The Andorian doctor kneeled before Sazra’s numb body, trying to keep track of her health. “I don’t know how long she will hold out on whatever connection she is on. But if she keeps this on for longer than 30 minutes, she will have permanent brain damage” Kossaal was cursing in a muttering sound. He wiped away some more blood from Sazra’s nose and placed the medical scanner at her nose. “The veins are taking a beating in her body from the amount of stress she is experiencing. I might have to pull the plug….” 

An exhale came from Silina’s direction. “That is a no-go. It will be for nothing if we pull out the Captain right now. Whatever she is doing, we get the attention of the big boy making his way to us. For some reason, it is attracted to telepathic. Even though Sazra is only a sensitive telepathic, it is enough to trigger that entity to go for us” Silina taps her combadge “Ruslanovna to Valerio” 

“Valerio here,” a brief reply came back.

“We got a blood crystalline entity en route to our location. ETA states it will be here in 2 minutes at its current speed. What is the status of our shields or the ship itself” Silina was concerned about the health of Damascus. Her mind was distracted as in her eye corner, Sazra was not moving, and that also occupied her mind. 

“Are you joking with me right now? I am not laughing” A deep sigh came over the communication. “The Damascus is not doing great. I am doing my best to get the engines back up by redirecting power lines as well as possible. But this bird is not going to be going to warp speed without additional help from my engineers. We basically put on those escape pods. The hull can hold out for a few minutes, but no longer than that.” 

That was not a lot, but Silina didn’t have a plan B to follow up if this was going to fail. Putting the shields back up might be their only saving. Silina had pulled up the information of the Enterprise’s encounter with the crystalline entity, and shields could hold the creature back. “What is the status of the shields?” If the shields were functional, they might be enough to hold out longer. But it was not going to function as a plan B. They would be able to hold out but only extend their own lives.

“The shields’ generator is busted. The ship is running on a backup generator. If needed, I can redirect the shield’s power conduit to boost our shields. Give or take, it would be between 20 to 25%. Keep in mind it means I have to get the energy from somewhere else.” 

That would be enough. Silina had already pulled up the ship schematics. “If we redirect the power of life support on various decks that are not functional right now. Would that be enough energy to boost the shields without hitting the engines?” Engineering was not her strong side, but she threw ideas against the wall to see what would stick.

“That would be enough to uphold the shields. Then again, I have no idea what the physical difference or strength is between a normal crystalline entity and this one. It is a 50/50 chance that it might work. I have to continue down here. I will keep you posted, Commander. Valerio out” The communication lien broke off.

At the same time the communication dropped, Silina saw another explosion nearby that made Damascus shake-up. “The entity stopped…” She mutters, seeing the data coming from the console. “The origin of the torpedo is from the Devore ship” Silina was puzzled by the whole ordeal. Did the Devore manage to control this creature by shooting random torpedoes? She felt like being at a disadvantage in a sports match “What is goi…” 

“Commander, whatever they did, it impacts the Captain as well. I have an elevation of stress shooting up” Kossaal pushed the shin to the side, “And her right ear is bleeding” Kossaal placed the medical scanner onto it to do a treatment immediately. “This confirms that whatever happens to that entity is now linked to the Captain. We need to stop this madness.” 

Concerning eyes were now locked onto Sazra as Silina had to make a choice. Only to be reminded that Sazra did ask her to trust her. But on the medical side, she agrees with Kossaal observation. This idea was going too far, and she needed more guidance than ever. Then her console started to bleep as her eyes diverted to it and shrugged. “Well, fix her up. The game is about to start” She tapped onto the console. “They are hailing us. Ignore whatever they are saying, doctor. They have the power to keep this monster at bay, so if I can keep them talking, the Captain has a better chance to finish whatever she is doing. And you have less work to fix her up” 

“25 minutes Commander, that is all she has and all we have until her brain is too damaged.” Kossaal pointed out once more while Silina walked past him. 

Taking a deep breath as she placed a timer on the console to accept the call. Silina looked at the screen as Marvok appeared once again on the screen “Captain Marvok, I am Commander Ruslanovna. The Executive Officer of this vessel. What can I do for you?” Silina tried to stand before Sazra and Kossaal as well as possible and remain calm. 

