The bridge was heavy with tension, consoles flickered in and out of power, battered with interference from the surface. Lieutenant Asha Kellan’s fingers danced across the ops panel, her hands working with Ardanian precision, trying to circumvent the cascading EPS fluctuations.

Commander Rax stood at tactical, his blue eyes fixed on the image of Nerathis IV on the viewscreen. Wishing he had some way to help the crew below.

Captain Renora Day stood at the center; her hazel eyes locked on Lieutenant Jorath. The Deltan counselor stood before her, pale and trembling, radiating resolve despite the fear in his jade-green eyes. Counselor Marin hovered nearby, hands clasped tightly, protectively watching over the younger officer.

“We’re not going to lose you, Jorath,” Day said, her voice resolute and commanding. “You’re our diversion, not a sacrifice. Clear?”

Jorath nodded, his voice steady despite his trembling. “I feel it in my mind… it wants me to come to it… It wants to feed on my fear… I can draw it away from the away team, at least long enough for them to escape.”

Day turned to Kellan. “Transporters?”

Kellan shook her head in frustration. “Transporters are online, but interference on the surface is a mess. Psionic flux, gravimetric shear, ionic energy displacement…  You name it, makes it too risky. Chief Anari says there is no way to maintain pattern integrity.”

“Then we fly,” Day said, her tone final. She turned to Kellan, “Asha, work with Vex and Valis. Pull every scrap of data… Tricorder readings, Dar’s translations, all of it. Find a way to trap or contain this thing… whatever it is. I want a way to get everyone home. Have a plan by the time Jorath and I reach the surface.”

Kellen’s steely gaze met the captain’s, determined. “Aye, Captain, we’ll find something.”

Day nodded, gesturing to Jorath. “I’ll take you down myself in the Velenia. She’s built to take a bit more of a beating. We’ll get this thing away from our people, then get out ourselves.”

Jorath hesitated. “But, Captain…”

“Stop,” Day cut in, a faint smile flickering on her face. “I told Ensign Renn she was the best pilot on the ship… other than me. Time to prove it.”

She turned to Rax. “You have the bridge, Commander. Keep locked on the Ponderosa’s signal. Get ready to give them the order to run home.”

Day and Jorath headed for the turbolift, the hum of the bridge fading behind them.

The lift doors closed behind them, and Jorath exhaled shakily.

“You don’t have to do this,” Day said, eyes fixed ahead. “We can find another way.”

“There isn’t another way,” he replied, voice low but steady. “It’s already in me… I feel it. Like fingers pressed against the back of my mind. It knows I’m coming. It’s waiting for me.”

Day gave a faint nod, lips tightening. “Then let’s make whatever it is regret that… Deck 12, Captain’s Yacht.”

_____________________________________

The storm howled beyond the shuttle’s hull, but inside the pressure had lifted… the oppressive psychic weight had lifted… not vanished, but pulled back. Like a fist unclenching.

Valis moved swiftly through the cramped cabin, checking for signs of life. All the crew were still breathing, even Bjornsen. All alive… just unconscious. For now.

She knelt beside Lieutenant Vama Dar, brushing a few strands of dark hair from the Trill’s Face. Her pulse was steady.

Valis pulled a hypo from the medkit, loaded a stimulant, and pressed it to Dar’s neck with a hiss.

Dar inhaled sharply and jolted awake, disoriented. “What the zshova…”

“Easy,” Valis said, steadying her. “You have been unconscious for approximately eleven minutes. The entity’s focus has shifted. We need your help.”

Dar blinked, still reorienting. “You gassed us?!”

“Yes,” Valis replied calmly. “In my estimation, it was either that or watch each member of the crew harm themselves just as Lieutenant Bjornsen did.”

That shut Dar up.

Valis turned back to the forward console, tricorder readings and structure glyphs scrolling across the display. “I believe the cell was a containment chamber, designed to suppress psionic resonance. A prison for this creature, one that was compromised, leading to the death of the research team as well as the Vaadwaur.”

Dar rubbed her eyes, slowly standing. “Any chance we can repair it?”

Valis didn’t look up. “I do not know, we need to determine what our options are. The glyphs may be the key.”

“I don’t think they are technological in the conventional sense. More… conceptual. They resonate on a cognitive-emotional spectrum.”  Dar replied as she began to reclaim her senses. “The structure… it wasn’t just a prison. It suppressed identity… though… will. Which means whatever it held had all three.”

Valis nodded, “And now it’s loose.”

_____________________________________

The Velenia sliced through the choppy atmosphere, its sleek silver hull shuddering against a storm. Crimson lightning arced across the lavender sky, pulsing with an unnatural rhythm, as if the planet itself breathed malice. Captain Day’s hands were steady on the controls, her eyes narrowed against the chaos around them. The yacht’s rugged design, built for resilience, danced through the turbulence.

