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["Sweet Maker of All. Have you got any idea how many isolinear chips there are in a ship this size? It will take weeks to reset all of them!"]

[Bridge]

The gripping headache seemed to be alleviated"¦. somewhat by the dose Alex gave her.  She could at least think again to some degree of clarity. Oddly enough, it still hurt as she did her mental look around for Maddy she had been practicing, enough that she winced just a bit, which was enough to at least tell her that Maddy was alright, albeit somewhat scared.

"œ Thanks. I'm alright. Mostly. My head still feels like it's being squeezed by a vice, but I'll live, I think. "œ she said when Alex asked how she was.

Wincing again somewhat, she tried to project some feeling of reassurance to  Maddy, but whether or not it worked, she wasn't sure.

"œRight,"  said Ardyn to Ian as she immediately pulled apart the panel under the Helm. If she guessed right, there might be some way she could "œhotwire" some of the systems to a backup generator. Assuming the backup generator up here worked and wasn't fried like the rest of the systems. It wouldn't be a lot of power, but if they could get back some form of function to the ship or at least the bridge, it would be better than nothing. "œDo we still have a manual toolkit on the bridge? I don't know just how fried these systems are and I'm not putting any chips on that anything else will work. "

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When Ardy asked about a tool kit, Ensign Tal spoke up.

"Right here Sir. Academy taught no engineer is ever without a tool kit."

With Tal leading the way Ardy and he inspected the isolinear chips he'd extracted from the helm console. The chips showed no outward signs of damage, of course without a tricorder it was impossible to see any internal damage. Tal shrugged and plugged the chip back into its socket and to his surprise, the chip lit up showing it was active!

Blinking in surprise, Tal quickly said. "I think I have a theory Lieutenant, help me extract all of these chips and reseat them."

Working quickly, the two officers manually removed the 36 isolinear chips that comprised the circuitry of the helm station and once the last was plugged back in, the console beeped, rebooted, and came back online.

Excitedly, Tal turned to face the Captain.

"Sir, I believe I can guess what happened to us. Each isolinear chip when connected carries a set of instructions on how to perform a task. When a new chip is inserted into existing circuitry, it pulls the instructions from the network of connected chips and begins doing its task. It is this interconnection of instructions that allows isolinear chips to function with such efficiency.

"I believe the pulse essentially reset the isolinear chips to factory standard. Since this occurred to all the chips at once, the individual chips couldn't pull instructions from the associated circuitry, so they went into a sort of standby mode. It looks like if the chip is removed and reseated, it is able to restore its instructions from the internal memory buffer and begin working!"

Ian's mouth dropped open and he winced as if in pain.

"Sweet Maker of All. Have you got any idea how many isolinear chips there are in a ship this size? It will take weeks to reset all of them!"

It was Tal's turn to wince at the Captain's response.

"Aye Sir I do know, but I think it is possible if enough chips are rebooted, it could cause a sort of cascade reboot effect and accelerate the process."

"Bloody hell. That's better than manually resettin' all of them I guess. Okay everyone, you heard the Ensign. Open every access panel, extract every isolinear chip inside, reinsert them, and let's reboot Challenger."

Ian turned to face Randall who had remained silent during the exchange with Tal.

"Evan, we need ta ken why that pulse sliced through our shields. Right now, fold space tech is a weapon that can disable the Fleet. As soon as you have sensors operational, we answers and we need protection."

"On it Sir."

Ian moved to the command chair and opened the access panel as he began extracting chips he added to the petty officer at the Mission Operations station.

"Mister Grelek, I'm goin' ta need you ta use the ladderway inside the turbolift ta begin spreadin' the word on how ta reboot the ship, more hands we have repairin' critical systems, the sooner we can get back on our feet."

"Affirmative Captain."

The Vulcan immediate moved to the turbolift and using his superior strength forced open the doors before disappearing down the shaft.

As he left, Ian thought.

"I hope things are going better for Kyan than they are for us."

["Okay, Lieutenant, here's what we all know. We were hit by a temporal pulse. What it did ta us and why the shields didn't protect us, are unknowns. The first assumption we have ta make is the rest of the ship is as dead as the bridge, that means we're ta save ourselves as there's nae a body ta save us. So, first order of business is ta treat any injuries and get the bridge crew on the job. Ensign Tal, is our engineer, we'll have ta follow his lead. Regardless of that, at the moment, we're all engineers. Grab yourself some tools and let's see what we can get operatin'."]

[Bridge]

[Sometime later]

It took her a while to come to, and even still, it felt like her head was simultaneously exploding and crushed under a pulsing vice.  She was on the floor now.  Was Alex okay? Maddy?!  She winced. Thinking alone just gave her a crushing headache.

Getting herself up, albeit shakily, she tried waking up the helm officer. They were still out cold. And it was quiet, too quiet.  Aside from the groans of folks waking up, there was none of the background hum of the varying systems and computers.

She checked the helm. reaching over the still-unconscious helm officer. No response.

The ship was dead in the water.

"You said that right. She's dead. I can't make her respond to anything."

