Banfield offered her guests an additional glass of Antarian cider, filling the beverage almost to the top of their empty glasses.

“Captain Banfield, I must extend my warmest thanks again for such a lovely meal and evening,” spoke their guest sitting on the opposite side of the table. 

Smiling politely at him, Banfield placed the bottle of cider down. “I’m glad we could do it, Captain Denaren.”

Captain Denaren was a Serosian trader they met while searching for sources of deuterium, dilithium, and other valuable resources on which the Odyssey Squadron could depend on to restock. Denaren had agreed to act as a mediator between Banfield and a local Serosian mining consortium for a modest fee. After a successful exchange in gaining enough dilithium crystals to keep the squadron moving for another five years, she invited Denaren and a few of his crew to join her, Jen and Westerham for an evening meal. 

The Serosians were humanoids who operated near to where the Triton was surveying. Before engaging with them further, Banfield had accessed the Voyager database to determine who they were. From what she had read, they were a relatively peaceful race. The only time Voyager had encountered them was after rescuing one of their ships after a malfunctioning hologram murdered its crew. Denaren had assured Banfield that their isomorphs were fixed since that incident. As such, since then, their rapport had developed into a strong working one over the last few days.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’ve shared the peaceful interaction and exchange we’ve had with my government, and I recommended that they engage in further dealings with your people,” Denaren said as he raised his glass in a somewhat toasting style. 

“Well, we appreciate that,” Banfield said as she copied his action before sipping her cider. 

“Dessert, anyone?” Westerham offered as he walked from the kitchenette area towards the table. 

The entire meal had been set up in the captain’s private dining room with Banfield’s husband, Westerham, who insisted on cooking for them. He had organised an elaborate three-course meal ending with his signature dessert: “Thalian chocolate mousse.” He came round and gave everyone a small glass dish with the creamy dessert. 

“Carter, are you sure you don’t want to leave engineering and become our cook?” Jen asked with a smirk. “Thalian chocolate is one of my favourites.”

Banfield thanked her husband as he passed her dish to her. “If you think this is good, ask him to make you a Ktarian chocolate puff,” She remarked to her first officer.

“This is exquisite, commander,” Denaren said after finishing his first spoonful of the dessert. “You must share your recipe.”

Westerhum chuckled as he sat down next to Banfield to eat his mousse. “I’m sure we can arrange another exchange.”

Liking the engineer’s approach, Denaren took another load in before asking Westerham what his price would be. “Let me guess; you want a brand new plasma injector?” he guessed.

Westerham shook his head. “Far from it; we’ve got plenty of those in storage,” he considered the Serosian momentarily. How about a bit more of that local knowledge?”

“What do you have in mind?” Denaren asked, sounding intrigued by Westerham’s request.

“Gallicite,” Westerham replied. “We’d like to get our hands on at least twenty kilotons.”

“Twenty?” 

“Twenty,” Westerham confirmed. 

Denaren placed his spoon into his glass dish as he considered the request. “That’s quite a bit.”

“We’ve got a good number of ships to maintain, captain,” Banfield said. 

“I won’t be able to give it to you, as I don’t have access to that amount, but I can send it to you in the direction of where I know there’s an untouched source,” Denaren said.

“Sir, you can’t!” One Denaren’s officer said to him. She was his first officer and pilot. 

He raised his hand at her to stop. Denaren picked up his glass of cider. “It’s on an asteroid close to an unusual phenomenon.”

“How unusual?” Banfield probed.

“Sensors or communication can’t penetrate it, but an energy barrier keeps whatever is on the opposite side in and everything else out,” Denaren explained. “My people call it The Veil. From what we know, no one who has gone in has come out. It’s a mystery that has intrigued our scientists for generations.”

“And this asteroid, it’s nearby?” Jen checked.

“It’s almost sitting on its lap, but nothing in our fleet has powerful engines to keep itself from being pulled into The Veil,” Denaren added. The Triton or one of your other ships may be able to get close enough.”

“And this source of gallicite would have enough for us?” Westerham checked.

Denaren nodded. “Oh yes, and more so.”

“It is a dangerous area of space,” Denaren’s first officer stated. “You must be careful.”

“She’s right, and I would hate to see anything happen to any of you; it just depends on how desperate you are for this gallacite?”

Banfield looked at Jen first and then at her husband. “It’s your recipe, Carter,” she said.

Liking the idea, Carter nodded towards Denaren. “However, you’d need to provide us with all your information on the asteroid and The Veil.” 

“Of course,” Denaren agreed as he extended his hand to shake Westerham’s. “It’s a deal!”

Pleased they had reached another accord with Denaren, Banfield asked her guests if they wanted anything else. Denaren turned the offer down. “No, captain, your hospitality has been superb. We should return to our ship and make preparations to get underway.”

“Then let us show you to the transporter room,” Banfield said, standing up from her chair and placing her servette on the table before her.

Minutes later, Banfield and the others had escorted Denaren and his crew to the transporter room. 

“Well, once again, Captain Denaren, thank you,” Banfield said.

“It’s been a pleasure, Captain Banfield.” Denaren grinned. He turned to Westerham, “Do not worry, commander. We will send everything over before we leave.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Westerham stated. 

Once they were all on the transporter platform, Banfield ordered the transporter chief to energise. Her guests soon disappeared and left the Triton. Turning to the other two, she sighed. “That went really well,” Banfield meant it. “I’ll speak with the commodore in the morning about this asteroid.” She gestured for them to leave the transporter room.

“You seriously want to take a look?” Jen probed, placing his hands behind his back as he walked beside Banfield.

“I do, Lukiz,” Banfield confirmed. “Plus, this Veil sounds like an interesting phenomenon to study.”

“It sounds dangerous, ma’am,” Jen pointed out. “His first officer seemed quite concerned about sharing its existence with us.”

“I’m not saying we enter it, but there’s nothing wrong in us taking a look,” Banfield stated. “Surely?”

The inner scientist in her was fascinated by it. Since entering the Delta Quadrant on the Triton, Banfield was itching to explore something new that Voyager hadn’t touched. This Veil sounded like the right place to start. Jen or Westerham didn’t answer Banfield. Their silence said it all. She knew that both of them shared a similar concern; despite this, she was prepared to take the risk. Instead of saying anything more, Jen and Westerham followed her to the nearest turbolift. 

“In the meantime, we call it a night so we can prepare ourselves for our departure in the morning,” Banfied told them as they entered the lift.

“That sounds good to me,” Westerham said. “Especially since someone has some pots and pans to clean up!” He looked at his wife with a smirk.

“Nah, I’m too tired for it; I’ll get someone else to clean it up,” Banfield replied.

Westerham shook his head. “I’m sure you’ve got lazy since becoming a captain!”

“No, Carter, she’s just using the captain’s prerogative!” Jen chuckled as the turbolift doors closed on them.

“Damn right, I am!” Banfield stated before calling for the computer to take them back to their quarters.