Glad it was finally the evening, and her double shift on the bridge today was slowly coming to an end, Commander Kazlaf was sitting at the science station instead of sitting in the captain’s chair. Though she could use her anti-grav unit to transfer herself there, her Elaysian physiology didn’t find the seat that comfortable. Working at the science station gave her more chances to finish off the scans she was making of a nearby binary pulsar. 

“Commander, I’m detecting a high concentration of neutrinos coming from a stern,” announced Commander Jarata.

Another reason for her staying at the science station was to avoid the ship’s third officer and pilot. Kazlaf found his cheerful and upbeat attitude almost sickening. She had no issue with others being happy, but she found the Risian pilot just a bit too much for her liking since she had joined the Constitution. After finding out that he had returned from working on one of the shuttles to take over at the helm for the remainder of the shift, Kazlaf was determined to avoid him so she didn’t have to engage with any of his positiveness. 

No such luck.

Looking over at her sensor readings, she saw that Jarata was right. “Where did they come from?”

“No clue; they just appeared out of subspace and appear to be gaining on us!” Jarata announced.

“Evasive manouvers, Commander Jarata, full impulse!” Kazlaf ordered before tapping on the intercom. “Captain McCallister and all senior bridge crew report to stations.”

“No use,” Jarata reported from the helm. “They’re still gaining on us, and we’re unable to create a stable warp field to make further distance from them. It’s almost as if they’re being controlled.”

“Report?” Captain McCallister asked as he exited the ready room and crossed the bridge. He went over to his chair and sat down; as he did, the holographic LCARS display appeared around him, giving him the ship’s status report.

“An unusual amount of neutrinos appears to have come out of subspace and are now attracted to the ship, sir,” Kazlaf replied. “We are unable to escape from their pursuit.”

“Options?” McCallister asked, just as the turbolift doors opened, allowing for the entourage of senior staff Kazlaf had called all to walk out, led by Thaustin. All of them were out of their uniform as they were all off duty. They hurried across the bridge to their station to assist with the situation. 

“We can’t outrun them at impulse or warp drive, sir,” Jarata said, now he sounded panicked. “Either we let them catch up or-”

Before he could say something else, Kazlaf’s station lit up like a Christmas tree with warning red lights. “Sir, I’m detecting a huge gravitational sheer approaching us with the neutrinos. Impact in eight seconds.”

“Ethav, transfer all power to the shields and deflector,” McCallister ordered his operations officer, who was now beside Jarata.

Ethav’s hands sped across the console before him,  “Done; however, I don’t think it will be enough, sir.” He shared.

Thaustin had sat down in his chair to the captain’s right and opened a shipwide intercom after hearing that news from Ethav. “All hands, red alert and brace for impact!” He tapped another button on his console, and straight away, everyone sitting on the bridge was strapped in while those standing found the nearest seat to get in. Everyone grabbed a handle while watching the phenomena approach them on the viewscreen.

Kazlaf gulped hard as she looked at the sensor readings, trying to get as much information as possible about what was about to hit them. She was trying to run a comparative scan to see if the ship’s records could identify it to anything else that Starfleet had encountered before. 

Her console beeped back, instantly showing what it was, but it was too late. She felt the ship start to shake violently, and like a strong storm, it was hit hard by the oncoming force and pushed from side to side. Holding on tight and closing her eyes, Kazlaf felt the ship spinning on its axis. She could only imagine what was happening to the vessel on the outside. Peeking her eyes open slightly, she saw the sensors flashing on and off, but what she could see was the wave had forced the ship off its course, and it was now flying at incredible speeds. Wherever this was taking them, it would be fair, she thought as she closed her eyes one more time. This time, she didn’t open her eyes. Kazlaf knew the inertial dampeners were at maximum, but the strong force hitting the ship would knock her out cold. 

Darkness came, and she didn’t wake up.  

It took a few seconds, possibly minutes, for Kazlaf to come around. She felt the strong, soft support from her restraints around her body. They had kept her safe, but she was indeed in pain. Her exoskeleton would have absorbed most of the brute force from the wave that had hit them, and her chair’s belt system would have dampened it further, but her body was not used to such extreme movements. Without a doubt, she could feel bruising on her back, around her chest and arms. However, she ignored them for the moment. As she opened her eyes to take in the scene before her, she could see that the bridge was in absolute darkness, and several people were calling out, rushing around in the scene of chaos. 

