Stardate 52062.8

	Taj heard the sound of dematerialization, and turned just in time to see Enoz’s
fetus shimmer away.  He cursed, but didn’t turn the shuttle around.  Enoz was obviously
loose and he needed to get away from the Equinox fast.  
	The Etalom contemplated what his options were for a while.  He was furious over
this whole incident.  At the conference he had been scheduled for, he could have gotten his
hands on enough genetic research to make the Etalom the superior species of Wardyssia. 
Taj smiled at the thought of renewing the Troubles, knowing his race could emerge
victorious.
	But before he could go back to Wardyssia, he had to get something for his own
troubles!  He had no idea how to turn his luck around when his scanners started bleeping. 
A Goulavar vessel, the one that had broken off from the Equinox attack, was headed his
way.  It’s shields were up and phasers armed.
	Taj didn’t waste any time.  Opening a comm channel he said, "Etalom'Ori Taj to
Goulavar vessel.  I am a civilian in a species not affiliated with the Federation.  Hold your
fire!  I have stolen this vessel." as the ship neared weapons range.  Taj was very afraid that
they would simply beam him into a room full of anesthezine gas as some militaries did with
unknown potential hostiles.  The gas that stunned most aliens was lethal to Etalom.
	Just as the Goulavar vessel entered weapons range and Taj was sure his days were
over, it actually cruised up beside him and hailed back.  "Federation shuttlecraft occupant. 
If you are not affiliated with Starfleet, would you be willing to trade your ship?"
	Taj sat there for a moment contemplating what that meant.  "In return for what?"
	"We will give you one of our small ships.  It would be faster, stealthier and better
equipped than your current one."
	"You’ll excuse me if I’m naturally suspicious."
	"One of our people has already joined the Equinox, giving them potential access to
information about our technology.  We know nothing of their's, your shuttle is important
to us.  The ship we would give you has technology they already know about should it fall 
in their hands."
	Taj considered this carefully.  "I'm dropping my shields.  Beam me to this
ship of yours.  I’ll look it over and decide."
	A few moments later, a Goulavar security guard was escorting Taj through a small
but functional ship.  Taj was impressed with it's speed and disguise.  The Goulavar
had adapted quite a bit of Wiansani shielding technology to their own benefit.  The Etalom
turned to the security guard.
	"Despite how badly you want this technology, you're being awfully generous."
	"Although we're allies with the Dominion, they've given us little information about 
the Federation." the guard said.  Remembering his time as a P.O.W., hatred burned in Taj's
eyes.  "Not to be untactful, but our sister vessels weakened but were unable to destroy the
Equinox before being destroyed themselves.  My ship needs to go finish the job, so is the
deal on or off?"
	"It's on!" Taj replied quickly.  "Beam me back to the Federation shuttle so I can
dock it and get some personal belongings."
	"We'll pull it right in beside this one so you can leave quickly." the security guard
said, signaling his vessel's transporter room.  Taj found himself back in the shuttle a
moment later.  He let the autopilot do the docking as he scanned the shuttle's engines with
a tricorder.  A loud thunk told him that he was aboard the Goulavar hangar deck.  He
scrambled for the hatch and dashed across the bay for his new vessel.  Slipping into a seat,
he piloted out with one hand, locking onto an engine part of the Federation shuttle with
the other hand.
	Pressing both fingers at once, his new ship went to warp and a piece of his old
shuttle dematerialized.  A few seconds later, his scanners confirmed that the antimatter
containment field on the shuttle had collapsed as he planned, blowing a nice hole in the
back of the now drifting Goulavar vessel.
	"The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy." Taj muttered.  Now that he had a
way to sneak up on the Equinox and get back aboard it undetected, he couldn't have
afforded to let that ship get there first and possibly destroy his new chance at that
Oblokoni fetus.  Taj was finally having a good day...

Stardate 52063.9
	
	Taj wasn't having such a good day.  He had successfully caught up with the
Equinox and K'Precht and was following them undetected just outside the shield
perimeter where the warp field would match his ship's shielding best.  But doing so had
been costly.  Overpowering the engines to overtake the pair's considerable velocity had
caused a power surge in the forward compartment, knocking out lights and burning out
panels.  A small canister of anesthezine gas had burst and filled the compartment, and Taj
was going to be unable to use that section for hours as the environmental controls were
damaged in the burst and the gas was being cycled out slowly. 
	 After scanning the Equinox several times at low power, he had been unable to
locate Enoz's fetus or his device he had attached to it.  It was still in the protected core,
unseen to him.	
	Rapidly cursing again, Taj decided to beam aboard and take some hostages that he
would exchange for his prize.  He reswept the ship with his scanners.  One of the lovely
gadgets he had found in this ship was a remote control that could fit on his wrist.  It
could extend the ship's shielding technology stolen from the Wiansani to him so that he
could walk around the Equinox without being seen on internal sensors, but only in certain
areas.
	He grabbed a phaser and beamed aboard.  The corridors were relatively empty on
the deck he started on.  Quickly figuring out how far he could travel without being
detected, he selected an intersection in the middle of the area.  It was not long before he
heard a thud from around a corner and a male, not knowing who Sasha was, say "Oh, I'm
so sorry!  Shoot, I broke whatever this was.  I'm awfully sorry!"
	As he heard Elea reply "It's okay. I'll have another replicated.  I should have been
watching what I was doing.  My mind was, um, what do you say again?  Somewhere else."
Taj leveled his phaser and marched towards them.
	He came up behind Sasha and said "Hold it right there!"  Sasha stood there calmly
and Elea held her head dizzily with one hand, but her other hand went for her phaser.  Taj
quickly slammed Sasha against the wall, one hand at his throat leveling his phaser at the
barkeep's head.  Elea blinked and dropped her phaser.  "I thought so.  You don't want me
hurting him just because of you, do you?"  
	Taj pressed a control on his wristband and all three dematerialized.  It was in
mid-transport that he realized the transporter unit was in the front compartment of his
ship and he hadn’t programmed it to beam him into the back.  He rematerialized
screaming, but only for a moment as anesthezine gas entered his lungs.  Elea and Sasha
quickly succumbed and collapsed, as did Taj who was dead within seconds.
	
