Greg leaned back in his chair as he reviewed the daily log. Their departure seemed rushed, and for the moment, he truly didn’t feel like he had a handle on things or the crew yet. But, how could he? They had just met. Short of a few issues here and there, nothing drastic had happened to force involvement. Everyone was just going through the motions, ensuring that the ship was operational and ready for whatever fate tossed at them.

Standing up, the Captain walked over to the replicator and ordered a coffee. Picking up the glass, he tapped his comm badge with his free hand, “Commander Koerner, could you join me in the ready room please,” he requested.

Natalya had been working when she heard the call to come and meet with the CO. She quickly replicated a Raktajino and headed for the Europa’s Ready Room. She had been up a few hours, and she was still feeling the fatigue from not getting enough sleep. She sounded the door chime and waited.

Greg had found himself looking out one of the more oversized windows when the door chime sounded, “enter,” he called out. “Commander,” he smiled, “come in, can I get you something to drink,” he gestured to an empty chair?

Natalya smiled and lifted up the thermos that held her Raktajino in it. “No, Sir! I came prepared.” She stated with a chuckle. She sat down in the seat adjacent to him.

“Good, good,” he nodded, “I apologize that we really haven’t gotten much of an opportunity to meet one another yet. Getting this ship operational took a bit of time, and well certain formalities fell by the wayside.” He sipped his coffee, “I had hoped we would get our first mission by now, but Starfleet is taking their dear sweet time, I think.” He smiled, “probably making sure we don’t fall apart at the seams first.”

Natalya shook her head. “It is not a problem. I have been going around making sure everything was running properly, and the shifts are set up correctly.” She took a long sip of her coffee, “It looks like we’re holding together…at least at the moment.” She said with assurance.

Greg laughed, “don’t say that too loudly; Starfleet tends to call, especially when they think moral might be a bit too high.” Greg picked up his cup and took a sip. “We have a very interesting crew,” he added, “I’ve been looking over the manifest; I gotta say it looks like the person in charge of the duty shifts are going to have their work cut out for them.” He was joking, knowing full well that the First Officer was in charge of at least review all that.”

He set the cup back down on the desk, “gotta say,” he chuckled, “I don’t think I will miss that one.” Just as he finished, the comm panel on his desk sounded. “See, I told you, Starfleet is listening.”

Captain, priority one message from Starfleet Command

Greg looked at his XO, “I think our orders are coming in,” he tapped his comm badge, “route it through to my ready room.” It took only a moment as the official seal of the Federation was replaced by an older man, probably human. If Greg were to guess, he would say maybe mid-fifties. “Commodore,” he greeted the man.

The Commodore nodded, “I hope I am not interrupting you, Captain, but we need your assistance. I don’t have a lot of time, so this is going to be quick. The Cardassian Empire has contacted us requesting assistance locating a missing transport,” he looked at a padd on his desk, “The Eldara. Her last communication put her way off course and heading straight for the badlands. You are the closest ship in the area. Get the Europa to the badlands, see what we can find, and location that ship.”

Natalya listened closely as she began to jot notes down on her padd; she was unsure what to expect. Though the Cardassians were not enemies, she wasn’t sure she trusted them.

Greg looked at the Commodore for a bit, “Were the Cardassians willing to share any details of the Eldara’s mission or why she might be in the area.”

“Now come on, Captain, you and I both know the Cardassians just don’t give out information,” the Commodore replied, “and I don’t entirely trust them in this case either. Be mindful, be careful, and most importantly, be safe. Find the Eldara and get them out of the badlands.” The man folded his arms, “I wish I had more, but the information is concise. I will send you all we have, but fair warning, it’s not much.”

The Commodore looked over his shoulder as if he was talking to someone else, as he turned his attention back to the Europa Captain, “My apologies, but I have to go.” Then without warning or anything else, the man was gone.

Greg looked at his Executive Officer, “well, that wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.”

Natalya had a look of concern on her face. “Something about this doesn’t feel right to me, Sir. This may be brazen to say, but I recommend a lockdown of all systems when and if we find the Cardassians.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I think this will be a good test of the crew. I just believe we need to proceed with all precautions in place.”

“Good test or not, my question is, are they ready,” the Captain asked, “the intense plasma storms and gravitational anomalies will definitely push the envelope on people’s abilities.” Greg took a moment to consider his options, “this doesn’t feel right to me either; caution is certainly needed. I will review the logs sent over from the Commodore and see what I can find out about this Cardassian ship. In the meantime, set a course for the badlands, warp 7. Then get with Engineering; we need to ensure we are ready for anything.”

Natalya was going to gloss over the fact that he ignored her recommendation. He had to have heard it, and that was all that mattered. “I don’t know of a better way to see if they are ready, Sir! That being said, I don’t like the feeling of this either. Something seems off.”

She got up from her seat as she had already been dismissed and headed for the bridge. Upon arrival, she looked at the current flight ops officer. “Set a course for the badlands, warp 7!”

She saw the nod of affirmation as the officer followed her orders. She tapped on her comm badge “Koerner to Engineering, we’re heading for the badlands, and we are unsure of what lies ahead; make all preparations for entering the badlands. We don’t want to strand the ship.”

Greg followed the Executive Officer to the bridge as he headed for the turbolift; this was definitely not the kind of first mission he had expected. For now, however, he needed to focus on finding this Cardassian ship and ending this.

The Susan B. Anthony was barely in transporter range long enough to complete the transfer of Fleet Captain Brett Logan before high-tailing at maximum warp to return to Starbase 4. Above average in height, Captain Logan didn’t look much older than 40, even as he was pushing 60. Briefcase in hand, he stepped down off of the transporter platform to the surprise of the ensign operating the transporter console. It was the middle of the night, after all, and such a senior officer’s visit would normally come with a little more pomp and circumstance.

“Permission to come aboard?” Logan asked, his adjutant following him down off of the platform.

“G-Granted, Fleet Captain, sir,” the transporter operator squeaked out.

“Thank you. May I?” Logan said, gesturing towards the console.

The young woman nodded and stepped away to allow the senior officer to approach the console. He placed his hand on the authentication pad to the side, to allow the computer to confirm his identity through biometrics as if it didn’t already know who he was after reassembling him at the molecular level.

“Computer, recognize Logan, Fleet Captain Brett M., authorization code Logan-Phi-Upsilon-Zero.”

“Confirmed.”

“Authenticate my orders through the Starfleet Command data uplink, and make a note in the ship’s log that as of this startime I have assumed command of the Europa.”

“Confirmed. Fleet Captain Brett Logan now in command of starship Europa. All command codes transferred.”

“What’s your name, Ensign?” Logan asked.

“Elizabeth Stevenson, sir,” she replied.

“Well, Ensign Stevenson, I’d appreciate if my arrival were not made the subject of the gossip pool until I announce it to the senior staff in the morning. I assume that won’t be a problem?”

“Of course, sir. I don’t think anyone would believe me if I told them a fleet captain beamed aboard after 0100 hours, anyway,” she replied grinning.

“Probably not. As you were, Ensign,” Logan replied, chuckling. “With me, Forrest.”

Logan led the way into the corridor, Lieutenant Commander Christopher Forrest following close at his heels. Forrest had been his aid for about a year now, first as Logan was leading a task group near Breen space and now in his role as the Deputy Commander of the Fourth Fleet’s Expeditionary Group, which oversaw the Europa. Logan had only held this new role for about three days, and they hadn’t even reached fleet command before their transport was diverted to take them to the Europa, mere hours after learning it needed a new captain.

“Captain Alain really left during gamma shift?” Forrest asked, once they stepped into a turbolift.

“It’s not ideal, but sticking it out with family problems brewing in the background wouldn’t have been ideal either,” Logan replied. “Main Bridge.”

The lift started moving up.

“I hope he at least sends the skiff back,” Forrest muttered.

“I think I’ll be okay for a few weeks without it,” the captain replied. “But I’d prefer not to have a hole in the back of the ship for the duration. See what engineering can do to fabricate a cover or a plug.”

“I’ll add it to what I’m sure will be a long list for tomorrow, sir,” Forrest replied.

The lift stopped and opened up to the main bridge. The bosun’s whistle sounded as soon as Logan’s foot hit the deck of the bridge, causing a Lieutenant in red to stand up at his presence.

“Captain on the bridge!” the young man announced.

“As you were, Lieutenant–?”

“McCord, sir. The Anthony sent word you’d be taking over?”

“Already done. As I told the transporter attendant, I’d prefer to keep this quiet until I have a chance to inform the senior staff in the morning. Have them report to the briefing room at 0600 hours,” Logan replied.

“Understood, sir,” Lieutenant McCord replied. “I was waiting to resume course until I had your authorization.”

“How far away from the badlands are we?”

“About two light-years, sir. Another day at warp seven.”

“This is a rescue mission, not a pleasure cruise. Resume our previous heading at Warp 9.5,” the captain replied.

“Aye, sir,” the lieutenant said. “Helm, engage.”

