Captain’s log, supplemental. We are en route to the Orvas colony that issued the distress call. I’ve made it clear that Endeavour will be involved, not merely ferrying Protectorate soldiers. To that end, Commander Treviorn has come aboard with a small escort – but it’s Starfleet who will take point to resolve this hostage situation.

Commander Treviorn was silhouetted against the shine of the display screen on the wall of Endeavour’s conference room. It showed what awaited them when they arrived at the distress call’s origin point in nearly seventy minutes: a modest agricultural settlement with domed hydroponic facilities, low stone dwellings, wide plains of terraced crops. To Airex’s eye, it looked remote, peaceful – and isolated.

‘This,’ Treviorn said, ‘is Holsavar. One of the Protectorate’s first interstellar colonies. Population four thousand, primarily agricultural workers, educators, and civic engineers. Its strategic value is minimal, but Holsavar was established to demonstrate that we can build a self-sufficient settlement beyond our own system.’

Kharth examined the map. ‘And these extremists who’ve shown up?’

Treviorn’s nostrils flared. ‘A minor dissident group calling themselves the “Ashen Path.” They are a recent problem but… increasingly loud.’ She tapped the display, zooming in on a cluster of silos. ‘My communication with the governor has given a further appraisal. These individuals have taken control of a storage hall in the settlement. They have hostages – perhaps fifteen, mostly agricultural technicians.’

Airex leaned forward. ‘What do they want?’

‘We don’t negotiate with them.’ Treviorn gave him a look as if he’d said something deeply distasteful. ‘They are obsessed with purity, strength, the “old soil.” Nonsense rooted in folk tradition from before the Protectorate’s founding and our global unity. They claim we’ve been weakened by extending our off-world relations these last months.’

‘Any weapons?’ Walker asked, professional and steady.

‘Simple military surplus. But Protectorate military surplus is effective. We expect they have also training from mandatory service. But they have avoided open conflict before now – they prefer spectacle.’ Treviorn hesitated. ‘They’ve staged demonstrations so far. Property damage, symbolic vandalism. Nothing on this scale.’

Airex traded a glance with Valance, whose gaze remained impassive before he said, ‘Any sign of influence from the wider Expanse? Off-world agitators?’

‘No,’ Treviorn said instantly. ‘This is an internal matter. I would not turn to you for help if it were not necessary.’

Kharth folded her arms. ‘Have they made demands?’

‘They have attempted to broadcast. Their demands are inconsistent and largely incoherent.’ Treviorn paused. ‘They frame this as… a lesson. Proof that we are weak, and that the Protectorate cannot protect its own people beyond our system. Ignoring that the threat comes from within. They are few relics who think that our strength is for our own power, and not a duty. They do not – will not – speak for us.’

‘What can we do to help?’ said Valance, hands folded before her.

‘Swift resolution,’ Treviorn said flatly. ‘These individuals forfeited any claim to dialogue the moment they raised weapons against civilians. The government’s priority is the hostages. After that…’ She drew herself up with military precision. ‘These radicals must be neutralised before their poison spreads.’

Valance met her gaze. ‘Starfleet will lend assistance to protect civilians. We will even help see these people arrested by the lawful authorities. We will carry out no extra-judicial killing.’

Treviorn gave her a dubious look. ‘Apprehension is ideal. But they will not surrender. And if they see us hesitate, if they sense weakness, they will escalate. A decisive strike is the safest option – for my people, and for yours. The only language zealots understand is firmness.’

‘Firmness doesn’t always require violence. But we’ll take your assessment under advisement.’

The Orvas commander looked like she might press the point, then nodded. ‘I will accompany your landing party with one of my soldiers to ensure the colonists recognise Protectorate authority. But understand this: we end threats like this quickly. The longer we allow them breath, the more they believe they are justified.’

Valance rose. ‘Then we’ll proceed. And we’ll save your people. Thank you all – dismissed.’

She still caught Kharth’s eye as the senior staff and guests left, Walker moving to escort the Orvas without being prompted. Valance waited until they were alone before looking across the conference room table at her XO.

‘Standard protocol is that this is your mission,’ Valance said. ‘Are you up for this?’

Kharth visibly worked her jaw. ‘Carraway’s cleared me.’

‘I’m not just asking from a paperwork perspective.’ Valance dropped her voice.

‘You’re asking me so you and I can hold hands and hug it out?’

‘This isn’t just a problem someone needs help with, with innocents on the line.’ Valance met her cool gaze, trying to not rise to Kharth’s bite. ‘This is getting a foothold in diplomatic engagement with the Orvas, so we can -’

‘Find who built the facility. I know.’ Kharth didn’t move. ‘You get that Treviorn’s made it clear she’d love it if we gunned down these dissidents?’

‘We’re not going to -’

‘That wouldn’t be very Starfleet in the Expanse, no. So it’s saving lives, against wider diplomacy, against our principles, against our need for leads.’ Kharth paused a beat. Then she shrugged. ‘I can handle it.’

She went to turn away, but Valance pressed on. ‘I won’t bench you if you -’ She stopped, gritting her teeth as Kharth paused, impassive. ‘This can be difficult. And you can express that. Without me automatically assuming you can’t handle it. I’d rather you tell me where your head’s at and we…’

‘Manage it? Manage me?’ Kharth glanced back, gaze wry. Then she let out a short breath. ‘I could be handling it super fine, or going totally nuts about Jack. Either way, my next step’s clear: get the Orvas to help with our investigation.’

Then she left, and Valance had to sit in the conference room alone, stewing on her own apprehensions and the limited data they had on the challenge ahead.

