Blackfire kept only half an eye on the scientist and his creation as preparations continued. Her primary concern, as always, was the ship, and she kept a closer watch on the Neverending vessel from one of the laboratory's display consoles.

Best to err on the side of caution, she thought, and Sent to Starsword. ***Starsword, would you be so kind as to arrange a little insurance policy? I want to be able to limit the threat posed by these creatures to a few angry words - just before we blow them to atoms.***

***My people can rig a trigger that will force a warp core breach in the shuttle we send the android over in***, answered the Glider. ***We can disguise any activation signal as routine telemetry traffic. If these aliens are anything less than experts where our technology and procedures are concerned, they won't know any better.***

Blackfire gave her telepathic permission to proceed, then smiled to herself. True, giving the order to detonate the shuttle's warp core would cost the Empire MacLaughlin's android and an opportunity to study new alien technology, as well as earn the Empire another enemy, but Blackfire's own priorities were set in stone. It had taken a substantial investment in time, hardship and careful planning to earn a command, and she would not sacrifice it lightly.

In the meantime, she thought, things are bareably quiet. Let's keep them that way...

"Blackfire to Paxton."

"Yes - My Lord?"

"Instruct the fighters to move into the open, and make their presence known - without opening fire", she told the First Officer. "I don't want us to look weak for even a second."

A thought darted through Blackfire's mind. "And when our shuttle is ready to leave, I want Huntington to escort it. Let's see how good our hot-shot chief pilot is at taking orders."

The Blackstars hung in the void between the two ships. they faced the huge dragon ship with the Ghidorah at their backs. it felt and looked as if it was going to leap at them and eat them, fighters and all.

To look at the dragon head was to know true fear.

"Squad, sound off", Rick ordered. With luck, that will help to break the spell of fear the other ship seemed to have. Slowly at first, they pilots snap out there numbers. Rick look down at his control panel and nearly jumped when the comm went off

"Paxton to Huntington, You are to move in to the open, make you self known without opening fire, and wait for escort."

"Copy, Commander, will do, Huntington over"

Rick regained control of himself. It was just a ship, like a Romulan or a Cardassian. He took a deep breath and then he thought, Great, sitting ducks and then escort, either they like me or they're trying to kill me. "Head up troops, new orders - we're to take up positions between Ghidorah and the alien ship...and prepare for escort of a shuttle."

"Oh man - not baby-sitting!", Beth whined. "I hate baby-sitting."

"There is no honour in escorting", Mara complained.

Rick cut off their next comments. "I'll log these two universal complaints at this time, but for now can it. Order are orders, and they stand", he barked. "Twin line formations, like at the Academy."

"I am never going to get to eat", Beth muttered.

"Then your uniform won't need letting out", Mara said with what might have been a laugh.

"What you saying - I'm getting too fat?", Beth said with outrage.

"No, your ship's just slowed down by atmospheric drag...", Mara shot back.

Rick cut them off. "You ladies did join the Empire flight squad - right? Not the gossip squads? Am I right...?"

"Yes, sir!" They both sounded like children being reprimanded. Rick couldn't help but grin - despite what was in front of them, they bantered with each other like they were fearless, as some officers had said in their personnel files. Or were they trying to make up for their fear?

If he could keep them in line and if they could stay around long enough he can call this a success. The fact that having them around would drive him nuts was another matter.

"Good. Now assume twin line formations. Be ready, but keep a cool trigger figure", he commanded.

"Sir, is that wise?", one of the other pilots asked. Axlan was his name

"No, but at least we won't be caught if a fight breaks out", Huntington responded. "First contact, you can never be sure what the other guy will do. Best to be prepared."

Rick brought his Blackstar around, flying back to the Ghidorah, then at about midway, he did a long turn, and headed back towards the "dragon". The other pilots followed, giving the "dragon" a good look at them. About halfway, he centered himself, and the other pilots made two rows of ships - the formation that would act as a corridor for the shuttle when it came.

"Axlan, Lanzola, Riika - break formation, follow on me. We're going to be the escorts." Not a groan or a comment came from any of them.

He hoped the Captain liked the parade. It wasn't that he didn't like such maneuvers, but there were better uses for his people and their talents, like... oh, say, escorting... "Any time now, Captain...any time", Rick said under his breath.

