With all of the senior staff about, the USS Lafayette had made its way to The Triangle with haste. Pete was eager to get to work again, and had just started the Lafayette on their first patrol along the border, ready to tangle with some pirates or take out some criminals.  

They’d only been on patrol for a couple of hours when Cromwell received a notification of a communication from Starfleet Command, marked as “New Orders”. That had confused him since they’d literally only just started, but he’d learned to be flexible over his years in the center chair. He requested it be sent to his ready room and motioned for his XO to follow. 

Wyatt wandered in after him, bright eyed and alert after a couple of hours of sleep, a good meal and some coffee. She let Pete pick his seat before standing just beside it with a protective hand on the back of his chair. She really didn’t know the man, but by default he was her’s to defend, and she would relentlessly. 

Cromwell tapped the communication and Commodore James Priest’s face appeared on the screen. The man looked tired, but he offered Peter a weary smile, “Pete. How’s the Lafayette treating you?” He asked. 

“Not bad, James. She’s a beautiful ship. Glad to have her,” Pete said, smiling back.

“Good… good. Listen, I need to take you briefly out of The Triangle,” James replied. “Outpost 4871 has gone comm silent and we need to find out why,” He explained. 

Pete narrowed his eyes, trying to remember the details of that particular outpost, “Isn’t that the recon outpost over by Farpoint?” He asked. 

“That’s the one,” James replied with a nod.

“They’ve had comms issues for years. They go silent once a month,” Peter replied with a laugh. “Why send me across the galaxy for that?” He asked, bluntly. He had a feeling he knew: They were trying to keep him out of the action and give him silly little escort missions and milk runs. 

“This is… a bit different,” James replied. “They’ve been comm silent for about 48 hours now, and we’re concerned something larger might be going on. No doubt you’ve seen the Breen incursion into the area,” He replied. 

James was inwardly conflicted, having known Pete for a long time, but … the man was acting strange. He’d rejected orders, pulled in every favor he had to get another command. Could be an old man fighting the end, could be something else. As strange as other members of Starfleet were acting right now, he couldn’t risk giving Pete all of the details. And considering the standing orders from the Forth Fleet, it seemed prudent to keep him in the dark until he was sure of his allegiances. 

The other side of that, though, was that if ever there was a Commanding Officer that could handle any surprises, it was Pete Cromwell. He was well aware that there would probably be a heated conversation later, though. 

“So we’re going to make sure that the Breen hasn’t somehow incapacitated communications?” Wyatt asked in a subtle push to clarify the situation.

“Exactly,” Priest replied. “If they have, it’s a very forward push for them, and we need to know about it. I’m really hoping you yell at me for sending you a babysitting mission for this one, Pete,” Jame said, seriously. “But there’s been enough conflicting reports out of the region… Just tread lightly, understood?” James said. 

Something was rubbing Pete the wrong way around this, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. James’ tone and expression belayed more stress than he was trying to convey, but Pete nodded, “Understood, Commodore.” 

“Good luck out there,” James replied, giving the man a quick salute and cutting the feed before he could return it. 

Pete sat back in his chair, still staring at the screen, pondering the nuance he’d seen there. 

“He thinks the station’s compromised,” Perri said with a frown. “Or in the least that he’s sending us into a trap. He was too tense in the shoulders and jaw and his eyes were locked on yours. Whatever’s bothering him is serious.”

Pete looked back over his shoulder at the woman and nodded, “Agreed. He’s not telling us something… And what was that comment about ‘conflicting reports’? As far as I’ve heard, the only thing that was going on out there was some infractions from the Breen and the Five-One-Four had it handled,” He said. 

“Although,” He added, “If they’re as far up as Farpoint, then they’re pushing further into Federation space, and that is definitely concerning,” Pete replied. 

“Sounds challenging,” the woman said as she tapped him on the shoulder. “Weren’t you looking for an adventure?”

Pete looked back at her again and chuckled a bit, “Yeah, but I was hoping I wouldn’t be going in half-blind,” He explained. “Get the senior staff together, let’s brief the crew,” Pete said, finally standing. “Something to the tune of, ‘We’re going somewhere to do something about something… that sound about right to you?” He said, a wry grin on his face. 

Perri shook her head, grinning. I’ll bring coffee and pastries to detract from the lack of information. Soothe the savage beasts and such.”

“Soothe the savage me,” Pete said as she started moving toward the door. “Make sure there’s Boston Cremes on the tray, yeah?” He said with a grin. 

Heading for the doorway the XO called back over her shoulder. “For 20 minutes on a treadmill, sure. I have to keep you in fighting form boss.” 

“God damned taskmaster!” Pete called after her as the door closed. Yeah… he liked that one.