“Captain. We are approaching the coordinates.”

Eager to get started with their mission, Treylana started restating orders that she had discussed with her staff in the briefing days ago “Yellow alert! Slow to one half impulse. McDougal, raise shields. Petrov, start scanning the region for anything that might indicate a territorial boundary and relay whatever you find to the helm so that Tucker can plot a course around it. We don’t want to inadvertently wander into places that we’re not wanted.”

The crew acknowledged her orders and the warning lights scattered around the bridge began to slowly pulse their golden hue to indicate the ship was now at yellow alert. Xenie Petrov was frantically working at her station to pull up any relevant sensor data she could. The so-called munitions range they were on the border of spanned an area much larger than she ever would have thought necessary. “Captain, sensors indicate that an area encompassing approximately point-seven light years makes up this region of space. I am picking up a warning buoy bearing thre-two-three mark two-six, distance eight hundred thousand kilometers.”

Petrov paused for a moment as all of the sensor data was still coming in. Sensors were beginning to pick up a slight graviton disturbance. Before she could make heads or tails of what she was reading, an object emerged from subspace. “Captain!” she exclaimed, but before she could finish her sentence it had impacted Atlantia’s port shields. The ship shook violently from the resulting explosion.

“Shields down to sixty-two percent” William reported after picking himself up off the floor.

“Captain. Sensors are picking up a residual shockwave.”

“From the weapon that hit us?”

“Negative. This one is not emanating outward from us, but rather coming toward us.”

“Tamura, reroute power to compensate.” Treylana ordered.

The shockwave impacted the ship. The reallocation of power to the ship’s shields helped but it had dissipated so much that this time the ship only gently rocked from it. Suddenly, all forward movement stopped and every monitor on the bridge turned black and was replaced with a singular symbol. One by one each station officer elaborated what they could and could not access. Phil chimed in as well as he furiously attempted to pull up information using his access codes “Captain, the computer says I don’t have sufficient clearance.”

“I can see that. It says here that level ten clearance is required. Captain’s eyes only.”

“Do you know what it means?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I will be in my ready room trying to figure this out. I’ll provide answers when I can. You have the bridge.” She said as she rose from her command chair.

“Coffee black.” Treylana ordered from the replicator. Taking the hot mug to her seat, she loaded up her computer terminal. It too was showing the same symbol that was on the bridge. “Computer, what is this symbol?” she asked.

“That symbol represents the last letter in the Greek alphabet, Omega.”

“What is the nature of this symbol on the monitors?”

“That information is restricted. State clearance code.”

“Hess-seven-six-charlie-tango, clearance level ten.”

“Confirmed. The nature of the symbol indicates that the Omega phenomenon has been detected within five light years. Implement the Omega directive immediately. All other priorities have been rescinded including the Prime Directive. All data pertaining to Omega including log entries are to be encrypted until the end of the mission.”

“Pull up information pertaining to the Omega Directive. Seal the doors to my ready room, no entry without my authorization. Encrypt and restrict access to all sensor data to my access level and route it to my ready room. Finally, Disengage bridge security lockouts.”

“Commander, I have helm control back. Navigational sensors are still locked out” Kalela said as she turned to face the man. She had been feeling useless the moment the systems locked out.

“It’s a start at least.”

Phil was about activate the comm and see if the captain had an update regarding their situation. As he did, Treylana emerged from her ready room with a couple of PADDs in hand. “Lieutenant, there is an M class planet in orbit of a binary system four-point-two lightyears from here. Lay in a course at maximum warp for as long as you are able. Commander, I will want to speak with you in a half an hour. Until then I will be in Engineering and Sickbay.”

Before anyone could acknowledge her instructions, Treylana had already stepped into the turbolift and instructed it to take her to deck ten, main engineering.

Paul was sitting at a diagnostic station when Treylana arrived. She called out to her long-time friend and handed him one of the PADDs she had been carrying. “I need these shield modifications installed around the warp core as soon as possible.”

Paul looked down at the PADD to see what was in store for his team. It was a specification for multiphasic shielding so complex, he wasn’t quite sure he understood what purpose it served. “Sure thing Captain.” he said “I can have these modifications installed in approximately eighteen hours.”

