Captain Reilly mainly remained silent throughout the mission. He wasn’t accustomed to having many people around him talking during something as vital as this moment.

Thirty minutes had passed since the shuttle stopped just at the entrance to the Nebula itself. The simulated life signs were still showing as predicted, but nothing seemed to be happening. Silence cut through the bridge among the detection beacons, and the usual hum of the core was louder than normal.

Finally, he broke his silence, “Report”.

T’Praal stepped in with what everyone already knew, “The shuttle is where it needs to be, currently I’m not detecting any movement coming from the nebula itself.”

Reilly was starting to get impatient, and without any way to speak with the fleet, he felt like they were sitting ducks, open to anything, and he didn’t like that.

“Commander, let’s bring the shuttle in a bit closer to ensure we get some attention”, he said

Parker gave the order to move in closer, not knowing if it would have any effect, but it was then that something went wrong.

“Sir, incoming detected, it came out of nowhere”

“Red alert, full shields and evasive manoeuvres”, Reilly ordered, hoping it would give them enough time to avoid whatever was about to happen.

At that moment, Reilly felt a wave of energy coming up his arm, like electricity flowing through water. It hit him hard, and before he knew it, he was thrown forward, his feet left the ground. He was floating in mid-air, and then the ground came into contact; he felt the thud hit him like a ton of bricks.

He opened his eyes, everything was a daze, his head was on fire, smoke was all around him, and his Commander was pulling him up from the ground with force.

“We’ve been hit”, Parker said.

“Damage report,” he shouted, but his voice was still in a wheeze from the fall.

Eliza gathered her PADD and started to list the deck reports, “Shields down to 30%, life support failing on the lower decks, crew evacuations are in progress to capable areas, and emergency force fields are in place.”

T’Praal stepped in “Sir, the shuttle craft has gone.”

Reilly looked around at the view screen and saw it was in pieces. He wasn’t sure how, but the Vaadwaur ship had outsmarted their plan.

“Helm, bring us about, full 180 ’ and target the ship”

It was too late; he could already hear the audible tone of a weapons lock, and in an instant, the shock hit, and the ship took another torpedo. He saw his Commander in a brief moment upside down over his head before being thrown back to the ground.

** Warning – Shields Offline ** The computer had blasted out.

Reilly picked up his Commander and put her in the seat. There was blood on his hands where she had been badly injured, but somehow she was still breathing.

“T’Praal, get on subspace and send out a distress call”, he ordered.

It was then that the world went black.

Reilly woke up in sickbay. He felt like he had a bad round playing Parrises Squares. His chest felt heavy, his right leg was lifted high, and the room was empty.

Well, not entirely.

Commander Sydin, the USS Sheffield’s Intelligence Officer – the woman who had gotten them into that mess – waited for him.

“Ah, welcome back.”, she said.

He tried to sit up, but it wasn’t proving easy. “It seems we were lucky; somehow, they knew what we were doing!” he said.

“Yes, one could say that. We received your hail and, as promised, took out the Vaadwaur vessel following you – and not a second too soon, might I add.”

He threw his head back in relief, knowing how close it was to an end. He tried to contain his emotions and rank, but eventually, he cracked.

“This was far too reckless. Being cut off from the wider fleet gave us a disadvantage, and we’re lucky to be alive.” Anger came from his tone.

Sydin hesitated. “I am aware that it wasn’t ideal, Captain. But it was what had to be done. We will be escorting you back to Deep Space 17 for repairs.”

He was too tired to put up more of a fight. He had learnt that it wouldn’t get him anywhere quickly and could cost him the ship, something he had worked hard for.

“Thank you. Let’s try to make the next mission a bit less entertaining,” he concluded.

She smiled. “If we encounter another situation like this, I know you can handle it.”