Ensign Corwin Adler collapsed into the chair that sat behind the small desk inside his quarters that doubled as his Ready Room on the USS Pulsar. The computer’s message about an incoming transmission had spurred the young man to make a scrambling run to his quarters, and his lack of composure was obvious from the heaving of his chest as he tried desperately to calm down enough to receive whatever message awaited.

His hand trembled a little a he pressed the activation command for the floating holographic display, and watched as the screen flickered from a generic status display to the Federation Seal to the face of Rear Admiral T’Reln in less than two heartbeats.

“Mister Adler,” the Vulcan addressed the young Ensign with all the familiarity that one might expect from her species, “It has been decided that your ship will be dispatched on a reconnaissance mission into one of the Underspace apertures that we detected during the initial invasion of the Vulcan system.”

Corwin blinked several times as his mind raced to comprehend what the Admiral was asking of him. He’d already… technically… performed reconnaissance before, when he had been sent to investigate the communications relay and made his discoveries about the subspace anomaly’s properties. What he was having a hard time grasping was why he was being asked to take a group of cadets who weren’t, for the most part, due to graduate from the Academy for another year or two and expose them to something as dangerous as infiltrating what amounted to enemy territory.

“Um… Admiral… if… if I may?” Adler made a halting attempt to brooch the question to the woman.

“Yes, Ensign?” came the curt reply.

Corwin looked down at his hands, which were not being transmitted to the Admiral’s own screen, as he wrang them vigorously as he sought the words, “I’m… uh… I’m not sure I understand why we’re… we’re being given this task. I realize it’s extremely important to get… information about the Vaadwaur… but… why…” He almost said ‘me’ before catching himself and saying, “us?”

“Out of all the vessels still in service, Ensign, your ship can be deployed immediately. As you have surmised already, information is critical for us to formulate a logical and effective strategy to resist or undermine any additional hostile actions by the Vaadwaur,” the Admiral explained.

“I… I see…” Adler said just above a whisper before sucking in a breath, “What… what should we try to do once we’re… um… inside the Underspace… corridor?”

“As we do not know what you will encounter, your objectives will not be specific in nature. At a minimum, you should seek to ascertain the number and composition of remaining enemy forces if possible. Intrusive scans may alert the Vaadwaur to your presence, I advise passive scans until such time as more active methods prove appropriate. Should you locate any structures within Underspace, determining their purpose and nature of their defensive capabilities would provide valuable data for the development of a counter offensive. If, during the course of this investigation, the safety of your crew and ship becomes threatened, you are authorized to retreat back to Federation space with due haste. You are not expected to engage the Vaadwaur unless such an action is the only option available to you.”

Corwin nodded, his tightened chest relaxing once he heard that he could order a retreat rather than having to stand his ground as some manner of sacrifice, “Understood, Admiral. When do you… um… how long do we have before we need to leave?”

“Given the nature of your vessel, your immediate departure is preferable,” T’Reln responded.

“Right away…” Corwin repeated in his own shaky words, “Ack… acknowledged, Admiral. I will… speak with my… XO and have him prepare to take us to… um… Underspace.”

“Live long and prosper, Ensign,” the Admiral said before cutting off the transmission. Adler sank down into his chair as if he’d suddenly deflated like a balloon. He couldn’t help but let out a disheartened chortle at being given a Vulcan farewell that seemed so counter to his impending mission as to seem sarcastic.

As Corwin sat wallowing in what could only be described as self-pity, the door to his quarters slid open and the figure of the Emergency Command Hologram entered with his characteristically stern facial arrangement in peak form.

“Captain,” the hologram said as he took notice of the puddle-like appearance of the Ensign before him, “I take it the transmission wasn’t to your liking.”

Corwin half-laughed and half-sobbed at the question as he laid one of his arms limply across his eyes, “Who likes to be asked to go on a dangerous… possibly suicidal mission?”

The blunt statement caught the ECH off-guard, “I wasn’t aware that Starfleet was in the business of sending people to their deaths so casually. I think you should explain our orders in a bit more detail.”

“They want us to go into Underspace… find whatever ships or… stations… or whatever we can find… and somehow avoid detection if we can and escape if we can’t,” Corwin summarized without lifting his arm from his face.

“That seems like a fairly routine scouting mission, Captain,” the hologram said flatly. “What makes it seem so ‘suicidal’ to you?”

“They want us to go right now…” Adler groaned.

