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Days Later...

They were close enough to get readings from Solare, but not close enough to help.  With the ship at red alert, he was ready for anything.  Nevir spent most of the trip in his ready room, making calls to his contacts in the Romulan Free State.  If he couldn't get there soon, he wanted to at least help bring allies. It seemed to have worked and the Romulans were sending a fleet to assist.  With that sigh of relief, he turned to the battle data for the sector. There were incoming signatures already.  Two groups, from both sides.  One Federation, one Romulan.

His attention was interrupted when Ops announced a hail from one of the lead Federation ships. The elder woman in red looked at Nevir for the second time in a week.

"Discovery, you are just in time. Join the fleet formation, you should be dropping out of warp about the same time we do."

"Yes, ma'am. Do we need to come in guns blazing?"

"No, not this time.  It looks like they are already in retreat."

"Understood.  Stand down red alert, lets go to yellow alert."

While Janeway's fleet warped in, a green shimmer was the telltale sign of a slipspace drive, and the Discovery finally arrived at Solare.  Sure enough, the remaining ships were on retreat.

"Sorry Mr. Dersch, you'll have to wait to go guns blazing." Nevir commented, standing up out of his chair.

"Hail the station. Let them know Discovery is ready to assist."

(I said I would have to push it along regularly, so I'm advancing us to Solare.)

[USS Discovery - Deck 2 - Captain's Quarters]

He didn't get much time to sleep as it would turn out, as only an hour after he had retired for the night, an urgent high-level communication was sent to his quarters.  The Bajoran rubbed his eyes and walked over to his desk, turning on the computer to see an elderly yet familiar admiral.  Or retired Admiral.

"Admiral Janeway..? This is unexpected."

"Captain Tekin, right?  I seemed to have caught you asleep."

"Oh... long shift with this Xel'kath situation and Starfleet keeping us in the dark."

"I heard.. life living in subspace that prey on us.. sounds like another interdimensional race I encountered."

"I'm guessing you're not calling because someone told you how disappointed I was to not go."

"No, I'm not.  We have a situation developing in this region of space.  We've discovered an old abandoned transwarp conduit. It goes to the Delta Quadrant. And its being actively used."

This caused the Bajoran to sit up straighter, and he was no longer groggy.

"The Borg?"

"No, no.. thankfully no.  I think Picard settled that issue permanently. But therein lies the problem; the races of the Delta Quardrant have discovered it and where it goes.  Kazon, Maelon, Hirogen... all of my old friends."

"And they're not here to reminise of your journey."

"More like payback maybe."

Nevir was already doing the calculations in his head.  Even at maximum warp, they were still looking at days, not an instant response.  There was also...

"We're recalling ships now, I know your ship is the farthest one we're calling, but I know you have one of the few working quantum slipstream drives.  There is already a feet massing on their side, we need all the help you can get.  We've even reached out to the Free State."

"Luckily, I have some friends there, too. I assume Starfleet is okay with this?"

"They can talk to me if they have a problem.  Janeway out."

The channel closed, giving Nevir a chance to take a breath, and then he stood up.  It took minutes to get back into uniform and a few minutes after that, he walked back onto the bridge.

"Helm, set a direct course for Outpost Solare at maximum warp.  Engineering, we need the quantum slipstream drive online. All department finish your diagnostics and get ready for combat.  And go!" he stated, giving the order while he sat in his chair.

"I just received a message from Outpost Solare; they are expecting to come under attack, they are recalling as many ships as possible.  Janeway specifically reached out to use because of our slipstream drive.  Let's not disappoint her."

Days Later...

They were close enough to get readings from Solare, but not close enough to help.  With the ship at red alert, he was ready for anything.  Nevir spent most of the trip in his ready room, making calls to his contacts in the Romulan Free State.  If he couldn't get there soon, he wanted to at least help bring allies. It seemed to have worked and the Romulans were sending a fleet to assist.  With that sigh of relief, he turned to the battle data for the sector. There were incoming signatures already.  Two groups, from both sides.  One Federation, one Romulan.

His attention was interrupted when Ops announced a hail from one of the lead Federation ships. The elder woman in red looked at Nevir for the second time in a week.

"Discovery, you are just in time. Join the fleet formation, you should be dropping out of warp about the same time we do."

"Yes, ma'am. Do we need to come in guns blazing?"

"No, not this time.  It looks like they are already in retreat."

"Understood.  Stand down red alert, lets go to yellow alert."

While Janeway's fleet warped in, a green shimmer was the telltale sign of a slipspace drive, and the Discovery finally arrived at Solare.  Sure enough, the remaining ships were on retreat.

"Sorry Mr. Dersch, you'll have to wait to go guns blazing." Nevir commented, standing up out of his chair.

"Hail the station. Let them know Discovery is ready to assist."

Alright, this is our portion of the joint mission to celebrate Voyager.  We will do our best to keep things easier to follow, and for the most part we will have our own part of the mission to accomplish, so we won't all be in the same thread dealing with the chaos of a battle. I know we haven't finished our previous mission yet, but this will take place some time after; and the other mission will still be open for us to finish.

Here is what you need to know:

- Discovery is patrolling the borders of the Beta Quadrant; but everyone on the crew gets the impression its just to keep us out of the way. Like the Brass is unsure about us.

- The entire crew has been subjected to weekly brain scans to make sure there is nothing to worry about in regards to after effects of our encounter with the spiders.

- It is currently late evening, and this takes place two days or so before the current time in the joint mission; we will be timeskipping to catch up.

- Common knowledge: There is a science conference on Outpost Solare that the Captain really wanted to attend, but could not. He is not happy about that.  The conference has some notable guests (you can see who they are on the other threads)

I will make one big note here: because this is a joint mission with the other SIMMs, we will try to keep up pacing as much as possible.  This doesn't mean that you all have to post more regularly, but it will mean that I will have to push the story more often and won't be able to wait a week for activity.

As always, if you have any questions, you can ask them here, send us a DM, or ask in the Discord.  Enjoy!

Captain's Log, Stardate 80117.3

The Discovery is currently on temporary patrol duty along the outer edge of the Beta Quadrant — a holding pattern, if I'm being honest. Starfleet Command has pulled us from exploratory operations pending a full forensic analysis of our recent engagement... or rather, our escape.

We encountered something in subspace—something alive. A species, maybe. A predatory force, almost certainly. They struck without warning, without negotiation, without even revealing themselves fully. We still don't know what they are.

We call them Xel'kath now. The name isn't official—it was pulled from a corrupted fragment of sensor data and stuck. It sounds like a hiss. It feels like one.

We don't know where they came from. We don't know how they exist. We only know that their ships—or organisms, or whatever they are—phase in and out of normal space, like a shadow that only becomes solid long enough to strike. They dwell in subspace, but not as travelers. They live there. Feed there.

I've read between the lines of Command's orders. We're not patrolling this sector. We're being watched.

Maybe they think we're compromised. Maybe they're right.

Or maybe there is something else unknown out there...

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[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Tekin looked grumpy. The reason most likely was the scanner hovering over his head and the older Russian human holding it. The entire crew was being subjected to weekly scans of their mental state; a concern that at least one member of the Brass had brought up.  At this point with nothing to show for it, it really did seem like a waist of time.

"If you hold shtill, this will be over quicker."

"This would also be over quicker if you would just take the promotion and be our CMO." Nevir responded in kind, which got a laugh from the Russian lieutenant.

"Oh no.. no command for me.  You're lucky I don't leave the ship. Find me a younger officer to groom."

Nevir sighed as the scan completed.  Look at that, still nothing.  With him done, that basically finished off the crew for this week. Misha left the bridge to return to Sickbay, while Nevir checked the chronometer.  It was late, relatively speaking.  He usually would have been off the first shift hours ago.  But he was putting in extra hours through his own studies.  And it felt slightly more comfortable.  It gave him a higher chance of being on the Bridge if and when the subspace invaders returned. But he had to admit, he was getting tired.

"Mr. Ramort, you have the conn. I should try to get some sleep. Disturb me only for emergencies," he stated, standing up and leaving the bridge.

The perk of being the Commanding officer was that his quarters were the closest to the bridge.  It wasn't a long trip, and he was able to make it to his bed before he winked out.

Láadan ran to the containment control panel. Perhaps today is a good day to die. The good news was that if he made a mistake, it would quite quickly become someone else's problem (and likely someone else's cleanup duty). This will require precise actions. Fortunately,  since finding out he would be stationed on the Discovery, he had been familiarizing himself with the Engineering control panels. Triggering his communicator, "Ensign Láadan ready and standing by."

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering (Lower)]

"Alright, begin generation. Priming chamber.  I'm going to override the safety checks for a cold restart.  Restarting the core in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Mark!" she called, and Main Engineering shuddered as a contained explosion ignited in the core with matter and antimatter meeting for the first and last time. The energy was then funneled up and down the core, as it started glowing a flowing swirl of blues.

"We have an imbalance in the starboard containment unit.  Begin power tracking, let's see if we are just giving them more power."

There was a drain, at first. But the instability of the warp reactor did exactly what Láadan predicted it would. The siphons were disconnected; the web was cut.  There was an audible sigh of relief in Engineering as T'Farr waited to see Láadan.

"Ensign, you may have just saved the ship, " she said matter-of-factly as she hit her communicator.

