A/N: Story inspired by a DS9 episode. Thanks to Tessseagull for checking my Spanish translations! Will update on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Chapter 1

Rios finished the powering down sequence now that La Sirena was docked on one of the Telmarian starship ports on the planet. The strange doohickey the synths had given him to fix his ship had worked wonders on the internal systems, but now he wanted to patch up her hull, which had taken a beating in that crash landing on Coppelius.

The rear bay door opened manually, letting in a burst of natural light. Rios rolled his eyes; he'd barely put the parking brake on and his younger passengers were ready to jump ship. He couldn't fully blame them. Soji and Elnor had lived very sheltered lives and were eager to see the galaxy now that they were out in it. At least Raffi and Picard were playing chaperone; Rios didn't need that headache. Seven looked like she was going to tag along, or maybe she'd split off to do her own thing. She'd had a few opportunities to part ways with them but hadn't done so yet.

Agnes placed a hand on Rios's shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"I'm sure," he replied. "I have things I want to get done here."

She hesitated. "Want me to stay and keep you company?"

He offered her a soft smile. "No, really, go have fun with the others." He knew she was curious, having never been off Earth before this crazy adventure.

"Okay…" she said reluctantly and headed down to the lower level where the others were departing.

Once they were gone, Rios let out a long exhale. It felt strange being alone on his ship again. He'd lived that way for so long—preferred it. But he'd gotten used to having real people around, and not just any people. Picard was no longer just a client, Agnes was no longer the random scientist who'd invited herself along, and Soji wasn't just the girl with Jana's face that Picard was taking on the galaxy to protect. Rios didn't even mind the Romulan kid with his Way of Absolute Candor, even though it could sometimes be awkward. They were a motley crew of misfits, each in their own way, but a crew nonetheless.

Rios grabbed the synth device and headed out the bay door to give his ship a visual inspection from the outside. Yep, not an inch of her wasn't scratched, scuffed, and scorched. There were even a few dents, though nothing that compromised the overall structural integrity. He fingered the device in his palm, still not comfortable using it. Just use his imagination, right.

He closed his eyes for a moment and envisioned La Sirena looking shiny and brand new. He felt a tingle in his hand and opened his eyes as the device activated. Taking a breath, he touched the sparking end to the ship's hull. Purple squiggles spread out like liquid electricity, washing over the metal and smoothing away the scratches, dents, and dirt. It even revitalized the paint job to a glossy, sangria finish.

Rios stared in amazement for a prolonged moment. Okay, maybe he could get used to this thing too.

He went back inside the ship and cast a contemplative look around, wondering what else he should take the opportunity to touch-up. But no; this thing was handy for the big—or impossible—jobs, but Rios liked keeping up the maintenance on his ship himself. So he put it away in a tool cabinet and went to take an inventory of their supplies, see if there was anything they should get on this planet before taking off again.

He was in the middle of that when the hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he stilled, listening to the faint but distinct breathing coming from behind him. He slowly turned, stiffening at the figure standing inside his ship. Brown, leathery skin with a ridged face and red eyes set Rios on edge. Lethean. Not a nice species.

He mentally cursed; he'd left the bay door open to get some fresh air. He hadn't expected someone to just let themselves in.

"You got a reason for being on my ship without knocking first?" he said stiffly.

The Lethean bared his prominent incisors. "That device you used to repair your ship, I've never seen anything like it before. What is it?"

Rios could have kicked himself. The docks weren't so busy that he'd expected someone to have seen him use the synth device to patch his ship up instantaneously, but he should have been more careful.

"Sorry, don't know what you're talking about," he tried to play off casually.

"I'll offer you a good price."

"I don't have anything to sell."

The Lethean narrowed vermillion eyes and took a menacing step forward. "Or I'll just take if off your corpse."

Rios whipped his hand toward the phaser on his belt just as the Lethean lunged. But the Lethean was quicker and knocked Rios's arm aside so that his shot struck the bulkhead instead. Rios slammed his other palm up into the Lethean's hooked nose, snapping its head back. He tried twisting his arm under the Lethean's to get another shot, but the Lethean grabbed his wrist and flung him around. He went crashing over the top of the dining table and hit the floor on the other side, the phaser flying out of his hand.

Grunting, Rios tried to force himself to his feet. The Lethean swept around the table toward him as he reached his knees and clapped clawed hands to the sides of his head. A jolt like sizzling electricity erupted from the Lethean's palms and pierced Rios's skull. His whole body jerked and seized as blue plasma forked across his face. The Lethean leered over him, eyes glowing in the reflection.

"Em-m't," Rios managed to grit out with the last oxygen in his paralyzed lungs.

The last thing he saw was his Tactical EH delivering a karate chop to the Lethean's neck before everything went black.

.o.0.o.

"Look at this," Agnes said, reaching for a dress on display in the outdoor market. "It's so pretty."

"It'd look great on you," Soji replied with a conspiring grin. "I bet Captain Rios would agree."

Agnes blushed.

Raffi didn't really care for the frilly stuff and turned her attention elsewhere.

"It's so vibrant," Elnor was saying to Picard. "It reminds me of Vashti when I was a boy."

Picard's expression turned somber at that.

Raffi half turned again and focused on Seven, who was looking just as on the verge of boredom as she was. "Nothing here to your tastes either?"

Seven smirked, then pointed her chin down the street a ways. "I'm more into something like that."

Raffi craned her neck, scanning the stalls until she landed on what she figured Seven was referring to—the shiny daggers. "Elnor should appreciate those too."

"What?" the kid asked, appearing at her shoulder and making her startle.

She shook her head. "The weapons."

He cast his gaze around to look and a smile lit up his face. "Oh, yes, those do look interesting."

