[ Act One ]

“Priority two distress signal. Synergy harvester X-J-37005. Condition: critical. Status: main power offline, trapped in gravity well of Argosa V, drifting deeper into atmosphere. Estimated time to hull-crush depth: nine minutes.”

Niko stared at the transmission displayed on the holographic screen which encompassed the whole forward dome of the bridge, then raised his voice. “T’Sai, how fast could we make it to the Argosa system at maximum speed?”

The Vulcan navigator tapped away at the conn station and replied. “At 100 percent subspace slipstream we could be there in… less than five minutes.”

The XO nodded. “Set a course and engage immediately.” A mere few moments after he had given the order, the Sidereal came about, and was engulfed in a black vortex, falling into an ever-shifting tunnel of throbbing darkness and arcing light.

“Shrass, Rel, I want you to look up everything we know about that ship type. Number of personnel, size, mass, escape pods, backup systems, auxiliary power, anything that could help us either save the ship or evacuate its crew. Same thing about Argosa V. What kind of planet, atmospheric composition, known phenomena, anything that could cause complications.”

Both addressed officers answered in unison and went to work. “Aye, Sir.”

“Haroun, open a channel to that harvester.” A soft but still clearly audible ping sounded once two-way, but audio-only, communication was established. “This is Lieutenant Commander Niko Heisenberg from the Federation starship Sidereal. We’ve received your distress call and are on an intercept course. ETA at your position in about four minutes. What’s your condition?”

A clearly distressed, almost panicking male voice responded shakily to the call. Everyone could hear the fear and despair in the voice, and how the call gave them a sliver of hope to cling to. “Acknowledged, Sidereal. We had to dump our OSR core and have lost main power. We’re currently adrift, tumbling at an altitude of 2,700 kilometers below the outer atmospheric boundary, sinking at a rate of 293 kilometers per minute. Hull pressure is at 700 megapascals and hull temperature at 5,500 degrees centigrade, both rapidly climbing. Our structural integrity systems are running on backup power and will fail when we exceed a depth of 5,400 kilometers.”

The numbers were much bigger than any of the officers on the bridge had expected, and confused glances were exchanged.

“Understood. We’re preparing to start the evacuation the moment we get in range. How large is your crew?” Niko replied.

“We are 1,550. No wounded.”

The XO rose from the captain’s chair and swallowed. That was quite a lot more than he had expected. After a moment’s hesitation he replied. “1,550, no wounded. Prepare for evacuation, we’ll be there in a few minutes. Sidereal out.”

Niko tapped his combadge. “Bridge to engineering. We’ve got an emergency incoming. I need all FDS manifolds operational and manned ASAP. We have to evacuate about 1,500 people from an adrift Synergy ship, and we have at most four minutes once we drop out of slipstream.” The engineering officer acknowledged the order, but the first officer already moved to the next point on his mental check list.

He tapped the badge again. “Bridge to sickbay. Co-Yor, we’re preparing to evacuate over 1,500 people from a ship in distress. They say they’ve got no wounded, but can you still get at least one nurse or medic to each FDS room and each cargo section? Even if there are no casualties we can still use the help spreading those people out a bit.”

“Yes, captain. We’ll be there.” Co-Yor replied with his usual sonorous voice that never seemed to betray the Kalonar’s actual current state of mind.

The XO walked to the forward railing, running his hand nervously through his short brown hair. “So, what do we know? Rel?”

“The harvester is massive. It’s approximately ten kilometers long and over 2,000 times our mass.” Rel began to list what he found. “Most of the size and mass are dedicated to storage tanks. That ship type is used to siphon material directly from gas giants’ atmospheres. Its structural integrity systems are designed to allow operation even deep inside gas giants where the atmosphere turns into supercritical fluid, but it won’t last long on backup power only.”

Niko nodded and looked at Shrass. “What about the planet?”

Shrass continued, reporting his own findings. “Argosa V is a class seven gas giant, primarily composed of hydrogen, xenon, nitrogen, and chlorine, with about 3.1 Jovian masses. No exotic phenomena known, just what was expected of a planet of that type and size. I can’t see anything that could interfere with the evacuation.”

“Good. Let’s not screw this up, people! ETA?” Niko said, leaning somberly on the railing, watching the holographic projection of the subspace slipstream vortex curling up onto itself while the Sidereal raced against the time.

“We’ll arrive in approximately ninety seconds.” T’Sai reported, her eyes steady on the navigational status displays.

Everyone was preparing for the worst, and Niko nervously pace back and forth behind the railing, waiting until the time until their arrival had passed.

“Leaving subspace slipstream in five… four… three… two… one… now.” T’Sai announced. With a deep but barely audible hum the Sidereal disengaged its advanced propulsion system and returned to normal space. Immediately the swirling chaos of darkness and fractal streaks of light was replaced with the towering image of Argosa V.

The massive gas giant dominated the view screen, shrouded in a dark brown cloud cover interrupted by brief flashes of bright blue light, when the atmosphere’s xenon concentration was excited by static electricity. In the far distance shone weakly the system’s F-type central star, illuminating the dark clouds with a dim white light.

“Shrass? Where’s the harvester?” Niko asked, carefully scanning the scene before him for any sign of the distressed ship.

The Andorian Ensign tapped away on his controls, and a moment later sensor information was layered onto the projection. Schematic displays, coordinate systems, and astrometric data made the image much clearer, and showed everyone where exactly the Synergy vessel was adrift.

Niko quickly tapped his combadge. “Bridge to FDS rooms. We’re in range. Begin evacuation. Focus on large groups first.”

“Haroun, put an overlay up showing the evacuation progress.”

“Aye, Sir.” The Ensign interacted with a few of his controls, and a moment later a schematic overview was projected on the main screen. The schematic showed both ships and the current progress of the evacuation. The first cycle of dimensional shifting had already completed and transported 120 of the harvester’s crew onboard the Sidereal. Ten seconds later, another 120 followed.

“Captain!” Shrass exclaimed. “The ship is falling into a storm. Atmospheric speed exceeding 1,000 kilometers per hour.” With a few taps on his control the view on the main screen changed, now showing the borders of the impossibly massive atmospheric disturbance raging far beneath the gas giant’s clouds.

Niko glanced at the gigantic, planet sized vortex that made the huge Synergy ship look like a speck of dust and gulped. This was not helping. “Shrass, scan the harvester for structurally weak sections that still hold people and transfer the data to the FDS rooms.” Niko tapped the badge on his chest. “Bridge to FDS rooms, the harvester is falling into a storm. We’ll send you specific coordinates in a few moments, get the people from those compartments out first.”

With bated breath the bridge crew looked at the dome spanning projection on the main screen. Still over 700 people left on the harvester. Suddenly an alarm sounded from the science station, and Ensign Th’akianas worked the interface to update the display. “Captain… structural integrity has failed in two compartments.”

“Were there people inside?” Niko asked, still stunned as he watched the sensor image of two large sections of the harvester’s hull tear free from the vessel’s superstructure and fall away into the storm, crumbling in only a couple of seconds under the impossible pressure of the gas giant’s atmosphere.

“Forty-four, and sixty-two. Sensors detect no life signs in the wreckage.” Shrass eventually responded with a low voice.

“Damn it!” The first officer shouted and banged his fist on the railing against which he was leaning. “How much longer?”

“Forty seconds.” Haroun replied.

Several more external sections of the harvester crumbled and fell away, but luckily those were either already evacuated, or storage compartments. The whole bridge crew was counting the seconds and watched the numbers and indicators on the schematic overview change while hundreds of people were evacuated from the doomed ship.

Lieutenant Commander Heisenberg stared at the main screen, hoping against hope that the industrial vessel’s structural integrity systems would hold out just a few more seconds. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, engineering reported. “Engineering to bridge, we got everyone. Nobody’s left on the harvester.”

“Thank you. Good job down there.” Niko answered, breathing a sigh of relieve.

And then the lights on the bridge returned to normal, and one of the large doors in the back of the room opened to reveal Sina standing there with a large tablet in hand. “Thank you everyone, this concludes simulation 301. Take a break and get something to drink. Meet me in briefing room one at 1600 hours for the after-action report. Niko, a word?”

The junior officers rose from their stations and quickly filed out of the simulator room. After a few moments, only the CO and XO were left.

“How did you like this scenario?” The Commander asked while casually dropping into the captain’s chair, the large PADD resting on her knees.

“The polite or honest version?”

“Honest, as always.”