“I need them installed by sixteen-hundred hours.”

“Captain, I’m not completely sure what these modifications do. I can’t rush the work.”

“Paul…we are going to reach our destination at twenty-hundred hours. I need these modifications in place before we get there. Use whatever personnel you need and work double shifts if you must to get the work done, but get it done. Make it your top priority. I want status updates reported directly to me every two hours.”

“Sir?” Harrison replied.

“Exactly as I ordered Paul. I’ll be in Sickbay next if you need me.”

Commander Brant turned around from examining a patient at the sound of the doors hissing open. “Captain. To what do I owe the pleasure? You’re not due for a physical for some time yet. Are you ill?”

“I need you to prepare twenty milligram doses of arithrazine for any away team member chosen to come with me when we reach our destination.”

“Captain, you do realize that arithrazine is used to severe theta radiation poisoning. I cannot authorize an away mission that would put the lives of the captain, her ship or her crew at risk.”

“In this case Allan, my orders supersede your medical authorization. You’ve known me for a long time Allan. You know I wouldn’t normally counter your medical authorization, but my orders come directly from Starfleet Command. I’m not sure I fully understand them yet but they are orders.”

“Very well, but you understand that I will have to note this in my official report.”

“As long as you encrypt any logs during this mission for level ten access, you do what you must. I will see you at twenty hundred hours.”

Treylana returned to the bridge in slightly less time than she said she would. The one person in her crew she was not looking forward to having a conversation with was seated in the command chair. She glanced in his direction and stated with an ominous tone “My ready room when you’re ready.”

This didn’t bring any comfort to the already puzzled man who was her First Officer, but after a quick second to gain his composure he stood up, adjusted his uniform and proceeded to follow Treylana into the ready room.

As soon as the door closed behind her pursuing colleague, she began to address him. “Commander…Phil. Over the next fourty-eight to seventy-two hours, I will be demanding a lot from this crew, with little to no explanation as to why. I want you to know that every decision has been meticulously planned out and there is a reason for it. There will be no room for debate or negotiation. Everyone will be on a need to know basis until this mission is complete. Is that clear?”

“Does this have anything to do with that Greek Omega symbol on the monitors earlier?”

“I cannot go into detail about that. What I can tell you is that I have a series of tasks that need to be completed and I would like for you to assign them while I continue with additional sensor analysis.”

“Very well. What do you need done?”

“First, I need a handful of torpedoes modified to a yield of at least eighty isotons. Ten should be sufficient. I would like for McDougal and Tucker to handle that.”

“Eighty isotons? Are we planning to destroy a starbase?”

“Need to know Commander. Second, have Tamura work with Ops to increase the structural integrity field.” She handed Phil the remaining PADD she had in her hand and continued. “Lastly, on that PADD is a schematic for a piece of technology. I want you and Petrov and any other personnel you require to have that equipment constructed as soon as possible. It is crucial to the success of this mission. Please get started right away. Dismissed.”

Treylana breathed a sigh of relief as her Phil left the room. It was going to be a trying couple of days. She just had to keep reminding herself that she was following Starfleet orders and not making things up as she went.

Phil exited the ready room with a very perplexed look on his face. He knew something very serious was going on, but Treylana wouldn’t give him any explanation as to what it was. “When was the first officer ever left out of the loop?” he thought to himself. It didn’t seem right, but there had to be some logical reason. Until such time where his captain’s actions became a danger to the ship or her crew, he would give her the benefit of the doubt. For now he had assignments to delegate.

“Beta shift bridge crew, report for duty.” he said after tapping his combadge.

“Beta shift already sir? We’ve barely just started the shift.” William exclaimed.

William was a man of duty and honour and for whatever reason, the entire bridge crew was being replaced early. He felt like he was being punished.

Phil turned toward the helm and called for Tucker to join the two of them. Kalela put the ship into auto navigation and did so.

“Don’t worry Lieutenant. You’re not being relieved of duty. The captain has some tasks that need to be completed in a very short timeframe. All of the senior officers are being reassigned until they have been completed. I will rearrange the duty shifts later to reflect that. The captain would like for you and Tucker to head to torpedo control and prepare ten photon torpedoes with a yield of at least eighty isotons.”

