As Daedalus gently slipped out of warp speed, a tiny grey arrow riding the crest of a dissipating subspace field that slingshot it across federation space, her grey hull became bathed in the white hot light of the young system's blue toned star. Behind grey walls, circuits bristled with energy as the deflectors swelled with power in an attempt to divert the cosmic forces that battered down on the smooth hull. Small fans began to spin, hidden behind roof panels and in pillars, they began thier tireless work lowering the ambient temperature as the hull began to cook in the unrelenting sun. In a small office near the bridge, Commander Dil raised his hand across his brow as the windows took a second to adjust their tint, deadening some of the unrelenting photonic tsunami. Deep within the heart of the small ship dense circuits sprang to life, rushing messages through optical relays and blue tinged bio-neural gel packs at quantum speeds; the vessel's compact computer core striving to fulfil its first objective, protect the lives of the crew. 

“Bridge to Dil. We have arrived at Jenkins Beta III.” came the melodic voice of Lieutenant Kaya, Daedalus's Rigellian pilot. 

The windows now blocking the furious blue light of the nearby star, Dil tapped the delta on his chest, “On my way.” With a sigh he stood form his deck and after taking a moment to adjust his earring in the small mirror next to his office door he strode down the few meters of corridor to the bridge. The brown doors slid aside effortlessly as he stepped onto the deck, the Saurian security officer already standing, rigidly, to meet him. 

“We have arrived at Jenkins Beta III sir, initial scans have detected no threats.” Bahir crossed to his station in the far corner. 

“We weren't really expecting any Lieutenant.” Dill offered a short smile. Bahir was a good officer but expected danger behind every asteroid. “Bletchley station?” he asked, stepping down to the command level, pausing for a moment as he debated which seat to sit in. As the ranking officer on shift, he had every right to sit in ‘the big chair’ but it waited menacingly, its soft leather grooves unsettling Dil's stomach. Tugging his jacket, which seemed to have shrunk a size in the last few seconds, he sat instead in the right-hand chair, a far more comfortable position for the young commander. 

“No answer to general hails. We have it on sensors, above the second moon.” Sisrex answered from the science station to starboard, her eyes hovering suspiciously on Dil. Had she sensed his hesitance to take the main seat?

“On screen please.” No, he was imagining things.

Seconds later the forward portal shifted to show the grey hull of the small orbital station, floating serenely above the grey desert of the a small D-class moon. Reminiscent of Jupiter station the main body of the research base was a converted saucer section, refitted with large solar collectors and towering grey storage units beneath. It hung, dark and lifeless, absent of any lights or signals as it rolled across the orbit of the planetoid below, casting a tall shadow that chased it across the empty desert of a lifeless moon. 

“Sensor readings indicate the station has only minor active functions. It appears the fusion generator is active but operating significantly lower than normal.” Sisrex continued, her brow furrowing as the examined the scrolling information. 

“Something else?” 

“There does not appear to be any damage, malicious or accidental to the base. It is difficult at this range but it appears that the base is simply shut down.” The Betazoid turned to Dil, caution hovering on the tip of her tongue. “It is a ghost ship.”

“Life signs?” Dil asked, the Lieutenant had used a loaded phrase. Sisrex was only just finding her softer side following the Lost Fleet's revitalisation of her deep-seated trauma; her delivery of news still left a great deal to be desired. 

“None.” Sisrex responded, the whole bridge team stiffened, all hope of a simple communications fault was quickly going out the airlock. Sensing the atmosphere tense Sisrex continued, “Though at this range stellar radiation is somewhat obscuring." The tension eased, minutely. 

“Take us on approach Kaya.” Dil felt the burning eyes of Bahir in the back of his head, the young man would have us at red alert by now. “Slowly" he finished, as the heat gently abated. 

With a series of short commands Daedalus edged forward, their relative speed imperceptible to those within, her hulking impulse engines flickering silently in the wide expanse of space, beneath them a great fire waiting to be unleashed. Tiny jets of gas, each racing out into the void tilted and rolled the ship as the central computer translated the young conn officer's inputs. Effortlessly, they rolled the small vessel along its Z-axis, creating a level ground within the abstract three-dimensionality of space, as other thrusters brought the vessel's tapered nose toward the planetoid and the dark, foreboding ghost station. 

Within a few minutes the ship had closed the distance across the system, though only a series of numbers, scrolling across screens, gave any indication to those within the petite vessel that anything of their position had changed. 

“Still nothing. No life signs apparent.” Sisrex reported, her eyes not moving from the variety of small screens in the wall, each relaying a vast amount of data from the clusters spread across the baking hull. 

