly but what came next was nowhere that silent. All of a sudden, the yoke seemed to jerk inwards, tearing the wheel out of his hands as it slid against the rail overlooking the bow of the ship.

“Look!” Someone shouted and it might have been Julia.

Vin and Alex turned around and saw the masts starting to change shape. The tall lengths of wood folded in half before extending outward across the ship instead over it. The sails took on a completely different configuration as new previously unseen pieces, unfurled. Like the masts, they extended across the width of the boat, spreading out like a canopy. As if that wasn’t astonishing enough, the sound of hydraulic gases and creaking wood tore their attention away from the changing sails to reveal another metamorphosis unfolding where the wheel had been.

In front of Vin was an instrument panel, constructed of wood and brass, polished to a russet and bronzed shine, revealing old style gauges and switches, with a yoke that was not all appropriate for steering the craft through water, but rather for an entirely different environment. It took but a second for the pilot to realise what he was looking.

“Son of a bitch!” Vin laughed gleefully and grabbed Alex’s face, pulling her forward to give her a fierce kiss even as the yacht started over the edge.

“Vin, are we about to do what I think we are?” She said smiling, her cheeks still flushed from the kiss.

“Yeah, he grinned. “We’re going for a ride.”

******* 

Seated inside the conference room at the head of the table, JD felt this entire situation to be surreal.

He could see the Marauder Class battlecruiser through the pictures window and immediately began to run the ship’s armaments and capabilities through his head. She was fitted with disruptor beam arrays, dual heavy cannons and photon torpedoes on both her fore and aft sections. Not to mention enough high yield tricobalt torpedoes to turn the surface of Hadir into radioactive mush. Since the Orion Syndicate were a law unto themselves, they would have little fear of doing just that if JD couldn’t get a handle on the situation.

“How are you doing kid?” Charlotte asked JD, noting his expression sat somewhere between blank disbelief at being in this position and pure terror because of it. She had to admit he was doing alright and was convinced, he’d be able to handle himself. Even though he was obviously out of his depth, JD wasn’t afraid to ask for help and that rose her opinion of him up a notch. Not that it wasn’t already quite high.

“I’m fine,” he said swallowing thickly, the momentary anxiety obviously naked on his face, vanishing with her question. “Well I’m not, but I’ll be able to handle this.”

“Okay,” she smiled at him. “You’ll do fine. Captain Larabee knows his stuff, he wouldn’t have left you in charge if he didn’t think you could manage it.”

JD smiled at her gratefully, finding her far removed from the officer who had apparently humiliated Vin Tanner during the first few days of the Maverick’s tour of duty. He couldn’t imagine her being so cruel to Vin when she was so nice to him. He resolved to ask Charlotte about it when all this was all over.

The door of the conference chirped, prompting both JD and Charlotte to sit up straighter in their seats as they exchanged quick glances at each other. Once again, she gave him a nod of encouragement, reinforcing her confidence in his ability to handle what was coming through that door. JD gave her a returning smile of thanks before speaking.
“Come in.”

The door slid open and standing next to Drew Katovit was Navea. The Assistant Security Chief was attempting to remain indifferent but his refusal to glance sideways only seemed to confirm the fact the Orion next to him was affecting. JD had to admit, he couldn’t blame Drew’s discomfort. He didn’t even want to think what Buck would be like if he were here instead. Certainly, the image on the view screen had not done Navea justice.

In person, she was even more alluring if such a thing was possible.

While the view screen had shown her dress to be quite revealing, it was nothing in comparison to the whole outfit which bordered on scandalous. JD would have thought being in command of a Marauder battleship would remove the need for her to dress so seductively, but apparently, he was wrong. Wearing little more than a metal bikini that revealed her ample breasts and a skirt that was little more than two lengths of sheer fabric held up by an embroidered girdle, she was utterly captivating. JD tried to ignore the spectacularly long and shapely legs, to say nothing of her exposed midriff in full view of them all.

“Commander Navea,” JD greeted her politely. “Welcome aboard the Maverick.”

“Well I must say,” she offered him a dazzling smile, “I was rather disappointed when you said your Captain Larabee was indisposed but now that I see you in person, I think I might have been wrong.” She fluttered her eyelashes at JD and curled her lips into a little pout.

Oh please, Charlotte who was standing next to JD, fought the urge to roll her eyes.

JD’s Adam’s apple bobbed nervously as he tried not to be affected by this woman or her pheromones. Clearing his throat, he glanced at Charlotte before facing Navea again to make introductions. “This is my Acting Science Officer, Lt. Charlotte Richmond and you’ve met Assistant Chief of Security Drew Katovit.”

“Oh yes,” Navea turned slyly to Drew and flashed him a coquettish smile that made the until now, cool security officer appear a little flustered. “We have become quite well acquainted.” She said brushing his hand slightly.

JD noticed she barely gave Charlotte a second glance and supposed the Orion was indifferent to the acting science officer because she could not affect the same sex with her formidable allure and pheromones. “Why don’t we sit down,” he said gesturing to the conference table.

Leaving Drew, Navea turned back to JD and flashed that enchanting smile at him again. “I’ll be delighted too, Captain.” She said silkily, sashaying past him with an exaggerated show of grace, her hips swaying seductively as she approached the table, trying to mesmerise both JD and Drew. Even when she lowered herself into one of the seats, she did so bending enough so both young men caught an eyeful of breast.

Meanwhile, Charlotte wondered if it would be bad manners if she turned a hose on the woman.

“This isn’t possible!”

Those were the only words Chief Engineer Julia Pemberton seemed capable of saying as she and the rest of the crew, save Vin and Alex who were at the helm, leaned over the side of the Jolly Roger, staring into the space around them.  Below the hull, there was only the darkness of the abyss they were crossing and overhead, the fungus covering the roof created a canvas of glitter that looked like the night sky. It was bizarre and beautiful at the same time.

Ezra could not blame Julia for her incredulity. He, himself was having difficulty with what he was seeing and it was a sentiment shared by the rest of the Maverick’s crew. The Jolly Roger, now miraculously transformed into an airship, was flying across the chasm beyond the edge of the underground sea. Behind them, they could see the cascade disappearing into the darkness below, a curtain of white froth fading into oblivion.

The sails that were previously flapping in the wind were now pulled tight over their heads, shaped into wings spanning the width of the craft. Yet, despite this modification, there was nothing else that explained how it  could stay airborne, something which flew in the face of everything Julia knew as an engineer. If he was truly the age of the body he was occupying, Ezra might be inclined to think this was magic.

“How are we flying?” Adam asked, aiming his torch along the hull and seeing nothing that would explain how this craft was managing to soar when by every science they knew, they should be plunging through the black to their deaths. The torch’s range did nothing to illuminate what was beneath them and if it wasn’t for the fact he knew they were on a planet, Adam would have thought they were free-floating in space.

“I have no idea,” Ezra remarked, scanning the wings and seeing nothing about them that could warrant their ability to keep them aloft.

“It’s impossible!” Julia declared insistently, her lips turning into a pout whenever she was confronted with something that flew in direct conflict about what she knew about her craft. “This should not fly. We went through this ship. There wasn’t  even an engine!”

“Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you,” Ezra said trying to see what was beyond the hull. The pergium in the roof of the cavern made the tricorder unreliable and it unsettled him being unable to see where the cavern ended or even what lay ahead. “However, it appears the impossible has been hurdled numerous times since our arrival at Hadir.”

“It’s magic!” Josiah exclaimed boisterously, once again drawing a groan from Ezra and Julia in unison.  Adam was merely amused, wondering if the Josiah he knew in the alternate dimension had been like this as a child. The teenager could not imagine the grizzled one-eyed warrior starting out life as a hyperactive boy with an equally rampant imagination.

“Maybe it is,” Adam offered.

“You cannot be serious,” Ezra looked at him.

“There’s no such thing!” Julia snorted and then sounded very much like the ten-year-old she appeared to be. “It isn’t empirically possible. Magic isn’t real!  It’s science we just haven’t figured out.”

“Well can you explain any of this?” Josiah challenged.

They couldn’t of course, not when the Jolly Roger was floating through the air, with no visible means of propulsion, yet the sails moved like flaps, shifting course and riding the wind as Vin stood at the helm, using the new instruments to navigate the ship. The wind was rushing through their air and across their faces and despite the impossibility of everything they were witnessing, there was also a sense of wonder and excitement at the fantastic, swimming against the currents of their jaded sensibilities.

As the ship sailed through the darkness, taking them closer to the Cavern of Azcax, with the glitter from the cavern above them simulating starlight, it did feel magical.

For Chris Larabee, it was all becoming so clear. The thought that had been struggling to form when he first saw the Jolly Roger, had finally surfaced in its entirety.

“We can’t explain this because this is unexplainable,” Chris said, standing up from the deck where he had been seated since Nathan began treating him after his ordeal overboard. While he felt a little better, his stomach was still a little queasy from his head injury.  “What’s doing this isn’t science, at least any science we know. The question is, who does?”

“You think the Hadir might know what’s really going on?” Buck asked, seeing the logic in Chris’s deductions.

“I think they might have a better idea of it than what they’re telling us,” Chris replied, thinking on the behaviour of the Hadir since the Maverick’s arrival.  He thought of Corban Setlan, who behaved like a crazy old man, who ought to be dithering around in a library, surrounded by books and artefacts, arguing with students about their thesis...

“Son of a bitch,”  Chris exclaimed, the light of understanding descending upon him.

“What is it, Chris?” Mary asked, seeing the expression on his face.

“I didn’t see it before,” Chris was almost staggered by the realisation and cursed himself for not seeing what was so plain in front of him. “Setlan. He’s been playing me.”

“How?” Buck asked, unable to imagine Setlan being capable of deception. The man was clearly a buffoon. Although now that he considered it, perhaps he was playing a part to distract them from his true intentions. After all, the leader’s behaviour had bordered on the farcical since their arrival on the planet.

“I didn’t see it because I’d forgotten,” Chris raised his eyes to Josiah. “He’s been playing a part, just for me. So, I’d trust and like him.”

“Your father,” Josiah nodded, revealing why he was, aside from being the most hyper imaginative child this side of the quadrant, one of the best psychiatrists, if not the best, in Starfleet.  “He’s been acting like your father, to get you to lower your defences.”

“Your father was like Corban Setlan?” Julia exclaimed, unable to imagine such an eccentric character could have produced a paragon of responsibility like Chris Larabee.

“Yeah,” Chris nodded, thinking about his father for a moment, the absent-minded professor who would never remember where he kept anything but never forgot a birthday and always made sure his career was never more important than his son. It was part of the reason why Chris had wanted Josiah on board the Maverick,  the Counsellor with his boundless wisdom and kindness was like getting his father back again.

“But why though?” Nathan asked. “What possible reason could they have for doing this?”

Alex who had left Vin’s side to join the discussion, realising her input as Science Officer might be needed, spoke up in her still uncertain voice. “It could be Q.”  She suggested.

Everyone froze.

“What’s a Q?” Adam asked, seeing the faces around him tense with worry. The look on Ezra’s face was near unreadable.

“An alien entity with near godlike powers,” Josiah explained. “If anyone could do all this, it would be him.”

The personality of the rambunctious child of a few moments ago had vanished and he was all seriousness now, staring at both Chris and Ezra through the lens of the ship’s counsellor, recalling the profound effect the presence of Q had on the two.  Almost on reflex, Ezra reached for Julia’s hand and held it, as if the mere suggestion of the entity made him feel the need to be alert when it came to her safety.

“No, no,” Chris shook his head, dismissing the idea of it being Q. “Q was a lot of things, but I get the sense after we ran into him, he wasn’t going to play games with us, not with the way his son and Billy are friends.”

“I’ve got to agree,” Mary added. “Quinn and Billy have been in regular contact.”

Mary remembered the occasion she returned to her quarters and found the duo having a glorious time with a room full of puppies or the bowl the size of a bathtub filled with chocolate ice cream in her living room.  “They’re enjoying each other’s company too much, I don’t think Q would want to jeopardise that.”

“I think Alex is on the right track though,” Buck gave her a smile, “I think this is some kind of entity. Not necessarily Q, but definitely something similar.”

“Well if it is such a creature,” Ezra added, “then calling itself the Spellcaster would be quite fitting.”

“So, what’s our move then?” Nathan asked. “Last time we went through this, we had to ride out the scenario. Do we got to do it here?”

“We must do,” Buck threw in. “Whatever this Spellcaster is, it’s been throwing these challenges at us  but also giving us the way out.”

“Like the harpoon gun,” Ezra remarked. “We are agreed it was not visible when we first came on board, am I right?”

“Absolutely,” Adam replied. “Something like that sticks out.”

“Hey!” Vin Tanner’s voice suddenly cut through their discussion.  “Something's up ahead!”

******* 

The ‘something’ were clouds.

At least that’s what it looked like from the distance. Joining Vin at the helm, they looked past the bow of the Jolly Roger and saw tufts of white in the distance. Illuminated by the gleam of the luminescent fungus, they seemed to spread out across the roof of the cavern as far as the eye could see. If the Jolly Roger was going to forge ahead, there was no way to avoid the ‘clouds’  that crisscrossed their path.

“They can’t be clouds,” Chris commented, taking a deep breath of the air, noticeably cooler now they were airborne. “Mist perhaps?”

Alex, standing next to him, studied her tricorder, her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to scan the formations they were fast approaching. “I can’t uhm...confirm that,” she said apologetically. “It’s too close to the pergium to give me any accurate readings. I keep getting interference.”

“Well we’re going to have to go through it,” Vin stated, surveying the space ahead and seeing no gap in which he could slip the ship through.

“So far, nothing we’ve been through has been random,” Buck replied, not liking that canopy of white they were fast approaching. There was something familiar about it he couldn’t place.

“Adam, I trust you still have the phaser,” Ezra spoke out, not about to assume anything was safe. After being confronted by a fifty-foot Kraken, he was done guessing what form danger would come, only being prepared when it did.