"Engineering to Bridge; warp engines are back online, but manually.  We will be able to engage the drive in one minute."

[USS Discovery - Main Bridge]

Lt. Dersch straightened slightly at the Captain's inquiry, his fingers twitching between the controls as he pulled up the latest status reports. He could feel the weight of the ship's fluctuating power levels pressing down on everyone on the bridge.

"Captain," Dersch began, his voice steady but underscored with urgency. "I've just received an update from security teams. They're currently sweeping Decks 4 through 7 and have encountered resistance on Deck 5. Reports suggest the intruders are using stealth tactics—blending into the shadows of the abandoned sections. It's as if they're playing a game of cat and mouse with our officers."

He scanned the tactical readouts, alarm bells ringing quietly in his mind. "Our security teams are equipped for confrontation, but morale is shaky. With power levels dropping below 40%, we can't afford to lose control of any area of the ship. If they breach to Engineering, it'll be catastrophic for our systems."

Dersch paused, contemplating their options. "I recommend we reroute some of our remaining power to the security systems. We can set up a lockdown procedure for critical access points to slow any potential intruders. With limited power, it's essential we tighten our defenses rather than rely purely on offensive capabilities at this point."

He glanced at the tactical display, the images of the ship's layout overlaying data on the intruders' movements. "Additionally, if we could implement a localized force field around strategic locations, it might buy us enough time to regroup our security teams and mount a counter-offensive."

Lifting his gaze back to the Captain, Dersch's expression revealed his resolute determination. "We need to act fast, sir. Every second counts, and we can't give them any more opportunities to exploit our vulnerabilities. I'll keep monitoring all security channels for updates, but I suggest we implement these measures immediately."

With a final nod, Dersch resumed his focus on the tactical console, ready to execute whatever strategy the Captain deemed fit.

"Let's show them that we won't back down—this ship may be low on power, but it still carries the resolve of Starfleet. Let's make it count."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain sighed.  "I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mr. Dersch.  We are frankly outmatched.  We need to get out of here-" he stopped, and turned to the tactical officer.

"They're not just using stealth tactics. They are also out of phase.  That's how they got on the ship. Use a phase variance; that should either get them or chase them away."

"For the power issues, we can shut down the offensive systems and diver-"

He was interrupted for the second time, but this time by Engineering.  Also as soon as the call was answered, the lights on the bridge strengthened to their normal illumination.

"Confirm that we have power!" he ordered, and gave a sigh of relief.  There was no reason to stay here; someone else could retrieve the Momentary.

"Helm, plot a course back to Federation space, and engage when able. Mr. Dersch, engage security fields around critical areas, with a phase variance. Let's get the hell out of here."

[[Lt. JB Dersch - USS Discovery - Main Bridge]]

"...ahsss, interlupers... prey. Staand down your feeble aattempts to damage our shaape. Your forms and powers will be used to service and feed our greater caause. Be happy and rejoice for your taastes will be remembered for the aages to come by our prodigy. shh"

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Seeing them on screen was... uncomfortable to say the least, and they finally spoke.  He briefly wondered if the Momentary ever got a chance to communicate, but at this point it didn't matter.

"I wonder if this is their version of resistance is futile..." he said dryly, before tapping the comm to Engineering.

"We need to get out of here, I can try to delay, but I need warp power, now!"

With that he instructed the Helm to keep on an escape course, and finally hit the reply.  With whatever benefit that would bring.

"This is Captain Tekin Nevir of the Federation Starship Discovery.  This is an unprovoked attack on the Federation and will not be tolerated. We have alerted our fleet. If you do not disengage, you will be destroyed."

Big words... but right now it was all they had.

"Discovery, Bridge, are you receiving their transmission in the VHF band?"

"We are... get on Discovery immediately.  We're trying to get out of here."

[Lt. JB Dersch - USS Discovery - Main Bridge]

As the tension on the bridge ratcheted up, Lt. Dersch transitioned quickly from offense to defense. His fingers flew across the tactical console, assessing damage and enemy capabilities in real-time, even as the Captain called for more firepower.

"Understood, Captain," Dersch replied, his voice steady despite the chaos around him. "Launching another round of quantum torpedoes now."

With a series of beeps confirming his commands, Dersch initiated the launch sequence. The aft torpedo launcher fired with a deep thrum, sending the torpedoes hurtling toward the adapting enemy vessel. He winced at the impact results on the screen—the damage was less than satisfactory.

"Looks like they're getting smarter by the second. Just like the Borg... but with a flair for the dramatic," he muttered under his breath.

He glanced over at the Captain, who was still in the midst of strategizing. Dersch leaned into the tactical display, his brow furrowed as he analyzed the enemy's current trajectory and power levels. "We need to rethink our strategy fast—whatever countermeasures we've deployed aren't going to hold forever. They're adapting, which means we need a more dynamic response."

As the unsettling noises echoed in the ship's corridors, Dersch felt a wave of unease. He kept his focus on the tactical situation, but the low rumble of footsteps from elsewhere onboard was unsettling.

"Captain," he said, shifting his weight to face the command chair. "While I rework the tactical options, we should consider deploying a perimeter security protocol at critical junctions. We can't afford to let them breach the core systems without resistance."

He brought up schematics of the ship's sections, highlighting key areas that could provide blind spots for intruders. "If we set automated defensive measures in strategic locations, we might slow their advance. After all, a tactical officer can't do his job if the ship gets taken hostage."

Dersch's voice took on a sharper edge, clarity slicing through the tension. "And about the warp power, we need Engineering to prioritize restoring our drive systems. Without warp capabilities, we're sitting ducks. It's only a matter of time before they decide to pay us a visit on the bridge, and I prefer my enemies well outside the hull."

He turned back to his console, determination burning in his eyes.

"Let's give them something to think about. We may be on the defensive, but they'll learn quickly—this will not be an easy hunt."

With renewed vigor, Dersch continued to formulate strategies, intent on keeping the ship and crew safe as the stakes grew higher with each passing moment.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Taking the closest Turbolift, and thanking the universe for working power and not having to climb another access shaft, he arrived at the Bridge, many screens all around him still showing the images of the aliens from the transmission.

As a scientist their appearance was deeply fascinating to him. Their dictus and behavior was almost reminiscent of an insectoid hive-like way of live. There was no clear leader that had presented themselves. No clear chain of authority they could appeal to. Their bodies were not distinct enough to differentiate individuals yet. No form of clothing or other markings, but there seemed to be different builds, maybe related to different functions.

"Away Team, reporting back for duty. Ready to reassume stations."

"Your timing is impeccable, Mr. Ramort. We are down to less than 40% power shipwide, we have outer sections of the ship evacuated, and possible intruder alerts.  Mr Dersch, do we have an update from the security teams?"

[USS Discovery, Engineering]

Láadan looked at the schematics for the warp engines. Thinking to himself "These 'threads' may have caused a phase variance  in the warp core magnetic containment. Perhaps reversing the polarity of the containment field could adjust this variance and allow a reboot. Once the antimatter reaction starts, we reverse it back. This likely will cause some...mechanical agitation but we can repair that later if needed.. Adjusting the frequency of the warp core force field to repulse these threads should prevent the warp bubble from Collapsing again.' Quickly running a simulation, the idea looked worth a try. Sending the information to the Engineering Officer's PADD, Láadan said "This may allow us to get the warp core online. Ready to proceed on your orders."

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering (Lower)]

With both Ramort and M'Nia on the away team, it was Lt. JG T'Farr who found herself in charge of Engineering, and dealing with power losses and what looked like viruses in the system. The Captain's call to hurry up was such an emotional thing she decided not to take notice of it, just respond that they were working on it.  And finally, she had someone showing a PADD to her.

"It is risky, Ensign.  We'll have to manually adjust the containment fields and control the anti-matter generation, or we'll blow up the ship.  However, our options are limited...."

She turned and called out to the rest of Engineering. "Alright, we have a plan of action.  Monitor the plasma flow and begin generation.  Watch the polarity and engage the start on my order.  Ensign Láadan, you have the distinct honor of handling the containment adjustments.  Everyone, let us begin." she stated, walking over to the main warp core console and starting the restart process.

"On my mark.  Mr. Láadan, tell me when ready."

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

Trix tapped into the optical sensor feed from the shuttle, and instantly wished he hadn't. The image magnified on his console was a writhing nightmare—dozens of spindly, multi-limbed creatures skittering over the biological hull of the enemy ship, methodically stitching its ruptured cocoon back together. Their motion was unnatural, fluid in ways that defied normal locomotion, some legs slipping in and out of different spectral frequencies as they moved. Why did there have to be so many legs in the first place?

He clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to gag. The creatures bore a disturbing resemblance to Glikar'ma—legendary monstrosities from Andorian folklore, symbols of evil and calamity. He had always dismissed such stories as exaggerated campfire nonsense, but now he felt their weight crawling up his spine like cold ice.

"I really, really hate folk tales," he muttered under his breath.

McNair's voice snapped him back to the present.

Trix forced his bleary eyes to focus. "Regeneration cycle estimated at twenty minutes until full integrity," he replied, voice tighter than he intended. "But given the rate of adaptation... I'd say we won't get much reprieve during that time."

