The Freedom was over the border before I could get off of her, so I was obligated to stay. The Captain is a thrice-dammed fool for doing this. He was warned by me that this was a trap when I heard the name Chaal Riit. He has had experience with rat/cats by his own admission. And finally he walked into the situation where even a blind man could tell that there were enemies that had been undetected and were a danger to his ship.

Knowing all this he still walked into a trap for the sake of the two. This sounds heroic and I would have thought it so if I hadn't had the experiences I had on the Tang. Rather than heroic, his actions were stupid and impulsive. He was willing to risk the lives of his crew, the children on this ship, and the possibility of war for them. I hope they are worth it, though I know one of the two I would not cross a hall to help. Perhaps he is in love with the Vulcan. She had a pleasant enough voice when I talked to her in the sickbay.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. This part of the horror started when we finally got a lock on the fleeing ship. It was obviously out of control and the scans showed it full of Kzin. I couldn't find a Vulcan lifesign, so had to conclude that the XO had been splashed with the transformitive water.

I tried to warn Captain Lee that there had to be one or more cloaked ships near at hand for the Kzin to be aboard our target, but he disregarded that as not likely. I wanted to shout at him "Ok, then where in Shiva's name did they come from?" but he did something that took my breath away. He wanted me to join the away team that he intended to lead to rescue the kidnap victims! It made my hands hurt just to think about it, so I naturally refused. I likely wouldn't have been any good to him in a firefight, and quite frankly I would've just as likely shot him in the back for getting me into what I viewed as a no-win situation as not.

I locked a tractor on the ship and battered down one of its shields and the away team went over. Myself, I was placed under the command of that idiot Demian Tempres. He plopped into he command chair like a big cow patty with his "The universe was put here for my amusement" attitude and did nothing useful for the remainder of the fight.

I was quick on the shields. Getting the away team over and leaving them down for just the moments it took to transport. As I thought, it was a trap. Three Kzin ships unlike any I've ever seen popped out of cloak and opened fire on us. That moron Demian ordered us to surrender, but the ships were smaller than we were, and I'd have given even money that I could have given them a good fight with the Tang. They also expend huge quantities of power to cloak limiting their ability to fight. I was finally able to talk him out of it, but he did order that I divide fire between the targets. I did it against my better judgment. Had I been allowed to concentrate fire I may have managed to destroy one of the ships. As it was I was just able to damage two.

After taking damage from overloaded quantum torpedoes and phaser fire, the three ships recloaked. We had taken minor damage, but were still fully functional. At this point I practically took over from the duty officer. Demian had fallen asleep during the exchange! I strengthened the tractor and ordered us to drag the disabled ship back to the Federation side of the border. Screw what the hell they wanted! If I was going down in a firefight that started a new war, I was going to do it on our side of the border!

Those were very intense minutes for me as we backed out of Kzin space dragging the crippled ship. We had just crossed over the border and I was thinking of dropping mines when the Captain came on to say he was with the commander of the Kzin forces. I figured that it had to be a trap when he ordered me to drop the shields and bring the XO over, but he said they had come to an understanding. Right. With a rat/cat that still had breath in its body. That will be the day.

The cloaked ships were out there still, so I refused. I never thought I had it in me to refuse a direct order from a Captain, but I did. I guess me time with M'Rander on the Tang had taught me a few things. Captains are only people too.

Instead of complying, I demanded that the Kzin uncloak his three ships. Surprisingly he did. I know that there could have been other ships out there, but took a gamble on the old Kzin scream and pounce desire to all be in on a kill. After putting the Freedom between the ships, I dropped a shield away from the Kzin ships long enough to get the XO over. The rat made some comment about me and I made a few in return. Oddly he didn't sound like Chaal. His voice was more refined and higher pitched than what I remembered echoing in the darkened corridors of the Tang.

The Captain then ordered that he and the others, including the Kzin, be brought over to the Freedom to conduct business. Very reluctantly I agreed. I still feared that they have him under some sort of control, even with the XO's assurances.

For now, I intend to go down and see the rat/cats that have come on this ship under a flag of truce, but on the way I am going to replicate a shotgun with a phaser 1 mount on it. Stun doesn't work on Kzin, so lets see what some good old rock salt will do when applied liberally to them. I will also get some slugs and set the phaser to charcoal just to play it safe, but the Captain need not know that. I am beginning to really dislike that man... He is going to get us all killed if he keeps this up.