“It felt good until the storm showed up.” Niko began, slowly pacing back and forth in front of the railing. “I know, I know. The simulation tries to make us expect the unexpected. Massive storms aren’t unusual on gas giants. The test is to determine how we react when faced with a rapidly deteriorating situation, and if we manage to keep the ship and ourselves under control… I’ve been on the other side of those tests several times and know all the reasons and tricks. But still, it felt somewhat cheap.”

Sina listened carefully to her XO’s opinion. “You think the test was unfair on your team?”

The Lieutenant Commander nodded.

“As much as I like pulling your leg sometimes, I’ll have to disappoint you this time. The test was not rigged against your group in any way. The storm was not suddenly added to the situation as a surprise, it’s been there from the start. And if things had turned out a little differently you might have noticed it sooner. At those altitudes a gas giant’s atmosphere is a supercritical fluid. Massive disturbances, like that storm, can go unnoticed on normal sensor sweeps, unless you look for hypercavitating flows. That’s how the Juno-3 probe was lost in 2129.”

“Eh. Thanks for the history lesson, I guess.” The first officer quipped with a wry grin on his lips.

Sina let out a soft laugh and rose from her chair. “You’re welcome. See you soon in the briefing room.”

The Romulan turned and left the bridge simulator, returning to the staging area. Niko looked at the empty room and let out a frustrated sigh before following his CO.

A little over twenty minutes later the crew of simulation 301 was sitting in briefing room one, refreshed and relaxed after their break. Sina was standing behind the speaker’s desk at the room’s front, preparing the debriefing. With a simple tap on her tablet, a large holographic display blinked into existence behind her, showing a summary of the scenario. The present personnel quickly quieted down and sat on their chairs, their attention focused on the Commander.

“Welcome to the debriefing of simulation 301. First, let me congratulate you on completing the scenario successfully. The qualifying condition was to rescue more than seventy-five percent of the harvester’s crew, and you’ve achieved that.” The Romulan woman spoke, the white shoulders of her duty uniform standing out against the dull gray of the background wall.

“But I’d like to hear what you think about the scenario. What do you think you did well, where do you think you could improve? General remarks about the simulation? Speak freely.” Commander D’raxis opened her arms in an encouraging gesture, inviting her people to join the conversation.

After a moment of awkward silence Shrass spoke up. “I think I screwed up in the end. I should have found that storm much earlier, then we could have adapted our plan and not lose over a hundred people.”

“What makes you think so, Shrass?” Sina replied, looking at the Andorian Ensign.

The scientist cleared his throat. “First, I’m an astrophysicist. I know about the possibility of disturbances in a gas giant’s lower atmosphere not showing up on normal scans. And second, we knew the harvester’s structural integrity systems were operating on emergency power. I should have run more detailed scans looking for anything that could have jeopardized the vessel.”

He took a deep breath. “But I only noticed something was off when suddenly the harvester’s trajectory became much more erratic.”

The CO inquired, taking care not to sound accusatory. “How do you think we can improve and avoid such mishaps in the future?”

The Andorian contemplated for a second, then replied. “Maybe we could change the planetary sensor macro to include that type of scans automatically when applied to gas giants. This would take care of that problem for everyone using the ship’s sensors, no matter which department or for what purpose or from which station.”

Sina nodded in approval to the suggestion. “Any other ideas?” Since nobody replied after a few seconds, she made a note on her tablet to remind her discussing updating the sensor macro with Tarik later. “Other opinions?”

“I found the scenario to be adequate. It was challenging, but not impossible. It presented several obstacles but didn’t contain no-win traps.” T’Sai offered her point of view, in her typical flat and emotionless tone. “I think the key factors to a successful completion are to immediately approach the vessel and evacuate the crew via FDS. After a brief analysis I reached the conclusion that a delayed approach or any attempt to try and save the ship in addition to the crew are nonviable.”

The Romulan smiled. “Good. But what makes you think there was no way to save the ship? During the simulation you haven’t even considered an energy transfer to restore full power to the harvester’s systems.”

“Situational time constraints, captain, and the catastrophic consequences of failure. There was simply too little, if any, margin of error. Under less dire circumstances your suggestion could have certainly been the more promising solution, but as presented in the simulation I think it would have been far too risky to be viable. In the worst case it could not only have not prevented the destruction of the Synergy vessel and the loss of its crew, it could also have endangered the Sidereal.” T’Sai stated, clearly making her point.

“Thank you, Lieutenant. You certainly make a good point.” Sina drew in some air before she continued. “I think you already suspected as much, but would you actually be surprised if I told you that the effectiveness and readiness of the systems you use during your simulations are a result of the other teams’ performances during their own simulations?”

There was a quick flash of murmur amongst the small group, but eventually Haroun spoke. “You mean, if the engineering team fails to repair, uh, a manifold or something, we’d only have five in our simulations?”

“Exactly.” The CO confirmed with a nod.

“Well, I guess that’s expected.” The Human Crewman replied. “If we were on a starbase, these exercises would probably be run on a large holodeck, right?”

“Yes, Haroun, that’s quite likely. However, the Synergy never developed holo technology to such a level and therefore we have to make do with the separate simulators. Anyway, if there are no further comments, I’d like to review the actions performed during the simulation…”

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[ Act Two ]

Shori rang Visra’s doorbell again. The quirky Caitian impatiently paced back and forth in front of the door, her tail swinging from side to side, and the long dark blue casual robe flowing behind her. She was grinning from ear to ear while she waited for her friend to open the door.

Finally, after some more long moments, the young Alusi scientist still wearing her duty uniform opened the door and stared at her unexpected guest with large eyes. “Shori? I… I didn’t expect you.”

“Just wanted to stop by to see if you’re doing alright. Can I come in?” The Caitian asked, a happy smile on her lips.

“Thanks. Yes, sure, please…” Visra mumbled, then stepping aside and waving her friend inside. The last few weeks had turned the science officer’s once luxurious diplomatic quarters into a makeshift laboratory and study. Dozens of holographic screens were silently hovering across all free walls, and even more tightly clustered around the couch. Projections of various Synergy technologies were slowly drifting through the room.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Visra asked as they slowly walked into the living room.

“No, thanks. I’m fine.” Shori replied, but then stopped and stepped closer to the Ensign. “But what about you? How are you doing?”

Visra took a deep breath, but then a soft smile crept onto her lips and her eyes seemed to light up. “I’m fine Shori, really. It’s just that there’s so much to learn from the Synergy! You can’t imagine all the technologies and discoveries they’ve made. Did you know that they figured out that pi was not irrational? All our proofs were wrong! Pi repeats after a number of digits equal to Graham’s number. Oh, and yes, they actually calculated Graham’s number, which by itself is an impossible feat!”

“Their sensors, their nanometer and femtometer technology, their programmable matter seeds, their dimensional shifting, their raw computing power…” Visra walked next to the couch and with a few simple gestures pulled close several screens and projections that had been hovering in the air. “Every day I learn new things in the simulations, and I’ve been reading and studying topics I wouldn’t have dared to dream about at the Academy. Sometimes I wished I could spend more time with Tarik or 15@57, but I know they are very busy, and I don’t want to keep them occupied all by myself.”

Shori curiously quirked an eyebrow at Visra’s words. “So, you’re no longer scared of them?”

The Alusi swallowed, then slowly shook her head. “Let’s just say, I’m no longer terrified of them. Many of them still look intimidating and make me quite uncomfortable, but I think I can manage most of the situations. Jeffrey has been helping me a lot and taught me ways to keep my fears at least somewhat under control. I still need his sessions, but it’s getting better. Also, it helps that I keep myself busy with reading and studying.” She added with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “If I’m busy I have no time to get panic attacks or anxiety fits.”

The Caitian stepped again closer to her friend. “But you can’t keep yourself on full injectors all the time. You need to relax, or you’ll soon see Jeffrey for a burnout. Say…” Shori teased. “…have you tried the swimming pool yet?”

Visra glanced at the steps leading to the large swimming pool that was partially suspended outside the annulus’s superstructure, encased in transparent duranium alloy. Several of her colleagues had already commented on how amazing it was, how it almost felt like swimming through space itself. “No.” She shook her head. “I haven’t. I’ve been too busy-”

“Then it’s good I’ve come prepared.” Shori interrupted and flung her robe backwards to reveal her mimetic polyalloy one-piece. The silvery liquid-like material seemed to flow on and through the Caitian’s fuzzy fur, as if it was just a slight touch away from falling off. But it stuck together and never failed to cover all the critical parts, even though it sometimes got to within a hair of being utterly scandalous.

