“Make a hole!” Frankie yelled as she and her CO jogged through the corridors in sweat pants and tank tops. The crew members that were walking shoulder to shoulder tucked to either side of the hallway, giving their command staff odd looks as they ran past.

Tiff chuckled as they got out of ear shot, “This really is better than jogging in the holodecks,” She said.

“The look of abject fear on our people’s face as we rush at them at full speed really is gratifying,” Frankie laughed as they continued running.

The two women ran quietly for a bit, and Tiffany’s eyes bounced from crew member to crew member in the corridors, taking in their faces and the tone of their voices as they passed. The liberation of Sevury had taken a heavy toll on all of them, and she knew it. She didn’t know when any of them would fully recover, but she knew they’d be there in time.

“I love it when you do this,” Frankie said after a bit.

“Do what?” Tiffany asked, looking over at her XO, confused.

“You listen. You listen with everything. Your eyes, your ears. Hell, I figure you’d listen with your taste buds if you could,” The other woman said with a chuckle.

Tiffany laughed, “I got it from my dad. He always told me you could tell everything from the faces and voices of the crew,” She explained. “I guess I never thought about it, just sort of started doing it,” She admitted.

“Nah, it’s good jefe. I love it, and it’ll do you good,” She said, giving Tiff a gentle shoulder shove as they ran. “What do you hear, boss?”

They ran on for a few moments as Tiffany considered it, “Worry.” She finally replied. “Between the return of the Jem’hadar – which no one is allowed to talk about – and the Borg trying to wipe out Earth and almost succeeding, everyone is on edge. But they’re all trying to act like everything is normal. But eyes are shifty, voices are tighter than usual. It’ll be a bit before it actually gets back to normal,” She said.

“Yeah… that seems about right,” Frankie replied with a nod. “About the same for me too, I suppose.” She offered.

Tiffany chuckled a little, “Yeah, but you roll with the punches better than most, too, XO. If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I’d probably miss it with you – MAKE A HOLE!”

The two Ensigns that were looking over a PaDD in the middle of the hallway jumped to the side to allow them through, and Tiffany chuckled again, “There’s some kind of sick pleasure in doing that, you know it? I think you’re breaking my brain,” She said with a grin at her XO.

“I’m just here to keep you on your toes, boss,” Frankie replied with a chuckle.

Tiffany’s comm badge chirped and the duo came to a halt, “Black,” She replied after tapping open the channel.

“Captain, we have an urgent message from Starfleet Command,” Blake said over the line.

“Put it through here,” She replied.

A moment later her comm badge chirped again, “Captain Black,” She said, trying to control her breathing a bit. She was trying to clock how far they’d jogged, but she was pretty sure it was over six kilometers at this point.

“Captain, this is Commander Igora from Starfleet Regional command. We have received a distress call from our colony on Terrus IX regarding a band of Orion Pirates. They’re reporting that they were attacked and that a large number of the colonists were kidnapped by the pirates. You’re the closest ship to Terrus IX and probably the only hope that those colonists have, ma’am. I’m hoping that you can render aid,” the man said quickly over the line.

“Shit,” Tiffany spat before she could stop herself. “How long ago was the attack?”

“A couple of hours since the Orions left the system. Took the colonists a while to get their transmitters repaired,” He explained.

“Understood, Commander. Notify the colony that we’re en route. Black out,” She said, tapping the comm badge, “Black to Vlex,”

“Vlex here, Captain,” Her helmsman replied.

“Change course to Terrus IX, emergency warp,” She said.

“Understood, ma’am. Emergency warp,” the channel closed.

“Sonic shower, and to the bridge, XO,” Tiffany said, already darting off toward her quarters.

“Yes ma’am, jefe! See you there!” Frankie replied with a casual salute, turning toward hers.

Tiffany gritted her teeth as she ran to her quarters. It would take them roughly three hours to get to Terrus IX and by that time the trail would be far colder than she wanted it to be. Five hours since the colonists were kidnapped… five hours in the hands of Orion pirates. She shuddered to think what they were going through.

If the Orions were involved, then a slave market would be the prisoners next stop. They’d be bought and sold like cattle, and treated worse if they couldn’t find them. But that was simply all there was to it.

She was going to find them, and she was going to bring them home.