"Sending recommended settings for the modulated graviton beam," he announced, dispatching the data packet across the room with a slightly dramatic swipe of his left hand as he executed the Captain's order. The Discovery seemed to groan again under another hit, and his body swayed with the inertia as everyone else on the bridge remained in position. Odd. There were no sensor records of a hit, no change in shield status. Was he imagining things? He pushed forward, adjusting the final parameters.

But something felt wrong. The lights looked different for a second, and suddenly the world seemed to swim. His head throbbed violently, a sharp pain drilling into his skull, half a centimeter behind his right eye. He blinked rapidly, disoriented, and caught the telltale coppery tang of Andorian blood on his tongue. Reflexively, he wiped his upper lip—his fingers came away slick with bright blue blood. Oh.

He reached down to his belt, reflexively fumbling for his emergency hypospray. The weight and balance felt off as he lifted it to his neck, but he pressed the button anyway. Nothing. No hiss. No reprieve. He looked at the device in his hand and found the bottom half missing. Cracked, leaking, useless.

Panic rose in his chest, urgent and hot. Or was it his lunch? He tried to swallow it down—whatever it was—push through, but his breath got caught in his throat and for a moment he coughed like his life depended on it. Feared he would suffocate where he stood. His fingers went clumsy, missing keypresses, his vision tunneling as his heartbeat rumbled in his ears louder than the ceremonial artillery cannons at the Andorian Imperial Court. And why were there suddenly two captains now? His own body was betraying him, shutting down faster and faster, reducing his consciousness to an inept passenger aboard the USS Trix.

The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was a glance at some metal plating overlaid with flickering emergency lights. And for the briefest moment, he wondered what had happened to his console before he realized that he was looking at the ceiling. "I guess I'm falling."

And then, nothing.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

"Fire when ready-" the Captain began when he saw his officer slide of their chair and to the ground.  No apparent damage, but with so many unknowns, he couldn't take chances.

"Medical emergency to the bridge!"

While he waited, the Captain jumped to the science station left vacated, seeing what the settings were set to.

"Is the shuttle docked?"

With the affirmative answer, he turned back to his tactical officer.  "Fire another round of quantum torpedoes." he ordered, turning to the screen in the front.  "Aft view."

The viewscreen switched from being a veritable window looking out from the bridge to looking at the rear view. The shuttle's sleek shape vanished from view as they entered the shuttle bay, showing only the engineering hull and all four of her powered-down nacelles.  The aft torpedo launcher fired another round, which impacted the husk-like ship.  Unfortunately for them, the damage inflicted was much, much lesser.  They were starting to adapt to it.  The comparisons to the Borg were both too accurate and too scary; at least the Borg just tried to remove your individuality.  These things...

"Prophets... we need a task force for this. And we need to figure out how to protect our ship.  These countermeasures are good, but not a long-term plan. We need something that doesn't threaten the ship or our remaining power.  Bridge to Engineering, where is my warp power, I'm still seeing inactive nacelles?"

Elsewhere on the ship, the sounds of tapping, scuttling, unsettling noises were sounding; since the outer sections of the ship were abandoned, they had no reason to stay, and moved to penetrate the ship further.  A security team walked down the halls, looking like they were searching for something that they didn't really think was there.  They were the perfect prey.

The four officers were taken care of rather quickly....

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]]

"Oh trust me I will, but for now sir your orders do i stabilze the the cre that have been hurt if any or  come up with a toxican to kill whatever hurt our fallow officers?" torrian asked her deep voice having an tint of rage in it as she awaited orders.

[USS Discovery - Deck 9 - Sickbay]

Before they got an answer from the Captain, an exasperated Russian voice sounded from behind her.

"Enshin! Ve need all hands!" he stated, as people began coming into Sickbay with injuries. Even with being told to brace, the ship did bomb itself as well as the enemy ship, and it looked like there were some major injuries to attend to.  Dr. Sluchaynyy was already moving around with a medical tricorder, scanning as officers arrived.

"Start triage, leave the bridge contact to the chain of command." he stated, as he started working on a broken limb.

[Lt. JB Dersch - USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Dersch quickly acknowledged his orders, tapping into the systems with a practiced ease.

"Aye, Sir. Bringing Borg modulations online now. I'll coordinate with Trix once we've handled the hull. Working with engineering to ensure everything is redirected smoothly."

He focused intently on the control panel, his fingers flying over the console. The Borg modulations required precise calibration, but Dersch was confident in the systems.

"Modulations are online. Standing by for coordination with Mr. Trix. Shields are holding for now, but we're pushing the limits."

As the ship rocked with each impact, Dersch stayed steady, locking in the modulations and preparing for the next round of attacks. He suddenly noticed something strange on the console.

"Captain, I'm seeing ghost intruder alerts. Multiple points on top of the alpha hull—alarms are going off, but there's no message. We may have a serious problem if we don't act quickly."

His fingers moved quickly to the controls, keeping his focus sharp as the alerts continued to flash on the screen.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

The first detonation hit like a sledgehammer. The deck beneath Trix's feet lurched violently, and for a moment, his whole world spun. The shockwave tore through the Discovery, rattling his teeth and forcing the air from his lungs. His hands clung to the edge of his console, white-knuckled, as alarms screamed around him. Somewhere in the chaos, he heard the Captain's second order to fire, but the words were nearly drowned out by the gut-wrenching groan of the hull under stress. His antennae jerked from the inertia, leaving him with a sensation that was a mix of instinctive alarm and sheer force feedback from the blast.

Through the daze, he barely registered the console flashing in front of him. The first calculations for the inertial damper inversion were complete, ready to deploy. Gritting his teeth, he reached for the command input—only for a second explosion to slam through the ship. The bridge bucked like a wild animal, nearly sending him sprawling forward. A conduit behind him detonated with an ear-splitting crack, sending a searing shower of sparks cascading over him. For a moment, he tasted metal and ozone, the sharp tang mingling with the smell of his own singed hair. The world blurred. His vision swam. A dull ringing in his ears threatened to drown out everything else.

Trix forced himself back upright, shaking off the fog creeping into his mind. "Not dead yet," he muttered, slamming the command through. The inertial dampers in the outermost hull sections reversed polarity, and the results were immediate. Through the main viewscreen, he watched as most of the strands latched onto Discovery were violently torn free, slingshotted off by the abrupt and unnatural shift in inertia, left flailing aimlessly through the void. The ship still groaned from the residual forces, but at least physics was on their side for once. "Polarity inversion worked, computer estimates we knocked 75% of them off. Shall I charge another wave?" The words came out near automatic, barely filtering through his rattled brain. He had the computer start the calculations and sent over some additional permuations for their modulation attempts.

As his head cleared, he turned his attention to the enemy vessel. His heart pounded as he noticed something new. The shockwaves from the detonations had forced portions of the enemy ship into phase with normal space. His breath hitched at what was revealed—an entire structure composed almost entirely of the same biological material as the strands ensnaring them. It was all interconnected, a grotesque mass that looked more like a cocoon than a spacecraft. He felt an involuntary shudder crawl up his spine as his mind conjured images of what kind of arachnid horror might lurk within.

Whatever's inside, I don't want to meet it.

Worse, the data their sensors had egerly lapped up, now that there actually was something to scan for a change, confirmed a horrifying realization. This wasn't just a ship hiding in subspace—it had to be a vessel from subspace. These beings originated there. The web, the ship, all of it was part of a larger biological structure that had no true home in their reality. They weren't just advanced marauders. They were something far worse—something entirely alien to this plane of existence. They didn't belong here on a very fundamental level.

Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise, he hesitantly glanced at the ceiling again—just to make sure. The dancing shadows caused by the flickering lighting and steady alarm pulses were NOT helpful in assuaging his concerns that some eldritch creature might drop on his head at any moment.

When he looked back down, his stomach sank. The damage they had inflicted on the enemy ship was already knitting itself back together. The biological hull was regenerating, sealing over the wounds with disturbing efficiency.

Trix exhaled sharply, forcing his nerves to settle. He let out a breathless, humorless chuckle. "Of course it regenerates. Of course it does. Why wouldn't it?" He muttered under his breath before his eyes narrowed in thought.

Then, as he started to help isolating their individual systems from further attack, another thought hit him—one that gave him just a little bit of hope. He murmured to himself, recalling an old Earth film, a simple truth wrapped in fiction.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it."

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck was just about to conduct the spectral sweep when he heard Dersch chime up from the tactical control panel, tying the tactical outputs into the sweep itself as he began to run the data and monitor all the output of power they had currently being used. They had already drained a lot from the non-essential parts of the ship, so he could only hope that they wouldn't drain everything in its entirety.

"Enacting emergency power protocols now, Cap'n." Buck responded, his ingers flying along the control panel as he enabled the protocols that would set up the ship for the worst-case scenario.

Ops to all officers, those not involved at battle stations, prepare for evacution to your designated refuge center. 

The message would be sent out to all those across the ships, as he checked each deck, manually trying to sut off power to those specific locations that were not in use and wouldn't be in use for the situation that they were in. Buck would monitor the movements of each deck, when they would clear out to area designated and he would shut down the power to ensure that they weren't going to be exposed any further with the power drainage. He would have to have a check of their armoury should they survive the salvo.