There was a slight shudder as the ship jumped to warp, not quite pushing it to the maximum possible speed, but still fast enough to let the ship cover the distance in just over nine hours. Engineering would probably not be happy, but he wasn’t used to taking any sort of gruff from anyone when it came to accomplishing a mission. If there was a Cardassian ship lost in the badlands, it was probably damaged, if not destroyed, and those people would need his help.

“Good. I’ll be in the ready room,” Logan said, before leaving the bridge with Lieutenant Commander Forrest.

The room was small but well-appointed. Logan saw that Alain had not left behind any personal items, which made his intent not to be returning in any fashion quite apparent. He made a mental note to replicate a few things to place on the shelves to make the space look a little more inviting and to signify his intent to stay–even if it was just for this one mission until a permanent replacement could be found. Forrest looked unimpressed, but he looked that way so often Logan had come to wonder if it was just his face.

“Vintage. Lovely,” the younger man noted, running a finger along the viewport ledge to check for dust.

“She’s not even twenty years old yet, Commander,” Logan reminded him, before sitting down behind the desk. “Luna class ships are still the best in their size range,” he added.

“I don’t know about that, sir. The Anthony could run circles around this junker,” Forrest replied.

“I’d keep that opinion to yourself for the duration of our visit, if I were you,” Logan said, though he was fully aware that Forrest would probably say something stupid to one of the crew anyway. He was a brilliant logistician, but he had the personality of the stuck-up ladder-climber he was at heart.

“Probably a good idea. Hopefully we’ll be able to warp in, find the transport, and get back on our way to Fourth Fleet Command,” Forrest said.

“I don’t imagine this will take long, but if it’s truly lost, we might be poking around in the Badlands for weeks.”

Forrest groaned.

“You’re stressing me out, Forrest. Go to one of the science stations on the bridge and go through the ship’s logs. I want a report by 0500 on everything I need to know about this ship before the briefing.”

“Sleep was never on the table, was it?”

“Get to work,” Logan ordered, pulling the desk computer over to himself to start his own deep dive into the ship’s logs.

It was early in the morning, but the entire senior staff had assembled on time in the conference room, awaiting the introduction of their new commanding officer, after Captain Alain had departed the ship to attend to a family crisis back on Earth. It was still that bleary time of day where most beings’ brains were still booting up, but there was an air of anticipation in the room.

The doors parted to admit the two last attendees. The two Human men were about thirty years apart in age, but roughly the same height and both wore command red. The older man had dark hair and wore the insignia of a fleet captain, while the younger man was blond, more muscular, and a lieutenant commander. They sat down at opposite ends of the table.

“Good morning. I am Fleet Captain Brett Logan, and I’ve assumed command of the Europa for the duration of this mission. This is Lieutenant Commander Christopher Forrest, my adjutant. He’ll be filling in where needed, but the rest of you will continue in your current roles until further notice,” Logan explained. “Before we go any further, I’d like to know who I’m dealing with. Let’s go around the table and sound off: I want to know who you are and if there’s anything of special concern from your department.”

Natalya paused trying to understand what had happened. She had not been informed of the Captains quick departure until she woke up with the orders to attend a briefing. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond to the Fleet Captain. “Commander Natalya Koerner, Executive Officer. No current concerns to note.” She stated as she was still trying to understand everything that was happening.

Aarven looked around the room then back at the Captain, “Lieutenant Aarven Ashatia, Chief Engineering Officer.” She began as she spoke up first, though she normally wait until last she was getting more out of her comfort zone. “Nothing in Engineering as of right now,” she answered his last question.

Being seated next to the Chief Engineer, she knew that she would be next to sound off. Good thing she had her PADD with her with the recent update from her team’s efforts. Plus she didn’t get much sleep herself, maybe a few hours before getting back to work on the sensors. She then realized that Lieutenant Ashatia was done, so she focused her eyes right on the Captain. “Akira Rowe, Junior Grade Lieutenant, Chief of Operations, sir.” She spoke loudly and clear, something she was used to. “No special concerns, sir.”

“Lieutenant JG Beckman sir,” Willow said in her usually confident tone. She’d been one of the last in, didn’t have anything before her on the table and had made effort to make sure she looked the part of the model officer at least. Being quiet literally the most junior ‘senior officer’ in the room was competing in her headspace with her innate swagger, masked for the most part with a professional demeanour. “No concerns from flight ops aside from a few voiced concerns about flying in the Badlands, but I’m confident my people can handle it.” I’m confident -I- can handle it, being the subtext of that statement.

Eddie spoke up next. “Lieutenant Commander Edred Price, sir. Chief Science Officer. I’ve only just arrived myself, but there are no pressing concerns at present. I will inform you otherwise should something come up.”

— Chief Security and Tactical Office, Lieutenant Jolie Kyo —

With a PADD in hand, Jolie was going over the recent reports from the ship’s security force. As well as adding her newest member to the roster when she heard the announcement for all of the senior officers to report to the conference room. Cocking her head to the side as she listened to the voice over the intercom. “Who is that?” she said out loud to herself as she set down the PADD.

Standing up Jolie walked toward the closed door but not before stopping at a mirror that was near the exit of her interior office. Making sure that her uniform and appearance were in place, she nodded, and exited out of her office, and made her way to the closest lift that would take her to the bridge, and ultimately the conference room.

As the lift slowed to a stop on the deck which housed the bridge, Jolie could not help but wonder who had summoned her. The door to the lift, slid to the side with a soft hiss after it had come to a complete stop. Stepping out, Jolie made her way to the closed door of the conference room, and it was then that her eyes came to rest on two new people; both of whom were wearing command red, and one of which was wearing the four pips and bar of a fleet captain. She safely assumed that this man had been the one to call for the meeting of the senior officers.

After Jolie took her seat she listened to what Logan has stated and nodded, ‘This explains why we haven’t left yet,’ She thought to herself as several of the officers in attendance informed the CO of what was going on.

Jolie looked up from a PADD that she had brought with her and took a quick look at it before looking up at the Fleet Captain, “Nothing to report at this time, Sir,” she stated, “Just eager to get out there and see what is going on with this missing Cardassian vessel,” she added before going silent.

Krull, whom for the most part was sitting with his arms crossed over finally spoke up, looking towards and addressing the Captain “The Medical Department is at the ready, Captain Logan.” he spoke, putting some emphasis on the Captain part of Logan. His gruff tone continued, “A few incidents are being attended to currently, but there is nothing major.”

Once the introductions were complete, Logan tapped the panel next to his seat that brought up a map on the screens at either end of the room and on the large display next to the conference table. It showed the Europa‘s relative position to the Cardassian ship’s last known position within the badlands.

“At our current speed, we’ll arrive in roughly five hours. That’s a faster timetable than you were anticipating, but I’m confident we’ll be prepared. The sooner we find that ship, the sooner we’ll know what the rest of the mission parameters entail, but Starfleet Command can’t stress how important this mission is. Forrest?”

“Right. The Badlands, as we all know, are full of volatile plasma storms, gravitational anomalies, and basically anything else that will make even the best pilots think twice about entering the region. The Cardassian’s are being tight-lipped about what this transport was doing, but they’ve been unusually forthcoming about its specifications and flight path.”

“We’ll retrace her steps and see if we can’t find this needle in a haystack,” Logan added. “I want an away team briefed and ready to go on a moment’s notice if we need one, and sickbay needs to prep for a possible mass casualty event. I don’t know Captain Alain or his command style, but I like things to be done by the book, so we’re going to run this by the numbers. Any questions?”

She looked at him, “No sir we’ll have the Europa ready to enter the Badlands before we even arrive, sir.” Ashatia replied as she adjusted quietly in her seat.

Akira was familiar with his style, his straight to the point and by the book style. She had a Captain like that once, her second assignment, something she couldn’t forget. So as to follow suit, she spoke after the Lieutenant did, “My team and I have been able to boost sensor efficiency by at least nine point four seven percent. Number of sensor packages were boosted, including the transpectral sensor, that alone should help the sensors detect an object through the plasma interference. Hopefully this will help us find the vessel faster. I wish I could have done more.”

Captain Logan arched an eyebrow. “I’m not a fan of tinkering past design specifications, Lieutenant Rowe. A burn-out or malfunction within the Badlands could be deadly. Get Commander Forrest a full report on what you’ve modified,” he ordered, not sounding angry but also not sounding like there was room for negotiation there.

Akira felt red in the face when she was called out like that, more annoyed and frustrated than embarrassed but she wasn’t going to speak her mind, having done that on her second assignment with a Captain like him led her to her third. Experiences and first impressions basically told her to zip it aside from, “Yes, sir.” Doing her very best to keep the tone neutral before averting her eyes to her PADD and started to take everything her and her team did and added it to a rough draft of a report. Now she will have to get with the Chief on the power adjustment that she had requested to do with the EPS junction linked to the sensor systems to ensure that nothing was going to ‘burn out’. She had spent those hours not sleeping going over everything her team had done that she had instructed them to do to ensure it was done properly. And now she has to explain in detail as to why she believed standard specifications aren’t good enough, and how and why improving them to help with the mission won’t blow up in her face.

