Commander Oakenshield sat in the Captain's quarters, looking out of the window at the stars. Although she knew every single one, they weren't the same. These stars were as alien to her and her ship as the ship and its crew was to this universe.

"Chu, what is our status ?" She asked of her first officer and lover.

"Repairs are slow, with limited resources we will be lucky to ever get the ship back into fighting order." Commander Barker replied. "Every raid we make on the Romulans and Klingons in this universe, we suffer more damage, create more work for ourselves. What we need is a major overhaul of all the systems aboard the ship. We are barely capable of achieving more than warp three, the slipstream is all but destroyed, weapons and shields are erratic and our hulls being held together by forcefields."

"What about the device ?" Julia enquired. "Do we have any chance of making it work, using it to get back home ?"

"The Chief seems to think so Commander. It wasn't severely damages, but we need the crystal to make it work. Our scans and probes of the areas we've visited have shown us that it is as rare in this universe as it is in our own." Chu replied.

"We must keep looking." Julia stated. "Maybe we need to 'recruit' some help, get this universe working for us."

"Come back to bed." Chu remarked. "We can deal with all this in the morning."

Meanwhile Lieutenant ASHER was in command of the Bridge when Major Phanan arrived. The Bridge was deserted apart from ASHER, he was in control of all the systems on the Bridge. With the ship severely undermanned, using the hologram's special abilities on the graveyard shift made sense.

"Major." ASHER remarked. "Is there something I can do for you ?"

"We need to talk about the Captain Devore." Phanan replied. "But not here."

ASHER was quite for a moment, then he announced. "Meet me in cargo bay two at O-eight hundred hours."

Just then a control on the operations console caught ASHER's attention and he rose from the central command chair and walked towards it.
"So they've discovered the probe." ASHER remarked. "Well I guess our new ally will be joining us soon."

"Lieutenant ?" The Major enquired. "A new ally."

"Figure of speech Major. He's more of a spy in the enemy camp than an ally. But he will serve his purpose, it's just a pity we've lost the probe to them, we were just starting to get to know each other better." ASHER replied.

Six hours passed before the Alpha shift arrived to take over from ASHER, even though he could have continued to operate the Bridge solo indefinitely. But even though Commander Oakenshield trusted ASHER, she didn't trust him completely. With Commander Barker at her side, she also had an ally who had both the knowledge and ability to destroy ASHER for good.

"Anything to report ?" Commander Oakenshield enquired as she arrived on the Bridge.

"Our modified probe has been discovered by the crew of the Federation vessel. We won't be hearing from it again." ASHER reported.

"How ?" Julia asked forcefully.

"We seem to have underestimated the resources of our counter-parts. The fact that it took them days rather than hours to find out about the probe is the only good sign." ASHER continued. "But do not worry yourself Commander, the defences that were installed in the probes systems will destroy their greatest asset and ultimately themselves."

"Lieutenant ASHER, you disappoint once again." Oakenshield replied. "And it's Captain now. I may still only hold the rank of Commander, but this is my ship and when you are serving on my ship, you WILL address me as Captain."

"My apologies Captain. It will not happen again." ASHER replied.

"It better not." She said. "Now get out of my sight."
ASHER left the Bridge and immediately headed for cargo bay two.

"Commander, keep a trace of our hologram." Oakenshield ordered.

"He's heading for cargo bay two." Commander Barker replied.

"I'll be in my ready room." Julia replied. "Commander you have the Bridge."

She rose from her seat and walking into the adjacent officer, sat down in the chair and switched on the console.

"Computer access the security systems in cargo bay two." She ordered.

Three images appeared on the console screen, showing the three hidden camera views. The bay appeared to be empty, until ASHER arrived.

"So what do we have here ?" She said to herself.

Then the screens went dead, one by one as ASHER switched off the cameras.

"Damn." Julia cursed under her voice. "He's better than I thought. Computer access secondary security monitors in cargo bay two."