Buck's knuckles would turn white as he gripped onto the control panel, his teeth gritted as the captain issued his forewarning. This would hurt, certainly would rock the ship and he hoped that it would help them some. But none of his preparations would help as he found himself rocked violently to one side as the ship shuddered and screamed around him as the quantum torpedos exploded. He had managed to hit the side of the control panel on the way down, causing him to briefly lock up in pain as he clutched at his ribcage. Buck whined, coughing as he hauled himself back upright and to run a preliminary scan of the damage sustained by the Discovery and how much they were able to safely take without running into more complications.

His ears were ringing and he had to fight through the wave of nausea that had suddenly hit him.

The horrifying realisation of the enemy vessel being able to regenerate.

"We cannot simply continue to launch salvos at them without sustaining more damage than them..." Buck muttered to himself as he audibly spoke to himself, trying to work a solution as he stifled back a cough, wincing some. "At what speed is it regenerating at, Trix?"

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

At least two officers ended up getting thrown, one of which had blood showing on her head.  The Captain ordered them to go down to Sickbay as he listened to the status reports.

"I really hope we don't ever have to blast our own ship again..." he muttered, but the most alarming report came from Dersch.

"Even if our security systems were losing power, they wouldn't be showing ghosts.  Which either means we have a virus in our systems... or we have a virus in our corridors.  Consider it legitimate.  Intruder alert." he ordered, then turning his attention to Trik.

"That one wave nearly ripped us apart and took an immense amount of power.  We have the modulated shields online, so we may be able to disrupt the rest.  Helm, once the shuttle is docked set a course out of the system. Try to put some distance so we can reestablish a warp field."

"Bridge to Engineering, we have found the cause of the power drain, and have shrugged off a good portion of the threads.  We need to get out of here and rendevous with Starfleet; get that warp core back online!"

"Load another spread... we should still have 3/4 of our complement of quantum torpedoes.  Their regeneration may be slow, but their ability to adapt weapons puts the Borg to shame."  The ship shook again, but it was more muted. The beam weapons were less effective now that they couldn't just absorb the frequency of the shields. With the amount of modulations the new shields would go through, it wasn't likely that they could adapt and drain them... right?

"Dersch, bring aft phasers back online. Trix, you seem to be talented at redirecting; work with Tactical and see if we can charge them with a modulated graviton beam."

Elsewhere on the ship, empty corridors with little to no life support in them were not so empty, as the skittering of feet sounded below decks....

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]]

torriam pressed her combadge  captian i request permission to beam over and join the away team its standrd protocall for any acting doctor to be apart of any and all away team mission i have field medic training and can get a go kit eady in a few seconds flat 

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

So protocol was not followed?  There had to be a reason... but the Captain did not have time to deal with it right now.

"We're not in a good position to use the transporter system and there is no guarantee you'll make it.  You can bring up protocol with the XO when he returns."

[Lt. JB Dersch - USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

JB's hands moved swiftly over the Tactical console as the ship shook under enemy fire. His eyes locked onto the green energy signature registering on the sensors. It was unlike any disruptor or phased energy weapon he'd encountered before, and that meant trouble.

"Shields holding at 62%, but that won't last if they keep hitting us with that frequency," JB reported, his voice steady despite the rising tension. "Adjusting modulation patterns—trying to dampen the energy absorption rate."

His fingers danced across the controls, sending targeted bursts of retaliatory fire toward the enemy vessel. "Direct hit to their forward section, but no significant damage," he muttered, frustrated. "That hull is absorbing energy like a damn sponge."

Hearing the order for a spectral sweep, JB nodded. "On it. Tying Tactical sensors into the scan—if this disruption is coming from the subspace tear, we might be looking at a feedback loop or an outside influence amplifying it."

Another impact rocked the ship. JB braced himself, eyes narrowing. "Sir, I recommend we alter our firing patterns. If this thing is draining us before we even fire, we need to cycle through rapid variations in our weapon frequencies. Give it too much to process at once, see if we can punch through its defenses."

His grip tightened on the console as he awaited further orders, ready to adjust their approach on a moment's notice.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

The Captain's response to his earlier recommendation still lingered in his mind. Not enough manpower to crew each hull individually? That didn't add up. In the Academy, they had been told that the Prometheus-class was designed to be operable in Multi-Vector Assault Mode with as few as four crew per sub-vessel. Had Starfleet been overselling their own technology? In a post-scarcity society, the idea of false advertising felt almost absurd—yet here they were.

Pushing his musings aside, he quickly initiated the requested spectral sweep. As the data came in, his antennae jerked back from the readings. "Son of a Preshava," he cursed under his breath. They were surrounded by thin, nearly invisible strands. The Momentary was covered in them, even the away team's shuttle had some. The Discovery was no exception, with a bunch of strings latched onto her hull, even connecting them to their new adversary. These filaments were crisscrossing between ships and nothingness of space—mostly disappearing into what he presumed to be subspace via microscopic sensor voids. Like a web. Back to spiders they were.

Trix's stomach churned. These strands semed to be organic, akin to the material they had observed on the hull of the Momentary and equally resistant to the probing of their sensor suite. But there was something else—something new. They appeared to sway in and out of phase. Not evenly, though there was a rhythm to it. A beat he still couldn't quite understand. Worse yet, these strands appeared to be acting as power taps, siphoning away their energy. After sending the information to the science labs for ideas on how to deal with this new problem, Trix pushed an overlay to the main viewscreen, highlighting the otherwise nearly imperceptible threads in a bright orange.

"Captain, I've overlaid the spectral data. We're caught in a web, for lack of a better term. These strands appear to be what is siphoning power directly from us, and some of them are linked to the alien vessel. Others vanish straight into subspace. They're phasing in and out, which is likely why our power fluctuations seem so erratic. I don't think we will be able to get a weapons lock on them either—they don't even show up on our normal sensors. Besides, any phaser fire would likely just drain our reserves and feed whatever they connect to. Luckily, there are too many of them to allow for the possibility that they are targeted in any way, shape, or form. If helm can avoid flying into more of them, it will likely prevent an even more rapid drain."

He took a breath, antennae tapping to the beat of his heart as he worked through possible countermeasures. "For power conservation, we should compartmentalize the grid as much as we can. Open every breaker we have to limit how easily the reserves can be drained. Further, I recommend shutting down our shields and phaser banks—they're just free food at this point. We need time to figure out how to counteract this web. In the meantime, we can fight back with our torpedoes. If we can get a lock on them, they should be susceptible to quantum torpedoes"

As he spoke, hoping for more detailed input from his colleagues who specialized in actual scientific analysis, he quickly outlined additional measures that came to mind. "We could evacuate sections near the outer hull and reverse the polarity of the inertial dampers in those compartments—it might make a mess of the interiors, but it should be enough to push off whatever got attached to us. We may not be able to target them precisely, but we can induce a gravity wave. Speaking of which, since these filaments seem to be energy-seeking, we could charge the deflector dish as an intentional lure, then release a graviton wave. With the right amount of force, the sudden shift should structurally overload the strands and cause them to snap under their own tension."

While he awaited the Captain's response, he had the computer run the calculations for the graviton pulse based on an estimated weight of the strings. Thankfully, their oversized calculator of a computer core still worked, sparing the Discovery and her crew from relying on Trix's arithmetic skills.

"Modulation...." Nevir stated, his mind racing. Their phasers were being absorbed, their shields were being drained quickly.  They weren't the first ship this vessel encountered. They were power hungry; they optimized their defenses and weapons to siphon.  And then with Trix, they had their answer. Strings.  Webs.  Why did it have to be spiders?

"Work with engineering to handle the power systems.  Bridge the holodeck power to add to our own, and divert power from the phaser banks. And... save the shields for now. Mr. Dersch, bring the Borg modulations online, and coordinate with Mr. Trix to activate them after we handled the outer hull.  Mr. Trix, prepare the inverse polarity field for the hull.  Ops, enact emergency power protocol; evacuate all officers not involved in battle stations to their designated refuge center and then shut down all power to non-essential locations."

"Prepare a full spread of quantum torpedo forward and aft, set to detonate at minimal safety distance from the ship, and fire on my order. And load up a second spread forward with a higher yield for our new friends." he gripped the chair.

"And you all better hold on... we're about to detonate a dozen warheads around an unshielded ship."

"All hands, this the Captain, evacuate from all outer sections and brace for impact."

"Fire!" he ordered, holding on for dear life.  It didn't take long for the shockwave to hit Discovery, and it hit it HARD. Panels exploded and Cordry rocks were disrupted, flying around the bridge.  The ship would end up taking massive damage, but the risk ended up working out.  Sensors calibrated showed a number of the strings were disrupted.  So they could work against the other ship.

"Fire!" he ordered, and watched the next volley fire away and at the ship.  The alien vessel did not seem to think it was a risk, but upon detonation, the ship was still hit, even in its semi-phased state. There was clear damage showing on the ship. Nevir breathed a sigh of relief.

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]]

[Lt. JB Dersch | USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

As the Captain's voice boomed through the dimly lit command deck,"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays.", the atmosphere shifted dramatically. A piercing siren echoed in the background, filling the air with a sense of urgency. JB felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him, igniting every fiber of his being as he shifted into battle mode.

In that instant, he became acutely aware of the hum of the ship's machinery and the rapid beeping of the consoles around him. His heart raced as he quickly scanned the control panel, mentally processing data and potential threats.