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

A slight tingling sensation filled Alex with trepidation as someone reported that an unidentified craft had been launched by the Landsers, along with Booker noting the shuttlecraft was unresponsive to hails after leaving it's planned route. One thing being irregular was concerning, two issues happening almost simultaneously was too much to be a coincidence. Still, he hesitated, glancing back at Galloway who was digesting the information himself. Alex wasn't sure where he stood in the chain of command or how much incentive his new Captain appreciated, even while every intuition in his body had gone from a murmur to a persistent clamor. That was one conversation he should've had with Ardyn earlier, finding out more information about Galloway's style, but hindsight was often 20/20.

He didn't need to hear what the science officer shouted to know immediately from the tone of his voice that something very bad was about to happen. Still standing next to Booker, Alex reactively snapped, "Helm, break orbit, full emergency power, get the planet between us and that thing!"

But it was too late. Alex felt, more than he saw, what hit them, a thunderclap searing pain filling his head. Screams, echoing as though heard through a long corridor, blinding white light. Surprise, terror, wailing helplessness surged from every pore, from his fingertips to his toes.

Then darkness. Calming, merciful, nothingness took from him all sensation and awareness.

When he awoke, it wasn't from the blaring of claxons or barked orders, but to a murmur in his mind, a comfortable warming feeling of concern. Unfortunately, with his revival came a crushing, throbbing headache, and a ringing in his ears which muffled a familiar voice. Ardyn. Maddison! Pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, and swallowing down a surge of bile as the room spun, Alex tried to tap his commbadge, meaning to check on his daughter, but was only met with silence. No chirp of a communicator, no steady thrum of a pulsing warp core, not even a slight breeze from the ventilation-

Oh. Merde. Groaning, Alex forced himself upright, lucid enough for lessons learnt decades ago to surface. "Life support's offline." He muttered, staggering to the emergency storage lockers behind the bridge and rummaging blindly until he found a survival kit. Squinting in the emergency lighting to read the tiny writing in the medication box, he finally managed to locate the right vial, inserted it into a hypospray and jabbed it against his neck, pressing down on the applicator. After what felt like minutes but was likely only a few seconds, Alex felt his headache begin to rapidly dissipate, his mind clearing as strength returned to his limbs.

Carrying the kit back onto the main bridge area, he first pressed the hypospray into Ardy's shoulder, and then Galloway's. "Tri-ox." Alex explained, pulling out the empty vial and replacing it with a full one. "Life support's out," He repeated, "Along with everything else up here." He continued around the deck, dosing the other bridge officers to hopefully stave off death from asphyxiation for the time being. Booker and the helmsman were still slumped motionless at their stations, so he pulled both off their seats, laying them in a recovery position on the deck.  "Ardyn, are you hurt?" Alex asked softly after he circled back to her, touching her elbow lightly. "What hit us, Captain? Did Starfleet mention if their scans showed anything like it happening prior?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The injection of tri-ox woke Ian right up and he lurched to his feet. He knew he had to start issuing orders, but where to start was the problem.

"Okay, Lieutenant, here's what we all know. We were hit by a temporal pulse. What it did ta us and why the shields didn't protect us, are unknowns. The first assumption we have ta make is the rest of the ship is as dead as the bridge, that means we're ta save ourselves as there's nae a body ta save us. So, first order of business is ta treat any injuries and get the bridge crew on the job. Ensign Tal, is our engineer, we'll have ta follow his lead. Regardless of that, at the moment, we're all engineers. Grab yourself some tools and let's see what we can get operatin'."

["We are so humped."]

[ Shuttle Onizuka ]

Despite the evasive maneuvers, the Landsers shuttles were rapidly closing in on their intercept path. Any fancy flying to get them out of their range would require flying directly back into the sensor web of the satellite system.

Grimacing, Jettis realized their options were limited. "The only way we're going to go without being caught is to emergency beam down to the planet. I can program the shuttle to fly itself back to the Challenger using the original pathing. Once it's out of the shuttle's range they'll probably give up, or at least give us some more time."

Fingers grazing they screen as he typed, he chewed on his lip nervously. "But we won't be able to contact the ship. Just have to hope they'll be able to make it down to the planet without being seen like we were."

With the shuttle programmed, he checked to ensure everyone was ready. Another glance at the sensors revealed the Landsers were almost surrounding them. "It's now or never." When given the okay from everyone he quickly instructed the shuttle to make its return trip, with the team of four being beamed out in a shimmer of light.

When Jettis came back to his senses, he felt his stomach turn being on the planet now. Shaking his head to try to clear it, he looked around hoping that no issues had arisen with the transportation.