“Excuse me? Did you say eighty? What the hell are we planning to blow up?”

“You know as much as I do. Try to keep the speculation to a minimum and avoid any idle gossip. I’m sure the captain will make her plans known when the time is right.”

“Aye sir.” William replied with a slight disdain in his voice.

William was relieved by his Beta shift counterpart and after passing on any relevant information, he and Tucker headed to the turbolift.

Phil glanced over toward the Operations station next “Tamura, you’re going to need to work with other members of your staff and see if we can increase the structural integrity field of the ship.”

“By how much are we talking? Structural integrity is already operating at peak efficiency.”

“I don’t have an answer to that. Given that we’re creating eighty isoton warheads, let’s assume the worst possible scenario and give it a little extra to counter it.”

“Understood.”

Phil examined the PADD in his hand one more time. He wasn’t sure what the contraption on it was but he couldn’t dismiss the fact that the captain made it seem like out of all the tasks that were being assigned, this one was the most important. He could only assume that was why she tasked him with its construction rather than having an engineer lead the project. Fortunately the blueprints were written such that an ensign or a fourth year cadet could assemble it. It was, however, going to be a time consuming task.

With Beta shift now in place to take over, Phil turned his attention to the Lieutenant in charge “The bridge is yours.” and then made way for the turbolift “Petrov, I need your assistance in cargo bay one.”

“Damnit! Why won’t these modifications work!” Paul said as he slammed his fist on the console.

“Sir! We just blew two more EPS relays in section seventeen.” a young ensign said in an attempt to update his commanding officer.

“ARGH!” Paul shouted only half paying attention to his crewmember’s update as he stared at the PADD for a minute thinking to himself “The shield emitters are trying to draw more power than the relays can handle. Maybe if we add a couple more emitters, we can draw the needed power in smaller increments evenly distributed.”

“Sir! The relays.”

Paul looked up from his work to acknowledge the ensign directly “Hmm? Oh right! Send crewman Jeffries to go replace them. Then, I want you and Clarkson to grab and install two more shield emitters here and here.” he said pointing at the port and starboard sides of the warp core on the diagram.

“This was supposed to be the easy part of the modifications. I haven’t even begun to configure the multiphasic programming.” he thought to himself again.

Thinking that a change of scenery might help his thought process, Paul got up from his workstation and headed for his office. Perhaps if he focused on something else for a few minutes he could get back on track. He sat down in his chair and gently massaged his temples. He could feel a slight headache coming on, but wasn’t about to deviate from his duties to go to sickbay for something so trivial.

“Computer, begin Chief Engineer’s log.”

“All logs from senior staff must be encrypted.”

“Since when?”
“The order for senior officer logs to be encrypted was given by Captain Hess on stardate 76425.6.”

“Fine. Begin log and encrypt.”

The computer chirped a few times as it set up to receive and encrypt the incoming log entry.

“Chief Engineer’s log, stardate 76425.8. It’s been roughly two hours since the captain asked me to install multiphasic shielding around the warp core. The modifications she has requested are not going as planned. I’ve blown out at least a half dozen relays just trying to get enough power to the emitters for the configuration requested. Not that what she is requesting is impossible. It’s just the timeframe she’s wanting it completed.

Normally I would have teams laying new circuitry to account for the increased power load which could have been done in eighteen hours, but these modifications need to be completed in eight. I have a theory that might achieve the configuration necessary. Without a complete understanding of the configuration however, I’m not certain my theory will hold. I just wish the captain would be more forthcoming with answers. End log.”

Two photon torpedoes sat mounted atop workbenches in the forward section of Torpedo Control. Their cases opened to expose the internal circuitry. Greater numbers of torpedoes sat stacked in racks ready to be loaded into the torpedo tubes at the push of a button. Kalela was working on one of the table mounted torpedoes while William was working the other, their backs to one another. “I should be up on that bridge right now! Not Beta shift!” William said in disgust.

“You’re the Chief Tactical Officer. Obviously you’re the most qualified person to handle this task. Otherwise the captain would not have requested it.”

