It took the Tokyo a bit longer than they had wanted to emerge from the phenomenon. Now back in normal space, it was simply a matter of seconds for the ship to jump to warp, on course for Starbase 415. Unfortunately, they were able to notice that this phenomenon had the Nereus System, of which where Starbase 415 was located, completely surrounded. It was causing some concern among the senior staff of the Tokyo.

Before they could figure out whether it was just a strange natural phenomenon attracted to something in particular, or a weapon of sorts; they received a distress call.

“It’s faint, distorted even but it is getting through,” reported Pip. “From the looks of it, it is on a tight narrow band and it keeps coming and going.”

“Who is it from, or where is it coming from?” Bruce asked.

Pip pushed away from the science station to place her hands on the top edge of the wooden arch and lean into it. “Tholian space, sir. As far as we know from past observations, it is coming from one of their outposts. And sensors is detecting that strange phenomenon surrounding the outpost but its intensity is not as high as the one around the Nereus System.”

Stan pushed himself out of his seat and stood right by Bruce’s side. “Sir, I don’t like any of this. We’re supposed to report back to Fleet Captain Hunt in regards to this phenomenon. And now they’re surrounded by it?”

“They’re not the only ones, Stan.” Bruce looked back at Pip. “Use all of our sensor pods, where else is this phenomenon at?”

Pip returned to her science station to parallel the sensor pods capacities before she came right back to look over the wooden arch with an answer. “I’m finding them all over the place. There are whole regions cut off.”

Stan was by far the most paranoid one on this bridge, the loss of his parents to pirates, the whole Borg incident on Frontier Day, it took nothing to bring him on edge. “It’s an attack, it has to be.” Said Stan.

Bruce concurred with Stan. The captain that Bruce failed to save, would always challenge him with tactics and strategies. Plus it was the most common military tactic, eliminate form of communication and disrupt supply lines. Such tactic would crush the unsuspected. “It is the only conclusion.”

“But what if it is not? What if it is just some strange phenomenon that crops up every…five thousand years and decided to come around installations that happen to have huge power signatures?” Said Harper, although she even realized what she said sounded rather silly.

“Then explain sectors being enveloped or planets being singled out,” said Pip.

Harper blushed and cleared her throat. “I’m just a pilot here.”

“Then as a pilot, you should keep science theories out of your mouth.” It was meant to be a joke, a simple tease, but Pip realized it did not sound like that. Especially when Bruce scolded her. She mouthed ‘sorry’ and then spoke up. “What I meant, is that while some of what you said is sound, it still doesn’t explain how it reacts and how it seems to be targeting specific regions.”

“We need to get back to Starbase Four-Fifteen, right now!” The tone of urgency in Stan’s voice.

“Sorry, number one, but no can do. We are duty bound to answer that distress call. Plus, its the Tholians, Stan. I think we could do with winning some kudos points with the Tholians by coming in to their rescue.” Bruce explained before he looked to Harper. “Plot a course, maximum warp. Bridge to Engineering.”

“Uh…Lieutenant Calhoun here…again…sir. Sorry, the Chief is very busy right now, can you make it quick?”

Oddly rude, Bruce thought. “Tell the Chief that we need to maximize our warp jumps, the Tholians are in trouble, surrounded by the same phenomenon that we just got out of. But if the Tholians are in trouble, we need to bust through it quickly.”

There was a pause for what seemed like an eternity before Cal’s voice came over the speakers. “Consider it done, sir.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Bridge out.” Bruce went to sit down in his seat but as he did, he saw the cold look that Stan had on his face and in his eyes.

“We’re supposed to be a support vessel to Starbase Four-Fifteen. What happens if the station is gone by the time we get back?” Stan asked.

Bruce looked straight into his eyes. “Then who ever decided to put up their dukes with the Federation, is about to get my foot up their-”

Three Days ago, just a moment before the Nereus system was completely surrounded by The Blackout phenomenon

“Carolyn, I’m serious. This station is practically in the middle of no where. The odds of us having any more serious conflict is slim to none. I really want you and Christopher to come visit,” said Hunt as he stared at the holographic image of his wife, half of her anyway, where only the midsection and up of her was hovering over his desk. He had been spending the last three hours trying to convince his wife to come to the Starbase. Before the Borg incident, she was reluctant and then after, she was against it.

“What about the Talarians?” She asked.

Hunt scoffed, his attempt to stifle a laugh. “The Talarians? For one, if they wanted to mount an assault on Starfleet, they would lose, quickly. Not only would it be borderline idiotic, it be suicide. Second, they’re our friends, the chances of them wanting to attack the Federation is slim to none.”

“But there is still a chance,” she told him. “Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at me!” She said after she saw him doing just that, her voice rising with frustration.

“Carolyn, I am being serious and the fact that you’re ignoring my experience-”

“I am doing no such thing, Gerald! I simply do not want to put Christopher in danger, and you of all should respect that!” Her voice started to get higher.

Hunt took a deep breath and raised his hands to try and calm her. “I do respect that, love. I just miss you, both of you.”

