“Report,” Nitus said as soon as the doors on the turbolift opened. She feared what could have happened to the Xyston. There was no way they could have lost communication with the ship when it was in the Federation core unless the entire relay system went down instantaneously.

“Captain,” T’Soni responded as she rose from the center chair. “We have lost contact with Starbase Bravo and the D’Deridex system.”

Nitus’ brows furrowed in puzzlement as she reached the center of the bridge. “How do we just lose communication with both of them Number One?” She asked. There was no way they could have lost contact with Starbase Bravo, the D’Deridex system, and the Xyston simultaneously. She turned her focus to the chief science officer “Ms. Jackson, do you have any idea what could cause this sort of thing?”

Lieutenant Laura Jackson sat at her console as her hands moved feverishly across the screens. “I have no idea, Captain,” she said as she continued to try and get a read on the D’Deridex system. “It’s as if subspace is being blocked somehow. Which shouldn’t even be possible.”

“Well obviously it is if we can’t reach command,” came the harsh tone of the half-Klingon at the tactical station. “Captain, I recommend launching a probe to the D’Deridex system to try and find out what’s happened. As for us, I think it would be best if we bring up our officers. We don’t know what happened and we need to be ready if something goes wrong.” K’Tal had been in Starfleet since the last few years of the Dominion War and had seen everything between now and then. He was there during the Attack on Mars, the Archanis Campaign, the Lost Fleet, and Frontier Day.

Nitus nodded as she listened to K’Tal’s recommendation. “Launch the probe but don’t recall our people let’s go to emergency stations, nothing serious and signal Victoria to do the same. We can’t risk mass panic.”

The usually warm colors for the bridge were soon replaced with the yellow hue of their alert status.

Nitus wasn’t sure what this was but she knew for certain it wasn’t natural. This was something entirely new and dangerous and they needed to be ready for what came next.