“Exactly! I am the Chief Tactical Officer. My place is on the bridge. Especially if we will be facing an immediate threat. I’ve known the captain for a long time. It’s not like her to keep secrets from anyone.”

“Relax Will. I’m sure the captain has her reasons for what she’s doing. Hand me the phase modulator please?” she paused with her arm outstretched to receive the requested tool “I’m sure we’ll be told everything we need to know when the time is right.”

Although Kalela’s words were not exactly what he wanted to hear, it did manage to put him at ease slightly so that he could focus on the task at hand. Following her procedures in tandem with William’s, she was now ready to load the new warhead into her first torpedo. She continued “What yield were these being configured to again?”

“Apparently the captain requested at least eighty isotons per torpedo.” William replied.

“A single one of these could destroy a small planet. I can only imagine what we’re going up against if we need all ten.”

“The Commander ordered us not to speculate. You’re right though. It’s gotta be huge.”

William finished configuring the charge and inserted it into the torpedo casing and closed the access panels. Kalela wasn’t far behind him and finished up her torpedo a few seconds later. “There! Two down, eight more to go.”

Treylana finished going over the latest sensor data. It was confirmed. Omega had indeed been detected on the fourth planet of the binary star system they were en route to. There was no denying it. The real question now was, exactly how many molecules were they going to have to deal with.

“Computer. Begin encrypted subspace message to Commodore Bennet, USS Discovery, Delta Quadrant”

She took a sip from her coffee, her third one of the morning, while she waited.

“Commodore,

I regret to inform you that Atlantia has discovered the presence of Omega molecules. I have initiated the Omega Directective per Starfleet regulation and due to our present location in the Delta Quadrant with no access to a specialist team, I have set course for the source of the molecule, a planet in a nearby binary star system. We are prepared to take whatever action is necessary to completely eradicate the molecule and ensure the safety of the sector and possibly the quadrant.

Captain Treylana Hess
USS Atlantia”

Treylana stared blankly at her terminal for several minutes thinking about how she wished her former captain was with her right now. She needed some moral support. She knew everything she was doing was according to Starfleet protocol, but part of her wondered what kind of an effect her decisions would have on her crew. How far would they be willing to trust those decisions?

“Computer. Send message.”

It was early into the afternoon hours. Crew all over the ship were running rampant to either complete important tasks that had been assigned to them or relieve personnel that had been. If there had been anyone aboard the ship at that moment that wasn’t a member of the crew, they might have guessed that the ship was at red alert. Though there weren’t any alert klaxons or flashing red lights to indicate such.

Inside cargo bay one, the doors had just closed behind two crewmen led by an ensign, the three of whom were just entering the shuttle bay to relieve some of the men and women already working hard on getting the large piece of technology assembled per the captain’s orders. The ensign was toting a medium sized Starfleet issue clamshell case while one of the crewmen was in control of an anti-gravity until loaded with a myriad of engineering components.

“Hand me that hyperspanner would you!” came an unknown shout from across the room.

Through all of the hustle and bustle, and various crew vying for a piece of Commander Nichol’s attention, the ensign managed to eye the commander looking over schematics and delegating new tasks to each one in turn. He approached the commander and offered him the case, “Excuse me Commander. Here is the flow regulator you requested.”

“Thank you Ensign. Please go and relieve Lieutenant McKinley.” Phil replied, taking the case from the man without even looking up to acknowledge him.

Phil keyed in a few sequences into his console to account for the newly acquired flow regulator. Simulations indicated that power would still be too high, but not by much. “Petrov,” he called out, “decrease power output by one-point-two terrawatts.”

Xenie acknowledged affirmatively before questioning, “Commander, what do you think this contraption does?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea, but the captain seems to think it’s crucial to the mission.” Phil replied.

“Ensign Chu seems to think it’s a new kind of weapon against the Borg with us being so close to their territory here in the Delta Quadrant. Personally, I think that’s a little far-fetched.”

“That’s a distinct possibility, but then again it could also be a new type of pizza oven. Unfortunately, the captain is not at liberty to discuss her plans and this mission with us unless it’s necessary. There might be one way we can find out.”