[Shuttle Onizuka - Troposphere - Above Land]

The two Landser pilots had their planes at redline as the pushed to intercept the unknown aircraft they had visually spotted. As the closed, they remained frustrated that while they could clearly see the strange intruder, their radar stubbornly refused to lock onto the target. It was this lack of lock on which was why they were driving their planes so hard to close because it meant they had to get into cannon range as their missiles were proving useless. However, as they got within two kilometers, suddenly, the intruder appeared on radar! Excitedly, the lead fighter got a solid lock on with his missiles and fired. No sooner had the missiles dropped from his fighter, when the lock failed as the intruder both accelerated and started an steep 80 degree climb. The pilot swore as he saw the unknown aircraft outrun his missiles and then climb not only above his own fighter's maximum ceiling, but out of the atmosphere completely. Livid, the two pilots could only report what they had seen and return to their patrol, knowing they would face questions they could not answer when they got back to their base.

On the Onizuka, the brief window the Landsers were able to track the shuttle equated to the time Jettis dropped the shields for the emergency beam out. As soon as the shields came back on, the Landser missiles again lost the ability to see the shuttle as it soared out of orbit.

The beam out was not a pretty one. The four members of the away team each hit the ground hard and when they rolled to a stop, Jettis, Neva, Zhuk, and Kyan found themselves alone. Unknown to them, they had been scattered over a twenty kilometer circle of the Landser countryside.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The bridge crew, as was most the the ship's crew, was very busy as the Onizuka was evading the Landser fighters. There had been many gigaquads of data collected on this sector of space as well as the Landser system. Ian was mostly going over intelligence reports on the bridge as the data was being turned into useful information to report to Starfleet, it was then that Randall at Science One spoke up.

"Sir, I'm picking up a ship lifting from the Landser moon. It is fifty meters long, no life signs. I'm picking an unknown power reading. It looks like the Landsers are about to test their fold space drive with an unmanned probe."

Before Randall could continue, Lieutenant Booker at Ops added.

"Sir, the Onizuka is leaving orbit, but I'm not getting a response to hails."

Ian was now faced with two important pieces of information and was still trying to assess which was the more important when Randall called out.

"The Landser test just engaged fold space! Massive temporal pulse in bound!"

The shields of the Challenger were already up as they screened the ship from the Landser's primitive sensing capabilities, but it didn't matter. The temporal pulse lanced through the shields without slowing and the impact was devastating.

From Ian's perspective, the universe exploded as it seemed every synapse in his brain fired at once. He was everywhere and everywhen that ever existed. Colors erupted in an indescribable kaleidoscope that defied words and his entire body tensed as if electricity flowed through him.

How long this sensation lasted, it was impossible to say. However, it did end and when Ian was able to open his eyes, the bridge was dark except for the dim red emergency lighting. As he looked around the bridge, he saw everyone was either slumped at their station or crumpled on the deck. Through sheer force of will, he managed to get his arm to move to tap his combadge, but when it didn't make a sound, his arm flopped onto his lap and he was exhausted.

He noticed that the display on the command chair was blank as was every console on the bridge. Worse still, the ship was silent, normally, even when stationary, he could feel the vibration of the deck plates indicating all was well with the warp core. Now, he could not feel or hear anything, it meant the ship was currently dead and likely drifting. He closed his eyes and mumbled.

"We are so humped."

["Welcome aboard Challenger you two. You and Lieutenant Jaeger are just what we needed ta help shepherd the flock of bairns we've just received. Mr. Wu you will be workin' closely with Lieutenant Booker who's at the Ops station at the moment. Mr. Jaeger, goin' by your record, maintainin' a orbit may an under utilization of your skills at helm. Your option if'n you'd like ta join Lieutenant Espada. Please, I'd like you both get up ta speed on our mission as we've an away team en route ta the planet via shuttle ta conduct a wee bit of scoutin'. We're waitin' on their report before we decide our next steps."]

[USS Challenger - Deck 3 Turbolift > Bridge]

Alex hesitated, realizing he hadn't, in fact, spoken to the teacher about that particular point. "Merde. No. I'll mention it to her tomorrow morning." He grimaced leaning against the wall of the turbolift. "Knew I forgot something." As the lift doors slid open again, he followed Ardyn out onto the bridge. His first thought was, well this is a snug fit, a surprise especially when compared to the size of the ship. He'd been on Klingon bird-of-preys with larger command centres. His next observation was of the man sitting at the conn, four pips on his shirt and the slightest greying hair identifying him as who could only be Captain Ian Galloway. Though he'd never met the skipper before, Alex did recognize his name, as fate had had them switching posts before in the past, missing each other only by days. The XO, on the other hand, he did know, well enough to leave him gingerly optimistic about seeing the Only again. "Captain." He handed over their transfer orders on two PADDs as Ardyn reported them in.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian was waiting. It was the worst part of command, by far, in his opinion. Sending crew out into a hazardous situation and then just having to wait for them to report violated every sense of the concept of "leading from the front". He had an instructor at the Academy that said "As a leader you have to be where it sucks the most" and sitting on his arse in the command chair was not even close to following that idiom.

When the turbolift doors opened, Ian noted the arrival of the new Operations lieutenant. He was glad to see Alexander Wu's name on the roster of personnel that came aboard from the Farragut. Given he'd lost his first officer and three department heads, getting a replacement with any sort of experience was a positive development. As the man presented his transfer orders, Ian rose and shook his hand.

