Malcolm saw people stumbling through the hallways, but couldn’t quite tell who or what they were. Their silhouettes were completely humanoid, but lacked antennae, so he was certain they weren’t Aenar. Romulans, then,he thought as he tried to take a scanner reading of the crew, only to discover that the Romulan shroud was obscuring his scan.

As he signaled the team to move out into the corridor, a large figure stepped into the room, his hands groping along the wall for purchase. Before either of the MACOs could respond, Shran had savagely smashed his pistol into the side of the figure’s head. As it crumpled to the ground, Shran muttered some phrase that Reed imagined to be a pungent Andorian curse.

They edged into the corridor, carefully dodging the shadowy figures, half a dozen of whom were moving along the walls. Reed found the situation almost surreal, as if he were caught in a dream in which no one had faces except for him.

“They’re in the chamber down there,”Theras said, pointing down a second corridor. “I’ve just made telepathic contact with Lissan. She’s been drugged to keep her telepathy in check, as have all the others.”

“Just as you anticipated,” Reed said. “But it’s a lucky turn for us that the Romulans aren’t keeping them so comatose that you can’t reach them at all.”

“Still, none of the Aenar minds I’m sensing are entirely lucid. I will do my best to explain to Lissan that we’re coming to rescue them. Perhaps she can keep the others calm, and prepare them for us.”

“Thank Uzaveh you’re finally good forsomething,” Shran said acidly.

Instinctively, Reed looked over at the Andorian, then realized that even if Shran could see his glare of disapproval, he wouldn’t have cared anyway. Still, Shran’s unfairness rankled him. After all, Theras had askedto come along on this mission, insisting–perhaps because he had something to prove to Shran–that his telepathy could prove indispensable to the rescue effort. Although Reed himself had wanted to leave Theras behind, he now felt that Captain Archer had been correct in deciding to include him on the boarding team.

Ahead of them, two large, round‑helmeted humanoids stood in front of the doorway, brandishing weapons.

As the quintet approached close enough for their booted footfalls to be clearly heard, one of the men said “Vah‑udt,”his rising inflection on the final syllable suggesting that he was asking a question. “Dhaile hwai rhadam!”he added, raising his weapon without aiming it directly at anyone in particular.

“He can only hear us,”T’Pol said quietly over her suit’s com system.

Reed wished they’d had time to install Hoshi’s Romulan translation program into their environmental suits, but it simply hadn’t been possible under the circumstances. He hoped the men weren’t surrendering, but given their aggressive postures and their weapons, he sincerely doubted it.

“Take them out,” he said. “Quietly and nonlethally.” Reed saw T’Pol put a hand on Shran’s shoulder, holding him back, and then turned to look to the group’s rear. So far, it appeared that they’d yet to be discovered, or surrounded.

He heard a pair of sharp energy‑weapon reports, and turned back around to watch the shadow‑cloaked men slump limply to the deck beside the sealed doorway, the silhouettes of Chang and Peruzzi standing above them, their phase rifles still held at the ready, parallel to the deck.

T’Pol moved to the door’s control panel. “The controls are nonfunctional. The power source is down.”

“Help me pry it open,” Reed said. Everyone except Theras moved to help. After several seconds, the doors cracked open slightly, then widened to a gap that was just barely wide enough to squeeze through with a bulky environmental suit.

Inside the chamber, an eerie sight awaited. The Aenar were all standing, or supporting those who could not stand, and staring toward the boarding party with their sightless eyes. Their whitish skin gave off a strange phosphorescence in the glow of the night‑vision gear, making them appear almost to be apparitions of some kind. The fact that their clothes were uniformly torn and ragged only enhanced the creepy image, sending a chill down the length of Reed’s spine.

“I see you got them all calmed down,”Shran said to Theras, his tone still edged with condescension. The Andorian scanned the crowd, and Reed assumed he was most likely searching for Jhamel.

“Theras, please tell them that we are going to distribute the transponders now,” Reed said over his suit’s com. “Each of them should have two, just in case one of them fails.” He thought it more likely that some of the drugged, frightened, and trembling Aenar would drop their transponders before any of the devices failed, but he wasn’t about to say that aloud.

“Tell them they don’t need to fear the transport process,”T’Pol added. “And that they’ll be safe again once they’re aboardEnterprise.”

“Understood,”Theras said. Reed could see from Theras’s profile that his antennae were pressed forward, touching his helmet’s faceplate as though trying to escape.

After the first several drug‑numbed Aenar had received their transponders, Reed sent a burst transmission from his com unit to Enterprise,hoping the signal would penetrate the shroud. Long seconds elapsed, and suddenly, a shimmering light enfolded one of the Aenar.

As she sparkled into nothingness, the beam cast a glow that made the holding cell clearly visible for a moment. Reed was disgusted by the filth he saw around him, and felt relieved that the abductees were about to leave it behind.

Time seemed to stretch to an eternity, and he tried not to consider what would happen if their plan were to fail. Had the transporter just sent another Aenar’s atoms into oblivion? If so, the Enterprisewas not likely to beam anyone else out, the boarding party included, at least not before weighing the risks further. And there was precious little time for that.

Before gloom could descend over him completely, another Aenar disappeared in a glimmer of light. Twenty seconds later, another, then two, then another pair, vanished.

“Yes!”Corporal Peruzzi exclaimed over her suit’s com system. “It’s working.”He rarely heard the attractive young woman say anything; Reed noticed much earlier that whenever she didspeak, she tended to communicate about half of her thoughts via her restlessly gesturing hands.

“Where is Jhamel?” Reed asked, not specifying whether he was asking Shran or Theras. He didn’t want to seem to have taken sides in that particular affair of the heart.

“She’s still here,”Shran said.

“As are my other bondmates,”Theras added.

Reed turned his back on the door and tried to count the number of remaining Aenar. Three seemed to be the limit for simultaneous beam‑outs so far. Moulton is smart not to overtax the system,he thought. But as he watched, the next beam‑out only took two, then after long seconds, one other was transported away. He counted about nine remaining Aenar, in addition to the six‑person rescue team. Jhamel was standing with Shran and Theras, but Reed thought their other two bondmates might have been among those last few who had just transported. He wasn’t sure.

“What’s happened to the transporter?”Shran asked as the seconds stretched out in silence.

Chang broke in before Reed could respond. “Lieutenant, I’m hearing some–”

A small but bright flash came from the doorway as Reed turned, and he heard a cry of pain. Even as he raised his own weapon, he saw that Chang was down, and Peruzzi was diving for cover.

“Everyone down!” Reed shouted into his com as a brace of muzzle flashes lit the room. The sudden brilliance played havoc with his night‑vision sensors, but he couldn’t shut them off for fear of becoming blinded completely once the detention area plunged back into darkness.