Stardate: 74427.49

Time: 0700 hours

Location: Alpha Quadrant 

USS Heracles

Vausees lay in her bed looking up at the bland, spartan-style ceiling of her cabin. She blinked a few times and tried to close her eyes as she rolled onto her side, fighting with her active mind to sleep and allow her some respite from the past twenty-four hours of chaos.

With a sigh, after a few minutes, she tosses her covers off of her body. A twinge in her left side reminds her to take it slow, as the wound hadn’t fully healed from her time on Archanis V. Placing her hands on the of her bed she slowly and deliberately arches her back as she stretches out the affected area; orders from her doctor, and still newly promoted Chief Medical Officer, Commander Zazzrac.

As she held the stretch a soft chime disrupted the silence in her cabin, “Enter,” she said out loud. 

After a few minutes, she opens her eyes when the door fails to open. Relaxing her body she leans forward and stands up. She grabs her robe and slips into it as she makes her way over to the cause of her disturbance. She taps the button on the console and the door hisses open to an empty corridor. She sticks her head out of her cabin and looks down the corridor and sees in fact that it is completely vacant. Shaking her head she steps back into her cabin. 

“Computer, who was last at my door?” she asks the ship’s computer.

“Captain Vausees was the last person in the vicinity of the Captain’s Cabin,” the computer announces.

This confuses Vausees as she could have sworn that she heard her door chime. “Computer, run diagnostics of my door sensors and circuitry,” she requested.

A moment later the computer beeps to inform her that the request had been completed, “All sensors and circuitry is running within normal operations.”

Vausees sighed as she slipped out of her robe and walked toward her bathroom. After a moment she stepped out wrapped in a black towel and stood in front of the mirror in her cabin. She wiped away the condensation that had formed on it and stared at her reflection. She closed her eyes as she suddenly remembered a time she had with Trance. A shiver ran down her spine as she suddenly felt or rather remembered a rather intimate time the two shared. 

With a sigh, she reached down and grasped a brush that sat on the shelf next to the mirror and began to brush out her hair. After a few minutes, she slipped into a new uniform and placed hair clips into her hair to hold it back and in place; she then headed for the Bridge. 

A few minutes later the main lift hissed as its doors slid open onto the bridge. Vausees stepped out of the lift and walked over to Zazzuit, who was in a deep conversation with their Chief Medical Officer. Zazzrac looked up at Vausees and gave her a nod, as did Zazzuit.

“Morning you two.” She said to them both.

“Morning, Captain,” they replied in unison, which caused a smile to cross Vausees and Zazzuits mouths. Zazzrac could only chuckle as he looked back at Zazzuit. 

“Well I guess I had better be off the ‘Sickbay’,” he said as he gently and deliberately caressed Zazzuit’s hand before leaving.

Vausees saw the display and waited until the main lift doors closed before she turned to look at her XO. She cocked her head to the side, “Zaz?” she said using a shortened denotation of her XO’s name, one that she had used only one other time.

Zazzuit cheeks darkened as she looked at her friend and nodded. Vausees smiled again, “I’m happy for you both, but please keep the affection to a minimum on the bridge, okay,” she said.

Zazzuit nodded as she fixed the edges of her slightly wrinkled uniform top. Vausees took the seat next to her friend and looked out into space, through the main viewscreen. 

“DeepSpace Nine is an hour out, Captain,” Trever stated as he turned to look at Zazzuit and Vausees.

Vausees could still see the slight pain in his eyes, even though it had been four months since the death of his sister. She turned and leaned over to Zazzuit after acknowledging the information, and in a low tone she spoke, “The other reason…” She was cut off as Trever turned back around and looked at her. She caught his eyes and stopped. Which confused her XO until her greenish-yellow eyes saw Trevers.

“Captain, I don’t mind the affection that others give to one another,” he said to the both of them.