“Commander, a moment?” came the rolling voice of Oyvo across the bridge. The Xindi operations officer, usually full of positive energy called Dil over with a flick of the head. Pausing to allow the Bajoran to cross the room to her expansive operations station at the rear of the bridge, she continued with a whisper as he got close. “Somethings been bothering me about these sensor readings since we arrived.”

A moment of silence hung between the two officers. “Well?” asked Dil. 

“Sisrex has got a lot of data to go through and it's really easy to miss. These blue suns kick out a lot of radiation and they can be a bit overwhelming to sift through, this one time in the Ufreighti system…"

“The point Lieutenant?” Dil interrupted. Any other time he would have found one of the young engineer's stories fascinating.

With a few key presses an orthographic layout of the station appeared on the wall screen. With a long finger Oyvo pointed to a point at its centre, which glowed a barely perceptible blue. “This section of the station is colder than the rest.” A pair of raised eyebrows bid her silently to continue. “The station is relatively hot due to the solar radiation and the lack of deflector shields but something is keeping this section of the hull chilled. To about 15 degrees centigrade, whilst the other compartments are well over 40, even 50 degrees on the outer ring facing the sun.”

“Could it just be that it's not warmed up yet?” Dil asked, his mind already racing with possibilities. 

“Possibly, but it's lower than ambient life support and it would only get hotter from the sun side.”  

“Keep looking Oyvo, it's weird i'll give you that.” Dil offered a smile. “Let's hope someone left the fridge open when they went out.” The young woman returned his smile but both of them could feel the growing worry amongst the bridge team. Crews don't just up and abandon a base, particularly when they are made up of civilian researchers with little to no practical experience outside of their labs. Turning to cross the wide balcony at the rear of the bridge he caught the eye of Bahir. A stern shake of the head told him that there was still no indication of life behind the dark windows of the base. Solemnly he took the small staircase down to the centre seats, subconsciously giving a wide berth to the Captain's chair. 

As the crew silently continued their work, sensors sweeping across the pristine hull as data continued to pile into the computer banks, they searched for any indication of the base's researcher. A small red light appeared on Sisrex's panel, unobtrusive enough to missed by the lieutenant commander whose focus was locked on the base, it was quickly followed by a second that bleeped urgently on Bahir's wide tactical console. 

“Commander, we have detected an unidentified contact approaching at speed.” Bahir announced, "No Starfleet ID received." 

“Any indications?” Dil felt his uniform tighten again, they were at the edge of Federation space, in a sensitive location. Whilst Bletchley bases location wasn't classified it was far from the usual stellar lanes, no-one accidently came to Jenkins Beta III. 

“Open a channel.” Dil announced as he stood from his chair. Shoulders set and jaw stiff he conjured the image of Starfleet tenacity, though the unsettling empty base that hung on the screen threatened to make his spine shudder. A nod from Oyvo indicated the channel was open. “Unidentified vessel, this is the Federation Starship Daedalus. You have entered protected Federation space, come to a full stop and identify yourself.”

Silence rang from the speakers as Dil's words filled the air. Oyvo met the Commander's glance with a shake of the head. “They are continuing to close Commander” said Bahir from behind him. 

“Unidentified vessel, stand down immediately. We will defend ourselves.” 

Another silence filled the bridge as the all ears stretched wide in anticipation. An eternity crawled by as Dil weighed his next choice. As Oyvo began to speak the Bajoran's heart stopped momentarily. 

“They are responding. On screen.”

The battered face of a Cardassian man appeared on the screen, his lip split as dried brown blood caked his chin. A large bruise spread across his forehead, disappearing into his messy slick black hair. Behind him a darkened bridge flickered with sparks and intermittently flickering panels. “This is Glinn Natel of the Cardassian vessel Hurin. You must retreat Daedalus. The station is not safe. Retreat immediately. We will attempt to provide cover.” The face of the battered Cardassian disappeared as the space station returned to the screen. 

“Commander, Bletchley Base has begun to power up, weapons and shields are engaging.” Bahir announced, his hands beginning to race in rehearsed patterns across his console. 

“Red Alert! Captain to the Bridge!” Dil announced as the vessel rocked beneath his feet, causing him to stumble into the captain's chair. “Evasive Pattern Delta Four, fire to disable.”

As the furnace beneath the impulse engines roared to life, finally unleashed in service of its crew, the dart-like starship shot forward. Nimbly it rolled aside as beams of orange energy lanced out from the ventral hull, illuminating the tan hull of the weary Cardassian vessel that rushed beneath Daedalus. Releasing its own yellow tinged beams of fire it followed suit, the two vessels taking a wide arc around the now illuminated station. Whilst the outer hull was cast in blue and orange light as weapons fire danced across it's shields, a dark screen deep within the chilly heart of the station rolled to life. A new primary directive rolling across its screen. 

'Defend Bletchley Base. Defend the research. Defend Gabriel.'