[Those systems have been disabled.] The computer replied.

"Ok, if that's the way you want to play it." Julia said. "Computer initiate program ASHER one seven five. Access code Oakenshield seven two zero. Direct the output to the console."

[Secondary authorisation is required.] The computer replied.

"Devore Tango seven two nine Alpha." Julia stated.

[The program is running.] The computer replied.

The image was rather fuzzy and the audio almost unintelligible. Julia attempted to clear up the image and audio, but she also knew that if she increased the power too much ASHER would become aware of the hidden sub-routine within his matrix. Eventually she settled for a clearer image at the expense of audio and Major Phanan appeared on the console screen.

"So you're meeting with the Major." She remarked to herself.
ASHER looked at the Major for a moment indicating to him to keep quite as he worked on the security systems. Once he was sure that no-one could eavesdrop on their conversation, he started to talk.

"So what do you want to talk to me about he asked ?" ASHER enquired.

"I believe that Oakenshield and Barker were responsible for the disappearance of Captain Devore." The Major stated.

ASHER smiled. "Your suspicions are correct Major."

"You. You are in league with those Betazoid traitors." The Major responded, reaching for his phaser.

"Major calm yourself. Yes, in a way I am in league with the two Commanders, but only to gain their trust." ASHER replied. "And put that phaser away, you know you can't harm me. Listen."

The Major replaced his phaser. "OK I'm listening."

"Have you taken a look around lately Major. This ship is slowly being destroyed piece by piece, the Commanders don't know what to do next. All Oakenshield thinks about is getting back home, back to our own universe and Barker just wants to explore this universe. He's never had the guts to be a fighter, the only reason he's survived this long is that he's allied himself to strong leaders, like Devore and now Oakenshield." ASHER stated.

"Then take control of the ship now." The Major ordered. "You will have my full backing and support."

"If we were in our own universe, then neither of them would still be alive, because I would have avenged the death of Captain Devore. But we need them for the moment, the Commander's need to return home will eventually get up there one way or another. Once we are back in our own universe, the first order of business will be to kill the traitors and take control of this vessel, I have all the evidence the Terran council will need to justify their execution. Of course I will need support of the Marines and especially their commanding officer."

"You have and always will have my support." The Major confirmed.

"That is good to hear Major." ASHER replied. "We'll arrange another meeting soon, but for now keep your feeling about the Commanders under control. If they think you are a threat to their command, they will do to you what they did to Devore."

With that last statement, ASHER left the cargo bay, followed shortly after by the Major.
Commander Oakenshield switched off the console and sat back in her seat, wondering about the meeting. She'd found out that the Major and ASHER had been conspiring against her, but because of the poor audio, most of the actual conversation had been lost. All she could do for the moment was keep a close eye on them both.

"Computer, deactivate program ASHER one seven five." She ordered before rising from her chair and heading back onto the Bridge.

Commander Barker instinctively rose from the command chair and returned to the science station.

"Commander, run a scan of this area of space and see if you can't compare it with the area in our own universe." Oakenshield ordered.

"Am I looking for anything in particular ?" Chu asked.

"Yes. Somewhere we can hide and make repairs." Julia replied.

Moments past as Chu scanned the area.

"Captain, there is nothing in the immediate area, however I may have found what you are looking for." Commander Barker stated.

"What is it ?" Julia asked.

"An abandon Federation outpost close to the Klingon border. From the long-range sensor scans, it appears to have been unused for years. It still has some resources on the surface and a dry-dock facility in orbit." Chu reported. "In our universe it was designated Sigma Twelve, a supply outpost and later a staging post for the collection of Klingon slaves."

"How long will it take us to reach it ?" Julia asked.

"At our top speed, about two weeks." Chu replied.

"Helm, set a course, maximum warp." Julia ordered. "Engage."

"Course laid in. Warp three." Brayden reported.