Stardate 52043.2 Seemingly from out of nowhere, a torpedo came flying toward the Equinox, jolting the ship when it hit the shields. Almost immediately, a phaser blast swept out from the Equinox toward the space where the torpedo came from. Beeg watched the results from the tactical station, "We missed, they're probably adjusting course after each torpedo," the ship shook again, "Minor damage to Decks 12 and 13." The Captain could hear the frustration in Beeg's voice. The Pinx obviously didn't like opponents who hid themselves. He hoped Enoz could make them a little more visible. He turned to her and said, "Commander Enoz, can you use the same method you used to detect the other alien ship to detect this one?" Enoz smiled, "I'm already working on modifying the deflector dish to do just that." Mason said, "Proceed, Commander. Chief, open a channel to the alien ship." Beeg nodded to the Captain after the channel was opened. The Captain looked at the viewscreen, even though there was still nothing but a starfield visible, "This is Captain Frank Mason of the Federation Starship Equinox. Disengage your attack." He heard a strange, reptilian voice answer him, Enoz spun around in her chair, "The modifications are complete. We have them on sensors." The Captain looked much more confident, "Alien ship, we have you on our sensors. Withdraw or we will fire." The voice spoke again, Mason answered, "Believe me, we can. Our ship has superior firepower." Enoz and a few others looked strangely at the Captain. He didn't realize that the alien voice was speaking directly into his mind, not over the ship's speakers, . The ship shook again. Mason shook his head, "Mr. Beeg, fire phasers." Beeg fired several shots toward the alien ship, "They've taken heavy damage. Their weapons and shields are gone." The Captain didn't seem surprised, "They seem to like making idle threats. Stand down red alert." He heard the voice again, . Mason was really starting to get annoyed with this race, he decided not to even bother responding, "Lieutenant Elea, set a course away from this system." ******************************************************************************* Stardate 52048.5 "Captain's log, supplemental. It's been almost two days since we left the Talic system, and I'm happy to report that we've seen no more sign of Changelings, Jem'Hadar, or invisible aliens. I've sent a full report to Starfleet Command. They were very concerned to hear of Dominion activity this far from the front lines. Starbase 263 informs me that with the war on there still aren't any available medical personnel, and that we'll have to continue to rely on the emergency hologram in place of a chief medical officer. He's been continuing to oversee Ensign Bruder's recovery, which has recently taken a turn for the worse. Mr. Syxx tells me that ship's systems are running smoothly, so we've set course for the Galana system. End Captain's log." Rebecca Ming strolled through the hallway toward the Equilibrium, saying hello to a few crew members she passed on the way. Just as she turned a corner, she heard a voice behind her call out her name. She turned around to see Mull Valen jogging down the hallway toward her. He caught up with her and said, "Commander, do you have a minute?" Ming smiled, "What's on your mind, Mr. Mull." Mull tried to smile, but looked a little nervous, "Um, I hear some of the senior officers are getting together tomorrow for a game of Owtwem. I wondered if I.." Ming nodded and laughed a little, "You're welcome to join in on the game. I'm a little surprised, though. I didn't think a Bajoran would be interested in playing an Oblokoni card game." "Well.. I just thought that.. it might be interesting to learn.." "Elea will be there." Mull looked quickly at Ming, "Oh, well I didn't... I mean, I.." "Don't worry about it," she smiled, "this will give you a chance to spend some time with her. Though Syxx, Enoz, and I will be there to chaperone. The game is in my quarters tomorrow evening at.." Ming stopped suddenly, a shocked look on her face. She was looking down the hallway. Mull looked over his shoulder, then back at Ming, "What is it?" "I saw him," Ming ran down the hall and stopped when she reached the corner. She looked around it, and standing at the opposite end of the hallway was the former security chief. By the time Mull got there and looked down the same hallway, he was gone. Ming tapped the control panel next to her without taking her eyes off the spot where she had just seen him, "Computer, locate Lieutenant Carter." The computer answered, "Lieutenant Carter is not on board the ship. That officer has been classified as deceased." Ming went as quickly as she could to the nearest turbolift. She had to talk to the Captain. Meanwhile, Lyinn was sitting in complete darkness inside one of the cargo containers. She was hungry, and starting to feel a little dehydrated. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. She only meant to climb into this box until the ship stopped shaking, but she had somehow locked herself in. She had tried beating on the box, but nobody heard her. She had no idea how long she'd been in there. I can't believe it, she thought to herself, just when it looks like things might start going my way, something like this has got to happen. I think I'm going to die here. What a horrible fate. Seven decks up, Reman sat in his barber shop. He had just finished with his latest customer, a junior officer who came in for a hair cut and left with a hair cut and two brand new holodeck programs, with the third thrown in for half price. The Ferengi sat down. His business so far today had been profitable, but tiring. After putting his scissors away, he took out the jewelry he found on the transporter pad the other day. It was latinum, but not very much latinum. It looked like earrings and a bracelet, but they were small enough to be worn by a doll, not a person. This 'jewelry' is as worthless as the Federation. Nobody's going to buy these, and I wouldn't get much latinum by melting them down, he thought to himself. The signal he detected had to have been larger than these trinkets. He realized there was only one explanation, Mr. Clemons probably took most of the latinum for himself. Reman had an idea, "Computer, is there anybody in Cargo Bay 1?" "Negative." He'd go to the cargo bay and see if Clemons had any latinum stored there. If that hew-mon thinks I'm not onto his plan, he's no smarter than those plants he grows, Reman thought to himself. The Ferengi made his way to the cargo bay. He figured he'd probably have to hack into the cargo bay manifest and see if any of the cargo belonged to Mr. Clemons. When the bay doors opened, he froze, his jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and he dropped the tiny pieces of jewelry he was holding. Inside, right out in the open, was tons and tons of latinum. Reman ran forward, "There was more than I thought on that planet, and now it's all mine!" He ran over to the huge pile of latinum in the middle of the bay, and reached out to pick some of it up, but when he did, his hand went right through it. Reman jerked back and looked at his hand, then looked up. All the latinum had vanished! He looked back and forth, "What? Where did it go? It has to be here somewhere! It is here somewhere, I can smell it!" Reman ran around, searching frantically through the cargo bay, opening up containers, knocking over boxes, anything he had to do to find the latinum, "Where did it go?!" Inside her box, Lyinn heard somebody yelling, and a bunch of crashing sounds. Whatever it was it sounded angry. Suddenly, she felt something hit the box. She let out a high pitched scream as the box toppled over, knocking the lid open and sending her flying out onto the cargo bay floor.