Executive Officer’s log, supplemental. Galaxy continues to preform within expectations, minus that small hiccup in the Gre’vok system. Every bathroom door on the ship locked for 4 hours after an engineering officer managed to short out an entire bank of isolinear chips with his morning tea and all the backups failed. We have entered the last 48 hours of our shakedown, which consists of a sustained high warp trials. We’re currently heading for Certis IV at warp 8.3 with our cargo holds loaded to the brim with supplies. We will be closer to the Gorn border than I’m completely comfortable with but Starfleet Intelligence has assured us that everything has been quiet for some time. With ship operations fairly mundane, Captain Myers has opted to remain off duty until we arrive at Certis IV tomorrow morning.

Geden looked over the PADD, skimming through the sixth status report in the last hour. At this point, all the shakedown reports were blending as they all said the same thing: every system was performing within tolerances followed by a list of every tiny little issue that the engineering team had worked through since the last report. 

He handed the pad to the yellow shouldered officer in front of him. “Thank you Petty Officer.” The women nodded and walked away, Geden turned his attention to the display built into the arm of the chair. “How long until we arrive at our destination, Ensign?”

“Our ETA is 0950 tomorrow.” Came the flat reply from Ensign Kellen Ereth at the helm.

Ereth had arrived at the very last moment before Galaxy departed Starbase 72 three weeks ago and since then the man barely spoke unless he was spoken to and even then it was to the point and with little emotion in his voice. He hadn’t given any indication that he was unfit for duty but Geden still worried; the hell of Frontier Day had affected the Ensign the most out of the crew that came over from the Amundsen. He tapped out a short message to Lieutenant Carter to set up a meeting; she had been seeing to the crew’s psychological needs since she came on board. Geden had yet to have a meaningful conversation with her, she preferred to avoid the Bridge unless needed, but he understood she was excellent at her profession. 

He turned his attention back to the view screen, the long, wide, streaks of blue flying past the view screen as the ship hurtled towards its destination. The slight vibration that spread across the bridge went unnoticed at first, almost indistinguishable from the normal ‘hum’ of warp flight but after a few moments Geden could feel it in the soles of shoes, worming its way up his legs as it began to increase ever so lightly in intensity. 

He turned to his left where Commander Alex Conklin sat at the science station. “Do you feel that, Commander?”

Alex looked up. “Hmm? Feel what?”

A more pronounced shudder ran through the ship, impossible to miss.

“I felt that.” Alex tapped at the console, diverting the subspace sensors from general navigation to more intense scans. Another shudder, rougher than the last, ran through the ship.

Brex turned to face Geden. “SIF is holding, no hull damage. Warp systems are showing green as well but Commander Broheth messaged that he is running a quick diagnostic to be safe.”

Geden nodded at the Betazoid. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” He turned back to Conklin. “Anything on sensors, Commander?”

Alex’s eyes darted back and forth, taking in the data. “At this speed sensor resolution is impacted, the warp bubble is strong enough to distort the readings, but I think it’s just a bit of subspace turbulence.”

The bridge shook again, enough to cause the assembled officers to grip the consoles to keep themselves steady. 

Geden knew that things could get bumpy at warp but it’d be a long time since starships encountered turbulence regularly. “Been a while since I’ve run into subspace turbulence.” He tapped a button, a distinctive whistle echoing across the bridge. “All hands, this is the bridge. We’ve run into some turbulence. Secure stations and minimize movement through the ship until it resolves. Bridge out.”

Almost on cue, the ship shuddered again, just as intense as before, but it wasn’t stopping this time.

“I’m reading increased turbulence ahead, something has made this area subspace rather cranky at the moment.”

Geden cocked an eyebrow. “That’s one way to put it. Ensign Erith, reduce speed to Warp 6 for now. Let’s take it easy for now.”

Erith nodded, slowly reducing the speed of the ship. The shaking subsided as the ship reduced speed.

“Lieutenant Brex, please inform Commander Broheth that we’ll have to pause the high speed warp trials until we’ve cleared this area. Let Starfleet Command know about the turbulence as well; they can send out updated navigation guidance to ships in the area.”

“Aye, sir.”

Geden turned back to Conklin. “If you would be kind enough to let me know when we’re out of this cranky patch of space, I’d appreciate it.”

Alex gave the Trill a quick smile. “I think I can manage that.”

“Sir” Began T’Keu. “I’m receiving a distress call. Civilian ship. It appears to be automated but there is significant interference that I am not able to resolve.”

Geden stood, walking around to the command chairs to join T’Keu at the tactical arch. The waveform was significantly degraded but it was a distress call. “That is a heavy amount of interference. Seems our patch of cranky subspace is causing more problems.”

T’Keu looked at him, expressionless, but the tone of her voice conveyed everything it needed to. “That is an overly descriptive assessment of the situation but it is factually correct.”

Geden gave the Vulcan a small smile. “Can you pinpoint a location?”

A few moments later the console showed pinpoint coordinates. “Yes, however, I still can not clear up the distress signal and I am not able to get a clear sensor scan of the area.”

Geden walked away from the console, taking the center chair once again. “Hopefully once we get closer it’ll clear up. Send the coordinates to the helm. Ensign Erith, adjust heading and slowly increase our speed. If it gets bumpy, pull the speed back a bit.”

“Adjusting course. ETA 16 to 29 minutes, depending on speed.” Again, to the point. Flat. Emotionless. 

“Commander, I suggest we go to yellow alert. We are close enough to Gorn space that caution is warranted.”

“I would agree Ms. T’Keu. Yellow alert, prepare to bring shields up when we exit warp.”

The soft trill of the yellow alert klaxon echoed across the bridge as the ring of alert lights that bordered the view screen shifted to a pulsing yellow.

“Should I alert the Captain?” Inquired T’Keu.

Geden shook his head. “No. No reason to interrupt her for a simple distress call.”

T’Keu didn’t reply but he could feel the look of disapproval on her face from the station behind him.

The bridge officers sat in silence for several minutes, partially excited that something other than shakedown testing was finally happening. The silence was interrupted as the ship began to shudder violently this time.

“Report!” Barked Geden.

“I’m reading massive amounts of subspace disruptions in the areas, large waves of energy. Unknown origin but I don’t think this is basic turbulence.”

“Red Alert.” The bridge darkened as the alert lights bathed this bridge in red and the walls reverberated from the sounds of the klaxon. “What’s our speed, Ensign?”

“Warp 6.5, sir.”

Conklin gripped the side of his console to steady himself. “I don’t think speed is a factor here. The sensors are going crazy; I’ve got tachyons all over the place, and intense gravimetric distortions. We could be at impulse speed and it’d still be a rough ride.”

