Three days had slipped by as the USS Century crew continued to pick up the broken pieces of their ship and their lives. The shipyard had provided the vessel with a new bridge module, taken from one of the ships that had been hit by the Vaadwaur assault and was too damaged for the yard workers to continue construction for the time being. The engineering crews aboard had also managed, in such a tight timeline, to affect enough repairs on the primary computer core so as to bring the ship back to a much more normal mode of operation. Their focus being what it was, many other ship systems were still inoperable and in dire need of attention.

“We’ve done enough to get the core running decently,” Lieutenant Commander Brak said from his seat at the table that occupied the observation lounge of their new bridge, “The rest we can worry about once everything actually calms down around here. Plan is to start getting the shields and weapons back in service next, and if we can spare the time, seal some of the breaches in the hull. Those can sit on the bottom of the list; we’ve got those sections sealed off and almost all of them aren’t so vital that we can’t afford to go without them if we’re looking to get into another fight in the next few days or weeks.”

The explanation from his Chief Engineer seemed reasonable to Captain Gar’rath, his head nodding slightly as the Tellarite finished his litany. With the majority of the work completed on the main computer core, it was only sensible for their priorities to shift to other systems they would no doubt need more urgently while conflict was still on the horizon.

Gar’rath turned his attention to the Romulan Lieutenant Junior Grade who occupied the seat that was normally taken by his Operations Chief, Lieutenant Commander Sorreth. He had met Lt. JG Nalah t’Veris only a half-dozen times since she had reported aboard, and only had a surface level familiarity with her capabilities. The fact that Sorreth had chosen her as his deputy spoke of his confidence in her abilities despite being such a junior officer.

“Lieutenant t’Veris,” the Gorn addressed her, “where are we, logistically, and where should we focus our efforts from an operations perspective?”

The Romulan straightened slightly as she was called upon and launched directly into her report, “We have compiled the casualty numbers and have identified areas that will require augmentation of personnel to meet your repair objectives, Captain. I have already sought out the needed supplies from the shipyard logistics manager, though I’m disappointed with how tight-fisted they’ve been. We’re currently third in the queue for industrially replicated replacement parts, and we’re fifth in line for augmentees.”

T’Veris scrolled through the PaDD she’d brought with her before continuing, “I would recommend we reassign those in the science department who are capable of performing rudimentary or intermediate maintenance functions to either Engineering or Operations; we are missing a large number of science personnel and those that stayed behind during our refit are not engaged in any endeavors that could be deemed mission critical at the moment. As for augmentee allocations, my recommendation would be to request medical personnel as our top priority, followed by security and engineering. While this shift in priorities may not speed up our receipt of personnel, it would provide us with much needed relief personnel for departments that are either being overextended or who have been heavily impacted by the recent attack.”

“Noted, Lieutenant. I will forward your recommendations,” Gar’rath said after mulling over the information the woman had provided for a silent moment. His attention then drifted to his Security Chief, “Have you found anything of importance left behind by our ‘guests’, Lieutenant?”

Lieutenant Khar sneered as he recalled the hospitality of the guests the Captain had referenced, “With the exception of the devices and weapons the Vaadwaur were carrying, they had little else with them. None of them carried any scanning or information storage devices, nor did they possess any communications equipment. It would appear that they had advanced knowledge of our ship’s layout and were disciplined enough to act independently of each other in the execution of their mission. The fact that they were attempting to escape via our own transporter room makes sense now. I’d found it odd that they didn’t simply request to be retrieved the moment their sabotage was complete… now we know why they didn’t, or rather, couldn’t.”

“Did any of them survive their encounter with your security teams?” the Gorn inquired more out of thoroughness than anything.

“None,” the Klingon replied curtly.

“Then their objectives and their intentions in this system are still a mystery…” Gar’rath grumbled as he tapped a claw against the surface of the table in annoyance.

“If their targets are anything to go by, they were looking to cripple the ship, take away our ability to treat our wounded, and if at all possible, force us to either eject our warp core or destroy the ship outright if we couldn’t manage it in time,” Brak added, his voice flat.

“And they succeeded in accomplishing just that on two ships,” Gar’rath informed the group, “But that doesn’t tell us why the Vaadwaur dedicated so many people to what amounted to a suicide mission on all but two ships.”

“The loss of lives doesn’t seem to be important to them,” Khar stated bluntly, “Their tactics were far from honorable, and I doubt that the ones who orchestrated the boarding actions spared even a thought toward throwing the lives of their warriors away if it accomplished their goals. Coupled with how sudden their arrival was, it is reasonable to assume that this was just the first wave of a much larger offensive, one that was meant to cripple us and allow whatever second wave they held in reserves to either seize the system or destroy it.”

Capt. Gar’rath sank back in his chair, “And that is the problem we’re facing. If this was just the first wave, and their intention is to seize the system, we will find ourselves struggling to repel them… especially when we don’t know what their goal is or when they might decide to hit us again.”

Lieutenant Lillian Grant, sitting where Lieutenant James normally would, chose that particular moment to speak up, “Has there been any discussion about sending a ship into one of the Underspace rifts to conduct reconnaissance?”

“Would such a thing be possible?” Khar asked the question that was on everyone’s mind the moment she’d mentioned it.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t. The USS Voyager originally made contact with the Vaadwaur, and I’ve read mission logs that discuss the ship having entered Underspace on at least one occasion. There weren’t any references to modifications to the ship, or equipment being seized or provided to them by the Vaadwaur of the time, so it’s likely that we can enter it using any ship as long as we can figure out the details of how it was done,” Grant offered.

“We’re in no shape to be conducting reconnaissance,” the Tellarite huffed, “We still have a busted nacelle and half our maneuvering thrusters are shot. We’d be swarmed and scuttled by those bastards and have nothing to show for it.”

“Agreed,” Gar’rath nodded, “However, I don’t believe Lieutenant Grant meant for us, specifically, to carry out the task. I will have a word with Admiral T’Reln about her suggestion, as I believe we have a very good candidate who just so happens to fit the parameters of such a mission already.”

“You mean the boy with the holograms?” the Klingon asked incredulously.

“I do,” the Gorn replied with a reptilian smirk.