The stellar sea surrounding K-74 sparkled with a swarm of yellow workbees; their tiny hulls darting back and forth between the slender sensor platforms that formed the starbase’s perimeter. Nearby, the catamaran hull of Helios floated lazily through the airless ocean as the tiny craft slipped nimbly in and out of its expansive landing bay, fetching materials and tools for their myriad of jobs. Like bees at the hive face, they buzzed about the forward and aft aspects of the ship’s rotund main hull, the air filled with the chittering conversations of the flight control team. The flight wing was a marvel to behold as they went about their business, dozens of nimbly buzzing insects dancing in balletic unison. Each second it seemed another dangerous collision was narrowly avoided as one workerbee tilted minutely upward, another downward; their pilots grinning as they passed within a hair’s breadth of each other.

Captain Tanek loved to watch the buzz of activity whenever possible. He was gifted a clear line of sight aftward from the briefing room windows, towards the ship’s internal void and over the virtual highway to the shuttle bay. It was a rare opportunity on a starship where almost all eyes pointed outward from the ship’s round main body. So much so that Tanek had unofficially adopted the briefing room as his de facto office in the last few days so that he might enjoy the spectacle of Helios’s now-busy shuttle bays whilst he worked. Each flash of yellow buoyed his heart, grateful that the crew were once again back to helping the Federation. Beneath him, the duritanium bones of Helios hummed with satisfaction to be building rather than fighting.

“Captain?”

The voice of Lieutenant Commander Nikashri stirred Tanek from his pleasurable daydreaming. With a small start, he turned to see her offering a padd across the table.

“I’m sorry Nikashri, I was completely in my own world.” He confessed, taking the proffered padd.

“It’s okay sir.” She cast a quick look towards the wide windows as a flight of worker bees departed Helios and nimbly rolled to port, narrowly missing the ship’s wide nacelle struts before disappearing into the inky black. “It is an excellent view.”

“Yes, it feels good to be doing some good again.”

“And ahead of schedule,” she nodded towards the padd that Tanek still hadn’t activated to read. “We’re fifty per cent of the way through the sensor upgrades, a few more days and we should have improved K-74’s long-range sensitivity by fifteen per cent.”

“That much?”

Nikashri nodded, the dark pattern that dotted her hairless Kelpian head catching the light. “And that’s just bringing the sensor buoys in line with our own palettes and they’re not exactly top spec anymore.”

“The old girl is certainly behind the times a bit,” Tanek sighed. In the corner of the pleasant vista, the grey shape of K-74 slowly spun on its axis, its triple-limbed hull shining with the smooth bright colour palette that spoke to the hulls of a different era; a simpler era filled with hope. It was good to be getting back to hope. “She’s a classic though, I suspect there’s a fair bit of work to bring her up to date. You and your team are to be commended!”

“Well, it was all them, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t been able to get out there and help.” Her usually positive demeanour dropped slightly, her frustration at being tied aboard ship clear.

“So we won’t be seeing you in red anytime soon?” Tanek teased with a smile. “I’m sorry for the extra admin work but with Bib and Bahir both off ship on this Pamack mission, you are next in line as temporary XO.”

“I think I’ll stick with mustard sir, I don’t mind covering for a bit but I’m not planning on redecorating Commander Bib’s office any time soon.” Nikashri turned the palms of her hands over and searched them for the normal spots of grease. “I’ve barely had to wash my hands all week.”

“If it’s any consolation, there are days when I miss the grease between my fingers.” Tanek smiled, it had been several long years since he had yellow shoulders and dirt under his fingernails after a long day’s work.

“You’re always welcome down on deck 11 sir, we’ve got a a pretty frisky deuterium injector that we can’t seem to keep in line.”

Tanek’s smile stretched almost to his ears. “I had a similar problem on Yarrow, have you tried…”

A sharp chirp interrupted the pair.

“Captain, urgent message for you. It’s Captain Molkor.”

“House Lorkoth?” Nikashri queried, her innate sense of danger already sending a shiver up her long spine.

“One of the more friendly Captains, yes,” Tanek nodded. “I only spoke to them this morning about getting some credentials confirmed for Bib’s contact.”

“And?” Nikashri shuddered again, she had only managed to read the initial brief alongside her current XO duties. A mystery asset would lead them to several missing xBs, all taking place on a pirate-infested refinery moon located in unaligned space. She could already think of a hundred ways the mission might have gone wrong.

“Apparently above board,” Tanke raised a furry eyebrow. “As much as a Klingon spy can be above board.”

The pair shared a concerned look as the desk console chirped again, a reminder of the waiting Klingon officer. With a press of the glowing button the Starfleet sigil on the wall screen was replaced with the face of Captain Molkor, the young officer’s lips pursed tightly in concern.

“Captain Molkor! I wasn’t expecting to-” Tanek began before a hand rose on the screen to silence him.

“My apologies captain, I must be quick. I can only spare a second.” The young captain had an edge to his voice, sharp as the tips of the bat’leth. The room behind Molkor was unusually dark even by Klingon standards, with several officers milling between stations with hushed whispers.

Tanek nodded his understanding. The tension aboard the Bird of Prey was palpable over the lightyears, something was clearly amiss.

“I am en route to Pamack base. I would suggest Starfleet deploy its own assets.” Molkor’s lips pursed even tighter.

“Is there a situation?” Tanek was already leaning forward, his fingers beginning to prepare a sequence of instructions into his panel. His eyes remained fixed on the Klingon, he knew the amount of information Molkor could give was limited, any hint behind the captain’s eyes might be vital.

“The credentials you requested have flagged a Defense Force memo.” Molkor rose from his seat and stepped forward in the small bridge. The screen was filled with his face, the concern now clear as day.

“The agent known as Aspis was declared a renegade after she betrayed her team on a raid to secure Borg technology almost a month ago.”

“The Empire was chasing Borg tech?” Nikashri began, her mouth falling open with surprise but the concerning implications were quickly side-lined by a wave from Tanek.

“I understand Molkor. Thank you.” Tanek pressed the small button causing the Klingon captain’s stern face to disappear, replaced with scrawling ship status information.

“I’m sorry Captain… I don’t understand.” Nikashri continued, her slack jaw reflecting the confusion that fogged her brain.

“Aspis does not work for the Empire, someone else has their hand on her leash. Most likely since before she sent the tip-off. This has all been a ploy.”

A weighty realisation landed with an ear-splitting thud against the smooth glass top of the briefing room table.

“Recall the workbees and prepare to depart as soon as possible.” Tanek was on his feet, collating the padds that covered his corner of the table as his heart sank; they had spent so little time building.

“Depart for where sir?” Nikashri asked, scooping her pile of padds into her lithe arms.

“Pamack Base, number one. The team are in grave danger.”