"Welcome aboard Challenger you two. You and Lieutenant Jaeger are just what we needed ta help shepherd the flock of bairns we've just received. Mr. Wu you will be workin' closely with Lieutenant Booker who's at the Ops station at the moment. Mr. Jaeger, goin' by your record, maintainin' a orbit may an under utilization of your skills at helm. Your option if'n you'd like ta join Lieutenant Espada. Please, I'd like you both get up ta speed on our mission as we've an away team en route ta the planet via shuttle ta conduct a wee bit of scoutin'. We're waitin' on their report before we decide our next steps."

[ USS Challenger - Bridge - Main Shuttlebay ]

Jettis nodded in agreement with the Caitian's next suggestion. "I suppose that would be possible. Every satellite system, especially one made by a pre-warp civilization should have some dark zones, so to speak." If they could thread the needle just so, they could escape any potential notice.

Stepping from his station, he joined the Commander in descending to the 19th deck, with a fourth to be join them as well. Watching the turbolift doors slide shut, he raised a bow at Kyan's question. He was truthfully a bit surprised he wasn't confident in piloting the shuttle himself.

"I can fly us down. I'll communicate with my department as well to get a vague map of where we should be going as well." He nodded when prompted by Zhuk. He then tossed them both a more curious, yet amused look. "I'm surprised neither of you have gotten roped into the flying tigers program by Ian, yet."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

When Jettis finished speaking, Lieutenant Adelle Booker at Ops spoke up.

"Actually Lieutenant we can help you with your entry. We've been tapped into their satellite system for several hours now and it will be trivial to loop back images long enough for you to make your decent undetected by their system."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Shuttlebay - USS Challenger --> Shuttle Onizuka]

The Onizuka stood ready as the away team boarded and buckled in. Their departure was uneventful and slipping though their Landser's primitive sensor net was exactly as Lieutenant Booker had implied. However, as the shuttle dropped through the upper atmosphere down from the stratosphere into the troposphere, the shuttles computer spoke.

"Two atmospheric craft approaching on an intercept course. Range three kilometers and closing fast."

While a shielded shuttle was invisible to radar, the shuttle itself was still visible and it seemed, as if, blind random luck had put two Landser aircraft in a position to physically spot the shuttle with the classic Mark I eyeball...

[[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Bridge, USS Challenger]]

[Lt. Commander Kyan Mackenzie | Bridge, USS Challenger]

As he sat cross-legged in what was now his chair, which was still too damned high, Kyan stifled a laugh recalling the incident as his current captain finished his own log entry. At Galloway's question, the diminutive First Officer shrugged.

"Well..." he began, looking over. "It's true so it is, that Starfleet does nae like tae go mucking around with pre-warp planets the now... but since they got themselves a Faster than Light engine... broken as it is... they could still come an visit any of the planets nearby... so I dinnae think it would hurt nothin if we go an talk to 'em... or at least go down an see things fer ourselves so."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian listened to Kyan and felt that the Onlie had the right of the situation. Technically the Landsers were not a warp capable civilization, but their absolutely unique technology did more than just bend space/time, it bent the regulations enough that making contact made more sense than not doing so. The question now was how to go about doing so. Looking at Kyan and imagining how him leading a first contact would be perceived he had to state the obvious.

"Kyan, while I have complete faith in you as my First Officer, for this particular situation, I believe I will have ta take lead. While I ken you are nae ta be trifled with, the Landsers will see a child and may not take you or the Federation seriously. I will beam down with a small team, myself, two security, and a science officer..."

"Excuse me Sir."

Lieutenant Randall at Science Two spoke.

"I do not recommend any transporter use. Between those temporal disruptions and the chroniton particles that have accumulated in our ablative armor since we've been so long without a stop at a spacedock you could materialize any when."

Ian smirked at this information and replied.

"Aye, that would nae be so good. Okay then, I will take down the Onizuka, she's a Type-9 and should appear less intimidatin'. However, Ops, I want ta try and speak ta someone in the Landser government before we arrive. I dinnae want ta create a panic."

[Lieutenant Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas | Bridge | Deck One | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A | L7-425977 System]

Zhukdra'shar gazed upon his Tactical Console as he analyzed the information gathered by its sensors. It certainly relieved him that at least he would not need to deal with a society that was still organized in tribes. But instead, they were attempting to take to the stars. He believed that made them more understanding and accepting of first contact, and less likely to impact them negatively, if the Prime Directive was correct. Which he supposed it was.

He took a moment to process it all within his mind, as he finally spoke up,

"Captain, mine suggestion is to send a small Security team to scout the current population and determine their state. With such intel, we may be able to proceed into perhaps making First Contact, or in a better case, find a way to communicate how their current operations may be devastating the temporal and spatial continuum. If such options are not feasible, I may also proceed with sabotaging their technology, so that they may not cause more harm."

On hearing Zhuk's input, Ian had to pause and rethink his strategy. It would be good to have a grasp of the Landser's attitudes about aliens. One would think if they were about to explore space, they would be open to meeting other species, but they could be raging xenophobes for all they knew. Ian nodded and made his decision.