Phil set down his PADD and motioned for Xenie to follow. The two proceeded to another nearby computer terminal, one that was typically dedicated to inventory management in the cargo bay, but with the commander’s command codes, could be reconfigured to access any kind of data he requested. He configured the terminal to query the ship’s library and pulled up the schematic for the machine they were building. “Computer, pull up any associated files to the schematic on the screen.”

“That information is restricted.” the computer replied.

“Of course it is.” he murmured to himself.

Phil then knelt down and yanked a panel off the base of the pedestal that housed the computer terminal, exposing the various isolinear chips that made the computer work. Instantly he was reminded of his academy days when he and some of his fellow classmates decided to prank their instructor. He began to swap chip after chip attempting to bypass some of the security lockouts.

“What are you doing Commander?” Xenie whispered with concern.

“An old academy trick,” he replied, “we did something similar when we tried to mess with the Commandant’s graduation speech.”

He was swapping the final sets of chips when suddenly the terminal went black. He looked up at Xenie and was about to ask her what she did when the comm system sounded.

“Hess to Commander Nichols. My ready room. NOW!”

Treylana was going over the multitude of reports that had been sent in from the various departments. With her first officer working on the resonance chamber, it was up to her to pick up the slack that he normally would have dealt with. Though with just having called her first officer to her ready room, she was beginning to wonder just how much longer he might be her first officer.

Paul informed her that the shielding was nearing completion, though he wasn’t sure if it was going to live up to the expectations. Sumiko informed her that they were able to get structural integrity increased by twelve percent. Allan reported that the arithrazine was ready to be administered at a moment’s notice and the mess hall staff stated that spaghetti bolognese was on the menu for this evening. She had also been lucky enough to receive a response to her message to Commodore Bennet.

“Captain Hess,

Let me first say that your message was received and understood regarding Omega. I regret that you were not given an adequate briefing on the subject, so I hope that your library computers were able to provide you with enough information to complete the task. As I am sure you are well aware by now, your mission is of the highest classification so I need not remind you that you are not to divulge anything regarding your assignment or the Omega molecule to your crew. This will no doubt test the limits of their trust, so I wish you all the best.

Commodore Zack Marshall-Bennet
USS Discovery”

She had just finished reading the message from the commodore when the chime for her door went off. She knew exactly who was on the other side of that door. She was not thrilled about the conversation that was about to follow, but called him in nonetheless. “Enter.”

“Sit.” she commanded as she stared at him blankly.

Phil walked in and sat down in the seat across the desk as Treylana stood up and walked around her desk and slowly paced back and forth around her first officer continuing to stare at him and think about what she was going to do. He could feel her stare as if it were a knife piercing into his skull trying to find an explanation to what was going on inside his head.

“Captain, if you’ll let me explain—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” interrupted Treylana “What you did was a clear violation of security protocol. If we were back in the Alpha Quadrant right now, I would have you brought up on charges and had you court martialed for what you did. The fact of the matter is right now, I don’t have that luxury. We have a critical mission to deal with and I need your help. I need to know that if something goes wrong, I can count on you to get this ship and her crew to safety.”

Phil didn’t like the way the conversation was headed. To him It sounded like she was talking about a suicide mission. He preferred to assume that she meant what she said in a worst case scenario. “Of course, Captain. My first duty is to this ship and crew. That’s precisely why I did what I did.”

Treylana moved back to her seat and looked Phil square in the face. “I’m not excluding you from information because I enjoy keeping you in the dark Phil. I’m doing it because I’ve been ordered to. One day you will look back on this incident and understand why, but until then I need you to follow my orders to the letter. If you can do that, I will allow you to resume your duties in the cargo bay. Otherwise, you will spend the duration of the mission in the brig.”

She paused and looked to him for a response, “Well?”

“Yes Captain. I’ll continue the work in the cargo bay. I’m sorry I let you down.”

“So am I.” she thought to herself.

“The time is twenty-hundred hours.” the computer announced with melodic chime.

Treylana’s eyes opened and she uprighted herself from her reclined position on the sofa in her ready room. It wasn’t common for her to sleep while she was technically on duty, but given the nature of her next task, she took her captain’s privilege and granted herself a small power nap to rejuvenate herself before arriving at their destination. She stood up, adjusted her uniform and fixed her hair when a call came from the bridge announcing their arrival and requesting her presence.