“Thank you,” Captain Logan replied, looking at the lieutenant for a split second longer before turning back to the group. “I realize that this transition might take some getting used to, but we, unfortunately, don’t have time to really get to know each other before hitting the ground running. If this were a less pressing situation, Starfleet might have been able to send another ship, but the Europa has the best equipment available for the job.”

The captain paused.

“Our unfamiliarity with one another and with the ship itself is all the more reasons to play this one by the book. I’ll expect reports from all departments within the hour on mission readiness. Commander Koerner, please stay behind, but the rest of you are dismissed.”

It had been an interesting first meeting for all parties, certainly. It had felt like something out of Greek tragedy to be lifted into the scene deus ex machina with zero notice for Fleet Captain Logan, so he could imagine how his new crew felt about the situation. The senior staff filed out of the briefing room on the way to generate the reports he’d asked from them until Logan’s eyes turned to Lieutenant Commander Forrest, still at the opposite end of the table.

“Go see if we’ve received any updates from Starfleet Cartography yet, Forrest,” Logan ordered.

The blond man frowned at the captain, but stood up, nodded, and left Logan alone with his new first officer, Commander Koerner. Logan slid the second PADD he’d had under his first out from the stack and glanced through his copy of her dossier, which he had familiarized himself with since coming aboard.

“Commander Natalya Koerner. Most recently assigned to the Tiwanaku as chief engineer, after over a decade on McKinley Station building ships,” he recited before placing the tablet down on the table. “So, why are you sitting in front of me in a red uniform?”

Koerner looked out towards space for a minute. She had been through quite a bit during her tenure in Starfleet.

“While I will always love engineering, I decided after multiple injuries, including walking into an active warp core to seal a breach, which is a long story, that it was time to try something I had always promised my father I would do. I drug my feet for so long due to my love of making the ship or station tick.”

She sighed. “I have to admit sometimes I miss realigning dilithium matrices, but for the short time I have been an executive officer, I have loved the job and the work that has gone with it,” she concluded, waiting to see the response of the fleet captain, hoping the answer would be germane to his question.

“Sometimes a powerful life event like that is enough to make us want to try something new,” Logan noted, sitting back in his chair. “I would have preferred to stay a scientist, but I became first officer of the Memphis during the Dominion War when my predecessor was killed in action. Not ideal, but it turned out to be the right path for me.”

The senior officer studied the more junior one for a moment. “I’m sure you’re more than up to the task, but I’m always curious to see how much enthusiasm officers have transferred into command with. The more eager they are, the more suspect I am of their motivations. I don’t know how long I’ll be aboard this ship, but is there anything I need to know about the crew that wasn’t evident in the briefing today?”

Koerner pondered the question for a moment. He seemed to be content with her answer, which was reassuring she was reminded of the rank he held. If she was to keep her father’s wishes she needed to make sure she did everything she could to impress the higher command levels. She spoke after her small lapse.

“No, sir, not immediately. We have a pretty good crew. I know Lieutenant Beckman loves working on anything she can get her hands on though that’s not her primary job, but from the reports I was sent she knows her way around. It’s possible we could use her in an engineering role as well. Other than that, everyone else has been performing as expected. No one even complained about their duty shifts.”

She chuckled slightly as she concluded hoping to lighten the mood in the room. She wasn’t sure if the Captain got the humor, but she wasn’t going to act like someone she was not, no matter who was present. She did the same thing to her other CO’s; it was just her.

“Very well, Commander,” Logan replied, tapping the surface of the table absently as he thought. “I sense a certain bolshiness from our operations manager. Just a feeling. Let’s make sure that’s kept under control. You’re dismissed. Take the bridge, while I continue to review our sensor data,” he added.

Koerner stood and nodded to the Captain. She took note of his remark regarding the operations manager. She hadn’t spent much time with them, but she was going to from this point on. “Yes, Captain.” She said as she departed the briefing room and entered the bridge. She wasn’t sure of what impression she had made, but she hoped she hadn’t disappointed.

Captain Logan waited until the door had closed before leaning back in his chair. He was sure they would be able to accomplish the mission, but there was very little time to get the crew into a cohesive working unit, and he wasn’t ready to form an opinion on any of them yet.”

“Computer, begin log entry.”

The computer chirped in confirmation.

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 76810.9. I have just assumed command of the Europa and already we are thrust into the Badlands on an urgent rescue mission. From my initial observations, the crew is competent and the ship is sound, but even the mightiest vessels can easily be swept off course by a powerful storm. It is my fervent hope to accomplish our mission as soon as possible, so I can return the Europa to Starbase 72 and safety. End log.”

Fleet Captain Logan had been in the briefing room since the end of the staff meeting, finding it useful to have the large library console available as he studied the sensor readings they’d been able to collect so far along with data which was streaming in directly from Starfleet Stellar Cartography. He’d spent a lot of his career out on the frontier, so it was a welcome change of pace to still be in real-time communications range with the brain trust back at Starfleet Headquarters. The Badlands were not a place he’d willingly take a starship except for a mission like this, so he had to wonder what insanity had driven the captain of the Eldara into such a volatile area, or whether he had a choice at all.

“Incoming transmission from Fourth Fleet Command,” the computer reported.

“On screen,” Logan ordered, turning in his seat to watch as the library console switched to a view of Commodore Ekwueme transmitting from his office on Starbase 4. “What can I do for you, sir?”

“I’m just checking in before the connection gets spotty. The Cardassians haven’t given us anything new, but with the data we’ve sent you, it should be a little less tricky to find the Eldara in there,” Ekwueme replied. “How’s the Europa, Brett?”

Logan chuckled. “She’s a fine ship. The crew seems to be fine as well. I’m still dealing with the irony of getting your old ship for this mission, honestly,” he replied.

“Watch what you’re calling ‘old,'” the other main replied, with a grin. “I spent some of my best years on that ship. Had I known what would happen… Well, let’s just say I would have rather taken her into the Badlands myself than allow a change of command at such a critical juncture.”

The captain nodded. “Things happen. I’ll get this mission done. I just can’t help but feel like the Cardassians aren’t telling us something. Why not send a ship of their own?”

“Cardassian shipbuilding was never as good as ours, and it’s only gotten worse since the war. One of their destroyers would likely get caught up in the plasma storms,” Commodore Ekwueme offered. “That is the logical explanation, anyway. I’m not sure that they haven’t sent one of their own ships in there. It’s not like we’d know if they did. That they’re keeping quiet about it while asking for help could be a concern.”

“I’ll watch my back in there,” Logan said, after a moment of thought. “When it comes to Cardassians, I’m never willing to accept their official party line on anything.”

“Probably a smart practice,” Ekwume replied, as his image started to shake a little. “It looks like you’re getting close enough to experience comms interference. Get in there and find that ship, Captain. Ekwueme out.”

A few moments after the call ended, Logan felt the ship decelerate. The space in front of the ship was filled with a view of the orange haze that dominated the Badlands. They had arrived.

As the ship slowed to sublight speeds, Fleet Captain Logan exited the briefing room, the bosun’s whistle sounding again to announce his presence. He took over the center seat from the first officer and glanced down at the panel in the armrest for a moment.

“Helm, position report.”

“Ten thousand kilometers from last known coordinates of the Eldara sir,” Willow said while consulting with one of the monitors on the helm. “Badlands is five light minutes ahead, current conditions match for category one plasma storms.” She turned slightly to face the Captain with a smile. “Little bit of chop when we enter, but compensators will catch on quick enough.”

“Very well. Hold station for now,” Logan ordered. “Is there any sign of the Eldara?”

For a brief moment, she looked up when she heard a voice from the center seat. When she heard Logan’s request, she tapped a holographic icon on her console. From three light years to its maximum, the imagery changed.

“Captain, I’ve detected a faint ion trail. Bearing 346 by 021,” Jolie said, tapping her fingers on the holographic monitor, specifically the ion trail. The sensors identified it as an impulse signature that had been damaged. “Captain, sensors indicate that this ion trail may be the result of a damaged impulse drive and possibly the Eldara.”

“That explains why they entered the Badlands in the first place, then, but raises other questions,” the captain noted. “Yellow alert. Science, run a full sensor sweep and see if you can plot the path of the ion trail.”

Hearing the Captain’s request, Jolie moved her hand from the holographic monitor to just to the left of it, where a stack of buttons was located. When she pressed a yellow-colored button, the bridge’s lighting changed from white to yellow. “Aye, Captain, yellow alert,” she said as she pressed the button.

Akira say there at the Operations Management station next to the Conn. For right now, until she is called upon, she was going to keep her mouth shut. After the way the morning has been for her, she needed to keep it that way. Plus she was monitoring various systems, including sensors, and since pretty much everyone can operate the sensor systems, she will keep observing. Unless something critical comes up.

Although, the thing she was more concerned about is why the ship would have gone into the Badlands. Impulse engines were one thing, but unless they were caught by the plasma winds and other crazy forces this place has…the maneuvering thrusters should of kept them out of the Badlands. Maybe the Badlands was more mysterious than they realized…or maybe something smelt fishy. Either way, all they can scan is the ion trail, until they can get a detailed scan of the ship, all of these thoughts are just speculations. Still…her Klingon half was clawing on the inside, yelling that none of this feels right.