“SIF is holding, no structural damage has been reported so far. ” Brex didn’t bother to turn away from his console, eyes focused on the lines of text that were flying across his console. “Engineering reports the warp bubble is unstable but they’re working to compensate.”

The port from turbolift doors opened, and Captain Clara Myers stood inside, gripping a handle in the lift to hold steady. “Someone care to fill me in?”

Geden stood, unsteady, and took the XO’s seat, allowing Myers to very carefully make her way to the captain’s seat. “We received an automated distress call and altered course but ran into what we thought was turbulence but Commander Conklin is now unable to determine what’s going on.”

Brex turned to face the officers. “Engineering reports they’ve stabilized the warp bubble but advise that if we drop out of warp they aren’t sure if they establish another warp bubble with the interference. All systems holding beyond that and no damage to the ship, just a rough ride.”

“That answered my next question.” Clara tapped through the sensor readings on the small screen in her chair arm. She’d seen nothing like it before. “How long until we reach the distress call coordinates?”

“Six minutes.”

“Increase speed, let’s get out of this as soon as possible.”

“Aye, ma’am.” Erith ran his finger clockwise on the LCARS panel in front of him, slowly building the speed up to warp 7.5. With the increased warp factor they would arrive in a matter of seconds. “Dropping out of warp in five, four, three, two, one.” Erith ran his finger in the opposite direction, dropping the ship to sublight speed.

The ship rocked to port as it exited warp speed, the viewscreen going fuzzy as the visual sensors lost their feed for a moment.

“We’ve arrived at the coordinates.“

Myers glanced over at Conklin. “I need a visual, Commander.”

“Stand by. That was a rough exit, sensors need just a few moments.” He paused, sliding his finger across the console. “There, visual feeds are back up.”

The static on the screen cleared up, showing a bleak picture. A large vessel, roughly the size of an Intrepid or Sagan class ship, slowly circled the civilian freighter that had issued the distress call. Clara didn’t recognize the vessel shape, but that didn’t mean much in this region of space. Pirates and other unsavory elements, not to mention the Gorn, were not uncommon visitors to this sector though it had been some time since Starfleet had detected much activity out here.

“The vessel configuration is not in Federation databanks.” Chimed in T’Keu. “The civilian freighter is the S.S. Ro’kash, its homeport is registered as Starbase 241. I’m getting life signs on both ships, though there is a damping field preventing me from ascertaining the species.” 

“The Ro’kash has taken damage to its engines, both warp and impulse. I’m seeing if the energy and weapons signatures of the other ship match anything” Conklin waited as the word ‘working’ pulsed on his screen. It didn’t take long before ‘working’ was replaced with an answer, the color draining from his face. He glanced over at the waveform pattern to the left of the words now pulsing on his screen. There was no doubt the computer was right; it matched historical databases exactly. “The other ship is Gorn. Not just any Gorn ship either; there are massive amounts of energy flowing through that ship. The energy signature matches Gorn breeding ships that Starfleet has encountered in the past.”

Clara and Geden exchanged a look, her blood running cold. “Battlestations. Bring phasers online, load all torpedo bays, and bring shields to maximum.” The alert klaxon blared again as the ship went to a more aggressive posture. 

Clara didn’t have much experience with the Gorn, nobody did. The Hegemony and Federation didn’t have strong diplomatic relations and while a decent number of Gorn had made Federation worlds their homes they never spoke of their people. They assimilated into Federation life just fine, which begged the question, what was life like in the Hegemony? Different clans? Governments? Related, but different, species like the Vulcan and Romulans? No one had the answer. 

Encounters with Gorn ships were usually tense, but rarely hostile unless provoked. Breeding ships, however? Another story entirely. Her understanding was that the Federation didn’t necessarily view breeding ships as an official part of the Hegemony fleet under military orders; they acted on their own and most likely clung to older, more traditionalist, views on how the Gorn reproduced. It didn’t take much scientific deduction to assume Gorn could reproduce without an outside host, breeding ship raids outside of Gorn space were extremely rare after all, but the more cynical side of her recognized that the Hegemony likely knew of these raids and, at a bare minimum, turned a blind eye. Once in a rare while official military ships would be escorting them but they got few answers from the Hegemony when that happened. Perhaps it kept the peace between factions or there was a deep religious meaning to it? It made no difference in the here and now. She’d try diplomacy but under no circumstances would she allow the crew of the freighter to be abducted.

“Hail them.”

Brex tapped out a few commands on the console and gave the Captain a nod.

“This is Captain Clara Myers of the Federation starship Galaxy. You have entered Federation territory and taken hostile action against an independent ship. This is an unacceptable action; return any stolen goods or abducted lifeforms immediately and return to Gorn space.”

Her statement was met with silence

Geden turned to her, speaking in a hushed voice. “How far do we want to take this? We aren’t looking to start a war.”

“I agree. Typically these breeding ships hunt in packs; if this one is truly on its own then we should be able to disrupt its shields with a pulse from the deflector array and beam out anyone they’ve taken. It’ll be their choice if they fight back or if they go back to their own space. If they haven’t abducted anyone, hopefully, the threat of a Galaxy class ship will be enough ”

“I’d agree Captain.” Geden lowered his voice even further. “We have to consider that anyone we beam out of there is already been infected with Gorn eggs. If they were to hatch on the ship we’d be in serious trouble.”

Clara nodded. It was a good point, though she hoped they arrived fast enough to prevent that. “We’ll have Dr. V’Rel place them in stasis immediately and we’ll get them to the closest Starbase.”

Geden nodded, turning back to Conklin. “Any chance you can break through that damping field? We need to see who is who in there.”

“Working.” Replied Conklin. “I think I can disable it with a burst from the deflector array.”

“Still no reply from the Gorn ship.” Brex tapped a few buttons on the console. “Channel is still open.”

“Cut it” ordered Myers. “T’Keu, any signs they’ve taken a more aggressive posture?”

“Their shields and weapons are online but they are not targeting us. I am detecting lots of inbound and outbound comm traffic that originate and terminate in Gorn space.”

“Calling for help?” Inquired Myers. Before she got her answer she felt the deck vibrate under her feet once again. To her left she heard the main science console let out a series of trills and alarms.

“An anomaly is forming, 3,000 kilometers aft of the Gorn ship.” Alex’s eyes widened as he took in the sensor readings. Gravimetric waves were being released faster and faster as the tachyon levels began to fly off the chart. “It’s big, whatever it is.”

“On screen.” Myers watched as the viewscreen shifted to show what looked like a normal, dark, patch of space. Within moments a large aperture burst into view, a swirling mass of golden energy. The Galaxy rocked as intense waves of gravimetric waves slammed into her.