“Commander, it seems that a lot has happened on your ship. I see the ship’s bridge is more of a mess than it should be. Plus, our ship has registered that there are now escape pods further away from your ship” The man kept relatively calm and had a rather uncomfortable smile on his face. “It seems the creature has been drawn to you for some reason” He tapped the side of his chair. “Would there be a chance that you are holding a telepathic on your ship?” 

Silina tried to ignore the apparent conclusion of Marvok’s “That is a keen observation, Captain. But our ship has received significant damage from the hit with the asteroid and additional damage from the explosion of the other. Now we are in a rather tied spot due to the condition of our ship. For safety reasons, we concluded it was best to evacuate the crew, and the senior staff stayed behind to manage the systems. Seeing we got a large blood crystalline entity in front of us. Their safety is our priority. As for your last question” Silina scratches the back of her head. “That is a rather big presumption. We of Starfleet know the effects of blood dilithium on telepathic. It would be foolish to bring them close to such a dense area. We care for our people if they are telepathic or not. So if you desire to know it so badly….we left them behind for their safety.” 

The Devore Captain spits on the ground in front of him and points his finger in the direction of Silina “Working with such filthy beings is a curse by itself. You should have placed them on a ship and sent them to a place like this. It would have been a service for our people and the galaxy to get rid of them!” Marvok calms down a bit. “But you are lying to us, this creature is sniffing out telepathic, and when one opens its mind, it somehow detects it. We have been testing the rage of this creature since the great blooming happened, and you can see the results all around you” 

It was already concluded in an earlier report that Rami had given Silina that there were a lot of derelict ships around and near the density. When long-range scanners could detect it, additional of the arrived survivors of the civilian mining convoy came back severely damaged. Starfleet only could conclude that the cause was the spacial anomalous that did the damage. But having the blood crystalline entity here would explain the enormous accounted derelict ships. Silina was dealing with sadistic people for sure. Watch in the distance to see how this creature was devouring its prey. “That is a curious thing to say, Captain. There can be many reasons for the creature to attack any ship. Our scans indicated that there are no telepathic on that transport ship, so your conclusion is debunked” It was a bluff that Silina had to work on. Her face was a poker face as good as she could.

Marvok shook his head slightly with that same devious smile on his face. “No, Commander. We guide the creature in specific directions with our new torpedo. Give it a nudge in a certain direction. That is why you are still alive. We stopped it from reaching you. Now give us your telepathic sitting behind you and get onto your last escape pods to leave the ship behind. This is Devore Imperium’s newly expanded area. We are impounding that ship to pay the fine for your crimes”

The situation was getting out of hand, but Silina needed to buy more time as she looked carefully over her shoulder at the two of them. She saw an approving nod of Kossaal that her Captain was stable, but time was running out. Looking back at Marvok “Our Captain is being treated right now by our ship’s doctor. She is feeling unwell from the recent hit of the exploded asteroid. The doctor can confirm that she cannot be moved to the escape pod due to her injury….right doctor.” 

A shrug came from behind Silina as Kossaal stood up and stopped at the side of Silina “I am Lieutenant  Th’shrithel, the USS Damascus Chief Medical Officer. I can confirm that Captain Praugol has received a severe injury to her head. And to be direct with you, Captain Marvok, Marvok, was it right?” He looked a bit puzzled and shook it off. “Well, whatever it is, you distract us from me performing my duties. I would ask you to call back at a later date. Like 20 minutes or so, we can discuss this impounding or surrendering thing then” With that said, he nods to Silina and moves back to Sara’s side. 

“As you heard, the Chief Medical Officer needs to do his work. My Chief Engineering Officer is doing his work on the ship to keep it not from falling apart. So in the end, if you can wait 20 minutes, it will be to your benefit as the ship will be more operational” Silina had to continue on Kossaal’s bluff. 

Marvok crossed his arms and shrugged. “Fine. You get 15 minutes” The communication cuts off as the image changes to the live feed of the large entity that was dangerously close.

“15 minutes is even better because then the Captain might have a brain left to use” Kossaal was not amused. “You are welcome, Commander, that I continued on that bluff.” 

Silina had to take a few deep breaths and nodded. “Yea, thanks. Let us hope the Captain has more luck on whatever journey she is doing” Silina looked back at the screen and narrowed her eyes. “Was the color of the entity not darker red?” She remembered clearly that the color was blood red, but some areas now seemed to be lighter in red “What is she doing”