Visra stared at the half-naked Caitian in front of her for a moment, then started to giggle. “You’re not trying to get me into the pool now, are you?”

Shori just grinned and nodded, while fully disrobing. “Come on, Visra. When was the last time you did something relaxing with a friend? Just letting yourself go, letting all the worries fall off your shoulders? The Humans have a saying, ‘carpe diem.’ It’s in one of their world’s ancient languages and means, ‘seize the day.’ Your documents won’t run away, they’ll still be there for you tomorrow. But this moment, right now, will never come again.”

The Alusi contemplated her friend’s words for a long moment, biting her lips shyly, but eventually nodded. “Okay, okay. You got me. Just allow me a moment to change…” With a big grin on her lips, she let out a soft laugh as she went to the fabricator to retrieve a swimsuit, and then went to her bedroom to change. After a few minutes Visra returned, her orange swimsuit a striking contrast to her gray and purple patterned hide.

Shori whistled when her friend stepped back into the living room. “You’re killing it, girl!”

The Alusi grinned impishly, then turned in front of the Caitian, showing off her lithe, androgynous frame. “You think so?”

“Absolutely, you look amazing! If we ever have a beach fashion show, you’ll positively rule it! But now, let’s dive in!” Shori called out and charged at the pool. The muscles on her athletic body worked as she ran towards the pool, and then jumped in a long arc to dive head first into the water. The Caitian swam with wide strokes of her arms and resurfaced after fifteen meters. “Come in, the water’s great!”

The Alusi approached the pool in a less reckless way than her friend and walked to the edge of the water. With an elegant jump she followed Shori into the water. She swam after the Caitian, a big smile on her lips. “You know, if it weren’t for the general physical training at the Academy you’d not have gotten me into the pool.”

“Is that so?” Shori asked, casually treading water.

“Yes.” Visra replied. “My species is notoriously averse to swimming.”

“How come?”

“Our ancestors evolved from warm-blooded reptiloid predators on Tial’alus. Their primary competitor was an aquatic species that dwelt in shallow waters and shore areas. They were so successful, that our ancestors developed an inborn fear of water bodies and retreated to different habitats. Even after they evolved sentience and became the apex predator on our world, this fear never really disappeared. Only through gradual exposure and training can my kind overcome this aversion.” The science officer explained, slowly circling her friend with slow strokes.

Shori giggled. “Seriously? Your people fear swimming? I’m sorry, but that just sounds too funny. You’ve got canines rivaling my kinds’, and claws even larger than ours. What did that other species do to your ancestors that it scared them so much?”

“It preyed on them. It was a brutal battle for survival and dominance. My predecessors were lucky their claws evolved in time to double as digging tools, so that they could evade their competitor and still ensure sufficient access to water.”

“Well, guess we all can be lucky you did come out on top of the food chain.” The chief of security teased, and splashed a large wave of water at Visra, who squealed in response. The Alusi in response dove beneath the surface, and grabbed the Caitian by her knee, pulling her under.

Shori flailed her arms and struggled her legs, coming back up spluttering water, while a second later Visra surfaced laughing heartily. The Caitian glared at her friend playfully, then joined her laughter. The two women teased and played with each other, splashing water and giving chase around the pool for almost fifteen minutes.

Eventually, Visra grew tired. After all she was a scientist, not a soldier like her friend. “I surrender, I surrender!” She called out playfully. “I need a break. I’m just not as tough as you.”

“No problem.” Shori gently replied, swimming closer to the Alusi. “If you want we can go back to solid ground, or we could go out a little further and just drift for a while. What do you say?”

“If I remember correctly, the whole rage about this pool was the outside part, right?” The Caitian nodded quickly in response to Visra’s question. “But I don’t know if I have the strength to swim that far and then back again.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll carry you.” Shori replied, offering her hand. “Just get on your back and relax.”

Visra smiled and took a deep breath, turning on her back to go drifting on the surface. Shori reached for the scientist’s hand, and gently tugged her further out towards the far end of the pool.

When they crossed the threshold to the outside part of the pool, the Alusi’s eyes went wide. “Can you feel that? Did gravity change?”

“Yes. The outside part has a different configuration with a lower attraction coefficient to add to the experience. Just relax and watch the stars.” Shori spoke softly as she carried Visra further.

Eventually they reached the last five meters, and the Caitian stopped. She now also turned on her back, drifting next to her friend, their heads side by side. “Give me your hands.” She whispered, reaching for Visra’s hands and entangling their fingers. Holding on to each other, both women silently watched the stars as they drifted almost weightlessly.

“You were right.” Visra whispered. “This is amazing. I can’t see the ceiling, and I feel as if I was floating in space itself. Being like this feels so… free.”

Shori chuckled softly. “Didn’t promise too much, did I?”

“No, you didn’t.” The young Alusi replied. “Shori…? I don’t think I ever really thanked you for what you did for me that one night two and a half months ago.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. It was nothing.”

Visra smiled shyly. “No Shori, it was not nothing. You were there for me even after I lashed out at you. You were there and helped me when nobody else even noticed my problems. For that I’ll always be thankful. You’re my best friend, and I’m glad to have you. Thank you, Shori, for everything.”

If Caitians could have blushed, Shori would have been as red as a tomato. “Anything for a friend. But you’re selling yourself short. It was your quick thinking and knowledge that saved all our combined skins, hides, scales, and furs. And that’s something for which I’ll be always thankful, because without you we all would probably be dead.”

Visra let out a deep and relaxed sigh, enjoying the time- and weightless drifting beneath the strangely familiar and yet unknown stars of this galaxy, her fingers gently entwined with those of her closest and best friend. Together they drifted across the surface of the pool, feeling like being part of eternity.

After a long time, Shori carefully squeezed Visra’s hands. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you think we’ll make it?

The Alusi slightly tilted her head to look at her friend. “What do you mean?”

“Understanding their technology to the degree necessary that they’ll let us set out on our own? I’m just a soldier, but even for my team it’s quite difficult. I can’t even begin to imagine how challenging it must be for you, or our engineers.”

Visra softly smiled at her friend. “It is a lot to learn and understand, I’ll not deny that. But I think we can manage it. Maybe we’ll need a few weeks longer than we thought, maybe we’ll have to run some more simulations than we expected, but eventually we will succeed.”

She squeezed back, careful that her claws wouldn’t hurt her friend. “And don’t forget that for now we only have to be able to understand it so that we can operate and maintain the technology, we don’t have to develop or improve it. Imagine someone traveled a thousand years into the past of both our worlds and took a scientist each back to the present. Do you think those scientists could learn about warp field geometry? Or about replicator patterns? It would seem like magic to them.”

“Hmmm… good question.” Shori replied. “Well, assuming those scientists got over the massive culture shock of being taken a thousand years into the future, to a version of their world where their people traveled to the stars and met with other species, I think they could learn those things. It would probably take quite some time, but if a newborn child could grow up and learn about those things in a few decades, those scientists should be able to so as well in that time frame.”

Visra grinned. “Exactly! And right now, we are those scientists, every single one of us, taken to a galaxy we never knew and having to learn things anew. We already received the culture shock, and hopefully got over it well enough. Now it’s time for us to learn. And as long as we stick together I’m sure we’ll make it.”

As they continued drifting on the water, a Synergy sphere slowly passed over the annulus, almost directly overhead the pool. Its white surface glistening in the reflected sunlight, and the thin energy lines glowed in a strong blue. As the massive ship crossed the annulus’s sunlight terminator, the sphere turned from bright white to pitch black, now showing only the glowing circles and lines of its energy grid. Both women followed the traversing ship with their eyes, amazed by its size and pure geometric simplicity and elegance.

Shori chuckled softly as the sphere passed by, piquing Visra’s curiosity. “What’s so funny?”

“Ah, just a silly thought.” The Caitian replied. “That sphere… I was wondering how a couple months ago that shape alone was a terrifying and inauspicious sight. But now, after getting to know those people for some time, I almost find the design beautiful. Its simplistic geometric form, the white, gray, and blue color palette. It’s hard for me to believe how much my perception of them changed.”

Visra now also giggled. “I know exactly what you mean. I’ve studied their ship designs in some detail. And no matter if it’s spheres, cubes, pyramids, prisms, or any of their other blueprints, every single one of them is just like you said. Simplistic geometry and an almost beautiful surface pattern created by their armor and energy conduits. Oh, by the way, did you know what that dull gray foundation beneath the white plating is?”