"Very good suggestion Lieutenant. Guess you will get ta lead the way after all Kyan Lad. I still suggest takin' the Onizuka, which will limit your team ta four.

"Once I have your report, then I'll have an idea of who ta talk ta and how ta proceed."

["Captain's Log, supplemental, we have arrived at system L7-425977, now officially charted as the Landser system. It turns out the temporal disturbances are the result of a novel faster than light technology called Fold Space. While faster than light capability normal allows for immediate contact with a new civilization found ta possess that ability, there is a problem. The gold standard used by Starfleet is specifically warp capability, the Landsers dinnae have warp, which technically mean they fall under the Prime Directive. However, their technology is causin' repercussions far outside of their home system, which might be a loop hole ta the regulations. As a result, I find myself in a dilemma, break the Prime Directive ta inform the Landsers that their technology is too unstable or maintain the Prime Directive and figure out a way ta redirect an entire planetary project away from their goal. It is times like this I'd stayed a pilot. End log."]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

The Challenger dropped out of warp on the outskirts of system L7-425977 exactly 30 hours later. The unnamed system only consisted of six planets, an outermost gas giant and five rocky inner worlds. It was the fourth planet that drew Ian's attention. Scans had revealed a pre-warp society roughly equivalent to Earth in 2080. There was an extensive network of satellites around the inhabited planet. Ops had tapped into this network and the Universal translator had easily cracked the local language.

The locals called the planet the rather prosaic name of "Land" and the star held the title of "Light". This gave the impression that the Landsers were an unimaginative people. However, very careful analysis of their technology showed they had devised a means of interstellar travel that was undocumented in any other civilization. This project was a planetary effort and was thus available on open source broadcasts. The locals called their invention "Fold Space'. The idea was as simple as it was innovative, rather than travel the distance between points in space, you essentially folded the map to bring the two points closer together.

Unfortunately, the Landser's primitive sensors failed to detect that in order to fold the space, it required a manipulation of space/time to activate and it was these unintended alterations that was causing the temporal ripples being felt throughout the region. Ian sat in the command chair and decided now was a good time to update his log.

"Captain's Log, supplemental, we have arrived at system L7-425977, now officially charted as the Landser system. It turns out the temporal disturbances are the result of a novel faster than light technology called Fold Space. While faster than light capability normal allows for immediate contact with a new civilization found ta possess that ability, there is a problem. The gold standard used by Starfleet is specifically warp capability, the Landsers dinnae have warp, which technically mean they fall under the Prime Directive. However, their technology is causin' repercussions far outside of their home system, which might be a loop hole ta the regulations. As a result, I find myself in a dilemma, break the Prime Directive ta inform the Landsers that their technology is too unstable or maintain the Prime Directive and figure out a way ta redirect an entire planetary project away from their goal. It is times like this I'd stayed a pilot. End log."

When Ian was finished with the log, he scanned the bridge and figured, he wasn't alone and he needed to tap into the resources he had available to him.

"Okay everyone. Anyone got any ideas?"

["Well, that news bloody complicates things. If'n we truly are dealin' with a pre-warp civilization, we have ta tread lightly. Now the question I have for you Lieutenant Jyur is, what kind of technology are these buggers muckin' about with that's bendin' temporal stability? We'll enter the system by 2000 hours tomorrow. Science has got 30 hours ta find some answers. Dismissed."]

[ USS Challenger - Briefing Room ]

Jettis was the one to pipe up in answer to Mrekrerhas. "Starfleet has virtually nothing on anything we will be exploring. The only information we've managed to glean from our scans is that the distortions appear to be artificial, and there's evidence it may be caused by some sort of effort at power generation."

Shaking his head, he didn't like the lack of information either. He was all for going into the unknown, but foreign temporal disturbances... were not his favorite.

"I don't love the idea of letting a bunch of cadets loose to catalogue and chart the contents of our scans, but I suppose the more hands the better." He raised a brow dubiously. "I suppose I'll have Hyperion double check most of the reports. I may coordinate with Ops as well" He hated having to rely on the bot to essentially check the newbies homework, but they simply didn't have enough hands to do otherwise. He had no further questions - he just had to sort out how to wrangle his department before they got anywhere near the source of the disturbances.

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

As Ian listened to Jettis' report his heart sank. Artificial power meant intelligence, given no warp signatures had been detected, that implied they were dealing with a pre-warp civilization and now the Prime Directive was active. He pinched his nose bridge in an effort to suppress the headache threatening to form.

"Well, that news bloody complicates things. If'n we truly are dealin' with a pre-warp civilization, we have ta tread lightly. Now the question I have for you Lieutenant Jyur is, what kind of technology are these buggers muckin' about with that's bendin' temporal stability? We'll enter the system by 2000 hours tomorrow. Science has got 30 hours ta find some answers. Dismissed."

Ian stood and as he filed out of the briefing room he intercepted Jettis before he could leave.