“Unknown subspace aperture has opened.” Erith gripped the side of his console as the ship continued to rock. “It’s trying to pull us in but I’ve got the ship at station keeping. I don’t think I can break way at impulse though.”

“Keep us away from it as best you can Ensign.” Geden looked over at Conklin. “Is this a transwarp aperture?” It was a valid question; the Borg had just launched an invasion of the Federation earlier in the year. 

Alex shook his head. “No. It carries none of the typical signatures of a Borg transwarp tunnel. This is an entrance, not an exit. I think. Maybe both. There is an intense gravity field coming off of it.” His eyes glanced over the console. “I’ve never seen gravimetric readings like this before.”

“Status of the Gorn vessel?” Myers glanced back at T’Keu. The last thing needed was the Gorn taking advantage of the situation.

“It appears that they cannot withstand the gravitational forces of the anomaly. Their impulse engines are engaged but they are still moving towards it.” T’Keu’s console let out a series of sharp beeps, joining the chorus of noise that was going on across the bridge. “Correction, they are flying straight into the anomaly. The Ro’Kash‘s warp core is going critical; it has taken too much damage to survive the effects of the anomaly. It will go critical in 97 seconds.” The bridge crew watched as the Gorn ship disappeared into the anomaly, disappearing from sensors.

“Captain, I suggest we get out of here before that core breaches. I can’t even begin to predict how the anomaly will be affected by the release of that much energy but it will be pretty damn bad.” The expression on Alex’s face and the frantic tone of his voice told Clara eventing she needed to know.

Clara opened a channel to engineering from her armrest. “Commander Broheth, can we break away under impulse or go to wrap? We have to leave. Now.”

Over the comm line, she could hear the shouting of various engineers and dozens of alarms going off in the background. “Negative on either Captain. Even bringing the stardrive impulse engine online wouldn’t give you enough force to get away; we’re barely holding at station keeping right now. Forget about warp too; there is no way for us to form a stable warp bubble and even if we could form one the SIF could not handle the transition to superluminal velocity. Local subspace is torn up.”

“62 seconds until core breach.”

“Alex, what happens if that core breaches? Could it possibly seal the aperture?” That much energy could seal a subspace rift, in theory. It was a stretch but possible.

“Not likely, not this one.” With a tap of a button, he put the readings on the anomaly on the main screen. “You can see that it almost looks like a wormhole but it’s sucking up any energy it can get its hands on to keep itself open. It’s in a state of severe flux. Feed it more energy and it’ll just get bigger and we won’t stand a chance of avoiding it.”

“54 seconds to core breach.”

Clara glanced at Demar. “We go in.”

The Trill’s eyes widened. “Is that wise?” He, like Myers, had spent a large part of his career in the sciences. He knew it was possible this was some sort of new wormhole or subspace tunnel, the sensor readings leaned that way, but that last time he was on a ship that took a jaunt through an unknown analogy it ended in nothing but death and destruction. 

“45 seconds to core breach.”

“I don’t think we have much choice.” Myers countered. “We can’t stop the core breach and we’re close enough to it that we’d sustain damage, not including what happens when the anomaly expands.”

Geden nodded his assent to the plan. He didn’t like it but nothing else was coming to mind; nothing that could be done in 45 seconds anyway. 

Myers looked over to Conklin. “Is the aperture large enough to fit the Galaxy through?”

Conklin’s eyes widened even more than they already were, which was quite the feat. “Yes, but I don’t recommend it. There is….” he paused, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. “Some sort of tunnel or space behind it but I don’t know what it would be.”

“32 seconds to core breach.”

“Commander Broheth, can the SIF handle entering the anomaly?”

The Bolian, who had stayed on the comm line, sighed. “Yes. It’s stressed but mostly because we are fighting the anomaly’s efforts to pull us in. I’d recommend putting the shields in hull conformal mode; less chance we hit debris or whatever is waiting for us on the other side.”

“25 seconds to core breach.”

“Works for me.” Clara adjusted herself in the chair, hoping to keep a good grip as they flew into the unknown. “All hands, secure stations, and brace for transit. Ensign Erith, fly her in, full impulse.”

In the dark of space, the Galaxy turned towards the brown and gold hole in space, arcing over the stricken cargo vessel with more grace than one would expect from a massive vessel, before slipping into the aperture of the anomaly. Moments after the aft portion of the Galaxy slipped away, a bright ball of light enveloped the Ro’Kash as its warp core went critical, waves of energy interacting with the anomaly, causing it to expand and destabilize rapidly. Within seconds the light of the uncontrolled matter/antimatter reaction gave way to inky black, with no trace of the Ro’Kash or anomaly remaining.

Kellen Ereth’s eyes were glued to the console in front of him as he tried to navigate the increasingly small and complex subspace tunnel the Galaxy found itself in. The small display on the left of the console gave him at least some idea of how to adjust the ship’s attitude as needed; the navigational sensor struggling to map out what lay ahead considering the ship’s velcoty. He’d taken the impulse engines down to one quarter but it hadn’t changed anything; this tunnel was in control.

He gripped the console with one hand as he shifted the ship to port to avoid another small spot of derbies. The tunnel was littered with the debris of ships that didn’t survive the trip. He didn’t bother to glance at the sensors, he didn’t have time to distract himself nor did he care, but from the glimpses he caught in the viewscreen the debris was old. Very old. His stomach jumped up into his throat as he evened the ship back out, the inertial dampers struggling to keep up. He took a deep breath, doing his best to remember the breathing techniques that Lieutenant Carter had instructed him to use. He could do this. It wasn’t like that happened on that runabout on Frontier Day. He was in control. 

He was in control. 

“Captain, these tunnels are getting difficult to navigate. There are hazards all over the place.”

Myers gripped the armrest of her console as the shit shuddered again. “Do you best Ensign. If the hazards are too large to get around, take us down another corridor but until then I want the Gorn ship followed.”

Myers wasn’t about to let the Gorn breeding ship go. It was easier than they expected to pick up the tral of the Gorn ship and the Galaxy hadn’t taken much damage when it entered the anomaly. They also seemed to have some level of control; they could steer the ship down pathways but they had no control over speed and no real idea where they were going. 

“Sheilds are holding at 86%, Captain.” Offered Brex. “Still just minor damage reports and no injuries reported.”

“Let’s hope we keep it that way. Any sign of the Gorn ship?”

Lieutenant Commander T’Keu cleared her throat. “None, aside from their warp trial. I have run simulations and It does appear we can fire weapons while inside the subspace tunnel though I would not recommend doing so; knocking a ship out of the tunnel could be catastrophic.”

Demar let out a dissatisfied grunt. “If we can fire our weapons, so can the Gorn. I don’t care to meet them in here.”