Shori raised an eyebrow and replied teasingly. “No. But considering the way you asked me it’s probably something impressive.”

The Alusi scientist grinned. “That was obvious, wasn’t it? It’s a coating of a neutronium alloy, on top of which plates of white composite armor are mounted. That alloy is just a few nanometers thin, but it alone makes their hulls more resilient than Starfleet ablative armor. We know the Iconians had mastered that material, and the Dominion started using it some decades ago. But so far, I haven’t found any mention about the Synergy’s process of creating that alloy. Guess that’s one of their state secrets.”

“I can’t fault them. If a thin neutronium coating provides that much protection, I wonder how much full armor plating made from that stuff could do.” Shori wondered.

“With full neutronium plating you’d have a ship that’s probably indestructible but won’t go anywhere unless you can move the mass of a moon.” Visra quipped. “Shori, I hope you’re not mad, but can we get back to the living room, please? I think I’ve been soaking enough for today.”

The Caitian laughed. “No problem. This feline also wants to get back on dry land.” She released the hold on one of her friend’s hands and began to slowly swim back toward the living room.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

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[ Act Three ]

The bridge was dark and empty. All consoles were dark, and only a faint pale white shimmer provided a glimpse of illumination. Four figures stood in the deserted room. Three stood around the central chair, while one casually walked along the back wall.

[Don’t you think this scenario isn’t somewhat predetermined to fail them?] Chiaxi’s melodic tone carried on even in her thoughts. Her mental presence was beaming in the hive-mind like a bright guiding star, while her almost towering avatar strode from console to console.

[Maybe.] Tarik replied, still impressed and honored that the Matriarch had spared some time to witness and comment on the final simulation of the bridge crew. [But Sina and her crew proved to be exceptionally creative and resourceful during the last several weeks. We are aware that they managed to attain a completion rate of over eighty-three percent across all simulations in all specializations.]

1@1 smiled to herself, satisfied that her engineer started calling Sina by her first name instead of her title or rank. The Matriarch was aware of the rift between her people and the Starfleet crew. A rift that wouldn’t close quickly no matter how amicable the situation seemed. After recognizing the seed of sympathy between them, it was her silent hope that Tarik and Sina would be the ones capable of bridging the chasm.

[Yes, Tarik. But this scenario is different.]

Now Na’lo joined the discussion. [How so, Matriarch? We’ve used historical encounters and situations before, and they managed most of them.]

[I know. But the raid on the Kalahar, which started the Six Generation War between the Karraan Union and the Hublik Confederacy, was never resolved. Neither the Karraan crown princess nor the Omega particle were ever recovered. How can we expect them to beat this scenario?] The Matriarch mused. She knew that 18@31 was about to speak, but Hiora’s thoughts were already known to her, sending a sly smile to her lips.

[That’s one of the reasons why this scenario is particularly adequate, Matriarch. And because it bears a strong resemblance to a tradition in Starfleet training Lieutenant Neirrek told me about. They call it-]

[The Kobayashi Maru.] Chiaxi finished Hiora’s thought, drawing on their shared memories and knowledge. [An unbeatable scenario with no possible victory condition, that serves as a method to gauge the Cadet’s character and how they behave when facing overwhelming odds. Fascinating. I’m quite curious how our examinees will do.]

Suddenly the large doors along the backside of the chamber opened and the Sidereal’s senior bridge crew streamed in, led by Commander Sina Phaio Gallagher-D’raxis. Quickly and efficiently the other Starfleet officers took up their stations, unaware of the virtual avatars observing their every action.

The simulated placeholder bridge flickered briefly and was replaced by an accurate virtual representation of the simulator room. The lighting, the consoles, the people, everything a perfect replica to allow astute and critical observations. [Well then. Let’s see how they will fare.] The Matriarch remarked with a grin, her three eyes sparkling curiously.

“Good afternoon, alpha shift.” Sina started once everyone had taken their place. “You all know that this is our final simulation. I guess everyone’s probably quite nervous, I know I certainly am. But I have full confidence in all of you. You’ve trained and studied hard for this moment. And I’m incredibly proud of what you all have achieved in the past five months. We have gone where none of us have ever gone before, and we have learned what none of us have ever learned before.”

“Any questions?” The Commander looked around, but everyone she faced simply nodded. After a brief pause, she finally sat in her chair. “Okay, people! Let’s do this!”

“What’s the scenario for our final test?” Niko inquired curiously.

“First contact, sort of. The Synergy has established diplomatic contact with the Karraan Union, a small independent regional alliance of worlds at the edge of Synergy territory. The Karraan want to open trade and technology exchange negotiations, and we are to meet with the Union’s crown princess as a first step.” Sina smiled as she explained the scenario to her XO.

“Hmm, sounds easy.” Niko quipped.

“We’ll see…”

A few minutes into the simulation, Junior Lieutenant Clark reported. “Sir, we received a communique from the Karraan Union Fleet Command. We’re asked to follow a specified corridor into their territory to rendezvous with the Karraan flagship, the Kalahar. The crown princess is already expecting us.”

“Very good. Acknowledge the message, Duncan. Noriko, change course to the rendezvous coordinates, maximum speed. Stay inside the corridor, since we want to make a good first impression. Engage.”

“Aye, captain. Changing course to zero-nine-six mark zero-four. Engaging subspace slipstream at 100 percent. ETA in thirteen minutes twenty-seven seconds.” Noriko confirmed the order while swiftly operating the navigation and engine controls. The Sidereal hummed softly as the slipstream drive wound up and plunged the ship into the subspace tunnel.

Sina looked at Niko, confidence gleaming in her eyes. He raised an eyebrow and responded with a teasing grin. “Duncan, contact the Kalahar.” The XO ordered. “Inform them we’ll arrive in around thirteen minutes.”

“Aye, Sir.” The operations officer tapped on the holographic interface, but after several moments he became irritated. He tried again, moving his fingers slower and more deliberately than before. “Uhm, Sir? I can’t raise the vessel. No response on any agreed-on channel.”

The captain glanced at her first officer. “Keep trying. Extend to all registered channels.”

After a few moments, Duncan shook his head. “No change, captain. Still no response.”

“Maybe they have technical issues?” Niko suggested, but Sina furrowed her brows.

“Could be, but I want to be sure. Duncan, keep trying to raise them on any channel. Also try any deprecated subspace frequencies they might know. Visra, how far ahead can we scan while in slipstream?”

“Aye, captain.” Duncan acknowledged the order and went to work on the communications interface.

Visra quickly checked the readings on her science console before answering. “We are currently limited to a narrow sensor range along our flight path, captain. The sensors work about forty light-years ahead of us, and roughly four light-years to each side.”

“Understood.” The captain said. “How long until we get in sensor range of the rendezvous coordinates?”

“Approximately four minutes and forty-one seconds, captain.” The science officer replied swiftly while priming the forward sensor array for maximum distance resolution.

“Okay.” Sina took a deep breath. “Visra, try to get a sensor image the moment we get in range. I want to be sure everything’s in the green when we arrive.”

“Aye, captain.”

The following minutes were spent in silent concentration. Any communication attempt made by Duncan failed. He couldn’t get any response on any channel or frequency, even after ensuring with a level three diagnosis that the Sidereal’s comm systems were working correctly. When the ship finally got close enough for sensor contact, the tension on the bridge was almost tangible.

“Visra, status?”

“Captain, there are some strange interferences and subspace distortions at the rendezvous coordinates. The sensors are having some difficulties to adjust. I need a few seconds to compensate.”

“Take your time, Visra.” Sina said reassuringly. “Just give us a clear image.”

“I think I’ve cleaned up the interferences. The sensors are now picki…” Visra’s voice trailed off in the middle of the word and her eyes went wide as she saw the images in front of her. “Captain, sensors show a massive debris field stretching over almost a full light-minute cubed.”

“What?!” Sina and Niko basically exclaimed simultaneously. “Origin? Any signs of the Kalahar?”

“The debris appears to stem from several dozen Karraan starships, as well as some other types of spacecraft that most likely belong to the attackers. No sign of the Kalahar, but… I’ve identified the interferences. The attackers are using subspace weaponry, and there are nine isolytic tears in the area.”

“Oh shit!” Duncan mumbled.

Commander D’raxis looked at her first officer for a moment, then stated with firm voice. “Red alert!” The lights on the bridge changed instantly, and a single klaxon sounded the ship-wide alarm signal.

