“Final report on the colony.”  Commander Park slumped into the chair to the right of her captain, annoyed.  They’d done everything that had been asked of them.  They had gone above and beyond what had been expected.  She groused, “They didn’t even give a thank you.”

Walton read through the PADD, “As I seem to have to continue to remind you and a few others – the Federation hasn’t been the best of friends to these colonies.  It doesn’t help we’re riding around in the ‘broken promise’ starship class.  There’s a lot of work to be done around here, and it will take time.  Patience is the name of this game.”  She felt the same annoyance that her executive officer expressed – she was simply putting it aside for the moment.  They had a job to do.

“Captain, I’m getting an odd reading.” Thasaz stared at the readings at her science station. “I’m detecting a surge in energy and interference at the same time.”  The ship began to shake slightly. “Gravimetric distortions increasing!”

Wren hit the ship-wide channel, “All hands, secure all stations.  Red alert!”  Everyone belted into their station and those who were standing scrambled to find a place to secure themselves safely. The deck’s slight shaking became jarring, and the Obena class starship stumbled through the unraveling phenomena.

Thasaz called out reports as it continued, “Helm unresponsive, maneuvering thrusters have failed…all systems are overloading, Captain!  Losing sensors.”

The deck continued to shake as the Dragonfly buffeted against the waves, going further into what the screen showed as an opening of some kind.  Walton gripped the arms of her chair, “All hands, hold on!”

In the blink of an eye, the Dragonfly was there…and then it wasn’t.  The aperture closed and vanished, and the sector returned to its relative silence.

“We’re slowing down!” Thasaz could only estimate what the limited sensor systems were telling her.  She watched as Castillo at the helm tapped at her console, unable to effect any change in their course.  The ship continued shaking, and mild damage reports were collected at operations.  “Standby – energy surge.”  Then the Dragonfly flashed back into space and time they were used to, and whatever had brought them here had vanished.  The lights of the bridge flickered briefly before returning to normal.

Wren waited to see if the deck would return to shaking, but it remained calm.  She unclipped her strap and stood, “Report?”

Ensign Castillo was first at the helm. “Navigation sensors are having a hard time placing our location relative to where we were.”  She reworked the console, but despite her best efforts, the display errored out: “The computer is unable to verify our current location.”

Walton resisted the urge to ball her fists, “Thasaz?”

The Romulan Science Chief was equally flummoxed, “We’re…somewhere, but local stars in comparison to our maps…it’s switching to long-range sensors to see what it can recognize.”  She tapped at the console, “As for whatever that was…computer’s not agreeing on what that was either.”  She put the limited sensor scans they had managed to get in transition on the screen, “I’m going to have to get the team working on this, Captain – I’m not sure where we are or how we got here.”

Wren remained impassive and continued down the line, “Ensign Reede – anything out there talking or listening?”

Oscar’s hair on the back of his neck started sticking up as he found similar results to that of his fellow officers, “I’m getting snippets of signals that don’t make sense or are more complex than we’ve seen before.  Nothing consistent – not a communication buoy or a starship in range.  I’ll get the team working on it, sir.”  He turned back to his station, anxiety chattering at the edges of his mind.

Walton gave in and balled her fists as she considered what had just happened.  Whatever was next, they would be following a different set of rules than if this had happened before Voyager’s journey.  “I need full readiness reports from all department heads within the hour.”  She tapped out messages to Park and Hargraves – bridge, now.  She walked to the station beside Thasaz and sat down, “Show me.”

Thasaz was shaking her head even before the captain had arrived.  She pointed to the star maps, “We’ve got the most updated maps, and nothing is pinging.  I have to use the long-range suite to reach out there to see what it can see…but wherever we are – it’s not any of the quadrants we’re familiar with.” She pointed out navigational points that were used to orient the sensors based on where they were.  “I don’t have any of them – not even something similar.”  A quiet alarm beeped as the screen glowed yellow, “Wait, we’ve got something on long-range – it’s really out there.” She tapped at the console as the bridge around them went silent, listening carefully as Thasaz worked through the readings.  A second later, she gasped and sat back in her chair, “Captain, we’re a long way from home.”  She pointed at the screen, “The system was able to find a distant star in this system that resembles one in the Gamma Quadrant…but according to this…it’s four years away at maximum warp.”

Walton stared at the screen.  She knew better than to ask Thasaz to check again, and the words died in her throat.  She turned at the sound of the turbolift doors as Commanders Park and Hargraves stepped onto the bridge.  They both look confused and alarmed at the sight of Walton sitting beside Thasaz.  Wren stood, “Commander Park – I ordered readiness reports in an hour from all department heads – I need you to make your way to each department for a visual inspection – Commander Hargraves will assist you.” She revealed what had been discovered just moments ago.  Park clamped her mouth shut to avoid words that would get her into trouble.

Hargraves just whistled a low, sad sound, “I know we’re in it when you start by using our ranks and last names.  We’re on it, Captain.  Keep us updated.”  He pulled Park with him back to the turbolift, her face of shock locked in place as the doors closed.

Wren turned to the bridge crew, who had all turned in their chairs to watch her.  She cleared her throat, “One step at a time – we know generally where we are…but there’s a lot of work to be done to figure out how we got here.  Let’s all start there – there’s an answer out here somewhere.  One step at a time.”  She looked each of them in the eye, “We set the tone up here.  The rest of our crew will be asking us, listening to us…we set the tone for what happens next.”  Each of them nodded, understanding their captain clearly.  Panic or rumors would do nobody any good at the moment.  They were alone in an undiscovered part of the universe.

They would have to get out of here together.