“Neither do I Commander. It’s reasonable to assume they are moving at the same speed or faster than us and they had a head start; hopefully, we encounter them in real space.” Now that the ship was fairly stable, minus a few bumps and tilts here and there, Myers stood and walked over to Commander Conklin at the science console. “Any idea what we are in, Alex?”

Conkling pulled up the last set of sensor readings the computer had processed. “Actually, yes. These readings match the sensor readings that the USS Voyager recorded when they were in Turei Underspace. It almost sort of matches some of the readings from the few other ships that had been allowed the use of the Underspace.”

Clara leaned against the pillar next to the science station. “Underspace? That doesn’t make much sense. As far as we know Underspace doesn’t extend that deep into the Beta Quadrant.”

Alex shrugged. “It’s possible that the Turei didn’t disclose all their knowledge of Underspace routes to the Federation or that they had no idea it went this far out. Considering the way the Federation had been acting in the last decade or so, I can see why they wouldn’t want us to know they had access to the Federation’s backyard.”

Clara leaned over and pointed to the beta radiation waveforms on the screen. “These tunnels look like they are in a deep state of flux; the waveform readings match but they are clearly unstable. Could it be possible that new tunnels are forming?”

Again, all Alex could offer was a shrug. “I don’t know enough about Underspace to give you a solid answer. The debris we are coming across is old, really, really old. It may to new entrance and exit points are forming but the tunnels themselves are super old. When I have more time to pour over the details, I can give you a better answer.”

Clara nodded. “Perhaps the better question is, would we be able to find our way back through the tunnels to get home?”

“Ah, yes. That’s something I can give you an answer to. ” Alex pulled up an overview of their route through the tunnels. “We should be able to trace our way back home so long as we go back in through the aperture we exit from. I’ve recorded the location of where a new tunnel branches off from the one we are in; we can use those as landmarks to find our way back.”

Clara squeezed his shoulder. “Good work Commander.”

“Captain.” Called out Erith. “We’re approaching an exit aperture but there is an issue.” Erith pulled up the nav sensors on the main screen showing the Gorn’s trail leaving the Underspace network but immediately in front of the aperture was a large mass of debris. 

“Can you maneuver us around it Ensign?” Inquired Geden.

Erith shook his head. “No sir. No matter what way I maneuver the ship, the tunnel isn’t large enough to avoid an impact and there isn’t a branching tunnel to take us down a different path. The best I can do is have it scrape along the bottom hull.”

Clara sighed as she sat down. “Can the shields take it?”

Brex looked over the should status on his screen. “To an extent; simulations say shields will take the brunt of the impact and if we divert emergency power to the keel shield grid we’ll still have around 40% shield integrity. We’ll still run the risk of more extensive damage.”

“That’ll have to do.” Clara opened a shipwide channel. “All hands, this is the bridge. Brace for impact and immediate declaration.”

Kellen watched the approaching dot on his nav sensors, finger hovering over the ship’s attitude control to shift them upwards at the right time. With his free hand, he tapped in a set of commands to fire the breaking thrusters and cut off the impulse engines the moment they returned to free space. “Impact in ten, nine, eight.” He jabbed his finger against the console, commanding the ship to lurch upwards. “Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!”

The exit aperture seemed to wobble in the space it occupied for a few moments before the USS Galaxy burst out of it, bow angled up while the keel shields were still lit up a bright, angry-looking, blue.  The breaking thrusters fired as expected, struggling to slow the ship down.

On the bridge, smoke filled the air, the red of the emergency lights piercing through it as best it could. Multiple alarms were sounding as the bridge crew picked themselves up from the floor.

“Is anyone hurt?” Geden choked and coughed on the acrid smoke as he pulled himself back into his chair. 

Thankfully a chorus of no’s came from the crew. While many had scrapes and bruises, it seemed they had escaped serious harm. 

“Status report.” Clara brushed some dust off her uniform top, trying to even out her breath as best she could.

Brex had managed to keep himself in his seat, almost dislocating his arm in the process. “I’m reading damage to the EPS network; blowouts on Decks 3, 5, 11, 18, 21, 15, and 29. SIF is holding at 94%, shields are at 11%, but weapons and sensors are mostly online. Engines are online but not sure what speed we can get. No info on casualties or fatalities yet.”

“Better than expected considering the bumpy ride.” Clara coughed, the smoke on the bridge slowing lifting as the environmental controls compensated. “Where are we and where are the Gorn”?

Alex brushed some light debris off his console’s screen. “Astrometrics sensors are still calibrating to our new location. I’m not seeing the Gorn ship, but I do see a warp trail that is most likely theirs.”

“Dr. V’Rel is reporting that there are numerous casualties but no fatalities reported so far. The vast majority are bumps, scrapes, concussions, and broken bones but she’s reporting very few serious injuries.” Brex turned to face the Captain. “Commander Broheth is also on his way up to brief you in person.”

“That can’t be good.” She said softly. “Commander Conklin, any idea where we are?”

“Yes, and it’s not good.” Alex pulled up the galaxy map on the viewscreen, lines dividing the Milky Way into four quadrants. A small, pulsing, Starfleet Delta sat in the middle of one of them. “We’re in the Gamma Quadrant, far beyond anything Starfleet had ever explored. I can’t even tell you if this is Dominion territory.”

“How long would it take for us to get to either the Bajorian Wormhole or Federation territory?” Geden’s eyes didn’t leave the screen as he spoke.

“The wormhole is closer. At high warp, we could get there in 17 months if we took a direct course and only stopped to give the engines a cool down.” His console let out a shrill beep, his eyes going wide before closing, almost in defeat. “And the Underspace aperture just closed behind us.”

Clara stiffened in her chair. “Can you tell where the Gorn ship went?”

“As best I can tell, they headed towards a Class M planet several lightyears away. I can’t get a solid scan on the planet at this distance, but it does appear to be inhabited.”

Clara rubbed her forehead. It wouldn’t surprise her if the Gorn had gone off in search of more hosts for their young; breeding ships were notoriously ruthless and if they felt they had no way of getting back to the Beta Quadrant, they’d want to establish a foothold quickly. The question was, do they go after the Gorn or attempt to open up Underspace to get back home? If the Gorn were going after innocent people they had a moral duty to attempt to help but it wasn’t a decision she’d be willing to make on her own.

The doors to the front port turbolift opened; Lieutenant Commander Broheth walked out, uniform already covered in grime. “Captain, if you’ll join me in the pit I’ll give you a full rundown.”

Clara nodded and followed the Bolian to the back of the bridge. The yard workers had nicknamed this portion of the bridge ‘the pit’, which was mostly apt. You had to take a few steps down as the area was sunken down, a ring of consoles around it that could be used as needed. It was usually used in crisis situations but was, overall, used as needed. The MSD was found on the large screen along the back wall.