“Right here,” Adam remarked, clutching the weapon in his hands.

Chris was thinking fast. So far, every time they encountered a new situation, they seemed to be given the tools to navigate it. When they reached the shore, there had been a boat to carry them from it. When they encountered Josiah’s Leviathan, the harpoon gun had mysteriously appeared and finally when they reached the  , the Jolly Roger had amazingly turned into an airship. Staring at the rapidly approaching formation of flimsy, cloud-like material, Chris wondered if something else would appear.

“Everyone, search the ship.”

“Search the ship?” Buck stared at him. “What are you thinking Chris?”

“I’m thinking this Spellcaster wants us to come to him but we got to earn our way there. He’s making us jump through hoops to get to him but he’s also given us tools to survive them if we’re smart enough to figure it out. I don’t know what we’re heading into but if we can find what he’s left us, we might get some idea of what it might be.”

“It’s a plan,” Buck agreed and turned to the others, glad they were acting instead of reacting, with Chris thinking a bit straighter.  He supposed it helped Mary was a bit less volatile. It appeared almost losing Chris to the Kraken had made her a little less obnoxious.  “Okay everyone, you heard the Captain.”

“Adam, stay with Vin,” Chris instructed. “I don’t know what we’re heading into, but I’m certain we’d stand a better chance of surviving it if Vin stays on course through it.”

“Right dad.”  Adam nodded in understanding.

******* 

If there had ever been a crew intended for the Jolly Roger, they would have taken their meals in the main cabin of the craft. Bolted to the polished wooden floor, was a long wooden table with equally long benches flanking each side.  The corner of the room was occupied with a cast iron stove with a flue that ran through the roof, for cooking and heating during cold weather.

Leading the charge, Ezra entered the cabin and found nothing out of place.  Their backpacks and equipment were stacked neatly against the wall where they had left it shortly after boarding and as the Maverick’s Security Chief scanned the room, with its smell of wood oil, he was convinced nothing had changed.  However, with this latest development in their circumstances, Ezra was convinced the captain’s assertion about there being something to find was correct.

“Did you find anything?” Nathan asked, having followed Ezra into the cabin to conduct the search.

“Nothing yet,” Ezra declared, “but considering how eventful this journey has been thus far, I am anticipating we will not have long to wait before we find something.”

“You think Chris is right, this could all be some alien entity messing with us?” Nathan asked as he followed Ezra to the door leading to the ship’s cargo hold.

“I would not be surprised,” Ezra remarked, not about to discount anything. “It would not be the first time.”

At the thought, he realised he hadn’t seen where Julia had gone and cursed himself for letting her out of his sight. He had seen her go with Josiah and thought nothing of it but with Nathan’s reminder of an alien entity being the possible cause of their situation, Ezra was suddenly struck with the memory of what it had been like to be caught in such a situation.

In the world Billy Travis’s companion Quinn had created, a villain from the Magnificent Seven holodeck program had murdered Julia. While Quinn’s father Q had been able to set things right again, for a few hours Ezra had been forced to live with the horror of her death.

“You okay?” Nathan asked Ezra, perfectly aware what was running through the security chief’s mind.  He had been standing right there with Nathan when they found Julia’s body, remembering how badly the villain Silas Poplar had treated her. The son of a bitch had broken every bone in her face because Julia had put up a fight and Nathan never forgot the anguish on Ezra’s face when the man had found her.  

“I am fine,” Ezra replied, shaking off the sensation. “I do confess to having nightmares about that whole business every so often.”

“I don’t blame you,” Nathan patted him on the shoulder. “If I found Rain like that...” he trailed off.

“This is an entirely different situation of course,” Ezra said quickly, not about to entertain the possibility of something similar happening to Julia again. He didn’t care if he was trapped in this body if this Spellcaster harmed Julia in any way, Ezra was going to be just as merciful as he had been to Silas Poplar.

Stepping through the doorway, Ezra aimed his torch into the darkness to illuminate the hold which at last viewing was little more than an empty floor flanked by the frame that shaped the hull of the ship.  However, even as the light bounced off the wooden walls, Ezra caught sight of irregular shapes, unmoving against the walls and across the floor but certainly not what had been there the last time he looked.

“Doctor, hold your ground, I believe we might have found what we are looking for.”

“What?” Nathan immediately flashed his torch in the same direction as Ezra.

Once the light flooded the space, both their eyes widened and Nathan uttered what Ezra thought to be the understatement of the year.  

“Oh, this can’t be good.”

******* 

Even as they approached the snow-white formations, Chris couldn’t figure out what it was. It hung across the roof of the cavern like cobwebs, thick and ropey, trying to resemble cumulus clouds and it almost entirely barred their path ahead. There was no way around it unless they were prepared to skirt along its edge for however wide this cavern ran and hoped there was a gap they could use. Considering what Chris suspected about their situation, that this Spellcaster might be a Q level entity, Chris had no desire to escalate its actions if they didn’t play his game.

“What do you want me to do pard?” Vin asked. “I can try and go around it if you want.”

“What do you think?” Chris glanced at Buck.

“Hell Chris,” Buck shrugged. “We may have to go through it anyway if we don’t find a way around it. We might as well do it now and get it over and done with.”

Chris tended to agree with his First Officer, “yeah I think so too. Alright Vin, take us through.” Without skipping a beat, he looked at Adam. “Hang on to that phaser.”

“You got it,” Adam nodded.

“Okay,” Vin replied, “hang onto your britches, we’re going through.”

“You spend way too much time in the holodeck,” Buck grumbled and caught Vin tossing him a smirk that showed unabashedly his lack of repentance on this subject.

The Jolly Roger sailed forward, closing the distance between itself and the edge of the cloud. As they neared it, the saw the formation fluttering in the breeze and it started to look less and less gaseous and more fibrous and solid. Once again, Chris kept thinking of cobwebs and that thought took root in his mind and remained frozen in it like amber as the first of the stuff brushed across the forward deck of the Jolly Roger. It swept across the wooden floor like a soft breath, a delicate curtain of white that was almost beautiful like gossamer.

Gossamer.

“Oh hell,” Chris swallowed thickly as the first of it reached the four of them.

“What?”  Buck shot Chris a look, seeing the sudden flash in Chris’s eyes, the one that usually meant he knew something they didn’t.

“Oh, the girls are not going to like this,” he said as the curtain descended over them and Chris felt the sticky strand against his skin, creating goose bumps across his flesh when he understood at last what they were about to encounter.

Buck caught a handful of it as Vin tilted his head this way and that, trying not to let the stuff obscure his vision while he was at the helm. The first officer felt it in his fingertips and stared at Chris in confusion.

“It’s silk....”

“Silk?” Vin shot them a look over his shoulder.  “What kind of silk?”

Chris said grimly. “Spider.”

Throughout this entire affair, Julia Pemberton had maintained her sunny disposition even though she was surrounded by friends who were tying themselves into knots because of their current physical state.  While Julia was no happier to be in her ten-year-old body again than any of her friends, she wasn’t going to groan about it ad nauseum. The situation was what it was and they just had to deal with it. Besides, being a kid could be fun if one gave it half the chance and it was in Julia’s DNA to always see the positive side of things.

She knew they sometimes worried about her outlook on life, possibly even considering her view on things to be somewhat naive. Julia never let it bother her and mostly found their concern sweet. It was just not in her nature to linger on the dark side of a situation when it was so much better to revel in the bright.

It wasn’t to say she hadn’t been shocked to the core or terrified out of her mind in the past. After the whole business with the Many, she had been quite the emotional wreck and being trapped on the Sulaco with a xenomorph had done nothing to improve her disposition either, but once she’d worked through those traumas, she opted to move on and think on it no more.

It was the stark contrasts in their personalities which was why most people found her relationship with Ezra Standish, one of the strangest on the Maverick. In every way that mattered, they were like night and day. Julia had been told her bright and cheery personality was so infectious, she could light up a room just by walking into it. On the other hand, Ezra was as dry and cynical as one could be.  Nevertheless, the minute Julia and Ezra had laid eyes on each other, they saw no one else.

While the other relationships on the Maverick had its difficulties, Ezra and Julia seemed to avoid these pitfalls and one suspected, it wouldn’t be long before they were making formal announcements regarding their relationship.

If Julia could just pin Ezra long enough to have that conversation.

As Julia moved along the rail of their craft, trying to determine how the ship was moving through the air in flight, she knew the imminent arrival of her parents on Deep Space Five had brought the issue to a head.  While she had no doubt Ezra loved her, she suspected his previous experiences had made him a little wary of commitment and though she didn’t wish to press the issue with him, her patience was starting to wear thin. Hell, the man had run off to another dimension the last time she brought up the subject, according to Cosmo, her relationship bible, they ought to be at least living together by now.

Such thoughts were banished from her mind when the Jolly Roger reached the odd cloud-like formations drooping from the ceiling of the cavern. It fluttered in the wind like thin lace and from a distance, appeared even beautiful. However, when the first of the translucent material touched her skin, she felt the stickiness of it revolting.

“Ugh,” Julia grumbled as she waved away the gossamer veil and felt it clinging to her cheek. Heading back to the others, she tried to brush the thick stuff out of her path as she moved along the rail. “What is this stuff?”

Ahead of her, she saw someone’s dark silhouette come into view, through the translucent sheath. It had to be Josiah or Adam, she decided since whoever was standing on the other side appeared to be quite tall. When she parted the curtain of silk, what she saw resembled neither of them.

What stood less than five feet away from her, covered in bristles of black, grey and brown towered over her petite frame and filled her with almost primeval terror. It scrutinized her hungrily with four sets of eyes, each one red and gleaming like clots of blood. Upon recognising her as something tasty it could eat, the creature’s mandibles spread apart, dripping with clear noisome fluids that made Julia recall the xenomorph she had been forced to combat on the Sulaco. Except now, she wasn’t an adult armed with a pulse rifle, she was a ten-year-old armed with too many freckles and deadly red curls.

Whilst these furious thoughts were running through her mind, she saw the twitch of its spindly legs and knew instantly, it was preparing to launch itself at her.   Deciding not to stand on ceremony, Julia did the only thing she could.

She screamed and didn’t give a damn who heard her.

******* 

Well, that didn’t take long.

The instant Chris heard Julia’s shriek from across the Jolly Roger, he knew his worst suspicions were confirmed. In fact, Julia’s scream seemed to be the trigger to prompt the creatures he knew were hiding in the silk to appear. From where he stood on the bridge with Buck and Vin, Chris could see the dark shapes descending from the heights of the cavern, where they no doubt watched their prey with eagerness to enter their trap.  Suspended on thin strands of silk, the arachnid invaders came down upon them like nightmarish rain.

“Adam! We’ve got incoming!” Chris ran to the railing and shouted at the only person on board who had a phaser. Cursing himself for erring on the side of caution by not arming themselves with phasers, Chris realised the lack of the weapons had placed them in an extremely vulnerable position.   No sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, he felt something moving behind him.

“Chris!” Buck’s voice barked in his ear.

Chris turned around to see a spider and that’s really what it was, in the space between himself, Buck and Vin. The thing was easily man-sized, with snapping mandibles and spindly legs that made him remember his encounter with a xenomorph on Fiorina 361.  Its numerous sets of eyes surveyed the prey in front of them, trying to decide which of them was most vulnerable. Vin was looking over his shoulder, his hands still on the wheel, eyes widening in horror. Buck was flattered against the rail and looked pale which prompted the creature into lunging. Without any doubt in his mind, Chris knew it was going to go for his oldest friend because right now, Buck appeared to be the weakest.

“BUCK MOVE!” Chris shouted just as the spider jumped. It leapt into the air like it was on springs and Buck had just enough time to dive to the floor, scrambling on his hands and knees as the creature landed in the space he had been occupying.

“Somebody take the controls!” Vin shouted and reached for the knife in its leather scabbard on his belt. Darting away from the controls of the Jolly Roger, just as the spider spun around quickly, disappointed the meal he intended to feast upon was no longer there, searched for another to take its place.  

“Vin! Stand down!” Chris hollered, perfectly aware of what Vin was about to do and used language that would certainly gotten his mouth washed out with soap if he was ten years old and in the presence of his father.  Across the ship, he could hear more shrieking and this belonged to Mary. Looking over his shoulder frantically, he glimpsed her at Adam’s side and sighed in relief when he saw the teenager keeping her safe.

The Jolly Roger banked hard then, sending both Chris and Buck hard against the railing of the craft. Buck’s small frame had him almost toppling over the side and Chris grabbed a handful of shirt to keep him on the deck. Buck’s face switched from fear to exasperation at his present situation but there was little time to address it. Vin had abandoned the controls to go deal with the spider and left the helm unattended. The ship was listing badly at an angle.

“Vin!” Chris barked. “Get back to the helm!”

Vin wasn’t listening because he was already slashing at the creature whose attention was now focussed on the young officer of the Con, recognising him for the threat he was. The spider stabbed a spindly leg at him, the bristles on its powerful legs were almost like cartilage and it scraped along Vin’s arm when Vin jumped out of the way.  His skin burned with pain but he was still capable of fighting. If anything, the pain unleashed a volcanic eruption of Vulcan fury.

“Buck get to the helm!” Chris ordered once he saw the veil of darkness descend over his best friend’s eyes.  Having been witness to the full vent of it once before, Chris wondered if the creature had any idea of what was coming at it like a pint-sized locomotive.

Vin rushed at it, slashing at the creature savagely until the sharp blade clipped it on the mandible, hard enough for a piece of it to be severed. The tip of the appendage flew across the floor and the creature recoiled and uttered a loud, shrill shriek of pain. It retreated a few steps and Chris saw its black blood splattering across the deck in slick, dark pools of sludge. A sickly, rancid stench filled the air that made his stomach lurch.