Jorath sat strapped in the co-pilot’s seat, hands gripping the armrests, sweat beading on his bald scalp. His breath was raggeed, his eyes distant, haunted by visions only he could see.

“I’m opening myself up,” he rasped, voice trembling. “It feels me… anticipates me…”

Day spared him a glance, her tone sharp. “Stay with me, Lieutenant.”

He nodded, but his body shook as he felt the entity’s presence surge within his mind. Cardassian soldiers loomed over him, the butts of their plasma rifles bashing into his already bloodied face over, and over. He tried to call out for help, but only the sound of gurgling blood escaped his throat. He felt his ribs crack… a memory. In that moment, he wished for the pain to stop… embraced his death even. Laughter blended with his agony. His Deltan empathy amplified the pain, broadcasting his fear like a beacon. He gasped for air, clutching his head.

“Jorath!” Day snapped, banking the Velenia to dodge a gravitic shear. “Talk to me… stay here with me.”

“They’re… beating me,” he choked out. “Cardassians… blood everywhere… They’re killing us.”

“You are not there, Lieutenant,” her voice a lifeline as she reached over one hand for a moment on top of his. “You’re here with me, on this shuttle. Focus on my voice. What do you hear around you? Not in your mind… here.”

Jorath forced a shaky breath, grounding himself. “The engines… your voice… the storm against the hull.”

“Good,” Day said, easing the yacht into a hover above the surface about fifty meters from the dig site. “Now we wait for the Ponderosa to get away, or a plan from the Vallejo…”

_____________________________________

Lieutenant Valis stood rigid, her Vulcan discipline fraying under the continued psionic pressure. While it had lessened, she could still feel it at the back of her mind… pressing. With Commanders Mehta and Dr. Pell unconscious, she was the ranking officer. It was her duty to get this crew back to the Vallejo.

She could feel Lieutenant Jorath, projecting his mind… calling to the entity. His empathic fear, raw a searing, pulsed through her senses, pulling the entity away from the Ponderosa.

Valis pressed a hypo to Ensign Renn Tanara’s neck. Renn gasped awake, eyes wide. “By the Prophets… Valis?”

“The entity is being drawn away by Lieutenant Jorath,” Her voice calm. “You must get this crew back to the Vallejo. I will return to the structure. I… feel… I may be able to understand the technology it I can physically interact with it.”

Renn’s face hardened as he sat upright and started checking the ship’s console commands. “You’re not going alone…”

“Ensign, you are ordered to launch while the entity is distracted. This is not up for debate,” Valis snapped. “Your duty is to the team’s safety.”

Renn’s jaw clenched, but she nodded, hands dancing across the console. “Aye, Lieutenant. I’ll get us home.”

Valis tapped her commbadge, her tone resolute. “Valis to Vallejo. Ponderosa is preparing to launch. I will return to the dig site and attempt to interact with the glyph matrix. I may potentially be able to reactivate the containment field.

Kellan’s voice crackled through the interference. “Valis, Jorath’s got the entity’s attention. We are reading a massive psionic energy field heading towards the Velenia.”

Dar stood reviewing her tricorder scans. “The structure is a psionic containment matrix; it must suppress the entity’s sapience through some cognitive-emotional inhibition. If we can determine the resonance frequency needed to contain it, we may be able to put it back where it belongs.”

“It would require an energy pulse to restart the systems,” Valis added.

Vex’s voice cut through over the shuttle speakers, “According to your tricorder scans, the surrounding rock pegs the resonance at 1.21 terahertz. If that chamber was reinforcement if the cell failed, that may be enough.”

Valis’s senses sharpened, the alien structure a faint echo in her mind. “The Velenia’s sensor array can deliver a localized 1.21 terahertz pulse into the shaft, modulated for empathic resonance. I will attempt to rescan the structure to confirm the frequency, hopefully trapping the entity before it can latch onto anyone else.”

Kellan’s voice was steady. “Understood, Valis. Vex, prep Velenia’s sensors, we can send the Captain a reconfiguration routine.”

“Configuring now,” Vex replied briskly. “1.21 terahertz, empathic modulation. Valis, if you determine a different frequency, let us know.”

Dar’s voice was urgent. “Jorath’s fear is the emotional trigger… the glyphs need it to hold the entity.”

Valis’s mind throbbed under the entity’s distant malice. “Ensign Renn, launch as soon as I disembark.”

The Ponderosa’s engines roared, as Valis secured a sidearm and fresh tricorder heading aft. “Vallejo, I am proceeding to the dig site. Advise the Captain, prepare the Velenia’s sensors.”

Kellan’s voice crackled. “Copy. Specs en route. Good luck, Valis.”