Broheth tapped a small button next to the MSD, and a variety of green, yellow, and red dots appeared over the screen. “Red is critical damage, mostly the EPS network, yellow is vital but we can live without it and green is low priority, mostly superficial interior damage and EPS damage to places like the holodeck. Overall it’s not that bad. The is little to no structural damage, weapons are online, and sensors are online but impaired. There was an EPS juncture explosion near the secondary computer core that impacted the hardline connections. It’s not going to cripple the ship, Commander Conklin might just have some issues with long range sensor resolution. The big issue is this.” He pointed to a large red dot that was pulsing where the port nacelle met the engineering hull.

“Please don’t tell me there is a risk of another nacelle detaching; I got my fill of that at Beol II.”

“No detachment risk, thankfully, but there was a large EPS blowout at the junction of the port nacelle and engineering hull. I’ve had to reduce the flow of warp plasma due to the damage. With the port nacelle running at lower power the best we can do is warp 2.”

Clara let out a sigh; they likely couldn’t outrun much at warp 2. “Can we operate on one nacelle at a higher speed?”

Broheth made a face that said ‘Please don’t make me do that’. “In an emergency, yes. It severely strains the warp nacelle that is operating and we run the risk of cracking a coil if we do it for too long. I don’t feel comfortable doing it unless help is nearby.”

Clara sighed. “That is the one thing we don’t have. How long will repairs take?”

“I can get you full warp speeds in about 36 hours; most of the EPS network should be good to go in about 72 hours if nothing else goes wrong.”

“Let’s hope nothing else goes wrong. Pull any off duty personnel you need; our priority is to restore the EPS network and warp power.”

“Aye, ma’am” Broheth trotted up the 3 steps that marked the entrance of the pit as Clara leaned against the wall..

She watched as the various lights on the MSD pulsed red, green, and yellow; like lights on a Christmas tree that nobody wanted. It seemed, in this day and age, there was no hiding from trouble anymore.

“Do we even know how to open the aperture back up?”

The crew had assembled in the briefing room for the first time since their arrival in the Gamma Quadrant; a decision had to be made, and quickly. The Gorn had most likely arrived at the M Class planet picked up on sensors and, most likely, were terrorizing the population.

Alex turned towards the Chief Operations Officer. “Yes. Kind of.”

Brex arched an eyebrow. “That's not a real confidence inspiring statement, sir.”

Alex sighed. It was the truth. He, sort of, knew how to open the aperture back up but there were numerous unknowns at play. “We have limited information from the Turei and our ships on how to enter Underspace but in the past, the Turei have been pretty much in control of the process and told us what to do and where to go. On top of that, portions of Underspace that we went through were in an extreme state of flux. If Underspace as a whole is undergoing some sort of change or expansion then all bets are off in terms of getting that aperture open again.”

V'Rel tapped her fingers against the table, eager to be done with the meeting and get back to her now full sickbays. “Did we even try to open the damn thing back up again?”

Demar shook his head. “Not yet. When the aperture opened up in the Beta Quadrant it was a violent subspace event. We would prefer to avoid that this time; if we get it wrong and destabilize the Underspace then we run the risk of being trapped out here.”

Alex lifted his hand, a finer pointed upward. “I would like to point out that that isn't supposed to happen. Whatever is happening to Underspace is new.”

Ereth cleared his throat, speaking for the first time in the meeting. “We still have the Gorn to deal with. They attacked a Federation vessel and if we leave them out here they will terrorize any population they can find.”

Clara leaned back in her chair, placing her hands on her lap. That led to the fundamental question: Do we prioritize saving ourselves or take steps to protect the native people of this sector from a threat they know nothing about?

“You are correct, Ensign. The people of this sector know nothing of the threat that the Gorn pose. We don't have much information on how Gorn breeding ships operate but all signs point to them going after pre-warp civilizations if they feel like it.” Clara tapped a button on the table, a holo image of the class M planet from the sensor readings they took popping up in the middle of the table. “Their warp trail leads to this planet and shortly before the briefing started, Commander Conklin detected the Gorn ship in orbit.”

Conklin sat up in the chair, tapping a few commands into the PADD that was lying on the table in front of him. A series of pulsing red dots appeared across the northern continent. “Long-range sensor resolution is still diminished but there seem to be five medium to large population centers on the northern continent; perhaps three to five thousand people in each. I have not detected any warp signatures, no matter/antimatter power systems, and no long-range communications. I feel pretty safe in saying they are pre-warp.”

“If they are pre-warp, I would counter the prime directive does apply,” T'Keu stated. “In addition, while the Gorn would represent a threat to the civilizations in the sector, we have to prioritize our own people's safety. We are unaware of what is going on in Federation space; there may be a wider crisis related to Underspace and our return to Federation space would allow us to assist our citizens.”

Brex leaned forward, a look of indignation on his face. “It's been a while since I was in classes at the Academy, but I am pretty sure the prime directive goes out the window in this circumstance. If the Gorn attack a pre-warp planet then the civilization is already culturally contaminated. That isn't a ‘natural course of civilization’ event. These people are possibly being terrorized and used as breeding stock; if we can put a stop to that, we need to.”

 “Any action we take will alter the course of that civilization's cultural development. That is a core tenet of the prime directive.” Coutnered T'Keu.

Demar shot the Vulcan a look that made it clear how he felt. “There are nearly 50 sub-directives to the Prime Directive; it's not as black and white as you make it out to be.”

“It does not change the fact that our priority needs to be returning to Federation space. There are over 800 Starfleet officers on this vessel and the political situation in the Alpha and Beta quadrants is unstable. Our priority must be our own people.”

V'Rel scoffed. “Because that worked out so well for your Romulan kin? A lot of them died so we could ‘focus on our own people.’ Turning a blind eye to the suffering of others is the type of bullshit that got the Federation and Starfleet to where it is now."

Clara lifted her hand, a gesture to silence the conversation. “Enough.  The fact of the matter is a civilization is being terrorized by a species that is likely significantly more advanced than it. The damage is done; as the commanding officer of this vessel, it falls to me to determine if the prime directive applies. I have determined it does not. If they truly have been invaded then they have been exposed to advanced technology and are very aware of life outside their world. If they somehow survive the Gorn attack then they are going to be terrified and angry; decades in the future they could take to the stars in search of revenge. The least we can do is show them the universe at large does have good people in it. If anyone takes issue with this then you are welcome to submit a formal objection in writing and I'll note it in my log.”

T'Keu stiffened in her seat. “I shall.”