Meanwhile, Buck had taken to the helm to set the Jolly Roger back on course through the clouds or rather webs, while across the ship, the sounds of screams and excited voices told him they were still in a fight for their lives. Chris looked around for something to use as a weapon so he could help Vin fight the creature when it emitted another shriek, of similar intensity as the one uttered before.

The Captain of the Maverick straightened up at the realisation that the shriek was repeated in almost the same pitch and length. Furthermore, there was more purpose to it than just pain and indignation at its injured state.  With a sinking feeling, Chris raised his eyes to the ceiling and saw it had manifested in the appearance of more dark bodies, appearing through the silken clouds above.

It was calling for help and the Jolly Roger was about to get overrun.

******* 

Adam and Mary had been in the process of searching the Jolly Roger when Julia’s scream tore through the air like an emergency klaxon, catching everyone’s attention with one high-pitched cry of terror.  As protective as he was of his father in Chris Larabee’s current condition, he was doubly so when it came to the safety of Mary Travis. True, during this affair she had brought new heights to the word brat but no matter what, she was still this dimension’s version of the woman who raised him and when she was herself, Mary had opened her heart to him. While she may not be his Mary Travis, to Adam, this Mary still made him feel like he had a bit of his mother left in the world.

When he heard Julia’s scream, Adam’s first reaction had been to order Mary to remain close to him. He had no idea what was going on but the instant that strange, translucent silk covered the ship, he expected the worst. While it was nowhere as terrible as a fifty-foot Kraken, the probabilities were high something nasty was about to be visited upon them. Julia’s scream more or less confirmed that suspicion.

“Stay with me,” Adam ordered and the protocol officer nodded anxiously, looking very much like the ten-year-old girl she had been forced into becoming.

It came at them from out of nowhere. After springing, it landed on the top of the main wing and shimmied down the length of it. There was a blur of movement and Adam saw a spread of eight legs about to land directly on top of Mary who looked up in time to see what was coming at her, before uttering a scream. Adam leapt into action, jumping at her and bundling her up in his arms as they both rolled out of the creature’s path. It landed on the deck where Mary would have been standing.

Mary saw the creature turn its blood red eyes in their direction and uttered a cry of pure terror. The thing snapped its mandibles at them and swung around, moving so fast, the hard chitin of its legs tapping against the wood like it was stomping its feet in annoyance at their attempt to escape. Once again, its bloated body contracted as if it was preparing to lunge once more. Mary’s reason snapped, never liking bugs and certainly not in this size. She struggled to break free of Adam, to run as far away as she could but he maintained his grip, not about to let her go wandering now he knew what was running loose across the ship.

Adam wasted no time, pulling the trigger on the phaser and letting the amber beam of energy streak across the deck to strike the oversized arachnid in what passed for its head. The phaser flung it backwards, its numerous legs akimbo as it exploded in mid-air, splattering the deck and the surrounding area with gore and black blood.  A good lot of it splashed on to Adam and Mary, much to the disgust of the latter.

“Ewww....this is gross!!!”

However, before Adam had a chance to comment, or for that matter wipe the disgusting chunks off himself, thick strands of gossamer wrapped themselves around him like coils, pinning his arms to his sides and keeping him from moving. Mary looked up and saw a spider clinging to one of the sails, the silk wrapped around Adam, originating from the spinnerets along its swollen, brown body. The sight of it almost made Mary gag but when it hoisted Adam off the floor towards it, she knew she had to act.

“Hang on Adam!” She shouted as the phaser dropped out of his hand and clattered at her feet. Mary bent over and picked it up, taking aim at the beast who was drawing Adam to it like it was reeling in a particularly big fish it had snagged on its hook. Without thinking twice, Mary fired at the creature as Adam was lifted several feet above her. She could see him struggling to break free but Mary remembered enough of her biology lessons at Starfleet Academy to know the tensile strength of spider’s silk was almost as strong as steel.  He wasn’t going to escape before he reached those fangs ready to liquify him.

She pulled the trigger without a second thought and heard the creature shriek in pain, its eight legs spasming in agony before it’s dark body exploded, sending a piece of meat and dark blood everywhere.  Once again, Mary was bathed in the stuff and uttered a squeal of revulsion as Adam hit the deck, landing on his side with a hard whack. She was certain she heard the pop of something that could have been his shoulder.

“Adam are you okay?” She ran to him, taking care not to slip on the icky stuff all over the floor. Her hair was plastered to her face and she was trying very hard not to get completely sick but she was sure he was hurt.

“I’m okay,” Adam groaned, rolling onto his back even as he felt his shoulder burn in pain and knew he dislocated his shoulder.  There was no time to linger, however, not when he could see more and more of the arachnids landing on the Jolly Roger. Getting to his feet, he used his good arm to tear of the silk, more than grateful when Mary helped him to free his injured one. He had to get her down below where it was safe.

He just hoped the other children were faring better than he was.

******* 

“Get behind me!” Josiah ordered Alex as he jabbed at the spider in front of them with the same boat hook he used earlier to rescue the captain from the

Alex did not argue with the Counsellor, feeling some measure of comfort at taking refuge behind his larger frame. In truth, she wanted to run and hide, or better yet, find out if Vin was okay. Like the rest of the passengers on the Jolly Roger, she had been sent stumbling when the airship careened dangerously a short time ago.  Yet Alex’s fears were not for something being wrong with the ship but rather for the helmsman who should have kept it from happening. Was Vin okay? She tried to see over her shoulder at the helm when Josiah’s back bumped into her and she remembered he was presently fighting off a giant spider.

The instant she’d seen the silk, the science officer she knew what was coming but was too paralysed with horror to do anything about it. The fear and uncertainty that was so much a part of her as a child, mostly because she was used to being in the shadows unnoticed while her dad played diplomat, was doing her no good here.  She was stronger than this. She had been stronger than this. As she saw the spider jabbing its thick, bristly leg at Josiah, trying to avoid the sharp spike of the boat hook at the same time, she knew this creature was the worst thing she had ever faced.

Josiah seemed to be holding his own, his exuberance for adventure including a devil may care attitude towards danger. The Counsellor used the boat hook like a spear and was driving back the spider determined to have them for its meal. Each time the sharp hook contacted its bristly body, the creature shrieked in pain. Suddenly, without warning it launched itself into the air, preparing to land on the Counsellor when without thinking, Alex shoved Josiah out of the way.

The spider landed on top of her.

Alex uttered a terrified shriek and curled up into a ball, desperately trying to avoid any of those thick appendages touching her skin. She looked up to see its fangs bearing down on her and felt her mind turn to ice with cold fear. Its legs surrounded her like a cage and she stared through the bars to see where Vin was. She wondered if he could feel her fear. If they were older and normal, he undoubtedly would.

Unfortunately, their present situation had severed their mating bond and he could no more sense her fear as he could see the trouble she was in from where he was at the the helm.  Using the only thing she had at hand, Alex used her tricorder to swat away the fangs lowering upon her, trying not to become completely unhinged by the grotesque face looming over her.

“ALEX!” She heard Josiah call out in alarm, seconds before he slammed into the creature’s side with his shoulder as if he was playing offence in a, particularly brutal football game. Whatever the position, it was enough to shove the creature off her, allowing Alex to scramble away to safety.

Crawling across on her hands and knees, Alex looked over her shoulder to see Josiah running forward, the boating hook brandished like a javelin.  A terrified scream of pain screeched through her ears when she saw him bury the thing into the spider’s body in mid-thorax. It spasmed in agony, its legs jerking about violently in its death throes. Looking up she saw more of the things descending from aloft and quickly ran to Josiah, just as the Counsellor was extracting the boat hook from the spider he had just impaled.

“Josiah! There are more of them!” She informed him urgently.

“Don’t worry,” he flashed her a smile. “I’ll protect you! Come on! We have spiders to fight!”

With that, he ran into the fray, leaving Alex staring after him thinking, that’s one hell of a Counsellor.

*******

Ezra and Nathan had emerged from the hold of the ship when Julia’s scream reached Ezra like a siren song calling out to sailors on the high seas. The instant they had seen what was waiting for them in the hold of the ship, both the security chief and the doctor knew what they were going to find on the deck would not at all be pleasant.

Gathering as many of the weapons as they could carry, they had left the hold and raced to the main deck of the ship, aware that anything requiring this arsenal to stop was going to be deadly. As it was, both had been struck with shock when they first saw the cargo awaiting them in the hold.  The assortment of weapons could have come from any medieval armoury. They included everything from long swords to short daggers, as well as maces and axes. One thing was certain, however, their purpose was hewing and hacking.

Emerging into the open air once more, both gaped at the man-sized spiders presently over running the Jolly Roger. Using the gossamer veils to come on board, they were moving across the sails of the airship, scurrying alongside the wings, over the rails and across the deck.  He saw Buck at the helm trying to keep the airship from crashing into a wall, while Vin was attempting to fight a spider with nothing more than a knife and Chris was trying to keep him from getting killed.

Elsewhere Josiah was launching himself at the spiders like he was Don Quixote while Alex lingered behind him like Sancho Panza, hoping these windmills didn’t choose to turn them into lunch. The bulk of the spiders seemed concentrated around Adam and Mary, largely because Adam was armed with a phaser and was cutting down the invading arachnids as quickly as possible.

“What’s wrong with his arm?” Nathan demanded, noting how Adam was clutching his right shoulder.

“You can ask him yourself later, for now, get to Josiah,” Ezra declared, “the way the Counsellor is attacking these foul creatures, he may believe he is able to attack them with a single bound.”

“Oh, Good Lord!”   The doctor groaned when he saw Josiah leaping onto a crate, dragging Alex with him, while waving his boat hook about like it was a sword and he was the swashbuckling hero of some old pirate adventure. “I swear I’m never going to see him for counselling again.”

Ezra was about to agree when he heard Julia squealing, she was trying to hide behind one of the mounted compartments against the deck while the arachnid she had so far managed to elude, closed in for the kill.  His heart stopped in terror at the possibility of losing her and this time, there would be no Q to snap his fingers and make things better again. Thinking quickly, Ezra dropped the weapons he was carrying, save a short sword, onto the deck.  He needed to get to her fast and saw only one way to do it.

Slashing at one of the ropes attached to the wings of the airship, formerly the mast and sail, Ezra took a running leap off the deck and jumped into the air. The rope swung him across the length of the Jolly Roger and sent him crashing into the offending arachnid. He struck the creature with such force, the spider flew over the rail, its legs stumbling about clumsily before it fell into the darkness below, screeching in outrage as it disappeared.

Ezra let go of the rope and landed on his feet, his free hand still clutching his sword as he landed.

“Julia!” Ezra called out.

Julia emerged from behind the compartment, staring at him in a mixture of relief and surprise. “Ezra!”

They came together in a warm embrace and Ezra clung to her tightly, never more grateful than he was at this moment for her life. The idea of losing her again...he couldn’t even imagine it. Nevertheless, Ezra being Ezra was not about to show he was anything but supremely confident to deliver her from danger.

“Well my dear, you did always want me to sweep you off your feet.” He gave her a wink.

Julia could not deny this and gave Ezra a kiss on the cheek, full of gratitude. “No kidding,” she smiled radiantly. “But don’t think this gets you out of meeting my mother and father.”

“Josiah, get down from there!”

Chris Larabee shouted in exasperation at his counsellor, who at this moment was standing on the wing of the Jolly Roger, waving the cutlass he was given by Ezra Standish, from the cache of weapons found in the cargo hold, like some half-pint Errol Flynn. Josiah was battling a mottled grey and brown spider, slashing the air in front of it with an expression Chris could almost describe as glee. How in God’s name the man or rather kid in this instance, had gotten up there in the first place was beyond Chris’s ability to process but apparently, Josiah was under the impression he was Captain Jack Sparrow.

Without any sign of fear, Chris could only watch in awe and horror as Josiah slashed away the snapping mandible of the spider occupying the span of the wing with him. For its part, the beast was being driven backwards, despite its efforts to defend itself against the small human. Josiah’s embrace of their ridiculous circumstances made Chris feel a little envious, wishing he could enjoy this wild ride like the counsellor. After all, wasn’t this what he wanted as a kid? To go off on crazy adventures, fighting monsters and rescuing damsels in distress?

“CHRIS!” Chris heard Buck shouting behind him.

Casting a glance over his shoulder, the romance of the situation was utterly lost on his First Officer and oldest friend. Having taken up the helm abandoned by Vin, who at this moment, was wrestling with a spider on the deck below them, Buck’s voice was filled with panic and when Chris followed his gaze, understood why. Creeping over the edge of the rail, directly in front of the wheel, was the bristled covered leg of a spider, preparing to haul itself over the edge to attack.

“A little help here!” Buck repeated his anxious demand, refusing to leave the wheel because someone needed to fly this impossible ship and he’d been a helm officer long enough to sense a change in the wind currents. Around him, the curtains of gossamer were starting to sway even more, as if the wind had picked up. Through the chaos of frightened voices, shrill spider screams and clanging weapons, Buck could hear the whistle of a breeze evolving into the banshee wail of a gale force wind.

“Hold on!” Chris shouted in response, feeling a chill run down his spine as he saw a second appendage join the first across the railing, in readiness to reveal its owner when it pulled itself over. Chris decided he was not going to give it a chance and ran forward, ignoring the fact he was a ten-year-old boy or just one of those appendages looked twice as long as his leg. Driving the point of his cutlass into the dark, hairy exoskeleton, the reaction was immediate. An indignant shriek of pain was followed by the leg retreating back the way it came.

Unfortunately, the victory was brief because, with far more speed imaginable for a creature that size, the spider swung its body around while still clinging to the rail, bearing its abdomen as if it were a weapon of attack. Something white and foamy flew in their direction from its exposed glands and Chris had just enough time to jump backwards and grab Buck with him, before the sticky substance found its target. The wheel at the helm was quickly encased in a spider web, a fate that would have been fatal if it had enveloped either of them.