Pressing the release button, Kazlaf felt a bit more comfortable as she was approached by Counsellor Oron. The large Brikar placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he ran a tricorder over her body. Smiling at her, he confirmed she was injured with just bruises and gave her a painkiller. Instantly, she started to feel better as she stood up. Her station was offline, so she knew she needed help with something else.

“Belire, are you okay?” The captain called out as she rose from her seat.

She nodded. “I am, sir, thank you,” Kazlaf replied as she winced still. The captain approached her, “Are we in one shape still?”

“Just about,” McCallister replied. “Can you get some sensors working and see what’s out there?” He asked, pointing towards the lifeless main screen.

“I’ll see what I can do,” She knelt down to pull off the panel under her console and heard the captain heading over to where Thaustin was. He was bent over something on the floor. She glanced more and was shocked to see the Thaustin treating an unconscious Jarata. She went stone cold, hoping he wasn’t dead, and now kicking herself for behaving the way she did around him.  

“I’ve got a heartbeat,” Thaustin replied with joy and a second later, Jarata coughed as he sat up.

Relief flung over Kazlaf after hearing that. She heard the captain congratulate Thaustin before ordering him to take Jarata to sickbay. Watching further, Kazlaf saw Thaustin comply and carry Jarata towards the turbolift. She caught Thaustin’s eye before the doors closed and gave him a smile, which he returned. He knew how she had felt about Jarata’s promotion, and he had heard her reaction – somehow, during that look, they shared a mental connection where Thaustin understood she hoped nothing terrible would happen to Jarata. The cart’s light showed the disarray in which he now appeared as he carried Jarata in his arms. Thaustin gave her a reassuring look before the doors closed on him and took him down to sickbay. 

While playing with the controls, she overheard Lonar report that the ship’s entire tactical array was offline – no weapons, no shields. After restoring the intercom, Ethav shared that sickbay declared a mass triage emergency on every deck. Emergency backup generators were now kicking in as the ship’s Emergency Medical Holograms were being brought online and assigned to vital areas where projectors were working and crewmembers were trapped or needed help.

A few minutes later, Kazlaf was able to bring her console back online after bypassing a few damaged circuitry. “Captain, we’ve got sensors!” She declared, which prompted McCallister to almost dive across the bridge.

“Tell me what you see, commander,” McCallister instructed, sounding hopeful that they were out of danger and could be left alone to make repairs.

After a few seconds and after checking the sensors more than once, Kazlaf turned around to face him. “Sir, if the sensors are right, we’ve been transported over three thousand light years from our previous destination.”

 Hearing that news from her made McCallister almost gasp. Kazlaf shared in the same reaction as he, only inwards. “Is there anything out there that indicates what pulled us here?” He asked her. 

Kazlaf knew what he was hinting at. After all, they were in the Delta Quadrant, and like a legendary ship from over thirty years ago that had been pulled across the galaxy, the captain was worried they had encountered a Nacene or some other lifeform responsible for the new location. 

Checking her sensors one more time, she shook her head. Kazlaf told him there was nothing out there. “There’s a star system we could reach in less than a day at warp three, but nothing else from what our sensors can show me. The neutrinos and gravimetric shear seem to have gone. There’s no trace of them, but the sensors are heavily damaged, sir. We may be missing something.”

 “Damn it,” McCallister muttered as he punched the railing between the command pit and the outer circle of bridge stations. Everyone else on the bridge had stopped their work and looked at the captain and the commander. 

For the first time, Kazlaf felt flushed and sick from having so many people glare at her. She had no more answers for them. “Captain, if we can launch either a probe or a shuttle, we could use their sensors to determine what is out there.”

McCallister nodded as he walked back to his chair and slumped down in it. “Maybe, commander, but let’s get the ship fixed before we make our next move. We’re in no state to do anything after you’ve made those scans.” 

Nodding in agreement with his assessment, Kazlaf knew that with Thaustin off the bridge, she was the next senior officer after the captain. This meant she needed to work on overseeing repairs and supporting what the captain wanted to be done. 

Kazlaf didn’t get a chance to say anything as the captain spoke up.“Commander, head down to engineering and work with Lieutenant T’Penni to get a repair effort underway.”

“Aye, sir,” She gulped as she got up from the science station and headed towards the turbolift. 

They were in the middle of nowhere, with no power, engines, or defences, and now Kazlaf found herself having to go and work with the Vulcan engineer who had become the Borg Queen on the Bellerophon during Frontier Day. 

Could her day get any worse?