CHAPTER THIRTEEN

                The away team materialized. Every one stepped down immediately except Q who gazed wide-eyed, turning his head slowly to take in his surroundings.

                The captain glanced up. "Kirk to bridge."

                "Data here," the android's disembodied voice responded.

                "Status?," Kirk asked as the team left the transporter room, marching toward the turbolift. Q lagged slightly behind.

                "We have 20 minutes before the Structural Integrity Field goes critical."

                "Acknowledged. On my way." he said as he entered the lift. As the lift began moving upward, Kirk turned to Q. "And now...?"

                Q looked gazes with him. The entity's eyes were intense and unblinking. "It will take a few of your minutes to create the pocket. Then we can proceed to the station." Q's voice echoed, as if emanating from more than one set of vocal chords. The sound created streams of memories for Kirk: memories of Gary Mitchell and Apollo -- entities that started out as peaceable and then grew into very dangerous adversaries.

                "Please go ahead," Kirk said.

                "Aye, aye Mon Capitan," Q said smiling.

                The turbolift doors opened, revealing the bridge. Worf went to his station immediately. Q took two steps out of the lift and stopped. Spock, Troi, and Crusher followed Kirk to the command level. "Engineering, I want full warp power on my command."

                LaForge's voice piped in from the lower decks, "For how long, Sir?"

                "As long as it takes, Commander. Mr. Data, set course for Deep Space Nine."

                "Aye, Sir," the android said unfazed.

                "Spock, passive scanners only, but keep your eyes and ears open," Kirk ordered.

                The Vulcan simply nodded and stepped back toward Science I.

                "Now, Kirk." Q said finally. "The Enterprise has been enclosed in a temporal pocket similar to Organia. Ayelborne will look right past us ... hopefully."

                Kirk shrugged, "I've said it before, risk is our business. And the stakes are very high. In other words, Mr. Data, take us out and give us all she's got."

                The explosion temporarily blinded the captain. The automatic viewscreen filters were not a necessity and its power was diverted to the phaser blast just emitted from Enterprise.

                The Captain's vision began to clear.

                "That's all of them, Sir."

                The Captain smiled.

                Jean-Luc Picard sat slowly into the command chair, "Hailing frequencies, please, Commander."

                Uhura sighed, glancing quickly at the bridge of the Starship Enterprise with pride. "Aye, Aye, Sir."

                On his bridge, Christopher Pike glanced at the burn marks on his hands, the panel on his chair erupted in flame from the last impact. 

                Dr. Boyce was spraying ointment on the injuries. He clapped a hand on the Captain's shoulders. The older man whispered in his ear, "Good work, Chris. More exciting than a horse farm, too."

                Pike smirked, "Thank you, Phil. Please start tending to the others."

                Boyce nodded, "Right away, Captain."

                "Incoming message from Captain Picard on 1701-A."

                Pike nodded, "Main screen, if you would, Spock."

                Castillo's vision blurred, his mind fogged. Suddenly, there was a shape over him. "Hold on, Lieutenant..."

                "Captai---"

                "Don't try to talk. Dr. T'Ress is on her way up. You'll be fine. And, Castillo, you are one hell of a helmsman."

                The young man smiled faintly and passed out.

                Garrett lowered his head gently to the deck just as the turbolift opened letting the medical team on to the bridge. Dr. T'Ress rushed to Castillo's aide. "Bring the gurney down here," the Vulcan said, checking the unconscious man with a tricorder. "He will be fine, Captain."

                Garrett nodded, returning to her seat. Her crew had many casualties including Dr. Jeremy Cochrane who had signed aboard Enterprise at Garrett's request. 'Can't think about this now.'

                "Captain," her Comm officer called.

                "Yes, Lt. Varrington?"

                "Captain Picard on all hail, Sir."

                Garrett sighed deeply, "On visual, please."

                "I'd say we're in pretty good shape, considering." O'Brien said to no one in particular.

                Dax and Kira were running through station diagnostics and both concurred with the operations manager.

                "Any word from sickbay?" Dax asked.

                "Nothing." Kira looked up at her friends. "I'm sure Jake is okay."

                A beeping emanated from O'Brien's board. "It's the Captain... Captain Picard, signaling for Commander Sisko."

                "I'll take it," Kira said. "Let's leave the Commander be with his son for now. On main screen, Chief."

                Picard watched the rear screens on the Enterprise-A bridge as each became one of the Captains of another Enterprise, except Major Kira of Deep Space Nine. "It is most gratifying to see you all. Congratulations on beating the odds."

                "For now," Kira said. "If there is one constant in any universe, it is the Cardassians are persistent. They won't be gone long."

                Pike nodded, "I agree with the Major. We probably don't have much of a reprieve."

                Garrett nodded, "I don't know about you, but I'm not in any position to put up much of a fight without some repair time."

                "I think we can all agree to that," Picard said. "Major Kira are the station's docking rings in decent shape."

                "Decent enough," the Bajoran said. "Just don't expect any R and R, we're picking up the pieces here, too."

                "Acknowledged," Picard said. "I believe we should all dock at the station and pool our resources."

                The others agreed and signed off. The Starships Enterprise, safe for the moment, began limping toward the docking rings of Deep Space Nine.

                As Picard's borrowed starship moved into position, Jean-Luc couldn't help thinking that the most challenging part of their 'mission' was still on the horizon.