“Is that webbing?” Buck demanded as he saw the stuff coating the wooden wheel so completely it stopped moving. The ship was now locked on course and with no way to know what lay ahead, it was a perilous state to be travelling. Yet Buck was unable to make a move towards it because the spider responsible for the gossamer casing had faced its large, bloated body towards them, its fangs bared as it prepared to pounce.

“Look out!” Chris shoved Buck behind him when it launched itself through the air at them. Buck fell down heavily on his rear as Chris reacted instinctively, having just enough time to raise the weapon in front of him as the spider’s shadow loomed over both of them. Its legs were splayed wide, ready to enclose them both in its grotesque grip upon landing.

Buck uttered a fearful curse, using words that should not be uttered by anyone, let alone a ten-year-old boy. Fighting his own fear, Chris did not waver as he held the blade in front of him like a spear as the arachnid’s dark body narrowed the gap between. The instant the blade penetrated its body, Chris felt it. A sickening sound like a ripcord being pulled tore through the air, followed by an agonized screech of pain that pierced their eardrums all the way to the brain, making both boys flinch.

With the blade splitting the creature’s belly open, both boys were bathed in black blood as the spider collapsed on top of them, its legs twitching grotesquely as they flanked the duo on either side. Fetid, rancid stink filled their nostrils and Chris’s stomach heaved in revulsion, as its bristle-covered body pressed down on them. Its fangs, now impotent, dribbled with ooze and next to him, Chris heard Buck gagging.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Buck warned.

“Well be sick somewhere else, spider blood AND puke, isn’t going to make my day,” Chris growled, trying to push the thing off them. “Help me.”

There was no need because the deck beneath them lifted suddenly into an angle, causing the carcass above them to tumble away. Propelled by the abruptness of the sudden shift, the black body rolled clumsily across the deck, before falling over the railing into the darkness. Buck and Chris were in danger of doing the same before Chris grabbed the yoke of the wheel with one hand, while the other latched into Buck’s shirt, keeping him from taking the same route as the dead arachnid.

“I gotta get up!” Buck shouted, realising what was happening and tried to get to his feet, using Chris’s grip on him to regain his own footing and managed to reach the yoke as well. Once he had a grip of the wooden mount, he pulled himself upright.

Having spent enough time at the helm during his career, Buck knew enough about piloting to recognise the danger they were in. The increasingly strong breeze he’d noticed earlier had turned into a full-blown gale and without anyone at helm compensating for the change, the craft had begun to list dangerously. Worse yet, the Jolly Roger wasn’t flying in the open air, it was travelling through a cavern with walls where their sky could run out very quickly.

“Chris! Get up here!” Buck barked as Chris struggled to join him. The polished wood of the helm was hidden beneath the hardening strands of spider silk, making it near impossible for Buck to tear it off with his fingers. “We gotta cut through.”

Not about to argue, when he could see the listing effects on the Jolly Roger, Chris retrieved the blade that became dislodged from the spider’s body before the creature had fallen overboard, lying against the foot of rail.

“We got to free this wheel!” Buck declared, continuing to tug at the silk. The wind was blowing so hard now, the shrouds of spider silk dangling from the cavern were swaying like flags in a storm. The incessant whistling of strong wind was rising in tempo, becoming a low roar like an angry god prodded unhappily awake. Buck couldn’t even begin to guess how any of this was possible, how a cavern deep beneath the surface of Hadir was capable of whipping up a hurricane.

“Stand aside,” Chris ordered and Buck obeyed immediately, seeing his captain raising the cutlass to hack away at the silk.

Buck stepped back, scanning the length and breadth of the Jolly Roger to see how their comrades were doing and felt his stomach clench in fear. Josiah was no longer fighting a spider. Where the creature had gone was anyone’s guess but the counsellor was hanging onto the wing for dear life. Ezra was struggling to get Mary and Julia below deck while Adam, with one hand wrapped around a mast, fired his phaser at the remaining spiders. Thanks to biology, the creatures had no trouble holding position even if the floor was sloped beneath them It was anyone’s guess where Nathan, Vin and Alex were.

It didn’t matter, something else was about to happen and Buck’s gut told him it could possibly even be worse than what they were facing right now.

“Chris,” Buck said quietly. “Hurry.”

******* 

Taken by surprise, the arachnid Vin Tanner had been fighting, lost its grip on the deck and slid across the floor just long enough for the Vulcan to strike a killing blow. Jabbing the cutlass Ezra had thrown him earlier, through its mouth, his quadrupled strength propelled the blade through what passed for its head and out the exoskeleton of its back. The spider could do nothing but spasm obscenely as it died, its blood spilling across the deck in a tide of black.

However, Vin paid little attention to this because the adrenaline fuelled rage that ignited his Vulcan blood like raw plasma had cooled the instant Vin felt the deck beneath him give way. As the Jolly Roger became bombarded by high-velocity winds, with characteristics too similar to a tornado for his liking, the craft’s listing grew more pronounced and the creature he just killed slid across the floor before ending up overboard.

At first, his eyes shot to the helm, furious at himself for forgetting his responsibilities as the officer of the con, even if the Jolly Roger wasn’t the Maverick and he was in this condition. Fortunately, it appeared Buck and Chris were up there and as soon as the thought entered his head, Vin was faced with an even more disturbing situation. A scream pierced his ears and Vin knew immediately who it belonged to. It was Alex.

Even though he was ten years old and their marital bond had been severed by their current situation, Vin’s reaction to his mate uttering that terrified cry was extreme. Ignoring the danger to himself, Vin scanned the deck, searching for where she might be. What he saw was both Nathan and Alex, clinging to the side of the hull, remaining only by their tenuous hold on the railing. Closing in on them, promised by two easy kills, was a spider.

“ADAM! EZRA!” Vin shouted at the two friends in his line of sight. Adam had just obliterated another spider with his phaser, reminding Vin of their harrowing encounter with the aliens of Fury 361.

Adam turned to him immediately and followed the direction of his gaze as Vin ran towards Alex and Nathan, who were still managing to maintain their hold on the rail despite the turbulence suffered by the ship. The spider poised over Alex and Nathan was closing in on the healer, its fangs bared so wide, a clear trickle of fluid had pooled on his fingers, the slick viscosity of it weakening his grip. Alex uttered another terrified scream.

“Vin, Ezra, get Alex and Nathan, I’ll deal with this!” Adam ordered, approaching the beast from its flank so any shot he made with the phaser would not endanger the two children holding on for their lives.

Firing once, the amber bolt of energy struck the spider on the flank, causing it to reel sideways, its legs a tangle of confusion as it reacted to the pain. Adam didn’t waste any time and fired a second bolt, wanting to drive it away from the area so Vin and Ezra had a clear path to Nathan and Alex. The arachnid shrieked in that spine-chilling cry before its body exploded, splattering dark blood across the deck and the hull of the Jolly Roger.

As soon as it was clear, Vin hurried forward, reaching to the wooden railing to see both Nathan and Alex, wearing similar expressions of fear on their faces as the wind attempted to tear them off the side of the hull.

“VIN!” Alex cried out, relief flooding her face at the sight of him.

“I got you both!” Vin declared, leaning over the side and grabbing both Alex and Nathan’s wrists with his two hands until Ezra could reach him to help. While he had more than enough strength to support both their weight, he dared not risk letting either of them go while the wind was threatening to pull them off the hull. “Ezra! I need both my hands to pull one of them up!”

“I understand the strategy,” Ezra remarked in typical calm, even though it felt as if they were in the middle of a tornado. “How are we doing Dr Jackson?”

“How do you think I’m doing!” Nathan bit back as Ezra grabbed hold of his arms, allowing Vin to release his grip to help Alex. “I’m plastered to this thing like a bug on plexiglass! Get me up!”

“Since you asked so nicely!” Ezra grinned and started pulling Nathan over the railing to safety. Glancing over his shoulder to ensure Adam wasn’t being overwhelmed with spiders now that he was engaged in the fight alone, Ezra noticed the spiders were starting to leave the Jolly Roger of their own volition. The hellish creatures were launching themselves off the vessel back to the webs dangling around them, scurrying into the darkness from whence they had come.

Vin did not notice this, only focussed on retrieving Alex. Once he was able to release his hold on Nathan, Vin used his strength to pull Alex to safety in one swift movement. No sooner than he had set her down on the deck, he lent Ezra his assistance and performed the same task for Nathan. Only after Vin was certain of Nathan’s safety did he turn back to Alex, who appeared a little shaken but none worse for wear.

“Are you okay?” He asked gently, trying to brush the hair out of her face, even though it was lashing her cheeks with dark unruly strands.

“Yeah but I dropped the tricorder though.” She said unhappily, her eyes scanning the cavern, trying to understand how the storm around them was being generated. “I can’t tell what’s happening.”

Chris and Buck must have gotten control of the Jolly Roger for the ship was no longer listing dangerously as it had been a short time ago. However, their turbulent ride was by no means over since the ship was now flying through a tornado, even though by every science they knew, its existence in this confined location made it an impossibility.

“I don’t think any of this is supposed to make sense,” Nathan declared, patting Vin on the shoulder in gratitude as he had done to Ezra a moment earlier. “Spontaneous childhood regression, flying ships, giant monsters and now a storm coming out of nowhere.”

“I fear we are dealing with more than just a storm,” Ezra announced as his sea-green eyes were fixed on the rapid departure of the creatures overhead. The spiders were quickly disappearing into the shrouds of silk, using them to scale the heights to take refuge in their secret places in the roof of the cavern.

“What do they know that we don’t?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Adam who had gone to help Josiah down from the wing of the craft, declared firmly. “Everybody, get below deck until we can figure it out. Ezra, make sure everyone gets down there.” Adam spoke, forgetting entirely he wasn’t talking to a child but the Maverick’s chief of security.

Despite this fact, Ezra did not complain, recognising sound advice when he heard it. “I believe that is a prudent course. Come along,” he gestured at the others to follow him.

“I’m going to the helm,” Vin said, noting the look of worry on Alex’s face at that declaration. “I gotta,” he said to her in a gentler voice. “I shouldn’t have run off like I did. If this ship is going through a storm, then I gotta keep us in one piece by flying through it.”

Adam didn’t much like the idea but then again, from all accounts, Vin was the best pilot on the Maverick and had proven it throughout this crazy situation. Realising he had no real authority to object, Adam let out a sigh. “Be careful.”

Vin nodded at his friends and hurried across the deck as the winds sweeping across the Jolly Roger grew more violent. He did not look over his shoulder at Alex because if he did, he’d be distracted by her welfare and he felt bad enough for abandoning Chris and Buck earlier as it was.

“Everyone!” Vin heard Ezra shouting over the sound of the roaring wind. “Inside now!”

Confident Ezra would see the other’s safe, Vin headed towards the helm, wondering what else Hadir had in store for them now.

******* 

At least the spiders were gone, Chris thought as he saw the arachnid swarm scaling the lengths of gossamer toward the darkness of the cavern above. They managed to hack away the stuff covering the wheel, freeing it so Buck could regain control of the craft and steer it right once again. While they were no longer listing, Buck was fighting to maintain control because the powerful winds assaulting the ship was slowly developing the intensity of a Category 5 tornado.

Chris was holding onto the inside rail of the deck, trying to keep himself from being blown overboard while Buck was hanging on to the wheel not simply to steer but to keep himself anchored to the deck. Once again, Chris was revisited with the idea that all this was part of a play, and they were the unwilling participants. While he was convinced this wasn’t being carried out by Q, the only entity he believed capable of accomplishing such a thing, he was certain they were at the mercy of some higher being who was amusing themselves greatly at the expense of the Maverick crew.

“CHRIS!” He heard Buck’s voice over the roar of the wind.

Buck looked over his shoulder at Chris and that one second of contact told the Captain things were about to get worse. The look of panic on the man’s face was enough for Chris to push away from his refuge and cross the deck. He was halfway there when he slipped on the wood floor, slicked by spider blood and landed on his side. Pain rushed up his side filling Chris with rage, not because he was hurt but because they were someone’s pawns and having passed the last hurdle, were now being forced to endure a fresh peril.

He started to slide across the floor when Chris felt a strong grip on his arm, dragging him to his feet. Looking up, he saw it belonged to Vin, who maintained a firm hold of him as they made their way to Buck’s side to see what had struck such fear into the First Officer’s expression.

“Where the hell have you been?” Chris shouted on top of his lungs.

“Alex and Nathan went over the side!” Vin explained himself. “Had to help them.”

Chris’s expression darkened with worry but Vin’s words reassured him that he had lost no crew. If anything had happened to Alex, Vin would be nowhere this calm. As it was, the kid’s unflappable expression in the face of this chaos was somewhat annoying and Chris had to wonder if it was his Vulcan stoicism or just plain Vin being Vin, that allowed him to maintain his calm.

“I’m guessing the shit is about to hit the fan if the spiders have cleared out!” Chris declared as both boys made their way to the wheel, which Buck was wrestling with.

“Wouldn’t surprise me none!” Vin returned. “Seems this whole thing has been to see how fast we can run on the hamster wheel.”

“No shit!” Chris shouted back as they reached Buck and promptly grabbed onto the wheel for support. “What’s going on Buck?”

“Other than all this?” Buck shot Chris a look of sarcasm, indicating the swaying silk and the wings of the craft that were shaking so badly, they appeared as if they might be torn off at a moment’s notice. The Jolly Roger was shuddering violently, no longer assaulted than more than just the wind. Lighting had started appearing in flashes, through the silk clouds, charging the air with electricity.

“Yeah, that!”

Chris and Vin stared ahead and saw what had terrified Buck so much. In front of them was what looked to be the mouth of a giant vortex. If they were in space, Chris would have thought it was a black hole but in here, he had no idea what to call it. All he could see was the maw of the phenomena drawing them to it, ready to swallow the ship and everyone on it. Even if Vin was at the helm, Chris doubted he would be able to steer them away from what was coming at them. Whether or not any of them liked it, let alone felt any confidence at surviving the journey through it, Chris had come to a decision.

He was done playing this game.