Eddie initiated the sensor sweep, saying, “Aye sir,” and allowing the computer to begin sending the appropriate readouts. “Captain, the ion trail is erratic. I’m finding it difficult to keep a lock on it.” As his eyes poured over the information, he said, “it’s almost like the heading keeps changing. Let me see if I can narrow the field.” He tapped some buttons on the console in an effort to produce a better result. “Ok, new results coming in. I’ve got it narrowed down to plus or minus three degrees, bearing one-one-zero from our current position.”

Aarven was at the Engineering station on the bridge, monitoring the ship’s systems as they traveled through the badlands. Thoughts were running through her head, with the Eldara damaged she wondered how badly. Though nothing about this felt right, the badlands were a dangerous place for ships to operate in. Whatever was going on she was sure they would come to the bottom of it, rescue the Eldara crew and be on their way.

Natalya was in her position as XO observing the crew, but looking at the status of the multiple stations. This whole mission was leaving a bad taste in her mouth, but maybe it was just a dumb premonition. She shook off the thoughts and went back to her duties. The rest of the officers looked leery of entering the Badlands. It wasn’t a place most vessels wanted to enter, but dire times and situations came.

“Not to sound paranoid,” Willow chirped up, “but could we add coherent tachyon beams and displacement waves to things to be on the watch for?” She turned fully around to face the rest of the bridge crew, and specifically the Fleet Captain. “Missing ships and the Badlands tends to bring up the most famous examples when doing some readings Sir. Badlands had to have some property to it that helped the Caretaker, could be someone else using similar tricks?”

“It’s not the Bermuda Triangle, Lieutenant,” the captain replied, looking at the sensor readings on the armest of his chair. “Coherent tetryon beams, I think you’ll find,” he corrected, though mildly. “Once a coherent tetryon beam passes through a region of space, it will leave behind your garden variety tetryon particles, but as they have completely random momentum, they can’t be tracked. Which is all to say that if there is a Nacene at work, we’d never know about it,” he concluded.

Logan tapped a few commands into the armrest to enhance the data.

“Former astrophysicist, by the way,” he noted. “It looks like the trail is relatively table on the Z-axis, so that leaves a flattened cone here,” he added, superimposing a flattened cone on the main viewscreen, which got wider the further it got from the Europa, showing widely the other ship’s course could have drifted.

“Plot a search pattern to cover as much of this cone as quickly as possible, helm,” Logan ordered. He turned to the first officer. “Ready to go through the looking glass, Commander?” he asked.

Natalya looked over the data that the Captain had also enhanced. It looked as if the best thing would be to proceed and hope for the best. She looked at the Captain “Always ready for an adventure. Let’s do it!”

Captain Logan tapped the all-call button on his chair, causing the bosun’s whistle to sound shipwide.

“Attention all hands, this is Fleet Captain Brett Logan. I’m sure scuttlebutt has been working overtime to piece together why Starfleet has sent me to take charge here, and I regret we don’t have more time to get to know one another before we proceed on our mission. Shortly, we will be entering the Badlands, which you know is an incredibly dangerous area of space. Remember your training. Look to your shipmates. We will get through this, because we are Starfleet. Logan out,” he said, before cutting the channel.

Jolie raised her head from her console after the Captain finished his brief speech about the crew. A part of her wanted to say something about how the badlands were a breeding ground for pirates and the evils of space, but she knew it would be common knowledge. Instead, she reviewed the tactical scans of the area in front of the Europa.

“Captain, tactical reports open space up to the edge of the Badlands,” Jolie said, looking from her tactical console to Logan.

Akira looked over to Willow from her station beside them, “You got this.” She smiled before focusing on her instruments, keeping her eyes on the sensors, looking out for any warnings they may get so she can keep the helm informed. Thing she was concerned about were the plasma storms and other disturbances, so she was keeping her eyes out for those as well on her sensor display.

Turning back to her own controls, Willow tapped in a series of commands, watched for a response, a few adjustments, then sent her proposed course up on the viewscreen in the projected cone already there. It started off as an easy, lazy spiral before the single line started started to grow into a cone as well in the far distance, indicating uncertainty in course due to the weather of the Badlands. “Course plotted and laid in, Sir. Calculated for half impulse, but can replot for full impulse at your discretion.” She knew the hazards the Badlands represented to a ship’s engines, hence the initial plotting, but sometimes you just have to go fast.

“Full impulse, Lieutenant. Let’s not keep the Cardassians waiting.”

She knew she was late, the time it took to convince the Chief Engineer, get her signature of approval, locate and find the Head of the Science Department speak to the Head of the Science Department, get their signature of approval, locate and find this Commander Forrest that she was ordered to bring her report to…took longer than she wanted it to take. But she knew the Chief Engineer was busy, so she didn’t want to step on her toes any more than needed, thus why she got stuck waiting for almost half an hour to prove her tweaks will work. Suppose she could have gone and found Commander Price while she waited, but the fact remains, they’re not in the Badlands yet, she is absolutely positive that they will find the ship faster, save those lives, and go home happy. A minute late or two to hand in her report ain’t going to change that.

She arrived at where Commander Forrest was then, at least what the Computer told her when she asked, and took a deep breath to relax herself, as well as suppress her Klingon side with the urge to snap her PADD in half. The stress of her poor time management was on her. Having to explain her work for the third time, that she has yet to blame for that stress. She pressed the chime button and waited patiently, likely going to add another minute to her tardiness.

“Enter!”

Akira took a second longer to make sure she was proper before inching forward for the door sensor to remember she was there, and that the command to enter was recognized and walla, door opened. She stepped through but stopped inside, door closed behind her and waited patiently.

Forrest had commandeered an office in the ship’s administrative section, connected to a work area shared by most of the ship’s command and operations yeomen. It was a place where they could rest between assignments, as well as coordinate when more than one person was necessary to finish a particular task. In addition to the office, Forrest had also commandeered one of the yeomen themselves, transferring reports with him between physical PADDs and a holographic display floating over the desk.

“That’s low priority. I’ll have him look at it later,” Forrest noted to the yeoman, before glancing up to where Rowe was standing. “Need something?”

Not surprised the operations yeoman got snagged to be this guys secretary but she wasn’t going to say anything, even though she would never make a yeoman work for her. But that’s just her.

She stepped forward, pulled out the PADD she had tucked away under her arm and held it out to him for him to take. “My report on the modifications and tweaks I made to increase the sensors’ efficiency. As well as my calculations, and two signatures from the Chief Engineering Officer and the Chief Science Officer of approval.” She waited for him to take it before clasping her hands together behind her against the small of her back.

Forrest glanced at the report and then back up at the lieutenant. “Were you asked to consult with engineering or science, Lieutenant?” he asked, before scrolling through the report. “The task was simple: a report on what you’ve altered.”

She frowned for a moment when he said that, then returned her face to being expressionless, despite how annoyed she was already becoming. “I apologize for going the extra mile in my report, sir. But I don’t half-ass my reports and just trying to be a team player, sir.”

“Yeoman, take these new charts to the captain. He’ll be in the briefing room,” Forrest ordered, ignoring Rowe for a moment and handing the young man two large-format PADDs with the latest stellar cartography data on them.

The yeoman looked between the two officers, and then grabbed the reports–obviously eager to find somewhere else to be for the rest of their meeting. Forrest waited until the doors closed behind him before focusing his eyes back on the operations officer.

“That’s an impressive amount of words for a question that should’ve been answered either ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir,’ Lieutenant. And given that you apologized, I’m sure you understand the answer I was looking for was ‘no, sir?'” Forrest asked, leaning back on the desk and crossing his arms. “I suppose you know better than a fleet captain, as well?”

She saw the look on the yeoman’s face and felt the same feeling. But she did not have the luxury to just leave. She could, but that would only make matters worse. But after the yeoman left and after what Commander Forrest said, the matter is already going to get worse.

The moment she wanted to say that she didn’t realize that they were suppose to act like a bunch of drones, and the next time she sees him, she’ll remember to do so for him but she just squeezed her wrist that had the scar to remind herself of her training. Though she did wonder, ‘We back in the Academy now? What crawled up his rear and died?’

“No, sir.”

“Do you know what my job is, Lieutenant? Besides sifting through a few hundred intelligence reports a day and looking great doing it? I deal with the bullshit that Captain Logan doesn’t have time for,” Forrest replied, with a smirk. “If you were confident in your modifications, you didn’t need to bring them up, but you did it to brag. And it piqued his interest enough to have me double-check your work because all he knows about you is that you’re a junior lieutenant who’s ‘improved’ critical systems.”

Forrest paused briefly.

“I happen to know that this is also your sixth ship in less than two years, so maybe next time, just provide what you’re asked for. Assuming we survive the Badlands, he is not going to be your captain for very long, but he is going to be the boss of whoever is, so here’s some free advice about the Fleet Captain: he wants you to follow your training, Starfleet regulations, and his orders to the letter, so that when it is time to test the limits, he knows what the variables are.”

