Aakon leaned over, a smirk on his face.  “This is what, the seventh galaxy spanning crisis in the last few years?”

The Lieutenant Commander seated to his right rolled her eyes. “It’s not a galaxy spanning crisis. It’s three communication stations that went off line.”

“Four, as of seven minutes ago. It’s not isolated to this area either.” piped up the Lieutenant at the science station.

Aakon tilted his head down a bit as if to say ‘see, I told you.’ and then did just that. “See Izzy? I told you. Galaxy spanning crisis coming right up.”

“The sequence in which the stations went offline is rather suspicious. Too precise to be a coincidence but not organized enough to indicate someone knocked them offline on purpose.”

Isabella leaned back, sending a not so serious glare towards the science station. “Just whose side are you on, Bowman?”

Bowman shrugged and pushed a strange blonde hair out of her face. “I’m on sciences side, of course.”

Aakon stood, tugging at his uniform. “And I just happen to be a man of science, so I think that means I win this particular argument.”

Isabella rolled her eyes again. “I wonder if I can convince Captain Brennan to let me transfer to Galaxy the next time it’s back in port.”

Aakon turned back around, a look of mock horror on his face. “You mean you want to leave our merry band of misfits?”

“The thought is tempting.” The words lacked any sort of seriousness, the beginnings of a smile tugging at her lips.

The young Lieutenant at the helm rotated towards the rest of the bridge in his chair. “Nobody told me this was a band of misfits when I came onboard. I may have to rethink this.”

Aakon gave the man a firm clap on the shoulder. “Too late Talnot, you’re stuck with us now. How long until we reach station alpha?”

The Bajoran sighed and turned back around. “63 minutes if we keep our current speed.”

Aakon nodded, slipping back into work mode. “Maintain speed.” He turned to the ops station that flanked the XO’s chair. “Any word from Task Force Command about all these communication station hiccups?”

K’Vevka shook her head. “Nothing about the communication stations. There are reports of ships dropping out of contact, even ones that don’t need the station to keep in touch. Not sure if it’s the overall communication issues cropping up across the sector or if they are experiencing other issues.”

It didn’t make much sense. Communication relay stations didn’t just stop working one after another. Starfleet had neglected some of it’s technology out here on the frontier over the last decade but not to the point they would loose all this at the same time.

There was a slight beep from K’Vevka’s console. “Incoming communication from DS-17.” She paused for moment as she read over the text on her screen. “The USS Givens is reporting that the colony of Isor II is no longer registering on their long range sensors and not responding to hails. We are the closest ship and have been ordered to investigate.”

Aakon and Isabella shared a look of concern before Isabella turned to Bowman. “Can you confirm?”

Bowman pushed the sensors to max and watched as the readings came in until the reached Isor III and then stopped. “Confirmed. Long range sensors aren’t able to detect the planet. It’s like there is a wall of subspace interference cutting through the Isor system. It’s not unlike the interference I’m picking up near the communication stations.”

Aakon sat down with a sigh. “I just had to be right, didn’t I?”

Isabella shrugged. “You did speak it out into the universe so I’m comfortable saying it’s your fault.”

“Inform DS-17 that we are moving to investigate.” He pulled up the local star charts; they could be there in about 20 minutes if they went to maximum warp. “Mr. Talnot, set course for the Isor system, maximum warp. Drop us out of warp about 20,000 kilometers from the system perimeter. I’m not inclined to get much closer at warp until we know more about the subspace interference.

The man nodded, hands having across his LCARS panel. It only took a few moments before Aakon felt the barely perceptible rumble of the deck plates as the ship jumped to warp. “Holding steady at warp 9. ETA 17 minutes.”

“Excellent. Yellow Alert; all hands secure stations. Seems subspace wants to be cranky today.”

Isabella learned back in her chair. “You didn’t tell them that this was all your fault.”

Aakon gestured with his hand next to his head. “Have to keep up some level of mystery around here when it comes to the command staff; keeps people engaged.”

Isabella snorted. She’d served long enough with him to know that, despite his exterior attitude, he had reached ‘Officially Worried’ levels and was trying his best to cover it up. “If you say so, sir.”