Sandwiched between two of the most senior officers on the ship, young Skye Peters, in only her first tour of duty, was having to try and temper her excitement whilst dealing with an incredible sense of trepidation all at the same time. The thought of briefing the senior staff for the first time was enough to drive the poor youngster insane, but being unable to do anything about it was even harder. She was struggling to balance the urge to excitedly bounce up and down on her tiptoes with the need to show some semblance of composure in front of the department heads. It was not easy. And the more experienced officers in the turbo lift seemed to be revelling in her self-imposed torture based on the smiles on their faces. Still, it wasn’t every day that a young officer was presented with the opportunity to speak with even one of the senior staff, let alone the handful she was going to speak with. And what if the captain was there? No, that was too much. There was no way she was going to be able to brief him; the thought terrified her. Oh God, the heart palpitations just at the thought of it.

Noticing a sudden shift in the youngster’s demeanour, coupled with a distinct colour change to her cheeks, Peri inched forward and tilted her head towards the youngest occupant in the lift.

“Just remember,” she began, “deep breaths and speak concisely. Don’t waffle. The XO hates waffle.”

“Except for breakfast…” the playful flight controller whispered from the youngster’s left.

Skye glanced between the two, the look of terror on her face causing Burton to drape an arm over her shoulder and give a little squeeze. “Relax,” Maddie grinned, “you’ll be fine.”

Opening her mouth to respond, she was stunned to silence by the sudden bright lights and activity of the bridge once the doors to the command center parted. The sense of awe and wonderment she had hoped to feel at her first time on the bridge didn’t disappoint, but it was short-lived; Maddie took the youngster by the arm and proceeded to drag her towards the command chair, where a certain silver-haired beauty with antennae turned to look at them.

Before anyone else could speak, Commander D’orr noticed the arrival of a woman clad in blue who he didn’t seem to recognize. Embarrassing, yet plausible aboard a ship of such size.

“Commander,” Maddie addressed the XO, who had turned their way, “we’ve got you some answers.” Burton finally released the youngster’s arm and returned to the CONN.

“And you are?” Tharia questioned the youngster, turning her entire chair (and thus, her body) to give the human her attention.

“Ummm… Skye, ma’am… I mean… Ensign Skye… Peters! Ensign Peters! Ensign Skye Peters ma’am, from astrometrics,” she stuttered away until her brain finally managed to compute and produce a coherent response.

Looking across at Onsas, the XO cocked her head. “She one of yours?” she asked.

Stepping forward, Onsas glared at the youngster. “I must confess I’ve yet to meet everyone in my department given the abrupt nature of our departure,” the brute revealed, watching as the youngster’s eyes widened nervously.

Shrugging, Tharia nodded along. “Alright then. The Commanders think you have answers Ensign,” the XO told the young blonde, “so let’s hear them.”

Over the next few minutes, the astrometrics officer relayed to the XO exactly what she had told the two science lab visitors: how they had journeyed in an Underspace tunnel, not a wormhole and that they could be anywhere in the known galaxy. With sensors still offline, it was impossible to know their exact location. That, coupled with the information about a possible lack of a stable terminus, had the XO worried.

“It’s entirely plausible,” Onsas finally spoke, his arms folded across his chest and a hand rubbing his bare chin in contemplation. “The Underspace we know was, to our knowledge, in the delta quadrant, but there is a possibility the tunnels go much further than we could have possibly imagined.” The brute of a man smiled at his underling and gave a nod of approval, which seemed to help settle her somewhat.

“Okay then,” Tharia rose from her chair and walked across to Skye, patting the smiling youngster on her shoulder, and then turning to the rest of the crew, “what next?”

“Engineering is still working on repairs,” Italia’s able deputy at Ops spun in his chair and informed the XO of the most recent update. “They estimate at least an hour before long-range sensors are online.”

“We could launch some probes,” Peri leaned against the rail near her station. “We can gather what information we can from short-range sensors. When they go out of range, we’ll pick up what they have once sensors are back.”

