"Prepare to leave the stream." Captain Taybar announced from her seat on the Bridge.

"Approaching the Sigma 12 asteroid belt." Shale replied. "Entering normal space in ten seconds."

The USS Leviathan-A left the quantum slipstream and slowed down to sub-light speed.

"Captain, I'm picking up high levels of theta radiation." Lieutenant Commander Barker announced. "There are also signs of heavy gravity wells in the area."

"Captain, I think I have a partial answer." ASHER announced from the ops station. "I've got a lot of debris concentrated in a small area of the belt. Sensors are being effected by the radiation, but from the size and spread I'd say we are looking at a large vessel and a catastrophic explosion. A warp core breach would be my best estimate. We'd need to get closer to make a more positive I-dent."

"All stop." Aki ordered. "Mister ASHER, could you launch a probe into the belt ?"

"Class five probe launched." ASHER announced. "Telemetry being received."

The Bridge crew watched on the viewscreen as the probe sped away from the ship and entered the asteroid field surrounding Sigma twelve's only planet. As the probe reached the border of the belt, the screen flashed white as the probe was destroyed. The viewscreen automatically dimmed to protect the crew from damage and as the flash faded, brightened once again.

"Wow." Dukal announced from the security station. "That was some explosion, if we'd entered the belt without shields, we wouldn't have stood a chance."

"The probe was destroyed by some kind a gravimetric mine, possible cloaked or masked. Sensors are showing no other devices, but the radiation could be hiding them." Chu reported.

"The explosion was around six hundred isotonnes, even with shields we'd have suffered major damage."

"Try using a scanning tachyon beam to check for cloaked vessels." ASHER suggested.
"Scan initiated. It's working." Chu remarked. "Captain, I'm detecting over a hundred small devices in various orbits within the belt. We're too far away to determine the capabilities of the devices, but I would suggest that from their size, they are gravimetric mines of Federation design."

"Good work Mister ASHER, Mister Barker." Aki commented. "It looks like we have been saved from being destroyed. Suggestions on how we can either deactivate or destroy these mines."

"Captain." Dukal remarked. "We don't know what these devices are, nor what there are capable of. Plus if these are of Federation design, then they would have to be class six mines, but they must have been extensively modified."

"Why do you say that ?" Aki asked.

"The maximum yield of a class six mine is only two hundred isotonnes. These mines would appear to have an explosive yield three times larger, Starfleet doesn't have any single device with that explosive power." Dukal replied. "Plus these mines are self-replicating and cloaked, meaning that the only way we can succeed is to destroy or deactivate them all simultaneously or stop them replicating."

"Weren't class six mines used during the Dominion war to blockade the Bajorian wormhole ?" Oakenshield asked. "If memory serves, they managed to deactivate the mine using anti-graviton beams to disable the replicator systems and then detonating them all."

"That is true." Dukal announced. "The Cardassians were successful in eventually disabling the mines, but too late to save the Dominion. However, Starfleet made modifications to the class six to prevent that happening again."

"Captain, I may know who gave them the mines in the first place." Chu announced. "Before the probe was destroyed, we got some partial sensor readings."

"What do they reveal ?" Aki asked.

"The vessel we're detecting in the asteroid field is a Ferengi Marauder." Chu replied. "It looks like they have been hit by multiple mines, sensors show several hull breaches. There are also several shuttles and escape pods in the field, all damaged and inert."

"Looks like the Ferengi have been dealing with our mirror visitors." Aki commented.

"Well they've paid with their lives." Chu replied. "No one could have survived that minefield."

"Mister Dukal ?. Would the class six mines be able to detect a cloaked ship ?" Aki asked.

"In theory no Captain, although sophisticated their sensors can't detect cloaked vessels." Dukal replied. "But we would have to de-cloak to use weapons or transporters. We can't destroy the mines that way."

"I wasn't thinking of attacking the mines." Aki asked. "I was thinking of landing in the Marauder ?"

"That could work, but to what end ?" Dukal answered. "They obviously had no deactivation code for the mine field. Plus we'd be working in a zero-G, vacuum environment."

"We may be able to gain vital information from their systems, we have to try." Aki remarked. "Commander Rashad, prepare a team and take the Hellcat across to the Marauder."

Commander Rashad stood from her seat and headed to the turbolift door. "Barker, Oakenshield, you're with me."

Chu and Julia followed the Commander into the turbolift and headed for the supplies store to pick-up EVA suits.

"Rashad to Major Phanan." Rashad ordered, tapping her comm badge.

[Phanan here. What can I do for you Commander ?] The Major replied.

"I need a three man team to accompany us to investigate a Ferengi Marauder." Rashad stated. "This will be an EVA mission, zero-G and no atmosphere."

[Understood Commander. This could be a good time to test out the new Marine EVA suits.] The Major replied.

"Good, meet us at the Hellcat in fifteen minutes. Rashad out." The Commander completed.