Stardate 52065.0
	
	Hours later, enough gas had been cycled out for Elea and Stroh to regain
consciousness.  Stroh looked at the dead Taj, not realizing he was dead.  Taj made the
bartendar remember a customer of his once.  She had brought in her pet tribble and while
not looking, the tribble had wound up in a cup of ractagino.  The tribble overdosed on
Klingon caffeine and drowned at the same time.  Thinking of how lifeless both Taj and
that tribble were made Stroh realize Taj was dead.
	Back on the Equinox, Mason sat in his command chair, confused.  "Computer
locate Lt. Elea!"
	"Lt. Elea is not on board."	
	Alarms went off in Mason's head.  "Computer, are there any others missing?"
	"Civilian Sasha Stroh."  
	Mason tapped his commbadge.  "Mason to Elea or Stroh."
	Back on Taj's ship, Stroh nearly jumped out of his skin, having forgotten his 
commbadge was pinned to his tunic.  He quickly tapped it.  "Stroh here."
	"Mr. Stroh, where are you, and is Elea with you?" Mason asked.
	"Um, I'm, ah, on an alien runabout and uh,...Elea?"
	"Female ensign, cyberdroid?" Mason said briskly.
	"Yeah, Captain, ur, yessir, there is a female ensign with me." Stroh stumbled
nervously.  "There's also an alien here, dead, I don't recognize the species.  What's going
on?"
	"We're not sure.  Standby while we try to locate you."  Sasha sat there helplessly,
waiting.  Elea merely babbled some nearly incoherent comment inquiring who Elea was.
	Back on the bridge, Mason was getting aggravated.
	"Enoz?"
	"I'm not detecting any life signs off the Equinox or the K'Precht." she said.
	"Beeg?"
	"Nothing on tactical sir." the Pinx replied.
	"Mull?"
	"The K'Precht reports nothing unusual other than their escorting half a Federation
starship into the precious Empire." the Bajoran smirked.
	"Ming?"
	"I can't get a direction on the commbadge, there's too much interference."
	Mason put his hands on his hips.  "Did everyone try adapting to the known
Wiansani interference frequencies in case it's them?"  All of his officers nodded.  "Mr.
Stroh, we’re having difficulty locating you.  Are there any consoles or panels near you that
can tell you what kind of vessel you're on?"
	"No sir." said Stroh.  "None of the consoles in this compartment have power. 
Also, the door in the back won't open.  It’s been locked from the other side."
 	Stroh heard Mason's sigh over the comm.  "Mr. Stroh, how's Elea?"
	"Alive, but injured, or ah, damaged too I guess.  Wait a sec, she's trying to say
something."  Stroh leaned over to hear as Elea whispered "pret-ty".  He turned to see
what she was gazing at and saw the stardrive section of the Equinox out the window. 
They had to be close!  "Captain Mason!  We can see the Equinox out the window.  We
must be close because it's naked eye, not a viewscreen.  We're trailing on the port side,
aft, almost behing the nacelle."
	"Thank you!" said Mason, turning to Enoz.
	After a minute, Enoz shook her head.  "I can tell something's out there, but not
how far, certainly not enough for transporter lock.  I need more for the scanners to read."
	"Mr. Stroh," Mason said.  "Is anything there working?  Can you do anything to
give our scanners more information?"
	Stroh looked around wildly.  No consoles were working, the lights were out. 
There was only the hum of a power conduit in the corner.
	"The only thing active in the room is a power conduit sir."
	"Can you access it?" Mason asked.
	Stroh walked over to it and pulled the case off easily.  He looked at it for a second
and knew there was he had the expertise to manipulate it.  "I've got it open sir.  There's
no controls or anything, just warm bright conduits."  Mason was about to call Syxx on
how to advise a civilian to sabotage unknown technology when Stroh said "I've got an
idea sir!"
	Before Mason could respond, Stroh grabbed his whiskey flask and poured the rest
of it on the conduit.  The conduit exploded, sending Stroh flying back.  A drop and then
surge of power rocked the engines, causing an emission that showed right up on Enoz's
sensors.
	"Got 'em!" said Enoz.
	"Energizing." said Mull.  "I've got Stroh in auxiliary medical and Elea in
Engineering.  The ship is Goulavar, but there's no one on it, save one dead Etalom."
	"Taj." said a smiling Enoz.
	"Tractor it in.  Ming, I want an inspection and report." said Mason.  "Mason to
Stroh."
	"Stroh here."  
	Mason heard Borgatella, Wallin and the EMH in the background.  "You handled
that with rare composure for a civilian.  I just wanted to say, good job."
	"Nothing to it sir." came Stroh's reply.  "In my profession, a good shot of whiskey
is always a lifesaver."