"Understood, Captain!" he responded, his voice steady despite the rising tension. With a swift motion, he activated the control sequence, fingers flying over the keys. "Raising shields now, And Ops should be diverting power now to add Power to sheilds" Bright blue energy began to shimmer around the ship, forming a protective barrier that enveloped them.

"Torpedoes Armed and Ready Captain" he added, his focus unwavering as the systems whirred to life, preparing their most powerful weapons for the fight ahead. The dim lighting flickered ominously in sync with the ship's alarms, amplifying the sense of impending conflict. JB could feel the weight of responsibility pressing down as the crew steeled themselves for whatever danger lay beyond the viewscreen.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

Buck was running through potential scenarios when the Captain had been interrupted and a shudder rocked the ship. That wasn't good. It really wasn't good. The rhythmic whoop-whoop of the ship's klaxons were the next thing to layer the already complex situation as Ch'Rehllan had just hailed ops. The captain was rattled as he shot to standing after the conversation with lieutenant JG T'Farr. Buck could see, and hear, the fear coming from the captain as the next steps were ordered.

He would keep the scans up and running, the probe doing its job out to monitor but the subspace tear in space was the only thing they probably needed to focus their attention on, that they were rather under attack from an unknown force. A force that was slowly appearing on their viewscreens, Buck furrowed his brow as he took the time to consider what the hell that thing was.

Were they still dealing with Space Spiders who could warp the fabric of reality and space around them?

Buck worked on ensuring that they were still diverting all power from unnecessary functions to the shields and essential power to keep them running for the time being. Whilst there were a few sectors that they could pull poewr from, it was fast decreasing. He could also feel his heart pounding against his chest as he listened to each of the crew's transmissions. "Power has been diverted to shields. I've done my best in transferring the power to essential components but we're rapidly working our way through until we have to start decreasing our power usage."

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Main Bridge]

Trix barely had a moment to process the brewing storm on the bridge before his console chirped, alerting him to a priority message from Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan down in Science Lab 3. Trix's antennae sank as he read, his mind racing through the implications. He tapped his console, bringing up sensor telemetry while considering how best to relay this to the captain.

"Captain, I just received a message from Science Lab 3," he began, trying to keep his tone professional despite the threat aprroaching their vessel. "The theory is that we're dealing with something that operates like an ambush predator. These species follow a common cycle: Search, Assess, Pursue, Kill. If that ship is following the same pattern, we're most likely in the Pursue stage."

The Captain turned slightly, listening, but his attention remained fixed on the looming vessel on the viewscreen.

"The key to interrupting this cycle, is making ourselves no longer viable as prey. Ambush predators disengage if their target becomes more trouble than they anticipated. If we shift from prey to adversary—better yet, threat—we may be able to dissuade an attack entirely."

He tapped a command into his console, pulling up the ship's multi-vector assault mode schematics. "I recommend we initiate Multi-Vector Assault Mode and assume assault pattern Gamma 12, encircling them and leaving the subspace tear as escape route."

Trix appreciated the ironiy that aggression might very well be their best path to a peaceful resolution. A strong enough show of force might convince their adversary that the cost of engagement outweighed any potential gain. But if not, then at least they'd be as prepared as possible for combat.

Silence hung over the bridge for a moment,  the ominous bio-organic ship grew ever larger on the viewscreen.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Every instinct was screaming at him to fight, to defend.  He could almost hear Lorut screaming at him to fire.  And he wanted to.  But everything that happened was recorded.  They could assume this ship was hostile and aggressive, but there was always some detestable Admiral who would be more than happy to hold a disregard for procedure over him.

"Hail them." he ordered, hearing the questioning from Ops soon after.

"I know, trust me.  Hail them.  I don't expect an answer.  Helm evasive maneuvers and keep us between the ship and the Momentary." he stated, looking down at his chair while he heard the advice from the newer Science officer. He brought up his master system display, to see if he was able to automate the process. There were warnings all throughout the Engineering and power systems.  And the MVA was offline.  The Captain tried to override and divert power, but he found the problem.  Each ship needed to be able to act independently, which meant each ship needed their own power generation. The ion reactors were nowhere near enough for multi-vector engagement.

"It's a good idea... but we don't have the manpower to control each hull individually and we don't have any power available to spare... we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

The ship shuddered as it moved, and the lights dimmed a bit.  More power was drained. Now it was below 75% power in the reserves. He couldn't explain it.  The ship just emerged, and yet their power drain occurred before...

"Prophets..." he stated as the ship was hit with a similar kind of weapon like a phaser beam.  A nauseating green beam, completely unlike the disrupters of the Klingons or the Romulans.

"Return fire!  Monitor the shield output.  Trix, McNair, run a spectral sweep of our ship using the frequency of that subspace tear. I don't think the power disruptions are naturally occurring."  The ship shook again as their shields were being hit.

[USS Discovery - Deck 10 - Main Engineering]

Lieutenant JG T'Farr

Alarms sounded through main engineering and the tell tale sounds of the warp core failing was flooding the room.  Of course, T'Farr kept her calm and almost dispassionate demeanor as a Vulcan.  With both the acting Chief Engineer and the second-in-command on the away team, she naturally took charge.  Which meant she was the one to immediately take action.

"Begin safety shutdown.  Secure the anti-matter; if we can't keept it contained we'll need to purge it."

"Engineering to Bridge - something happened to the anti-matter containment field, we're in danger of a cascade failure in the warp systems if we can't solve it."

On the Bridge, the Captain tensed, looking around at the officers with him.

"Can you define 'something'?"

T'Farr mentally chastised herself.  Too much time with officers who were quick to respond vaguely in order to speak quickly.

"We have a power disruption in the containment fields; power relays aren't working. I'm attempting to bypass them but the power we send to the warp systems is degrading; we can't seem to restore the power. Containment fields are at 30% and dropping fast."

On the Bridge, Nevir turned to Kedan, the look on his face said it all.  He was starting to understand what happened to the Momentary, and that it wasn't just abandoned.

"Shut it down, secure all power reserves and prioritize defensive systems."

T'Farr confirmed and immediately ran to the main control panel for the warp core, shouting orders to begin the shutdown sequence.  After some time, the swirl of the warp core slowed and faded out, leaving a dark pillar where the most dangerous but powerful reactor should be.  Elsewhere, orders were relayed and the smaller alpha hull warp engine was also shut down. Then the anti-matter was flooded into the diamagnetic emergency containers, with the excess rejected.  It was the last thing any engineer wanted to do; it would mean that the anti-matter would need to be regenerated and that took time and energy.  But it was either that, or watch helplessly as the anti-matter started touching the ship and blowing it up.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

With the channel closed, there was fear in the Captain.  He already lose his friend and an entire crew to this, and now they might to finding out first hand what happened.

"RED ALERT! Prepare torpedoes and strengthen the shields. Secure all relays." he ordered, taking his chair again, not even realizing he was standing up again.

"Discovery to away team; we can't divert power to restore the Momentary.  We just lost warp power ourselves.  We might not be alone out here, get to safety and prepare to evacuate if necessary."

The sensors went off, indicating a tear in space.  A subspace tear.  With a null value reading on the sensors.  But this time it wasn't just some sort of subspace black hole, something was coming out. A large angular ship that seemed to be composed of a bio-organic material.  The computer saw only one similarity; it was similar to the material found on the Momentary.

It seemed to be pretty clear now that the ship was attacked.  And now the attackers returned; either to take the rest of the ship, or more chillingly, because they knew there would be another ship.  Bait.

[[USS Discovery | Bridge]]

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

Trix's antennae straightened as his console beeped, signaling a long-awaited result from his database search. He had almost started to think the search parameters were too broad, that he was chasing ghosts. But here it was—something tangible, or rather intangible.

At first glance, it looked like just another entry in a sea of anomaly reports, but something captured his attention. An energy absorbing anomaly. No sensor readings. An old report from a Romulan science vessel, coincidentally obtained during the brief alliance between the Federation and the Empire during the Dominion War. A kernel of sand in a desert sized data dump. Then again, Trix mused, was anything ever really a coincidence with Romulans? That would be like assuming a Ferengi misplaced a bar of latinum—technically possible, but highly unlikely.

The Romulans had dubbed the phenomenon a 'subspace black hole', though the term was more of a best-guess translation than an accurate description. According to the report, the anomaly had seemingly dissipated after the Romulan ship launched a probe into it. Trix frowned. Or had it?

If the recent sensor readings of the Discovery were anything to go by, maybe the Romulans hadn't actually seen the anomaly vanish. Maybe they had just lost track of it before it reappeared somewhere else. That would explain the newest sensor non-blip—the null values appearing in a slightly different position before disappearing again. A physical phenomenon like this shouldn't be able to move on its own accord, or phase in and out of existance. Then again, what was normal about an energy and signal devouring subspace black hole anyway?

Whatever it was, it was better than being eaten alive by space spiders. Trix shuddered involuntarily at the thought, shooting another quick glance upward—just in case. Or so he told himself. "Subspace anomalies I can deal with. But interstallar crew eating spiders? No, thank you."