Heeding that request, she proceeded out onto the bridge from the room that had basically been her dwelling for the better part of the day. “Scan the planet. What can you tell me about it?” she said as she took a seat in her command chair.

“Sensors read the planet as class M, oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, surface area composed of sixty percent water and forty percent continental landmasses. There appear to be indications of a highly advanced civilization in several large cities on the two largest continents in the Northern hemisphere. However, I’m not detecting any life on the planet’s surface.”

Treylana glanced back at her science officer in shock, “No lifesigns at all?” she asked.

“No ma’am. I’m picking up what appears to be an explosion pattern, centered around one of the largest cities. I can’t quite make out the readings though. There’s too much theta radiation to be able to get clear readings.”

The ship wasn’t but five minutes into the area and already Treylana was on edge about the situation. Fortunately the past twelve hours allowed her to prepare for what was to come. “Helm, put us into a geosynchronous orbit above the largest city. If it should come to it, be prepared to warp out of here at a moment’s notice. If that happens, you’ll only get one shot. Understood?”

Unaccustomed to taking orders directly from the captain, the Gamma shift helm officer acknowledged her orders and ordered the ship into position as requested.

“Bridge to cargo bay one. What’s the status of the resonance chamber?”

“We’ve completed construction,” replied Nichols, “but we haven’t tested it yet. If it’s any comfort, we’ve followed the schematic precisely so it should work.”

“Very well. We’ll have to hope for the best. I’d like for you to take over here on the bridge. Have Petrov remain in the cargo bay to monitor things.”

Treylana terminated the communication and thought about what needed to be done next. She needed to beam down to the planet and get a first hand look at the Omega molecules and what she was dealing with. How could such a catastrophe happen to an entire planet? She thought to herself. She initiated another call via the intercom before rising from her seat and making her way toward the turbolift, “Engineering. Paul…meet me in transporter room one with one other from your team. We’re beaming down to the planet. But before you do, make sure to stop by sickbay for aritrazine inoculations. It’ll briefly protect against the theta radiation down there. We’re also going to need several pattern enhancers and a portable data storage device.”

She didn’t know what had happened to the people on the planet, but if she could save some of their culture by downloading their databases, at least they would not be forgotten.

After receiving her aritrazine inoculation, Treylana made her way to transporter room one where she joined up with Paul and a young chief petty officer. There were a half dozen pattern enhancers already sitting on the transporter pad awaiting the team to assemble. She looked at the two officers as if she was an instructor getting ready to address her pupils for the first time, “You’ve all probably heard a lot of rumors over the last several hours as to what’s going on. Furthermore, you are going to see some things in a few minutes that I will not be able to explain. Under normal circumstances I would deal with this myself, but your assistance is required in order to complete the task as quickly as possible. Our inoculations will only give us about twenty to twenty-five minutes of protection before we begin suffering severe theta radiation poisoning. If any of your colleagues should ask you about what has happened today, you will disavow any knowledge of the event or face extreme discipline. Do I make myself clear?”

Paul looked at his captain knowing full well that she meant what she said, even if he had never seen the side of her that now presented itself just prior to their transport to the surface. He and the chief both acknowledged the captain in unison.

“Good. Paul, you and I will locate the source of the explosion. There will probably be some kind of a test chamber down there. Once we find it, we’re going to set up the pattern enhancers around it so that we can beam the contents into the piece of equipment in cargo bay one. If all goes well, that equipment will neutralize the threat and we’ll call it a day. Chief, your task will be to find a central computer of some kind and try and download whatever you can about the people that once lived here. Historical archives, cultural databases, anything that can be used as a record of who these people were.”

She paused for a moment to let her instructions sink in. “Alright, let’s go.”

The three of them all took up a delta formation on the transporter pad around the pattern enhancers and Treylana nodded to the transporter chief to initiate the transport.