"I ken full well you nae like Hyperion, but he is an astrometrics expert, I'm certain he will be very useful ta the chartin' that needs ta be done. It would be useful for the cadets ta get ta ken the little bugger, he is a useful resource and is grossly underutilized. This mission is a chance for him ta shine. He has apologized and has promised ta never kidnap you again you know."

Ian clapped Jettis on the shoulder and returned to his ready room to continue to study the personnel files of the new people.

["There are many leadership styles, but Starfleet does frown on corporate punishment. You need ta put someone in the brig, it is your department, I won't tell you can't. Dashlish ran a tight ship, I cannae imagine you'll be needin' anything like that. I have found that extra duty in the form of scrubbin' the outer hull with a toothbrush is a powerful motivator for those slow on the uptake."]

[Lt. JG Neva Cordon, ACEO|USS-Challenger|Briefing Room]

Neva quickly took her seat and looked around, stomach in knots. She saw familiar and unfamiliar faces around her, and she sighed softly through her nose. Her lips turned into a thin line, black eyes finding the Captain and holding them there.

When the Captain spoke of helping one another get their footing in their new positions, Neva pulled out the PADD she'd put in her kit before leaving Engineering. Tapping quickly, she was ready to say something when he reminded them of what they were sent out for. Neva nodded and smiled a little, gazing out the windows. The Great Wide Somewhere...

Neva was slapped back to reality when she realized the room had gone silent for a long moment. Looking around at the others, she sighed and raised a hand sheepishly.

"Uh Captain...forgive me for this, but do we have the right TO throw the idiots in the brig when they get lippy at us? Or the right to just slap 'em upside the head or kneecaps and tell them to get back to work?" Neva's whole face suddenly turned bright red after she spoke.

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

Ian arched an eyebrow and snorted with amusement.

"There are many leadership styles, but Starfleet does frown on corporate punishment. You need ta put someone in the brig, it is your department, I won't tell you can't. Dashlish ran a tight ship, I cannae imagine you'll be needin' anything like that. I have found that extra duty in the form of scrubbin' the outer hull with a toothbrush is a powerful motivator for those slow on the uptake."

Ian then paused for any other questions and wondered what was in store for everyone with such an extensive change of leadership.

["Welcome all of you, welcome back ta some of you. I know most of you were not expecting ta be in the positions ta which you've been assigned. However, the 285th Rule of Acquisition tells us, that as we avoided the loss of our senior officers, they were in turn, needed ta replace officers that were nae so lucky. I knew we'd lose some of our senior people, I hadn't banked on losin' all of them.]

[Briefing Room - Deck 1 - USS Challenger]

Ian entered the briefing room and took in the faces of his 'senior' staff. Of those present, only one could be considered senior in his opinion, Jettis in science. It was good to have one familiar face he knew he could count on. Zhuk, was chronologically young, but he had proven himself to be a solid officer and was another he could count on. The same could be said for Hector at flight. All three men had been aboard Challenger long enough to be old hands now.

His eye fell on Lieutenant Cordon, who was only just a lieutenant. Lieutenant Booker, and Doctor Kartos. His Chief Engineer, Operations Chief, and Chief Medical Officer were either brand new to the ship, brand new to their role, brand new to their rank, or all three at once. This was going to take some time to get used to losing so much experience, but that didn't stop them from having a mission they had to complete.

"Welcome all of you, welcome back ta some of you. I know most of you were not expecting ta be in the positions ta which you've been assigned. However, the 285th Rule of Acquisition tells us, that as we avoided the loss of our senior officers, they were in turn, needed ta replace officers that were nae so lucky. I knew we'd lose some of our senior people, I hadn't banked on losin' all of them.

"Key thing at a time like this is ta lean on each other. You are nae alone. Several of you are new ta Department Head status, so are your peers, they are goin' through the same adjustments that you are and will be of solid support ta you as you figure out your way forward.

"A complication all of you will be facin' is the integration of the new personnel into your departments. Most of them are either on their very first assignments, but a few are hard heads that are frequent flyers in the brig. We will figure it out. You have all of 30 hours ta get a feel for your departments before we reach the system we've been assigned ta observe. What we will find there is unknown, but lookin' into the unknown is the very core of Starfleet's existence. Let's see what there is ta see and go from there. Any questions?"

["All hands. This is the Captain. Staff meetin' in ten minutes in the briefin' room on deck one. For those of you uncertain as ta who will be attendin', this means Lieutenant Espada, Lieutenant Mrekrerhas, Lieutnant Cordon, Lieutenant Booker, Lieutenant Jyur, and Doctor Kartos. That is all."]

[Captain's Ready Room - USS Challenger]

Since the rendezvous with the Farragut, Ian had been reading through the personnel files of the new crew that had beamed aboard. Most were young, so very painfully young. It was hard to believe that these people were old enough to drive let alone be in Starfleet.

After he finished reading, he knew he had to meet with everyone. As there were so many, one on ones would happen in time, but he knew he would have to at least talk to them all together before the individual meetings would occur. However, before he spoke to everyone, he knew what he had to do first.

