As Sh’ill carefully docked the Liris to the orbital base, even though he should have made the computer do that, he wondered to himself if the people aboard the station would understand and believe what had just happened to him in the nebula.

He docked the small ship, and walked over to the MSD behind his captain’s chair, and had a moment to himself. While using his tail to unconsciously groom himself and scratch his back a little, he thought: “If the Borg have returned properly, but now like this, will we have anything to protect against them? Well, I’m a Starfleet officer, they’d have to at least listen.”

The young Caitian brushed through his large mustache with his hand, and contacted the station.

“This is USS Liris, I have docked. I have medical supplies meant for the New Rainham colony on Aldebaron III, please transport them down.” Sh’ill quickly stated as he pressed some buttons at the nearby science station.

“This is Aldebaron III orbital station. Transporting now. Also, Captain, the station Captain has requested to see you.” A voice that sounded Bolian to Sh’ill responded overenthusiastically.

“What-” Sh’ill facepalmed momentarily. After all the abrupt chaos in the nebula and trying to keep everything in that cargo bay silent and dead, he hadn’t slept for an entire day.“What does the Captain want to talk to me about?” Sh’ill responded, now in a tired voice. He had just decided to let down the mask of “I have slept well.” and not put on any mask.

“I have no idea, sir. He just told me to tell you that he wants to see you.” The Bolian responded, with the same enthusiasm, but now with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Sh’ill facepalmed again, this time further, and leaned against the nearby wall to the right of the MSD.“Tell the Captain I’ll be right up. And tell me, are there any free quarters on the station and can I stay in them for a few days, provided I’m not given a new mission.” 

Sh’ill quickly leaned down against the science console, and pulled up the blueprints of the station and noted the guest quarters in the middle of the station.

The Bolian paused for a moment, evidently as he pulled up the list of quarters and where everyone was.“Yes, Commander, we have free quarters on deck 50. I’ll keep them reserved just in case.”

Sh’ill noted the enthusiastic voice of the Bolian, and squinted a bit, thinking about why he was so overexcited.“Understood. What’s your name, in case I need to contact you?”

“Oh, uhmmm… Ensign Bok Xasin, sir, Bok Xasin.” The Bolian stuttered for a moment, he had not expected the Commander to ask him his name. He made out a wide smile on the other end of the comms channel, and then quickly hid it as he was in the Command Center of the station.

“In that case, Lieutenant Commander Sh’ill out.” Sh’ill closed comms and grabbed his PADD as he stepped into the turbolift, and took it to the deck on which the airlock was located.

As Sh’ill stepped onto the station, and straight onto the quite large Promenade, but what was to be expected of a Narendra-class station.

Sh’ill walked over to the nearby Replimat, and grabbed a cup of Caitian Tea, which would normally be quite hallucinogenic, but the replicator has restrictions on that sort of stuff. As Sh’ill was moving to sit down at a nearby table, he bumped into someone.

“Sorry for that.” Sh’ill quickly looked down at his and the person’s into whom he had bumped into pants to check if he hadn’t spilled anything, and then looked up to notice a Vulcan doing the same, only he was staring right into the Caitian’s eyes, as if he was looking for some emotion.

“Commander..” The Vulcan slowly started as he brushed off some of Sh’ill’s fur off his yellow-coloured uniform and one gold pin and one black pin.“I recommend looking around before you walk and inevitably bump into someone.”

Sh’ill responded just as calmly.”I will take that under advisement, Lieutenant.”

“Good. Now, can I help you in any other way, Commander?” The Vulcan looked over Sh’ill’s face, and then back into his eyes.

“Yes, could you show me the way to the Command Center?” Sh’ill clutched his cup of tea harder, not wanting to spill it again.

“Yes, Commander. Follow me.” The Vulcan grabbed his PADD off the nearby table, and started walking in the direction of a nearby turbolift, making sure that Sh’ill could keep up with him.

