It's a relief to hear Marya Kothe's voice. "We've been trying to get through the interference for a while, sir," she says. "Since you, um, vanished, we haven't made any moves to explore the spire - all we've done is set up a secure perimeter around the docks, and got to work on the local data systems."
"All right," I say. "Secure perimeter is good, because the Voth are here, and they've destroyed our two consorts already. I want you to hold that line and look for a way out. Worst case, we will have to exit the spire and make a run for safety."
"The Voth?" Marya sounds startled.
"At least one Bulwark-class battleship. They have troops inside the spire right now." And some of them, if I'm reading the Solanae display correctly, are dangerously close to the docking platform. "The other big development is this. I've made contact with the inhabitants of the spire. They're Solanae, descendants of survivors of the initial disaster. The Voth are attacking them, too, and we've got... something of an alliance going. I'm at a Solanae control centre now, and we're trying to contain the Voth. We need to evolve some kind of tactical plan for that."
"If there's even one Bulwark here, sir, then we're heavily outgunned and outnumbered," says Marya.
"I know. But we have the spire's own defensive systems to work with, and that's got to count for something. Maybe it'll even count for enough." I frown. "One more point. Who else have we lost?"
"Sir?" Marya sounds puzzled. I wish I could see her face, but the Solanae console doesn't have a workable video link.
"We're picking up one Starfleet comms signature, some distance away from the ship. Who else wandered off, besides me?"
"I'll run a check, sir, but I've had no reports of any losses...." Marya's voice fades away. I look up from the console, glance at Pearl, at the twitchy shapes of the three Solanae... at the map.
The Voth forces are... frighteningly widespread. I can see our barriers, can see the markers for security swarmers... and it doesn't even begin to look enough. Scale, I remind myself. A sense of scale. The spire is huge, it would take an army of Voth to control it - not just one ship. I hope.
That one Starfleet signature is bugging me. It's definitely there, and it's definitely Starfleet, though we can't get a specific ID off it. Too much interference. Still.
"Ah." Dyegh speaks. "I have something for you... one of your missing ships." He shuffles over to the map console, does something to it. The map shrinks a little bit, and a glowing shape appears, some way off to the side. The image is a bit rough and basic, but it's clear enough. A Pathfinder-class science vessel. The Tempest.
"Just the one ship?" I ask.
"Oh, I am sorry if it is insufficient!" Dyegh snaps at me.
"I'm just - a bit puzzled. The Tapiola is larger, has a bigger emissions profile - she should be easier to find than that one."
"I will continue to search," Dyegh says. I'm not sure how much I can trust the universal translator for emotional nuance - but I'm pretty sure he is not happy.
Meanwhile, the other two, Siffaith and Tyonovon, have been conferring in an undertone, and now Siffaith comes over towards me. "A possibility," he says. "We have the frequencies for your communicators, now, and Tyonovon remembers, once, dealing with our own comms system. I think we can link your network directly to ours."
"Thanks," I say, "but it looks like we've got comms with our ship already -"
"Yes," says Siffaith, "but our system is hardened against the interference from our shields. A direct link will make it much easier to talk to your ship, or to contact -" he points at the dot on the map "- detached elements like that one. We could even link in your matter transporters to our own transport network. That would give us a significant advantage in mobility over the Voth."
"That's a good idea," I say. "We need all the advantages we can get. Thank you, Siffaith." I look at Dyegh. "I hope that won't cause you any problems."
"My problems," says Dyegh, "are clearly not an issue. Set it up."
I sneak another glance over at Tyonovon. I'd rather got the impression that she was nothing but an idler - it seems that most of the Solanae have settled down into a sort of lotus-eater mentality, with the spire serving all their basic needs, so they have nothing much to do but play. Dyegh and Siffaith appear to be exceptions to that... but it seems Tyonovon, too, has her uses, her specialist knowledge. Just goes to show, I suppose. You should never write anyone off.
"Sir, can you hear me?" Marya's voice again. The comms channel is kind of staticky, at that.
"I'm here," I say.