“Buck,” Chris took a deep breath. “Take your hands off the wheel.”

Buck shot him a look. “What?”

“You heard me,” Chris said calmly, his voice was cool and deliberate. If Buck didn’t know better, he would even say calculated.

“Pard, what you got in mind?” Vin had to ask, sharing Buck’s confusion.

Chris didn’t answer them but spoke instead to someone who wasn’t even present, in a loud, commanding voice, full of Captain’s authority, despite coming from the body of a ten-year-old.

“WE’RE DONE! You hear me? No more! We’ve jumped through your hoops, fought your monsters. If you expect us to fight to keep from being torn apart when you send us through that thing, you’re going to be disappointed. We’re not playing this game and unless you’re prepared to kill us all, you’ll stop this now. YOU HEAR ME? IT’S OVER!”

Buck and Vin exchanged glances, hoping whomever Chris was talking to would answer because if he was wrong, they were all going to pay the price.

Can we extend our shields?” JD Dunne asked as the Maverick shuddered around them as the phaser blast impacted against the hull.

Their shields protected the galaxy class starship from the pummelling it was receiving by the Orion Marauder but JD had no intention of allowing the Maverick to suffer a sustained barrage of phaser fire. As it was, the Maverick had yet to fire because it was far more important to the ensign that the pergium refinery on Hadir’s moon, the Orion’s real target, be protected.

Charlotte Richmond looked up at the temporary captain from the station normally occupied by Alexandra Styles. “Yes, yes, I can,” she answered firmly but quickly added caveats to her statement. “It won’t be for long though, not the way they’re firing.”

JD nodded in understanding, aware that with each fresh volley being absorbed by the Maverick, their shield strength was draining. “Drew, ready photon torpedoes.”

“Aye Ensign,” Drew replied promptly, grateful the gloves were finally taken off. He respected JD’s decision to hold back, however, understanding before they started shooting, they needed to ensure the safety of the refinery. If the phaser barrage ignited the pergium in the refinery, the resulting explosion would rain down enough debris on Hadir Prime would devastate the planet’s environment and cause a planetary disaster.

“Maybe you should have just let her seduce you,” Jewel remarked with a little smile as JD faced front again, watching the Marauder on the view screen continue to fire at them. Each impact shook them violently but so far, the Maverick was holding up. While klaxons continued to scream red alert throughout the numerous decks of the ship with the crew getting to battle stations while the civilians on board returned to their quarters, JD wondered how in the hell he had gotten here.

“Well they don’t say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for nothing,” JD sighed and wished more than anything Chris Larabee was here. Then again, if the Captain was occupying this seat, this situation would have been resolved before they found themselves engaging an Orion marauder in combat over the skies of Hadir.

******* 

In retrospect, this battle was always going to be inevitable.

Navea had come on board expecting to charm JD and the Maverick into letting down his guard and getting what she wanted from him, which was access to the pergium being refined on Hala, Hadir’s only moon. The ore refining facility constructed on the surface of Hala, whose environment was very similar to Hadir’s lusher climates, was the ultimate destination of all pergium mined on the planet. Since the fall of Romulus, the pergium stockpiles had continued to grow in its storage facilities, making it an inviting target to any raider with dreams of a fortune beyond measure.
With the Orion Marauder battleship staring at them through the plexiglass window of the conference room, Navea kept her gaze focussed on JD the instant they sat down. She made no attempt to hide her interest in him, attempting to entice him with long searching looks, slight pouts to her lips and seductive ploys so obvious, Charlotte almost snorted in disgust if it would not have harmed the diplomatic solution JD was trying to apply to this situation.

JD tried not to be affected by her, even with the precautions he’d taken to ensure the pheromones she exuded did not affect him. Perfectly aware of why she demanded the face to face meeting, JD had first gone to Doctor Zheng Li Pong and asked her to inoculate him against its effects. Still, Navea was an exceedingly beautiful woman and JD was only human.

“We’ve been in contact with the Hadir government,” JD stated. “We’ve been authorised to act on their behalf regarding the pergium.”

“Oh, come now,” Navea leaned forward, giving JD an ample view of her full breasts. “This business of bartering is much too mundane for Starfleet to waste their time with. Let us make our own arrangements with the Hadir. There’s no need for you to involve yourself in their affairs.”

“We are presently establishing diplomatic relations with Hadir,” Charlotte chimed in helpfully, giving the woman a barely concealed look of dislike. “They have applied for Federation membership which places us at their disposal during their negotiations.”

“And that is why your captain is absent?” Navea stared at JD, barely acknowledging Charlotte’s presence beyond the tiresome business of the information she imparted. “He is bringing yet another world into the Federation net?” Her contempt was obvious.

“That’s correct,” JD replied. “With the Romulan Empire not what it used to be, Hadir has been attacked by pirates stealing their pergium. They want Starfleet’s protection.”

“Do they need your protection?” Navea asked, the tension in her voice growing because it was becoming clear to her, he was unaffected by her natural seductive abilities. Even the woman in the room, whose head should be pounding with near-crippling headaches, was unaffected. “Hadir has managed to stave off the Romulans since the Empire began its conquest centuries ago.”

“We were led to believe Hadir gave Romulus exclusive rights to their pergium,” Charlotte replied, having read Mary Travis’s report the instant she was told she was taking Alex Styles’s place as acting Science Officer. “There was no need for the Romulans to annex Hadir.”

“Come now,’ Navea showed her disbelief on this point. “The Empire has always taken what it wanted. If the Romulans wanted the pergium, nothing would have stopped them.”

Charlotte and JD exchanged a look, developing enough rapport to convey silently that Navea was correct on this point. What they knew about Hadir was scant. True, the world was technologically sophisticated, not to mention rich, thanks to the pergium but native Hadir spent very little time abroad. Access to the world had been limited because of the Romulan presence. What they did know about the planet had come from the fragments of Romulan records available and what limited contact the Federation had made with the planet since its discovery.

It was a look Navea caught and it gave her an opening to keep chipping at their doubts. She leaned even closer to JD, beckoning him with her eyes to do the same as if she were about to impart some great secret he was previously unaware. “Perhaps you do not know that much about Hadir.”

“And you do?” JD asked sceptically, unable to imagine the Orion Syndicate had information that Starfleet did not.

“Of course,” Navea smiled sweetly, reaching across the table now to touch JD’s hand.

The contact against his skin felt like electricity and JD tried to imagine what her effect on him would have been without the inoculation. For an instant, he fantasised what it would be like to touch her skin, to feel those lips and be lost in those eyes. His curiosity lasted for about a second before he remembered Casey.

He thought about the girl who cared enough to spend the whole night with him, watching old movies, eating the pecan pie she learned to program the replicator just for him because she knew that’s what his mother use to make for him during their movie night. Casey, who could make his heart skip a beat with just her smile. Thinking about her made JD realise nothing this Orion could do, would ever make him betray Casey.

JD pulled retracted his hand and spoke in a firmer voice. “And what do you know about them we don’t?” He laced his question with challenge, daring her to answer.

Irked at his withdrawal, Navea sat up straight and her seductive mask showed clear annoyance. “We have had contacts with the Romulan government for years. They have given us quite a bit of information about them. For instance, the Hadir are an extremely ancient culture. They have a recorded history almost six hundred thousand years old.”

Charlotte tried to hide her surprise and once again looked at JD, trying to warn him against reacting to that news. While the ensign caught her look, and did not speak out of turn, there was just enough pause in his manner to imply his surprise.

“You did not know,” Navea almost crowed, feeling some measure of satisfaction at regaining some control over this meeting which she had assumed would work in her favour. So far, the reaction of this young ensign was infuriating and the absence of the captain or any of the senior staff told Navea, something was wrong. She did not for a second believe any captain would remain off his bridge in the face of an enemy’s arrival, certainly not Captain Chris Larabee whose reputation as a formidable commander was growing strength ever since he reputedly fought off a small Dominion fleet less than a year ago.

“The Hadir only began producing pergium when the Romulans went to space. Even then, their technology was extremely advanced, enough to repel any Romulan attack. There is a rumour of an attempted Romulan annexation but the data is so classified not even our contacts have access to it. We only know that ever Praetor since that original attempt has deemed Hadir off limits. If I were you, I would recommend the Federation reconsider their membership?”

“But that would leave them defenceless,” JD declared, not about to take Navea’s report about the Hadir as truth. He knew the only reason the Syndicate wanted Starfleet away from Hadir was so they could plunder its pergium stockpile without interference.

“The Federation charter would not allow us to disqualify them on that basis and our talks with them are in the preliminary stages,” Charlotte added. “I am certain our diplomatic team on the surface will gain the information we require in due course.”

Navea glared at Charlotte and felt somewhat slighted by the clear accusation JD aimed in her direction, however, she was not about to give up just yet. “But you are one ship. While your galaxy class starships are most impressive, you cannot hope to maintain a vigil on this one, distant world and still maintain your vigil on the Borg.”

“We won’t be one ship,” JD replied, remembering the discussion between the senior staff prior to their arrival on Hadir and, the Captain’s report from Starfleet Command regarding the potential benefits of Hadir membership. “We are in preliminary discussions with Hadir to establish a starbase in this region. With the amount of pergium Hadir can produce, we believe the possibility of opening up the region commercially and strategically is enormous.”

The possibility of a starbase in the area ended any remaining effort by Navea at diplomacy. “You have no right to do that.” She stood up abruptly.

“If the Hadir invited us in, we got every right to,” JD watched her carefully and tapped his combadge once. He didn’t need to speak because Drew Katovit who was still on the bridge, was waiting for a signal. JD just delivered it. “Now, I thought we were going to talk about you buying some pergium from the Hadir. That is still on the table.”

“We will discuss this with Hadir ourselves!” She snapped. “We do not deal with middlemen!”

“Unfortunately,” JD stated standing up himself. “You have no choice. You deal with us, or we’ll ask you to leave Hadir space.”

“How dare you!” She opened her mouth to curse when JD cut her off.

“Drew, send her back to her ship and go to battle stations!”

Before Navea had a chance to protest, the hum of the transporter came to life and she was enveloped in a shroud of gold as the beam glittered around her. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to reply indignantly but her voice was lost in the hum of the transported and she vanished a second later, with her words disappearing with her.

“Well that went about as well as I figured it would,” JD sighed and got to his feet, heading towards the door.

“But it worked.” Charlotte followed, smiling proudly at JD. She felt obligated to do so considering Buck Wilmington’s absence. When JD had outlined his intentions when they went to Sick Bay to be inoculated, Charlotte had been sceptical but the tactic worked. “It gave the Hadir enough time to evacuate the facility before the shooting starts.”

And almost on cue, Drew’s voice interrupted their conversation through their combadges. “The Marauder is powering weapons!”

“We’re on our way!” JD replied and glanced at Charlotte. “Here we go.”

******* 

Chris Larabee had made his career on playing hunches and never blinking when staring down the barrel of a gun.

On the bridge of the Rutherford, he gambled on Jean-Luc Picard being able to deliver them from the Borg when he stood with the captain of the Enterprise and subsequently won his captaincy. When he was abducted by the C’Kaia, he threatened the creators of the Borg with genocide to save his ship. During the battle with the Dominion fleet, he’d bluffed a Romulan warbird into dropping shields and more recently on Fury 361, he’d stood toe to toe with a queen xenomorph just before torpedoing the entire site. It had been the only way to be sure.

Chris knew of no other way to be when faced with any danger to his crew. The men and women of the Maverick, the senior staff, were not only his comrades but were also his friends. He’d die for them just as surely as he knew they would die for him. They’d proven it to each other on numerous occasions before this particular day and Chris had no doubt, they would do it again once they returned to the Maverick.

If they survived the next hour, that is.

As he faced the swirling vortex, drawing the Jolly Roger towards its fiery eye, Chris was determined not to blink, aware the only way to save his crew was to ride into the maelstrom because he was allowing this situation to go no further. Around him the wings of the craft shook so violently, he expected them to be ripped off the deck like a child tearing off the wings of a fly. The wind lashed all three of them still on the deck and Chris tried not to think of Adam and Mary who were below deck, having no idea of the challenge he had issued to their unknown puppeteer.

“Chris are you sure about this?” Buck shouted over the sound of the gale. Clinging to the wheel with Chris between himself and Vin, the First Officer of the Maverick tried not to feel fear as the Jolly Roger continued to rock more violently. Beneath his feet, he could feel the wooden boards of the decks being shaken like the pounding of piano keys.

“Yeah!” Chris shouted back, squinting as the winds lashing his face made his eyes water. “Someone’s behind this Buck! Someone has been behind this from the beginning! We’re not performing for our supper anymore. It’s going to end now!”

“It’s gonna end alright,” Vin remarked, keeping a firm grip on Chris while he hung to the wheel as well. “I just hope it don’t end with us being smashed into a million pieces!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence pard!” Chris snapped as they watched the eye of the fiery storm approach.

Around them, the winds continued to intensify. The struts holding up the wings began to rip off, one by one. The white canvas, which had first served as sails and then as part of the wing were similarly blown off, one by one. They drifted into the darkness, disappearing into the black as more and more pieces of the Jolly Roger began to break off, the closer they approach the aperture in the middle of the vortex.

It glared at them, like the flaming eye of an angry god, furious at their defiance. All three boys were clinging to the wheel for support but making no move to steer, allowing the Jolly Roger to be swept forward by the currents of the storm. Turbulence shook and shuddered the ship and Chris could only imagine what must be in the minds of Adam and the others trapped beneath the hold. If his gamble failed, he wouldn’t just be sacrificing his crew but also his son.

The thought of bringing harm to Adam almost choked him with fear, even more than what was happening around them. He had just found Adam, dare he lose him? If any of the Maverick’s crew were hurt or killed, as much as it would hurt Chris, they all knew the risks when they joined Starfleet. As Captain, he would never risk their lives unnecessarily but death was sometimes unavoidable and a reality they faced every day.

