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“We are approaching the barrier, Commander,” Soloman reported, his face bathed in blue as he peered into the science station’s viewfinder, which filtered and displayed all relevant sensor data at the command of the person operating it. “ Transition should occur in five seconds.”

Gold found himself counting to himself as the interval passed, the bucking of the ship continuing to increase with each passing second. On the screen, the stars he thought he had seen earlier were now quite distinct. Another few moments and they would be free of the rift.

It’s going to work .

The thought came, of course, just before everything went to hell.

Gold felt his stomach lurch and his teeth rattle as something seemed to reach out and smack the entire ship, hull plates and bulkheads rattling and shaking as the Defiant twisted first one way and then another. The sounds of protesting metal were nearly deafening in the small confines of the bridge.

“What the hell was that?” Gold yelled above the din.

Knuckles white as she held onto the helm, Gomez shook her head. “I don’t know. It felt like—”

“We are under attack,” Soloman interrupted, fighting to read the sensor telemetry even as he too gripped onto his console for support. “The Tholians are firing on us!”

“What?” Gold replied, scarcely believing his ears even as his mouth formed around the words to order evasive action, experience and instinct beginning to take over. His brain took an additional instant to catch up and remind him that the Defiant , even if not in the grip of the da Vinci ’s tractor beam, currently had all the maneuverability of an elephant in a closet.

“Gold to da Vinci ,” he called into his communicator, his thoughts quickly turning to his ship and the vulnerable position they were in so long as they maintained their hold on the Defiant . Duffy would have to disengage if he were to have any chance of protecting the da Vinci should the Tholians attack her.

There was no response to his call.

Repeating the attempt achieved the same results, and Gold turned to Gomez. “I can’t raise the ship.”

It was Soloman who replied, still continuing to study the sensor displays. “The Tholians’ weapons fire has caused a . . . disruption in the rift, Captain. Communications have been . . . disabled.”

Damn . Gold wondered about Duffy and the pressure he must be feeling right now. It was one thing to learn the rigors of command from classroom study and even from time spent aboard ships in space. It was quite another thing to be tried by fire under combat conditions. Many hopeful commanders had failed this particular type of test. How would Duffy respond to the challenge dropped so unceremoniously into his lap?

Before he could consider that answer, the ship shuddered again as the Defiant ’s unshielded hull absorbed the brunt of another attack. The shock tore Gold from the chair and tossed him forward without warning. He threw his arms out in a desperate effort to protect himself from the impact of being thrown into the unmanned navigation console.

It never came.

Air was forced from Gold’s lungs as he crashed into the deck, coming to rest at the foot of the stairs leading to the bridge’s upper deck.

“Captain!” Gomez cried as she bolted from her seat, moving around the helm console to kneel next to Gold.

Rolling onto his side, the captain realized with astonishment that he was lying in front of the navigator’s station. He looked at the console that he was sure he should have fallen into and was stunned at the sight before him.

“Sonya,” he said, his voice a horrified whisper, “look.”

Before them, the captain’s chair was clearly visible through the surface of the helm console, itself looking like a hazy, semitransparent film draped across the command well.

“Molecular shift,” Soloman called out from the science station. “They’re occurring . . . all across the ship. I suspect it is a reaction to . . . the weapons fire inside the rift.”

The ship rocked again under yet another assault and Gomez was knocked from her kneeling position