Caaral moved quietly through the dim blue glow as his long fingers danced over the holographic interface. The curved display surrounding him shimmered with stellar overlays. Sensor gridlines stitched across the galaxy like a spider’s silk.

He tapped to isolate the last recorded aperture coordinates. A luminous, shimmering distortion hovered in the air in front of the two officers.

“Re-center… magnify to 0.5 AU,” Caaral murmured to the Computer.

The simulation blinked… Then nothing. The aperture that he’d cataloged just seventy-two hours ago was now gone.

“Where did it go?” Caaral continued to search through information reflected in the holographic display.

The Science officer ran an automated program checking for aperture fluctuations in the area. Powerful sensors on the station analyzed gravimetric residue, neutrino dispersal and quantum shear. “Subspace oscillations are sixty-seven percent weaker,” he said in shock. “I don’t think this is anything we did. Something is happening out there.”

Watching the Ensign work, he nodded, “It is quite possible that it could of dissipated. Or just simply vanished. Nothing is known about this technology, if it is like the Borgs Subspace Apertures or if it is like a warp bubble and they have full control of it.”

Nico was feeling the hit, he was tired, and was ready for another coffee. It was late and he was ready to call it a night, but orders are orders.

Caaral had also initially been tired when he was called in. Now he found himself intrigued. “I read through as many files as I could. We’re not exactly sure how the Vaadwaur build Underspace. ”

The Science officer studied the three-dimensional map. “No wonder they called us in. This is huge! Hopefully this means the end of them around here.”

The light brown Trill hybrid stepped away from the controls, towards Nico. “My date Thyzaa was excited to meet you and your husband.” Caaral smiled as he spoke. “Whereabouts where you thinking of hanging out? I like that Andorian bar. They have dancing late, some nights.”

“Well my husband and I recently split up, my friend Meila was going to show us around.” He paused and tried to find the aperture as there was no sign of the original communication, ” I’ve lost the communication… there is no sign of it. So it must of been coming from the aperture, it acts like a wormhole. So unless it remains open, we cannot communicate through it but while it fades we can…”

The Ensign looked surprised. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Caaral tried to offer a look of reassurance. “Well yes. I suspect messages must be traveling through what’s left of Underspace.”

Caaral nodded towards the map. “But check this out. We’ve got clear space from this azimuth.. heading two-eight-seven degrees..”

The computer showed a patch of clear space. “A lot of messages are flooding in through here. You see the dark blue corridor? That’s navigational space. We are cut off, no more.”

A look of relief washed over Ensign Topaz-Smythe. “I’m going to take notes based on our findings. I’d love to take a look at the sensor logs in Ops.”

“I’m going to try and get some rest before Alpha shift. Catch you later.” Nico said.

“Sure thing. I’ll walk with you to the turbolift.” Caaral took one last look at the floating image of the star system surrounding Starbase Bravo. “Computer, shut down Astrometrics.”

Lights dimmed as the officers made their way through the exit. The whoosh of the door announced their departure.