Adam had not made that oath.

Yet even as he thought it, Chris closed his eyes and forgot the body he was in, the body he had been forced into by this unknown entity. He was Captain Chris Larabee and if he allowed his fears for Adam to guide his actions, then he would cease to be that and would never be able to decide effectively again. No, he thought as he stared into the maw of red, widening its jaws to swallow them whole as the ship, whatever happened would happen and he would just live with the consequences that came.

“Oh shit!” Buck cursed as the Jolly Roger tumbled into the fiery opening, the darkness disappearing into bright, amber clouds around them.

Yet even as they descended into the eye of the storm, which resembled fire, they felt no heat, just the discomfort of lashing winds. Around them, the Jolly Roger began to break up and very soon the only thing left on the top deck of the ship was the wheel they were clinging to for dear life. The wings were gone as were most of the mounted compartments, only jagged pieces of wood left behind where they once stood.

“Well however this turns out,” Vin shouted at Chris. “It was one hell of an adventure!”

“You and Josiah deserve each other!” Buck growled but then added. “But what he said!”

Chris offered both a little smile, grateful they were friends even now and wondered what growing up with those two would have been like if life had been a little different.

“We’ve got to ride this out! Trust me! I promise we’ll get out of this!”

“We know!” Buck shouted back. “Captain!”

Chris gave his oldest friend a brief glance of thanks, trying to convey what that trust meant, how grateful he was Buck always had his back, even when he was being a complete asshole. The brief look was all that was needed before Chris faced front and watched the Jolly Roger plunge into the volcano like mouth of the vortex...

******* 

There was confusion as the whole world seemed to become noise and colour, where he heard things cracking apart like an egg. Chris was vaguely aware of hearing wood rip and the deck giving away under his feet. Next to him Buck and Vin were shouting and Mary’s terrified scream pierced through his consciousness but he was falling and there was no way to help her. For a few seconds, everything was a whirling dervish of sights and sounds and his disorientated state allowed him to make no purchase of any of it.

Clarity came with the icy cold sensation of water. He saw it coming seconds before being enveloped by it. Plunging into the depths, the cold snaked up his back and Chris’s immediate reaction once the shock to his senses made him fully alert, was to kick out. He did so with ease, able to push himself to the surface in a matter of seconds. Only after breaking the surface, did he realise he was not alone.

“Buck?” Chris stared at Buck who had also emerged, the water reaching his shoulders, no longer wearing the face of a child. Around them, the others were also starting to emerge from the water, surfacing in much the same way he and Buck had done, their faces mirroring his own shock and realisation.

Buck’s eyes widened as the sight of Chris, showing the same shock and immediately looked at his hands. “Jesus Christ! It worked. We’re back to normal!”

“Of course, you are!” Corbin Setlan called out from the shore not far away from where they were treading water. The Tribune of Hadir was standing on the beach they had found the Jolly Roger, smiling at them.

“You didn’t think we were going to let you stay like that did you?”

“You did this to us?” Chris Larabee demanded as his forty-year-old self glared at Corbin Setlan while still half submerged in the pristine waters framing the beach the Tribune was standing on.  

“Now Chris, watch your temper,” Buck warned, perfectly aware of just how volatile his old friend, not to mention his Captain could get when his dander was well and truly up, as it was right now.  Besides, he was back to his proper age and Buck didn’t want Chris to do anything that might cause Setlan to turn them back into children again.

Like Athena springing into being full grown, the crew of the Maverick studied themselves and each other to ensure they were once again adults. That each and every one of them was naked, had yet to impact on everyone Buck noticed. Fortunately, they had emerged in water deep enough to ensure everyone’s modesty was properly protected and Adam was shielded from further trauma.

“Watch my temper!” Chris growled and started towards the shore. “Do you have any idea what we’ve been through? Giant sea monsters, swarms of spiders and then...then...that goddamn vortex!  Not to mention, you turned us into kids!”

Setlan was smiling, showing no sign of repentance or guilt for that matter at what he had done. If anything, he looked at Chris with the patience of a father, waiting for his wayward offspring to overcome his temper tantrum before any discussion could continue.

“Can you think of a better way for us to learn about you?” Setlan challenged.

“You could have just asked!” Chris snapped, not about to let go of his anger even though he supposed as a way to discover the true nature of a species, it was rather an ingenious method, if somewhat inconvenient. “Some of us have children!”  

The Captain continued to storm out of the water, still too furious by what happened and how they’d all been deceived by Setlan who looked them in the face and lied, claiming he knew nothing of their situation when he was its chief architect it now seemed.

“Uh Chris,”” Mary spoke up suddenly.  Glancing over his shoulder, he saw her standing up to her shoulders in water, her blond hair slicked over her head and she was once again the ethereal, poised beauty he loved beyond measure.  Her expression was one of concern and Chris wondered what the reason for it was.

“What is it?”

“Pard,” Vin who was glad to be full sized again, spoke up with some embarrassment while keeping his gaze averted from Chris. He and Chris were close, but not that close. The helmsman’s long hair was an unruly mess around his face, while the tips of his Vulcan ears peeked through the wet strands.  “Look down.”

Chris stared at Vin in bewilderment for a second before he glanced down and realised he was completely naked and about to expose himself to God and everyone else.  Without uttering another word, Chris retreated into the water, smouldering when he saw Ezra’s smirk while Buck covered his mouth with his hand, trying to suppress his snigger. Josiah was wearing a faint smile of amusement and a grin split Nathan’s face.   Adam was actually laughing, having no fear of being brigged by his father.

And the women...nope, he just didn’t want to go there.

Instead, Chris turned to Setlan again, his face a decidedly deeper shade of red as he cleared his throat and tried to project a facade of composure after the very sobering reminder of his situation.

“Tribune Setlan,” Chris spoke in a measured tone.  “Please explain this.”

“But of course,” Setlan smiled, pleased Chris was now reasonable enough to listen to his explanation about why this had been done to the crew of the Maverick.  Although the state of undress they were presently in, save the teenager among them, would not do.

“However, first things first.”

Chris was about to ask him what that meant when suddenly, the world dematerialised around them. In the blink of an eye, they were no longer standing shoulder deep in the water of an unknown sea, surrounded by darkness or facing a beach deep beneath the earth of Hadir. Instead, Chris realised as he flinched beneath the bright light glaring at him from all around, they were now someplace else entirely. It took him but a second to realise they were back in the Tribune Hall, the venue for the celebration the crew had attended before this nightmare began.

Fortunately, he was no longer wet or naked. Thank God.

Chris felt the reassuring sensation of fabric against his skin and looked down to see he was back in his Captain’s uniform. In fact, they all were. From Buck who was now the tallest among them again, to Mary in her figure-hugging dress, her wild blond hair twisted into an elegant coif.  Adam was the only one who remained unchanged, gawking at them with surprise before that emotion gave way to relief.

“Oh, Thank Christ, that’s over!” Adam exclaimed.

“Hey, we weren’t that bad!” Nathan retaliated, feeling someone offended the kid thought they were that much trouble. Noticing the tricorder on his belt, the doctor quickly ran the device over himself to ensure everything was in place before repeating the action on Josiah who was standing next to him.

“Are you kidding me?” Adam stared at the healer in sarcasm. “Between you and Ezra fighting, Mary whining about everything and Josiah,” he looked at the Counsellor who immediately winced recalling his conduct, “don’t get me started, I never want children!”

“I protest,” Ezra countered. “We never rose to fisticuffs and even if we did, it would not be much of a fight.” The Chief of Security smirked smugly in the direction of the doctor.

“What the hell does that mean?” Nathan dropped the tricorder and stared back at Ezra. “I can so whip your ass if I have to...”

“Oh my God, you men!” Alex who was standing next to Vin, snapped at them in disbelief. “Will you two cut it out already!”

“Well at least, you’re back to normal.” Julia smiled at her, glad to see Alex form a sentence without stuttering or cowering in fear of retaliation.

“You mean ornery and cussing?” Vin remarked throwing his wife a wink of affection and was promptly elbowed in the ribs for his trouble.

“ALRIGHT,” Buck barked, commanding them as First Officer of the Maverick, settling them all down before Chris intervened.  “We’re back to normal,” he said sweeping his gaze over his comrades. “Such as it is but we’ve still got a situation on our hands.”

“Exactly,” Chris nodded at Buck in approval as once again, their ability to anticipate each other as Captain and First Officer fell into place. While he was pleased they were back to normal, he still wanted an explanation for what they had been through these past two days. Gratitude did not change the fact Setlan had turned them into children and sent on a dangerous trial in the bowels of Hadir. “Tribune Setlan, please explain what this was all about.”

Setlan nodded and let out a heavy sigh. “You have to understand Chris, this action on you and your crew was not taken lightly. We had to be sure who you were, beneath the polish of Starfleet or the high-minded ideals in your Federation Charter. Words and technology do not reveal the true essence of a people.  We needed to understand who you were.”

“So, you are some form of higher life form?” Alex inquired because she could not imagine they could be anything else for Setlan to do what he had just done in the last ten minutes.

“Yes,” Setlan nodded. “We have evolved beyond the need for a corporeal existence but we rather like being flesh and blood. However, interacting with other species after we revealed our true nature has been problematic.”

“How so?” Chris asked although he could guess.

If the Hadir had near Q like powers as it was becoming painfully obvious they might, they would be the subject of fear, hostility and isolation. If other races didn’t try to conquer them, they would stay away and with the reception the crew of the Maverick received from Setlan and his people, it was clear the Hadir enjoyed their interaction with other races and longed for a sense of community.

“As soon as they discovered what we were capable of, they wanted us to use our abilities for all kinds of things. They knew we could heal their sick, were capable of giving them access to incredible technologies and solving a host of problems they as a species, should be trying to accomplish themselves.”

“But you have contemporaries,” Ezra pointed out. “If you have evolved beyond us, why not seek out races who have achieve similar levels of development? The Organians, the Metrons and even the Q Continuum would surely be better for you to establish relations with.”

“Personally Ezra,” Setlan harrumphed with impatience at the mention of those names. “The Organians and Metrons are too dull and rigid for our liking and the Q?  Honestly, they need to be placed in a pocket universe for a well-deserved time out. All that knowledge and yet they have the attention span of infants.”

Mary giggled despite herself, her hand covering her mouth as she laughed at the description of the Q, especially when it was so accurate.

“We prefer the unpredictability of corporeal beings. You aren’t jaded by the universe and are still capable of feeling wonder. The more evolved one becomes, the less they are capable of being surprised.  You understand that don’t you, Ezra?”

“I do,” Ezra nodded, thinking how dull life would be without the mystery of infinite probability. Every time he indulged in a game of chance, whether it was poker, craps or any other form of gambling, Ezra relished the unpredictability of it all, where a simple turn of the cards or roll of dice, was a promise of the unexpected.

“Of course, you do,” Setlan smiled and turned back to Chris and Buck. “When we started, we were from what you call the T’kon Empire.”

“The T’Kon?” Mary’s eyes widened. Her time in the diplomatic core made her familiar with that name. The T’Kon were a vast empire that became extinct more than 600 thousand years ago. “Chris, the T’Kon was the race Enterprise D encountered in the Delphi Ardu system almost a decade ago. It was during our first official contact with the Ferengi.”

“I remember,” Chris nodded. Jean-Luc Picard was Chris’s personal hero. He’d studied all the mission logs for the Enterprise D and was aware of the encounter at the last T’Kon outpost that gave them their first look at the Ferengi. Until then, Starfleet’s information on the race had been based on rumour and third-hand reports. “Your sun went nova.”

“That is correct,” Veer nodded sadly.  “We were already on the cusp of entering the next stage of our evolution, some of us, sadly not enough, managed to escape the destruction through one of our transport portals. We arrived in this world and made it our new home. It was here we full transcended.”

“But the truth is Christopher,” Setlan took up the narration. “We still enjoy having flesh and blood and while the Organians, Metrons and the Q find corporeal existence mundane, we embrace it. We wish to be a part of the greater universe but it must happen on our terms.  For your sake as well as ours.”

“We understand,” Chris nodded.  “Our Prime Directive exists in the same way.  We’d love to help lesser cultures but sometimes the best of intentions can go terribly wrong. When we’ve tried, it’s gone disastrously.”

Chris thought of the journey to the alternate reality where Adam originated. All it had taken was James T Kirk’s presence to change the shape of the Terran Empire and the systems around it for the next 80 years. Kirk’s intent had been good but the millions who died in the wars following his interference, to say nothing of those who were born into slavery, might think otherwise.

“We are aware of your Prime Directive and that is why we reached out to you, to begin with. We had hoped the Romulans would be open to our true nature but they were most intractable in their ways.”

“They’re Romulans,” Buck shrugged. “You were always going to be fighting an uphill battle.”

“So, if you knew all about us, why turn us into kids?” Vin asked. “Why send us on this wild goose chase? I mean the Cavern of Azcax and all that stuff. You just made that up right?”

“Because you were the most promising contact we’d encountered in almost two hundred years, we wanted to be sure about you. I do admit turning you into your younger selves was quite amusing, especially you Counsellor Sanchez.”

Josiah tried not to groan. “I’d forgotten what an active imagination I had as a kid.”

“No kidding,” Nathan exclaimed, still trying to get the sight of Josiah on the wing of the Jolly Roger, swashbuckling with the best of them.

“But it was wonderful!” Setlan almost clapped his hands in delight. “Almost all the scenarios we produced for you and comrades came from your imagination.”

Ezra immediately turned to Josiah and gave him a look of accusation. “You are to blame for our trials Counsellor?”

“I read a lot of Jules Verne, HP Lovecraft and Tolkien when I was a kid,” Josiah shrugged. “Sue me.”

“Ezra,” Chris silenced the man with a look. “And turning us into children gave you your proof?”