There was a beat.

“Understood?”

The urge to punch a superior ass was high, so high that she had to dig her nails into the palms of her hands while balling them up into fists. Then she relaxed and started to take apart what he said that was all wrong. “Permission to speak freely, sir.”

“Sure. I could use a laugh.”

“So that’s why you’re so full of shit. I didn’t bring it up in the Briefing Room to brag, I brought it up because of the fact it was a critical system, a system we will be needing to find that ship, hopefully quicker so we can get them and get out of the Badlands sooner rather than later. And I was taught by other Heads before me to say it rather than leave it as a surprise, because no one likes surprises. But if you don’t want the modifications, then order me to remove them!” If her glare were a weapon, she be burning holes into his skull.

“And you don’t look so great sifting through intelligence reports when you got it all wrong. I didn’t leave those other assignments by bragging and being disobedient, matter of fact, you can ask my former Captains and Heads on that question and they’ll set the record straight. I left them on personal reasons, reasons that no one has the business to know. And if that’s not good enough for you, then demote me, remove me from Head of Operations. I don’t even know why I got it in the first place because I never got the chance to ask the last Captain before he left!! But clearly it was a mistake!” She quietly took a deep breath, having used all her energy to resist from yelling at the top of her lungs had taken all the air out. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop herself from visibly rubbing the scar around her right wrist. Why did it itch so much?

More quietly and calm, “Am I dismissed?” She asked. Whatever the repercussions would be, she’ll take it but she wasn’t going to be bullied by this jerk who was so wrong. And she didn’t want to stay anymore and be asked about the scar, one everyone always asks about.

“Yes, you’ve wasted more than enough of my time. Get out,” Forrest replied, turning his back on the lieutenant to get back to his reports.

Fleet Captain Logan had managed a few hours of poor sleep in the ready room, as the Europa methodically combed the Badlands on the search pattern they had created. It had been nearly twelve hours and they hadn’t heard a peep from the Cardassian transport, but they also hadn’t found any wreckage or energy patterns that suggested it had been destroyed. They were out there somewhere, and it was just a matter of time before they found them.

Logan was going over the reports from the department heads in the meantime. The Europa was a fine ship and he had no doubt about her spaceworthiness, but the Badlands were going to be hard on any crew, let alone one that hadn’t worked together before. In some ways, his newness to the ship was helped by that, though, as he didn’t have any bad habits to break.

The door chimed.

“Come!”

A moment later, Lieutenant Commander Forrest walked in, reading something on his holographic PADD, before flicking it over to the captain’s terminal.

“Latest intelligence reports on the Cardassian Union, sir,” the younger man reported.

Logan noted that he said ‘on’ rather than ‘from,’ which piqued his interest.

“Anything of particular importance, or should I add it to the pile?” Logan asked.

“Starfleet Intelligence is having trouble verifying the mission and passenger manifest of the Eldara,” Forrest reported. “The ship exists, but we’d expect any mission orders to leave a substantial paper trail. You know how much the Cardassians love threes, but our taps have only found it in the Detapa Council’s outgoing orders log.”

“It could just mean that the Central Command has detected our access,” the captain wondered, though he thought about the possibilities that represented. “It’s no secret that the various cogs and wheels of the Cardassian government don’t always fit together, though.”

Forrest nodded. “It does seem like there’s another shoe that will drop, sir.”

“Let’s hope it’s just sloppy paperwork,” Logan said, glancing over to his terminal. “I read your report on the sensor upgrades. I’m a little surprised you didn’t want them stripped out.”

“It was a difficult recommendation, sir. Professionally, I saw no real threat of damage to the system, even if it wasn’t within standard parameters, but personally…,” Forrest replied, trailing off for a moment. “The lieutenant is a difficult individual. I think she’ll be more disappointed now not having anything to fight back against than had I given her an excuse.”

Logan shook his head. “Always making friends, Forrest,” he replied, chuckling. “I’ve asked the first officer to keep her eye on our ops manager, just to be sure. Have you–,” he started, before his badge chirped.

“Captain we have located the Eldara. We are heading towards the last location triangulated.” Natalya reported as she looked over the information flooding in.

“On my way,” Logan replied, nodding to Forrest and hopping up from the desk. Moments later he entered the bridge, breezing down the ramp to the command area, where he relieved Koerner and took the center seat. “Report. What are we dealing with?”

Natalya looked at the information and calculated the distance. “The Eldara is .06 AU from our current location and not transmitting any messages. The ship’s life forms can not be detected due to the range from the ship.” She concluded.

“Helm, alter course. Full impulse,” Logan ordered.

“Aye sir, full impulse.” Willow’s fingers danced over controls unseen, executing the course change and bringing up the speed. “Sir, we could risk a short jump at warp. Warp one would be…” she paused to look at the ceiling for a moment, then turn to look to the Fleet Captain, “a hair under thirty seconds. And the weather outside is tracking good at the moment.”

For the length of time it was taking, and the lack of sleep she has been accustomed to, the strain she put on herself to continuously monitor the sensor systems, the sensor display to keep an eye on the plasma storms and any other phenomenon, as well as trying to extrapolate the exact location of the Cardassian ship, she finally felt it taking its toll on her. But she refused to let it interfere with her work, so the moment she was relieved to use the restroom, she took a shot of espresso and returned. Of course, that was hours ago, nothing to be reminiscing about. All that mattered now, was her focus on the sensors checking out the ship eighty sum million kilometers away and growing closer. Her attention was all on it, sensors are holding together, the helm knows how to fly so she’s not worried about the plasma storms. No, her concern is whether or not this ship is a trojan horse or some other crap the Cardassians conjured up. She didn’t like it since they entered the Badlands and her feelings haven’t changed. Now to wait if her gut was spot on.

Ashatia kept quiet at her station, trying to get any information as possible but was hard through a lot of the Badlands interference. Wondering how badly damaged the ship was, hopefully, there are survivors on board.

Jolie was standing at the Tactical station, listening in on the talks going on around her. Jolie shifted her gaze from Willow to Logan when Willow outlined her crazy plan to warp jump into the badlands. It wasn’t a good idea in her opinion, for a variety of reasons, most notably how the badlands were interfering with the sensors.

A faint sigh escaped her lips as she continued to scan the sensors, praying that no ships, other than the Eldara, would appear. As anything could be lurking in one of the countless pockets of disruptions emitted by the Badlands from within.

Aarven couldn’t keep quiet any longer, Willows idea was a dangerous one. “That is not a good idea Lieutenant, one wrong move could get us stranded in here as well,” Aarven replied looking at the young woman at the helm.

Akira was already running the calculations through her station, applying them into a simulation, adding sensor telemetry, plasma storms intensity, direction, her fingers pretty much didn’t stop moving. Once the numbers came together, and the simulations came to a happy ending, it really just boiled down to what the Fleet Captain decided. But learning from earlier today, she kept her mouth shut, unless her input was requested. But she did look over to Willow and nodded her head at her whenever she looked, letting Willow know that she agreed to the idea.

“Full impulse, Lieutenant,” Logan confirmed. “We’ll need the time to get a nice long look at her with the sensors. Commander Koerner, prep an away team to board the Eldara. Have sickbay prepare for potential arrivals,” he ordered.

“Full impulse aye,” Willow responded, clearing the plot she’d already started, but glancing to look at the estimated time and nodding slightly to herself how close she’d been without running exact numbers. The viewscreen clearly showed the change in course as the ship spun on her x axis before settling on its new heading and speed.

Natalya made sure the ship was on the right heading and nodded to Logan as she prepared the thought of an away team.

As the Europa altered course, more sensor data flooded into the bridge from the long-range arrays. The Eldara was emanating no life or power signatures that they could detect at their current distance, but the Badlands were so treacherous that it would be unwise to trust those readings until they were right on top of the ship.

“Science, what do we have?” the captain asked, when they were close enough to let the medium-range sensors take over.

“The hull is ionized and shows signs of phaser damage, which would indicate Cardassian or Federation weapons fire,” Lieutenant Commander Forrest volunteered from the secondary science station.

While the one person she felt was on her side on this ship was giving out their report, she was running her own scans and she got a few flags on her display that meant one thing. She sighed before turning a little in her seat to look at the Captain. “Transporters are useless with all the interference, which leaves us with very few options, sir.” Now that she had the chance to think, weapons fire had made her gut feeling more solid, the feeling of that it was spot on when it felt like this was going to be bad.

“Find a docking port and bring us alongside,” Logan ordered. “There wasn’t any indication that the Eldara had been fired upon in any of our briefing materials,” he noted, turning to Forrest. “Connect with Starfleet Intelligence and figure out what’s going on, Forrest.”

“Aye, sir,” Forrest replied, moving from the bench seat beside the XO to one of the aft mission operations consoles.

“XO, make sure your team is armed,” Logan ordered. “Tactical, begin running full active sensor sweeps of the area. We’ll be in this position for the foreseeable future, and I’d rather know if someone’s going to drop in for a visit than try to maintain stealth,” he added.

