“Alright, what’ve we…” Fleet Admiral Allison Reyes began to say as she strode onto the bridge. But she stopped at the sight of Captain Kurayami Kioshi on the forward viewer. The old man was the intelligence chief for Archanis Station, but he was very much not on the station now if his background was any indication. “Kurayami, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Archanis Station has fallen,” Captain Kioshi replied, cutting straight to the chase. “The Vaadwaur have captured it and converted it into a repair facility for their fleet, using it to project their might across the Meronia Cluster. There’s hardly a world left free on this side of Nivalla.”

Around the bridge, the crew glanced nervously at each other. Archanis Station was their home port, the place that Polaris berthed up when not on assignment, and that meant there was a bit of emotional attachment they all felt for the place.

“I see…” Fleet Admiral Reyes said as she took the news in, no visible reaction on her face. In the normal course of business, it should’ve been shocking, but with the entire galaxy collapsing around them, and numbed by the loss of the Serenity, it almost just felt like an inevitability that Archanis would be in the dumps too. “Where are you now?”

“I’m holed up in a sub-basement beneath Banksy City with Robert Drake and a handful of folks from sector intelligence,” Captain Kioshi explained. “Best we could do since the Vaadwaur are crawling all over the streets of Kyban too.”

Fleet Admiral Reyes had a lot of questions. Why Kyban? Why’d he bring the JAG along? How had the station fallen? And so many more… But she started with the simplest one: “How’d you get to Kyban? Our scans suggested there’s a boundary between it and Archanis Station.” The Blackout was the great limiting factor in this conflict, and if he had a way through it that didn’t involve yet another risky jaunt through the Underspace, she wanted to know.

“Your scans are correct, but we have a way through,” Captain Kioshi replied. “Best not for a link, but we can instantly move point-to-point between here and Archanis.”

That was a distance of fourteen light years. Instant travel over those distances was not normal. But Captain Kioshi was not normal, and when there was a need, he would find a way. Still, she was curious as to the mechanics. “Point-to-point for ships or for people?” Either way, that would be a powerful arrow in the quiver if they wanted to retake Archanis Station.

“People and small arms. It folds across light years, Blackout or not, courtesy of our friends from last summer,” Captain Kioshi shared, giving her enough without saying it straight up.

That was enough to tip her off. She was pretty sure she knew what he was getting at. But why he’d have such a toy on Kyban, that was a whole other question. Not for now though. “What’s the situation like on Kyban?”

“When the Vaadwaur appeared in the skies over Kyban, not a shot was fired. The civil authority just handed them the keys and welcomed them down,” Captain Kioshi explained. 

“Of course they did,” Fleet Admiral Reyes grumbled. Kyban had always been freewheeling, and that they’d flip with the first hint of a shift in the tides, it was disappointing but not surprising. “How’s that working out for them now?”

“Frankly, it was probably the best move they could have made,” Captain Kioshi shared. The colony did not have a substantive defense force, and Starfleet was elsewhere, dealing with its own problems. “It saved a lot of lives, and the Vaadwaur have been much less heavy-handed with the civilians here. You can still take a stroll and enjoy the evening breeze. A far cry from the situation on Archanis.”

“What’s going on with Archanis?” Fleet Admiral Reyes asked, shifting gears.

“Nothing good,” Captain Kioshi replied as he rattled off the details. “Grayson is missing, assume being tortured for command information. Eriksson’s guys and the senior staff are sequestered, likely in an attempt to avoid any sort of organized uprising. And everyone else is being put to work, made to do the Vaadwaur’s bidding, fixing their warships, tending to their wounded, manufacturing munitions, writing propaganda pieces, that sort of stuff.”

“Has any sort of organized resistance formed?” Fleet Admiral Reyes asked. She had to believe a station of five thousand Starfleet officers would not go along so willingly.

“The Vaadwaur have quite an ingenious strategy for compliance or insurgency issues,” Captain Kioshi explained. “Any refusal of their orders, and they don’t shoot you. Instead, they drag a random civilian out and make you watch as they pull the trigger.”

Yes, that would be quite effective at tempering resistance, Fleet Admiral Reyes recognized. Emblazoned in the minds of every Starfleet officer was the duty to protect the lives of those they served, and it would be hard to mount a resistance if it meant civilian deaths.

“And if a Vaadwaur soldier is found dead, they take it a step further,” Captain Kioshi continued. “The price for that is ten for one, and they livestream the executions across the station.” Camille Anderson had found the stomach to do it when necessary, but would the others? There was no way a normal officer would. Even Kris Eriksson, who they’d left behind on the station, would probably go out of his way to avoid any Vaadwaur deaths knowing that price.

“So we’re going to have to hit them hard and fast is what you’re saying?” Fleet Admiral Reyes confirmed, leaping straight to the obvious next step. She turned to the commodore hovering just off the command island. “Olivia, get down to the ASTRA lab and get to work with your team to ascertain the location of the Underspace outpost that’s responsible for the Blackout boundary between here and Archanis.” They could probably go direct straight to Archanis, but this approach would allow them to rally a larger armada to the cause.

“On it,” Commodore Olivia Larsen nodded as she turned for the turbolift.

“Underspace outposts?” Captain Kioshi asked. “Learn something while you’ve been away?”

“Indeed,” Fleet Admiral Reyes nodded. “With the help of some friends from Mempa V, we have determined the origin of the Blackout to be subspace distortion fields caused by outposts the Vaadwaur have deployed in key locations throughout the Underspace network.”