“I may not be an empath like you, Trever,” she said as she stood up and moved over, and placed a hand on his shoulder. She then leaned over and in a low tone continued, “but I can still see the pain in your eyes my friend.” With that, she gave his shoulder a gentle yet firm squeeze. When she looked back into his eyes she could see that she had helped him some.

Location: DeepSpace Nine – Bajoran Wormhole

USS Heracles

Time: 0800

An hour later, Vausees had taken over command of the bridge, DeepSpace Nine loomed in the viewscreen.

“This is Captain Vax of the Federation Starship Heracles requesting access to the Bajoran Wormhole”

“This is Commander Karen Andrews, request denied, Captain,” the Commander stated, “We need you to stay put for a moment while we transmit an encoded message from Admiral Ross.”

“Understood. Have it transferred to my Ready Room,” she said as she stood up and headed to the Captain’s Ready Room.

A moment later she returned to the bridge after having read over the sensor logs that Admiral Ross had sent to DeepSpace Nine for the Heracles. 

“Lieutenant Jonton, signal Commander Andrews that the message was received and that we would like to get underway,” she ordered her Chief Operations Officer.

Jonton did as he was asked and signaled DS9. A moment later he informed Vausees that they had clearance to depart. She looked over at Trever who was already setting the Heracles toward the wormhole.

Vausees took a seat back in the Command chair as Zazzuit looked at her with that look that she had used before. Vausees shook her head and Zazzuit nodded. 

A moment later the dark inky void that was in front of the Heracles suddenly changed in a blink of an eye. What appeared to be a bright churning cloud of energy, that seemed to collapse and form around an eye at its center appeared.

“Take us in Trever,” she ordered as she sat back.

Trever did not hesitate as she issued the commands to the impulse engines and the Heracles’ nose pointed to the epicenter of the wormhole. Within seconds of the end of the nacelles clearing the horizon of the wormhole, the entire ship began to traverse the distance between the entrance and the exit of the wormhole, in an instant, the Heracles left the Alpha Quadrant and entered the Gamma Quadrant.

As the ship entered the Gamma Quadrant, Vausees, tapped a holographic icon on her armrest and the ship-wide intercom was activated.

“Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Captain, welcome to the Gamma Quadrant. I know a lot of you have had questions as to why we have been ordered here and God’s know that I want to answer those questions, but I must ask you to understand that our orders come from high up and that we would not be asked to part take on such a mission if we were not ready and if we were not the only choice in the matter,” she said as she looked about the bridge at the officers that had turned to look at her. “I must insist that you all keep up the outstanding work and duty that you all have so admirably shown, and that with God’s willing we face and conquer whatever lies before us,” she continued to state as she continued to look into the faces of her officers. “That is all for now.” With that, she pressed the button once more on her armrest and the ship-wide intercom deactivated.

“Trever set a course for the Hunter Sector,” she ordered as she leaned back into the Command chair for a moment and stared out into the vast void of space that was speckled with a magnitude of stars. 

Trever turned back to the glowing console controls and brought up the star charts. A moment later he entered in the ‘Hunter sector’ of the Gamma Quadrant, “Course plotted, Captain,” he informed Vausees.

She sat there in silence as Trever waited for the order to engage. She continued to stare out into the void as she thought of what this mission had already given them. When Trever turned his head to look at Vausees she nodded, “Warp 8, Mister Nief.”

Trever turned his attention back to the console and input the order. He looked up as the Heracles’ nose seemed to stretch out before them as the Warp Core activated the Nacelles and surrounded the ship in a bubble of matter and anti-matter. In a matter of seconds, everything seemed to return to normal as the ship entered into a distortion of time and space.

Trever then turns back to Vausees, “Next stop, provided nothing occurs, should be the Hunter Sector.”

Vausees nodded and stood up, she turned and looked at Zazzuit, “Commander you have the bridge.” She then heads for her Ready Room.

As the door hisses shut behind her she locks it and secures the room. She then takes a seat on her desk and brings up the logs from Admiral Ross. She begins to study the logs as she formulates which of the two options that she has at her disposal.