“Worth a try. Can’t do much else at this poi…”

Tharia’s words were halted by an all too familiar shaking of the deck plating beneath her feet, causing the Andorian to look around her people for answers.

As her crewmates dived for their positions, Maddie was first to respond from the CONN. “Another aperture,” she told the bridge.

“No…” Skye had joined the science team and was looking at the readings. For a second she forgot herself and called across to the XO. “Not another aperture, the same aperture. It’s in the exact location of our exit aperture,” the astrospecialist revealed.

“Can we go in?” Tharia asked, standing behind the CONN and gripping hold of Burton’s seat for stability.

“And go where?” Burton responded, “we don’t know how to navigate these tunnels. We could end up anywhere.”

“We already have,” sh’Elas argued back, turning to the second officer for support. “Onsas?”

Turning from the science station, Onsas shrugged his shoulders. “Maddie is right. If we go in, there is a chance we could end up even further away, or perhaps in a hostile location, or even suffer greater damage. At least here, we can gather ourselves and make repairs. We can deal with the rest when we are in a better position. I suggest we stay.”

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Peri interrupted from tactical, drawing their attention. “There’s a ship coming through. What sensors we have show it to be a Gorn heavy cruiser,” the Bajoran revealed to the team.

“Red alert. Back us away, slow and steady until we ascertain their intentions,” the XO barked, swiftly returning to the captain’s chair, all doubt and questioning put aside for the moment. “Put it on screen,” she instructed as the lights changed colour to reflect their heightened state of alert once again.

A flickering of the holographic display at the front of the bridge delayed the image, but soon enough the aperture appeared, several hundred kilometers from their position now. Slowly but surely, the hulking frame of a Gorn vessel began to emerge from the opening in space.

“Their engines, shields and weapons all appear to be offline,” Peri told, her fingers dancing across her display as she continued to make sense of what she was reading. “Whatever happened to them, they appear to be in worse shape than us,” she finally turned to the acting captain.

“Can we hail them? Offer what assistance we can?” the Andorian suggested, looking across at the tactician, who nodded and turned back to her station to carry out her new orders.

“They’re going to need more than that…”

The tension in Maddie’s voice drew the XO’s attention, the glare from the Andorian telling her to elaborate and quickly. “They’re drifting too close to the planet. If they get much closer, what gravity there is will pull the ship to the surface,” the helmswoman elaborated, much to the XO’s dismay.

‘When are we going to catch a break?’ she thought to herself, reaching up with her left hand and rubbing her forehead. “Any response to our hails?”

“None,” Peri answered swiftly.

“Commander,” Onsas stepped over to the XO’s chair and lowered himself into it, glancing at the woman, then the screen. “We should assume they can’t help themselves and intervene,” he advised.

“Tractor beam?” she suggested, drawing a nod from the bald Xelliat.

“Tractor beam is offline,” Maddie called out before the two senior officers could give an order doomed to failure. “But I do have an idea…”

Almost ten minutes later, Commander sh’Elas and her colleague from the helm were stood on the deck of shuttlebay one, glancing in all directions as multiple officers, all drafted in at short notice and who had at least a level three pilots certification, prepared the craft they had been assigned to. Maddie herself would be taking control of the shuttle closest to the forcefield protecting the inner workings of the ship from the void beyond.

“You’ve got this,” Tharia smiled, slapping a hand on the human woman’s upper back in support of her endeavour. “Do whatever you need. Onsas and Peri are standing by for additional support if you need them. Just get that ship to safety. The last thing the captain needs is to explain how we let a Gorn crew perish while we sat watching…”

Her words caused the pilot to glare at her menacingly for a moment, before she let out a smirk and headed for the ramp of her shuttle, the Socrates, and boarded the craft. Tharia watched as the three type-14 shuttles lifted off from the deck, the forcefield sizzling as the ships penetrated the shield and moved away from their home base.

It was an audacious plan, to use the smaller tractor beams of multiple shuttles to pull the Gorn to safety, but one she hoped they could pull off relatively easily.

The fate of the Gorn crew was apparently in their hands.