Stardate 52034.9

        Captain Mason sat down in his chair on the bridge of the Equinox.  All around 
him crew members were making last minute preparations before departure.  The Captain 
tapped his comm badge, "Computer, open a channel to all Equinox personnel currently 
on the Starbase."
        "Channel open."
        "This is Captain Mason.  All Equinox crew return to the ship immediately."
        Mason tapped his comm badge again, closing the channel.  All ships docked at 
Starbase 263 had just been ordered to disembark immediately.  The surviving ships 
from the most recent battle with the Dominion were on their way, and the station 
needed every one of their docking ports for those ships.  Those ships most in need 
of repairs and medical support took precedence.  The Captain couldn't argue with the 
logic of that.  He turned to his right, where Commander Ming was sitting, 
"Commander, how are our repairs progressing?"
        Ming called up the data on her console, just looking at the latest updates, 
"Decks 23 and 24 have been repaired for the most part.  The turbolifts still aren't 
working down there though so everyone will have to sweat out crawling through 
Jeffries Tubes for another few days.  All the serious damage has been repaired on all 
other decks.  Some areas are still running solely on back up systems, but this ship 
was designed for that, so they'll be fine."
        Mason nodded, "How about replacement personnel?"
        Commander Ming frowned, "Slim pickings.  Most of them didn't get here before 
the Starbase decided to kick us out.  We've got a minimal medical staff, so at least 
we can stop using the emergency hologram, but we didn't get the replacement security 
and engineering personnel you requested, the new barber, the new xenobiologist, or 
the new counselor.  Should I delay Counselor Dyae's transfer to the Sutherland."
        The Captain shook his head, "No, he's already left the Equinox and is on his 
way there right now.  We can do without a counselor until we can pick up more 
officers.  Starbase 263 is going to signal us once our personnel have arrived and 
all the ships assigned to the war have left."
        While they were talking, the senior officers had been filing onto the bridge 
one by one.  Elea was already sitting at the conn position, Lopez came in and stood 
at tactical, Enoz sat down at Science station 1, and Syxx took the bridge Engineering 
station, one of the few times he'd left Engineering since they docked at the 
Starbase.  The only one missing was Mull.  Mason stood up and turned toward the 
Engineering station, "Mr. Syxx, are all departments ready to get underway?"
        "Yes sir, all decks report ready."
        Mason nodded and looked at the viewscreen, "Lieutenant Ele . . "
        Just then the turbolift door opened, and Mull Valen came running onto the 
bridge.  Commander Ming smiled, "You're just in time, Mr. Mull.  We were about to 
leave without you."
        Mull just tried to smile and quickly took his place at the Ops station next 
to Elea.  The Captain resumed, "Lieutenant Elea, initiate undocking procedure and take 
us away from the station."
	The airlock doors on the Starbase's docking ramp and on the Equinox's both 
sealed themselves and the ship slowly moved away.  The Captain sat back down in his
chair, 
and waited until the ship was a safe distance from the Starbase, "Now Lieutenant, bring 
us about and set a course for the Talic system, warp 5."
	Elea did as instructed and the ship turned away from the Starbase.  It's 
nacelles powered up and the ship went into warp, disappearing in the characteristic 
burst of illumination just as it crossed the light barrier.  The Captain smiled a little.  
No warning lights went off, none of those little chimes that indicate a problem sounded.  
The ship was in stable enough shape to resume their mission.  He stood up, "Mr. Syxx, 
continue work on any unrepaired systems while we're en route to the Talic system.  I
know 
you didn't get all the replacement Engineering staff you needed, so you're authorized to 
use any qualified crew members from other departments to assist you as needed. 
Commander 
Ming, you have the bridge."
	Syxx and Ming both gave the customary, "Aye, sir." in response to Mason's
orders.  
The Captain turned to the left and walked past the tactical station and to the door to his 
ready room.  Just before he walked in he looked back.  There weren't any security officers 
stationed on the bridge anymore since Dr. L'vant's murder was solved.  He'd have to be a 
little bit more discreet about when and how often he called Ensign White to his ready 
room.  He turned back toward the door and walked in, planning to do some research on
the 
Talic system before the Equinox arrived there.
	
	Later, down in Engineering, Syxx had Ensign Lopez helping to realign the plasma 
injectors.  Syxx seemed more relaxed than he was the last few days, probably because he 
was a lot closer to getting the ship in proper working order.  He took a certain 
satisfaction in making sure the engines were running as smoothly as possible.  However, 
right now he was feeling annoyed at Lopez's complaining, "I still don't see why I should 
be doing this, Commander.  I'm the acting chief of security.  I should be running 
security drills."
	Syxx gave a frustrated sigh, "You heard what the Captain said, Ensign.  Ship's 
systems are a priority right now.  The warp drive is only running at 83% efficiency, and 
it's supposed to be running at least at 96% efficiency."
	"But isn't there somebody else who can realign these things?" Lopez said.
	Syxx took the Engineering tool Lopez was holding, "Fine, I'll get somebody else to 
do this.  You can repair the power conduit on deck 6 section 4, near the saucer's 
protected core."
	Lopez frowned, it wasn't what he was hoping for, but at least it'd get him out 
of Engineering.  He left Engineering and made his way to deck 6.  Once there he found the 
power conduit Syxx was talking about inside a Jeffries tube.  He crawled inside and 
opened the repair kit he brought with him.  The damage wasn't anything that couldn't be 
bypassed, but it was enough to keep him there for a while.  He started working, then 
heard something several meters down.  It was coming from the hatch leading to the 
protected core.  He yelled down toward the end of the Jeffries tube, "Hello?"
	No answer, but he heard the noise again.  It sounded like somebody banging on the 
hatch with a piece of metal.  Lopez pulled his phaser and crawled to it.  He punched a 
few buttons off to the side and the hatch opened, revealing Lieutenant Carter.  Lopez 
nearly shot him on sight, he looked like a Borg drone.  Some of the implants were still 
there, but it looked like most of them had stopped functioning, and some it looked like 
Carter had pulled out himself.  He was bleeding all over, and looked almost dead, and he 
certainly wasn't acting like someone who was connected to the Borg collective.  Was he 
on Dand's ship when it started to blow up?  He must have transported over here.
	Carter weakly reached toward Lopez and muttered, "Lopez . . help me."
	Ensign Lopez tapped his comm badge to call for sickbay, but stopped himself.  
If Carter was taken there and recovered from his injuries, he'd be made chief of 
security again and Lopez wouldn't be.  And if he shot Carter, he'd be a hero for possibly 
saving the ship from a Borg infestation, at least that's how it'd look.  Besides, 
he said to himself, he's as good as dead, nobody recovers after being assimilated, 
Captain Picard did, but he wasn't in this bad a shape.
	Lopez increased the setting on his phaser and held it up, ready to fire.