An air of tension almost tangible enough to bite settled over the bridge as the Type 6 shuttlecraft swept into view of the main viewer, sweeping down over the leading edge of the saucer and out into space to meet with its escorts. Paxton had made it clear that he felt sacrificing a warp-capable shuttle was a waste of resources when the ship had plenty of impulse-powered shuttlepods, but he soon saw sense when Blackfire had him compare the explosive yield of a fusion reactor failure with a full-blown warp-core breach.

"I want to guarantee that the sacrifice is worth while", Blackfire had said. "And if it doesn't work, I want to be able to pass the incident off as an accident. That wouldn't be easily done if the enemy detect a load of explosives on our shuttle, would it?"

To show that she did not think any the less of him, Blackfire had Paxton remotely pilot the shuttle, yet she wondered if he had any idea of the position such a duty put him in. Paxton thought like a warrior, and it be unlikely to dawn upon him that he would be the first person to blame should the "bomb" not do its job. It would be particularly convenient for the Captain if she could do away with the half-Klingon to placate the enraged Neverending.

That's all assuming that we actually have to resort to blowing up the shuttle, Blackfire told herself. That's the Imperial officer in me talking. What if we actually make peaceful contact?

The composition of the bridge staff was geared towards combat - quite a usual state of affairs, given that Galaxy-class ships were rarely used for diplomatic or scientific missions - and Blackfire felt the need for a thinker rather than a fighter amongst her command personnel. "Lieutenant Nightsea to the bridge", she ordered, preferring an elf over any Vulcan or human...and Ingotay in particular.

Blackfire then gave the order to open a channel to the Neverending ship. "First Warbreed, this is Captain Blackfire. We are sending our communicator, as you requested. I hope you find this pleasing to your senses."

***On my way,*** Nightsea sent to Blackfire. Frowning, the blue-uniformed elf mentally damned the Captain's timing. She had been counting on being near Ingotay for his demise. On the bridge, it would be hard to find an excuse to be monitoring the Science Officer's health, and thus she wouldn't be able to gloat at the exact moment of his death.

Duties must take priority over personal victories, she recalled her Academy Instructor's lesson, and motioned for an underling to take over her control station. Pointing to some important data regarding Kal's energy output, she let the task of monitoring the altered elf become someone else's nightmare.

With any luck, she might not miss Ingotay's death, if the man himself were to be called into action at his proper station... Smiling again, Nightsea strode through the swishing doorway on her way up to the higher level of the ship.

The shuttle came out from around the Ghidorah. its warp nacelles glowing blue against the black void of space. It was a Type 6 - a warp capable shuttle...

It gracefully manoeuvered its way, but the pilot tended to be a little heavy-handed on the stick. Rick kept it on his screen as it approached.

Why send a warp shuttle for a mission like this? It wasn't going far...

The answer abruptly hit Rick hard. The thing was a bomb - it had to be. Rick had heard of other Captains using this trick to rid themselves of their unwanted. It would seem to fit with what he knew of Blackfire, yet it was still a bit unnerving. He would have to find a way of warning his flight crew to be ready to jump if it went off.

Getting jumpy in your old age, Rick thought.

The shuttle made its way towards its guardians, and the four escorts let it fly between them. It went like clockwork, to use a phrase with origins lost in Earth's early industrial past, yet Rick still didn't like all that he saw. The shuttle was heading for him...

Rick reacted quickly - he pulled up and over, letting the shuttle fly under him. It seemed that the shuttle had gotten a little too close to him, close enough even to have hit him, and scrap some paint off his ship, but a one-legged hop took care of that. Just who was flying that thing?

"Hey boss, who are they sending over?" Beth asked.

Don't know, and don't ever want to find out, Rick thought.

"Don't know...an Ambassador maybe. Beth, Mara, take the lead, and activate DSWs - low power, run your sensors to them, Pick up any readings from either the shuttle or the other...ship."

"Roger, leader", Beth said.

"By your command", responded Mara.

The fighters formed up on the shuttle and flew with it. Rick tried to get a look at the pilot but it was hard from this angle. He thought about asking one of the others to get a good look, but it would have to wait. This was a mission, after all, and personal pride had to take a back seat.

