Captain John Carter stepped off the transporter pad to find Lieutenant Commander Henry Maxwell waiting for him, and looking rather frustrated. “I think you need to explain better as to why the hell the Centaur was sitting in empty space away from it’s assignment, that was sitting and waiting at the Providence Fleet Yards, Captain.” Maxwell said before he started leading the way out of the transporter room, leading Carter to Maxwell’s Office.

“As I explained, sir. Our ship is old, the sensors were acting up and we simply chased a ghost. But we have it all under control now. It was simply a maintenance shift that slipped up on their duties, that is all.” Carter explained.

Maxwell got to his desk, picked up a padd and lightly tossed it to Carter’s chest, who caught it with no problem. “Explain it to me, one more time, Captain.”

Carter looked at the padd and saw medical data on the four individuals, Vakai, Ryker, Sivol and Gomez, all four that experienced something that was absolutely extraordinary. Over thirty years of memories were stored in their brains, and yet they were only on the planet for merely fifteen seconds…or at least so they thought. The transporter room chief had told Carter that neither of the four left the transporter pad, they just stood there, with a complete blank look on their face for exactly fifteen seconds. Carter sighed as there was just no way to hide medical data like this from anyone, he was willing to keep the Away Team’s own reports as personal logs to secure and hide them, but he couldn’t do that with all the medical scans that were logged.

Carter then tapped on the padd, syncing it to the Centaur’s computer and then entering his codes to release the Away Team’s report before placing the padd back down on Maxwell’s desk, facing the man. “Those are the Away Team’s report on their mission. Long story short, sir. We encountered someone who we’ve never seen or met before. Species we can’t even classify, nor do we have a name to. They…as my First Officer explained, are very secretive and were curious about us and tested us…well tested them. That’s all I can say, sir because there is nothing else to say, aside that we weren’t gone for that long.”

Maxwell sighed and pushed the padd away. “I’ll read it later, and aside from the trip it took you to get to that empty part of space, no…you weren’t gone for very long but you still technically abandoned your post, your entire ship did.”

Carter nodded his head. “I assure you, sir. Their reports, and my own will clear things up. You should also have access to my personal log in regards to what happened.”

Maxwell nodded, “Again, later. Right now we have an even bigger problem, which is why I am forgoing on writing a reprimand.” Maxwell stood up, turned towards the view port and looked out of it, towards the dry docks, the ships going by, the increased activity. He enjoyed seeing it all, space…ships…they were in a great era, and his yearning to explore was driving him crazy. But he had a job and in his family, they do the job without question. But he still enjoyed looking out the view port every now and then, watching the activity outside the station. “Do you know what the Omega Directive is?”

Carter blinked and swallowed. “I do.”

Maxwell then turned in place to looked back at Carter. “Silly question to ask, since all Captains and above are required to know. Believe me, when I got this posting as just a Lieutenant Commander, even I was surprised to learn about it.” He shook his head before pressing a button on the touch pad on his desk, a pre-programmed button to magnetically seal his door and raise a forcefield around his office. Even the view port of his suddenly darkened, unable to see through it. “We do not know what the hell is going on, Captain. But Omega Particles are appearing like crazy all over. The number is…I just don’t understand how…or why…but there are a lot and the Fourth Fleet has just been tasked to deal with it, as quickly as possible. It’s all hands on deck, Captain, that is why I’m not here to yell at you or reprimand you for abandoning your assignment at Providence Fleet Yards. Besides, I still need to review those reports and your logs, nevertheless, I just don’t see the reason at the moment, not when we’re in a crisis. If anyone attempts to contain Omega Molecules and they destabilize in the worst place, it would doom billions of lives and the worst part of it is, many Omega Particles are showing up. This is a crisis on a galactic scale! If we lose warp travel and subspace communications would be severely hindered. It would be like having the technology of communication in the palm of your hands but being forced to using smoke signals. We would have to invent new ways of travel but that could take centuries, if not decades. We simply cannot afford this at all.”

Carter sighed, remembering back when he was briefed about the Omega Directive and when he thought that he may never have to worry about such a thing throughout his entire career. Boy was he wrong. “What do you want the Centaur to do, sir?”

Maxwell sat back down at his desk and pulled up his holo-screen, then pressed at a holo button that flipped the screen for Carter to see. “Because of this magnitude, we can’t just send vessels with specialized personnel to handle this. We need every ship capable to deal with this situation and destroy those molecules. Unfortunately, your ship doesn’t have the equipment to do so.”

Carter nodded his head, “We could make room in all of our Cargo Bays for the unit that Voyager made, to destroy these molecules.”

Maxwell nodded his head, “We can do that, but we won’t be providing you those units. The USS Don S. Davis will have the option to do that, but considering that she’s been refitted with more cargo space than most vessels for the tasks that she has been doing for many years, she will be responsible in destroying the molecules in the area that she, and the Centaur, will be sent to. Your mission is to scout for the molecules for the Don S. Davis to pick up and destroy, and to protect the Don S. Davis while they do so.”

Carter frowned, “You expect trouble, sir?”

“I have to expect everything, Captain. As grand is it would be to harness the power the Omega Molecules have, we simply do not have the technology to do so. But that is not going to stop any other race out there from trying, and they will try, Captain. Worst part of it is, some may consider using it as a weapon. Think about it. What if we were having this major Omega event happening when we were dealing with the Hunters of D’Ghor?” Maxwell asked.

“They could of used it in key locations to prevent us from traveling at Warp, enabling them to do as they place outside the disrupted subspace.” Carter answered.

“Exactly. Now you have your orders, Captain. Do not, I repeat, do not reveal them to any of your crew unless under extreme circumstances.” Maxwell explained.

Carter nodded his head. “What about the crew of the Don S. Davis?”

“Unfortunately for Lieutenant Commander Kevin Walker, he will be stuck in Command with a large team of specialists who will deal with and destroy the Molecules. Most of his team and crew of Starfleet Corps of Engineers had been reassigned for other special tasks during this crisis. Any of his crew that remains, they are too going to be in the dark as your crew will be. So if you and Commander Walker have anything to discuss about the Omega Directive, it must be done in complete secrecy. Understand?” Maxwell explained.

Carter nodded again. “Understood, sir.”

Maxwell gave a single nod. “Good. Dismissed, Captain.”