"All hands. This is the Captain. Staff meetin' in ten minutes in the briefin' room on deck one. For those of you uncertain as ta who will be attendin', this means Lieutenant Espada, Lieutenant Mrekrerhas, Lieutnant Cordon, Lieutenant Booker, Lieutenant Jyur, and Doctor Kartos. That is all."

As he had read through the files, he had tagged a few of the new personnel for follow up and began to re-read those files.

["On screen."]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

A ship at warp develops a rhythm as it travels. There are a myriad of tasks that must be accomplished to keep the ship and crew functioning properly. The Challenger was no different from any other ship in Starfleet in that respect. In addition to these mundane tasks, even when simply transiting from one place to another, a Starfleet ship was always busy. The most common thing a ship built for exploration would do at virtually all times was to scan the area around the ship to see what there was to see. Most of the time, ships were moving through well charted space or space that had been scanned by probes at one point. However, Challenger was doing something that spoke to the very core of Starfleet's existence, she was moving through uncharted space, so she was looking at the composition of this region of the void up close for the first time, and that was always exciting. The entire science department was working long shifts cataloging what they were detecting. Everyone from Lieutenant Jyur the Chief Science Officer through to the ship's astrometrics consultant Hyperion were capturing as much information as possible to increase the Federations staggering body of knowledge.

Regardless of this behind the scenes activity, it was Lieutenant Commander Catalan at Ops that broke the quiet with an announcement.

"Captain, we are being hailed by the USS Farragut."

Ian was a bit surprised as he thought the Challenger was the only ship in the area, but said.

"On screen."

The screen resolved to an older woman whose bald pate immediately marked her as a Deltan.

"Hello Captain Galloway, I am Captain Chiva. I have orders to rendezvous with Challenger for personnel exchange. I am sending you a file with the transfers approved by Starfleet Command."

Ian nodded as Chiva spoke as he he looked up the Farragut and saw she was one of the new Inquiry-Class starships equipped with quantum slipstream, which neatly explained how the ship showed up in an area that she shouldn't have been. He dearly loved Challenger, but slipstream was a game changer and was the thing that was going to put his beloved ship out to pasture one day.

"Understood Captain, opening the file now."

He scanned through the file as it confirmed his worst fears as he thought

"Tharn, no shock there. Catalan, same. Oh buggerin' hell. Fellows."

The rest of the conversation with Chiva became indistinct as he realized he was going to be separated from Jess again. He sighed and managed to say.

"We'll be ready Captain. Galloway out."

Ian took it upon himself to notify those about to be transferred personally. They would only have an hour to pack, so time was short. He let Catalan know immediately as he was on the bridge. He then went down to engineering to let Tharn know and after a particularly fine string of curses, she said.

"As far as humans go, you don't suck like most do."

"I'll miss you too Dashlish."

Ian then took the long turbolift ride to sickbay. Jess was in her office and as soon as she saw his expression, she knew something was up.

"What's happened?"

"No easy way ta say this love. You're bein' transferred. Due ta the losses from last year, I'm losin' all the lieutenant commanders ta other ships. Great opportunities for all of you. By the way, congratulations are in order Commander Fellows. Seems the transfers come with promotions."

"Not much of a consolation."

"Aye, I ken full well. I guess tis only fair, I had ta split us up when I made Commander, seems only fittin' you get ta do the same when you do as well."

Jess managed a small smile, very small.

"There is that."

She stood and moved to stand next to Ian.

"You won't forget me will you?"

She said half-teasingly.

"Don't be a daft git. We made long distance work before, we can do it again."

"Good answer."

She then leaned in and gave Ian a very passionate kiss regardless of who might be able to see. When she broke contact.

"Remember that. I've got to pack."

Ian stood in silence, breathless, and nodded.

"Aye Lass. No forgettin' that."

Ian then sadly made his way back to the bridge. The rendezvous happened exactly an hour later as the Farragut dropped out of her slipstream channel within 50,000 kilometers of the stationary Challenger. Pleasantries were exchanged and then the transporters on both ships began to hum with activity.

Challenger technically got the better of the exchange in that 34 personnel were transferred off the ship, the senior officers as well as a leavening of experienced enlisted personnel, all clearly chosen to form the cadre for other ships. In return, Challenger gained 67 new people. Of these, 18 were newly graduated ensigns fresh from the Academy, 40 were fourth year cadets attending their cadet cruises, and 9 were civilian medical personnel. These last were an experiment Starfleet was trying out to fill in losses from Frontier Day. Whether the plan would work or not was unknown and it fell to the crew of the Challenger to make every effort to make it succeed.

When the last of the personnel transfers were complete, Chiva bid Galloway goodbye and the Farragut disappeared inside another slipstream corridor. Wistfully, Ian gave the order to resume course for the L7-425977 system and Challenger leapt back to her sedate warp 8. What she thought of these changes, no one thought to ask.

["I'll have you know Mister Jyur, Lieutenant Randall has been doin' yeoman work while you were off galavantin' wherever you were galavantin'."]

