“What do you mean they’re gone?” Fleet Captain Devreux asked as he spun on his heels. That was not what he wanted to hear.

“I mean they’re no longer visible on sensors,” Captain Bishop clarified. “At eleven ten hours and fourteen seconds, the IKS Korevoth disappeared from our scopes, bearing two three two mark six at a distance of five point three light years.” Not even a quarter of the way to Qo’noS, which had been the destination General Kloss had selected to test the boundary of the blackout.

Captain Devreux didn’t bother to ask the squadron’s strategic operations officer to reconfirm. Titus Bishop was a seasoned pro. He would have already double and triple checked everything, especially given the tenuousness of the present situation, and if the Koreval had vanished, the reason wasn’t hard to infer. “Devreux to Reyes. There’s been a new development.”

“I know. I’m already on my way up.”

Of course she already knew, and of course she was already on the way up. Even though Fleet Admiral Reyes was supposed to be taking some time off between shifts, Devreux knew his boss well enough to know that, wherever she’d parked herself, she was likely sitting there staring at the same telemetry as they were from the bridge.

No sooner had the line disconnected than Lieutenant Commander Mattson piped up from operations: “Sir, we have General Kloss on the line.”

“Of course we do…” Captain Devreux sighed. Not the guy he wanted to talk to right now, but still, it was to be expected. The Klingons would certainly have been monitoring the Korevoth’s progress as well. “On screen.”

The Klingon general appeared on the viewscreen, looking even surlier than usual. “I presume you have noted the same as us, captain?” he began without so much as a cordial salutation.

“If, by that, you mean the disappearance of the Korevoth, that would be correct,” Captain Devreux nodded. “We had them on our scopes, and then we didn’t.”

“And you swear you had nothing to do with this?” the general demanded as he glared at the small man. “Because if you did…”

“General, we’ve been sitting here, blind and clueless, same as you,” Captain Devreux interrupted firmly, having already grown tired of the general’s antics. “Plus, if you’ve so quickly forgotten, our people are aboard that ship too.” Commodore Larsen and Commander Brooks had gone aboard to observe, and Lieutenant Commander Ryder had accompanied them in case there was trouble. It appeared they might have found trouble, just not of the type their security chief could solve.

“Yes, I suppose…”

“Suppose all you’d like, general,” Admiral Reyes snapped as she strode briskly out of the turbolift onto the bridge. “But don’t waste my time with it. We have played no games with you. The games played, they’ve all been of your creation.” The blackout might have become the most pressing immediate issue, but she’d not forgotten the reason they were here over K’t’inga in the first place.

The general glared at her, but she ignored it.

“That’s neither here nor there, for now at least,” Admiral Reyes continued, shifting gears, although she fully intended to get back to that other matter eventually. “So let’s get to the matter at hand. We see nothing on sensors along their vector beyond the distance at which they vanished. Can you confirm the same on your side?”

“That is correct.”

“And that is where we have a problem,” Admiral Reyes noted pointedly. “They went off the plan.”

“The plan was to reach Qo’noS.”

“No, the plan was to probe the boundary,” Admiral Reyes corrected. “They were supported to draw up just short of the boundary, and then to analyze the characteristics of the anomaly.” It was possible the Korevoth hadn’t been able to detect the blackout’s boundary as they raced through subspace, but she was doubtful. It wouldn’t take much to realize you couldn’t see anything ahead. It was far more likely that they’d just charged forward headlong, and that was why she’d lobbied to take the Polaris instead of leaving it to some blowhard brigadier. The general had rebuked her request though, refusing to allow them that freedom of movement within his territory.

“So what do you propose we do now?”

Was that even a question? And this time, she wouldn’t give him a choice. “I will be taking my squadron to the last known coordinates of the Korevoth.”

The general didn’t look pleased by the idea, nor by the way she said it. He didn’t trust the admiral any further than he could shoot her, but he also didn’t actually intend on shooting her. Not yet, at least.

“This isn’t up for debate,” Admiral Reyes insisted. Three of her officers were aboard that cruiser, and she would not leave their fate unknown. “You’re welcome to join us if you’d like, but if you do, this time we do it my way.”