They were fifteen minutes out from Holsavar by the time she stepped back onto the bridge. Airex had the command chair, Kharth down in the security offices with Walker going over their plans and discussions with Treviorn. He stood as Valance approached, but she waved him to sit in the XO’s seat beside her, and dropped her voice.

‘I want you on the away team,’ she told him.

Airex’s expression didn’t shift. ‘I imagine there are contributions I can make to seeking a non-violent resolution,’ he said guardedly. ‘And helping expand our understanding of the Orvas.’

‘Exactly.’

He met her gaze. ‘I can’t promise I can stop her.’

Valance made sure her expression didn’t change. ‘If I didn’t trust Kharth,’ she said, making damn sure her voice was low, ‘I wouldn’t let her lead this mission.’

‘I know you have to say that. I know you even have to think that.’ Airex paused. ‘And I know what you’re asking me. I’ll do what I can.’

She didn’t expect miracles of him. And sometimes, stopping Kharth once she’d made up her mind was tantamount to asking a man to change the course of a storm. But there was nobody aboard who stood a better chance than Davir Airex, and nobody else aboard she could even breathe these fears to.

The shimmer of the transporter faded into dry, pale sunlight and a wash of warm wind carrying the scent of fresh-turned soil. Holsavar spread across a wide, shallow basin, the settlement one of clean-lined structures built in neat grids, their pale metal and ceramic walls gleaming in the afternoon light. Beyond the settlement, terraces carved into the gentle slopes held rows of young crops, their green shoots wavering in the wind.

Airex had set foot on scores of new agricultural colonies. They all bore the hint of freshness, of promise; boasting of a new frontier for their people. Perhaps Holsavar was normally like this, blossoming with the Orvas Protectorate flexing and expanding its borders. Instead, he could all but taste the tension in the air.

He glanced to Kharth, who was coolly surveying the scene. What looked like a market square had been hastily converted into an assembly point. Frightened colonists clustered behind barricades cobbled together from crates, agricultural machinery, and vendor stalls. Two Protectorate law-enforcement officers conferred beside a transport, hands lingering too close to their sidearms. They looked, he thought, too young for this.

At their arrival – with Treviorn and her accompanying soldier tall beside the Starfleet away team – the nearer of the two enforcers jogged over. ‘Commander, thank the stars you’re here. We’ve contained the area, but the…’ He hesitated, taking in the alien Starfleet uniforms. ‘We had to evacuate the district, and the extremists are still in there. We don’t have the manpower to sweep the streets for them. But we believe they’re holding workers in the storage hall.’

Treviorn met the uncertainty with a level gaze. ‘Starfleet will be helping us resolve this situation.’

Kharth stepped forward, and Airex noted how Walker flanked her with calm readiness. He let them advance – let Lieutenant Jain and Crewman Griffin take in the rest of the square and settlement – and drifted to the back, near Doctor Starik, to study his tricorder readings.

‘Where’s the hall?’ Kharth asked at the front.

The officer pointed down one of the broad roads leading off the square. The entrance to the evacuated district was a long corridor between low agricultural buildings, and there was no sign of movement. But hanging from awnings and lampposts were long strips of fabric, swaying gently in the breeze, dark as stone. Symbols daubed in stark white cut across the cloth: jagged angles, circles cleaved by harsh strokes.

Starik surveyed the hanging sheets coolly before looking at Airex. ‘I presume,’ he said, too quiet to disturb the security discussion, ‘we lack the cultural context to understand the meaning.’

‘We do,’ said Airex, brow furrowing. ‘A leaf, perhaps? Something about roots?’

Starik paused. ‘Or simply a tapered oval struck through with a line. That may imply an interruption to a cycle.’

‘Or an eye. All common iconography,’ Airex admitted. He looked up to the law enforcement officer. ‘Does that mean anything?’

He’d just been explaining the timeline – the innocuous freighter that had beamed people down that morning before jumping to warp, the sudden attack, the failed initial negotiations and evacuation, then the proclamations from the extremists. At the question, he glanced to Treviorn, then shook his head.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Iconography of misguided extremists,’ said Treviorn brusquely, and Airex wondered if she was obfuscating unwelcome knowledge or simply unwilling to grant dissidents nuance. ‘They want to be seen. And they want you to wonder.’

Kharth moved a few paces down the square, gaze on the banners. For a moment, she stood there, watching, listening. Airex moved to join her, and he, too, could hear nothing but the faint hum of agricultural machinery out on the fields, and the murmuring of worried colonists in the shelters. No shouting. No movement. The entire district beyond the banners lay unnervingly still.

‘If they don’t have a ship,’ she murmured to him, ‘I don’t know how they think they get out of this.’

‘That’s the problem, isn’t it,’ Airex breathed back. He tried to not study her too openly; tried not to see if this was the dutiful officer he knew who buckled down when the mission called, or a cracking mask.

From behind them, Walker observed, ‘They’ve set this up. Long sightlines, no cover. Anyone advancing is at a disadvantage.’

Treviorn simply said, ‘Then we will have to move fast and hard.’

Kharth didn’t look back as she asked, ‘Did they broadcast anything more recently?’

‘Just one message.’ The officer swallowed. ‘They said the Protectorate had forgotten its purpose. That only sacrifice would remind the Orvas of their strength.’

She exhaled through her nose. ‘Terrific.’

Treviorn squared her shoulders. ‘If they wish for sacrifice, it is best to show them our strength -’

‘You’ve got under-manned and inexperienced local forces here,’ said Kharth, her voice cutting coolly through, her eyes still on the building. ‘And one real soldier with you. I’m the one with a security team, and you need us. So we’re doing this my way, Commander.’

She turned, but looked to her away team, not the Orvas. ‘Let’s get to work.’