“There, that there!”  One of the science ensigns pointed at the main holo display screen in the center of the science department office as Thasaz froze the sensor reading.  He stood and walked up to the three-dimensional reading, “This looks familiar – in the Academy, we studied the Bajoran Wormhole and how it operates.  Certain signals, readings, and frequencies are observed on a regular basis.  That’s one of them.”  He sent his research to the science chief’s PADD, and she skimmed through the details.

She confirmed it as she input the details for the ongoing display.  The computer marked several more items green, “He’s right – taking the scattered readings that we had, we’re able to identify positively at least four variables…out of one hundred and sixteen.”  Thasaz held up her hand for silence, and the science team quieted down.  “Whatever it is we’re dealing with is something we haven’t seen before, and we need to work to give it a name.  Once more variables are identified, we can start putting some stronger theories to the captain and senior staff.”  She glanced at the clock on the wall as it clicked forward, “Let’s take a dinner break – you’ve got an hour.”

The room cleared out, and Thasaz went to work on collecting more data and updating the display.  There were unusual connections to familiar phenomena that would explain, at a base level, what had happened to the Dragonfly.  The mystery remained as to the how, the where, and the why.  She studied the results so far – it was a wormhole, but it wasn’t.  It was a portal, but it wasn’t.  It was an opening, but it had swung open without warning and had closed just as fast. Thasaz thought back to the previous assignment she had been on before she’d been introduced to Captain Harris and suddenly found herself in a Starfleet uniform.  She’d spent long hours studying the various nebulas in that sector of space for years.  Nothing had come close to this curiosity. She heard the door slide open but kept her eye on the display as she manipulated some data points.  There had to be something in here to sink her hands into.

“Commander Thasaz.”  

She turned at the only voice older than her on the Dragonfly.  “Chief Petty Officer Wyatt.  What brings you up to the upper decks?”  She sorted a few more data points.  

He walked around the display, eyes searching.  “A consolation prize, commander.  We didn’t tear through into the other side of the mirror universe or fall into another reality.”

Thasaz let a dry chortle be her opening answer.  The story of his journey into the mirror universe had been enough to put any desire to experience it herself.  She continued, “We’re still four years from home.  Or more accurately, three years, nine months, twenty-six days, and four hours.”  She finished her work and saved the display, “You don’t seem concerned with our current predicament, Master Chief.”

It was Wyatt’s turn to chuckle, “If I was concerned about every major threat that I faced with this crew or any of the others – I’d have worried myself to death.  You live this long, you get used to things just…going wrong.”  He walked around the holographic display again, “You don’t have any ideas on what this could be?”  She gave him a firm shake of her head.  He answered her look of curiosity, “I don’t know either…and that bothers me.”  Knowledge was power, which had been a lifelong motto for him, and at that moment, he didn’t have any power.

Thasaz slid into a chair, “Not much bothers you, Henry.”

He sat in the one opposite her, “Like I said – you live this long.  Whatever this is, it’s new to me.  There’s a few readings I can help you with.”  He stood and manipulated the remaining pool of variables, “This surge of readings is similar to the acceleration of a manually created porthole – I remember those numbers in the early days of research and development.”  The ten variable data points were grouped and changed from red to green outlines.  “This is starting to feel like a new type of wormhole…but then you have that and this,” he pointed to conflicting data points and conclusions that argued directly against a wormhole or even the existence of one within the remaining data.  “It makes no damn sense.”

She sighed, “I’ve been debating starting all over.  Before landing here, we didn’t get complete data points, variables, or scans.  Incomplete data is a scientist’s nightmare.  We could come to a conclusion and bring out a cataclysmic end-of-the-universe scenario.  The Lost Fleet burst back on the scene because some crazy scientist was trying to prove something.  Instead, we ended up at war trying to put them back in their…wait a second.” Thasaz picked up her PADD, “Henry, you’re a genius.”  She tapped at the device, her mind swirling with new ideas, “We could try and recreate the phenomena the way they did with The Lost Fleet event.”  

He raised a hand in protest, “You did just get done saying something about a ‘cataclysmic end-of-the-universe scenario,’ – incomplete data and all that.”

She rolled her eyes, a sarcastic tone coating her words, “There’s a difference. I’m not a crazed scientist.”

Wyatt held his tongue.