“You know, the bar gives those pips an extra pop.”

What mattered most to the lifelong explorer was not how much metal you wore on your collar, but how many worlds you visited in your career. Still, the newly promoted Fleet Captain Devreux smiled at his boss as she stepped onto the central island of the bridge. “I appreciate them, and all they represent… although I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to think of myself as a Fleet Captain.”

Fleet Admiral Reyes smiled back at her humble XO. When you looked at yourself in the mirror every day, it was hard to see growth, but the Gérard Devreux that fought alongside her over Nasera was nothing like the young captain that had come aboard the USS Khonsu seven years prior, and the work he’d done in the aftermath of the battle to help with Nasera’s recovery was nothing short of inspirational. “It was well deserved,” she assured him. “There were a couple of you that were long overdue.”

“Still can’t believe you had the audacity to give Lewis his fourth pip while under investigation,” chuckled Captain Devreux as he shook his head. “Or that you gave the old spook a command of his own.” He respected Jake Lewis for his devotion to duty, but he had a hard time seeing him as captain material. The man spent his days stalking the corridors looking for invisible enemies.

“Well, I wasn’t about to throw young mister Eidran to the wolves on his own. Captain Lewis has commanded a ship before, and he’ll do a stand up job again,” Admiral Reyes assured her number one, neglecting to mention that last time Lewis had been in command, he’d created a diplomatic crisis and ultimately been forced to resign. “And besides, since Grayson said Lewis can’t go anywhere, I figured we might as well strap him to a Captain’s Chair to keep him distracted.” Jake Lewis had been Commander Lewis as long as she’d known him, all the way back to ’88, but just as Devreux had shown growth as a leader, she had to acknowledge that Lewis actually had as well. She might still turn them both into picture perfect duty officers before she was done with them.

Admiral Reyes looked forward through the main viewer. The Alita-class USS Diligent hovered just off their bow like a predator ready to strike. Given recent developments, she appreciated having the tactical interdictor and her captain, Dorian Vox, as part of the new Polaris Squadron. She then looked towards the asteroid belt and debris field that lay beyond their bows. “Anything from Lewis or Lee?” The dense rock field was too tight a squeeze for the whale that was the Odyssey-class USS Polaris, but she knew the Pathfinder-class USS Ingenuity and Duderstadt-class USS Serenity were in there somewhere, hunting for any trace of that Borg signal that had woken up a couple weeks ago and then disappeared without explanation. That’s what had brought them to the graveyard in the shadow of Wolf 359.

“Nothing but space rocks is what Lewis’ last report said,” Captain Devreux reported. “I’m beginning to feel like we’re chasing ghosts.” After Frontier Day, rumors and reports started trickling in about Borg activity, but so far, they’d come up empty. “Everyone’s on high alert, and all these false starts, they might just be paranoia getting the better of us.” That’s what he hoped it was, at least. They’d been through hell the last few months, one gut punch after another, and the idea that it wasn’t over was not something he wanted to entertain.

“You might be right,” Admiral Reyes admitted. “But what if you’re not?”

Fleet Captain Devreux raised an eyebrow at his boss.

“Have you ever heard the old fable of the boy who cried wolf?”

Devreux nodded. He was familiar.

“Most people take the lesson that the boy should not have cried wolf when there was no wolf,” explained Admiral Reyes. “But what I take from it is that the wolf only strikes when you stop responding to the cries for help.” That’s why one had to be forever vigilant and to not disregard even the slightest hints of trouble.

That definitely wasn’t what Devreux had ever taken from the old fable.

“What if Frontier Day was not the end of the story?” Admiral Reyes concluded. “What if it was just the beginning? What if the Borg are not as wounded – or as dormant – as we think?”

Captain Devreux looked discomforted by the thought. He wanted to be done with the battles, the casualties, and the suffering. Between the Lost Fleet crisis and Frontier Day, there’d been far too much of that. He just wanted to get back to the mission of exploration that had brought him to Starfleet in the first place, the opportunity to discover incredible phenomena and cultures out there in the vastness of the great unknown. 

As it was though, he’d have to wait a little longer. A klaxon started blaring from the operations console. “Ma’am, I am receiving a distress signal from the colony on Beta Serpentis III,” reported the operations officer, pulling Admiral Reyes and Captain Devreux from their conversation. “Audio only.”

“Let’s hear it!” Admiral Reyes ordered as she spun on her heels like a coiled snake ready to strike.

“Beta Serpentis III to any ship within range. We need your help. The voice of the Collective, it grows louder with each passing day. The grip of the Collective, it tightens with each passing day. The day of our downfall, it is almost upon us. The Borg are coming. Please…”

And then the audio abruptly cut out.

“What happened?” Admiral Reyes asked as she looked over at operations.

“The distress signal, it just… it just stopped,” the operations officer explained as he checked and rechecked the subspace frequency. But he couldn’t find a thing. Captain Devreux joined him at the operations console, and he confirmed the same. The signal was just gone.

“Tactical, do we have anything on long range scanners?”

