Have Tech Will Travel

From The Belly Of The Beast: Chapter One


Space battles never took this long.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard shook his head in amazement as he stared at the main screen of the Enterprise bridge. He couldn't remember how many times he had been in engagements with enemy ships, with the fight usually only taking a few minutes. But not this time. The monster ship floating in front of them had kept them busy for almost two hours, its dark shape and strange configuration seemingly able to take all the Enterprise could throw at it, and then some.

And, so far, the Enterprise had withstood the enemy's weapons as well.

Punch, counterpunch. Each ship had held its ground, wearing the other down one degree at a time. And wearing Picard and his crew down as well. Dr. Crusher had just reported that sickbay was full with the casualties. Luckily, no one had been killed.

Yet.

Without standing, he glanced around the bridge. Commander Riker paced in front of his chair, sweat staining his shirt. Lieutenant Christine Vale at security just looked angry, and Troi fidgeted in her chair, the strain of the last few hours showing clearly on her face. Only Data, his emotion chip turned off, seemed as unruffled as ever. Picard envied that android calmness at times.

"They're powering weapons again, Captain," Data said.

"Target those weapons and fire before they do!" Picard ordered.

Picard could feel the Enterprise bump slightly as the phasers fired.

A small section of the alien ship's shields flared bright red.

The alien weapons cut through the redness, pounding the Enterprise hard. The inertial dampers fought to stop the rocking and shaking the impact had caused. As he had been doing for hours, Picard held onto his chair with both hands, keeping himself seated.

"Forward shields at thirty-two percent," Lieutenant Vale said. "Holding."

"Slight damage on three decks," Deanna said, glancing at the monitor on her chair. "No injuries."

That fire-return-fire scene had repeated itself at least fifty times over the last two hours.

"We have got to find a way to end this," Picard said, standing and taking a step toward the main screen, staring at the black alien ship facing him.

It was a monster, more than fifty times bigger than the Enterprise, and at least as deadly. It was round, like a small moon, and its surface was covered with what looked to be some type of control housing. Two smooth rings circled the outer hull of the ship, each attached to the surface at only four places. The rings were as thick as the Enterprise saucer section and twice as wide, with one ring circling around the alien ship's equator, while the other ring went around the ship's poles. Picard had no idea what the rings were for.

Or who had built this strange ship.

Or what powered it.