Course Alteration

The Taurus was still heading towards the Bajorian Wormhole and the projected rendezvous position. They had managed to remain at their current speed for the last twenty-nine hours, but the engines were running very hot according to Engineering.

"Riggins, can we contact the USS George Patton yet ?." Aki asked.

"I'll try and open a channel now." Riggins replied. "With the wormhole relay station down, we might have a small message delay."

"Do your best." Aki stated. "But I'd like a secure channel as soon as possible."

"Captain, I have the Patton." Riggins reported.

"On screen." Aki ordered. "This is Captain Aki Taybar of the USS Taurus."

[Captain Taybar, Captain Holester of the George Patton.] The officer on the viewscreen announced. [What can I do for you ?. Major Phanan and the 201st Expeditionary Force, 8th Battalion, Foxtrot Company are onboard and we're heading for Mirisam V as you requested.]

"Captain, plans have changed." Aki stated. "We may have discovered the location of the rogue Jem'Hadar base. It will take the Patton too long to reach the Regial Seven system and I'm not sure I'd want a non-combat vessel in the area. We've seen what their vessel can do."

[So what do you suggest ?] Captain Holester asked.

"We're enroute to an intercept course which will allow us to rendezvous with you in about twenty one hours, so long as you stay at warp nine point four." Aki reported.

[Warp nine point four that's going to be hard on the engines for twenty-one hours.] Holester commented.

"We're running our own engines at overload to make this rendezvous, I need you to do the same." Aki suggested firmly. "We'll see you in twenty one hours at the co-ordinates we're transmitting now."

[We have the co-ordinates and I'll try and reach you ASAP.] Captain Holester confirmed.

"One more thing." Aki said. "We can't get a carrier signal with the wormhole relay array, can you perform a quick diagnostic on it."

[Sure.] Holester announced. [Patton out.]

USS George Patton : Bridge

Captain Holester looked at the viewscreen as the Taurus cut off their transmission.

"Bridge to Engineering." He announced.

[Engineering here.] Came the reply.

"We're going to need every ounce of warp speed we can get." Holester requested. "We need to maintain Warp nine point four for at least twenty one hours."

[That's going to be difficult.] The Chief announced. [But I'll see what we can do. Engineering out.]

Just then Major Phanan, the command Marine for the 201st Expeditionary Force, 8th Battalion, Foxtrot Company arrived on the Bridge. Holester noticed the arrival of the Marine and stood up to speak to him.

"Major, we've just heard from the Taurus." He announced. "They think they've found the location of the Jem'Hadar base and they want us to alter course and rendezvous with them."

"How long ?" The Major asked.

"Twenty one hours, if we can keep up warp nine point four all the way." Holester replied.

"Thank you Captain." The Major replied. "Do we have any more information ?"

"From the data we've got, we're looking at some kind of border supply outpost in an asteroid field, Regial Seven system. It's been abandoned since the end of the war and the system is in the neutral zone." Holester told the Major. "There's a strong radiation field preventing the base being detected."

"Which makes it a great place to hide." Phanan commented. "I'll see if we have anything in the database on the outpost. Even if we don't I'll start running holographic simulation, the men will be glad to have something to do."

"Then I think it's time to inform the crew." Holester announced. "This is Captain Holester. We have just received a secure sub-space message from the Taurus. Our orders and destination have been changed. We will reach our target in twenty-one hours. The ship and the 201st Expeditionary Force, 8th Battalion, Foxtrot Company are now on full alert."

"Alpha and Bravo teams report to holodeck one." The Major added.

[Understood.] A confirmation came back. The Major recognised the voice as that of Jack Trueman. Seconds later a second confirmation from Mike Gibs came through.

The Major headed off the Bridge once more and down to the holodecks. Captain Holester turned to his Operations officer.

"Scan the relay array and establish a link with the computer core." He announced.

"Checking." The Ops officer confirmed. "Computer link established."

"Check the arrays subspace relay system." Holester suggested. "Run a level one diagnostic."

There was a pause as the Operations officer watched his console. "Everything checks out OK, the relays are working fine. The main transceiver is also showing no problems."

"Then what's stopping anyone establishing a carrier signal to the array and sending a message through the wormhole, back to DS9." Holester said rhetorically.

"I may have an answer." The Ops officer announced. "I'm picking up a strong subspace signal, it's jamming all the subspace carrier signals"

"Can you isolate the source ?" Holester asked.

"No." The Ops officer replied. "It appears to be coming from more than one location, blanketing this sector of space. Whoever did this didn't want any signals getting through to the Alpha quadrant."

"Can we send a signal through ?" Holester asked.

"Yes." The Ops officer confirmed. "We can use our direct link to the array."

"Then open a secure channel to DS9." Holester ordered.

Seconds later the image of Lieutenant Colonel Kira appeared on the screen. [Captain Holester, what can I do for you ?] She enquired.

"We have just received a message from the USS Taurus. They think they may have traced the rogue Jem'Hadar back to their base." Holester explained. "We're heading for a rendezvous with them now. But we've come across a second problem."

[What sort of problem ?] The Bajorian asked.

"The relay array is being jammed." Holester reported. "It appears to be deliberate and from multiple sources. Someone wants to cut the Gamma quadrant off from any contact with the Alpha quadrant. As soon as we're out of range of the arrays local transceivers, we'll be cut off as well. Suggest sending someone through to investigate and secure the array as soon as possible. I've got a bad feeling that this is only the start of things."

[Understood Captain. I'll have an engineering team sent through immediately, with some support. Captain Worf has just returned with the USS Defiant-A and a couple of Klingon cruisers.] Lieutenant Colonel Kira announced. [We'll get to the bottom of this. DS9 out.]

The viewscreen changed back to the image of the wormhole and the relay array.

"Helm, set a course for the co-ordinates and engage, warp nine point four as soon as you can." Holester ordered.