As they walked through the Promenade, Sh’ill noted to himself that the station must get a lot of visitors judging by the jumble of people that they were walking past. There were a lot of Starfleet installations here. A medical center, Security office into which a raging Andorian was being dragged into at the moment, etc. Of course, there were also shops, cafes, restaurants, a small casino run by some questionable Tellarites, and so on.

As they finally stepped into the large turbolift together with some other people, and the Vulcan officer instructed it to take them to the Command Center, it finally occured to Sh’ill to ask what the officer’s name was, just in case.

“Lieutenant, what is your name?” Sh’ill looked over his shoulder, and said in his normal voice, not trying to make the question appear out of place.

“Delvok,” the Lieutenant responded while not even looking at Sh’ill, as if he was barely noting his existence. “That is my name, Commander. And what is yours?”

“Sh’ill. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Delvok.”

As he finished saying his name, they arrived in the Command Center of the station, and what a sight it was. At least 50 people, all coordinated, working to keep the station running 24/7. On one side, docking control working to keep the traffic flowing peacefully, on another 2 security officers coordinating policing across the station, and so on. In the middle, a large raised platform with a table with a blueprint of the station on it, being used by several officers. Delvok then stopped after they had walked a bit into the bridge..

“This is the Command Center. I shall now leave. Good day.” With this, Delvok walked to his station at the security part of the Center, and replaced one of the officers there.

After this, Sh’ill made his way to the raised platform, as that’s where the Captain would probably be. And, just as he had thought, he was there. An old Andorian, grey hair, coarse voice, the complete set. He was at present talking with another Andorian officer about one of the warp cores and how it needs repairs. Sh’ill patiently stood there, and after about 2 minutes of waiting, the Captain turned to him, and smiled a bit.

“Ah, Commander, welcome to Aldebaron III. We are pleased to welcome you. Now, as to why you were called up here. We are giving you 3 days of downtime here on the station while we get you a crew. Please, let’s go to my office, I don’t enjoy standing up here.”

As Sh’ill and the Captain were making their way to the Captain’s office, he stopped a few times to give out advice to some of the people working there. Finally, they made their way to the Andorian’s lavish office. A Federation flag in one corner, paintings of the station and Andoria elsewhere, and so on.

As the Captain sat down in his large chair behind a large wooden table, Sh’ill took his position opposite him, standing, preferring not to infuriate or insult him.

“Now, Commander, seeing as for now things have somewhat settled down and there are officers available, the higher-ups have decided to start giving crews to the previously barely crewed ships. This applies to you too. And thus, we are giving you downtime while we find officers for your crew. As I can see, you have already contacted Ensign Xasin about this.” As he said that, he grabbed his PADD, and quickly opened quarter reservations.“Deck 50, section 23, quarters Lambda-Yellow.”

Sh’ill nodded, and used his PADD to find where he needed to go, and then spoke up, now about what had happened in the nebula.“Sir, thank you for the hospitality, but there is something I need to talk to you about. Captain, there is… something that happened in the nebula. I came upon some Borg.”

As he said this, the Andorian Captain’s antennae shot up and pointed themselves at Sh’ill.“You came upon what? How… explain, now.” He switched to a stern voice, and now properly sat up and fixed his posture to focus on Sh’ill.

“Yes, I came upon some Borg, but they weren’t like other Borg. They called themselves… the Eka-Borg. They were more advanced, their drones bulkier, and so on. They don’t seem to be a threat for now. I will be compiling a report about what happened, and I will send it to Bravo Fleet Command. I also have some of their drone parts in my cargo bay, frozen and locked away.” Sh’ill then continued, with an audible anxiety in his voice about this new potential threat.

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen.” The Captain began after a moment of silence and careful consideration.“While you are here, these… Eka-Borg parts will be removed from your cargo bay and sent off to research them. You will speak of this to no one except command level officers and Intelligence officers. Is that understood, Commander?” He squinted as he stared into Sh’ill’s eyes, trying to understand how, why and what was going on.

“Yes, sir. Speak of it to no one.” Sh’ill repeated.

“In that case, 3 days and 3 nights on this station. After that, a new crew, a new mission and a clean cupboard.”