He quickly refined his search to chase down more records. Three other potential encounters cropped up over the last century. In two instances, the anomaly had simply vanished before further analysis could be completed. But in the third instance... the investigating ship had been lost. Trix tapped his antennae in contemplation while he tasked the computer with finding whatever information existed on that ill-fated vessel, the SS Weir, cross-referencing any sensor logs that might remain, salvage records from the vicinity around the time of disappearance, insurance claims, anything really.

While the search was running, Trix couldn't help but wonder how the Momentary had encountered this same phenomenon. Had it simply flown into one of these subspace black holes out of sheer bad luck? It would not immediately explain the hull breach, or the remaining laundry list of oddities about the Momentary's current state, but at least the completely depleted energy levels could be accounted for. If so, was there a way to predict when and where the subspace black hole would reappear?

Shaking off his unease, he turned to Lt. Hayes, explaining his findings. Having heard Trix's theories, Hayes nodded sharply. "We need to inform the rest of the team. I will get them up to speed on this and coordinate task. You contact Kedan, make sure he sees this."

Trix nodded, adding his findings to the common data feed before tapping his combadge.  "Ch'Rehllan to Kedan—check the data I just uploaded. We may be dealing with a moving 'subspace black hole'. Lt. Hayes has the rest of the lab dig into it for corroboration as we speak.  You may want to inform the away team to watch their step. They can probably use their tricorders to look for blank returns ahead of them when they are traversing the ship. We could also try to direct our probe's sensors into the general trajectory of this black hole to cover gaps in our  own sensor sweeps."

As he took another look at the sensors, waiting for even nothinger nothingness to re-appear in the nothingness of space, another concern began to gnaw at him. The sensors were pulling more and more power with each consecutive sweep for no discernable reason. Either something was pushing back. Or, more concerningly, siphoning energy off of the Discovery via their sensors emissions. Like a regular black hole, but instead of pulling in matter, it pulled in energy.

Concerned by his observations, Trix's hand briefly hovered over his combadge, before he thought better of it. He briskly walked over to Hayes, who was by now occupied moderating a discussion between T'lel and Parat about the finer points of subspace harmonics. "Ma'am, sorry to interrupt, but we should reach out to Deck 1. Our sensors are pulling more power than usual, and I don't like the look of that given the condition of the Momentary. If this anomaly interacts with energy the way it seems to, we might just be getting the first taste of what happened to them..."

Without further comment, she held up her palm to stop the young Andorian from elaborating further before opening a channel to the bridge.  "Hayes to the bridge. Captain, we've found records indicating that the blank readings we are seeing belong to an energy absorbing anomaly dubbed a subspace black hole. We also show that our sensors are pulling increasingly more power to maintain their scans. Recommend isolating the sensor grid from the rest of the ship's power distribution and keeping a close eye on other systems for heightened power draw until we have a more definitive answer. I will report back once we have more information."

As Trix listened to Lt. Hayes finishing her report, his mind kept circling back to the SS Weir. He glared at his computer console, with the nonsensical notion that he could simply will it to produce more information for him faster that way.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Reflexively, Kedan checked the same copy of the probe's feed that was visible on his own console. Everything looked as it should from his perspective as well---at least something was going as expected. "Clean launch, Ops," Kedan confirmed with a nod of approval in Buck's direction, "I recommend that we follow Ensign Ch'Rehllan's earlier advise if possible—we can use the fact that we control the probe's movements—doing a very short comparative study between the Discovery's sensor array scans of the probe vs the probe's scan of our ship should provide enough of a cross check to confirm that the ship's sensors are transmitting real data. If you think it's a good idea, sir," Kedan would defer to the Lieutenant's superior knowledge of systems security, but it had sounded like an good idea... "And after that's all cleared up maybe week can set the probe to the same kind of wide band, full field of view scanning as our sensor array for a while—see if we can get an independent reading of these null values or not."

"Understood." He pulled up the file the Trix transmitted to the bridge science station but seeing a sizable plot of text, he continued speaking for before taking the time to read it.   "I'm compiling a list of requests for the away team now, and will transmit when able. Oh, and I checked your earlier question about escape pods—all such pods and lifeboats are still in their usual places on the Momentary. Whatever happened over there... there must not have been time for any kind of escape."

Not for the first time, Kedan wondered if he really ought to be the one manning the bridge in this kind emergency. Lt. Hayes with her considerable larger experience would probably be able to be doing a better job then himself, right? But then again... she could make the decision to come up and relieve him at any point, which she hadn't—at least not yet. He resolved that fretting about the topic wasn't doing anyone any good. For now, he could only trust the judgement of his superiors and try and do the best job he possibly could....

With his new resolve, Kedan had decided to try and focus on things he could do, the things he knew he was good at, instead of his anxieties. In the few moments of quiet on the bridge that had followed Trix's message to Kedan, the Benzite had finally taken the time to check the close range scans of the the Momentary to observe the finder details of the deuterium in the area immediately around the disabled ship. As a warpfield physicist he couldn't stop wondering about the trail of warp core fuel that had lead them here--was it a simple indication of a ruptured storage tank or could it give clues about what had destroyed and disabled the Momentary? But before he could come to any conclusions his work was interrupted by Lt. Hayes's call to the bridge.

Kedan's eyes widened in alarm at the senior science officer's report. This was the first indication that whatever had affected the Momentary may be starting to effect them as well, and it was not a comforting thought---after all, scans indicated that the Momentary had been drained dry of even it's emergency reserves, and now there was an unexplained power drain on the Discovery.

[USS Discovery | Bridge]

Buck nodded at the ensign's response that they had launched the probe without too much of a hitch. Buck was grateful for small mercies when it came to something being functional, whether it was on the ship or elsewhere. He knew the ensign was referring to Ch'Rehllan's earlier comment about running broadband scans which could help identify the spoofing of their own sensors. He looked over at the captain, who had ultimately the final say in inputting and diverting power on tasks that might end up hindering the ship's functioning abiliities. Though what had been shown next on the data feed only made his skin crawl and his whole body to momentarily freeze as his brain caught up in comprehension of what they were witnessing.

Then it had gotten worse from there.

They were apparently dealing with a subspace black hole which didn't just and wasn't just affecting the Momentary but the Discovery now too as the readings spiked briefly. Buck pulled up the probe, checking through its readings and it seemed to run in line with what the younger ensign was saying about the power useage. "Well I'll be damned." He rubbed his chin as he isolated the probe's power the best he could and rerouted non-essential functions, increasing the power to the essential functions of the ship by a percentage. "Probe's sensor grid has been isolated the best we can do from the power grid, however had to do some re-jigging to get the power grid back to an acceptable standard, for now some non-essential functions of the ship have been reduced."

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain took his seat, looking down at the console on his chair while he watched the data read out.  There were alerts coming from the sensors that they required a diagnostic, due to power use. The incoming data was interesting.  There were pockets of null values from both the ship's sensors and the probe, though there was a noticeable difference in direction, indicating that theses spots of nothingness were at points and not just directions.

There was also a small yet noticeable power drain on the probe.

Nevir listened as well to the away team's progress, and the main issue they had was trying to get power to start up anything.  All of their standard engineering practices involved backup and backups to the backups. 25th century batteries to help jump start a ship dead in the water. Prioritized power isolation to prevent the loss of essential systems like life support.  But what does one do when even the backups are dead, and the batteries are empty?  An impossible situation that would have been scoffed at Starfleet Academy was now very real and affecting the USS Momentary.

Bridge to Sickbay

"Shickbay here, its Sluchaynyy"

"Have you been able to get anything from the scans?"

"Eh, would be much easier if you bring poor boy here for us to check. But preliminary scans show... nothing. Absolutely nothing. No fluids, no neurons, no brain activity at all. Nichego. But we need body here, in quarantine, for full assessment. No other way."

The Captain closed the channel and then stood up.

"Discovery to away team; is it safe enough to beam that body you found to the ship, and have you confirmed that all power is drained?  We can set up a power transfer from Discovery-"

The Captain was interrupted as there was a shudder in the ship.  Minor but noticeable.  However, it was in Engineering where the shudder was more important.  Klaxons in engineering sounded as power disruptions affected the antimatter containment fields.  They were suddenly in danger of collapse; the warp core was at risk unless it was shut down.  At the same time, it was noted by the computer that even if the warp core was fully ready, they could no longer form a warp bubble.  Warp drive was not currently possible.

"Report!"

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

He clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission, he reminded himself. And in a crisis, waiting on proper procedure could mean the difference between action and stagnation.

A few minutes later, as Lt. Hayes was regaining control over the chaos of competing theories from the scientists in the lab, a new data feed came through. It was from the away team aboard the Momentary.

Trix stared at the report. His fingers hovered above his console, his antennae angled forward. The body was not only desiccated— it was completely drained. The first question that came to mind was when the draining had occurred. Exposure to hard vacuum would, over time, cause all bodily fluids to boil away, but the process wasn't instantaneous, or pretty. A body would swell first, then slowly shrivel as moisture was lost. And yet, this corpse also appeared to be frozen. That didn't track either. Freezing required liquid to turn solid, but in a vacuum, any exposed liquid would boil away before it had a chance to freeze. Without an external force actively cooling it, the process simply wouldn't happen. Space itself was a terrible conductor for heat after all; bodies didn't just freeze quickly in vaccuum unless something actively cooled them first. No, this could not have been exposure to vacuum alone. But a pralytic agent might appear from the outside to leave a victim frozen.

