The shuttle from the Leviathan made slow progress towards the Ferengi vessel, it's impulse engines being over stressed with the weight of the shuttle, which had been overloaded with Dilithium ore. Commander Oakenshield could have used two shuttles, but Commander Barker had managed to persuade her that such a move could make the Ferengi nervous.

It had been Daimon Shia's who had insisted on the transfer taking place on his vessel. In exchange for the ore, the Commander would receive the crystal the crew of the Leviathan had been searching desperately for.

"Leviathan Shuttle to Sub-Daimon Kil-oh" Commander Oakenshield announced. "We are on our final approach to your vessel."

[Kil-oh here.] The Ferengi Sub-Daimon replied. [We have cleared the shuttle hanger bay for your arrival as requested. I will meet you there in five minutes.]

"Understood. Shuttle out." Oakenshield closed. "Are you ready Major ?"

The Major nodded and pushed the sleeve of his right arm up to show the hidden phaser coil attached to his upper forearm and connected to his Borg implants. Although the three officers weren't expecting any trouble from the Ferengi, they needed to be prepared. Both Oakenshield and Barker had small class one phasers hidden in their uniforms, but the Major could react to a hostile situation far faster, allowing the others to arm themselves.

"Good." Julia stated confidently.

She slowly piloted the shuttle into the Ferengi Marauder's huge hanger bay. There was no one in sight and all the shuttles had been 'parked' in one corner. Just to make sure, Chu quickly ran a local area scan of the hanger deck.

"There's no-one in the hanger bay Commander." He stated. "It would appear that these Ferengi are as good as their word."

"Never trust a Ferengi." Julia remarked. "They would sell their own mother if there was a profit in it."

Julia rose from the pilot's seat and headed towards the airlock. Once they had stepped out of the shuttle, a small group of Ferengi arrived from the other side of the hanger.

"Commander Oakenshield I presume." One of them enquired.

"And you would be Sub-Daimon Kil-oh ?" Julia enquired.

"Sub Daimon Kil-oh, at your service." The Ferengi creeped. "Do you have the Dilithium ?"

"It's aboard the shuttle." Julia replied. "Do you have the crystal ?"

"Of course." Kil-oh said. "If you would allow us to start unloading the ore, I will have the crystal brought down."

"No deal." Julia stated firmly. "Have the crystal brought here now, then you can start unloading the ore."

Kil-oh looked across at one of his colleagues and two of them left the hanger, returning a couple of minutes later with a small box. Although the box was only about a metre square, the two Ferengi were struggling to carry it. Eventually they placed the box down in front of the three officers.

"Open it please." Julia requested.

One of the Ferengi stooped down and entered a code into the combination lock. Chu watched carefully, memorising the code that the small alien was punching in. There was a hiss of air as the box opened and slowly the lid rose revealing the contents. Inside was a small piece of rock just larger than a fist, floating inside the box.

"It's hard to believe that such a small rock could be so heavy." Sub-Daimon Kil-oh remarked "Or so valuable."

"That's why we provided the specifications for the transportation container." Commander Barker replied stepping forward to examine the contents of the box more closely. "There's no way anyone could carry a crystal without anti-grav systems."

He took out his tricorder and started to scan the crystal carefully, pushing the crystal occasionally to make it slowly spin around, enabling him to scan the entire crystal. Eventually, satisfied that the crystal was genuine he closed his tricorder and stood back up.

"It's in a raw state." Chu began. "Lieutenant Taline will have his work cut out cleaning it up and converting it for use in the quantum generator. But it is what we require Captain."

"Phanan, get it back aboard the shuttle." Julia ordered. "Kil-oh, you can start unloading your ore."

The Major walked across to the box and closed the lid, which again hissed as the vacuum seal activated. Then using his Borg-enhanced strength, he picked up the box at either side and slowly waddled back to the shuttle. Chu followed the Major and opened the cargo hatch on the shuttle so the Ferengi could start unloading.

Within ten minutes, the Dilithium had all been unloaded and the shuttle was preparing to leave.

Commander Oakenshield had been watching the Ferengi unload the ore, amazed at the efficiency of the crew. She turned to Sub-Daimon Kil-oh and nodded her approval before heading back to her shuttle.

She stepped inside and secured the doors, before heading to the cockpit. As she came through the doorway she found Major Phanan at the flight controls, preparing the shuttle to leave.

"We're ready for the return journey." Chu announced from the co-pilot's seat. "Shuttle to Kil-oh, we are ready to leave."

[Leave when ready] The Ferengi replied over the comm channel.

The Major started the shuttle's anti-grav motors and engaged the thrusters pushing the small vessel back out into open space and back towards their own ship. The trip back was going to be almost as slow as the trip across, the weight of their new cargo almost equalling the cargo they had just unloaded. The shuttle would never have got off the deck without the specially designed container that the crystal was packaged in.

They had got halfway back to their own ship when Commander Barker noticed something on the sensors.

"Captain, the Ferengi Marauder has just raised shields." Chu commented. "And I'm detecting a subspace distortion about three thousand kilometres away."

"Major, raise shield, bring the weapons online." Julia ordered. "And contact the Leviathan."

The order had been unnecessary, the Major had instinctively raised the shuttles shields and was powering up the weapons.

"I'm detecting a vessel approaching at high impulse." Chu reported. "The design is unfamiliar, but I'm reading a number of Ferengi life signs. However the vessel does not match the design and construction of the Marauder, which would suggest that this vessel was not constructed by the Ferengi."

"Have you managed to make contact with the Leviathan ?" Julia enquired firmly.

"All sub-space communications are being jammed." Major Phanan replied.

"The vessel is attempting to cut us off from the Leviathan." Chu stated.

"Evasive manoeuvres." Julia ordered, just as an explosion rocked the shuttle.