The ECH let out a voiceless ‘ah’ before letting out a sharp breath, “Then I will plot a course to… Actually, did they tell you where we might breach Underspace?”

The arm finally dropped from the Ensign’s eyes, “The Admiral didn’t name one specifically, she just said we were to enter one of the apertures that were detected during their initial attack.”

“It may be wise to consult with our new science officer about this,” the hologram suggested, “That is… after you’ve finished emulating a Changeling in fluid form.”

Corwin looked up at the hologram before he actually took stock of how he was sitting. With a flush of embarrassment, he pushed himself into a much more upright position. He stared at the screen floating in front of him, the display now returned to the various status updates on the ship. It took him a few moments before he finally internalized the suggestion.

“Should I call the cadet here? Is that… appropriate?” Corwin asked.

“Given the unique layout of the ship, I would say that it would not be inappropriate for a focused conversation such as the one we need to have with Cadet T’Ven. I wouldn’t recommend you hold meetings alone with any of the cadets, however. I would be happy to provide oversight to ensure no impropriety can be reported on your part,” the ECH remarked.

Ensign Adler nodded and tapped on his commbadge lightly, “Adler to T’Ven, could you please report to the Captain’s Quarters?”

The Cadet responded immediately with a crisp, “On my way.”

The hologram frowned slightly, “You may wish to be a little more formal in your address of our cadets, Captain. I understand that they are not much younger than yourself, but aboard this vessel you hold authority far above the ability to engage in informal speech.”

“Oh…” Corwin said, his shoulders sagging a bit, “I guess I’m so used to talking with all of the holograms like this and just… didn’t think about it.”

“Your casual interactions with the holographic crew are acceptable, I suppose, but the cadets actually have an assigned place in the command hierarchy and you need to be mindful of that going forward,” the ECH continued.

“I’ll… try to remember,” Adler said before the visitor chime sounded, drawing the attention of both occupants of the room toward the door. “Enter,” the Ensign called out, prompting the doors to hiss open to reveal the Vulcan cadet he had called for.

“Cadet T’Ven, reporting as ordered,” the young woman said, taking only three steps into the room before making her reporting statement.

“Thank you for making it here so quickly, Ta… Cadet T’Ven,” Corwin corrected himself mid-sentence before pointing to the empty seat in front of him, “Please… sit down so we can go over some mission details with you.”

“As you wish,” the cadet said, moving swiftly to the chair and assuming an upright, straight-backed posture in the seat.

“Admiral T’Reln has asked that we… investigate an Underspace corridor, but we… weren’t given any details as to how we could go about that. Are you at all familiar with… Underspace or how it might be traversed?” Adler inquired of the scientist sitting before him.

“Underspace was a topic discussed briefly last year,” T’Ven reported, “I recall that the USS Voyager did not require modifications to enter, though I would need to search the record logs to ascertain the exact process that allowed them to do so.”

“We’re being asked to depart immediately,” the Ensign explained, “So if you could get us an answer quickly, I would… um… I’d appreciate it.”

“May I utilize a station on the bridge?” T’Ven asked.

“Of course,” Corwin nodded.

“Then I shall head there immediately, with your permission,” the Vulcan said, standing back up but not moving to leave.

“Permission granted,” Adler said with a small nod. T’Ven returned the gesture with a nod of her own before heading back out of the door she’d just come through not even five minutes before. Once the hiss of the door closing fell silent, the ECH turned toward the Ensign.

“Perhaps we should call the other cadets who would be part of the watch to the bridge as well. It would be good for them to experience a hasty departure,” the hologram smirked, “And we can see how they respond to sudden pressure and expectations as well.”

“Isn’t that a bit…”

“Ensign,” the ECH stopped him, “You were thrown to wolves, so to speak, in a far less considerate manner than this. Consider it paying forward the education you received… under somewhat harsher circumstances.”

“If… if you’re sure…”

“Doubt is not part of my programming,” the hologram quipped.

Corwin let out a wary sigh before again tapping his commbadge, “Cadet Rixx and Cadet… Zh’Ranni, report to the bridge immediately.”

The ECH nodded in satisfaction, “That was much better than your last summons. Now, shall we report to the bridge ourselves to oversee our fledglings as they spread their wings for the first time.”

“Why do I feel like you’re enjoying this a little too much?”

“Purely your imagination, I assure you,” the hologram shook the question off.