His mind conjured an image unbidden—spiders. The thought made his stomach churn. Spiders didn't simply eat their prey; they liquefied them internally first, injecting digestive enzymes before sucking out the dissolved tissue like a smoothie from hell, leaving behind only an empty husk. It would explain why only the bones remained... And that organic net wrapped around the Momentary... Space Spiders—it was a ridiculous thought, but so were the Borg. So were the Changelings. Starfleet had encountered seemingly absurd threats before, only to find them horrifyingly real. He hated the idea that this could be another one. His skin crawled at the implication.

Trix's eyes flicked up to the ceiling. A completely irrational but deeply ingrained instinct had him half-expecting something to drop onto his head. His only consolation was that the cocktail of pharmaceuticals keeping him functional would make him an unappetizing meal—whoever, or whatever, tried to eat him would likely end up with a severe case of poisoning. He let out a slow breath, shaking it off before making his way to Ensign Rajagopalan, Discovery's resident xenobiologist. He needed a second opinion before he let his imagination run away with him.

"Vinod, tell me I'm losing it," Trix muttered as he approached the ensign's station. "I'm looking at the data we have, and all I can think about is spiders. An organic net, a corpse with no visible trauma, yet all liquid and soft tissue removed."

Rajagopalan frowned, bringing up the data on his own console. "I see what you're getting at. Possibly liquefied and extracted organic matter, bones left behind, skin intact... It's weird, but I can't think of a natural process that does this. Especially not in vacuum. Decompression wouldn't be this... clean. And the freezing—space doesn't work like that. Something did this."

Trix sighed. "Great. So I'm not crazy. The process was most likely bio-chemical, since a mechanical vector would have destroyed the bones in the process. And it must have happened before decompression; the conditions under hard vacuum exposure would be too adverse for all the necessary chemical reactions to occur smoothly." He purposefully left out the part that the victim was most likely fully conscious when it happened—at least at the outset.

"Not for this, at least," Rajagopalan quipped. He leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "But it doesn't mean we're dealing with space spiders, Trix. Could be something else entirely. Some kind of unknown microbial process? A weapon?" He shook his head.

"We need medical input." Trix resolved.

As if on cue, Lt. Hayes, having overheard their exchange of ideas despite the conversational tone, turned from her own station. "I'm calling Dr. Grippen. Medical might have some insight on what could leave a corpse in this state. And..." she hesitated, glancing at Trix's screen, "mentioning that the pattern resembles that of predatory arachnids might not be entirely unwarranted." She tried to maintain a calm exterior, but Trix could tell that the situation was getting to her just as much.

"Hayes to Dr. Grippen, can you take a look at the update from the away team regarding the condition of a body found aboard the Momentary? Given the unusual nature of the preservation and the lack of traces usually associated with vacuum exposure, we need your medical expertise. Does this resemble any known biochemical processes or weapons? Additionally... there is a pattern to this whole situation that is oddly similar to predatory arachnids. I'd like your thoughts on that as well."

Trix exhaled, not sure whether he should be relieved by others taking his observation seriously or terrified that validation implied. If he was right, then whatever had drained that Lieutenant might still be out there—or even in here.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 1 | Bridge]

Verbalize his thoughts. Right. He found himself surprisingly grateful to the older officer stationed at the Ops station besides his own—his tone was cool, calm, collected and the question helped Kedan drive away the faint tendrils of panic that had threatened to distract him, "I—I don't know. I didn't have time to fully think it through, really," he was forced to admitted with a glance up from the science console in Buck's direction, "But Commander Ramort convinced Ensign T'lel and I to watch this old Earth heist movie with him last week when we were off duty and—of course the tech was ancient, but the thieves hacked the security cameras, replaced the feed. But their first attempt failed, because one of the guards noticed how the screen went black for a few moments before the replaced feed started. Null values on all sensors kind of feels like a modern equivalent of that... Can you see any evidence of something like that?" The Benzite suddenly because aware that he was very much treading the edge of mere speculation (or even worse, gossip on the bridge—and during an emergency no less—and quickly decided not to say more on the topic for now.

Kedan gave a wince of empathy when Trix was chastised—every captain was different, and he still remembered when he himself had been brand new to the ship and trying to figure out what kind of input was/wasn't welcome when on the Discovery. But he didn't have time to dwell on the thought for long before Captain Tekin was issuing orders.

"Ops, the class IV probe loaded in port S3-A was included in the sensor system calibration and diagnostic, so I recommend using that one, sir."

[Petty Officer (3rd class) V'letr S't'kal T'Rea]
[USS Momentary | Deck 8 | Airlock]

"Yes, sir," T'Rea acknowledged the commander's orders along with the rest of the away team before turning to Lt. Soreka. She may not be interested in using her own phase, but she had to admit that she found something about the confidence with which he carried his weapon, and indeed himself, reassuring. T'Rea took a moment to orient herself and work out which direction the nearest hull fracture was from their current location. "The good news is that the hull rupture intersects this deck so we won't have to worry about moving up or down like the others," she told the security officer after consulting her tricorder, currently loaded with the Discovery's last structural integrity scans of the Momentary. "If we make our way around towards the port side of the ship and stick to the corridors towards the outer edge of the saucer, we're bound to come across it. Ready to head out?"

The clanging of her own magnetized boots against the floor tiles of the corridor was disconcerting for someone like T'Rea, accustomed to moving quite easily and smoothly about the Discovery, but she tried not to focus on it and instead kept her tricorder at the ready and scanning as they began the slow journey towards the hull breach.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

The Captain stood firm, the bridge seemed tense, with just Kedan and McNair speaking.  The most recent report from the away team had come in; a completely desiccated corpse of a crewman. Corpse, completely drained, just like the ship's power.  In addition, the webbing filaments on the ship had unsettling implications. No one seemed to say it out loud, but the pieces were there. After hearing the probe to use, he nooded.

"Launch the probe." he ordered, a bit softer than he expected.

The database looked for any cultural similarities in the sensor loss, but the majority of the records seemed to link to standard operating procedures dealing with sensor loss or sensors out of calibration.  Too many records from too many ships in Starfleet, as well as other known species.  For a while, the computer seemed to just assume the sensor bleeps were a rare misalignment as a result of a diagnostic, but there was one entry that wasn't technical.  A report from a Romulan science vessel accidentally released during the Dominion War told of an anomaly that absorbed emitted energy, including sensor readings.  The closest translation was a 'subspace blackhole.'  That vessel ended up sending a probe in there and got unusual readings before the 'blackhole' dissipated.

A further search with that reference as a source showed three other suspected instances throughout the last century, with only one recording a loss of that investigating ship.

While that was going on, another sweep of the center showed another blip of null values.  This one had moved by several degrees, but when the sensors went back to the spot, everything was normal.  The sensors were starting to require more power to maintain their strength.

[Contribution Awards - January 2025]

As we finish off the awards of the new year, let me stress to our new players that these are not minimum metrics that we are striving for.  Don't feel pressured to do more than you need.  Just know that your command officers are watching what you do, both in mission, in holodeck, and outside of the roleplay. That said, lets finish up with noting those who contributed above and beyond.

Contribution Awards - January 2025

Outstanding Commitment Award

Awarded to players who are always online and posting. In the case of this being a slow-paced SIMM, we used the metrics of how many posts, compared to how long you've been aboard the ship. I present to the following:

Lieutenant JG Lorut Vila
Petty Officer 3rd Class V'letr S't'kal T'Rea
Lt. Commander James Ramort

Contribution Award

This is awarded to players who make contributions outside of missions.
These could include submitting mission ideas and helping new members settle in.

Ensign Teik'Nar 'Trix' Ch'Rehllan
Someone who jumped in feet first and is always seen in Discord with ideas and interactions.

Mission Submission Award
Lieutenant JG Lorut Vila
(You thought we didn't see your missions?)

Vaughan Outstanding Contribution Award

Awarded to players who make outstanding continued contributions outside of missions.
These could include assisting the commanding officer with important tasks or temporarily taking on command officer responsibilities.
The Contribution Award must be earned before this award.

Despite being one of the newest officers to pass the Command Course, I could not have been able to hold this ship together without this individual. He had some big shoes to fill, and instead he tossed those shoes in place of his own.  This award is going to:

Lieutenant Commander James Ramort

And finally, it ends with me.  And my favorite award:

Captain's Personal Merit Award

Awarded by the Commanding Officer of a SIMM to a player.

It is one thing to join this forum and RP an officer.  It's another when you find that those officers above you depart for new horizons and leave just NPCs at the top.  This RP isn't an NPC show; but between the slower pace and the undeniable truth that both on the forum and luckily within canon at this point in time, there are way more junior officers than officers ready to lead.  So sometimes it's up to the junior officers to stand up. Not only did this player do so, but creatively took control of her department by also leading the NPCs around her. I expect great things to come from her and her department as her character grows on the ship.

The Captain's Personal Merit, and last award of this period, goes to:

Lieutenant JG M'Nia

Congratulations to all who received recognition, and good luck to those looking to gain one of these honors in July 2025.

Congratulations once more to one and all!
Huzzah!!

