— USS Falcon, Forward Observation Lounge —

The ceiling-to-floor viewports, what once she might have called windows back in Vancouver, looked out into the endlessness of space. It was easy to get overawed by the sight, the continuing of existence, far beyond what one could ever know. Even if the ship’s scanners were working, there was no way to catalog everything. Even with all the time in the world.

Picking up a Trill Tango from the bar Lieutenant Commander Victoria Hume went and sat at one of the open tables right by the large viewports. A nice feature of the Excelsior II-class was the views out into space. Perhaps not as good as back at her last posting on Avalon at the Fleet Yards, but one could get used to the stars at a station. Out in space, constantly on the move, things never got familiar.

Out here, well there was always something new to see. Which was what made it exciting, gave you the pull to solve riddles and investigate the feeling that the answers were all just on the other side of the horizon. Which she supposed, in his own way, was what Captain Aike was doing rushing off to answer an unknown distress call. Even if the ship wasn’t working properly yet, and even if it was diverting them away from their direct orders. It was the same call to adventure that she felt, and she figured most of the ship’s crew felt as if they stood on the edge between known and unknown.

The question was, would this be a step into the darkness too far? With no sensors and no weapon systems, the answer might come at them swiftly and perhaps violently. Or perhaps once more they’d find their way home.