“There’s someone under the rubble!” Lieutenant Solari’s voice cracked through the smoke-choked corridor, raw with exhaustion. He stumbled forward, one arm raised to flag Commander Nuni down, the other pressed tight against his side where plasma burns had scorched through his uniform, leaving it charred and glistening with blood.

Starbase Bravo—the pristine headquarters of the Fourth Fleet mere hours ago—groaned around them. A deep, metallic wail echoed through the fractured starbase, unceasing since the last attackers’ torpedo breached the outer hull. Overhead, ceiling panels dangled like jagged teeth, and a shattered conduit spat blue arcs that danced over the scorched floor.

“Who is it?” Irric shouted, already moving. The failing systems buzzed in his ears, static thick and oppressive. Each step crunched over debris—splintered duranium, twisted EPS lines, the fragmented remains of a combadge.

“I don’t know!” Cam was already on his knees, clawing at the collapsed bulkhead with shaking hands—not from fear, but from sheer, punishing fatigue.

Irric slowed as he neared. His breath rasped through the rebreather mask strapped across his face, the filters choking under the stench of melted circuitry and burnt insulation. Lights flickered overhead, strobing the wreckage in erratic shadows that seemed to writhe as he passed.

Then—a sound. Faint. Beneath layers of steel and smoke. A grunt. Wet, broken. Alive.

Relief struck without fanfare, settling into Irric’s chest like a weight suddenly gone. He knelt beside the wreckage, easing himself over a buckled deck plate that still radiated heat from the breach. His gloved hands found a jagged panel and shifted it with careful, practiced motion.

A hand pushed through—bloodied, trembling, fingers curling faintly as if reaching for something, anything.

“They’re breathing,” Irric murmured, barely audible over the hum of disaster around them.

Behind him, the station’s emergency klaxons pulsed through the ruins, relentless and grim. The Vaadwaur were gone, but the devastation they left behind was far from over.

He twisted back toward the corridor. “Lieutenant Varen! Scan their lifesigns—stand by for immediate med evac!”

Varen scanned where the person was trapped, “It’s Commander Tol.” Varen replied looking at the others. “He doesn’t seem to be severely injured, more trapped than anything,” she added.

Irric gave a small nod, the kind that carried more weight than words. “Appreciated, Lieutenant,” he said, though his eyes never left the wreckage.

He moved forward slowly, boots crunching over scorched plating and glassy debris. The air shimmered with residual heat, and kneeled beside the mangled heap of bulkhead and
support struts, he steadied himself with one hand on the warped frame. Irric leaned in close, his voice cutting through the static hum of dying systems and the distant wail of emergency klaxons.

“Renu,” he said, the name landing with a careful weight. “Can you hear me?”

Tol had let out a groan and a muffled sound, “yes.”

“Good,” Irric breathed, his eyes locking onto the rubble. “We’re going to lift this panel—hang in there.”

He didn’t wait for a reply. With a sharp motion, he glanced over his shoulder and gave both Lieutenants a quick, silent signal—two fingers up, then a point.

Cam didn’t hesitate. He crossed the gap in three quick strides, boots skidding slightly on the scorched plating.

Dropping to one knee, he slid his gloved hands beneath the far edge of the twisted panel. Jaw tight, he gave a quick nod to show he was ready, eyes locked on Irric, waiting for the signal.

Varen waited with bated breath as the two men worked to free Commander Tol.

Irric braced himself, fingers curling under the jagged lip of the panel. The heat bit through his gloves. His muscles tensed.

“On my mark,” he said while he tightened his jaw. “Ready… now!”

Varen rushed to help Tol get out of the area as the two men lift the rubble away from where he currently was. Once at a safe distance she began to scan him further to see if there were any injuries that she hadn’t picked up the first time. So far it seemed to only have a broken leg which she could fix rather quickly once they got him to the medbay. For the time being she gave him something to ease the pain.

Tol looked at Varen then the other two, “thank.” Tol replied, “thought I was going to be trapped forever.”

Irric’s eyes found Renu—dust-smeared, uniform torn at the sleeve, face pale beneath streaks of smoke, but alert.

He offered him a slow nod and gave a slow nod, “Don’t mention it.” he paused for a beat, then said, “Glad you’re still with us, Commander. We’re going to need every engineer we’ve got… especially one of your caliber.”

“I can see that,” Tol replied looking at the two men. “Do we know who had done this?” Tol asked as he was unsure of the attackers at the time as things happened rather quickly. Once Varen repaired his broken leg he slowly stood up.

“No. We’re flying blind,” Irric said, his voice low, threaded with frustration. “Maybe Command’s pieced something together by now, but whatever answers there are, they’ll be on the upper decks.”

He paused, glancing to the Lieutenants, then back to Renu.

“First the phenomenon they’re calling ‘Blackout,’ and now this, station crippled, hit hard, and whoever did it vanished like smoke. No warnings. No trace.” He shook his head. “Truth is, I don’t think anyone really knows what the hell’s going on.”

Cam glanced between the senior officers, eyes narrowing as if working through the possibilities aloud.

“Could be the Romulans,” he said, hesitation in his tone. “Or the Klingons… maybe someone else with cloaking tech we haven’t seen before.”

His eyes swept the wreckage around them. “Whoever it was, they hit fast—and clean.”

Irric turned to Cam, offering a faint, polite smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“No need to chase ghosts, Lieutenant. We don’t know anything for certain yet.”

He let out a breath, half a sigh, half a laugh with no real humor in it.

“Never thought I’d say this, but… at least the Cardassians had the decency to be obvious when they came for you.”

“Well guess we better get to work, care to help?” Tol asked looking around the mess.

“I need to get back to the Promenade, see what shape it’s in and help coordinate whatever’s left standing over there,” Irric said, then glanced toward the two Lieutenants. “But they can go with you, make sure you get to Engineering in one piece.”