The team rematerialized into what appeared to be the remains of a laboratory. Large amounts of debris made it almost unrecognizable, however there were some areas that remained intact due to structural reinforcements that had been put into place. Treylana hadn’t noticed any bodies in the immediate vicinity. She pulled out her tricorder and began scanning. There were no remnant traces of DNA either. Either there was no one in the room when the explosion occurred, or every trace amount of biological matter was vaporized in the explosion. Not wanting to dwell on the matter, allowing such thoughts detract from their objective, she continued her focus on locating the source of the molecules. She picked up on a signal East of their location and gestured with her left hand the direction which they needed to proceed.

Along their route the chief spotted a computer terminal along a reinforced wall that was still powered. He fell back from the group and set up his data storage device. It would take him some time to gain access to their systems, or so he thought. Though hopefully his tricorder and the universal translator would help to make defeating that barrier a lot easier.

Treylana and Paul continued forward making their way through the debris, climbing over rock piles one minute and ducking under collapsed archways the next. Treylana’s tricorder beeping more furiously the closer they got to the molecules and she could see a bright glow emanating from the next room. Treylana assumed what they were searching for was in that direction. Upon entering the room, they could see a unit that resembled the reaction chamber of the warp core aboard the Atlantia sitting in the center of the room. The only difference seemed to be that the top had been blown clean off.

The number of molecules that were registering on her tricorder were far more than she had imagined. She had expected a few dozen, maybe a couple hundred, but her scans indicated that there were possibly thousands or more molecules in the reaction chamber. “Looks like we’ve found what we’re looking for,” she quipped, “We’d better get started.”

It took Paul every ounce of restraint to refrain from asking questions about what exactly it was they were doing, but thinking back to their briefing in the transporter room, he thought it was probably better that he didn’t know. He wouldn’t be able to leak information to his colleagues that he didn’t know. Taking cues from Treylana’s positioning of the first pattern enhancer, he positioned two more on the opposite side of the chamber approximately six meters apart, activating each one once they were in place.

Treylana positioned and activated the final pattern enhancer and signalled the ship once the field was initialized, “Hess to Atlantia. We’re in position and ready to begin transport.”

She waited for a brief moment as the message was routed to the cargo bay. Xenie had been monitoring the readouts of the chamber and was satisfied with what she was seeing. “Ready to begin transport Captain.” she replied, “Locking onto the coordinates now. Initializing transport.”

As soon as the transport cycle began, alarms started going off in the cargo bay. Something was not right with the resonance chamber she couldn’t identify. Considering how crucial to the mission Treylana made the chamber sound, Xenie frantically rushed to abort the transport cycle. Without knowing what the issue was, she couldn’t risk continuing.

“What happened up there?” Treylana demanded.

“I don’t know Captain. Something is wrong with the chamber that I can’t identify. I’m going to have to run a full diagnostic of the chamber if we are to attempt to transport again.”

“We don’t have that luxury Commander. This substance is too unstable to make another attempt. We’re going to have to go with plan B.”

Treylana instructed Paul to help her gather the pattern enhancers and then the two of them made their way back toward their teammate and the beam-in site. “How did you fare with the computer systems?” Treylana asked the chief as they approached him.

“It was surprisingly easier than anticipated, Captain. For a highly advanced species, it seems they put little effort into the security of their systems. I have their entire databases downloaded.”

“Excellent work Chief, hopefully we can learn a lot about them.”

They reached the point of beam in, when suddenly Treylana started to feel a little light headed. It had been expected as the effects of the arithrazine were beginning to wear off. Signalling to the ship she requested an immediate beam out before she started feeling really ill.

When they rematerialized back on the ship, Treylana looked at Paul queasily, “Report to sickbay and have the doctor check the two of you out.”

“Aye, Captain.” Paul replied.

Treylana was about to leave the transporter room before stopping in her tracks and looking back at Paul, “Oh! And tell the doctor I’ll report there as soon as I’ve dealt with the situation. I know he’ll get his panties in a bunch when I’m not there with the two of you?” then continued to the nearby turbolift to take her to the bridge.

The turbolift doors opened and Phil looked back to see a commanding officer that looked like she had seen better days. Treylana caught the expression on his face and knew what he was going to say, “I’m fine Commander. I’ll go see the doctor in a bit. What’s our status here?”