“Negative ma’am,” the tactical officer reported. “No indication of Borg activity whatsoever. No transwarp signatures, no subspace signals, and no emissions indicative of anything concerning whatsoever.”

“Well then, let’s get Beta Serpentis III on the horn,” Admiral Reyes ordered. “If they pick up, and everything’s good, we just continue on our way. But if not…” Her voice trailed off. No use speculating and making everyone more nervous than they already were. But still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was afoot. Maybe it was just paranoia borne of all they’d been through recently, but there was also something ominous about the word choice in the message.

Not even thirty seconds later, the asteroid belt on the main viewscreen was replaced by a frustrated looking Andorian who looked like someone had just warmed his ale. “How can I help you, Starfleet?” he asked gruffly without introducing himself.

“I was just about to ask you the same question sir,” Reyes responded kindly, ignoring his tone. “I am Fleet Admiral Reyes of the Federation starship USS Polaris, and I am calling in response to the distress call we just received from your colony.”

“A distress call?” the Andorian asked skeptically. “We sent no such call.”

“It mentioned the Borg…”

“The Borg?” the Andorian interrupted aggressively. “Forgive me – what did you say your name was… Reyes? – forgive me Reyes, but while what happened over Sol was tragic, I think you and your ilk, you’re jumping at shadows now. There are no Borg here. Just a few thousand of my brothers and sisters, and the ice. So much ice. Really couldn’t ask for more, to be honest.”

Admiral Reyes could not help but note that the man did not sound particularly saddened about the tragedy of Frontier Day, although should she really expect as much from the colonists on Beta Serpentis III? Probably not after what had happened in the late eighties. “You’re sure there’s nothing of concern going on?”

“As sure as I am that there’s snow on the Northern Wastes.”

“Well, we are relieved that you and your fellow colonists are fine, and that this was just a false alarm,” Admiral Reyes said with a forced smile, concealing her skepticism. “Is there anything else we can do to be of assistance?”

“No.”

“Alright then,” Admiral Reyes nodded. “We send our best, and if there is anything we can do, please don’t hesitate to call us back.” She paused, and then added:“Oh, and before I go, I don’t think I caught your name, sir?”

“Administrator Thoss.”

And without another word, the Andorian cut the channel.

“Mister Thoss was certainly a friendly gentleman,” chuckled Captain Devreux as he re-approached the command island. “What do you think he got in his tuber roots this morning?”

“Let’s just say things have been less than smooth with Beta Serpentis III for a while. Visitors don’t often visit their frozen hellscape, and they don’t offer a lot with economic value, so they’ve never gotten much from their Federation membership besides regulations and bureaucracy,” Admiral Reyes explained. “And they almost threatened to leave the Federation over the Synth Ban because, since their workforce isn’t exactly growing, they rely on synths for a lot of the colony’s basic functions.”

“I get that,” Captain Devreux nodded. “But I can’t shake the feeling there’s something more going on here.” Maybe it was paranoia getting the better of him, but something just didn’t feel right. “If I was a colonial administrator, and an Admiral from Starfleet called me about the Borg, I’d panic.” Indeed, that was why Fourth Fleet Command hadn’t started whipping everyone into a frenzy over the increasing signs of Borg activity. They didn’t want to panic the masses and risk public sentiment forcing a pull back as it had done in the eighties.

“I agree,” nodded Admiral Reyes. “Beta Serpentis isn’t even a day’s trip from here so I think it would be worth a visit.” Although she didn’t share, she was also aware that there was more to the Beta Serpentis system than just the icy colony world. It was also the home of a classified salvage depot and research lab set up to dissect the debris from the Battle of Wolf 359. “Recall the Ingenuity from the asteroid field. Commander Lee and I will pay them a visit while you and the rest of the squadron finish the work here.”

Captain Devreux frowned. More time staring at space rocks hunting for a Borg homing signal that seemed long gone. “Ingenuity? Why her?” The Pathfinder-class USS Ingenuity wasn’t the fastest ship, nor the strongest, and if she ran into the Borg, she wouldn’t put up much of a fight. “Why not the Diligent, or even the whole squadron?”

“Because we know there was a Borg homing signal in this asteroid field,” explained Admiral Reyes. “And if we know that, so do the Borg. I’d rather keep the squadron together here as much as possible in case they come to collect their lost goods.” Captain Devreux didn’t look comforted by the thought. “Meanwhile, this thing on Beta Serpentis III is probably nothing. The administrator, he was an ass, but he certainly wouldn’t want to be assimilated, so if he’s not asking for our help, everything’s probably okay. Commander Lee and I will just take a quick jaunt over there, check it out and be back on the double.”

“You’re going?” Captain Devreux asked curiously. He hadn’t expected that. Admiral Reyes had a habit of wanting to be where the action was, so her choice to go with Commander Lee to Beta Serpentis III surprised him a bit.

“Yes, because I think this might also be an opportunity for a bit of friendly outreach,” explained Admiral Reyes. “See if we can’t win over some hearts and minds while we’re at it.”

“But what if you’re wrong? What if the Borg are coming as the distress call said?”

“Now you’re starting to sound like me, Gérard.”

But that didn’t mean he was wrong.