“Fleet Captain’s log stardate seven-eight-zero-zero-one point zero three. The squadron has now moved on from the Markonian Outpost. Last night’s gathering went without a hitch, and I am planning more unit cohesion activities in the coming days. After spending some time within the Turei underspace, we will arrive at our first destination, an unchartered system where Voyager rescued one of their shuttles. Our primary aim will be for the squadron to chart the system together. It should be uneventful. Hopefully”

Lieutenant Commander Tierra walked around her engineering room and smiled at how well everything was ticking over today. The Deltan woman was still finding it weird not to see Commander Hunsen standing in one corner or around the pool table conducting a briefing or training session. Wrapped up in her own thoughts, the chief engineer took one more glance around the room and for the first time in days, she smiled. There was a nice buzz among her staff that she felt was reflecting back on herself. Maybe last night’s festivities and the incorporation of the new squadron had uplifted people’s spirits? Or the changes in crew rotations, the first major one to happen in years on the ship, and the infusion of new members may have helped. Or she had considered that it was a mixture of the two. Tierra was a cool and calm person, someone that others could depend on and someone who would go out of her way to help others. Nevertheless, now she was part of the senior staff, she knew that she had to maintain a strong aurora of leadership. Confidence but not arrogance, stable but not a pushover, and certainly there for her staff. She wasn’t someone who would shut someone down if they had an idea to contribute to a problem. Her ability to guide others to find a solution was something she had developed under Hunsen and would be one of the cornerstones of how she now led her staff.  

“Quiet morning in engineering?” A voice asked from across the room.

Noticing the approaching body, Tierra smiled at the Trill man wearing a gold operations uniform like her. “Not quite, commander. We’re just good at hiding all the hard work everyone is doing!” She replied. 

Lieutenant Commander Lukiz Jen smirked as he passed a PADD to her before sharing why he was visiting engineering. “The captain has asked we use our trip in Underspace to quietly map the corridors we are using. I’m about to increase power allocation to the lateral sensor array, but I don’t want to overextend the bandwidth. Could you check this over for me?”

Taking the PADD and reading the report that Jen had prepared, Tierra nodded to herself as she walked over to the pool table and checked the idea that Jen had against her own systems. “So, any news on your date with Commander Thaustin?” she whispered.

Blushing like a red giant, Jen wobbled his head. “Sort of,” He answered, in a low level as hers. “I got a message from him this morning.”

Surprised but excited to hear that, Tierra’s eyes popped wide open at the news. “Nice work, commander!” She winked at him before passing the PADD back. “Everything here looks in order, I don’t see the array being affected.” 

“Thanks,” Jen said as he took the device back. 

Crossing her arms and turning to lean against the edge of the table, she focussed on the joined Trill. “So, have you replied to him yet?”

“Not yet,” Jen answered. “I’m just not sure that he is my type.”

“And?” Tierra quickly countered. “Have a bit of fun!”

Jen laughed at Tierra’s excitement. “You’re as bad as Keli in wanting to set me up with someone.”

“Why not?” Tierra replied. “It’s not as if there’s anything else exciting going on around here.” The chief engineer gestured to the quiet room, and Jen just nodded with her assessment. 

Sighing loudly, while stretching and yawning, Lieutenant Commander Flemen was not being discreet with his show of boredom on the bridge. Sitting in the aft section among the mission ops consoles, he was trying to get ahead of his reading among those races they could possibly encounter on their latest trek across the Delta Quadrant. Waving his arms above him, the Lumerian finished his stretch and tapped his friend sitting beside him on the right. 

“Tomaz, are you done?” He asked faintly.

Still staring at the screen, the Barzan man took a deep breath from his breathing apparatus and exhaled slowly. “Almost,” He answered, not wanting to entertain Flemen’s almost childlike behaviour in needing attention. “Are you?”

“Not quite, but there’s not much to read,” Flemen said, pushing his chair around to swivel. As he did a perfect three-sixty spin, he carried on sharing what he knew as his chair came to a slow stop. “Most of this area we’re exploring doesn’t have many warp-capable species in it, mainly down to the fact the Borg either assimilated them or Voyager missed them due to them testing their quantum slipstream drive.”

“Then why don’t you read what you’ve got to read, so when the captain asks you for your expert opinion, you’ve got an idea of what you’re advising,” Tomaz suggested, still focusing on his reading. 

“Reading information about the Malon is boring, Tomaz,” Flemen remarked and looked at the screen that the chief strategic operations officer was studying. “Why are you reading about the Borg? Don’t you know everything about them?”