Lieutenant Commander Heisenberg turned to face his captain, a serious and worried expression on his face. “You really want to go in? Against an attacker that destroyed a whole fleet with utterly reckless use of subspace weapons?”

“I haven’t said that, Niko. But I want to be prepared in case there’s an ambush waiting for reinforcements. Also… Duncan, contact the Karraan Fleet Command. Inform them of the attack and transmit all sensor data.”

“Aye, captain.” The ops officer replied and went to work.

Sina stood from her chair and slowly paced back and forth at the edge of the first bridge level. “Rel, tactical analysis?”

“Our barriers can withstand those isolytic tears at least for some time and we should be able to outmaneuver them. But given the limited information we have about the attacker it’s impossible to give a more detailed report. We should proceed with caution.” The Cardassian replied.

“Thank you.” The Romulan turned to her XO. “What do you think are we looking at?”

Niko shrugged. “Could be anything. Rebellion, terrorist attack, assassination of the crown princess for political reasons, civil war, raid by a third party… there’s too little information available. Also, we should be careful not to get involved in something that’s out of our league. I think the Matriarch won’t be amused if we drag the Synergy into some war.”

“True. We need more information. Visra, anything new on the sensors?”

“Yes, captain. The Karraan flag fleet has been destroyed. I’m detecting hull fragments from over 200 ships, including the Kalahar. The attacker fleet consisted of probably thirty vessels of many different configurations, of which only two are still operational. From the distribution of the wreckage and the lingering subspace distortions, I’d say it was a surprise attack.”

“What makes you think so?” Niko asked.

“Sir, most of the wreckage is drifting in formation. That suggests that the Karraan fleet was not expecting the attack. Also, sensors picked up traces of at least fifty isolytic bursts. This suggests that the attackers approached, maybe cloaked or disguised as a trading caravan, and then deployed a massive volley of subspace weapons that overwhelmed the surprised flag fleet.”

Suddenly Duncan spoke up. “Captain, we’ve received a response from Fleet Command. They will send as many reinforcements as they can manage, but their closest ship is over forty minutes away. They authorize us to leave the corridor if necessary and ask us to ensure the safety of the crown princess if possible. They also say that the Kalahar was carrying a… an Omega molecule as a token for the negotiations.”

Commander D’raxis sighed. “So much for sounding easy.”

“ETA in about five minutes, captain.” Noriko mentioned, reinforcing the urgency of the situation.

Sina tapped away on the holographic interface of the captain’s chair, bringing up details of the Fleet Command’s response. After a few moments she dismissed the virtual screen with a flick of her wrist and sighed. She turned to her first officer. “We’ve been asked by the Karraan government to intervene. I don’t think staying out of this is an option anymore.”

The German officer rubbed his forehead, mumbling to himself. “Just great. I really should learn to keep my mouth shut.” After a moment he looked back up at the captain. “You’re right, we cannot walk away from this. But let’s do this by the book and not screw it up.” The XO brought up the intra-ship comms. “All hands, battle stations.”

Another alarm klaxon sounded, signaling battle stations ship-wide, and the lighting changed again. The bridge was much darker now, with a blood red crimson glow shining from above. Even though she knew it was only a simulation, Sina found the atmosphere disturbing and nightmarish. She hoped to never experience this situation outside the simulator. The Romulan took a deep breath, then leaned over the railing in front of the bridge.

“Rel, coordinate with Visra to get a tactical sensor sweep before we drop out of slipstream. The moment we get there, I want all our defensive and offensive systems ready to engage any potential threats. If anything shoots at us return fire immediately without waiting for orders, but try to disable the attackers.”

“Aye, captain.” The Cardassian officer nodded with a serious expression on his face, the holographic overlays on his console already showing weapon readiness, barrier strength, and other tactical information.

“Noriko, the same applies to you. If there’s a threat or obstacle heading for us, take any necessary evasive maneuvers without waiting for me or Niko.”

“Aye, captain.” The Asian pilot responded, the nervousness obvious in her voice.

“Sina, we should leave slipstream some distance away from the debris field. We don’t know if the attackers managed to deploy mines.” Niko remarked, rising from his chair to stand next to Sina. “Or the debris might simply inhibit our maneuverability when trying to avoid the tears.”

“You’re right.” The captain said. “Noriko, bring us back to normal space a few light-seconds away from the edge of the field.”

Ensign Yamada acknowledged the order and quickly adjusted the Sidereal’s plotted course. “Aye, captain. ETA at new coordinates in three minutes and ten seconds.”

“Rel, Visra said there were still two operational attacker ships. Can you tell their status?” Sina asked while already mentally preparing herself for the view of the battlefield she’d see in a few minutes.

“Yes, captain. As far as I can see they have been damaged but are still battle ready. They are also moving away from the battlefield at supra-warp velocities. They will soon leave our slipstream sensor range.” The CTO stated.

“Understood. Keep tabs on them when we get back to normal space, I don’t want to get surprised should one of them decide to turn around.”

The Matriarch’s avatar curiously eyed the projections of Sina and Niko on the virtual bridge from a few steps away. Na’lo was watching Visra, while Hiora stood next to Rel’s station, critically observing the tactical settings and configurations he had set up.

Tarik stood next to Chiaxi, his arms casually crossed in front of his chest. [What is your impression of their performance so far?] He asked.

The Synergy ruler replied softly. [So far, their responses have been adequate, but on the other hand there has been little opportunity for failure yet. It was prudent of them to scan ahead to investigate the situation as it developed, but I think the more interesting and decisive moments will start in a few minutes when they enter the battlefield. I am curious to see how Sina and her crew will approach the splitting of the attackers’ remaining vessels.]

Tarik smiled. [That makes two of us.]

----------------------------------------

[ Act Four ]

“Dropping out of slipstream in three… two… one… now!” Noriko announced, and the view screen returned from the chaotic vortex of subspace slipstream to the familiar darkness of normal space. But the sight projected in front of the bridge was a nightmare. They looked upon a vast field of debris and wreckage, burning fragments of hundreds of ships brutally torn apart by dozens of subspace tears. It was a panorama of death and destruction unprecedented of anything Sina or any of her crew had ever witnessed before.

The Romulan Commander stood at the hand rail, her gaze trying to scan the view in front of her for signs of the attacker. “Any signs of the attackers around?”

“Negative, captain.” Replied Rel, focused on the continuously running targeting scanners. “They are still moving away on diverging courses. One ship appears to use some variant of coaxial warp and is leaving a quickly decaying line of compressed neutrinos. The other one created a massive triquantum shock wave, indicating a simple transwarp drive.”

The Cardassian had barely finished when an alarm sounded from Visra’s console. “Captain, two subspace tears are approaching. They are drawn to our OSR.”

“Understood. Noriko, keep us a nice distance away from them!” Sina ordered, trying to sort her thoughts at the sight of the massacre.

“Aye, captain.” Noriko replied, her hands flying over the console to get the Sidereal moving.

Niko stood next to her, a PADD in hand. “Visra, are there any life signs in the debris?”

The Alusi scientist quickly adjusted the sensor calibration, then reported back. “Yes, Sir. I’m picking up a few hundred Karraan life signs in the wreckage, many of them already weak. I’m also picking up a low-powered short range transmission, probably from a damaged emergency beacon or escape pod, but it only shows static.”

Sina tapped her combadge. “Bridge to engineering. Spin up the manifolds and prepare to transport the surviving Karraan onboard.” She tapped the combadge again, not even waiting for the confirmation of her first order. “Bridge to sickbay, we’ve got a few hundred wounded Karraan coming in. Co-Yor, I need you to…”

While the captain and the XO were coordinating and preparing the ship for the rescue of the survivors, Duncan leaned to the side and asked his colleague. “Hey, can you transfer the transmission data to my station? Maybe I can help clean it up a bit.”

The young Alusi nodded, and with a few taps copied the undecipherable message and all its meta-data to the ops station. Junior Lieutenant Clark nodded, and whispered his thanks. Then he went to work, trying all the standard filters that were usually enough to wrestle at least some information from broken messages.

Duncan got a little irritated when the result still came up empty. Maybe it was indeed only a damaged transponder that transmitted only static. He was about to discard the data, but then decided to try one more attempt.

He ran the message through an entropy filter and aggregated the result in chunks of one sigma. Suddenly he was looking at a plot of data points neatly filing in three-by-three-by-three matrices. Duncan quickly fed those matrices into a probability sequencer, and almost immediately the result showed on screen. The signal was not random. It couldn’t be static.