“Curious,” Captain Kioshi acknowledged. “So knock the boundary out, put out a call to arms, and storm the place?”

“That’s where my head is at, yes,” Fleet Admiral Reyes confirmed.

“You should be aware that the Vaadwaur have complete control of the station,” Captain Kioshi warned. “Your squadron will not be enough for a direct assault against both their fleet and the station’s own firepower.” While the Canopus class station’s firepower had not been enough to stop the Vaadwaur advance, its 48 Type-XIV phaser banks and 16 torpedo turrets would still be more than enough to rip Polaris Squadron to shreds.

“Think the Klingons might be of help?” Fleet Captain Gérard Devreux chimed in from beside the admiral. “Maybe General Kloss wants another go at the enemy?”

“Oh, he most certainly wants another go at them,” Fleet Admiral Reyes chuckled. The battle beyond the galactic disc had given him a taste of blood, and he absolutely wanted more. “But in his own territory. He called a short while ago to notify us that he’s setting off on a quest for glory to take the empire back from the Vaadwaur.”

“And let me guess,” Fleet Captain Devreux inferred. “He wants songs written about him in his own lands, which means doing it in eyeshot of his own people?” In the last month, it’d become quite clear what motivated General Kloss.

“If General Golroth were still alive, he might be willing to help,” Fleet Admiral Reyes sighed. Golroth, at least, had seen the bigger picture, but alas, he and his ship had been lost with all hands during the battle beyond the galactic disc. “But General Kloss, it’s not happening.” The man’s mind was made up. He was going to take back all that’d been lost around K’t’inga, and then march towards Qo’noS, laying the bones of the Vaadwaur to rest along the way.

Fleet Captain Devreux sighed.

“Gérard, do you really blame him though?” Fleet Admiral Reyes offered thoughtfully. “I mean, we’re sitting here planning to go off and save our people rather than helping the Klingons with their crusade to liberate theirs, so why should we expect different from him?” At some point, everyone had to think of their own people first.

“Yeah, I know,” Fleet Captain Devreux frowned. “It’s just a bummer.” 

“Never thought I’d see you bummed at the prospect of General Kloss buggering off,” Fleet Admiral Reyes laughed.

“Yeah, but I guess it woulda been nice to have his Bortasqu’ along with us,” Fleet Captain Devreux acknowledged. “Without them though, what’s the play? As the captain reminded us, we don’t have enough firepower to take the station back ourselves. Maybe if enough ships respond once we drop the Blackout, but that’s putting a lot on a hope and a prayer.”

Captain Kioshi cleared his throat over the line, reminding the duo he was still there. “I didn’t call just to give you a suicide mission,” he interjected. “As I said earlier, I have a way onto the station from here. We can shut it down from the inside, but not with Robert and a diplomatic attaché as my team. I need more capable hands.”

“I think that could be arranged,” Fleet Admiral Reyes smiled, the gears already turning in her head. Obviously, they couldn’t just roll over to Kyban with an Odyssey class heavy explorer. Not with the Vaadwaur in charge of the place. But there were other ways. “Do you think we could get a civilian freighter onto Kyban without drawing unwanted attention?”

“Labor camps aren’t helpful without raw materials,” Captain Kioshi pointed out. “They take on regular shipments from merchants and traders. Anticipate that they will scrutinize it fairly closely, for they are quite discerning. And assume they have access to our command codes, so it needs to be a real freighter loaded with real cargo. But yes, it could work if it comes across legitimate enough.”

“That’s enough to go on,” Fleet Admiral Reyes confirmed. “We’ll work on getting that in motion, and then follow back up with you when we’re ready.” They’d reestablished contact with Lisa Hall, and it wouldn’t be hard to convince her friends to come along. “Anything else we should be aware of as we plan this out?”

“Just one thing, but you’ll need to go private for it,” Captain Kioshi replied darkly.

Admiral Reyes sensed from his tone that this wasn’t going to be good news. As if any of the rest had been. She looked over at the operations station. “Elena, patch it through to my ready room.”

“Yes ma’am,” Lieutenant Commander Elena Mattson nodded as the admiral crossed the bridge and disappeared into her office.

Once the door had sealed behind her, Captain Kioshi appeared on the wall-mounted display.

“Alright, Kurayami,” Fleet Admiral Reyes asked. “What is it?”

“I’ll leave it in your hands how you want to break the news to Ambassador Drake, but Elsie is dead.”

Fleet Admiral Reyes’ face fell. “Elsie Drake?” she confirmed, not that there was really any doubt to whom he was referring. Not with the reference to the her father, Ambassador Michael Drake.

Captain Kioshi nodded.

“That is a shame,” frowned Fleet Admiral Reyes. “A real fucking shame. I always liked her. She reminded me a bit of myself, back when I was young, spry and full of life.” She was distinctly competent and had a good head on her shoulders, the sort of person that could’ve gone so far. And Starfleet would’ve been better for it too.

“The Vaadwaur executed her in the opening minutes,” Captain Kioshi elaborated. “I was there. There was nothing that could’ve been done to stop it. They were making a statement, plain and simple.”

“Was it quick, at least?” Fleet Admiral Reyes asked.

Captain Kioshi nodded. “Polaron blast to the head.”

There was that, at least. But fuck, another one of the good ones dead. Made her wonder if any of them would be left alive by the time this was all over.