“Track the signal.”  Captain Elbert Burton stood behind his deputy chief in the communications center onboard Montana Station.  They’d started work early that morning, and he’d been putting her through the paces.  Lieutenant Presley Atega had come from the USS Douglas as chief communications officer.  He’d feared she was going to throw up or keel over when she’d walked into the massive Communications Operations Center.  Her eyes had darted wildly across the expansive circular room.  They’d walked through the various rows of stations, identifying the docking operations team, the medical dispatching team, the operations reporting teams, and the civilian coordinator teams.  Finally, they had reached the center of the oval where the senior communications operators and officers worked.  That is where Atega sat with Burton watching.  The large room was understaffed, with the station construction lagging.

Atega sat at the DEP COM console, her eyes watching the screen as she tracked the errant signal that had suddenly appeared a few minutes after she had sat down.  “It’s weak, but the stack has a lock.”  She had been studying the capacity of the Canopus class station, amazed at the power that operated all around them – and there was still more to come.  “It’s registering as being in or near Tholian space.”

Elbert grimaced, “I had a feeling.”  He moved to the larger console labeled CO COM, “See what boosts you can calibrate.  If it’s a Tholian ship, we will have to involve diplomatic operations and probably even JAG.  Two of my favorite departments.”  

Atega suppressed a smile at his sarcasm and asked, “Do we even have those departments staffed, sir?”

Burton grumbled, “Given how much of this place is still coming together, your guess is as good as mine.”

“Goddamn it.”  Commander Grace Albright jumped out of her shower, grabbing the alarming PADD.  They couldn’t have waited until she was on her way to the command center.  She read the first few lines and felt her annoyance fall away.  A signal from the edges of Tholian space?  She quickly checked herself in the mirror as she threw her uniform on.  Her being sent to Montana Station had not been subtle, and neither had the words from her former commanding officer.  She rechecked herself in the mirror, annoyed that her hair would be a work in progress on her run to the communications center.  The transporters were still giving the engineering team fits.  She stepped out of her quarters and started working at taming her hair when her stalwart assistant caught up with her.

“Grace…this is big!  This is…big!”  Ensign Jane Matthews was shorter than Grace at 5 feet, but her energy made up for the difference.  Grace was convinced someone had replaced Jane’s heart with a warp core in some bizarre transplant gone wrong.  She was wired for sound, weapons, shields, and warp speed – all simultaneously.

Grace had long ago given up trying to ignore the energetic assistant.  Doing that only made it worse.  That had been a long first morning. “One of these days, you’ll listen to me when I tell you to breathe between the four cups of coffee you seem to down before the sun rises.”

Jane protested, “It’s only two so far today. I’ve been cutting back.  The good news is that the jitters and the shaking are gone for the most part.”

The Chief of Diplomatic Operations walked as fast as ever. Still, her assistant kept up, chattering away about how big it was that the Tholians were reaching out after the station had been under construction for so long.  She commented about the distance calculations to avoid upsetting the Tholians and how that had slowed things down.  They passed through several large corridors, up a turbolift or two, and down the hallway to the Communications Operations Center.  All the way, Ensign Jane Matthews talked about what this could mean for the station if the Tholians were reaching out this soon and that maybe they could change the future of the relationship and did you try the donuts from that new shop? Albright came to a stop, and Matthews nearly collided with her, “Ma’am?”

“You know how I feel about donuts, Ensign Matthews.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Send me the location of the shop at your first chance.” She turned to the doors leading them into the operations center, “You know the rules once we step in there.”  It wasn’t a question.

“I let you talk.”

“And if you have something to say?”

“Unless it’s a matter of life and death, I must wait to talk to you privately about it.” Grace stared at her, waiting for the rest of the answer they had practiced.  Jane sighed, defeated.  “Not my version of life and death, but yours.”

Albright smiled for the first time that morning, “Good. Now follow me.”  They walked through the doors and made straight for the center of the oval. Grace power-walked up to the center’s CO, ” I heard you had something, Captain Burton.”

He glanced up from the console he was standing at, amused.  “Considering we notified you, Lieutenant Albright, yes.  We have something.  We’ve picked up a curious signal.  We’ve clarified that it’s just on the border of Tholian and Federation space – contentious as it can be on a good day.  We don’t have a science team yet, so Commander Thasaz is up in the Central Command Center working to identify what she can. The rest of the sensor stack is coming – tomorrow is our best estimate.”  He motioned her to the large console screen, “It entered our range about three hours ago but didn’t start transmitting until thirty minutes ago.  It’s small, whatever it is.  As for what it’s saying, we’re not sure.  Your work with the Tholians give you any ideas?”

Grace shook her head, “It’s either a new spy satellite that’s gone active or being built to check on us…or a ship in distress.  Getting close to the border with a ship is not advised. Tholians are not friendly to visitors or well-wishers.  Oddly, they’re just…sitting there.”  She looked from Burton’s screen to Atega’s, “Is the signal being pointed everywhere?”

Lieutenant Atega tasked the limited sensors to analyze the contact.  She reported, “No, it’s aimed directly at us.”

Grace turned to Burton, “I think you’re going to need to alert Fontana – whatever we do next will have to be signed off by the highest-ranked officer on this boat.”

Elbert agreed, “Atega – let the Fleet Captain know we’re coming to his office…and bringing a crowd.”