They flew up to the dragon, and then under it. The thing was massive from afar but being so close to it made Rick feel like a flyspeck.

"All escorts, pull back and hold", he ordered.

The underside of the "dragon" did not look any better than its "face". The shuttle slowed, stopped, and just sat there, unmoved by the presence of something so...alien - then a thin line appeared above the shuttle, like someone had run a laser-scalpel along the dragon's hide and split it apart. It was unreal...

The opening - No, wound, Rick thought. It's like a wound in the underside of the ship - just pulled itself open, with a fluid motion. From the now open "wound" came long tentacles, writhing out to wrap around the shuttle, and within seconds the ship had been pulled into the "wound". Once the last of the tentacles had been retracted, the fleshy resealed itself...

...and the escorts were left to sit there, horrified.

Arriving via turbolift four, Nightsea's duties on the bridge were pointed out to her by the person closest to the doors when they opened. She was to monitor a new set of readings from yet another odd creature...this time, what appeared to be more machine than organic, yet, like Kal, having obvious traits of both. The scanning equipment was at the Science Officer's bridge station, and glancing again at Blackfire for permission, Nightsea sat at the console. Perhaps Blackfire was also counting on Ingotay's death today?

Involving herself in the stream of information displayed, she set aside ambition for the moment in the joy of discovering this new being. Never before had she seen sensory capacities, bio-mechanical formulae, speed and dexterity ratings, or simulated respirational algorithms like the data now before her. Someone had made a functioning android! This secret alone made her wonder what else the Empire had that she was unaware of. Mentally, she added yet another new form of life to her personal catalogue.

Just as she punched up a new set of fascinating details, the numbers suddenly dropped off all the scales. Readings faded out from view, and data was cut off. The last thing to register was a proximity alert in the being's immediate spatial surroundings. The android was meeting someone or something it did not recognize. No defenses had been triggered, however, and Nightsea guessed that the alien creatures who must obviously inhabit the large ugly ship on the viewscreen had merely turned it off, or had somehow blocked the flow of data sent to the Ghidorah. Transmission merely ceased without the metal-man registering any alarm to its personal safety, instead it had seemed curious and had opened new subroutines to store the input of the experience.

***Captain, the...being's readings are gone. I do not suspect it is malfunctioning, merely that our data has been interrupted. Perhaps their ship is impenetrable to such transmissions? Readings ceased without any obvious distress to the system, and I read that it is programmed to defend itself if it suspects attack. However, I cannot say what it would perceive to be an attack...perhaps it is possible the aliens took it unaware.***

Feeling her sending covered all the facts and permutations of their meanings, she relaxed against the console and set it to beep when and if any new information arrived. Blackfire had her report, now only she could say what was to be done about it, if anything.

Fingering yet another control, she set internal sensors to scan the sickbay for heartbeat rates. Kal's steady rhythm blipped with monotonous regularity - The poor creature doesn't even control her own heart anymore, thought Nightsea. The tempo of two other hearts beat strongly in that room as well. One additional reading showed weakness and strain.

Trying not to laugh as she flicked off the readings, she hoped anyone watching her would assume that with no new being to monitor she had once again peeked in on Kal.

Only moments now, and Kal would outlive the other monster in that room!

The fighter pilots waited. They looked up at the alien vessel, and wondered and waited.

Rick wondered if he could trust the evidence of his own eyes as he looked at the dragon. It was easy to think that someone in the universe had played the biggest joke on them. There was no dragon ship. There was no shuttle. Somehow, someone had projected the image of what ever human feared, no - what every race feared - in front of them and, Rick started to wonder when someone was going to pop out and yell "Surprise...!"

Rick looked around his cockpit, and saw the crono readout. They had been sitting there way too long. True, only an hour or so had passed, but it felt like days. The wait had given him time to tap out a code to his pilots, letting them know that the shuttle was a possible bomb, and that they where to get out of there if they could at the first sign of detonation. He masked it in the normal warp noise the fighter made when idling. the sobering thought was it would be too late for the four escorts.

Rick thought of opening the comm, saying some last words. Something that might let them know it had been good serving with them for that brief time.

Beth did it for him, on a private channel.

