“It’s gone.”  Ensign Jake Shaw sat up in the science office, his eyes flying wide as the soft alarm beeped from the console.  He said it again, “It’s…gone.”  He was alone in the room as the clock ticked past two in the morning.  Jake had resolved to stay up and see if he could think of anything to help sort out what to do with The Unknowns and the aperture.  “Where did you go?”  He tapped at the console.  It had vanished from the sensors an hour ago.  He found the computer had gone, searching for the aperture signal to verify that it was gone.  Spurts of tachyon readings had given the system belief that there was some kind of spacial interference, and it hadn’t alerted to the missing aperture.  Only after twenty minutes of no tachyon readings did the computer alert.  He set the sensors to scan in further detail and loaded up the historical record of the sensors.  Data point after data point scrolled by, his nervous eyes searching for the point where there might be a clue.  It took fifteen minutes and plenty of scrolling, but he found it.  He fell back in his chair, “They are not going to like this.”  He didn’t like it.  He tapped the console, “Ensign Shaw to Lieutenant Fowler.”  Two minutes passed. He repeated the message. 

A groggy voice came over the channel, “What the hell do you want, Shaw?” He explained what he’d found.  The voice of the science chief woke up a little, “You checked and rechecked.”  It wasn’t a question.

“Three times, lieutenant.”

“Wake up Atega and Tir.  Meet us on the bridge.  Bring coffee.”

Lieutenant Commander Clarence Rosen glanced up from the center chair.  It was the night shift, and visitors to the bridge were limited.  “Ensign Shaw – you’re not due up for…,”

Shaw interrupted him, drawing a look of surprise, “Atega, Fowler, and Tir are on their way.  He offered up one of the coffees he was carrying, and the overnight commander accepted.   “Who’s on science?”

Rosen shook his head. “We’re short—the ACSO is in sickbay. He got hit pretty badly with a viral infection.” He moved to ask for a report before he was interrupted by the arrival of Lieutenents Tir, Atega, and Fowler.  

Shaw motioned them over to the science station, where he ran down what he’d found.  He finished with, “The aperture closure appears to have been intentional. There was an unusual surge of tachyon particles – on a specific frequency.”  He pulled up the previous scans from the initial formation of the aperture. “The explosive formation of the new apertures had a variation of particles – it was all over the place.  The stabilization was a similar scenario – the particles didn’t stick to a standard frequency.  What the computer was able to compile from the event that occurred sticks out.  Someone closed that aperture permanently.”

Fowler motioned him out of the seat and slipped into the chair, hands running over the console, “We’ve been tracking the other apertures we picked up in long-range scans – we haven’t mapped where they go.”  She ran the list through the sensors, “We had picked up three total…two are still showing up on sensors.  Whatever was on the other end of the destroyed one was probably close to Cardassian Space.  Pretty bold of them to strike within a few days travel of New Bajor.”

Tir and his symbiote started making the connections: “They don’t want New Bajor getting any ideas, at least not from whoever’s leading the ships that did this.  That begs the question – how did they get through the wormhole in the first place?”

Rosen sighed as they all turned toward him, “There’s rumor of some mercs that the Cardassians have been using recently – Some Cardassians, but more of a mixed crew that’s less likely to draw attention.  Came through an intelligence briefing a few weeks back.  The thought was they’re using ‘em to provide plausible deniability on some of their less-than-legal operations.  There’d been some isolated reports in outer colonial areas, but the throught was they operated mostly inside the Cardassian Territory.”  He mused, “They’re branching out, it seems.”

Atega stared at the screen, “Those two apertures – one is two days distance, the other’s a week.”  She pointed at the other aperture nobody had mentioned, “There’s also the one that goes back to the Delta Quadrant.”  The eyes of each officer turned to that blinking marker.

Rosen replied, “I’d rather find another way home, but it’s not my call.  We need to wake the captain.”

“The Unknowns are still stationary?”  Captain Leopold Halsey sipped at the soothing cup of coffee as he asked the gathered group.  They’d finished their report on the bridge, and he was trying to determine a course of action.  Fowler confirmed the ships hadn’t moved.  “We’re a week and a half from our new friends having enough power to bend and break space again.  We need a way home.” He downed the dregs of his coffee, “You need to be prepared – in case these two others don’t work out – we’ll have to go back to the Delta Quadrant.  You don’t have to like it, but we must be prepared for the possibility.”  Each of them nodded affirmatively.  He turned to the helm, “Plot a course for the first aperture – maximum warp engage when ready.”  Halsey stood from the chair, “Rosen, you have the CONN.  Have Commander Ford and Ensign Soojin meet me in my ready room.”  He walked the short distance and found his way to his desk, grabbing another cup of coffee.  The possibility of being forced to return to the Delta Quadrant hung heavy over his shoulders.  The Devore Imperium was a nasty group of aliens who relished in pain and punishment.  They had several Betazoid and Vulcan officers aboard the Douglas.  The chime rang, and he called them in.

Lieutenant Commander Ford, the ship’s Chief Counselor, slipped into one of the chairs, “Reporting as ordered, sir.”  His deputy, Ensign Sam Soojin, hesitantly sat in the chair opposite him with a nod.

Halsey asked it straight, “How is our crew doing?”

Ford replied, “Scared, sir.  We’ve been stuck, unstuck, under threat, and now stuck again with our backs up against the Devore…again.  The new crew isn’t used to this level.  Sa…Ensign Soojin has been working with our cadets, ensigns, and crewmen to help them cope with the added stress of being at the as…far end of the Gamma Quadrant.  As for the officers, they’re faring better…but you know how much they enjoyed their last trip to the Delta Quadrant – like a wrestling match with a Gorn.  I wish I had better news, captain.”

Halsey chuckled, “I wish we all had better news, commander. Do you believe that, in your professional opinion, our crew will be able to handle going back to the Delta if we have to?”

“Yes, sir. They may be scared, but none of them have asked to be taken off duty.  Each one is motivated to find a way home – whatever that takes.”

The CO stood, and they did as well.  He dismissed them, saying, “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”  He fell back in his chair as the doors to his ready room closed.  Glancing at his watch, he decided sleeping on the pull-out couch would be his best option to catch up on his interrupted sleep.  As he crawled into bed and eventually fell into darkness, he quietly wished it had all been a dream.