[0557 ship time]

Lieutenant Commander Isabella Broska leaned against the side of the turbolift, closing her eyes as the soft hum and vibration of lift almost lulled her back to sleep. She was never a morning person; when she was promoted to Chief Tactical Officer on the USS Lorraine she damn near got demoted due to tardiness her first week. She took a deep breath, allowing the rich scent of the warm coffee in the warm mug that she held to bring her back to life.

The lift slowed and a soft chime announced it had reached its destination. She stepped into the bridge, nodding at the two gamma shift officers. Ever since they arrived back at DS17 after the Blackout had taken hold across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants things had been oddly low key. The Resnik wasn’t a science ship; her one advantage was long range scans and a powerful deflector. That didn’t help much when the Blackout cut off even the most robust sensor systems. With her armaments the decision had been made to keep her fairly close to DS17 in case something happened. They had spent the last few days patrolling shipping lanes nearby but after encountering absolutely nothing they were pulled back home.

As such they were stiffened to minimal levels to get the crew a few days rest. Most of the crew had been hit hard by the Blackout; cut off from their families in every way possible. Duty and busy work had distracted them but that would only work for so long. Now that it sat in orbit of DS17, most of the crew on the station in an effort to give them space to breathe and process what was happening. Some had opted for the time off, many had opted to help out as DS17 with whatever projects they could find. The senior staff didn’t get that luxury; they were rotated out in parts of two to cover the Bridge during alpha shift.

“Nothing new to report, Commander.”

She nodded at the Bolian Lieutenant. Dunaki? Druaven? She’d already forgotten his name. “Thank you Lieutenant. I’ve got it from here.”

He nodded back at her and the two left the Bridge, leaving her alone with the soft hum of the ship. The bridge lights were still dimmed and a good 90% of the consoles were powered down; she opted to leave the lights dimmed and she sat in the center chair. Closing her eyes for a moment, she allowed the rich smell of the coffee she held to relax her. She wouldn’t deny that being locked away from the rest of the Federation had taken its toll on her but being out of contact with her family wasn’t exactly new. Her parents served on a Luna class ship; being out of contact was the norm. Most of her aunts and uncles were Starfleet officers. The Broska’s were spread out among the stars. That was just how it worked.

There hiss of the turbolift door drew her attention, craning her neck to spot Maria Bowman exiting the lift. Her partner in crime for the Alpha shift, the two had been slotted to cover the bride for the morning and afternoon.

“Morning Maria.”

The other woman nodded, suppressing a yawn. Neither one of them were morning people but Bowman didn’t drink coffee, only tea; something Isabella felt was an offense worthy of a court martial.

“Good Morning Izzy.” Maria sat down at the science station, placing her cup of tea on the flat shelf next to her. “Anything new happen last night?”

Broska shook her head. “Nothing. I haven’t reviewed the overnight logs and sensor readings yet but I doubt there is anything interesting in there.”

Maria hummed in acknowledgement. “How exciting.” She sighed, leaning back and crossing her legs. “You’ll never guess who I spotted this morning.”

Isabella peered at Maria over the rim of her coffee cup as she took a drink.

“I know there are regulations about gossip but anybody could have seen this so I feel I’m not technically breaking any rules.”

One of Isabella’s eyebrows quirked up in curiosity. “It’s just the two of us on the Bridge; we’re just friends having a chat. No regulation breaking things are occurring.”

Maria emailed. “This is why we’re friends, Izzy.” She picked up her cup of tea, holding it with both hands as if that somehow made what she was about to say all the more exciting. “I saw Rutledge leaving the Captain’s quarters this morning.”

“Perhaps it was an early morning performance review meeting? Perhaps he’s having a difficult time with everything that has been going on and confided in the Captain?” She knew none of those things were true. Keacen had a reputation has a bit of a Romeo, so to speak. It had never interfered with ship operations so she’d never really given it much thought.

Maria snorted incredulously. “At 5:50 in the morning? No. Besides, you didn’t see how disheveled his hair was. That was not the hair of someone who had a causal chat.”

“Oh.” Isabella took another sip of coffee. “Well, maybe it’ll help his confidence. Goodness knows the kid needs to not be so timid.”

“I suppose so.” Maria sipped her tea, turning back to the console. “I didn’t realize sleeping with the Captain was an approved way to boost your confidence.”

Isabella shrugged. “It’s not something you’ll find in the regulations but sometimes hands-on experience is better than those boring training holos.”

“I’m going to resist the urge to respond to that comment and enjoy my tea.”

The two settled into a comfortable silence as the minutes ticked by. After a short while a series of trills from the science console pierced the quiet.

Maria leaned over the console, her brow furrowing after a few moments.

“Something on sensors?”

Maria nodded. “Long range sensors are picking up subspace disruptions.”

Isabella sat up a little straighter. “Subspace has been quiet for awhile now. Is it Blackout related?”

Maria shook her head. “I don’t think so. Signatures are different; smaller. Like someone is poking holes in subspace.” She quirked her head to the side, tapping away at the console to try and isolate readings. “No, it can’t be.”

Isabella sat her coffee down. “You’re worrying me, Maria.”

“These almost look like Underspace apertures. They’re so far away I can’t really get a great scan but more and more are showing up.”

Isabella stood, walking over to the science console. “I thought Underspace had collapsed?”

“As did I. I don’t have an explanation but if they are Underspace apertures there are a lot of them spread out across the edges of our sensor range.”

Isabella watched as dot after dot appeared on the screen; wildly dispersed at the very edges of their sensor range but clustered together. She felt her stomach drop. “This looks coordinated.”

The console let out a series of shrill chirps as smaller dots emerged from the already present symbols. “I’ve got energy signatures exiting the sunspace anomalies.” Maria spoke in a quiet voice. “Sensors can’t identify but they’re strong and they are numerous.” She looked up at Broska. “Izzy, this looks like…”

“An invasion.” She finished the sentence for her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She felt her blood run cold; the pieces were adding up. The Blackout cut them off and now the true reason was emerging.

“We were so focused on the Backout being something natural; a random quick of the galaxy.” Panic crept into Maria’s voice. “I didn’t fathom it could be a precursor.”

Isabella gave her shoulder a squeeze. “We have to hope that people far higher than us in the chain planned for this possibility. Now we do our jobs; we’re Starfleet officers. DS17 has to be seeing this; let’s get ready for what comes next.”