With a mix of desperation and curiosity Duncan ran the universal translator over the dataset, hoping the highly specialized system could make any sense of the matrices. He only hoped the message would contain any useful information, and not a random crew member’s lunch plans or favorite fiction. The moment he saw the result on one of the holographic displays in front of him, the Scotsman spoke up. “Captain! I got something here.”

“What is it, Duncan?” Sina asked.

“I did some signal analysis on the static transmission Visra found. The signal is not random. There is some data contained in it, encoded in three-cubed matrices, similar in principle to Morse code. The universal translator managed to decipher it.”

Sina looked at Niko. The XO nodded and turned to the ops officer. “What does it say?”

Duncan took a deep breath. “‘Raiders belong to Hublik Confederacy. Surprise attack. Unknown cloaking device. Subspace weapons. Kidnapped princess. Stole Omega.’ Then it repeats.”

The CO stared at the view screen for a second. “That’s why they split up!”

“One ship carries the kidnapped princess, the other transports Omega. They use two different routes to minimize the risk of both being intercepted or pursued.” Niko completed Sina’s thought.

The Romulan turned to the science officer. “Visra, how long will be able to pick up the triquantum wave with our sensors?”

“I guess at least another hour. Their drive is not very sophisticated and causes lots of subspace damage. But the neutrino trace will have completely dissipated in the next ten to twenty minutes.” Visra replied, already knowing exactly what the follow up question would have been.

“Captain.” Rel began. “If we want to pursue any of the attackers’ ships we should do so right now. Every minute we delay increases the risk of them grouping up with still cloaked reinforcements or handing over their cargo to other ships. Also, they didn’t seem to use the mentioned cloaking devices for their escape. Maybe they have been damaged during the battle, or they were one-use devices. Right now, we have the advantage that we could easily catch up to either of the ships.”

Niko turned to Sina. “Rel’s right. Rescuing and treating all survivors will take at least ten more minutes. The longer we wait the less likely we’re to catch any of them.”

The Romulan let out a heavy sigh. She hated the thought of leaving the survivors behind, knowing well enough that most of them probably wouldn’t make it until Karraan forces arrived to continue the rescue operation. But she also knew her CTO and XO were right. It would be worse to let the attackers get away with both the crown princess or Omega.

“Noriko, follow the neutrino trace. Pursuit course, maximum possible speed. Engage.”

“Aye, captain!” The young Asian acknowledge while her fingers swiftly manipulated the holographic controls. The Sidereal elegantly turned around and quickly disappeared from normal space, leaving the two subspace tears that had been following her all dressed up and nowhere to go. On the bridge, the view screen’s visual was again replaced by the familiar black and rainbow fractal vortex of subspace slipstream.

“Based on the neutrino trace, can we make any statements about the ship’s top speed?” The XO asked everyone around, not addressing anyone since the question involved many disciplines.

Visra was the first to answer. “Somewhat, Sir. The trace is highly unstable, and the compression ratio indicates that their coaxial drive is equally unsophisticated as the other ship’s transwarp drive. Since coaxial velocities are primarily determined by the neutrino compression, I’d estimate their maximum velocity at around 150 to 200 light-years per hour.”

Niko chuckled. “That makes them still more than five times faster than the Enterprise. Their lead is about twenty-five light-years, so we should catch up to them in less than five minutes.

“Good.” Sina nodded. “Rel, how many slipstream probes do we have onboard?”

“Ten, captain.”

“Reconfigure half of them to act as sensor buoys and relays, and immediately launch two from the aft bay when ready. Set them to follow the triquantum wave. I want to keep a close eye on the other ship to avoid any surprises. The probes will be our eyes while we’re chasing this vessel in slipstream.”

“Aye, captain.” The Cardassian responded, and immediately went to work with his Alusi colleague to reconfigure and launch the probes.

On the simulated bridge Tarik grinned at the Matriarch, beaming with pride at Sina’s idea. [I told you they were resourceful.]

[Indeed, Tarik. Using stellar probes this way is an interesting solution to compensate for their current situation. But the simulation is not over yet.] Chiaxi replied, her three eyes sparkling with curiosity.

While the CTO and science officer were busy, a soft chirping on the conn console alerted Noriko. “Captain, the target has dropped to impulse.”

“What?” Niko exclaimed surprised. “They are in the middle of nowhere. Any signs of other ships?”

“Not as far as I can see on the sensors, Sir.” The pilot replied. “Time to intercept just above three minutes.”

“What are they waiting for…?” The XO wondered, his brows furrowing deeply.

Sina returned to her seat, bringing up the tactical readiness displays and targeting sensors. “Maybe they’ve picked up our pursuit and now try to bait us into an ambush. Or their propulsion was damaged more than we thought?”

The captain quickly checked the sensor images herself. Niko was right, it didn’t make any sense to stop right here in the middle of empty space. But she wanted to be sure. “Duncan, check the star charts for anything that could be out here. Maybe they’re waiting for a mobile wormhole aperture or something?”

“Aye, captain.” The ops officer replied, and immediately pulled up the charts and maps for this sector. It took him only a few moments of filtering through the data. “Oh oh.”

“What is it, Duncan?”

“There’s no wormhole, but the charts indicate that at their position is an old interspatial manifold from the shut-down Synergy transwarp network.”

Sina’s eyes widened. “If they manage to activate and power even only two or three of those manifolds…”

“Then they could get away thousands of light-years and we’d lose their track.” Niko completed his captain’s thought. “Noriko, adjust our course so that we leave slipstream in weapons range. Rel, immediately get a target lock on that ship and shoot to disable when we drop to normal space. They must not be allowed to activate that manifold!”

Both officers responded in unison. “Aye, Sir.”

“Time to intercept 100 seconds.” The young Asian quickly added, while she adjusted the Sidereal’s course slightly to bring them in much, much closer to their target.

“Captain, we’re receiving sensor telemetry from the probes.” Visra announced. “The other attacker ship is heading straight towards Hublik Confederacy territory and will cross the border within the next twenty minutes.

“Understood. But let’s now focus on this one. They are carrying either the crown princess or the Omega molecule. We can’t let them get away with either.” The CO stated, reinforcing their momentary mission.

“Rel, status?” Niko asked as the Sidereal rapidly approached its destination.

“All tactical systems operational. Tachyon barriers at full power, pulse cannons charged and configured for high-precision low-yield fire. Targeting sensors online and ready.” The Cardassian replied, his field of view filled with holographic tactical displays and weapon controls.

“Time to intercept one minute.”

The minute passed faster than anyone expected, and Noriko announced the ship’s return to normal space. “Dropping out of slipstream in three… two… one… now!”

The holographic view screen in front of the bridge changed, casting off the slipstream’s vortex and replacing it with the blackness of space pierced by the swirling dark blue and gray vortex of an open transwarp aperture. The golden and green hull of the simplistic and blocky Hublik vessel shimmered under the aperture’s glow, as it was only a few seconds away from entering the opening.

“Rel! Fire!” Sina shouted, but the Cardassian had already released the ship’s deadly weapons.

The tactical console chirped, and a split second later a volley of bright white blue bolts of energy streaked from the Sidereal’s cannons towards the attacker vessel. The first salvo connected with their shields, the shield bubble fracturing under the merciless onslaught of hard Omega radiation, which eventually overloaded their grid. The second salvo impacted on their hull, effortlessly puncturing their armor plating and punching clean holes through their hull in blinding blue explosions.

The ship started to tumble, thrown around by the secondary detonations as their impulse engines were destroyed, as well as the clean amputation of one of their external compartments. But while the ship was staggering, it was still drifting towards the aperture.

“Target the manifold! Destroy the aperture!”

Another volley of energy bolts shot forward, whizzing past the broken Hublik vessel at superluminal speed into the open vortex. They connected with the centuries old hexagonal manifold, easily penetrating its deprecated shielding, and cleaving it into half a dozen chunks. Colorful explosions completely shattered the massive structure mere moments later, and while the manifold’s debris drifted apart in subspace the aperture in normal space destabilized and flickered out of existence.

“Open a channel.” The captain ordered. “This is Commander D’raxis of the Federation Starfleet vessel USS Sidereal on behalf of the Karraan Union. You are under arrest for your participation in the attack on the Karraan flag fleet, and your use of subspace weapons. You are outgunned and outmatched. Surrender your ship and prepare to be boarded.”

The view screen turned on, and a large-headed insectoid stared back at them, its four multifaceted black eyes glistening menacingly. The three asymmetric mandibles on its mouth produced a clicking and chirping, which the universal translator picked up a moment later.

