“Sensor filtering update system is operational,” announced Lieutenant Thamars. His tall and athletic build was accentuated by the fitted uniform he wore. Golden blond hair framed his face, styled in a way that seemed meticulously arranged and naturally tousled, giving him a youthful yet sophisticated look. His eyes, a striking shade of blue, carried a glimmer of mischief. Beneath his chiselled cheekbones, his smile was bright and infectious, revealing perfectly aligned teeth. He turned to the side, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the Vulcan beside him. “Am I good, or am I good?” He confidently asked her, eagerly awaiting her response.

T’Liana looked from her science station on the bridge and up at the tall, broad-shouldered Betan. “The updates are sufficient, lieutenant.” 

“Thanks, T’Liana,” He winked at her and closed the panel that he had just finished working on. “Go ahead, give it a go.”

“‘Give it a go’?” T’Liana questioned. 

“Your scan of the Veil,” Thamars said as he rolled his eyes and crossed the bridge towards the ops station.

“Ah, yes,” T’Liana understood as she started the first scan. 

“Bridge to Captain Banfield,” spoke Lieutenant Merf at the helm. “We’re approaching the edge of the Veil now.”

“On our way,” Banfield answered. 

As Thamars took his seat, he looked at his friend at the helm. “CJ, are you and me still on for saving the old N-X-Oh-One later?”

Merf chuckled and nodded. “Hell, yeah, let’s take on the Xindi and help Captain Archer save Earth!”

Lieutenant Jisaraa was sat in the captain’s chair and chuckled at hearing the conversation between the chief operations officer and chief helm officer. “Are you two ever going to leave your twenty-second-century fantasy? You do know the holonovel is exactly that. It’s not completely based on true events.”

Thamars spun on his chair and looked at the Orion woman. “There’s always room for a third if you wanna join us, lieutenant.”

Jisaraa shook her head. “No thanks, I wouldn’t wanna get in between your fixation with a certain Vulcan science officer.”

“I beg your pardon?” T’Liana interjected. Her left eyebrow was raised.

“T’Pol,” Tharmas clarified. “You know Commander T’Pol, the first Vulcan to join the Earth Starfleet.”

“Indeed, she was quite remarkable, especially after her tenure on the Enterprise. Especially during her first mission as capt—”

“T’LIANA!” Thamars and Merf both shouted in unison.

“Don’t spoil it,” Thamars stated. “CJ hasn’t played the holonovel out completely!”

“Surely he is aware of her achievements from early Starfleet history?” T’Liana questioned. “Her achievements are well documented on Vulcan.”

“No, I chose the Pike era for my early Starfleet history studies,” Merf replied. He turned to Thamars. “He had great hair; we should do that next. You’d make an excellent young Kirk.”

Nodding and agreeing, Thamars chuckled. “I’ve always fancied myself as a Kirk-style of guy! Don’t get me wrong, I love Pike, but I think I’m more of a Kirk fanboy.”

The doors to the aft turbolift then opened, allowing Captain Banfield, Commanders Jen and Westerham to follow her out onto the bridge. Banfield’s eagerness to get on with the next stage of their mission was apparent in her strides. 

“Report,” Banfield said sternly as she walked down the curved ramp towards the centre of the room.

“We’re holding at a safe range away from the edge of The Veil,” Merf stated from the helm. 

Jisaraa stood as she relinquished the centre chair to her incoming superiors. “The asteroid with the gallicite is straight ahead of us, ma’am. There are no other ships in the area. We are completely alone.”

Settling into her chair, Captain Banfield looked at what the viewscreen showed them. It consisted of a giant asteroid in the middle ahead of massive swirls of purple and pink gases. “T’Liana, what are our sensors telling us what The Veil is?”

“It resembles thermobaric barriers; however, I am also detecting strong gamma and thermal emissions,” T’Liana reported. 

“Jisaraa, should we be worried about our shields?” Jen asked over his left shoulder.

“No, it’s nothing our shields can’t handle,” She replied. “However, I am detecting false vacuum fluctuations that I suggest we avoid.”

“Agreed,” T’Liana stated. “Our probes are detecting several other elements that are creating the energy barrier. Permission to undertake an in-depth analysis, ma’am?” 

Banfield, the ever scientist, agreed wholeheartedly. “Absolutely; conduct whatever scans you need. I’d be interested to see what you discover.”