[[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]]

[USS Tereshkova docked to USS Momentary]
T'Rea's brow furrowed ever so slightly at the instruction to prepare phases. She moved one hand to rest vaguely against the phaser (already set to stun) on her belt, but made no move to actually prepare it. After all, she had no intentions of actually using such a weapon. There was considerable variety in how Vulcan's interpreted and applied Surak's principles of pacifism, but she had always taken the more conservative approach and she saw no reason to alter that philosophy now. She was armed well enough with her tricorder.
"Ramort to Discovery. Understood and received. We will retrieve the sample as soon as operational access has been achieved. If any of these not so good news species turn up on your sensors we'd appreciate an update for quick evacuation." 

It didn't require more than a look from Ramort for T'Rea to move to the shuttle's primary storage compartment to collect the statis field container. It took her a few moments to check it's functionality and power reserves and to settle it across her back with it's straps (it was large enough to be too unwieldy to carry any other way, even if it was slightly awkward to strap on over an environmental suit) before returning to the rest of the group preparing to depart the shuttle. She couldn't easily help with the door and carry the stasis container at the same time, but she added her voice to the chorus of 'Yes, sir's that answered the XO's instructions on what to do once the doors were open.

When it was her time to cross over she took a deep breath to steel herself and stepped out across into the Momentary's airlock chamber.

[Ensign Kedan]
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]
The self-calibration Kedan had began earlier on the ship's sensors had finished by the time that the captain gave instructions to keep maximum range scans running, and since the calibration had reported no detectable errors in the sensor system it was a simple matter to ensure everything was set up properly for monitoring---both of all open space in sensor range and specifically on the Momentary and the away team.

But by the time the captain had spoken to the admiralty and then again with the away team, something changed. Kedan frowned at the screens of his science station and adjust the breathing apparatus under his chin in a kind of reflexive nervous gesture. "Captain! Did you see—just now, I was reading flat null values on all sensors for a second there." Kedan reported, alarm coloring the tone of his voice sharp as he tried to scroll back through the data to confirm what his eyes had seen. "I'd say it could have been a momentary system fault, but I just ran a full self-calibration in the system a few minutes ago. Everything came back green. So a fault doesn't make sense!"

Unless... the Benzite's eyes opened wide, "Ops, can you see any signs of system infiltration? Could a momentary interrupt to the sensor data be a symptom of someone or something overriding real readings with an artificial feed of what they want us to see?" He fixed his eyes on the front viewport, the Tereshkova visible at it's center. At least he could be certain that what he saw there was real.

[USS Discovery | Deck 1 - Bridge]

Buck gave a thin-lipped smile in response to the comment, he supposed that they should be used to it; not that it brought him any comfort to know that they were being dangled out as bait for whatever was to come at them should the ship be infested with a species that had a so-called 'beef' with the Federation. The captain's words did a little to comfort him, brought on by the confidence portrayed and the crew that manned her. Though it was the next part that had his heart jump in his chest.

His eyes went to Ensign Kedan on the science control panel, the ensign looked alarmed. This was the moment where Buck knew that he needed to put his own game face on and put aside his own doubts less the whole crew began breaking out in hysterics. Buck ran a couple of system scans, ensuring that the hardware wasn't at fault nor the software and it left them with accurate readings. The self-calibration, he could see the results coming back as green. Buck raised a brow as he ran a full system scan of the system; the screen blipping ever so gently. "Working on a full, deeper system scan and download of all files at the moment to corroborate what Ensign Kedan is seeing," He watched as the progress bar ticked up and up. There was a chance that they could have been infiltrated however, that would certainly be quite a feat to do it right under their noses. "Verbalise your thoughts, ensign. Seems pretty advanced if they were able to do remote system interference right under our noses without the system picking it up."

He checked the scans hat were running, long range scans were functioning correctly but if they were suffering some system breach, he needed to make sure.

Ops to Tereshlova, anyone able to confirm if there is a running console panel detected on board the Momentary?

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 3]

Watching the feed of the Momentary tumbling through the emptiness of space, a thought struck him—Ops could likely verify the status of the escape pods visually. If they were all still attached, then whatever had happened had been too fast for the crew to react. If at least some were missing, the crew had gone... somewhere. He resolved to send the message to the Ops station on the bridge from his console, unwilling to break the tense silence in the Science Lab.

As Trix typed out his request, something flickered in the corner of his eye. One moment, everything had been as it was for the last hour or so—telemetry from the Tereshkova, the derelict Momentary, and a series of mostly nonsensical sensor returns that defied easy interpretation. Then, for the briefest instant, there was nothing. No energy signatures, no background radiation, no gravity wells, no Tereshkova, no Momentary. Just an empty void where reality should have been.

Around him, murmurs flared up as others noticed the anomaly, a wave of confusion rolling through the lab. Some hurriedly rechecked their consoles, voices overlapping as theories  were exchanged in increasingly concerned tones. Trix, however, remained still. He wasn't involved in disseminating the readings, which, for better or worse, left him free to think. He knew the sensors weren't faulty. The lapse was too clean, too precise, too universal. A glitch wouldn't - no, couldn't - wipe out all readings in perfect synchrony like that. Something had interfered. The question was what. And why.

He quickly considered the possibilities. Sensor spoofing was the most likely explanation. It could have been a cloaked vessel or an unknown form of counter-surveillance. Whatever it was, it couldn't have come from the Momentary. They needed a way to verify what was out there. A  probe, sent off an odd direction and running a broadband scan, might give them an external vantage point to detect any anomalies beyond Discovery's potentially compromised sensor readings.

But that wasn't all that worried him. If something had blocked their readings, what else could it have done? This blackout was too brief to be anything but the means to an end. Could something have slipped past them? Could something be aboard now? The possibility sent a chill through him. Why had no tactical alert been raised yet? And what if this was just a prelude to an external attack? If Discovery had been infiltrated, they needed to know.

Suddenly feeling terribly exposed, like he was drowning in the nothingness of space, a question charged to the forefront of his mind like a mob of Ferengi business travelers swarming a complimentary buffet. What if this wasn't even the Momentary? It appeared to have aged decades in an impossibly short time. But what if it hadn't actually aged at all? What if they weren't actually looking at the Momentary, but rather a facsimile? After all, there was no transponder, no crew, no conclusive sensor readings... Nothing but the appearance of the object spinning in front of them. A local scan of the hull plating, allowing a comparison between the molecular age of impurities in the alloys according to fleet records, might confirm its identity beyond the doubts clouding his thoughts.

His mind made up, Trix turned to Lt. Hayes first. "Ma'am, I have a few thoughts on the blackout—" he began, but she was already absorbed in coordinating responses. Though her brow furrowed in concentration, she remained composed, directing personnel with measured efficiency. She glanced at Trix and gave a brief nod of acknowledgment before turning back to the ensign requesting a recalibration of the gravimetric analysis matrix. Taking that as tacit approval, Trix tapped his communicator.  "Ch'Rehllan to Bridge. Sorry to break protocol, but Lt. Hayes is busy checking our systems. You are probably aware of the sensor blackout that just happened. I have a few suggestions for further investigation. First, I recommend deploying a Class IV probe perpendicular to the ecliptic. Running broadband scans should help us to verify whether our sensors are being spoofed, with readings transmitted in directed bursts to minimize interference. Second, I suggest raising tactical alert in case something used the gap in  sensors coverage to slip onboard. Third, I'd like the away team to get some tricorder readings of the exterior plating. Comparing the molecular composition to fleet records might give us a hint as to whether we're actually dealing with our Momentary. Oh, and if it is not too much trouble, have we been able to verify whether all of the escape pods and lifeboats on the Momentary are accounted for?"

He exhaled slowly, waiting for a response. Whatever had caused that blackout... he had a bad feeling that this was only the beginning.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir's brow furrowed deeply as a chill raced through his veins; a silent alarm echoing in his mind. His eyes darted over the readouts on his console, each flickering line and sudden anomaly a potential harbinger of disaster. Whether it was a mere sensor glitch or an orchestrated attack by unknown forces, the Captain knew that speculation was a luxury he could not afford. Command demanded certainty, not conjecture, and the mysterious anomaly only underscored the urgency for clear, actionable intelligence.

Standing resolute on the bridge, Nevir's voice carried both authority and restrained tension as he addressed his subordinates. The communication link from the science lab had been a cacophony of theories and suggestions, each laden with its own risks. Yet, he had to remind them of the proper chain of command. With deliberate calm, he responded:

  "In the future, I would like it if you went through the chain of command. Otherwise, I will take your suggestions under advisement. Bridge out." 

He terminated the connection with a swift keystroke, the act punctuating his decision to keep control firmly in his hands. His eyes then shifted from the console to the vast, silent expanse of space beyond the viewport, where the derelict silhouette of the USS Momentary drifted like a ghostly husk—a stark reminder of the ever-present dangers lurking in the void.

Taking a measured breath to steady his nerves, Nevir turned to his bridge crew. The ambient hum of the ship's systems underscored the gravity of the situation.

"We will not be going to yellow alert yet," he announced, his tone even but imbued with unspoken determination, "but keep us at the lowest alert level to act. Prepare the Class IV probe as suggested and launch when ready. I will trust that Commander Ramort has a good idea of what we should be looking for on the Momentary."

His words hung in the air as the crew set about their tasks with practiced precision. Every command was a calculated step toward unraveling the mystery against the unknown.