Sighing heavily, Tomaz looked at his friend. “Yes, I do, but I want to refresh everything we know and have about them. Just in case.”

“Are you seriously thinking we’ll engage them?” Flemen asked in a whisper, so no one else heard him. 

Tomaz shrugged. “We are close to their space, Craigen. If not now, then at some point. Plus, I’m focussing on reading the impact they have had on this region anyway. Countless civilisations were destroyed because of them. The rest of the Gradin Belt is fortunate to have so many subspace barriers that created an almost ring of protection from the Collective.” 

“Yeah, but the Collective were able to break past them on occasions with their transwarp capability,” Flemen stated.

“True, however, the fact they deemed so much of the Gradin Belt unworthy of assimilation while they were at their height of power; does make you rethink what their long-term strategy was for this area.” Tomaz pointed out. “Seeing what others considered about this area we’re moving into may help us, if and when, we engage an element of the Collective.”

“So you’re not of the opinion that Voyager wiped them out?” Flemen asked. 

Shaking his head, Tomaz was in disbelief at Flemen’s comment. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those conspiracy theorists that think the entire Borg Collective blew up the moment Admiral Janeway’s future self infected them with that virus?” 

Flemen now shrugged. “Why not?” 

“The Collective isn’t like a snake where if you chop off its head, the rest dies. It’s almost like-” Tomaz took a moment to consider his analogy.

“Hydra!” Commander Duncan stated as he stepped down into the mission ops pit. “It’s an old Greek legend from Earth. A beast with multiple heads that when you cut one off, two more grow in its place.”

Both Tomaz and Flemen turned themselves to face the first officer. 

“Thank you, sir,” Tomaz replied. “I couldn’t remember what one of my old instructors told me about the Borg.”

Duncan nodded in acknowledgement. “No worries, but let’s hope we don’t encounter the Collective just yet,” He turned to Flemen. “I’m assuming the reading isn’t as exciting as we originally considered?”

Flemen shook his head. “Sorry, sir, but my briefing isn’t going to be the most exciting one I can do. It’s only when we start to hit the edge of the Void that we may want to reconsider how much of it we traverse or return to the underspace to get us past the Swallow Nebula.”

“I’ll leave that down to Fleet Captain McCallister to decide,” Duncan remarked. “However, we’re not out here just to meet old acquaintances.”

“Or solely to retrace Voyager’s footsteps,” Tomaz noted. “That said, I still advise avoiding making our presence known by those we know to live around the border of the Void.”   

“Worried the squadron will be entering a firefight earlier than expected, commander?” Duncan questioned, crossing his arms against his chest.

Tomaz replied with a simple nod. “We know the Malon don’t trust us, especially as they believe we will ruin their export industry which would have a massive impact on their economy. Furthermore, we’re not one hundred per cent the Hirogen have not moved across to expand their hunting grounds. The squadron needs more time to get its toes wet in the Delta Quadrant.”

“Then let’s hope this plain, boring system we’re heading to helps towards that,” Duncan stated. He looked to Flemen, “Craigen, if the Malon Cooperative is going to be the big player we may encounter first, then I want you to list all possible diplomatic approaches we could use that would avoid having a detrimental impact on their economy.”

“And to put us in their good books?” Flemen added.

“Indeed,” Duncan agreed. 

“Consider it underway, sir,” Flemen answered.

“Great,” Duncan turned around and paused to look at the diplomatic officer, “And make sure that new law degree of yours is used too. I want whatever we can offer to be above board and legal.”

“Absolutely, sir,” Flemen said with a smirk and a nod. 

Once Duncan was out of earshot, Tomaz leaned over. “Still bored?”

“I will be in about two hours,” Flemen replied.

Gazing out of the long slanting windows of his ready room, Fleet Captain McCallister had his arms crossed against his chest with one hand gripping onto a mug of tea as he watched the underspace current fly past the ship. The odd debris from the Turei Alliance’s war with the Vaduwar bounced in their way. Thankfully the deflector dish was powerful enough to sweep them to one side. 

The door chime went off, and he told his visitor to come in.

“Ship status update, sir,” Duncan said as he entered the room and waved the PADD. 

Keeping his focus on the window, McCallister didn’t turn around. “Thank you, Number One,” He replied. “Anything of interest?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Duncan replied as he placed the PADD on the desk before standing a meter away from it. “I’ve got Craigen and Tomaz reviewing our database to make sure we know enough for the area we’re about to enter on the civilisations we may meet.”

