As Jarata stepped into The Establishment, the well-lit crew lounge with a cosy atmosphere welcomed him. It was starting to get late, but the place was still crowded, with various off-duty crewmembers sipping their drinks and engaged in hushed conversations. Jarata couldn’t help but smile as he recalled his recent trip to the holodeck with Commander Thaustin. The experience was a mix of excitement and awkwardness, and the two men had found it hard to stifle their laughter. They had attended Doctor Uknare’s directing debut of Romeo and Juliet, which turned out to be an absurd and cringe-worthy spectacle. Despite the disappointment, Jarata and Thaustin had made the most of it and left with a funny memory to share.

“I’m still baffled that the doctor convinced so many people to audition,” Jarata said as he pulled up a stool before indicating to the holographic bartender he wanted two synthales. “Connor,” He called to the photonic barkeep, who appeared almost as real as most of the crew. “Can you get us two usuals and make them strong!”

“Yes, sir,” Connor curtly and formally replied. 

 Jarata was surprised by that response. Typically, Connor was quite friendly and laid-back. His tone and responses were always calm, friendly and informal. Deciding to ignore it and put it down to some subroutine issue, Jarata was keen to relax now. The Risian pilot wasn’t planning on staying up any later, especially as he was eager to call it a night. Though hungry, he knew his companion had been complaining about it since they had visited the holodeck. Jarata had to admit it to himself, though. He was enjoying Thaustin’s company a lot lately. He didn’t mind grabbing a drink and eating a quick bite before returning to his quarters.

Thaustin took the sit beside him and took his drink once it arrived. “I’m sure by tomorrow afternoon, we will know what roles the doctor has in mind for us. I hope she gets how uncomfortable I find performing in front of others.”

“Did you not find your earlier interaction comfortable, sir?” Connor asked him out of the blue.

Jarata was bewildered by the hologram’s question to Thaustin. What caused him to ask such a thing and in such a strange way? He turned to his friend. “Is it me, or does Connor sound out of character?”

Thaustin nodded in agreement before turning to the holographic bartender. “Connor, when did you last run a self-diagnostic?”

“This morning at ten hundred hours. Why, commander?” Connor quizzed him.

“You seem off,” Jarata explained. 

“I am certainly on, commander,” Connor replied with a blank expression. “

“It may be one of those glitches that Ethav reported earlier,” Thaustin told Jarata before turning to Connor and thanking him for their drinks. He gestured towards Jarata for them to move away from the faulty hologram.

Agreeing to Thaustin’s idea, Jarata picked up his drink and looked for a spare table for them to sit at. His eyes then lay on a semi-open booth. “What about that one?” He suggested. 

“Are you sure you want to disturb her?” Thaustin asked. “She seems pretty engrossed in her work.”

“Then we can give her a break from it,” Jarata replied before heading towards the small round booth with a circular table. He walked straight over and called down to Lieutenant T’Penni. “Lieutenant, do you mind if the command and I join you, please? There are no other free tables for us to sit at.”

T’Penni, the Vulcan chief engineer, looked up from the PADD she was working on. An almost empty bowl of plomeek soup sat by her. Noticing that she had no real choice in the matter, Jarata felt a bit awful for pressing on, but she responded graciously. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

Appreciating her gesture, both men sat down opposite her. Noticing she didn’t want to be disturbed, Jarata bit his lip before blurting out his question. “I take it that’s to do the interplexing beacon?”

“Indeed it is,” T’Penni replied curtly. Her focus remained on the data before her. 

Jarata exchanged a look with Thaustin, sharing his realisation that his companion was correct and perhaps they shouldn’t have disturbed her. Before he could ask her another question, T’Penni spoke up.

“And before you ask, no, I still do not know what happened earlier.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Thaustin replied in a diplomatic tone.

“Shall we order some food?” Jarata suggested to Thaustin, feeling the need to move on before T’Penni gave them a Vulcan death glare. 

“Absolutely, I’m famished,” Thaustin agreed to the idea and was about to call one of the holographic servers when the lights in the room started to flicker on and off. Then, the sound of the power in the room going off was heard. Emergency lights came on just as the holographic barkeeps all disappeared. 

“What’s going on?” Jarata questioned as he, Thaustin and T’Penni rose to their feet. 

“This is peculiar,” T’Penni stated as she tapped her combadge to call engineering. No one replied.

Thaustin tried his badge to get the bridge, and no one replied.

Regretting not getting food sooner, Jarata knew where this was going. He listened carefully as Thaustin ordered everyone to report to their stations before he turned to him. 

“Jarata, I want you to head to the bridge while T’Penni and I head to engineering to find out what’s happening.”

The pilot nodded. “Shall I try and see if I can get the captain on my way?”

“If you can,” Thaustin said before they parted. 

Jarata went for the nearest turbolift, and as he entered the corridor, the same situation that had happened in the crew lounge was taking place. Power was fluctuating, and the computer wasn’t responding to commands. He ordered every officer he came across to their stations, just like Thaustin had; they were now in an emergency crisis and needed to stabilise whatever was happening. Swiftly, he found the nearest access hatch and entered a Jefferies tube. 

The long climb to the bridge started.