"Raffi," Picard chided.

"What? He's already got a katana."

Seven slung an arm around the kid's shoulders. "I think you need a set of throwing stars to go with it."

Picard huffed in exasperation, which Raffi found unabashedly amusing. Her comm pinged.

"Vuelve a la nave ahora mismo," a stern voice barked.

Raffi frowned. "What? Cris, I have no idea what you—"

"Not el capitán."

"Emmet?" she asked dubiously. "What—"

"Trouble, mujer," he snapped and signed off.

Raffi sputtered in dismay and shot an alarmed look at the others. "We need to get back. Agnes, Soji!"

Picard tapped his communicator. "Rios, this is Picard. What exactly is going on?"

There was no response.

"Anyone on La Sirena?" he demanded huffily.

"What's wrong?" Agnes asked as she and Soji hurried over.

"Emmet commed and said there was trouble," Seven answered. "Rios isn't answering."

"Dammit," Raffi cursed under her breath and started back toward the docks. They weren't that far away, but if things were that serious, Emmet could have at least stayed on the comm long enough to beam them over. Raffi wanted to break into a full-out run but managed to keep a harried pace instead, the others following close behind, even Picard now that he had that new golem body without the creaky joints and arthritis.

The bay door was wide open when they arrived and Raffi sprinted inside. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she saw Emmet standing over some random half-reptilian, half-humanoid looking figure who was face down on the floor with his arms cuffed behind him and Emmet's boot planted in his back. He wasn't moving—and neither was Rios, who was lying unconscious on the floor with Emil bent over him with a medical tricorder.

"What happened?" she exclaimed, rushing over to crouch down beside Cris.

"We're not sure," Emil replied.

"Atrapé a este hijo de puta atacando al capitán," Emmet growled, looking more awake and animated than Raffi had ever seen from him.

"What?"

Emmet rolled his eyes and jabbed his phaser rifle at the guy beneath him, then pointed to Cris. Then he put his hand to his hand and mimicked having some sort of seizure.

Raffi cringed. "God." She turned to the EMH. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"I need to conduct a more complete scan. Can you help get him into sickbay?"

"Allow me," Elnor spoke up, moving forward and bending down to grab Rios's arm and haul him over his shoulder.

Agnes followed on his heels anxiously.

"We need to report this to the local authorities," Picard spoke up, glancing at Emmet's prisoner.

Raffi waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, fine." She hurried into sickbay.

Elnor laid Cris on the medical bed and Emil quickly pulled up a full quantum generated scan of his vitals.

"No physical trauma that I can detect," the EMH mused out loud.

"Yet he's unconscious," Elnor pointed out needlessly.

Agnes stepped up to Cris's head and tapped at one of the readings to focus on them, her expression blanching. "These readings…"

"What?" Raffi demanded.

Agnes glanced at Emil, whose mouth pursed grimly.

"Delta waves," he said. "He's in a coma."

Raffi gaped at them incredulously, then down at Cris's slack face. Pivoting sharply, she stormed back out into the mess section of the deck. "Get him up," she said sharply to Emmet, nodding to the ETH's prisoner.

Emmet stepped off the intruder's back and reached down to haul him upright onto his knees. The saurian guy blinked rapidly and then hissed.

"What did you do to him?" she demanded.

He didn't respond, baring his teeth instead.

Raffi spotted Rios's phaser lying on the floor and went to snatch it up. She marched back over and aimed it at the captive's face. "Answer me, dammit!"

"Raffi!" Picard snapped.

"Cris is in a coma and I want to know what this bastard did to him," she lobbed back.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elnor take up position behind her, watching tensely.

"He's a Lethean," Seven spoke up, moving around to stand next to Raffi.

"Lethean?" she repeated. "That's a telepathic species."

Seven nodded. "Their telepathic attacks are almost always fatal," she added gravely.

Raffi's blood ran cold and she jabbed the phaser in the Lethean's face. "Then fix him."

"Doesn't work like that," he sneered. "He should have just sold me the good I wanted."

Raffi furrowed her brow. "What good?"

"Saw him fix this ship in a matter of seconds. A piece of technology like that would be worth a lot to a lot of buyers."

Raffi faltered. Oh god, the synth thing. She swept her gaze around in search of it but didn't see it anywhere. Of course Rios wouldn't have just handed it over.

They were interrupted by approaching footsteps outside and then uniformed officers were shouting at her to lower her weapon.

"No," Seven interjected loudly. "He's the one you want. He came in here and attacked our captain."

Picard went over to greet them and explain the situation in that diplomatic manner of his, which at the moment did nothing but infuriate Raffi. She didn't want to hand this bastard over to the authorities; she wanted him to undo what he'd done to Rios, or, barring that, pay for it.

But she was overruled as Seven gently put her hand over Raffi's and lowered the phaser. The officers came over and hauled the Lethean to his feet. Emmet watched them leave and then flickered away.

Raffi let Seven take the phaser from her and set it on the table.

"It wouldn't have helped," Seven said sympathetically. "The Lethean species don't have a way to reverse the effects of their attacks. They've never seen a need to develop any."

"But you said the Letheans' attacks are almost always fatal," Soji spoke up. "Meaning not always."

"There have been some instances of recovery," Seven acknowledged. "A very few."

"Then Captain Rios could survive it."

Raffi ran a hand down her face. What was it JL had said? Hope and the odds make poor bedfellows.

Soji's gaze shifted to over their shoulders and Raffi turned to look. Agnes stood at the junction between the mess and sickbay, eyes wavering with a telltale sheen.

"Dr. Jurati?" Picard queried.

Her chin quivered as she lifted her head to look at all of them.

"He's dying."