Maxwell started hasting his walk to the bridge, as departure at 1500 hours was almost imminent. First impressions matter after all, and being a support ship, they had to be on time to support something. If not, there won’t be anything at all to support.

“Captain on the bridge!”

Maxwell walked down the steps of the bridge towards the command chair and started giving out orders, but he never forgot to say a word of thanks. “Thank you, commander. I’ll take it from here.”

Kristen, who sat beside the captain, chimed in, “All decks and departments reporting in, sir. All are ready for departure.”

Maxwell stood, looked around, and said, “Ready crew? Begin final preparations.”

Looking at his sidearm console, everything was lit green, which signified all systems were stable and functioning. 

Maxwell returned to his seat and gave the final announcement, “Comms, ship wide.” After waiting for a moment, Maxwell continued, “All hands prepare for departure. We have all been eagerly waiting for this moment. For some of you, this may be your first journey in space and for others, a routine tour, but we stand here with one single purpose, and that is to explore and make new friends on the way. Welcome aboard the USS Galileo!”

Maxwell, after saying that bit of encouragement. ~ Was it encouraging, though? ~ gave multiple orders. “Ensign, clear all moorings and docking frames, and bring thrusters to full. Do be careful.”

The ensign, who was sitting in front of the captain, eagerly did as he was told, “Aye, sir! With utmost pleasure.”

Maxwell turned to his executive officer and said, “Contact Starbase control.” 

Kristen immediately understood what the captain meant, and with a nod of her head, she contacted Starbase control. “Starbase 72, this is the Galileo. Requesting to depart.”

“Permission granted, Galileo. Godspeed, and we hope to see you again.”

“As do we.”

The ensign, who was eagerly waiting for this moment, waited for the captain’s orders. 

Maxwell finally gave the order after looking at the ensign. “Bring us about, Mister Lopez. Do watch for the doors.”

Maxwell sat and watched the young ensign do her job of maneuvering out of the space dock and was impressed with her skills.

“We are out, sir.”

Maxwell stood and walked towards the ensign’s chair and stood at her behind. “Well then, ensign, what are we waiting for? Engage, warp 1. Bearing 5 point 6 point 9 point 1.”

“Aye, sir.”

And off they go, into the future of adventure. Maxwell finally returned to his seat and went into deep thought. ~ Will this turn out the way he wanted? Or will fate decide to play a cruel prank on him? ~ Watching as the stars zoomed by, Maxwell finally understood the severity of the mission the Galileo was undertaking. While just diplomatic and logistical support, diplomacy never always seemed to work with new species. Maxwell tightened his stomach and flushed away those thoughts. ~ I got one hell of a crew; nothing will go wrong. I believe in them. ~

The ensign called out for the captain and reported, “We have arrived at the coordinates, Captain.”

Maxwell stood up and walked closer to the viewing screen. “Where is the starship? We were supposed to rendezvous with them here. Lieutenant Graves, any ideas? Have long and short range sensors online. now.”

Hilary pressed some buttons and used the sensors to detect everything that was surrounding the Galileo, but there was nothing. “Captain, there’s nothing out here. It’s dead space, but there are warp signatures here, but the trail ends here. Cold end.”

Maxwell suddenly felt a chill down his spine and tried to remain calm. “I want every available piece of data. Now. Find the goddamn ship; it’s a big one. It’s supposed to be seen in an instant. Explanations, theories? Anything will do.”

Kelly pointed and said, “Captain, I think you might want to see this.”

Maxwell spun his head around and saw an aperture. “Explain. Now. Graves, I want you in the astrometrics lab immediately. Have all available instruments scan the aperture.”

“Aye, sir. I’ll get to it.”

Kristen stood and exclaimed, “Sir, multiple apertures are forming. Not just one; it’s at least five right now.”

Maxwell stood there in shock and said, “What the hell is happening? This shouldn’t be happening at all, yet it is.”

Maxwell heard a whisper of, “It’s beautiful.”

