of aggression just wait because

“Allow me,” Elder Green interrupted, and Hoshi nodded and leaned back from the console.

Colonel Diken wait. This is Elder Green.

I concur with Ensign Sato do not raise shields

There was no response for a minute. Then:

Understood.

Hoshi and Green exchanged smiles.

The console beeped again.

“Power surge continuing,” she said, reading the telemetry. “I’m reading…”

“Sensor scan initiating,” Green said, and at that instant, a soft indigo light suddenly filled every square inch of the small ship’s bridge. Hoshi felt a tingling sensation on her skin.

“I believe we are currently experiencing a spectral matrix scan,” Green said quietly.

Hoshi nodded. Telemetry said the scan was a low-energy EM field, containing multiple frequencies, some of them mirror images of each other. Interesting. If she was reading this right-and she thought she was-that would create a comb effect, reinforcing certain wavelengths and allowing others to-She cursed under her breath.

“What’s the matter?” Green asked.

“The shielding-it’s not going to do any good.”

“What do you mean?”

“The scan beam will pass right through. They’ll pick up the soldiers down there, and they’ll think we’re trying to ambush them, and then…”

She cursed again, and shook her head. Why didn’t anyone ever listen to her? Why hadn’t Jaedez—

The blue light disappeared all at once.

And a split second later, the power went.

The ship was dark for an instant, and then emergency power kicked on.

“What just happened?” Green asked.

Hoshi held herself back-just barely-from punching the console.

“I think we’ve just been disciplined.”

The terminal directly in front of her came to life once more.

What did you do up there?

Hoshi was about to key back an angry response when she noted another power buildup aboard the Antianna ship. Diken raised shields. This time she didn’t try to stop him.

“Brace yourself,” she told Green, watching the telemetry and the viewscreen at the same time, expecting to see weapons fire.

But she didn’t.

She felt, once more, a familiar tingling on her skin.

“Another sort of scan,” Green said.

Hoshi started to nod, then shook her head.

“No,” she said. “Not a scan. A transporter beam.”

Green’s eyes widened.

At that instant, several things happened at once.

Hoshi felt the cold of space on her skin, and the air around her sucked violently away.

Elder Green screamed.

The ship exploded.