Natalya nodded and began assembling the team on a PADD.

Jolie nodded in response to the Captain’s request, saying, “Active sensor sweeps now,” as her fingers flew over the console in front of her.

As the sensors began to scan the area around them, what they discovered was fed back to the tactical console. Jolie’s gaze was fixed on the holographic monitor. “Nothing to report yet, Captain,” she said as she continued to monitor the scans.

“Hmm…” Willow intoned to herself as she looked at her scans. She’d brought the Europa alongside the Eldara but hadn’t proceeded with announcing anything just yet. “Port docking hatch is a no go,” she said just loud enough to be heard before executing a series of commands to gentle roll the Europa up and over the freighter and line her up on the starboard side instead. “Starboard hatch is lined up and ready to receive us Sir.”

“Lock us on,” the captain ordered.

Akira quickly tapped away, the second the ports were lined up and touching, she engaged the locking mechanism. She then started re-modulating the sensors packets until she finally get herself through the interference, yet another sigh escaping her lips. She turned in her seat halfway to look at the Captain. “Section just outside our airlock has no atmosphere. Either a hull breach somewhere sapped out all life support in that section or life support is completely gone. Which I may lean towards the latter, as I can’t get any life signs on sensors.”

Ashatia looked up from her console, “the ship’s main power is offline.” She spoke up looking at the Captain.

“Add EV suits to the list, Commander Koerner,” Logan ordered, with a sigh. “Lieutenant Ashatia, take a team of your own to bring main power online. The first officer’s team will sweep for survivors and then figure out what happened over there.”

“Understood,” Ashatia replied walking off the bridge, she headed to engineering to grab her team and equipment before she would head over to the Eldara

“Yes, Sir” Natalya replied as she made her way to round up her team and make sure they were all ready to depart.

Natalya had made sure to round up her team and make sure each one of them was armed and suited up before they made their way over to the Eldara. She had taken the main group to search the ship, but she knew that if needed she could always contact the Fleet Captain.

The group arrived on the ship and Natalya looked at all of them. She knew that some officers liked to stray in exploration, but she ran a tight group.

“Listen up we’re here to do the task assigned of us that being said do not stray from your assignments regardless if you feel you should try something else or not.

She looked at Kyo and Rowe “You will scour the main living quarters of the ships for survivors. If you see anything suspicious report it immediately. Do you understand?”

Jolie nodded as she looked over at the Commander. She understood what was being expected of her, but she also knew that if things turned grave, she would react appropriately, whether that meant returning fire or relaying that they were under attack, unless the latter would have put her or Lieutenant Rowe in danger. She would be damned if she obeyed another order that resulted in the death of another member of her team.

Akira checked her holster once more, making sure the phaser was there as if she really thought she forgot it, but it was a matter of reassuring her Klingon half that she was ready to fight, not flight. But while her hand was checking the holster, her eyes were on her tricorder readings, having been actively scanning since they got on board, but she remembered to keep her ears open and listen. She looked to the First Officer and nodded her head, “Understood.” She then looked to Kyo and waited for them to take the lead.

As she took her weapon from its holster, Jolie double-checked that the setting was set to a mid-level stun, just in case someone was on board. She nodded as she looked over at Akira.

“Let’s go,” she said as she handed the young Lieutenant a wrist light. “You’ll need this because the main living quarters are down,” she said, motioning to the darkness visible between a half-opened door leading to the corridor where the main living quarters were.

She looked at the medical officers “You will go to the medical section and look for any information of the crew or any attack that may have befallen them up to this moment. If you find anything make sure and log it and report back to me. Do you have any questions?”

Eddie shook his head. “Let’s get a move on,” he said to the doctor. The two moved out of the staging area into one of the connecting corridors. The ship had an eerie vibe to it and as the two proceeded further inward, Eddie felt a chill run up his spine. They rounded a corner to find a body lying on the floor in a heap. Eddie knelt down to check the man’s pulse and found none, only to turn the body over and revealing severely scorched burns. Eddie immediately recognized is as a kill shot, but the question was, from what weapon. “We should probably get this body transported to the Europa for autopsy,” he suggested to the doctor, looking at his companion for confirmation, who assented.

She looked at Etah and Beckman “You two will follow me to the bridge and we will begin the process of trying to figure out what happened here. The ship records will be a good start.”

“Sounds good Commander. Hopefully, find something useful up there,” Willow said, then offered Etah a wry smile through the visor of her EV suit. “Without main power, it’s not that far. Especially if we turn our boots off.”

Etah squinted his eyes, nodded his his head briefly and issued a noise that sounded like he was saying the beginning of the word error but drawn-out “Errrrr.” It was a noise commonly made by enlisted security personal. Etah sometimes forgot that he was now an officer and a Psychiatrist. Some habits just stick with a person.

She nodded “Good if there are no further questions shall we proceed?”

Etah nodded again, indicating with his body language that he accepted and understood the information and was ready to move foreword with the mission.

Jolie placed her hands in between the two partially open sides of the door and looked back at Rowe. “Give me a hand with this Lieutenant,” she said as she began to try and pry the two halves apart.

Had made sure the light she was given was secure on the back of her wrist before putting her tricorder away and placing her hands on the other half. “One, two, three, pull!” She pulled hard on her half and felt it give. After they got it open enough for them to pass through, she pulled out her tricorder again and resumed her scans. “Not just blown out power junctions, but the whole grid here is fried. Whatever attacked them hit them hard.”

Jolie took out her tricorder and corroborated Rowe’s words, “No life signs in this portion of the ship, although it could be related to whatever fried this ship’s systems,” she said, looking up from her tricorder’s garbled readings. She returned her gaze to Rowe as she slid the device back into its holder. “I believe we should go with the tried-and-true method of visually inspecting these living spaces. One at a time.”

“I think we should also split this up,” she said, luckily there were only a couple dozen rooms. “I’ll take the right side first, while you take the left. Keep your Comms open and if anything comes up contact me.”

Jolie then turned to the right and began to pry open her first door.

Rowe went over her scans, lack of life support would be the main culprit but her gut was throwing all sorts of red flags up and her Klingon half, for the fight or flight question, is definitely preparing to fight. She looked to Jolie before nodding her head and realizing that being in EV suits, kind of restricts much movement and visual acknowledgement. “Copy. Comms open. I’ll go left then.” She said as she decided to secure her tricorder to her left arm where she had strapped on a piece of equipment, optional one with the EV suits, that allowed her to slide and lock her tricorder in place. Just something she acquired. Standard issue or not, it was useful in her eyes. With the tricorder on continuous scans, she went to her first door and started to pry it open.

As the door finally gave way, the sound of metal grinding against metal resonated down the deserted corridors. Jolie grunted as she eased the door open and walked inside, her phaser lifted, her eyes following the light from the wrist light as she swept the room.

“Room clear,” she remarked, having found no one or anything in the room, “moving on to my next one,” she said into the comm’s

“Nothing in this one either.” Said Rowe and moved on to the next.

The next few rooms Jolie pried open were similarly unremarkable. As she exited the last room, she became acutely aware that something wasn’t right.

“Lieutenant Rowe. I haven’t discovered any bodies, and none of these rooms appear to be occupied. How about you?” she asks as she walks down the corridor.

Rowe made it to the last one on her side with no incident. At least that is what she was hoping for until she forced the last door open. “Oh!” She swallowed the human part of her that was in complete disgust. She knelt down by the door and start to run her scans. “You’re going to want to come down here.”

Jolie was dissatisfied with what she heard from her end of the comms. The sound of displeasure from a lady Jolie was aware was part Klingon fueled her movement as she set off for the Lieutenant’s location. As she rounded the corner, she skidded to a halt when she noticed Rowe knelt next to an open door.

Flickering lights reflected off the bulkhead in front of the now-open door. Which had led Jolie to pause her movement because the rest of the rooms were pitch black, devoid of all light except that supplied by the wrist lights that both officers wore.

Jolie took a knee next to Rowe and tilted her head slightly to take a brief look around the room. Her eyes widened in horror and disgust as she witnessed the horrible scene.

Shifting her body back to center, she addressed the Chief Operations Officer, “Are you okay, Lieutenant?”

She took a deep breath, suppressing her human urge to vomit once more before standing up. “Yup. Perfectly fine.” She veered her eyes to her tricorder.

Her memory replayed the images that were still vivid in her mind as she tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Most of the bodies within the room had been shot at least once.

Jolie closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. She stared at Rowe as soon as she opened them.

“Stay put, I’m moving in. If something comes up, notify the Commander and get out of here,” she said, standing up and bracing herself for the entry into the room.

Akira felt her Klingon side wanting to object but her human half negotiated with it, pointing out that there is likely nothing in there to fight. “No, no, you go right ahead.”

A tremendous thud could be heard as Jolies’ foot landed on the inside of the chamber. The sound made Jolie leap on the inside, yet she appeared to be as solid on the outside as she had always been.

She knelt down next to one of the bodies and visually judged that the victim had been shot through the skull. She drew the tricorder from its holster on her hip, examined the readings, and tilted her head to the side. She tapped on a couple of the holographic icons before turning her head to face the Lieutenant.