“Marvelous,” Clara muttered softly under her breath. “Ensign Erith, set a course for the planet at Warp 2. Commander Demar, assemble multiple away teams to deploy on the surface when we arrive. Dismissed.”

“Approaching system N-221, dropping out of warp.”

The name sounded oddly sterile considering they were hurtling themselves towards a planet that was under siege from the Gorn. It had taken them days to arrive at the planet; between being restricted to warp 2 and having to stop for a full 24 hours to finish repairs, it had been slow going. There was a benefit in that the ship was (mostly) repaired. There was cosmetic damage scattered across the ship and several of the systems of lesser importance, such as the holodecks, were still offline but they were more than ready to face the Gorn.

The streaks of bright blue gave way to the dark of space. A damping field, typical Gorn behavior, had gone up the second day of their trip and since then they had precious little info to go off of. 

“Captain.” Conklin nodded towards the screen. 

A swirl of brown and gold lay a short distance away from the blue and yellow of the planet. What was missing was the Gorn ship.

“Is that a stable aperture?” Inquired Demar.

“It would appear so. No idea where it leads but the sensor scans indicate there is nowhere near the amount of instability that the other two we encountered showed.” Alex cocked his head to the side. “Curious. I think it’s been used recently but I can’t tell by who, just a vessel that uses a matter/antimatter drive.”

“I think I can answer that, Captain.” Interjected T’Keu. “Sensors no longer pick up the Gorn vessel; I don’t believe they are in the system any longer.”

Demar slumped back in his seat. “Damn it. We’re too late. They got what they wanted and left.”

“Not necessarily.” Countered T’Keu. “The damping field is still present and being emanated from the planet’s surface. They could still be present on the surface.”

Alex bit his bottom lip, trying his best to focus the sensors on the cities on the planet. “I’m not able to get a solid reading anywhere but why would they set up shop on the planet and then just leave?”

Brex turned to face Demar and Myers. “They must have gone through the aperture. They got whatever they wanted off the plant, probably people, established a base or something on the surface, and took off.”

Demar shifted in his seat. It made sense on some level; the Gorn were just as advanced as the Federation. They had to of gotten the same readings from Underspace, they knew it was bigger and more expansive. It was a shortcut to a planet away from prying eyes in space that belonged to no one from the Alpha or Beta Quadrants. 

Demar closed his eyes, his stomach churning a bit as he connected the dots. “They set up a breeding planet. Somewhere away from the prying eyes of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant governments. They’re banking on the apertures being permanent, which is a big question mark, but even if something happens it’s just close enough from the Bajoran wormhole at high warp that they could still get here and back in less than a single lifetime. They either bring their victims here or they’re keeping enough people alive done there to serve as breeding stock for years to come.”

The bridge was silent for a moment as that sunk in. 

Conklin rested his face in his hands for a moment. “How in the hell can anyone do something like that.”

“Every single one of the cultures each of us belong to did absolutely horrific things throughout their history,” Myers interjected. “It’s not our place to judge their way of life or assume that every single Gorn subscribes to whatever beliefs these particular Gorn do but it is our duty to right this wrong when they subject others to acts like this.”

Conklin knew she was right, Starfleet had drilled that belief about other cultures info him, but he wanted nothing more than to throw that thought process out the window. It was sick. It was perverted. It was torture. Just because one society viewed it as right did not mean that the rest of the galaxy should turn a blind eye to it in the name of tolerance. 

Myers turned to Demar. “Gather the away teams and deploy in the Runabouts. They’ve only been on the planet a short time; get down there and get the lay of the land and we’ll see what we can do to put a stop to this. I don’t trust transporters to be able to retrieve you in case we need to get out of here before that damping field can be brought down.

The massive door to Shuttlebay 1 opened slowly, the forcefield lighting up blue as tiny bits of interstellar matter drifted into the field. The Danube Class runabouts USS Leo and USS Libra lifted off the bay floor and slowly moved outward into space before speeding towards the planet.

In the cockpit of the Libra, Demar watched the sensors like a hawk as they grew closer to the planet.

“Entering the atmosphere now.” Announced the Lieutenant at the controls.  

The runabout shook slightly as they pushed through the outer layers of the planet’s atmosphere, the sensors showing more and more as they got closer. With a series of sharp beeps, the computer announced it was finally picking up life sign readings.

V’Rel, who insisted on coming with a medical team to assist, walked up behind him. “What’s it showing Commander?”

It was easy to see the level of destruction on the planet now that they had cleared the outer portion of the damping field. Four of the five cities that the ship had detected were obliterated; not a single life sign was found in the rubble. The fifth city was a different matter entirely. 

Geden pointed to the screen. “There are around 8,500 humanoid life signs clustered in that one city. The clustering of the signs indicates they are being held in groups at multiple locations. I’m also picking up about 350 Gorn life signs but that might not be accurate considering how much our sensors struggle with picking them up.”

V’Rel grumbled low in her throat. “I can’t say with certainty since I have never examined whomever these people are but the readings indicate they may be sedated or subdued somehow. They aren’t moving and some of the bio readings seem odd. I won’t know for sure until I get down there.”

Geden pulled up a topographical map of the area around the city. There was a small area about 5 kilometers away from the city edge; it’d be quite the hike but they’d avoid detection that dar out. “Demar to runabout Leo, transmitting coordinates for touch down. ETA, 3 minutes.”

On the bridge of Galaxy Conklin kept an eye on the readings being relayed by the runabouts. They were grim but it showed their hypothesis was likely correct: the Gorn were setting up a breeding planet. The bridge was oddly quiet with Demar, T’Keu, and multiple other officers absent. 

Over the last several weeks of shakedown, they had all settled into a fairly comfortable routine, to the point he looked forward to his regularly scheduled lunch with Demar. It wasn’t always apparent on the surface but Alex had found the Trill to be kind, thoughtful, and whip smart. He even had a very dry, but wicked, sense of humor. It didn’t always show to most people but Geden had slowly gotten more comfortable around everyone and it was hard for Alex to shake away the worry he felt in the pit of his stomach now that the Trill was in a dangerous situation.

A soft beeping started on the portion of the console to his left, an insistent but non-critical noise that as the minutes ticked by grew more and more urgent. It was likely related to the probe they had launched into the aperture to see if they could at least map some of it. Alex turned towards the read-out, eyes growing wide as he took in the data.

“Captain!” Outright panic filled his voice. “Underspace is collapsing!”

Clara practically jumped out of her chair, moving quickly to the science station. “The aperture in the system?”

“No.” The readings were clear; all of Underspace in the local area was collapsing. “The entire local system. The gravimetric and tachyon readings are beyond anything I have seen so far. I don’t know if all of the Undersace is collapsing but a massive amount of it is. Unless we want to be trapped here we have to go. Now.”