“We miss you too, Gerald. I just don’t feel comfortable going out so far from Earth. Every time we go to Vulcan for vacations, I’m on edge. How do you think I will feel when we go as far out as the station?” She asked him. “And then there was that…Burg incident.”

“Borg. And Carolyn, some things are just unexpected but the unexpected rarely happens twice. Look. We have a support vessel assigned to the station, called the Tokyo. We will take the Tokyo to Earth, and we will pick you and Christopher up. It has a holodeck, VIP suites, I promise that you and Chris will have a great time!” Hunt tried much harder to reassure his wife and the look on her face now, made him feel like he was about to win.

“When do you-” Suddenly her holographic appearance disappeared and was replaced with two words. ‘Connection Lost’. Then it was replaced with ‘Trying to Re-Establish’ only to come back with ‘Failed.’ Hunt frowned heavily as he grabbed his cane and pushed himself out of his seat to head straight for Ops from his office.

As soon as he stepped onto Ops deck, he found Ward, who looked as though she was busy with something, and made sure he was heard. “Would you mind telling me why my comm link to my home on Earth was lost?”

Ward looked up at Hunt with a slight apologetic look, mixed with frustration. “We lost all subspace communications with everyone outside the system.” She informed him while she went back to work, her eyes focused on her console. “We still have a solid connection with six of our relays just outside the asteroid belt, but they’re unable to reconnect with the subspace network.”

Hunt’s frown deepened as he approached the railing to lean into it, so that he was not leaning so heavily into his cane. “Are you saying that we have no communications with Starfleet Command? Or Fourth Fleet Command?”

Ward looked up at him, the look of frustration replaced with worry. “I’m saying we have no communications with anyone, sir. In fact, our long range sensors can’t get past this system. We can see as far as this system goes, but outside of that, we are completely blind!”

Hunt’s heart felt like it was pounding against his chest, as if he had been overwhelmed with fear. But why? He couldn’t figure it out. But then his years of experience had pieced it together. No communications. No sensors.

“What’s worse, one of the civilian transports had to turn back. They’re saying that when they reached the edge of the system, their warp engines failed to engage. Something about unable to establish a warp field,” Ward explained.

No means to escape at speeds faster than light. “Put all of our sensors and relay satellites on continuous scan of the system. Get as much data about this phenomenon at once! And review the logs, find out how the hell this…phenomenon occurred and if it happened gradually or instantaneously!”

“What are you thinking?” Ward asked as everyone else initiated Hunt’s orders.

“Stop thinking like an explorer and think like a tactician, Commander Ward. Starfleet Academy has prepared us for events like this, through history lessons and combat simulators. This…silence…this disruption…it’s a prelude to an attack!” He told her and suddenly alarms started to go off.

“We just lost Relay One, sir!” Said one of the Ops staff.

“Relay Three is gone!” Said another.

Ward looked back at her station and then back at him with her eyes wide. “All six relay satellites outside the asteroid field have been lost.”

Hunt pushed off the rail and as quickly as he could with his cane and limp, he made it over to her at the center terminal. “Those relay satellites were programed to send the last few seconds of data the moment they are threatened, whether they were attacked or hit by a rock.”

Ward quickly entered some commands and pulled up data from all six relays. Even though each one only had three seconds of data, they all told enough. Ward looked up at Hunt, “They were fired on, by vessels of unknown configuration, soon after they left an Underspace aperture.”

“Why can’t we see past the asteroid belt? They’ve never interfered with our sensors before.” Hunt asked her.

“Sensors are picking up another disruption, in the asteroid belt itself. From the logs, it’s a second disruption, the first one is still around the system. That is, until the second disruption intensified, blocking all sensors.” She told him. That is until another wave of alarms went off. “Sensor contacts! Ships! It’s the ones that destroyed the relays. Unknown configurations, reading one large vessel, twenty medium sized vessels and eighty small fighters.”

“Red alert! Get the shields up now!” Hunt ordered before one of the staff informed him that there was an incoming transmission. “Let’s hear it.”

“Starfleet Station. Freighters and transports. We have come to serve punishment. You cannot escape. You cannot call for help. Starfleet Station. You are outnumbered and you have no one to help you protect those around you. If you resist, those ships will perish. Your only course of action, is to surrender and accept your punishment. For we are the voice of the Vaadwaur Supremacy.”

Hunt was not pleased with their situation but he was not going to be pushed over. “Prepare all shuttles and runabouts for combat. Their orders are to protect the civilian ships at all costs.” He told Ward as he looked at her then he turned his attention to one of his staff. “Open a channel.” Once he was given the nod, he looked anywhere.

“This is Fleet Captain Gerald Hunt, Commanding Officer of this Starbase. You’re right. You got us outnumbered and we have civilians to protect. But let me set something straight. We may be explorers, scientists, and humanitarians. But we don’t like pushovers. We don’t tolerate threats. And we will defend ourselves and defend everyone against those who have no tolerance or care for the life of the innocent! And I guarantee you, you are not the first to test Starfleet, and you will not be our last.” Hunt made the gesture to cut comms and he got the nod from his staff that it was done.

“Battle stations!”