“I’m fine, thank you.” Captain Wren Walton attempted to brush Lieutenant Jordan Reid away but the chief medical officer was having none of it.

Captain Alexandra Pantuso was on the screen, watching with amusement as the younger captain bristled at the medical attention. “You know as well as I know you don’t get to tell your doctor what to do.”

Walton chuckled lightly, saying, “Doesn’t mean I have to like it, Captain Pantuso.” Reid finished her work and moved on to the rest of the crew, but not before lightly punching her CO in the shoulder, a quiet smile speaking Reid’s reply. Walton reported what she knew. While in transit to rendezvous with the Dragonfly, they encountered a disturbance in the warp field and warp engines. “We had massive fluctuations in our nacelles. Chief Carlson attempted to mitigate what he could, but whatever he did set us into a tailspin that shook us up. He held the warp field together with the engines long enough for us to reach you. We’re sending the injury and damage report over.”

Pantuso accepted a PADD from offscreen, “You said ‘shaken up,’ Wren. This was more of a blender. Ten in critical, three in serious, and two in intensive care?”

Walton swallowed the reality, “We’d take any medical officers you can spare, Alex. Engineering is still working through the ship to verify the damage report the computer’s giving us – whatever happened to us had some secondary effects.”

Pantuso motioned to an officer, “We’ll get damage control teams in the mix as well. You feel well enough to receive guests? We think we’ve got an idea of what’s causing this…at least, something of an idea.”

“You’re always welcome, Captain Pantuso.”

“You could have at least brought some good news, Alex.” Wren sat in the first chair at the front of the table in the conference room, PADD in hand. Pantuso sat across from the Perseverance’s CO. Her chief science officer, Ensign Lita Morrison, had finished the width and breadth of her report.

The older of the two captains shrugged her shoulders, a quiet look resting on her features. “Ensign Morrison has been working with her team since identifying the issue. Engineering is just as stumped. I’m hopeful we can start digging with your specialized sensors once we get Perseverance repaired.”

Wren looked into the eyes of her fellow captain. Pantuso was usually a fighter when it came to solving problems. And yet, the usually passionate and irritable figure was absent. In its place, a worried look. She asked, “Can we talk… privately?” Pantuso seemed to consider denying the request but quickly dismissed her team, as did Walton. The door whispered shut. Walton asked, “What’s bothering you, Alex?” The veteran captain was silent, and it again struck Wren that this was the woman who usually filled the silences with cracks and wit.

Pantuso spoke at last, “I thought it was a local issue. It would go away in a few hours. Business back to normal.” Her eyes searched the room for answers, “Five days. In the 25th century, five days without communication, without long-range sensors…without warp drive…it is an eternity.” Her eyes returned to focusing on Walton, “I’ve been around long enough to know how to feel about a thing or two, Wren. I have a bad feeling about this – and I know…feelings don’t save the universe…but sometimes those feelings keep us safe.”

Wren asked, “You don’t think we can figure our way out of this one? I have a hard time believing that, Alex.” She was worried there was something else at play. Something the Dragonfly’s captain wasn’t telling her.

“I had a realization yesterday. I got back into the captain’s chair because I wanted to get back out here. I’ve had a lot of time to think…and I don’t know if I want to sit in that chair anymore.” She shook her head, “This stays between us.” Walton felt heavy guilt in the woman’s words, as if Pantuso had betrayed a deep trust in herself for admitting such a thing.

“You have my word, Alex. You talk to Milton about it?” A somber nod. “What does he think?”

The usual stoic face of Captain Pantuso broke, but only for a moment. “He thinks admitting it out loud is the first part.” She scoffed, “Damn him.”

“Once a counselor, always a counselor.” Wren had known Ford’s ways with words. She could always depend on him for the right ones at the right time. She was thankful that he had ended up on Dragonfly with Alex.

Pentuso’s face snapped back while she spoke, “For now, I don’t have an exact answer. It comes around every year or so…more lately, I think. The truth is that I can’t decide a damn thing until we get out of…whatever this is.” She spoke, her voice tightening to its normal form, “Let’s get everyone back in here – start putting some teams together. The more heads we can put together, the better our chance of cracking this thing.” She tapped at the table console and made the call.

Wren sat back and watched. Pantuso’s old manner had returned. Whatever was ahead, whatever discoveries they would find…there were plenty more questions that would need answering.