The USS Valkyrie sped through space on its way.  Lieutenant Sienna Frisco sat in the center chair, working through the voluminous reports she was responsible for as executive officer and chief medical officer.  Captain Nassar was in her ready room, and Sienna had taken the CONN two hours ago.  She was impressed with the new CO.  She was hopeful this crew would stick together and stick together well.

At the tactical conn Lieutenant Taylor Krazansky noticed something. Adjusting her sensor readings she glanced up, the science department had not yet made note of it. It was likely not interesting to them, but it seemed significant. She glanced at Lieutenant Frisco in the centre chair. It was a signal, not a reading. A distress signal, that much was certain. She supposed it was time to mention it.

“Lieutenant,” Krazansky said, breaking the hushed silence on the bridge as everyone went about their duties, “We have a distress signal. It seems to be automated. Shall I put it through?”

Sienna stood from the center chair and walked up the gangway towards the tactical officer, “Any details besides the audio distress signal?”  Caution was her primary setting, which had served her well so far.

Kazansky shook her head, “No, there is no response other than this distress signal, possibly because of the subspace distortions. They’re also blocking scans of the area. I’m assuming from this that the signal is automated, but I can’t be sure. The whole area is shrouded. I’ll let science weigh in if there’s more, but from a tactical perspective, any closer, we’ll be going in blind.”

The XO pursed her lips, “Let’s hear it.”

The channel squawked open, and a brief string of words shouted before the static took over and ruined the remaining audio.  Frisco chewed on her bottom lip, “Helm, plot a preliminary course at maximum warp, but hold on engaging.” She tapped her badge, “Captain to the bridge.” She turned to the tactical officer, “Send what data you have to me.  Keep our sensors hot – I don’t like how this is starting.”

Lieutenant Kazansky nodded, running a continuous scan of the region, no matter how little good that managed to do currently. If they were going to get jumped (metaphorically) they’d best be ready to respond. 

The doors to the bridge slid open and Saffiya stepped inside. “What’s happening?”, she asked Frisco while glancing at Kazansky’s console as soon as she had reached it.  Sienna gave the rundown and why she’d decided to call in the captain who replied, “Good call.”, she nodded appreciatively and looked at the view screen. “Those sensor readings are basically nothing, is there any way to get visibility? I’d like to see what we are dealing with.”

“Maybe if we send off a probe, closer we might be able to see something, and not be tactically exposed,” suggested the Security Chief.
 
Saffiya nodded. “A survey of the region and as much information as we can gather on the ship itself.”

Sienna turned to Krazansky, “Prepare a probe and launch.  Let’s keep an eye on this thing.”  She couldn’t shake the question that something didn’t feel right.  A distress call that was too scrambled.  A sector of space bouncing the readings back.  What was at the site of the call?

Setting about sending off the probe, Krazansky had to liaise with the science department, since probes were their specialty. It launched and began sending back data, nothing conclusive but it all led them to feel they were not quite as blind as they had been.

Saffiya allowed her Chief Security Officer to work and decided it was best to inform the other department heads of a potential rescue effort. She glanced at Frisco. As much as she would have appreciated the woman in sickbay to make sure things went smoothly, she also needed an XO. It was, perhaps, a good opportunity to let t’Rehu prove herself. 

The minutes in which Kazansky calibrated the probes and assayed the preliminary results were tense, and Saffiya exchanged several glances with Frisco. This was very much new for both of them. 

“We’re still not getting a perfectly clear picture,” Krazanky said, “My recommendation is at this point we’re just going to have to go in. We can keep our shields up and stay alert. If this is a trap, well we’ll have to spring it to find it. We’re not going to see anything more sitting outside.”

“Subspace distortions?”, asked Saffiya. 

Sienna moved to the science console at the edge of the bridge, tapping quickly at the console, “Nothing outside of the norms, captain…but I’m going to urge caution.  Whatever is there wants us to go there – there’s enough unknown and mysterious readings to pull an entire science division.”  She returned to the console, “Lieutenant Kazansky is correct – the only way to verify is to get closer.”  Another tap of the console, “We can be there at maximum warp in two hours.”

“Then adjust course.”, the Captain nodded. “Inform sickbay, and I want someone from Engineering and Science to look at these readings. I’d rather minimise the amount and severity of surprises.” 

This… once more wasn’t ideal, and it was a somewhat uncomfortable reminder as to how Saffiya’s last mission on the Cupertino had started. Pretty much exactly like that, and then they were stuck in subspace with a bunch of Cardassians. Hopefully this potential rescue mission was a little less eventful…