~ What the hell am I supposed to do? Apertures in space now? They don’t form here, especially not here. Though the shades of bluish-orange are beautiful, I have never seen an aperture this close before. They even have different colors? Wait-. ~

“Captain! It’s getting bigger; our gravitational fields are fluctuating.”

Maxwell quickly returned to his seat and gave out orders: “Computer. Red alert. Open comms. All hands brace for impact; we’re in for a rough ride.” 

That was the last thing heard from the Galileo, soon after it was pulled into the aperture. 

“Captain, captain. Can you hear me?”

Maxwell slowly opened his eyes and saw the red shades, but closed his eyes again and tried to stand up but hissed in pain; his leg was broken. “Yes.”

~ Damn this, what is happening? ~ 

Despite the pain in his leg, Maxwell slowly stood up and dragged his own body to the chair. “Status report. I want everything that needs to be known now. Where did the aperture lead us to?”

Maxwell looked up towards the view screen but didn’t see the ensign who sat at the helm. Looking around his surroundings, Maxwell saw that almost everything was in a state of disarray. 

Maxwell called out to his number one, “Commander Gardner, are you injured?”

Kristen slowly stood up and scanned her surroundings and replied, “No, sir. But I can’t say the same for some of the officers on the bridge. Including you, sir. You’ve been injured.”

Maxwell shrugged it off and replied, “Nevermind it. I will survive. What do you think, commander? According to our navigational data, we have traveled to the delta quadrant through space.”

Kristen sat and answered the captain, “At first the aperture was beautiful and all. Captivating even, but then this happened. A sudden turn of events that has undoubtedly left a lot of our crew injured.”

Maxwell saw the ensign stand up, immediately asking, “Ensign! Are you doing all right?” 

“Aye, sir. That was a scratch. That was one bumpy ride.”

Maxwell then ordered, “Get us into a safe distance from the apertures. I don’t want to get sucked into those again.”

“Aye, sir. The warp core is rendered inoperable; we’re floating in space.”

~ If things couldn’t get any worse. The most vital part of the whole goddamn ship is the warp core and some other things, but the warp core is the literal heart of the ship. Without it, the ship is useless. How the hell are we supposed to get out of here then?! Things are getting worse and worse, I swear?! ~

Maxwell replied, “Quarter impulse power, get us out of here.”

“Aye, sir.”

Kristen, on the other hand, was busy checking up on the other officers who had yet to return to their stations or had woken from their initial hit. “Gardner to Villanueva, how are you guys down there?”

“Not so good. Too many patients; hang tight there. I’ll be there in a moment.”

~ These few hours have proven to be the worst hours of my life. A newly recommissioned starship is almost destroyed immediately because of an aperture. That has somehow led us to the underspace in the depths of the delta quadrant. No. ~

Kelly moved the ship into a respectable distance from the aperture and said, “Sir, done and done. Let’s just hope that no one finds us here or we would be sitting ducklings waiting for death.”

Maxwell turned and said, “Take a breather. You’ve done well.”

The ensign did a fantastic job maneuvering the ship, but he couldn’t say the same for himself. Maxwell was clueless on what to do, especially as this has nothing written in the “Starfleet’s Captain Manual.”. 

~ Who would expect a being flung from the Alpha quadrant to the Delta quadrant in that little amount of time? Apertures and underspace. Beautiful but deadly. I should have really taken the team lead instead. Just analyzing and searching for data means a simpler job and a simpler life. But here I am now, stuck in the delta quadrant with no warp core, and god knows how many systems have been broken? I still have to check the systems later, but first, the well-being of the general crew. ~

Maxwell tapped his combadge and said, “Knapp to Villanueva.”

“Max! What the hell? I thought we’d stay out of trouble. What happened to staying out of trouble?”

Maxwell sighed to himself and said, “Trouble finds us, Avi. It finds us.”

~ We’re all stuck here because of an aperture. I mean, if we didn’t have to rendezvous with another starship or if we’d stayed away from the apertures, this wouldn’t have happened. But, oh well. ~

Maxwell said, “Prepare to receive patients, Avi. I’ll keep the ship running.”

~ Even if I don’t know how to. ~