— USS Andromeda, Conference Room 1 —

“The goal,” the Vulcan diplomat said evenly, “in a negotiation is to find out what both parties want. You may simply be antagonists because you have not defined what it is that you each want.”

Captain Olivia Carrillo studied T’Venik and nodded slightly, not quite understanding what the Vulcan was getting at. Both Captain Nathanial Hawthorne and herself wanted command of her starship, the USS Andromeda. That much was clear, the question was which one of them would get it.

Seeing that the younger human had questions behind her eyes the Vulcan explained, “You are about to sit through hours of negotiations between two regional powers. I imagine your duties have also included significant personnel management of seemingly unimportant roles aboard the ship, such as barbers. A captain who’s last command was the Task Force flagship a Sovereign-class vessel is likely more interested in a more active posting.”

“More active,” Carrillo mused aloud.

“Not every captain in the fleet is Picard, many of them are Kirk,” T’Venik said. Whether she knew that Hawthorne saw himself as a member of a lineage that flowed down from Archer through to Picard, she clearly knew that the reference to the famed captains of the USS Enterprise would be understood.

— USS Falcon, Intelligence Office —

Lieutenant Commander Jake Dornall tried requesting the reports again, only to once more be met with silence from Starfleet. They were not that far from Starbase 86, or Federation space, so it was not that they should be out of range. The intelligence officer tapped his commbadge, “Dornall to Murf, any issues with our communication array?”

The chief engineer’s voice came back, “Negative, everything is green but I’m having issues contacting any ship or outpost outside of the solar system at the moment. I was trying to oder new stembolts for when we return to dock, but nobody is answering.”

“Contact the Andromeda, see if they can get a connection our, they have newer equipment,” Dornall suggested. 

— USS Andromeda, Briefing Room 2 —

Captain Paul Aike of the USS Falcon, Captain Nathanial Hawthorne (currently of no ship), and Captain Carrillo took their seats as both ships’ chief engineers filed in along with the division first officer Lieutenant Commander Victoria Hume. The Andromeda’s chief engineer Commander James Young brought up a dismal of the solar system on his screen.

“At approximately seven hundred hours this morning, all contact with Federation or Starfleet sources stopped. Even the passive listening we’ve been doing of pirate chatter in the Triangle stopped. The only communications we’re getting are from our two ships, and the planets in this solar system,” Young explained.

“Is there a possibility that it’s our equipment?” asked Aike, shifting in the seat.

Young glanced over at the Falcon’s chief engineer Lieutenant Murf who took the question, “Both ships have run multiple diagnostics, we’ve cycled through backup parts and nothing. Communications work flawlessly in the system, but anything outside of it is quiet.”

Hawthorne shook his head, “But that’s suggesting that something happened to the entire Federation.”

“It’s suggesting that there is no outside of this solar system, it’s not just the Federation we’ve done test communications to non-aligned worlds as well as Klingon, and Romulans,” Young said.

“Or the fundamental laws of the universe no longer are in affect,” Murf added.

“There’s a Starfleet listening post on the edge of the Triangle. The Falcon will head there, see if they are having the same issues. The Andromeda can finish up these negotiations, and hopefully we can reestablish contact,” Aike said.

Carrillo glanced at her chief engineer, “Young do your best in the meantime to figure out a way to punch through this. Try different channels, send out a runabout. Anything.”

Aike and Hawthorne stood, the two captains leaving the bridge with Murf in their wake as they headed back to the older Excelsior-II ship. 

Alone Carrillo asked Young, “Honestly, what do you think this is, some kind of trap?”

“Lieutenant Murf is well over two thousand years old, and neither of us have seen anything like it. Whatever it is, it’s nothing anyone’s seen before,” Young answered.

— USS Falcon, Bridge —

The Falcon failed to jump to warp.

Captain Aike glanced at Commander Ashley Attwell and repeated the command, “Full speed.”

Nothing happened. It seemed that whatever it was went far beyond their communications systems.