“Have we heard anything from Vox?” Admiral Reyes asked. “They should have wrapped up by now.” At 1810, the Diligent had sent notice they were about to transit the aperture rimward of Dreon. That was twenty minutes ago. If everything had gone to plan, they should have called by now to report the successful destruction of the Cardassian array.

“Not a thing,” Captain Devreux replied. He could see the stress on her face. “It’s probably just an issue with the link.” Captain Lewis had reported that the Cardassian array was unguarded and unmanned, so the most likely explanation to the silence was that their piggyback atop the probe carrier frequency wasn’t holding up in the turbulence of the Underspace.

“What about from Lewis or Lee?” Admiral Reyes continued. The last communique from the Serenity and the Ingenuity, over half an hour prior, had been that they were following the Cardassians through another aperture. By now, they should have been calling to report coordinates for another target, just as they had with the previous ones they’d identified.

“Nothing from them yet either,” Captain Devreux shook his head. “But we need to give it some time.” What more could they do? 

“Yeah, I’m really not a fan of that,” Admiral Reyes frowned. It was eating at her that she was sitting here, coordinating the operations of others, rather than in the fray herself. She would have taken the Polaris though, but they’d needed to remain in orbit to stand down operations on Vespara Prime now that the planet had been saved.

A chime at Devreux’s console drew their attention. “Well, it seems like the universe answered your demands,” he chuckled. “I’ve got an incoming signal from the Diligent coming over the Starfleet subspace relay network.”

“Our traditional network?” Admiral Reyes clarified. Because the Underspace had taken them far beyond Federation infrastructure, they’d devised a mechanism that used the Cardassian probes within the Underspace itself to convey their signal. If Captain Vox was calling over the traditional Starfleet network, it meant that, rather than following up on Captain Lewis’ next target, which lay two thousand light years beyond Federation space, he’d instead followed a corridor back into Federation space. What was going on?

“Yep, looks like it,” Captain Devreux nodded. “Patching it through now.”

A moment later, the face of Captain Vox appeared on the main viewer. There was a look of concern awash across his face. “What’s going on, Captain?” Admiral Reyes asked, cutting straight to the chase as it was uncommon to see the seasoned frontier commander look even moderately frazzled after all he’d faced in the borderlands.

“On the positive front, the operation to destroy the array was successful.”

That was good, at least, but his phrasing indicated there was more. “And on the negative front?” Admiral Reyes asked.

“The Cardassians were waiting for us, and General Golroth couldn’t hold himself back from engaging them in an all-out firefight.”

That was definitely not good. “Did we participate in that firefight?” Admiral Reyes asked warily. Destroying unmanned arrays was one thing, but killing Cardassians was another. Once blood was spilled, it would become significantly more challenging to get off with simple monetary reparations for a ‘misunderstanding’ in the aftermath.

“No ma’am. We stuck to our rules of engagement and retreated into the Underspace, leaving the Klingons to duke it out with the Union.”

“That’s good, at least,” Admiral Reyes sighed, her mind already racing to define the excuse they’d use when the Union lodged a formal diplomatic complaint. They could say they didn’t know what the Klingons intended to do, and that they bailed the moment the Empire’s true intentions were revealed – which was mostly true. “Do you have any idea what became of General Golroth’s assault wing?” She didn’t say it, but she secretly hoped for the complete destruction of the Cardassian ships. If there were no witnesses and no reports, it was possible this could go down as just another unsolved mystery.

“No idea… but ma’am, as we were fleeing back through the aperture, we almost collided with an entire task force of Cardassian warships headed for the aperture in the Thomar Expanse. They knew we were coming, and while the General might have had a formidable force, but I wouldn’t bet on him. Not against what we saw going through.”

“You guys got out clean though?”

“Correct. The Cardassian QRF was clearly more focused on reaching the battle. Besides almost colliding with their armada, we got out scot free.”

“So what’s your status now?” Admiral Reyes asked, debating the order she’d give next. It would be risky, in light of this new development, to continue to press forward with their operation to stop the Cardassians. If they did, it would invalidate any claim to ignorance over the Klingon’s intentions. “Are you preparing to hit the next target?”

“And that’s where we hit another snag, ma’am… you see, shortly before we called, we detected a shift in the Underspace itself. Something’s wrong with it. We don’t have a Luke Lockwood or a Tom Brooks to explain it to us, but it appears the corridors are destabilizing.”

As if on queue, Dr. Lockwood and Dr. Brooks, the two leading astrophysicists from the Advanced Science, Technology, and Research Activity, emerged from the turbolift onto the bridge of the USS Polaris.

“The Captain is not incorrect,” Dr. Lockwood said without skipping a beat as he approached the command island. “The Underspace is becoming unstable.” He handed a PADD over to the Admiral. “By the massive shifts in tetryonic resonance we are detecting from the aperture here in Vespara, it’s safe to surmise that the Cardassians have put their plan in motion.”

The Admiral looked over at Dr. Brooks for a second opinion.

“The Underspace is headed for collapse,” Dr. Brooks concurred.

“Did you hear that, Captain?” Admiral Reyes asked.

“I did.”

“Where are you now?”

“We’re at the mouth of an aperture between Handl Dryf and Janoor III.”

“Good,” Dr. Lockwood ordered without waiting for the Admiral to do so. “You should plan to return to the Vespara system via conventional warp power only. Do not – I repeat – do not use the aperture to get back here.” There was an uncharacteristic sense of concern in his voice.

“It’s a long journey.”

