“Sir, we just received a flash across the subspace relay network,” reported an Ensign in blue as he approached the Fleet Captain standing on the command island. “It’s from Serenity.”

“Woah…. Free State and the Thomar Expanse in a little over two hours?!” Captain Devreux smiled as he read the first few lines of the PADD the communications officer had delivered. “That’s a damn impressive start of an afternoon!” Such a circuit would typically have taken a month or more at warp, but the Underspace had changed all of that.

The Ensign just stood there though, not seeming to share in the excitement.

“Imagine the places we’ll be able to visit, the things we’ll be able to see,” Captain Devreux continued, unabated by the junior officer’s muted reaction. He’d spent his whole life exploring, and this was a massive opportunity. “This could change everything!” There was a twinkle in his eye.

“With all due respect, sir,” the Ensign finally spoke up as he pointed further down the PADD.
“You should really read on.”

Captain Devreux’s eyes trailed down the screen, and then he saw it. “Oh… crap.” Reaching up to his chest, he tapped his combadge. “Devreux to Reyes. There’s been a development. You are going to want to see this.”

“I’ll be right up.”

What the hell were the Cardassians doing in the Underspace? Nothing good, that much he was certain of. While Gérard Devreux had skipped out on the Dominion War by booking passage as a medical assistant aboard an Oberth survey ship, he’d bumped shoulders with them a few times in the post-War era while exploring the frontiers beyond their space, never to good ends. As he read on, it only got worse. Once the Serenity and the Ingenuity had emerged from the Underspace, they’d found themselves facing off with the pair Keldon class cruisers they’d been stalking. Captain Lewis was not the guy you wanted in such situations – not unless you wanted it to turn into a shooting affair.

“There ‘s a second flash too, sir,” the Ensign offered as he pointed to the second update from the Serenity.

Well, at least he hadn’t started shooting at the Cardassians, Captain Devreux thought as he read on. But Captain Lewis stated that he planned to enter into a partnership with the Cardassians… to destroy the Underspace. “If Captain Lewis was able to send this to us, wouldn’t he have gotten the fleetwide update from Command?” That communique had been very clear.

“I would presume so, sir.”

Right then, Admiral Reyes stepped onto the bridge, flanked by Dr. Brooks. The astrophysicist had just been giving her an update on a new Underspace-mediated mechanism that he and Ensign Vok had been working on to re-establish nearline communications with their far away sister ships. “Give it to me, Gérard,” Admiral Reyes said as she approached. “What’ve we got?”

“Just our favorite old spook mixing it up with the Cardassians,” Captain Devreux sighed as he passed the PADD to his boss. “And conspiring with them to destroy the Underspace.”

“I never took the Central Command to be quite so rational,” Admiral Reyes chuckled as she began to read. “Although maybe this is just their longing for the past coming to root.” After she finished reading, she passed the PADD to Dr. Brooks. “Do the readings they took imply that the Cardassians could do what Captain Lewis believes they’re planning to do?”

Reviewing the data about the stationary platform the Serenity had found on the other side of the aperture, it didn’t take him long to reach a conclusion. “They’ve certainly got the hardware to manipulate the tetryon waveform, but hardware is only part of the story. You’ve got to have the right model too, and that’s something we don’t have.”

“Would the Cardassians have it?” Admiral Reyes asked. She was wary to discount anyone too quickly after what she’d just seen the Klingons accomplish just a few hours earlier.

“Admiral, the Union is still trying to rebuild the basics of their military,” Dr. Brooks shook his head. “I highly doubt they’d have had the time to flesh out a whole new branch of subspace physics.” And that’s exactly what this would entail. The Underspace, while stitched into the fabric of subspace, was distinctly different from it. “Unless they’re getting help.”

Admiral Reyes looked at him curiously.

“The expansion of the Underspace is new, Admiral,” Dr. Brooks continued. “Whether natural or anthropogenic, something caused it to expand.”

“Yes, Dr. Lockwood shared your findings earlier.”

“If its expansion has an anthropogenic origin, whoever caused it to expand…”

“Whoever caused it to expand – if we assume you’re right about anthropogenic origins, and that’s still a stretch – wouldn’t then partner with the Cardassians to then stop it,” Admiral Reyes pointed out. “But if you say they’ve got that hardware, that means they’re up to something, and I, for one, am interested at least in learning more.” She had, after all, already tasked her own teams to research how they might reverse the Underspace’s expansion, but maybe Captain Lewis would figure out more out there with his little charade.

“What about the orders from Fleet Command?” Captain Devreux asked. “The ones about protecting and preserving the Underspace.” He’d served with Allison Reyes for the better part of a decade. He could sense what she was thinking, and as was all too frequently the case, it was in direct opposition to what Fleet Command wanted.

“Options, Gérard,” Admiral Reyes replied. “It’s all about having options. The tides are shifting beneath our feet, and we need as many options as we can get.” Maybe they’d seek to destroy the Underspace, or maybe they’d seek to save it. She wasn’t sure yet. All she knew was that right now, they were at the mercy of others, and they needed to get back ahead of this thing with options for what they could do.

As the Admiral lost herself in thought, she stared at the Klingon ships sitting motionless just off their bow. 

Wait, were they moving?

Suddenly, the impulse engines of the IKS Qul’Val and her sister ships turned bright orange as they roared to life. And then, as the ships swiftly rushed towards them, a barrage of disruptor fire leapt forth from the main guns of General Golroth’s flagship.

There was no time to get the shields up. 

No time for anyone to do anything at all.

But, for reasons they didn’t understand, the barrage didn’t hit. 

It just whizzed over the bow of the Polaris and continued off into the dead of space until eventually it evaporated.

Admiral Reyes didn’t wait. Her orders came fast in a furious staccato. “Red alert! Raise shields! All hands to battlestations!” She didn’t give a weapons free order though, for as aggressive as the move was, the shot hadn’t hit. It had been just a shot across their bow, and she wasn’t going to be the one to start a war.

Looking forward, the Mat’ha and B’rel cruisers had closed in around them on all sides, while the Neg’Vhar stared them down dead ahead. In a fair fight, with the full firepower of Polaris Squadron, she might have had a chance, but the Serenity and the Ingenuity were off in the Thomas Expanse, and the Diligent was guarding the aperture with… with the remainder of General Golroth’s ships. Shit. They needed to warn Captain Vox.

“Notify the Diligent,” Admiral Reyes ordered. “And get me General Golroth, now!”

A moment later, the burly General in charge of the Klingon assault wing, the man who’d come to their aid and saved the colony of six million not even a day ago, appeared on the screen. 

“Explain yourself, General!” Admiral Reyes demanded immediately.

“You and your crews, you are not my enemy.”

“It certainly doesn’t feel that way!” Admiral Reyes snapped back. “You just fired on us! Explain yourself! What the hell is going on?”

“That was just a warning shot, Miss Reyes, but be assured, if you challenge us, the next one won’t miss.”

“Have you gone mad, General? Your people and mine, we are allies,” Admiral Reyes reminded him. “And you came here, to this place, to save our people.”

“And now, we are here to fight for ours. Our quarrel, though, is not with you… unless you get in our way.”

As if to emphasize the point, three of his warbirds peeled away, heading for the system’s center. Even with their departure, Admiral Reyes knew though that there were still far too many for her Odyssey class heavy explorer and their accompanying California class utility cruiser to handle. “What do you mean by that, General?”

“The Underspace, it is to be used for war.”