“I hear a but there, Max,” McCallister stated as he turned around and placed his mug down on the nearby low-level coffee table. 

“But, there’s not much for them to look into.” Duncan completed. “Mainly the Malon and a few others we’re aware of.”

“And once we enter the Void, there aren’t many others again that we are aware of,” McCallister said. He turned around and walked down to where Duncan was. Pulling his tabletop console around, he showed his first officer something that he had been reading before. “Once we’ve completed our exploration of the border region near the Void, Corella has posed an interesting theory I think is worth investigating.” He pointed to the display. “She and the others have speculated that the lack of life in this area may have something to do with the high amount of subspace distortions has prevented life-sustaining interstellar bodies to form.” 

“Oh?” Duncan said, intrigued. “How do we go about investigating that?”

“She believes that the first step is comparing and contrasting the star systems that are in this region to see if there are any similarities with their makeup,” McCallister answered.

Duncan nodded at that idea. “Sounds…” He paused for a second. “Fascinating?” He posed it as a question as he was getting the impression from McCallister that it may not be.

“Don’t worry, Max, I’m not expecting every one of our missions to include so much drama as we’ve encountered in the last year-”

“But,” Duncan interrupted instantly, knowing what his captain was probably thinking. “Scanning a bunch of lifeless planets isn’t the most thrilling use of our time.”

“Our cosmology department may disagree with that assessment,” McCallister said. “And don’t get me wrong, the more time we have to work with the others in the squadron will only help towards the cohesion we’ve started.”

“We may end up finding those lifeless planets are barren not because of the subspace distortions but purely down to the Borg or some other phenomena,” Duncan suggested. “A mystery is always a good stimulus.”

“Again, for the scientists of our crews,” McCallister sighed. “If nothing else piques our interest then we’ll proceed with this assignment for a week or two before we enter the Void. I don’t want the crews of four of Starfleet’s advanced deep space explorers getting restless.” 

“True, but Starfleet’s primary mission was to explore space, sir.” Duncan pointed out. 

Sighing again and rubbing his stubbly chin. “You’re right, Max. I just suppose with everything we’ve been through in the last couple of years, we’ve moved from one situation to the next.”

“With not much time in between to stop and breath,” Duncan offered.

“Exactly,” McCallister said as he headed back to where he was gazing before on his way back he picked up his mug and took a sip from it. Sitting down on the curved sofa under the bay windows, he looked up at his first officer. “I dunno, Max, maybe I’m not cut out to be the silent type anymore with missions.”

Duncan chuckled. “Far from it, sir.”

“I know,” McCallister smirked. “I was the one lobbying for Starfleet to get us out and on a deep space assignment and here we are, me finding myself restless already.” 

Duncan walked over and took a sit next to his superior. “Can I be honest, sir?”

McCallister nodded. “Always.”

“Since we arrived in the Delta Quadrant, none of us have actually stopped. It has been full on and now with the others joining us, I suppose it’s only natural to feel a sense of trepidation with what may come our way now. There are more of us. We’re a larger presence and we’re heading into a region that Starfleet hasn’t focussed much on since the Delta Exploration Initiative was created. That said, we can do it, James.” Duncan advised. 

“You’re probably right my friend and I suppose with the changes in the crew, I may be feeling a bit apprehensive about us going in without being tested,” McCallister admitted. “I suppose in the past the Odyssey was built upon so many tests that forged the crew together as a family.”

“The Romulan Supernova, the Archanis Campaign, the T’Kon Crisis, the Century Storm, the Blood Dilitihum Plight – and those are only just some of the big galaxy calamities we’ve had to deal with,” Duncan reminded him. “My advice, James, give the squadron the space and room to form itself. Plus, we’ve got four of Starfleet’s finest captains together.”

McCallister chuckled at that notion. “I suppose I should be grateful for that blessing, even having Horatio.”

“Absolutely, plus you’re speech last night went a long way in encouraging everyone to know this isn’t a competition among the ships. We’re to have each other’s backs and work together.” 

McCallister chuckled while nodding in agreement. “You’re right, Max. Thank you.” 

“I’ll head back out to see if Tomaz has killed Craigen yet from his moaning about being bored!” Duncan remarked as he stood up.

“Keep me posted!” McCallister chuckled as he watched his first officer leave his office. Turning around, McCallister turned back to looking out of the window, and for the first time, he was wondering if everything they were about to do was worth it. He just didn’t know the answer.

Yet.