. A call came over the commlink, "Cerberus to Penumbra, uh ... I intercepted some communications you may want to know, sir."
. Zak tapped his commbadge, "Sandy! Good to hear from you! So, AEGIS didn't shut off life support on you. You still have to answer to Patterson for stealing his ship, though."
. Patterson raised an eyebrow as Sandy's chuckle came back over the comm, "Actually ... we already had that conversation, Commodore." Sandy paused, then grew more serious. "Relaying the intercepted communication to MAX now. He should be able to play it for you."
. Patterson looked over at the Helm, "Carter, how long to the rendezvous?"
. Carter checked, then answered, "Arriving now, Colonel. Dropping out of warp."
. Zak sipped his coffee and then said, "Den, Hines, keep an eye out for the Gorn and Nausicaans. We're outside Federation space out here in the midst of a war zone. Stay sharp."
. Relok asked, "Commodore, if there are Gorn and Nausicaans in the area ... are there any Klingons?"
. "Got it," Den nodded, then added, "because ... let's not have this go particularly easy."
. The Cerberus maneuvered around the Penumbra and slipped within the MIRAGE system. Carter called Sandy, "Penumbra to Cerberus, you're cleared to dock."
. The head of MAX, the A.I. they'd inherited from the Darmok appeared in a window in one corner of the main viewer. "Commodore, you're gonna want to have a listen to the message the Cerberus intercepted."
. Zak looked at MAX and asked, "You have it already, MAX?" He gave a nod and said, "OK, let's hear it then."
. "Acknowledged," MAX said, "repeating message."
==/\==
. The recording was audio only, but one could imagine the face of a burly Nausicaan as a voice said, "Hurgis, there was some Human asking about that Ssissthiss fellow. You gotta move him. There's a big bounty on his head or something."