“Yes, it told us all we needed to know about you,” Setlan smiled. “No matter how dangerous the situation, you stood together, fought for each other, were willing to die for one another. Such qualities are to be admired and cherished. We believe you have the intelligence and the discipline to accept what we are. “

“I think we would benefit from your knowledge,” Chris found his anger dissipating. “We’re still young and the bar we set for our high-minded ideals is sometimes tested. Having the insight of a race who has been around a lot longer than us will be beneficial.”

“Absolutely,” Mary agreed smiling, a far cry from the petulant child of a short time ago. “We were eager to have you join us before we learned the truth about you and that has not changed.”

“Yeah,” Buck added. “It’s nice to meet folk who just want to get along and meet others.”

“I have no doubt of that,” Setlan nodded. “At this moment, your Ensign has no idea we are more than capable of defending ourselves and yet he is willing to fight tooth and nail to protect us. Why even now he is risking your crew and your ship to ensure we are not harmed.”

“WHAT?” Chris demanded exchanging a quick glance with Buck at that revelation. “What do you mean?

“Oh dear,” Setlan winced. “Did I forget to mention the Orion warship in orbit?”

******* 

“JD, our shield strength is draining fast,” Charlotte Richmond warned from tactical while standing beside Drew Katovit who was presently manning the Maverick’s weapons station. “Chanu has diverted all the power he can give us, but we can’t protect the installation and the ship indefinitely.”

JD sat in the command chair wishing more than anything the Captain was here instead of him.

He wasn’t ready for this and yet Chris Larabee had left the ship in his charge, albeit temporarily.  He saw Jewel sitting at his regular place at comms and wished he was there instead, before rebuking himself savagely.   Cut it out. You don’t got time for this second-guessing.  Not when there were klaxons screaming red alert in his ear and the ship was shuddering from the phaser blasts penetrating the increasingly weakening shields.

“Fire photon torpedoes, full spread, I want them driven back as far away from Hala as possible. We can’t let any of their shots hit the refinery.”

“Understood!” Drew nodded and let his fingers fly over the console in front of him, hoping he could work the controls with the same nuance as the Chief.

On the viewscreen, they watched the amber volley of torpedoes flying through the narrow gap of space between the hull of the Maverick and the Marauder. It struck the enemy ship across the bow. As the dark, indigo canvas was briefly illuminated by the light of the detonating artillery, they saw the shudder in its shields, attempting to absorb the tremendous energy. For a brief second, there was a fluctuation before the shield reinforced itself once more.

“Charlotte! Did you see that?” JD asked, turning around in his chair to meet her eyes.

“They’re firing again!” Drew declared.

“Helm! Evasive pattern delta!” JD shouted at Wo Chin as he turned back to the viewer to see the barrage of phaser fire crossing the distance between the two ships. This time, the impact shook JD in his chair and he knew with their depleted shields, the Maverick’s ability to avoid damage was dwindling fast.

“JD we can’t take another hit like that,” Charlotte warned. “Not if we want to keep protecting the refinery.”

“We won’t,” JD said thinking fast, remembering what he saw when the torpedo spread had struck the Marauder. “Drew, I want another spread of torpedoes, the same configuration as before. Charlotte, you saw that fluctuation in the shields after it struck, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “It was a 0.03 second flux.”

“Is that long enough for our phasers to get through?” He asked.

Both faces of the senior officers lit up but it was Charlotte who answered smiling at him. “More than enough, JD.”

“We can program the phaser array to discharge the second I fire the torpedoes,” Drew added. Like Charlotte, he was just as impressed by their young acting captain as she was.

“Do it.” JD ordered.

On the viewer, JD watched Wo Chin skilfully maneuver the Maverick above the space of Hadir’s moon, managing to avoid,  , the disruptor attempting to punch through their shields. He saw Jewel at comms, her small, delicate hands clutching the sides of her station (or rather his station), trying to keep from being thrown off her chair from the sharp veers and turns the ship was making under their helmsman’s control.

“Torpedoes away!”

Once again, the familiar triad of amber lights appeared across the view screen, hurtling towards the hull of the Marauder. Navea’s ship attempted to bank but the spread impacted against its starboard hull. Brilliant light filled the screen as the shields shuddered. However, this time, the flux was cut short by a burst of phaser fire that cut through the shields and immediately ignited the hull beneath it.

Explosions rippled across the flank of the Orion battleship, with debris spreading out into space as the phasers did its worst. The shields collapsed entirely, leaving the enemy ship wide open for the kill. As JD saw lights dim across a section of the ship, its emerald hull turning black from the blast, he knew Charlotte’s aim had crippled the Marauder.

“Her shields are down,” Charlotte announced.

“One hit with a torpedo and we’ll obliterate them,” Drew added.

“No,” JD shook his head. “Not unless we have to.  Jewel, hail them.”

“Aye Sir,” Jewel said glancing over her shoulder and giving him a smile.

Less than a minute later, Navea’s face appeared on the screen. Behind her, her bridge appeared to have suffered considerable damage, with smoke filling the air, consoles shattered and exposed wires dangling from torn conduits.

“If you think we will surrender....”

“I don’t want your surrender,” JD said firmly. “I just want you to leave Hadir space, right now.”

“And if we don’t?” She glared at him with a mask of dark hatred.

“We’ll blow your ship out of the sky. We rather not do that but we’re not letting you cause any more trouble in this system.”  JD said coolly, hoping that when it was all said and done, the Captain would approve of his decision.

Navea’s lips thinned as if she was repressing a sharp refusal. However, another small explosion behind her, made Navea jump as white smoke rolled outwards from another ruptured system. It made her think better of it.  Raising her chin in an expression of defiance, JD thought for a second, she was going to keep fighting, and the idea dismayed him. He wasn’t ready to give the order to destroy a ship with a complement of almost 700 people.

“We will accept your terms,” Navea hissed. “But mark my words Ensign, the next time we meet, we will not be so accommodating.”  

She terminated the line before he had a chance to respond.

“Sore loser,” Charlotte muttered to herself.

As the image of the Marauder’s bridge vanished from the view screen and the ship appeared in front of them again, JD leaned back into the Captain’s chair, never thinking any seat could feel so big. For once, he could appreciate how difficult it had to be for Chris Larabee to occupy that space, with the safety of a thousand people, constantly weighing on his mind.

It was just too much, JD thought and then imagined he heard Buck Wilmington in his head, saying the words only Buck could say when JD doubted himself.

It may be big now but someday, it was gonna fit just fine.

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 2388.86:

It has been three days since the senior staff and I have returned from Hadir after our ‘mission’. Except for a small handful of crew, the rest of the Maverick had no idea about our circumstances and I for one am content to leave it as such.  The whole situation was bizarre enough as it was and I wonder if Captain Picard had similar difficulties filling out his log entry when a similar situation embroiled him and members of his crew during a transporter malfunction.

Following a short respite after our return to the ship, Lt. Travis and I returned to Azalea, where we negotiated the terms of Hadir’s entry into the Federation. Under advisement from our Protocol Officer, it was decided that we keep the true transcendent nature of the Hadir a secret from the rest of the member worlds. Only the Federation Security Council should be aware of their true abilities. As it stands, Hadir’s rich pergium deposits make it an attractive candidate for membership and I believe that is all the merit that should be applied. Tribune Setlan is happy to agree.

In the meantime, I am inordinately proud by the performance of the temporary bridge crew who defended the Maverick against a ship of the Orion Syndicate during our absence. Except for minor damage to the outer hull, the Maverick came through the encounter relatively unscathed, the same which cannot be said of the Marauder who limped out of Hadir space, leaving a trail of plasma exhaust behind them.

I would be remiss if I did not make an entry in the logs about the conduct of Ensign JD Dunne during this entire situation. He has not only performed exceptionally well in the absence of the senior staff but during the confrontation with the Orion Syndicate displayed integrity and courage, in the face of what had to be an overwhelming situation for any young ensign, a year out of the Academy. I have no doubt in the future, Ensign Dunne is going to be one of Starfleet’s finest... ”

The sudden chirp at his door, made Chris pause his log entry and he tapped the screen to file away the draft with a soft beep.

“Come in,” he called out.

The door slid open and stepping into his Ready Room was Adam.  Chris raised a brow in surprise because Adam seldom came to visit him on the bridge, during what they both deemed as ‘office hours’. Surprisingly enough, it was Adam who made the rule, having always kept out of his mother’s way when she oversaw the ship on which he served, in that alternate universe he had come from.

While they had seen each other over the last few days, there hadn’t been really time to talk because Chris and Mary were engaged in the negotiations with the Hadir since their return to normal and had spent most of their time on the surface.  Still, Chris had to admit that their relationship felt a little more at ease following their ‘adventure’ chasing after the non-existent Cavern of Azcax.

“Hey Adam,” Chris leaned back into his chair and flashed his son a welcoming smile.

He still felt a ripple of pleasure seeing the boy, even months after the fact. Every time he looked at the teenager, Chris felt as if the universe had seen fit to give him back a piece of his family, taken away from him so cruelly. It was a miracle he was grateful for every day and after what Adam had done to keep him safe during the last week, his love for the boy had grown even more if such a thing was possible.

“Hey dad,” Adam took a seat in front of the desk. “Sorry to bother you while you were at work but I got a date with Cindy tonight so I wanted to see you in case I missed you later.”

“Cindy?” Chris stared at him. “I thought you were dating Irene.”  He tried to place the girl and realised he meant Cindy Strickland, the daughter of Lt. Michelle Strickland, the ship’s botanist.

“Dad,” Adam gave him a look as if he were dealing with a naive kid. “We’re not exclusive.”

Yep , Chris thought silently.  I’m raising Buck.

“So, what’s up?” Chris asked, deciding he didn’t want to know and suspected he would only end up giving Ezra the order to issue a shipboard alert that his teenage son was to be considered a weapon of mass seduction.

“I’ve been thinking about things,” Adam said seriously. “Since I’m going to stay in this universe, I need to start figuring out what I want to do with my life.”

Chris straightened up, realising this discussion was about to get rather serious and he was uncertain whether he wanted things to change when he was just getting used to having Adam in his life.

“Okay, and what have you decided?”

“Well,” Adam met his gaze. “I think I would like to join Starfleet.”

Chris’s eyes widened.  “Really?”

Of course, he had hoped for such a thing. No father in the service didn’t dream at one point or another of having a child follow in their footsteps and Chris being a captain, had harboured such dreams when Adam was born to him and Sarah.  However, this Adam had come from a world where he fought every day of his life and Chris had wanted him to enjoy his freedom for a little bit before pressuring him about what came next.

“Yeah,” Adam nodded with a little smile. “I talked to Josiah about it and he got me all the information I needed to study for the entrance exams to Starfleet Academy. I’m not going to make the testing this year, but he thinks if I work at it, I’ll be able to sit for it next year.”

Thank you, Josiah, Chris thought to himself and made a mental note to drop in on the Counsellor to say it personally.  “Are you sure it's what you want to do Adam?” Chris had to ask. “I mean I don’t want you to feel like you have to because...”

“Dad,” Adam stopped him, “I’m not doing it for you but I am doing it because of you. The time I’ve spent on this ship so far, exploring the galaxy instead of fighting everyone in it, that’s what I want to be a part of. I’m always going to be a soldier but this way, I get to be more as well.”

Chris reached across the desk and squeezed his hand. “Adam, you can be anything you want. If that means joining Starfleet, you have my support and once the senior staff gets a wind of it, they’ll probably want to help.”

“Thanks dad,” Adam squeezed his hand back and for a few seconds, neither spoke but relished the warmth of their growing relationship. When the moment was broken, it was Adam who did so and his lips curled into a little smirk.  “So, think I could get private lessons from Commander Styles?”

Chris’s temple started to throb.

******* 

Buck Wilmington stepped into the walls of Four Corners a day later, a little earlier than expected for his attendance at the Captain’s table for the senior staff’s weekly dinners with the master of the vessel. Since the Maverick’s refit, there hadn’t been an opportunity for the senior staff to break bread together and Chris was eager to see the continuation of the tradition he established during his first week on board the ship.

Buck rather enjoyed the dinners since it allowed the senior staff to talk about matters beyond the ship and their duties. If anything, the practice was part of the reason for the closeness shared by the group since it lowered the walls between them, despite their differing ranks and allowed them to relate to each other as people, not just officers. It also permitted them to celebrate their more personal triumphs in a casual and friendly atmosphere.  Like tonight.

Before that however, Buck had a stop to make.

His eyes scanned the bar and saw Alex in conversation with Charlotte Richmond at the far end.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation,  Buck thought with a smile. Starships thrived on gossip and it was no secret Alex and Charlotte had been crossing swords over Vin since they’d come on board. Fortunately, it appeared they were both having a rather amicable discussion, without the need for bikinis and mud.  Pity.

Shifting his gaze from the two science officers, he sighted Casey and JD at a private booth. The girl looked over her bout of illness and appeared extremely animated to be out of her room after her confinement. No doubt, she was wanting to hear every detail of JD’s time in command. The thought of the young man’s performance made Buck smile, because he was pleased as all hell by how well the kid had done. He always knew JD had it in him to do great things but facing off an Orion Syndicate battleship was no small thing. He was damn proud of JD right now and wasn’t afraid to show it.

For now, however, he saw the face behind the bar he had been searching for and headed towards the sultry Latin beauty who ruled supreme over Four Corners. Inez had just served Ensign T’Lar a drink when she made eye contact and flashed him a smile of greeting.  Buck swore his heart skipped a beat and wondered how in the hell after all the women he’d been with, and there had been quite a few, a smile from her could make him feel like a teenager again.

She moved along the bar to an unoccupied corner and leaned over, waiting for him to join her.

“Hello Buck,” she said raking her eyes over him. “You’re back to normal again.”

“Damn straight darlin’,” he grinned looking down just to reassure himself. “Being ten years old was definitely cramping my style. “

“Of course,” Inez rolled her eyes, perfectly accustomed to his posturing. “How are you anyway?”

