Stardate 52013.6

     Captain Mason got up from his chair and walked to the door of his ready 
room.  To his surprise it didn't open right away.  He scratched his head 
through his short, red hair.  The ship had undergone routine diagnostics at the
starbase, this shouldn't be happening.  The door finally hissed and squeezed 
open, but only halfway.  Mason pushed it the rest of the way open and walked 
onto the bridge, making a note to get Mr. Syxx to take a look at that as soon 
as he got finished with Elea.
     Commander Ming stood up from the command chair, there was a worried look 
on her face, even moreso than when Elea collapsed in the conference room.  He 
knew it was something he didn't want to hear before the words even came out of 
her mouth, "Captain, we've detected the warp trail of a Cardassian ship, we 
think it's under some type of cloak."
     The Captain was visibly upset.  He looked away from Ming so she'd know it
wasn't directed at her.  He'd taken this assignment to get away from the war.
He looked back at her, "Do they know we're out here?"
     The Commander nodded, "We traced their warp trail back along our path.  
They were at least in sensor range, they may have even been in transporter 
range."
     "And the Doctor was killed by a disruptor that's commonly used by 
Cardassians.  Does Lieutenant Carter know?"
     "Yes sir, I've already told him, and we're already on a pursuit course."
     "Very well," Mason looked at the viewscreen.  With the evidence at hand 
they had to follow the ship, and something told him that a fight would be 
inevitable.  His communicator beeped, "Syxx to Captain Mason."
     Finally a report from Syxx, "Mason here, report Lieutenant."
     Syxx told the Captain about Elea's condition.  Mason knew a little about 
cybernetics, but not enough to know of any reason Elea's systems would be 
shutting down the way they were, unless the R&D guys at Starfleet just screwed 
up.  Anyway, Syxx was the expert, he decided just to leave it to him, "Very 
well Mr. Syxx, do what you need to to get her operational."
     "Sir?"
     "I said do what you need . ."
     "Bridge?"
     "Are you reading me, Mr. Syxx?"
     "...."
     "Commander Syxx?"
     Either Syxx wasn't in the habit of responding to questions from his 
Captain, or the com system was down.  Commander Ming began talking before Mason
could, "Mr. Mull, run a diagnostic on the communications.."
     Before she could finish the lights on the bridge began to flicker.  Mull's
panel was fading in and out, but he could make out the messages coming in, 
"Sir, there's power failure on all decks."
     Mason said, "All stop.  Switch to backup power systems."
     Mull Valen stopped the ship and switched to the bridge's backup systems.
The lights went completely dark for a moment then came back on.  Mason turned 
to the first officer, "I want you to go to Engineering, Commander Ming.  Find 
out what's happening to the ship and report back to me."
     "Aye, sir.  I'm on my way."
     Mull kept his eyes fixed on his control panel, this was more than what he
usually had to deal with on Ops duty.  The Captain walked up, "What's our 
system status?"
     "Stand by, sir."  Mull tapped a few buttons and watched the reports coming
in from the various systems, "Engineering seems to have stabilized some of the
systems, but it looks like communications and replicators are down.  I can't 
even get a reading on the weapon systems."
     The panel beeped a few times and Mull's eyes widened, "Sir, I... I'm 
reading a possible breach in the primary warp core!"
     The Captain yelled, "Prepare to separate the saucer!  Evacuate as many 
people from the drive section as possible!"
     Mull was almost unable to speak, but let out a barely audible sigh of 
relief when he saw what came up next on his panel, "Wait.  There's.. Someone's 
using the deflector to stop the core breach.  It's... working.  We don't have 
to evacuate."
     Mason turned back toward the back of the bridge.  The two security 
personnel were still standing at their posts.  The Science, Engineering, and 
Tactical stations were empty.  All the Science and Engineering officers on 
duty were aiding Lieutenant Commander Syxx, and there was no telling where 
Lieutenant Carter was.  Out of the corner of his eye Mason noticed the telltale
shimmer of someone being transported onto the bridge.  At first he thought 
maybe it was Syxx or Commander Ming, but the half Klingon Lieutenant Kalamarina
materialized instead.  Mason snapped at her, "Report Lieutenant.  What's 
happening down there?"
     Kalamarina just stood there with a triumphant grin on her face.  A few 
seconds later everyone on the bridge was jolted as the whole ship was shaken.
     The Captain's attention turned away from Kalamarina, "What the hell?  
Mr. Mull, are our communications back up yet?"
     Mull shook his head, he made a mental note to bring up how much stress he
had to go through in this situation at the next crew evaluations, "No sir, not
yet."
     Mason wanted answers at this point, he couldn't stand being stuck on the 
bridge with no way to communicate with the rest of his crew, "Computer, locate
Commander Ming."
     "Commander Ming is in Turbolift 1."
     "Still in the turbolift?"
     "Turbolift 1 is non operational.  It is currently between decks 5 and 6,"
the familiar Starfleet computer voice said.
     He turned to see Kalamarina.  In his frustration it had slipped his mind 
that she was still standing there.  She looked like she was very satisfied
with herself about something.  Before he could ask her any questions he was 
interrupted by his comm signal, "Captain, can you hear me?"
     It was Syxx.  Obviously he had gotten communications back up, but his 
voice wasn't coming through very clearly.  Mason tapped his badge, "Go ahead 
Mr. Syxx."
     Syxx's garbled voice came in over the communicator, "There was a system 
overload on deck 23.  Lieutenant Kalamarina was able to stop the core breach 
using the deflector, but doing so overloaded the systems and destroyed a good 
chunk of that deck." 
     Mason assumed that the Lieutenant now on the bridge was Kalamarina, he 
still had yet to meet most of the crew, "What about the ship's systems, what's
happening?"
     "We have a few theories but.."
     Mason interrupted, "Find out what it is, Commander.  This problem has to 
be solved before it starts affecting life support."
     Syxx paused, "Aye sir."
     Mason turned back to Kalamarina.  It seems that she saved the ship, but he
decided to save the congratulations for later, there was too much else to worry
about now.