A massive streak of light stretched across the night sky, thousands of kilometres above the sleeping towns that littered her varying terrains, as the USS Lakota emerged from her warp tunnel and entered position to commence her mission. Within seconds of her arrival, subspace transceivers went into overload as the crew pleaded for contact with anyone from the planet’s surface. While their pleas fell on deaf ears, sensors scanned far and wide for answers to the first mystery they had uncovered. A world teeming with life and an abundance of activity had fallen to silence. There were no energy readings, no communication signals, no signs of life at all – just complete, unnerving silence. Eridanus, it seemed, had become something of an enigma.

And it wasn’t just Eridanus, either. Across the heavens, as far as the web of sensors could see, not so much as a molecule of space dust was out of place. Not so much as a trace that anyone had so much as travelled the stars nearby, let alone created a life for themselves on the beautiful world below.

As hours passed and the investigation failed to yield any answers, rumours began to spread among the Starfleet crew, the kind that could be destabilising and even deadly. Perhaps the True Way had attacked and killed everyone? Or maybe the new Maquis had caused an uprising that ended badly? Perhaps there had been a natural disaster that had killed everyone that the ship and crew were unable to detect.

Standing at the window of her bedroom, Keziah found herself relishing the calmness of the stars beyond the hull, wishing that she could find even a modicum of such calm, but such serenity had long since abandoned her. Glaring at the chronometer across the room, she frowned. It was coming up on six hours since they had arrived, and they were still getting no closer to the truth. Staring at the reflection in the glass before her, she no longer felt shocked by the vacant, lifeless expression that glared back at her, a figurative shadow of her former self. She couldn’t even try and recall when she’d last felt herself. This was the new her; she was almost resigned to that fact.

Plunging her hands into the pockets of her trousers, her posture weakened, and her attention started to drift to an object she rolled between the fingers of her left hand. As it rolled, a gentle, almost rhythmic rattle emanated from her pocket. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the unopened plastic cylinder from her pocket and lifted it to her eyeline. She didn’t even remember putting her pills in her pocket, let alone taking as many as the near-empty tub suggested she had. Was it any wonder she’d had to resort to taking such pills to maintain some sense of normality? After everything they’d been through? After everything she had put them through? In the last year, they had dealt with crisis after crisis, and so what if she needed help to manage things? Sure, she’d taken a few more than Zinn had suggested and had maybe become a bit over-reliant on them in the past few months, but that was then. In the here and now, she was more than capable of controlling herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of her commbadge, which lay on the glass coffee table in the residence area of her quarters. Looking out into the residence area, she waited for the shrill beep again before heading out of her bedroom. On her way, she placed the bottle and its lid on the dresser.

Reaching the table, she took the badge in her hand and pressed it between her fingers and thumb. “Nazir here,” she answered.

“Captain,” it was Noli. “Please report to the bridge. There’s been a… development.”

Keziah winced as she made the adjustment from the dim lighting of the turbo lift to the bright operational lighting of the bridge. Gamma shift was still on duty, with Lieutenant Voran in command for the week’s rotation, which was why the tired Trill was somewhat confused by the XO’s spritely presence at such an hour.

Noticing the Captain’s arrival, Noli moved across to the port turbo lift and gave her apologies. “I wouldn’t have called you but sensors have detected something unsettling,” the Bajoran stood aside and gestured for Nazir to join them at the tactical station. “We’ve found evidence of faint traces of disrupted energy particles, likely to be remnants of weapon discharges from past skirmishes along the former border area,” Noli told before handing over to the Vulcan operations officer.

“Further analysis shows that the composition matches the energy signatures typically associated with Cardassian disruptors,” he told her. “Scans of the area show no sign of vessels currently, and the signatures we have detected are a significant distance from Eridanus,” the Vulcan concluded his honest assessment, hoping to put the Captain at ease. It didn’t work.

“We cannot rule out the possibility of their presence somewhere we cannot detect,” Nazir frowned, folding her arms across her chest. “The fact that Eridanus has gone silent before you detected these weapons traces suggests they’ve either been destroyed, or the True Way could be hiding there, ready to ambush any unsuspecting Federation ship coming their way…” the Trill trailed off as she turned and looked towards the viewer. Her words worried the XO, and even Voran raised an eyebrow, surprised at the Captain’s supposition.

“Captain,” Noli spoke in a hushed tone, “I really don’t think we should jum…”

“We’ll be ready for them,” Nazir told proudly, ignoring the XO and stepping towards the command chairs. “We won’t fall into their trap. Red alert! Raise shields and have weapons charged and ready,” the Trill instructed firmly, much to Noli’s exasperation.

“Captain. There is really no need for us…”

“Are you disobeying my orders, Number One?” the Captain scolded the Bajoran, a look that could freeze even the warmest of climates accompanying her words.

Standing upright, the Bajoran glared at the smaller woman and shook her head. Never, in all her time as an XO, had she been accused of questioning or ignoring the orders of her commanding officer. “No Captain. Absolutely not,” she confirmed.

“Good,” Nazir smiled, then slipped into her command chair. “Prepare a series of probes. I want to gather as much data about the planet as we can before we get there. They’ll help us detect any True Way presence down there, and we can be ready for them.”

“As you wish,” Noli nodded, and then slowly made her way across the bridge to Voran, the pair sharing a concerned look. “We’ll do as ordered,” Noli whispered, “and when the results come back and prove what we suspect, she’ll stand down. I know she will,” the Bajoran tapped the man gently on the shoulder, mustering the best smile she could, all while keeping her fingers crossed that she was right.

Two hours later Nazir was pacing the bridge uncomfortably. The entire senior staff had been summoned by the red alert she had called for, and all had been brought up to speed by the XO. All seemed perplexed at the Captain’s decision-making but agreed to go along with the XO in the hope that Nazir was wrong. Once the telemetry from the first probe had come in, they were all downbeat. The results of its scans had been inconclusive thanks to the weather. So too had been the results from the second, and then the third. Only when the fourth came did Noli heave a sigh of relief. Not so much as a trace of Cardassian material anywhere on the planet’s surface.

“Permission to stand down from red alert, Captain?” she asked, watching the Trill with great caution.

“What? No,” Nazir stopped in her tracks at the foot of the starboard ramp and looked towards the XO. “Just because our sensors didn’t detect them doesn’t mean they aren’t there,” the Captain warned her right-hand woman. It was then that she noticed several pairs of eyes on her, in a way that she didn’t like.

“Listen here,” she called out, “something has made that planet go suddenly silent, and I believe that True Way is involved. We proceed as ordered. Do I make myself clear?” she instructed.

A tense hush had descended on the bridge the crew silent as Noli stepped forward and looked down at the Trill.

“Absolutely crystal clear,” the Bajoran told her Captain, mimicking the tone the Trill had used.

“Excellent,” and just like that, the Captain’s whole demeanour changed as she slipped into her command chair once again, and watched the stars streak by on the main viewer.

Watching from a safe distance, the XO was more convinced than ever that something wasn’t quite right with their captain, though what it was, she couldn’t say.