“Akira, I noticed you scanning a moment ago. Did your reading tell you who or what killed the crew?” she says, returning her gaze to the tricorder’s holographic display.

Akira had been standing there waiting before she heard the Lieutenant’s request. She started tapping away to pull up her recent scans and went over the data. “They all appeared to have been killed by particle weapons. By the consistency of the burns, a beam weapon. Unfortunately there’s nothing here to determine if they were killed by Cardassian weapons or Starfleet.” She unzipped her left breast pocket, reached in and pulled out a couple transporter tags. “Guess we just tag a couple bodies and have the ship transport them to sickbay.”

Ashatia made it to engineering, “Lieutenant Sandoval and Ensign Cordon we are heading over to the Eldara. The ship’s main power is offline so we will need EV suits. Get your equipment and head towards the docking port.” Ashatia replied as she headed towards her office to get her tool kit she always kept with her or in her office.

Livvy looked away from the diagnostic display she was going over and nodded, “Aye ma’am.” It was a matter of only a few steps to retrieve her tool kit. In an emergency, you didn’t want to run halfway across the ship to get it.

Neva reached down to her knee & grabbed the strap of her tool kit perched there. Swinging it over her shoulder, Neva terminated her work & left her console. A spurt of air fluttered her hair as she answered, “Aye, sir.”

“We are to work on restoring power, so the other away team can get the sensor logs to figure out what happened,” Ashatia said as she emerged from her office as they all headed out towards the docking port to get their EV suits on.

“Can I assume that there will be no resistance then?” Liv asked falling into step. “What’s the status of the antimatter containment fields? Do we know? It would be a real inconvenience to beam over just in time to be annihilated.”

“No, the other team is going to look for survivors.” She responded while they walked down the corridor. “From my scans they are stable,” She replied.

Livvy nodded. Thanks to Deep Space Nine, Starfleet had a very good working knowledge of Cardassian systems. In addition to that Professor O’Brian had been one of her instructors at the Academy who wrote the book on the subject. Still, this was going to be a challenge as she had never actually put her hands on any Cardassian technology.

“We should bring a portable generator so we can tap into the ship’s replicators. We will likely need several replacement parts before we can restore main power,” Livvy suggested.

Neva nodded at Livvy’s suggestion and peeled off to grab the generator. “I’ll meet you at the docking port with that, Sir.” Out of long practice and study of the ship’s schematics, Neva found the generator and hustled back to the others.

After they reached the area where the EV suits were located, taking a deep breath as she began to put on the suite. She had to take something for her nerves before she headed down here, going on the Cardassian ship made her a bit antsy. Once she had it on she looked to the others, “you ready?” She asked as she was trying to keep things under wraps.

Livvy had just snapped the helmet into the place. “As I’ll ever be. I hate these things. Heavy, uncomfortable, and more than a little claustrophobic, but I’m ready.”

“Here goes nothing,” she said as they all walked aboard the Eldara and a sudden rush of memories started to rush forwards. She stood there for a few moments to gather her thoughts and her composure before she proceeded towards engineering.

“Oh boy,” Livvy commented feeling her stomach-churning. “Probably shouldn’t have had that burrito before coming here. Artificial gravity is a little wonky.”

She nodded at that statement as they began to make their way through the ship towards engineering, after what seemed forever, they finally reached their destination. “Well, here we are” Ashatia replied before looking back. “Livvy and Nevanthi work on connecting the portable generators, I am going to check the warp core to make sure things continue to remain stable until you get that operational.” She added looking at the both of them, the last thing they needed was the ship to blow.

“Yes ma’am,” Livvy replied and turned to Nevanthi. “There should be a power tap over there,” she said pointing to a console on the other side of Engineering. “What do you think? Start with just one or daisy chain the two generators? I doubt one will be enough to restore emergency power.”

Neva’s fingers danced over the controls on the 1st generator. She plugged it into the ship’s systems. A dim glow lit the room & Neva shook her head. “Looks like 2’s the magic number after all.”

Livvy opened her tricorder, scanned the generator, and nodded, “I agree. Cardassian technology runs best on 240 volts, make sure you have adjusted the output.”

Quickly, Neva did the adjustment & stood up. “All set.”

Livvy walked over to the flickering power distribution console and started entering commands trying to help the generators along.

Neva echoed Livvy’s actions on the navigation console, trying to see what course was set. Chirps & clicks answered her.

“Livvy, their course was 10 degrees off our current course. They were bound to crash, despite any warnings to the contrary.”

Liv gave Neva an approving nod and went to the Environmental Control console. She wanted out of this infernal EVA suit. “There are several hull breaches. Emergency force fields are offline, but emergency bulkheads are in place except on Deck 3, Section 28 Gamma. Something is preventing a seal.” There was a pause as she worked the controls. “I have sealed off deck three, rerouted emergency power from deflector control to environmental systems, and reinitialized system…” There was a pause, and Livvy popped her helmet off. “Atmosphere is a bit thin but breathable at 71 kilopascals. It’s a bit chilly at 10 degrees, but we should reach a full 28 degrees in a couple of minutes.”

Neva took her own helmet off & shook her head, letting her hair fly loose. “Cold has never been my friend,” Neva said sheepishly. She coughed & turned all business.”You keep on environmental & I’ll see if we can get the ship to use its own power. Those generators only work for so long.” Neva reached out tapped on the console. Sighing, she quickly dropped down to the floor & turned over. Pulling off a panel, she pulled her kit up closer & got to work. Sparks danced around her tools, but she ignored them. After a few minutes, Neva pushed up & away from the underside.

Looking up at Livvy, Neva sighed & shook her head. “The main power’s somewhere else on the ship.”

Ashatia looked at them, she knew enough about Cardassian ships to know where it was. “Ensign it’s actually over here,” she replied pointing to the console next to her. “If you want to assist me in getting it operational I need you to work on fixing the eps relays that are tied into the main power over there,” she replied pointing to the farther wall the opposite of where she was. “Once those are fixed or replaced I can see about getting the power restored at least long enough for the other team to get what they need and see if there are any survivors,” Ashatia replied though she didn’t think anyone survived.

“There could be crew in emergency shelters,” Livvy added as if she had read Ashatia’s mind. Though, the truth of the matter; was a natural assumption from one to the other. “We’ll need at least auxiliary power to bring the main computer online,” Livvy continued.

Looking back at her, “I realize that Lieutenant but we still need to get some of the eps relays repaired before we can even do that.” Ashatia replied looking back at Livvy, she just wanted to get done and get off the ship as soon as possible.

Livvy nodded looking up from her PADD where she had downloaded a schematic of the Cardassian ship. With the main computer down sensors were useless and diagnostics were incomplete or could be unreliable. “There’s a good chance that the EPS regulators or relays were blown out at junction twenty-three Alpha. According to this, it’s where the plasma from the warp and the fusion reactors are intermixed. It’s common enough on Starfleet ships, and if I recall correctly Cardassian power grids are far more susceptible to power surges. I can check that out if you’d like ma’am.” The sting of that “Lieutenant” was still fresh in her ears.

She looked at her for a moment and nodded, “Sorry Livvy to tell you the truth I rather not be here as it just brings back bad memories. So I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Ashatia replied looking at her, “If you want to take Ensign Cordon with you in case you need assistance.” Ash replied looking at her.

Livvy looked over at Nevanthi busy working and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so ma’am. It’s a common problem, but there’s a chance this is a wild goose chase. She’s busy, and no sense in sending someone down a Jefferies tube that doesn’t need to be sent. I can take care of it.”

Neva half-listened to the conversation but mostly buried herself in putting the EPS online. As ever, she worked alone.
Being reprimanded & embarrassed by the Lieutenant brought a frown to Neva’s face. ‘Par for the course, I guess,’ she conceded.
Honestly, she admitted to herself, she’d never been on a Cardassian ship to fully know their systems.
She shook her head & turned her thoughts back to the job at hand. Hopefully, her work here would be fruitful.

Livvy collected some spare parts from a storage locker and on her way to the access junction she kneeled next to Neva and glanced over at her progress. “How’s it going, Neva?”

Neva started at Livvy’s voice. The tool she was using fell from her hand, bouncing off her forehead before hitting the ground. “Oh! Hiii Livvy! Sorry, I was trying to get the connections on this relay, I got hyperfocused.” She grabbed around for the tool beside her head & gave a half-smile. “It’s going. Some connections & such are fried, but I think I can bypass those & have it running shortly. You ready for your trip into the bowels of a Cardassian ship?” A bigger smile hid the rock in her stomach for her. ‘Another gut instinct? Nah….’ Neva thought.

Livvy grinned and held up the replacement parts, “As I’ll ever be. Looks like you got this. I guess I better stop procrastinating. My knees are already hurting.”

Neva did a rare thing for her-she laid a hand on Livvy’s. That sinking feeling reared its head again, but Neva tried to push it away. “Be Careful, ok? Please…” Neva took her hand away & quickly went back to work.