[ Bridge - USS Challenger ]

Jettis gladly took the man's hand, grinning. "Well I couldn't just leave the ship to that shady character Randell, my conscience wouldn't allow it." He ignored the cries of indignance from Randell, raising a brow. "Temporal muckery? My favorite kind," his voice dripping with sarcasm. He would have to brace for some Af-Kelt in his near future. Something he knew both he and Ian could agree on, was a disdain for time-related issues.

Releasing his hand, he stepped over to his station to start his shift. Full spectrum scans right off the bat, before they were even in the system was the first troubling factor. Thankfully nothing seemed to be amiss so far, but there was a long time yet for something to happen.

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian snorted at science officer's outrage and replied sardonically.

"I'll have you know Mister Jyur, Lieutenant Randall has been doin' yeoman work while you were off galavantin' wherever you were galavantin'."

As Ian was well aware of Jettis' opinion on the matter, he decided to yank the El-Aurian's chain.

"As we're ta be chartin' new space, we happen ta have a stellar cartography specialist aboard and I'm certain Hyperion would be glad ta lend you a hand."

["Tis Bloodly good ta see you Jettis. Challenger isna Challenger when you're nae aboot. Looks like you've decided ta prodigal at the right time. Some sort of temporal muckery afoot in an uncharted system. Seems you'll get ta boffin sooner than you might have thought. I've ordered additional full spectrum scans as we approach, maybe get an idea of what's what before we arrive."]

[ Bridge - USS Challenger ]

It was odd, returning to the Challenger again. It was even more odd returning alone, something he hadn't really done in years. Sure, he would occasionally travel without Theresa or Alani for studies, or for a convention - but that was short term. A few days, a week or two at most. This felt... permenant.

Of course, he knew it wasn't and Theresa would join him soon, but that didn't stop him from dragging his feet as he readied himself for his first bridge shift. Sleep hadn't gone well - it typically didn't, so he'd polished off a few raktajinos by the time the turbolift doors opened onto the bridge.

He inhaled deeply, glad to be back in familiarity. Of all the ships and stations he'd ever been on, this one was certainly home. The Gamma shift was just filtering out, and he grinned at Randell manning the science station, before setting his eyes on Ian.

Standing to attention, he offered Galloway a salute. "Prodigal son Jyur reporting for duty, Kapitan." He'd spent most of his time off on Earth for obvious reasons - and in the rush to move hadn't been able to board the Challenger any earlier than was required. "I trust there's no black holes swallowing the ship whole, yet?"

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian looked up at the familiar voice and smiled broadly. He rose from the command chair and shook Jettis' vigorously.

"Tis Bloodly good ta see you Jettis. Challenger isna Challenger when you're nae aboot. Looks like you've decided ta prodigal at the right time. Some sort of temporal muckery afoot in an uncharted system. Seems you'll get ta boffin sooner than you might have thought. I've ordered additional full spectrum scans as we approach, maybe get an idea of what's what before we arrive."

["Captain's log. Stardate 79020.3. It's been a long nine months since the unmitigated fiasco of Frontier Day and our own encounter with a Doomsday Machine. As one of a a limited number of ships ta avoid casualties from the last gasp of the Borg, we've had ta cover down on more than our fair share of the patrol and show the flag missions ta reassure the member planets of the Federation that all was well with Starfleet.]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

Ian plopped into the command chair at the beginning of Alpha shift. The ship was traveling comfortably at warp 8 and according to the briefing from Lieutenant jg Wilma Schultz who had the Gamma shift bridge watch, all systems were nominal.

While he was preparing for his day, Ian had received a priority message from Starfleet Command. Once settled, he ordered a change of course that would take them along the largely uncharted border between the most rimward edge of the Federation and the Delta quadrant.

"Captain's log. Stardate 79020.3. It's been a long nine months since the unmitigated fiasco of Frontier Day and our own encounter with a Doomsday Machine. As one of a a limited number of ships ta avoid casualties from the last gasp of the Borg, we've had ta cover down on more than our fair share of the patrol and show the flag missions ta reassure the member planets of the Federation that all was well with Starfleet.

"At least that was the show we were presentin'. Truth is, Starfleet is still in tatters. We have increased our readiness from a pathetic 20% all the way up ta just a miserable 50%, so I suppose that's progress. On the down side, as a ship that didn't lose any senior officers, I've had ta fight tooth and nail ta avoid bein' pirated for personnel, but only ta a point.

"I was unable ta keep Nira, she was shanghaied early on and given a postin' on a newly reactivated space station on the rimward side of the Romulan border. I'm certain I will lose more of my seniors ta the 'needs of the service.'

"Until then, duty continues ta call and this mornin', we received a new assignment. We're ta travel ta an as yet unnamed star system, currently known by its astronomical catalogue entry of L7-425977.

"It seems long range sensor scans have detected the system is a massive source of space-temporal disruptions. Anytime you mention summat buggerin' up time, Command tends ta fash. So, we are en route ta this L7 system and will arrive in 36 hours.

"Until then, we will continue ta maintain normal operations, but I will have the science department increase the type and intensity of long range scans. End log."