“Lieutenant Brex, recall the runabouts. Ensign Erith, plot a course to enter the Underspace aperture at full impulse and engage as soon as the runabouts dock and are secured.”

“No” Alex interjected before the other officers could respond. “We don’t have time to wait for the Runabouts to dock. If they follow us in a full impulse they should make it but we can’t sit here and wait for them to dock. We have to go now.”

“All hands, this is the Captain. Secure stations and brace for Underspce transit. Galaxy to Runabouts Leo and Libra, the Underspace network is collapsing. Return to orbit now and follow us into the aperture. There isn’t enough time for you to dock.”

“Aye, ma’am.” The voice of Demar filtered over the speakers. “We just landed but haven’t deployed. Conducting an emergency lift-off now.”

“Punch it, Ensign.” Clara gripped the arms of the captain’s chair, doing her best to brace for a rough ride. If the Underspace network was collapsing then the Gorn would have to wait; they’d be trapped on the surface and (hopefully) wouldn’t be able to do more damage than they already had done.

The large vessel pulled itself out of orbit; lifting upward and turning hard to port as all three impulse engines pushed the ship forward at emergency speeds. Moments later the two Danube Class runabouts burst out of the atmosphere of the planet, hot on the tail of the Galaxy. The three ships passed the event horizon of the Underspace aperture and vanished; moments later the aperture itself twisted and contorted, almost as if it was in pain, before it vanished as well, leaving behind the pitch dark of space and a planet besieged by the Gorn.

“Status of the runabouts.” Clara Myers gripped the arms of her chair as the Galaxy rocked to port then starboard as the inertia dampers struggled to compensate for the gravametic waves slamming into the ship. 

“Communications are down but I'm still showing them inside the Underspace tunnel with us.” Brex frantically tried to maintain the computer link with Runabouts to give them a real-time feed of navigational data as Galaxy had taken the lead in the tunnel but as the seconds ticked on it was getting more and more difficult to do so. 

“Have you found us an exit, Mr. Conklin?”

Alex groaned as the ship lurched again and sent his stomach into his throat. “Not yet. The apertures are collapsing rapidly; as soon as I find one it closes off. I don't even know where we are going, this is an entirely different tunnel system. The one we are in won't last much longer; If I don't find an exit aperture we'll be thrown out into normal space when this tunnel collapses.”

“Lieutenant Brex, have engineering divert all power not allocated to life support to the SIF and shield grid.”

Brex nodded, his free hand imputing commands as quickly as he could. “Aye, ma'am.”

“Captain, the Runabouts are still falling further behind us.” Erith spoke up from the conn station. “I still don't know of any way to slow us down or speed them up.”

“Mr. Conklin, I need an off ramp and I need one now.”

“I'm trying Captain!” Frustration laced the man's voice. The apertures and, possibly Underspace itself, were collapsing, rapidly, and he had no idea if the tunnels he was sending them down were taking them closer to home or deeper into unexplored space. He grunted in frustration as two of the smaller tunnels they were approaching collapsed, locking off another two exit points. None of it made sense. This wasn't supposed to be possible. 

Sparks erupted from an unmanned console on the starboard wall, the ship violently rocking to port.

Ereth struggled to right the ship, his console an angry array of red lights that wouldn't let him do much. “I'm losing helm control, the corridor has narrowed too much.” 

“Shields are at 88%. Any further shrinkage of the corridor will result in direct contact; the shields will not last long.” T'Keu paused for a moment to check the readings. “Sheilds would last roughly 93 seconds if we made direct contact with the corridor.”

Clara let out a huff of air. “Alex, I could use some good news right about now.”

Conklin, sadly, could offer none. “The corridors ahead that are stable enough aren't large enough for the Galaxy to fit though. We're going to have to ride this out. I could try and emit a resonance pulse to try and shove us out of the corridor before it destabilizes. Won't be great but it's better than being in here when the corridor collapses.”

Brex spoke up. “I don't think the runabouts will be able to withstand that with how unstable everything is; they would take severe damage.”

“Damn it.” Muttered Clara. If the Ruanbouts wouldn't survive being shoved out, they certainly wouldn't survive the corridor collapsing and there was no way to get them back to the safety of the shuttle bay. “Commander, you mentioned that there are upcoming corridors that we are too large to fit though, correct?”

Alex held on for dear life as the ship rocked again, eyes closed tight until the ship stabilized. “Yes, three total. All of them lead to exit points.”

“Lieutenant, transmit nav data to the Runabouts that would send them down one of the corridors.”

Brex turned to face Clara, a distressed expression on his face. “We have no idea where they will end up. Given the nature of Underspace, it could be hundreds of lightyears away for our exit point.”

She was well aware of that fact but lost was better than dead. “I'm aware of that. We'll find them, I promise. Transmit the data.”

Brex nodded. “Aye.”

It took seconds for then Runbouts to receive the data. Clara watched the small screen in the chair of her arm, two small blips following the large blip that represented that Galaxy. It only took moments for the upcoming tunnels to come into view and for the ship to glide past them; the two small blips diverted into one of the tunnels, moving them out of harm's way.

“Captain, the apertures will collapse in 83 seconds. Perhaps even the corridor itself.”

“Commander, will the sensors be able to see when the Runabouts exit the corridor?”

Alex shook his head, strands of blonde hair coming down over his eyes. “No, but the best estimate was 31 seconds after they entered the corridor. They should already be clear.”

“All hands brace for deceleration.” She steadied herself in her seat. “Emit the resonance pulse, Commander.”

To the naked eye, there wasn't anything particularly special about this sector of space. It was black. There were dots of stars hundreds of lightyears in the distance. That was pretty much it. If you happened to have subspace sensors then it was easy to see that this sector of space wasn't quite as calm as it appeared.

In a flash of light, a Galaxy Class vessel erupted from subspace, breaking thrusters firing en-mass to try and slow the ship. On the bridge, multiple officers let out a sigh of relief as most of them managed to stay in their seats, except for Lieutenant Commander T'Keu. Her chair at the tactical arch was far less robust than the rest of the chairs on the bridge; an oversite nobody doubted she would correct as soon as she could."

Clara coughed, smoke from burnt out consoles choking the air. “Report!”

Brex pulled up the MSD report on his console, the list of damages flying by quickly. “SIF at 73%, shields at 54%. No structural damage was reported and all major systems are still online.”

Clara brushed the dust and light debris off her uniform top. “I'll take it. Where are we, Mr. Conklin?”

“Astrometric sensors recalibrating now.” He watched as the star chart appeared on his console, the word working pulsing over it. In seconds a Starfleet Delta appeared. “Got it. Looks like we're in the Alpha Quadrant, pretty deep in Cardassian space but I don't think we're anywhere critical.”