Livvy smiled and patted her on the knee, “I’ll be fine.” She stood and manually forced open the maintenance tunnel.

Crawling inside she moved down nearly a hundred meters to junction twenty-three. Sure enough, the EPS intermix chamber and relays had overloaded. Getting comfortable she opened her tool kit and went to work.

After a while, what seemed like hours though in reality was less than an hour of working they were able to get power online. Though she knew that it wouldn’t last long with the damages the ship sustained in whatever attacked them. She would continue to monitor until the other team gets what they need.

“Commander Koerner, power has been restored for the time being though I suggest you get what you need as soon as you can. I don’t know how long this will hold sir,” Ashatia said to the Executive Officer over the comms channel.

Some time after the Away Team mission

Akira stepped into her quarters and as the two halves of her door closed, she pressed the lock button and then leaned her back against the door. A heavy sigh of relief had left her lips as she tried to recollect her memory of what had happened today. She does not understand why all those bodies that she saw would have affected her in the way that it did. It was not the first time that she has seen dead people before, and yet this for some reason had affected her the same way all those bodies had back when she was a child on that colony world when she was being raised by her mother. If any of her halves had personalities or any representation at all, they would be like the angel and the devil on one’s shoulder. The Klingon half yelling at her human half for being weak, for allowing such a graphical sight of dead Cardassians to cause her to falter. Of course her Human half defends itself, stating that it had kept it from being seen visibly, so that the other officer they were with, could not have seen how badly those bodies had affected her. Sure maybe a little bit, but she really did hide it well of how bad she felt. And she was incredibly annoyed with herself over it.

“Computer, begin personal log.” She voiced and waited for the confirmation beep that it had begun recording.

“These past few days have not been the best at all.” She began as she headed for her sofa while she had slipped out of her boots and peeled the socks off of her feet so she could let them breathe. After she plopped herself down and relaxed into the sofa, she continued. “First off, I never got the chance to speak to the Captain about why I was made Chief of the Operations Department and why I was promoted to Junior Grade Lieutenant. I don’t know. Maybe the promotion was just an automatic thing for the time I’ve spent in Starfleet, plus the experience I’ve accumulated from other assignments. I honestly do not know. I lost my chance to ask, because he had to return to his home due to some issues which are completely understandable. I just feel…robbed I guess…but I’m not going to press on about it any further as there is just no point. I have the job and I have to prove that I am right for the job. Which I botched by being the only person in the Briefing Room to tell the Fleet Captain of what my team and I have done to improve the ship’s sensors for the current mission. Apparently it was seen as ‘bragging’, as to what the Stick-Up-His-Butt Commander Jerk told me. Yeah, that conversation with him was not pleasant, not at all. From my previous assignments, the department heads I had dealt with, my superiors of course, most of them expected enthusiasm…they expected initiative…they wanted to see improvement, wanted to see someone striving to achieve better results.”

She sighed and paused for a brief to close her eyes and collect her thoughts once more, putting them in chronological order before proceeding. “It’s like what some professors expect to see from their students. They want students to challenge them, to prove their theories are better than the professor’s. But there was an assignment…maybe two…where they wanted precise order. Follow instructions, nothing more. From my impression of what I got from the Fleet Captain in the Briefing Room, that’s what he wants. Follow simple instructions, and do not go beyond that. Of course, adjunct of his decided to rub it in my face, kick me down and rub it in even further with the heel of his boot.” She shook her head before she stood up and headed for the food replicator, where she got herself a cup of hot cocoa. “Nevertheless, I should of just kept my mouth shut. It seemed like, voicing my opinion or improving a critical mission system to help with the mission, was completely taboo and for that and I deserved to be shamed for it.”

Akira shrugged her shoulders before she sat back down in the sofa and took a sip of her drink before she continued. “So far I have made maybe one friend on board. The Chief of the Science Department, he seemed to have agreed and enjoyed the idea of the sensors being improved, especially since this mission required finding a ship in the Badlands. I don’t know. I think I will just stick to normal duties like everyone else in my department, man the station on the Bridge and just continue to follow simple instructions until told otherwise.”

She took a sip before moving on to the next part. “I think the massacre on the colony that my mother and I lived on…I mean, of course it left some sort of trauma, for being such a young child when it happened, how could I not have been traumatized by it? I know I have brought it up a few times in my counseling sessions with Doctor Lynn, but the session was mainly more about over working myself, lack of sleeping, and what my father had done to me to make me hate him so much. But I assured her that, I just really enjoyed my classes, I enjoyed learning and I wanted to keep learning. Sleep is a waste of time and you really only need a few hours to function properly so, I made sure I got what I needed.” She shrugged at that and took another sip.

“Either way…back to the topic, reason for bringing up the whole colony massacre…I saw a bunch of dead Cardassians today. A lot of bodies in one room, all shot with some energy beam weapon. I don’t know what, surely the medical staff will figure it out and the Fleet Captain will probably brief us about it later or not if it’s super sensitive…I don’t know, I’m not going to assume anything, it’s just…seeing those bodies, how they were shot, some of them were shot from behind…it was like they were trying to run away from their killer. But where were they running to? The room they were in…it had no weapons…well not true. Anything in that room could have been used as a weapon. Point is, against an energy weapon? One that can be fired from a distance? A distance that you would have to cross with an object to use to bash the attacker? Just seemed impossible, even a Klingon knows not to bring a Knife to a Blaster fight. Unless you’re incredibly skilled and incredibly fast in throwing that knife before the attacker with the blaster can depress that trigger and that’s if the attacker isn’t proficient enough to hit you with that one single shot that they could still get off before the blade of that knife sinks into their body, likely a vital organ if not the heart.”

Akira set her mug down on the coffee table and pulled her legs up, folding them with the knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Point is, for some reason it triggered something in me. I did my best to not put it on display. I did kneel down beside one of the door halves to the room, only because I didn’t want to disturb a crime scene but it gave me such chills and a cold sweat that I could not shake off until we got back to the ship. Which is funny. This ship does not feel like home yet, I’ve only made maybe one friend and everyone else are a bunch of strangers. And yet, moment we got back, I felt safe and way better after seeing doors and bulkheads that are quite familiar. Being that they’re practically standard on just about every starship, hard not to be familiar when you’re surrounded by it all.”

Akira sighed once more. “I don’t think I gave anything else to add. Computer, end log.”

An Hour Later…

The terminal at her desk was going off, an indication that she was receiving a transmission. Akira, who had just finished her sonic shower and got dressed for bed, went over to her desk to find out who would be calling her at this hour. It was her Counselor from the Academy. Why would she be calling? … (To be continued…)

After the group had been given their respective assignments Natalya watched them all depart for the areas as ordered. She knew the crew wouldn’t let her down and that gave her peace of mind. She had been on a lot of missions in her time with Starfleet in different capacities, but this ship gave her a very eerie feeling and she couldn’t quite shake the fact that something was wrong. She shook off her thoughts and looked at Beckman.

“Let’s see what we can find on the Bridge. Watch your step I am not quite sure what we may find.”

“Roger that ma’am,” Willow said as she proceeded to follow along after a brief moment to check the mag status of her boots.

She proceeded slowly down the first corridor on the way to the Bridge at least that’s what it should be if the schematics were anything like a regular Cardassian ship. She went from room to room checking for any survivors but instead found dead crew members.

She looked at Beckman “You look a little shaken Lieutenant everything ok?”

“I don’t like the idea of dead ships ma’am,” Willow admitted. “Mum’s Starfleet, so I’ve heard a fair few ghost stories. Classics like missing crews, pirate attacks, strange illnesses that drove everyone mad.” She tapped at the clear plex of her enviro suit helmet. “No chance of that last one as long as the transporter bio-filters work out.”

She nodded and decided to leave the comment where it was, but made a mental note to come back to it later. After a grueling search, they finally made it to the Bridge, which looked pretty intact. She was about to give orders when the power flickered on.

She received a comm message from Ashatia “Commander Koerner, power has been restored for the time being though I suggest you get what you need as soon as you can. I don’t know how long this will hold sir.”

She looked at Beckman “Begin downloading the records hopefully that will help us get to the bottom of this.”

“Records, gotcha,” Willow replied, then set off for what she guessed might have been ops, but really could have been anything. Tricorder was out quick enough and then set down on the console to sort it’s own interface out and more importantly provide the console with a language she could understand. A few chirps in the cold near-vacuum, then all the Cardassian switched over to Federation Standard. “Two minutes on the last accessible records.”

She went to the Engineering console and began to go through the records to see if she could determine why the ship had been disabled with her prior knowledge she made short work of the records determining the reason was sabotage. She frowned and made a note to let the Fleet Captain know. She closed the information when she heard a sigh from Beckman.

“Everything ok Lieutenant?” She inquired.

“Yes and no. I got the data but it looks like a mess. The only intelligible piece out of the entire lot is that the ship was operational and the impulse engines were running, but everything else is a corrupted mess. Or encrypted. But no one should encrypt the flight data for a civilian freighter, ideally.”

It definitely wasn’t the news she wanted to hear. “The information was corrupted? Sounds like there is more to this than we first thought.”