“Where do we stand with retrieving the gallicite extraction?” Jen asked aloud.

Westerham was taking the lead on that project. He had sat himself at the engineering station. “If these readings are correct, we’re looking at a yield of nearly ten kilotons. That’s plenty to put into reserve storage for the entire squadron.”

“Captain Denaren said he wasn’t aware of anyone else claiming the asteroid, but can we just check?” Banfield asked. 

“I’m not seeing any buoys or artificial structures to suggest otherwise,” Jisaraa declared after looking at her sensor readings one more time. The holographic display in front of her blinked several times, stating nothing was out of the ordinary. “I’m not detecting any engine emissions either.”

“All right, let’s plant the flag,” Banfield said, content they were not trespassing. 

Jen looked over at Westerham. “Commander, how much drilling will we need to do to get to the gallacite?”

“I’d like to run more scans first, find the richest concentration and then put a plan together,” Westerham replied. 

Banfield looked at her husband. “Carter, the project is all yours. Use whatever resources or personnel you need.”

“Aye, captain,” Westerham said confidently. “I’d appreciate it if we could get a bit closer to the asteroid. Say, one hundred thousand kilometres.”

“You heard him, CJ, ahead full thrusters only,” Jen said supportively for Westerham towards Merf. 

“Yes, sir,” Merf replied, pushing the Triton closer to their target.

“One of the probes is reporting in, captain,” T’Liana stated. Her intrigue into The Veil had grabbed her focus entirely now, and this was met when Banfield got out of her chair and joined her at the science station. 

Standing just behind her, Banfield read over her shoulder. “Fascinating,” She stated. “The Veil’s exotic particles are the source of what is disrupting both sensor and communication, and the high-dense plasma clouds within the thermobaric barriers are emitting strong electromagnetic radiation.”

“It would appear everything we detected earlier, along with these new readings, would indicate that somehow the mixture of so many particles is creating the energy barrier to exist,” T’Liana added. “I would hypothesise that the subspace anomalies keep it stable.”

“I think you’re right; look at these readings,” Banfield pointed to another set of graphs being produced. “This here may tell us there’s a quantum flux at play here; the fabric of space-time itself is in constant fluctuation.”

“As you said, captain,” T’Liana looked over her right shoulder, “fascinating.”

Banfield smirked and nodded in agreement. “Even something like the Briar Patch or the Bajoran Badlands does not compare to this.”

“If you do not mind, ma’am, I may take this to astrometrics and use its systems to understand The Veil’s properties further. I would very much like to see if there is any way we can scan beyond it,” T’Liana requested. 

“Of course, go ahead,” Banfield said excitedly for her chief science officer. 

As T’Liana got out of her chair, the ship suddenly jerked to port, then starboard before rolling forward. The stress these high-energy moves put on the Triton pushed everyone to fall out of their chairs as internal dampeners were overloaded. 

The red alert klaxon bleared through the ship as Banfield struggled to return to her chair. “Report!” She bellowed.

“A sudden surge of gravimetric energy has been unleashed from The Veil directly in our path towards the asteroid,” Jisaraa reported as she tried to hold onto her console. “We are being pulled in towards the anomaly.”

“Inertial dampers are offline. I’m losing control. Hold on!” Merf shouted from the helm.

“Full reverse thrusters,” Jen ordered as he pulled himself to his seat.

Merf shook his head. “It’s no use, sir; the surge is too powerful.”

“Can we go to warp?” Banfield asked as she slumped herself in her seat.

“We can’t create a stable warp bubble,” Westerham answered. “Impulse engines won’t engage either.”

“Inertial dampers are still offline,” Thamars replied. “I am unable to transfer any backup power.”

“Reset IDF baseline and reinitialise,” Jen commanded.

“Field processors coming back online with minimum power. Inertial dampeners are restored partially,” Thamars stated; his frustration at the ship’s systems was now evident in his tone.

“Captain, I can’t stop us; we’re going in!” Merf announced with worry and caution.

“Transfer all available power to shields,” Banfield ordered before tapping the ship-wide intercom. Her voice soon echoed across every section and every deck. “All hands, brace for impact!”

The Triton continued to viciously spin out of control as it flew past the asteroid and towards the edge of The Veil. Systems were failing, and the ship was shuddering as it approached its unintended destination. A massive white explosion erupted as it hit the energy barrier at full speed.  

 The Triton was gone.