It had taken longer than expected for the shuttle crew and Marines to return from the asteroid belt and the crippled Marauder. Major Phanan had recovered a dozen of the mines from the asteroid field. The shuttle crew and the Marines demolition team sent to the Marauder had returned several hours ago, but the Major’s own return had only occurred a couple of hours ago.

Now Lieutenant Commander Barker and Lieutenant Taline stood in the shuttlebay, looking over one of the mines that the Major had recovered, attempting to disarm them. Only then could they detonate the remaining mines still in the asteroid belt and the Marauder.

"One thing I can tell you is that these aren’t Federation mines." Taline remarked. "They look similar, but many of the components are unfamiliar. If I was to make a guess, I would say that this was some kind of Romulan device, although the cloaking system appears to be Klingon."

"Could it be some kind of Romulan or Klingon copy of a Class six mine." Chu enquired.

"It’s definitely a copy of some kind, but as I said there are components from several different cultures." Taline remarked. "One thing I can say is that the explosive has been enhanced with the enriched Dilithium. Whatever these mines were, they have been enhanced and improved by someone with access to and knowledge of the Dilithium."

"Can you disarm them ?" Chu enquired.

"In about an hour." Taline replied. "Provided we don’t run into any problems or blow ourselves up, these mines maybe booby-trapped."

"Set up forcefields and secure the area." Chu ordered. "Keep a record of everything you do, if something does go wrong then at least we will know what happened."

"Already done and we’re keeping this area clear of personnel." Taline replied. "We’re also keeping a transporter lock on all the mines. If anything looks like going wrong, we can transport them away from the ship."

"Good." Chu remarked. "Keep the Captain informed."

Chu left the hanger deck and headed for the Bridge. As soon as he entered the Bridge, he sat down to the Captain’s left.

Aki looked across at her friend and Chief Science officer.

"Lieutenant Taline says he can disarm the mines within an hour." Chu reported. "All safety measures are in place."

"Good." Aki replied. "The sooner we can get away from here and on to Deep Space Nine the better. I’ve spoken to Shale and Oakenshield and informed them about our plans. They’ll not be able to reach DS9 before we leave, so we’ll have to arrange to rendezvous with them later."

"Oakenshield won’t like that." Chu remarked. "She’s been itching to find the ISS Leviathan again.

Julia had been even more annoyed at hearing for the Ferengi Floc that the mirror vessel was now commanded by her alternate self. From what ASHER had told the crew, the Terran Empire was a harsh society and the only way that the mirror Julia could be in command was if the mirror Devore had been killed or ‘overthrown’.

Chu rose from his seat just as Commander Rashad arrived on the Bridge.

"Just keeping your seat warm." Chu joked.

Rashad didn’t get the joke, the years of Vulcan training underneath her Romulan-Bajorian heritage holding firm.

Chu returned to his more familiar position at the primary science station, as Rashad took her seat beside the Captain. As Rashad sat, a small smile crossed the Captain’s face.