"All personnel accounted for, sir," says Marya. "Whoever that is, it's not one of ours."
I look at Pearl. "Another survivor, then?"
The android shakes her head. "No one on the Tempest survived, sir, except me. I'm certain of that."
"Then maybe it's someone from Tapiola - wait. T'Pia did have an android officer assigned to her - maybe she survived and beamed over to the station, just like you did."
Siffaith has been working at the console, claws tapping rapidly on the panels, while we've been speaking; now, he looks up. "I think I have the comms connection... perhaps you can test it, by signalling that one. Amplified through our comms net, your device should reach them without problems."
I pull my combadge off my uniform tunic, use my tricorder to check the settings. "Let's give it a try." I touch the badge. "This is M'eioi calling Starfleet personnel operating solo within the spire. Please report your status."
A brief pause - and then, a voice I thought I'd never hear again. "This is T'Pia. I am relieved to hear your voice - I have been trying for some time to establish communication with the Timor."
I find my own voice. "T'Pia? Sir, we thought you were dead."
"Self-evidently, that is inaccurate." Yes, that is definitely T'Pia. "The Tapiola and the Tempest were hit by an intense biolytic field. In the case of the Tapiola, our particle conversion equipment prevented it from being fatal to the crew, but the ship herself is disabled, perhaps irretrievably. Circumstances have led me to become separated from my crew. What is your status?"
I explain, as quickly as I can - which isn't all that quick; there is a lot of detail for both of us to assimilate. At the end of it, T'Pia says, "The situation, overall, is fractionally less grave than I had envisaged. May I speak with one of your Solanae associates?"
"They're here, now. They can hear everything we're saying."
"Very well," says T'Pia. "If the situation were less difficult, I would be glad of an opportunity to discuss your history and society, and the history and workings of the sphere, with you. This is a fascinating opportunity for our two cultures to reach a rapprochement. Unfortunately, the presence of the Voth constrains us to consider matters of urgent practicality. How reliable is your communications and sensor network?"
"The Home's communications are... usually reliable," says Siffaith.
"But there have been disruptions," Dyegh adds. "Disturbances."
"That is unsurprising. I noted significant damage to regions of the spire during my own travels. My concern is a practical one. It would be helpful to extend your communications radius to the exterior of the spire, along the surface of the sphere, for the purposes of establishing contact with my crew. They represent a resource which would be of value in this conflict, and I am, naturally, anxious over their safety. Currently, they are gathered in an amphitheatre on the sphere's surface, which can hardly be considered defensible against Voth assault."
"I... see," says Siffaith. "If we can find that building -"
"I know the one she means," says Dyegh. "We can connect with our own transporters."
"The transport pad at that location failed after transporting me," says T'Pia.
"That need not matter," says Dyegh, "I can make adjustments...." His voice descends into a muttering that the translator can't process.
"Sir." Pearl speaks up. "I have an idea. If we can link in the Solanae transporters, we could try transferring your crew to the Tempest."
"A viable suggestion," says T'Pia. "Conditions would be crowded, but it would be useful to have the resources of another operational starship at our disposal. How badly damaged is the Tempest?"
"By now, the auto-repair systems should have cleared the burned-out bio-neural gel packs," Pearl says, "and that's the only significant structural damage she took. I have her prefix codes, I can transmit them as needed."
I think about this. It seems kind of ghoulish, with whatever's left of Tempest's crew still littering the decks - but the situation might compel us to be ghoulish, and anyway, an emotional argument like that will cut no ice with T'Pia.
"I will put the matter to my crew," she says now. "In any case, it will be helpful to have the Solanae transporters at our disposal. We will need the mobility advantage."
"We can try beaming you over here, or to the Timor, sir," says Pearl.
"Contra-indicated. The Voth are moving, and they are very close. It is probable that they will take some action against the Timor, and in the confined space of the docking bay, the heavy weapons on their battlemechs will be effective against her. I am currently in what appears to be a control and oversight station for the docking bay. There are available resources here, and I will attempt to deploy them."
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