“I’m good,” he smiled at her, discarding the persona of the infamous Lothario.  “I tell you, I didn’t mind being ten years old but I sure as hell didn’t want to do it twice.”

“I can understand that,” she nodded. “If you’re happy with your life, there is no need to go back and do it again, especially if it was hard.”

“It was harder on my mama than it was on me,” Buck replied and knew that was a lie. It had been hard on both of them. His mother had the difficulty of raising a child alone and he had the stigma of being raised by an undesirable in the eyes of some people.  “But I want to thank you for being there for me during this whole mess. You took care of things while I was, you know.”

“I know,” she smiled at him warmly, thinking of that sad little boy with the intense blue eyes and still seeing him here, even when he was wearing the face of a full-grown adult. “I was happy to help.”

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything, content to soak in the unspoken feelings between them until finally Buck broke the silence. “Inez, would you like to grab some dinner sometime? Maybe when we get to Deep Space 5?”

“I’d like that Buck,” Inez nodded and then added with a wink. “But don’t try to put any of your cheap moves on me after dinner. I’ve been bartendering on this ship for a year, I know all of them now.”

Elated that he had not been turned down after so many previous invitations, Buck grinned. “Not a chance darlin’, I’ll have new and exclusive cheap moves ready for you by the time we go out.”

“Wow,” Inez sighed. “I feel special already.”

******* 

The conversation that Buck Wilmington had wished would take place inside a ring of mud and involved both women wearing string bikinis was as he observed, quite amicable.  Alexandra Styles had asked Charlotte Richmond to meet her at Four Corners, a short time before her attendance was required at the Captain’s table. After reading JD’s report about Charlotte’s performance on the bridge, to say nothing about the vendetta the Science team believed she had against the woman, Alex felt it was time to clear the air.

“First of all, I want to commend you on the excellent job you did in my place, during our situation on Hadir.” Alex complimented.

Charlotte was tense, expecting the amicable tone projected by the second officer of the Maverick and the Science Officer, to turn ugly at any moment. While she knew she had behaved badly to earn the woman’s dislike, Charlotte also knew she had tried her best to be better since that day and wondered if Commander Styles would ever let her forget it. Listening to the woman’s compliment right now, made Charlotte think that perhaps Alex was ready to do that.

“Thank you, Sir,” she said gingerly.  “It was JD really.”

“Oh, JD did really well,” Alex agreed with her. “But as any commander will tell you, they never do it alone, it’s the people with them that matters just as much. Your support was what he needed.”

“I was glad to do it,” she answered.

“Charlotte,” Alex let out a sigh. “You and I are never going to be friends but I respect you as an officer. You’ve done excellent work this last year, proven yourself time and time again to be a valuable member of the Science Department.   I know you want a transfer and if that’s what you wish I’ll make the recommendation to the Captain, but I’m asking you to stay.”

Charlotte stared at her in shock. “Really?”

“Yes,” Alex nodded. “You’re a good officer and though it’s not an official designation in any capacity, I want you to remain as my Assistant Science Officer.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Charlotte declared, honestly flummoxed. She had expected a detente, not a promotion of sorts, especially from Commander Alex Styles.

“Say yes,” Alex replied with a smile, feeling good about the step she had taken. It felt like the last of the baggage she’d held onto during her tumultuous year on the Maverick was finally discarded.

“Before I say yes,” Charlotte held back, feeling the need to get something off her chest. “Regarding Lt. Tanner, I never intended to come between you two when we...”

“Charlotte,” Alex stopped her right there, needing no explanation on this subject. “I don’t blame you for what happened between you and Vin during the Pon Farr.  In the state he was in, he was lucky he didn’t run into Lieutenant Aeolo or I’d be having this conversation with her.”

Lieutenant Aeolo was their Horta geologist.

Charlotte tried to stifle a laugh and didn’t quite manage it. She was even more surprised when Alex joined her.

“Honestly Charlotte,” Alex said dispelling the last of her hostility towards the woman, “I was more worried he might have hurt you. In the state he was in, it could have gone very badly for you and I never want any woman to go through that.”

Charlotte’s expression sobered and nodded in understanding. While the full details of what happened to Alexandra Styles during her captivity in the war was unknown, every woman who was present in Four Corners the day Gul Lemar arrived on the Maverick, had an idea of what she’d endured as a prisoner of the Cardassians.

“Thank you, Commander,” Charlotte said gratefully.

The Science Officer smiled.  “Call me Alex.”

******* 

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Vin asked Chris as he waited for Alex to join him at the Captain’s table, trying not to think the worst while she and Charlotte Richmond continued their rather serious conversation at the bar. Considering the history that existed between all three of them, Vin was starting to feel rather justified in being nervous about what they could be discussing so intently.

“Whether or not they should arm wrestle for you,” Chris smirked, unable to resist teasing Vin in this matter. Charlotte was the closest thing Vin might have to an ex-girlfriend, and as a former husband, Chris knew no man alive wanted his wife and his ex-girlfriend in the same room.  Ever.  

“Chris!” Mary who was seated next to him at the head of the Captain’s table swatted him gently on the arm as Chris raised his glass to take a sip of his synthehol based whisky.  “Don’t be mean.”

“Don’t be mean?” Chris almost choked in mid swallow following that statement from her. Exchanging a look of amusement with the helmsman, Chris stared back at Mary incredulously. “Woman, you’re lucky you’re still my girlfriend after how snotty you were to me when we were down on Hadir. I had no idea you were such a brat Lieutenant.”  He feigned mock hurt.

“Brat?” Mary’s cheeks turned crimson despite her indignation because she had been quite a handful down there and never recalled being so difficult as a child. The next time she spoke to her mother, Mary might just have to ask Adelaide how much of a pain she had been. Then again, on second thought, Mary wasn’t certain she wanted to know either.

“And I had no idea you had plans of being a starship captain whilst still in the birth canal,” Mary returned smugly, tit for tat. “You weren’t exactly the most tolerable child either. Did you put in your application to the Academy when you graduated kindergarten?”

Vin snorted and silenced any encroaching guffaw with a deep gulp of his beer. Perfectly aware of the tactic, Chris gave him a look telling Vin he was fooling no one with that.  “As a matter of fact, it was elementary school.”

That did it for Vin and the Vulcan burst out laughing with Mary wearing a smug look of satisfaction at being able to get her own back.  Anything Chris was about to say in response was lost in the chatter of Julia and Ezra approaching the table.

As it had been during the last two days, the subject of conversation was the laundry list of dos and don’ts that had to be observed by Ezra when he finally met Julia’s parents.   In truth, they mostly heard Julia, while Ezra followed two paces behind, like a man being led to the gallows.

“Remember, no talk of poker, games or gambling of any kind when you meet my father.”

“No gambling? Why?” Ezra exclaimed in horror. “What possible prejudice would Mr Pemberton have against games of chance?”

“Well daddy’s very straight-laced, he’s not at all a free spirit like I am,” Julia explained, aware that she was being a little silly but she did so want Ezra to make a good impression. Of course, she was also painfully aware this might send him over the edge and he may choose to flee to the Delta Quadrant if she kept it up.  “Believe it or not, I’m the wild one in my family.”

Somehow, everyone at the table managed to keep a straight face.

“Yes,” Ezra said giving them a look beyond Julia’s notice. “I have often wondered how on Earth I could have made an attachment with such a Bohemian.”

Julia recognised the sarcasm in his tone and turned around to glare at him. “Are you implying Ezra, I’m uptight, wholesome and perky?”

“I would never imagine wholesome and perky could come from the same woman who sings ‘These are my Favourite Things’ when cleaning the warp core.” Ezra deadpanned, maintaining his poker face as he pulled out a chair for her.

“Or the Sound of Music,” Alex added, joining them at the table before she lowered herself in the empty seat next to Vin.

“Everything go okay with Charlotte?” Vin asked, opting to change the subject to save Ezra from further discussion about his inevitable meeting with his potential in-laws, although the mention of in-laws or marriage for that matter was enough to make the normally controlled gambler twitch like a frog on a frying pan.  At best, it was a temporary stay of execution.

“Great actually,” Alex replied, pleased by the understanding she’d reached with her junior officer. “Captain, with your permission, I’d like to appoint Lt. Richmond, Assistant Science Officer.”

“That’s a great idea!” JD declared, upon leaving the private booth he had been sharing with Casey to join them at the table.  After all the help Charlotte had been to him during their engagement with the Orion Syndicate, he was pleased Alex was recognising her value.

It was a good idea; Chris thought and he was also glad Alex had made such professional choice after her rocky start with the woman.  “I’ll support that.”

“Thank you, Sir,” she smiled.

For his own sake, Vin decided he would rather leave the subject of Charlotte Richmond behind for now. He was still sensitive to how badly he’d behaved during the Pon Farr and knew one of these days, he was going to have to sum up the courage to talk to the woman about it, or at the very least, apologise.

“You know Alex,” Julia couldn’t help tease. “Since you like those bodice rippers, maybe you and Vin should run a scenario in the Magnificent Seven holo-program, you know where the tracker saves the doctor from some crazy suitor...?”

Vin, Chris, Ezra and JD burst out laughing, unable to hold it in, picturing Alex in such circumstances. Mary covered her hand with her face, trying not to giggle while Casey was nowhere that restrained. If not for her colouring, Chris was certain Alex’s face would have been bright red. However, embarrassment was not an emotion Alex tolerated for long.

“Okay that’s it Pemberton,” She picked up her dinner fork. “I’m willing to go to  prison for murder.”

“Jesus, Chris,” Buck exclaimed as he reached the table with the rest of the attendees for dinner in time to hear Alex’s threat to Julia.  With him was Nathan, Rain and Josiah. “I thought we were running late to this thing but here I find you’re about to let these two fight it out with dinnerware?”

“Well I’ve been accused of always being ‘on’ lately,” he tossed Mary an accusatory look. “So, I figured I’d take the night off and let them duke it out, battle royale.”

“Nice,” Buck shook his head. “Okay, we’re all here.  Shall we get this party started Captain?” His blue eyes twinkled with mischief as he met Chris’s gaze.

“Go ahead Commander,” the Captain gestured for him to begin.

“What’s going on?” Nathan inquired, having thought they had just come for dinner but it looked like there was more going on than initially thought.

“I have an idea,” Josiah started to say, noting the way Chris and Buck were trying to avoid looking at JD when Rain shushed him silent.

“You’ll ruin the surprise.”  She said good-naturedly, hating to have such things spoiled by impatience.  After three hundred years of her Trill existence, Rain liked all the surprises she could get.

“Officers,” Buck stared at his comrades at the table, his tone implying quiet. “On your feet please.”

Without argument, everyone stood up immediately, recognising Buck was making the request not as their friend, but as the First Officer of the Maverick. With the promptness that came with years of Starfleet discipline, everyone was soon upright, their puzzlement giving way to the demands of duty. Even Casey got to her feet, not wishing to be left out. The action immediately captured the attention of everyone else in Four Corners. Even Inez and the servers behind the bar had stopped what they were doing, their eyes now fixed on the Captain’s table.

“Captain,” Buck said, hiding a little smile. “They’re all yours.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Chris said graciously and then addressed not just his senior staff but everyone who was now paying attention to the proceedings. His focus however, remained fixed on the friends and the table and the reason for this small ceremony today.

“I wanted all of us here this evening, to commemorate a very special occasion.,” Chris explained before turning his eye to JD who suddenly realised, he had the Captain’s undivided attention and very soon, everyone else in the place as well.

“Ensign JD Dunne, since coming on board, you’ve proven yourself time and time again to be an outstanding officer with sharp instincts and great courage.  I can’t imagine any young officer in your position who could have risen to the occasion like you did to fight off an Orion battleship and save the people of Hadir.”

“Here, here,” Ezra clapped, prompting a rumble of agreement to ripple through Four Corners, along with a small round of applause at the captain’s statement.

Chris waited until the clapping died down before he resumed speaking but he could see JD was still very struck by the accolade and decided to move things along to put the kid out of his misery. “Not only did you protect the people of Hadir, but you also provided leadership during a combat situation with a formidable enemy and ensured the safety of the senior staff under very difficult circumstances, in the finest Starfleet tradition.”

More applause broke out and was quickly silenced. Casey who was standing next to JD, linked her fingers through his, squeezing it tight to offer him support. He tried not to smile but the emotion on his face at the commendation and the regard of those around him made it difficult to suppress.

“Therefore,” Chris continued. “As master of this vessel and your Captain, I promote you, John Daniel Dunne to the rank of lieutenant, junior grade.”

“Alright JD!”  Someone cheered and Chris thought it might have been Adam. He shifted his gaze at the crowd long enough to see his son at one of the booths with a girl. Jesus Christ, it was neither Cindy Strickland or Irene Lee. It was Laura Staupe, the daughter of the ship’s entomologist.  Fortunately, before he could ruminate on this any further, more applause broke out, banishing the idea he was raising Buck Wilmington from his mind again.

“Commander,” Chris nodded at Buck to proceed with the next part of the ceremony.

Nodding sedately, the First Officer of the Maverick promptly removed one of the pips pinned to the red band of his turtleneck and proceeded towards the newly promoted ensign. As he reached JD, his officious mask gave way to a broad grin, bursting with pride.

Since coming on board the Maverick, JD had been Buck’s special project and the relationship between them was now closer than mentor and pupil, deeper than friendship. He knew he took up the space in the boy’s heart that should have been occupied by a father and JD seeing him in that light, always made Buck feel honoured.

“You did good kid,” Buck ruffled JD’s hair before he pressed the pip onto JD’s collar.

“I couldn’t have done it without you Buck,” JD said quietly, overwhelmed by everything that was happening but was trying hard not to show it.

“Yeah you could,” Buck replied. “I always knew it.”

“Maybe,” JD said as he swept his gaze across the room and saw his friends and comrades applauding, his girl beaming at him with delight and his Captain staring at him with warm affection, he knew Buck was right. He could have done it himself. Eventually.

It just wouldn’t have mattered as much.

THE END

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