“We will not surrender, for we are victorious. We will resist your every motion, for you are too late. We will celebrate, for your shortsightedness has already defeated you.”

Before the Romulan could say another word, the Hublik had closed the channel.

Niko raised an eyebrow. “Now that was helpful.”

The Romulan turned to her science officer. “Visra, can you detect any Karraan life signs or traces of Omega?”

“Not yet, captain. Their internal hull is built with materials interfering with our scans. I need some time to recalibrate the sensors.” The Alusi scientist responded, her fingers flying over the sensor controls.

Suddenly Duncan spoke up. “Captain! There, the hull!”

All eyes focused on a rectangular section on the side of the tumbling vessel. A massive length of hull seemed to fold in onto itself, revealing what appeared to be a hangar or freight deck. Moments after the strange folding doors had completely opened, a massive crimson cube slowly drifted out of the opening.

“Visra? Any idea what that is?” Niko asked.

“One second… based on radiation traces on the cube’s surface that seems to be an Omega containment device.”

Sina tapped her combadge. “Bridge to engineering, we’ve got the Omega molecule. Prepare to transport it to cargo bay two. Have an engineering team on stand-by to check if the devi-”

“Rel! Fighter!” Visra suddenly shouted in a panicked voice.

A second later the Hublik fighter that was launched from a similar hangar deck on the other side of the stumbling Hublik ship swept around. It launched a pale white torpedo a mere moment before the small craft was completely vaporized by one of the Sidereal’s energy bolts. The torpedo headed directly for the Omega device and impacted the red cube.

The Sidereal rocked and shook under the massive explosion. And while the tachyon barriers held against the force of the detonation, they still fractured and bled temporal energy to absorb the devastating blow. Alerts sounded from all consoles and blinding white light from the explosion flooded the bridge.

“Status!” Sina shouted over the alarms and shocked screams of her crew. “And dim the view screen!”

A moment later the view screen turned dark, and order returned to the bridge.

Rel was the first to speak. “Well, the good news is we’re sort of okay. The barriers are holding, if only barely. But the bad news is that the Hublik have detonated the Omega molecule with a tricobalt warhead. The explosion completely destroyed their vessel.”

Visra continued after the CTO. “We’re surrounded by massive subspace distortions from the explosion. We’re cut off from any kind of subspace communication, and we have neither warp nor slipstream. The sensors are heavily impaired, but the distortions extend at least thirteen light-years in all directions.”

Sina sank back into her chair and let out a frustrated sigh. “Oh damn it!” Then the lights returned to normal, indicating the end of the simulation.

Tarik’s avatar looked equally frustrated as Sina did. The virtual observers had followed the simulation closely and monitored all events in great detail. He had thought that Sina would be able to at least secure one objective since she was already so close, and his frustration and disappointment radiated out from him like a beacon.

[Tarik, don’t be so negative.] Chiaxi turned to her engineer, a soft reassuring smile on her lips. [Sina and her crew made only few mistakes. Without knowing the history of the Hublik, she just couldn’t anticipate such a fatalistic reaction. Her idea of using stellar probes to monitor the other vessel was a great display of quick thinking. Given the circumstances and stated intent of the simulation, I would say their performance was satisfactory.]

----------------------------------------

[ Act Five ]

Sina was sitting in her luxurious quarters, lazily lounging on the couch draped in Tholian silk while recording another entry in her personal log. She had barely finished when she heard the doors chirping, then opening and closing on their own. The Romulan turned her head and smiled happily as she saw Tarik walking towards the wide-open living room.

Several months ago, she had made the decision to grant Tarik direct access to her quarters. Just like she had done with Niko, Rel, Shori, Co-Yor, Visra, and Jeffrey. They were visiting so regularly to discuss various things or make reports, that she thought it silly to have them ring and wait.

Since then her living room had pretty much turned into an improvised, and decadent, ready room, and so she didn’t mind making those arrangements at all. The door to the bedroom and master bathroom was still locked down, so she still had her privacy and wouldn’t have to face unexpected and possibly embarrassing visitors there, which made the situation much less troublesome than it sounded.

“Hey. What brings you here? Shouldn’t you be at home or so?” She teased her guest while waving at him.

Tarik stopped a few steps away from the couch and simply stated, a wide smile on his lips. “She’s ready.”

“What do you mean, ‘she’s ready’? Who?” Sina replied, looking up from the couch at the visitor, PADD in hand and a slightly puzzled expression on her face.

“I mean exactly what I said. We have completed the Sidereal’s upgrade. All systems are operational again.” He replied, the smile turning into a fat grin while he watched the Commander’s reaction.

She heard the words, and her eyes popped wide open. Her mouth first stood open, but her lips quickly curled upwards in a happy laughter. “Really?!” She exclaimed, dropping the tablet and jumping to her feet. For a second, she warily squinted at Tarik, mustering him. “You’re not teasing me again, are you? You’re not teasing? You’re not teasing!”

Eager to finally get off her behind, and again be in command of a starship… her starship… she jumped into 4@19’s arms, hugging him tightly and laughing at the great news. “YES! Thank you! When can we fly? It doesn’t have to be far. Just… somewhere, anywhere. Even if it’s only to Jupiter and back. Do the others already know?”

The ragged engineer was now also laughing, somewhat awkwardly returning the hug. “Calm down, calm down, you’re squeezing me!” He breathed between laughs. With a sudden jerk Sina pulled back and straightened her posture. She looked at Tarik with the same mix of barely contained excitement and playful mischievousness any child would on First Contact Day, just a few minutes before the big fireworks.

“To answer your questions, we can take the Sidereal out any time now. The rest of your crew has not been informed yet. I thought it prudent that the captain of the ship should know first.”

She smirked slyly. “Good thinking. So… what’s going to happen next? Do we need to wait for the Matriarch’s permission to take the ship out?”

Tarik shook his head and replied with an equally sly smirk. “No. We’re already good to go. But I can assure you that the Matriarch will most certainly pay close attention to the Sidereal’s second maiden voyage.

While they were chatting, Sina’s brow started to furrow and her expression turned a little worried. “Can we even control the ship with only sixty-eight people? We were already running on a skeleton crew when we were eighty-two, and now we’re even fewer.”

4@19 stepped closer and briefly took her hands, giving them an encouraging squeeze. “Yes, you certainly could. The Sidereal’s new systems have more advanced automation and require significantly less supervision than the previous configuration. However, it is still a large vessel for such a small crew, and more personnel would make its operation safer and more reliable. You might be surprised by this, but there’s been a wave of volunteers signing up in the hive-mind to serve onboard your vessel.”

“Wait… what?” Commander D’raxis replied astonished, her eyebrows raising in surprise. “You mean… some of your people want to work on the Sidereal? Under my command? And the Matriarch would be okay with that?”

“Yes. Yes. And yes.”

“And… how many volunteers are we talking, exactly?”

Tarik’s eyes unfocused for a second while he queried the exact number from the hive-mind. “782 million, 465 thousand, 341. Correction, 343.”

The number was several orders of magnitude larger than what she’d have ever expected. She swallowed. “That’s… wow. I’d never have expected that. I… uhm… I don’t need to pick and choose right now, do I?”

The Synergy engineer laughed. “Oh no. And like I said, they are volunteers. If you don’t want, you don’t need to pick any of them at all. But I think it would be advantageous to have people onboard who are much more familiar with the technology to support you. While your crew has made significant improvements over the last few months, their understanding of our technology is still only rudimentary.”

The last five months had been extremely challenging. Even after the crew had voted to return to their ship and discover the Milky Way anew, it had been difficult for some to accept their situation. While most eventually got over their depressed mood, thanks in no part to outstanding counseling on Jeffrey’s part, a few crew members were still sulking in their own misery.

And those who managed to rally some motivation were immediately hit with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of learning the Synergy’s technology. Most of the crew spent almost the last half year in various schools, training courses, and workshops, trying to learn to understand and how to operate the technology now built into the Sidereal at least on a basic level.

While the task was relatively simple for those positions that simply used the new systems, like conn or tactical, it was extremely challenging for the crew’s scientists and engineers who needed to understand how it worked. Even though Visra was still regularly seeing Jeffrey, the challenge of learning the Synergy’s technology seemed a welcome distraction for her. She had been more active in her courses than in all the weeks before.

And now the moment they had all trained and waited for had arrived.

“Yeah, I know. I only took the baseline courses but even I feel my head’s about to burst open if I have to remember one more technical detail about the SSD, the OSR, or the FDS.” Sina chuckled. “So, how about we call the others and get onboard?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Tarik nodded in agreement, a sly grin on his lips.

