“Run the scans again.” Captain Alexandra Pantuso was in the middle of the central command center, standing at the science officer of the watch desk, her eyes staring quantum torpedoes at the young woman. The call to her office had been breathless and panicked, which had annoyed Pantuso. Her annoyance had given way to frustration at the inability of the science officer to give her a straightforward and satisfactory answer.

The officer did as she was asked and ran the scans again. “Same result, Captain Pantuso. No trace of the Mackenzie or the Perseverance.”

Pantuso tapped her badge. “Commander T’saath, report to CCC immediately.” She turned back to the young lieutenant. “Signal Commodore Fontana on the Zephyr and advise him we’ll be needing him here as well.” She waited until the wide-eyed officer was finished. “Now, while we await your commanding officer, get me the sensor logs from just before the incident in question.” The woman’s hands shakingly went to work, gaining some confidence as she worked until the requested data feed was on the screen. “Play it.” The signals for the two ships appeared on the screen, and the timeline went forward until, suddenly, the two ships blinked out. Pantuso stared at the screen, feeling the entire room’s eyes shift onto her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. What had happened? She frowned as she glanced around. “Where is Commander T’saath?”

The officer ran a request through her console and swallowed hard before replying, her voice shaking again. “The computer cannot locate Commander T’saath on the station.”

Pantuso felt a chill rattle through her body. This wasn’t good. She glanced over as the doors to the floor rumbled open, revealing Commodore Geronimo Fontana. His face was tense, eyes staring high-powered phasers as he walked to her. He handed a PADD to her. “You’re going to want to run a complete scan of the station and compare it against the latest rosters we have. I got off a priority one briefing from Fourth Fleet Command. We’re not alone, and nobody knows what’s going on. Captain Pantuso, I am taking command of this situation and the station.” She replied with a terse nod. She wasn’t about to start a fight over jurisdiction with a commodore, much less Fontana. “Start the scan, Lieutenant. Alert the senior staff to meet us in Command Briefing Operations on the double.” He motioned Pantuso to follow.

“How bad?” she asked.

“Bad enough that all of Fourth Fleet is in play. We’re not the only ones to lose a ship or two to whatever this is, but the other problem is people. Crusher has provided-”

She cut in, “Wesley Crusher? As in the Traveler?” Pantuso took the mild glare from her CO as a cue to pull up the PADD he had given her and read the damned thing.

He led her across the CCC as he replied, “All that and more. There’s a list, but it’s incomplete. Our ships aren’t on it, but T’saath is.” They walked into his former office, and he waited until the door closed. “I’m not taking your office, Alexandra. I’m just taking overall command. We’re going to need to handle our civilian and merchant populations. You and Commander Hargraves take the lead. I’ll meet with the senior staff and handle the squadron’s and Starfleet’s side of the station’s response. Whatever chance we have of getting ahead of this thing is rapidly fading.”

Pantuso winced at knowing what was ahead of her. Hargraves was competent, so that gave her some comfort. “I’ll update you as we go. Yellow alert?”

Fontana hesitated for five seconds. It was as long as he was willing to think, given how quickly the situation was unfolding. “Do it. Put a temporary stop to all merchant and civilian traffic until you’ve got the missing lists complete.”

She stood at a brief attention and bounded out the door, leaving Fontana to take a deep breath. Things would need to move quickly. He spun on his heels and rushed back to the CCC. “Get me the Olympic and the Zephyr.” The news had already spread. He could see the mix of wide eyes and panic across the deck. The officer at the communications desk signaled that he had them. The faces of Olympic’s Captain Leopold Halsey and Zephyr’s XO, Lieutenant Henry Longfellow, appeared on the main viewer in the center of the room. Longfellow’s additional duties had come from the necessity of needing an executive officer on the big Typhoon-class starship.  He had not been thrilled. “Gentlemen, the briefings are already on their way to you. Olympic will go to Mackenzie’s last known location, and Zephyr will intercept Perseverance’s. I need updates as you get them. I’m headed into a Montana Station senior staff meeting, so whatever you find, I need to know about it.” Both men nodded, and the channels closed. He turned to the Central Command Center officers. “Captain Pantuso is on her way with Commander Hargraves. What we know at this point is circumstantial. Keep your eyes and ears on the station and the rimward. I know you know how to run this station. Let’s hold steady while whatever’s happening out there gets sorted.”

On cue, Pantuso walked in, Hargraves on her heels. She turned to the operations desk. “Yellow alert.”

Fontana turned and headed to the command team meeting. There were too many questions and not enough answers.

It felt like a regular Tuesday in the rimward.

Almost.