The bridge staff let out a collective sigh of relief. “I'll take it. Any signs of the Runabouts.”

Alex expanded the long-range sensors to their max but saw nothing matching a Federation signature. “No.” he replied, his voice small, almost defeated. “And I'm not picking up any Underspace apertures. At bare minimum we don't have access to the network now, at worst, much of the network has collapsed entirely.”

Clara nodded. “Noted. We'll find them, I assure you of that. Commander Demar and the rest of the senior staff are capable officers and will do everything they can to get back home.”

“Captain, I am picking up three Cardassian cruisers dropping out of warp.” T'Keu adjusted herself in her seat. “Weapons are online but the shields are still compromised.” It went unsaid that while a single Cardassian cruiser, or even two of them, were not much of a threat to a ship the size of the Galaxy, three of them could go toe to toe with her.

Clara rubbed her eyes, sighing. “Let's hope they aren't in the mood to fight. Hail them.”

The viewscreen shifted from a view of space to the view of a less than thrilled Cardassian Gul. “This is Gul Remnek of the Cardassian Fifth Order. You are ordered to return to Federation space immediately; the CUS Moteri will escort you to the border. You will not deviate from the course provided.”

Clara stood, not bothering to put a smile on her face. “A pleasure to meet you, Gul Remnek. I am Captain Clara Myers of the Federation starship Galaxy. We arrived here via a sunspace corridor that collapsed and -”

“We are aware of how you arrived here.” Remnek interrupted her. “The Cardassian Union has done what your Federation did not have the strength to do and brought stability to not only the Union but the quadrants and closed the network. In the name of peace, we will allow you to leave our space without consequences.” The lilted way he spoke the word ‘peace’ indicated he wanted nothing of the sort but was at least satisfied with gloating.

Clara froze. Was it true? Did they really manage to seal off or even collapse part of the Underspace network? He had no reason to lie about it; it's not like the Galaxy had the tactical advantage in this situation. A less than genuine smile crossed her face. “Thank you, Gul. Keeping the peace with our neighbors is of utmost importance to the Federation. I must ask, however, that we be allowed to search for our missing crew members. They were in two Runabouts behind us and had to leave the network at a different spot. I'm sure you'd agree that if your crew was missing, you'd ask to do the same.”

The man's face turned even more sour. “A Cardassian crew would not have gotten themselves lost. Your request is denied. If they are found they will be returned; the Detapa Council has ordered all lost travelers to be returned home if found. You are in the sovereign territory of the Cardassian Union; I suggest you take our offer of peace.”

The line cut out, sending the viewscreen back to the view of the Keldon Class ship flanked by two Galor Class ships.

Clara returned to her seat. “As soon as we have the route from the Cardassian, lay in a course and engage at whatever speed they want.” A tone of defeat filtered into her voice.

Brex turned to face her. “Is there anything we can do to push them to let us search?”

Clara shook her head. “We can't outgun them, the Treaty of Bajor has been meaningless for years, and they have a point: we're in their backyard. Any aggressive action we take is tantamount to war.”

Brex silently tuned back towards his console as Erith's console chimed.

“I have the route. It's a pretty straight shot to Federation space at Warp 8. Should get us to the border in about three days.”

“Then, by all means, Ensign, take us to Warp 8.”

Clara leaned back in her read room chair, she held a cup of coffee that had long since gone cold as she gazed out the window. She'd darkened it slightly to block the bright blue light of being at warp. They'd arrive at the border in just under 48 hours and which point they'd head to Starbase 72 to get patched up and be debriefed. She'd gotten some info once they linked back into the Federation comm network but there were still lots of unknowns.

The doors slid open as Commander Alex Conklin walked into the room; taking advantage of knowing the fact that Myers rarely set her door to ‘office’ mode unless she was in a meeting. He sat down in the chair without a word. 

She turned to face him and it didn't take much to see the stress of the last several days had taken its toll. She saw the lines on his face and his normally bright blue eyes had seemingly dulled. His bright blonde hair, normally hanging at shoulder length, had been put up in a rushed bun.

“Do you think we'll find them?” 

Clara placed her coffee cup on the desk. “I do. When we get back to Starbase 72 we'll be able to upload the scans and mapping of the parts of the network we went through. Hopefully, another ship was in that area of Underspace at some point and if they exited anywhere near where the Runabouts did, we can narrow down our search.”

He shifted in his seat, shoulders drooping as he let go of some of the stress he'd been holding. “I hope we find a match. If not, and they are in Cardassian space, do you trust them to hand them back over?”

Clara sighed. “I think so. The Detapa Council has little appetite for war and while they could theoretically just take them prisoner and claim they never found them, my understanding is that when the apertures all collapsed, people raced through the network to escape and ended up in lots of places they were not supposed to; there are many eyes on the Cardassians and every other government we have diplomatic relations with. They can't get away with much.”

Alex shifted again in the seat, moving his right leg up to sit on it. Clara had known him long enough to recognize his tell tell ‘I am still stressed out’ sign. 

“Hopefully they aren't in some far flung part of the quadrant. I know they are trained officers and Geden is an experienced leader, even if he won't admit it, but those Runabouts can only get you so far.”

Calling Demar by his first name hadn't gone unnoticed by Clara. She knew they had standing appointments for a working lunch and over the last few weeks of shakedown Demar had gotten more comfortable in his role, though he still had a ways to go. What also hadn't gone unnoticed was the fact that Alex had taken a liking to the Trill, even if he hadn't realized that himself quite yet. She was loathe to poke at that right now, but, it was one way to redirect him away from worrying. 

“You and the Commander seem to be.” She paused to consider her words. “Working well together.”

A small crossed his face for a brief moment. She wasn't sure if that was an unconscious action or not.

“It was pretty rough in the beginning but he's relaxing a bit; opening up. He's still really closed off a lot but there are bits and pieces of personality peaking though; there a good man underneath that standoffishness.”

“Sounds like you're well on your way to a good friendship.”

 “Yeah.” He said softly. Another quick smile crossed Alex's face before being interrupted by a long yawn. 

She leaned forward, placing a hand on the arm that was resting on the desk. “Get some rest, Alex. Nothing much is going to change until we reach 72.”

He gave Clara a lopsided smile. “Is that an order from my Cpatain or a request from my friend?”

She took a sip of her coffee, peering at him over the rim. “Both, Commander.”

He chucked, standing up. “Aye, aye ma'am.” He turned and began to walk out.

“Commander.” She said, stopping him. “I don't leave people behind, you know that. We'll find them, I promise.”

He gave her a soft smile before turning around and leaving.

She turned back to gazing out the window. She knew he didn't completely believe her; she didn't even quite believe it herself.