"Hey boss - all quiet out here", she stated.

"Driving you nuts is it?" Rick quipped.

"You know me sir, never one to let time pass quietly." She forced a smile.

Something made Rick look up just as something started to happen above him. With no hint or warning, the dragon head spewed out the shuttle. The craft looked all right, save for some kind of gas flowing off and around it. The sensors showed it to be mainly oxygen.

"Look alive people, all went well", Rick said hopefully.

He let the shuttle pass him, and then flew up next to it. This time he saw the pilot. He was..silver..and not human.

Rick didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't letting this thing on the shuttle out of his sights. With that in mind, he gave the order: "All Pilots sound off, parade peel off formations. Keep it smart looking, people."

The flight back to the Ghidorah was uneventful. No-one said a word as they piloted the course home.

The shuttle bay never looked so good.

Brow never look so good...even when Rick jumped down from his ship to find the officer standing there, an annoyed look on his face.

"Not a drop of blood on your deckplates" Rick offered as he walked towards Brow

"It's nothing to do with blood now, it's what you brought back with you!", snorted the deck officer, and he thumbed towards the shuttlecraft.

"Orders are orders. The shuttle seems fine enough", Rick replied, but he knew what Brow meant. A group of pilots were gathered near the shuttle. They were talking.

"I got to break that up. Take care of my ship, Brow - first one I brought back without putting her through a real work-out", Rick called.

Brow grunted and went about his business.

As he walked towards the pilots, Rick heard that they were discussing the shuttle. Sure enough, Beth and Mara's voices were there, mixing in with some of the others.

"Attention!" he called out.

The group snapped to. Rick saw that Mara had a phaser in her hand.

"Mind telling me what is going on?" he asked.

"Escorting the pilot, Sir!", Mara answered.

"Not our duty, pilot", Rick said plainly, and motioned for her to put away the weapon. She gave him a hard look, and the phaser disappeared.

Rick then continued. "At this time, we are back on stand-by. Go back to your quarters, change and meet at the flight room for debriefing..."

At that very moment, the bay door opened, and Paxton and what had to be the Chief of Security Starsword came in with a squad of guards. The shuttlecraft doors then opened, and the "pilot" emerged...

It seemed strange to Rick that, with all the non humanoid life forms he had met, this one being, in the form of man, looked at first glance to be even less human than any of them.

Before Rick and the others could get a better look, he caught Paxton's glare. The Lieutenant Commander dismissed his fighter squad, and looked back. The half-Klingon merely nodded, and left. Hopefully, Rick thought, I'll have more time to prepare myself before locking horns with him.

The moment the shuttle emerged into space again, the Ghidorah's sensors were able to get readings from it and its pilot, and Blackfire had multiple deep scans performed, to ensure there was no risk from the returning craft, or its cargo. The shuttle itself was unchanged - even the destruct program and bypasses were still intact - but the same could not be said for the android.

Only once Blackfire was convinced there was no hazard to her ship or herself did she allow the shuttle to land, but even after all the scans and assurances, she was reluctant to meet MacLaughlin's brain-child face to face. The readings suggested something quite unlike anything she had encountered before...

Smooth as glass, cold as ice, she told herself as she and Brightsting approached MacLaughlin's laboratory to meet with their strange ambassador. Just like meeting your first human, your first Vulcan, your first Klingon...

The Captain was still momentary stunned by what was waiting for her there. The android was recognisable as the Doctor's creation, with its essentially human features and parchment-coloured skin, but much of its pale body was now encased in bands of polished metal. A conical helmet was apparently fused to the head, the metal and the synthetic flesh merging at what would have been a living human's hairline.

The eyes that had been a watery yellow were now pure white. They had been unnerving in their original state, but now they threatened to stare straight into the soul of the unwary...

...and when it spoke, more than one of those present shuddered at the sound of a voice that had the emotionless quality of a machine, combined with the gurgling tones of an alien.

"The girl-child", the machine-man said flatly, gazing past the assembled Ghidorah crewmembers. "She seeks liberty."

The Captain called out "Blackfire to Ingotay", but inside she knew the science officer was not going to answer. It was a moment she had been waiting for for some months, but she drew no satisfaction from his demise, for it meant that the whole ship was now in danger.