“Yes, but a safe one,” Dr. Brooks added, his tone equally grave. “Any attempt to return through the Underspace might not end well for you, Captain.” Their models couldn’t fully predict what would happen as the Underspace collapsed, but the recession of those compressed foliations of subspace were guaranteed to carry potential energy far beyond anything a Starfleet vessel could survive if it was still within one of the corridors at that time.

“Understood.”

The Captain might not have understood the mechanics, but he understood what they were saying. The Underspace, unless something changed again, was no longer a safe option. And really, had it ever been? They were playing with science they hardly understood. But then his mind wandered to his colleagues, the frontrunners who were far further out into the labyrinth flagging targets for them.

“What about Lewis and Lee? Are they aware?”

Shit, Admiral Reyes thought to herself. In the fury of new developments, she’d momentarily forgotten about them. They were still out there somewhere. “We haven’t heard from them since you engaged the Cardassians.”

“What was their last known location?”

Immediately, Admiral Reyes knew where he was going with his question. “No, Dorian.” She knew what he was thinking. She knew the look in his eyes. It was the same she would have had if their roles had been reversed. But they weren’t. She was sitting here, too far away to do anything herself, and in that reality, she had a sense of clarity he did not. “Just no.”

“Why not? We can get to them…”

Admiral Reyes looked over at her astrophysicists, desperately hoping they might give her some assurance that she could release Captain Vox to go find the Serenity and the Ingenuity even though the facts before her suggested that was not an option.

“There would not be enough time to get to them and get back,” Dr. Lockwood shook his head. “Not before the Underspace collapses. You most certainly don’t want to be in there when it does.” And if they managed to escape another aperture in time, who knew where they’d be. At least now, they were within Federation territory, even if on the far side of it.

“Tom, any alternate perspectives here?” Admiral Reyes asked. Where Dr. Lockwood was known to root his opinion purely in the mathematics, Dr. Brooks was willing to go deeper into theory.

“I’m afraid not, Allison,” Dr. Brooks frowned. “We don’t even know the present position of the Serenity and the Ingenuity. It’d be like hunting for a needle in a haystack after lighting the haystack on fire.”

It was a grim analogy, but one that made complete sense. “There’s no time, Dorian,” Admiral Reyes concluded, her tone heartfelt and full of regret. She knew how he’d feel hearing it, for she felt the same saying it. “You’ve got six hundred and fifty sailors to worry about, and for all we know, the Serenity and the Ingenuity may already be safely out of the Underspace somewhere.” 

“Admiral…”

“Captain, I gave you an order,” Admiral Reyes interrupted. “And I expect it followed.” Her voice did not waiver, and it was clear from her tone that this was not up for debate. Sometimes you just had to stomach the worst of decisions. That was the burden of command.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Then we’ll see you when you get back via warp travel only. Polaris out.”

As the link closed, there was a stunned silence on the bridge. Had the Admiral just ordered the Diligent to leave their friends and colleagues behind? To not try and pull off a daring rescue of the Serenity and the Ingenuity? After all Polaris Squadron had been through together, it was almost unfathomable – but, if they were honest with themselves, they too knew it was the only rational choice.

“Gérard, the bridge is yours,” Admiral Reyes said as she retreated off the command island. It hurt to her core to give that order, and she had no intention of discussing it further. “I’ll be in my Ready Room. Notify me if we hear so much as a peep from Lewis or Lee.”

Without waiting for a reply, she crossed the bridge and stepped into her Ready Room. 

As the doors closed behind her, she was left in silence. Silence with only her thoughts. She hated herself for what she’d just done. But what else could she have done?

A moment later, her door chimed.

She didn’t answer it.

It chimed again.

Still, she didn’t answer it.

And then it chimed a third time.

“Fuck, alright already… come!”

Tom Brooks, the aged physicist, stepped through the door. While he wore the uniform of a science officer and the pips of a Commander, he wasn’t like Luke Lockwood or the rest of the theoreticians from the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity. He’d been through things and seen things the others had not. Since their time together on Earth, they’d forged a bond that went beyond rank and position.

“Was I wrong, Tom?” Admiral Reyes asked as her eyes fell to the floor in a moment of vulnerability. She knew how close Dr. Brooks and Captain Lewis were. They’d served together decades past, and it was the trust they had in each other that had seen them through Frontier Day. “He’s your friend as much as he’s mine.”

“I supported you out there, and I still do,” Dr. Brooks replied calmly as he locked eyes with her. “They’ll be alright.”

“The Serenity‘s last check-in put it six thousand light years from Federation space,” Admiral Reyes reminded him. “That’s a long way, and that’s even figuring they got out in one piece.”

“You made the right choice,” Dr. Brooks assured her. “The only choice. What were you to do? Send Dorian to blindly hunt through the labyrinth as it fell apart around him?”

“I may have doomed four hundred and twenty officers to their death,” Admiral Reyes sighed. It wouldn’t have been the first time either. Nine hundred and twenty eight on Nasera – or nine hundred and twenty nine if you counted Lieutenant Morgan, the operator who took his life later. And so many more over Earth, and in so many other conflicts going back decades. But in those conflicts, they’d been fighting for something. Here, they were just playing with exotic science that truthfully they could barely understand. Were they like Icarus? Had they flown too close to the sun?

“But you saved six hundred and fifty,” Dr. Brooks reminded her. “And millions of colonists on Vespara Prime.” He could see though that the optimistic reframing was having no effect, so he shifted gears. “But be glad it is Captain Lewis out there.” 

She looked up at him confused.

“Because if there’s one thing we know about Captain Lewis,” Dr. Brooks smiled. “It’s that, after all the attempts the Universe has made on his life, if anyone can handle it and come out the other side, it’s him.”