A little less than an hour later the whole crew was assembled in the familiar function hall designed for diplomatic events and social gatherings. Niko, Rel, and Shori stood grouped near the center, below the prismatic chandelier made from Denevan crystal. The crystalline arcs and beams were set directly into the transparent duranium ceiling revealing the starry panorama above Earth’s annulus. The rest of the crew was scattered in smaller or larger groups throughout the hall, and curiously waiting for their captain to arrive. People were eagerly discussing what the reason for this surprise gathering could be.

“And she really didn’t tell you what this is all about?” Shori asked Niko.

The Human simply shook his head. “Nope, not a single word. She only promised a big surprise. I really have no clue why we’re here. Actually, I wanted to be in the hot tub since approximately three minutes to relax a bit tonight before Mr. Drill Sergeant here pulls out his torture regiment again tomorrow.”

While Shori chuckled at the first officer’s comment, Rel simply grinned dangerously. “You know, everyone else seems to be okay with my PT. But if you feel you’re falling behind, you can just tell me. I’ll then arrange a few personal training sessions to get you up to speed with the rest of the crew again. Can’t have the XO fall behind, can we?”

Now Niko chuckled. “Well, given the circumstances I’d rather not. Let me reconsider my wording… I’m more than content with the PT as it currently is.”

“Thought so.” The Cardassian officer replied laughing.

Suddenly the chattering and talking in the hall died, when Commander Gallagher-D’raxis walked into the hall in her duty uniform, accompanied by Tarik. As she walked towards the center of the large chamber droves of people followed her. In a few moments, the Sidereal’s crew had gathered in a relatively small circle around Sina, Tarik, and the other senior officers. Sixty-seven pairs of eyes were expectantly gazing at the Romulan woman.

Sina stood there for a moment and cleared her throat before she addressed her crew. “You’re probably all curious why I asked you here tonight. I don’t want to keep you in the dark for longer than necessary, so I’ll make it quick. Tarik told me an hour ago that the Sidereal is ready, and we can have her back. All systems are operational, and we can take her out any time.”

There was a short pause during which everyone was processing what the CO just said. Then individual shouts and cheers cropped up and were quickly supplemented by an echoing applause. The captain watched the scene with a smile on her lips, happy that after such a long time she could finally deliver this good news to her crew. Her people were cheering and clapping, raising their hands into the air or embracing each other. She hadn’t seen them so enthusiastic in months.

“And I have some other news, which I would like to share with you. While the new Sidereal should be easily manageable with our current numbers, obviously it would be better to have a larger crew. I was told there are over 780 million volunteers in the Synergy that would like to join this crew and serve on our ship. We’ve all been training, learning, and living with them for almost half a year now. Many of us found new acquaintances or friends amongst them.”

Sina slowly turned, her gaze circling the gathered crew. “You don’t have to answer already tonight, but I’d like all of you to think about how you would feel having some members of the Synergy serving on the Sidereal as your comrades. They would be subject to the same rules, the same command structures, the same expectations. When you find a quiet moment, please take some time to consider this option and drop me a message with your thoughts.”

Her crew was silent again. Some people looked happy, others seemed to be troubled a little by her suggestion. Sina drew out the moment a little longer, before she shouted with an upbeat, cheering, tone in her voice. “But for now, who wants to take the Sidereal out for a test run?” The whole chamber erupted into cheers and raised hands again. The Commander looked at her celebrating crew. “You cannot imagine how long I’ve been waiting for this moment. And how long we’ve all been training for this second chance.”

Commander D’raxis looked around her, watching all the sixty-eight enthusiastic faces focused on her, ready to delve into the great unknown once more. She looked at her XO. Niko nodded. She stole a glance at her CTO and COS. Rel and Shori both nodded, too, with the Caitian grinning and her tail excitedly swaying from side to side. Finally, her gaze fell on Tarik’s rugged face, partially covered by his scrubby chin beard. The Synergy engineer smiled warmly and nodded as well, gesturing with his right hand for her to go ahead.

Sina’s smile widened into a thrilled grin, and she raised her voice again. “All hands, return to the Sidereal and report for duty!”

Her words had barely faded when the hall exploded into action. Dozens of people quickly scattered and raced out of the chamber, returning to their quarters to change into their uniforms and board the Sidereal. Those few who were still wearing their duty uniforms gathered around the interface terminals near the entrances, and soon disappeared in the bright flashes of dimensional shifts transporting them to their ship. Less than half a minute after the captain’s order the chamber was empty save for Sina, Niko, and Tarik.

“I’ll be honest, captain, I did not expect that.”

Sina smiled at the men next to her, her eyes traveling between them. “Well, neither did I. I was just finishing my personal log when suddenly this guy showed up and told me we’re good to go.” She teased Tarik, throwing him a happy smirk, before her expression turned more serious. “But there’s one more thing. We’re short a chief engineer. You said yourself it would be good if we had people on board who knew the systems in detail, and I can’t imagine anyone knowing the new Sidereal better than you. I’d like to offer that post to you.”

The Synergy engineer raised an eyebrow at the Romulan’s words. He opened his mouth for an answer, but quickly closed his lips again. His expression changed as if he was discussing with someone, but after a few moments his face relaxed. 4@19 looked at Sina and nodded humbly. “It seems you’ve made a good impression, because even the Matriarch thinks I should take your offer.” Tarik still hesitated for one more moment, but then smiled at Sina. “Very well. I accept.”

The Romulan Commander grinned from ear to ear, her gaze focused on the engineer’s happy face. She offered her hand and shook it firmly when Tarik took it. “Tarik, I’m really glad you accepted.”

Niko also stepped closer and offered his hand for a strong handshake. “Welcome to the crew.”

“Thank you. I hope I’m not going to regret it.” 4@19 replied only half joking. “The command styles of our two organizations are not really compatible, and-”

“Don’t you worry about the details.” Sina interrupted him, before he could go on and rattle down a list of two dozen things that would cause problems. “I’m sure we’ll be able to iron out the kinks soon enough. But for now, I think we have a ship waiting for us.”

He nodded. “Aye… captain.” He added with a big grin, and then reached out with his uplink to initiate the dimensional shift to the Sidereal’s bridge. A split second later the dimensional pocket disappeared and left Tarik, Sina, and Niko standing in a rapidly decaying cloud of glimmering particles in the back of their vessel’s main command bridge. The dimensional shift’s signature flash had made Rel, Noriko, and Duncan turn in their seats, and they were now looking at the sudden visitors.

Niko, all business now, immediately moved to his chair right away. “Captain on deck! You know the drill people, let’s get the Sidereal ready for launch. Duncan, let me know when everyone’s onboard.”

“Aye, Sir!”

Sina walked to the center chair, and slowly sat down on it.

Without wasting a second, Lieutenant Commander Heisenberg was checking reports about the ship’s condition on the holographic display in front of him. “Omega singularity, online. Gravimetric emitters, online. Warp drive, online. Subspace slipstream, online. Structural integrity field, online. FDS manifolds, online. Internal sensors, online. Short range sensors, online. Long range sensors, online.”

Once the XO was done with the generic system status, Rel took over and reported tactical systems’ readiness. “Tachyon barriers, online. PTO pulse cannons, online. Targeting sensors, online. Hangar deck, on standby.”

After another few minutes of ready checks and status reports, Duncan spoke up. “Sir, all Sidereal personnel are on board.”

“Good.” Niko turned toward Sina. “Captain, everyone’s accounted for and the docking clamps are released. We’re ready to go.”

“All right. Noriko, take us out of the shipyard. Slow and steady, just like in the simulations.”

“Aye, captain!” Ensign Yamada replied proudly and tapped away at the holographic controls in front of her. “Engaging gravimetric emitters now. Forward acceleration three g.” Slowly the renewed Akira class started moving forward, one by one leaving the spider-like segmented mooring arms of the Synergy shipyard behind. Everyone was watching the ship’s movement on the main view screen with bated breath. After seven seconds Noriko reported. “We’ve cleared the shipyard.”

Sina’s lips curled up in an excited smile, her green and blue eyes glistening with happiness. “Let’s take it slow. After all, we have to learn again how to run. Set course for Neptune, warp two.” The captain beamed with pride, remembering the first time she originally commanded the Sidereal. And now here they were, given a second chance. She took a deep breath and spoke the magical word with a sense of joy she hadn’t felt in months.

“Engage.”