“Everything is status quo as far as operations go. Xenie reports that she believes the instability of whatever it was we were trying to beam to the cargo bay caused the chamber to malfunction. However, it’s also possible there was an error in the construction.”

Feeling like she was about to lose her space legs from the theta radiation, Treylana took a seat next to Phil, leaned in, eyed him with an almost defeated look on her face and whispered, “I don’t think that chamber would have been enough to contain what I saw down there.”

She took a moment to regain her bearings. Her next few commands were going to be difficult for the less experienced Gamma shift. “All hands, red alert!” she began, “Helm, plot a course away from this planet, maximum warp but do not engage until ordered to do so.”

She looked over at the tactical station next. Perhaps it was how she was feeling, but for whatever reason, she couldn’t put a name to the female Andorian Lieutenant’s face currently occupying the seat. “Lieutenant, lock onto the epicenter of the explosion on the planet’s surface, load a full spread of the modified torpedoes and prepare to fire on my mark.”

“Ma’am? Did you say the planet’s surface?”

“Yes Lieutenant. I said the planet’s surface. Is there a problem?”

“N-n-no ma’am.”, the Lieutenant struggled to reply.

Treylana noticed the reluctance in the Lieutenant’s face. She couldn’t blame her for being hesitant to fire on a planet, inhabited or otherwise. “If you’re unwilling to do it Lieutenant, I can have you relieved of duty.”

The Andorian sat there for a minute staring blankly at her console, unsure of how she was going to proceed. Would she follow her captain’s orders and fire on the planet even if it seemed overkill or would she disobey a direct order and risk whatever consequences came about?

Treylana didn’t have the time to sit around and wait for the Lieutenant to sort out her moral conflicts in the matter. “Stand aside Lieutenant.” she said as she stood up to go and take over the tactical station.

She armed and proceeded to load the torpedoes into the tubes and locked on to the coordinates of the chamber. “Helm, as soon as the torpedoes are away, engage engines.”

“Firing!” she announced as soon as the console indicated the tubes were ready to launch.

A full spread of five high yield torpedoes catapulted out from the forward launchers. As soon as they were clear, Atlantia rotated to an escape vector and vaulted into warp drive. They were unable to see first hand, but the operations officer reported that sensors were able to confirm that successful detonation had occurred and that a massive shockwave was rapidly approaching.

Within seconds, the ship was rocked by the shockwave. Their outward trajectory from the explosion helped to dissipate the severity of the impact. Once it had passed, Treylana ordered the ship to a full stop so that they could assess the damage and then pulled up long range sensors. She scanned the system. The M class planet that was once there, was a mere fraction of what it had been moments ago. Approximately twenty-seven percent of the planet had been blown away. The good news was that Omega was no longer registering on sensors. The threat had been contained.

“Stand down red alert. Commander, have all decks report in as soon as possible and then get some rest. It’s been a long day.” Treylana ordered.

“Aye, Captain.”

Treylana relieved herself from the tactical station and permitted the Andorian to resume her duties. As the Andorian sat down, she placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, then proceeded to her ready room.

As soon as the doors to her ready room closed behind her, she ordered the replicator to produce a mug of raktajino. In her current condition it was the last thing she needed, but at the very least she had a log entry to file to put the Omega business behind her.

She took her hot mug of coffee from the replicator and sat down at her desk. “Begin encrypted log entry.” she instructed.

“Captain’s log, stardate 76427.05. This will be my final encrypted log regarding Omega. We arrived at the source of the molecules to find a planet completely devoid of life. The planet was once home to a highly advanced civilization. We don’t know their reasons for experimenting with such a dangerous substance, however during our attempt to transport the molecules into the resonance chamber, we were able to successfully download their databases for further study.

“The attempt to transport the molecules into the resonance chamber failed. Lieutenant Commander Petrov reports that there was an issue with the chamber but cannot explain the reason. As a result, we had to use the modified torpedoes on the planet itself, an action that was both catastrophic, but successful in neutralizing Omega.

“I have to give special credit to my crew during this mission. While the limits of their trust in me was severely tested, they displayed a great amount of resolve when it came to following my orders. I can only hope that a situation such as this never occurs again, but if it does, I have full confidence that my crew will perform just as well, if not better than they did today.”

“End log.”