Nitus sat in her ready room staring out of the window as the stars beyond streaked by. She had ordered the ship to investigate where the probes were disappearing. Where she was hoping they could find a way to enter the system or at the very least get a signal through; that way they could check on the Romulan populace within. Despite trying to focus on the mission ahead she could not help but think about Lieutenant Zolath.

Anyway, you sliced it and his blood was on her hands. A chime came from the door breaking her from her guilt-ridden thoughts.

“Come.”

The door slid open with a hiss revealing Commander T’Soni with her hands clasped behind their back, her posture straight flowing with elegance as she stepped over the threshold into the ready room. “Captain, we are five minutes away from the target destination,” her voice was calm as she delivered an update. Even though she had decided to follow her mother and choose logic over emotion, the commander would be lying if she said she didn’t feel. The events of the past few weeks had been exacting on her. She feared for the safety of her and the crew but also her husband back on Mellstoxx III.

“Thank you Number One,” Nitus responded with her voice low as her thoughts were still consumed by guilt and uncertainty.

A beat passed between them. The two women despite having served together for nearly two years and meeting back on DS-10 they had never really sat down and talked. They knew nearly nothing about each other but what they read in their file. Both are half Human, one from Vulcan and the other from Romulus. Even then there wasn’t much difference between the two. Both were torn between two worlds, both in constant internal conflict, both in dire need of someone who could understand.

“Permission to speak freely,” T’Soni said as she sighed. She could see the grief and guilt her captain was covering herself in and they didn’t need that. She didn’t need that.

Nitus turned her head slightly to look at her. “Proceed,” she said as her eyes returned to the stars.

“I’ve seen you face a resurgent Dominion, pirates, a resurgent Collective, into and out of Underspace where we faced a Romulan-led conspiracy and the Orion Syndicate. Each time you’ve faced them you had resolve and you pushed through to be the leader we all needed you to be,” she said, pausing to let the half Romulan absorb everything she had said before continuing. “So why is this different? Why is Lieutenant Zolath’s death affecting you so much?”

Nitus continued to stare out at the stars. Why was his death affecting her so much? She knew she knew she was the reason he died.

USS Paramount (NCC-75570), high orbit of Telvin IV, Telvin System, Talvath Cluster, Beta Quadrant

Stardate: 2402.01 | 07:08 hours

“I wouldn’t advise that, Captain.”

The Bajoran tactical officer stood next to the stoic executive officer as he tried to dismay his Captain from taking the dangerous and prohibited trip down to the planet’s surface. He understood why she wanted to go down there because she was tired of sitting on the ship while the others journeyed to the planet’s surface and found all sorts of things. But still, in his mind, she was the captain and her place was in the chair.

Nitus sighed as she tried to hide the smile that remained on her face as she rose from her seat. “I understand that Lieutenant,” she said as she approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But I’m going and you can either join me or sit up here. The choice is yours.” She turned on her heels leaving the room with Tsoni in two before he could even formulate a protest.

Crossing the threshold onto the bridge Lieutenant JG D’Antonio turned to the two senior women.

“Captain. The away team is waiting in transport room four.”

“Thank you Mr. D’Antonio,” she said, giving him a curt nod as she made her way to the center of the bridge. She turned looking out at the viewscreen at the planet below. Smiling to herself she imagined what she would find down on the planet. Telvin IV was home to a pre-warp civilization and Overwatch Station had just discovered it a week ago and Captain Jackson had given them a break from humanitarian work to do what most of them wanted to do since they joined Starfleet.

Exploring.

Clearing her throat Nitus turned to look at the bridge crew. “Okay everyone,” she said, her voice resonating with excitement. “Give me a final update before we leave.”

“It’s pretty much the same as before ma’am,” replied Lieutenant Jackson. The chief science officer was jealous of not being able to tag along. The captain assured her that the next team down would be led by her. “It’s going to be early in the day when you arrive. So people will still be waking up. Lieutenant Everhart will provide a more detailed update when you arrive in the transporter room.”

Exiting the ready room Lieutenant Zolath caught the end of the conversation as he stepped to his station.

“We’re setting you on the outskirts of the capital city. You’ll be out of sight. It’s also a good spot for when we bring you back up too,” Commander Hill stated. The chief operations officer looked at his console as he checked systems. “The ship’s in good order too. We should be able to pull you back up if anything were to happen.”

Nitus exhaled smoothly, turning to T’Soni. “You have the bridge number one,” she said, gesturing to the center chair as she stepped away from the center of the bridge. “Wish me luck everyone. My first away mission in three years,” she said smiling brightly as she stepped into the turbolift. They all wished her luck aside from Lieutenant Zolath who snaked through the door at the last second. Standito ng next to him Nitus couldn’t help but smirk. “I knew you would come around.”

Zolath raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that so,” he said. “I just didn’t want you to have all the fun.”

They laughed as the lift carried them down to deck five.

USS Paramount (NCC-75570), outside of the D’Deridex system Blackout zone, Alpha Quadrant

Present Day

“Captain to the bridge,” came the burly voice of the Klingon chief tactical officer. His voice pulled Nitus out of her head as she stood from her chair.

She walked past T’Soni as headed out the door just before exiting. “We will talk about this later,” she said, her voice low. T’Soni nodded as she followed after her.

Stepping over the threshold they entered the bridge. Both take their usual spot in the center of the bridge. “Report, Mr. Dawson,” Nitus said, looking out of the viewscreen at the space beyond. It looked the same as before.

“We’re at the disappearing point,” he said coolly. Although he asked everyone else to address him as his Klingon name. Nitus and T’Soni had been the exception not only because they were both his superiors but because they knew the difficulties of being of two worlds; and the constant struggle between the two. “We’ve also detected a transmission from the system that appears to be Romulan in origin,” he said, looking between the pair and his console as he proved them with an update.

Nitus mouth fell open. She thought that nothing was getting through the Blackout but then she remembered in a brief Bridgerton had sent them before they went dark and said that its effect was not total. In some regions, communications and even sensors could breach the Blackout with careful calibration and enormous power.

“It’s definitely Romulan in origin,” Lieutenant Jackson said as she stared at her console. “But it’s a few days old however and it’s audio only.”

“It’s better than nothing. Put it through,” she said looking over at the human officer as she took her seat. Static filled the bridge as the transmission came through. Dozens of voices and callouts overlapped each other.

“Power fai… cor…”

“We’ve lost the Chulaek.”

“We’re being swarmed, it’s too many of them.”

“Admiral we’ve lost two more…”

Static.

Then the transmission ended. Nitus turned to Jackson. “Is that it?” The audio they had just heard was most terrifying. It was definitely an upsetting feeling. Not knowing fully what was going on and imagining what was happening only made it worse.

“Yes ma’am the rest will take a few hours to process before we can get an accurate account of what was said.”

“Well the message is clear enough,” she said with her resolve and determination setting in. “The D’Deridex system is under attack.”