Ensign Corwin Adler stepped through the heavy bulkhead doors that separated the USS Pulsar’s bridge with the rest of the ship, locating the figure of the Emergency Command Hologram that had bid him to report. Because the hologram had his back turned, Corwin wasn’t entirely certain of the face he was making, but something about his experience so far led him to surmise that it was some variation of a frown.

“What happened?” the Ensign asked before actually looking through the transparent aluminum into the star field that served as the backdrop and noticed that none of them were moving like they should have been, “Did we drop out of warp for something?”

The ECH turned toward the young man, his face contorted in a mixture of annoyance and confusion, “We did not drop out of warp so much as we were… suddenly unable to travel at warp.”

“Is that even possible?” Corwin asked, his face scrunched up in bewilderment.

“If this were yesterday, I would have been confident in my assessment that, no, it should not be possible. After having witnessed the phenomenon first hand, I am no longer certain of anything,” the ECH grumbled.

“Well that’s not good…” Corwin mumbled, walking a bit further onto the bridge to sit behind one of the consoles situated just aft of the Captain’s chair. Adler punched up a diagnostic readout of the warp field that should have still been intact and carrying them to their destination, looking to observe the moment it had failed. And what he was hoping to find simply wasn’t there. The field hadn’t failed, at least not in the classic sense. The ship was, in fact, still maintaining the warp field that had initially been created during their departure… but now it didn’t interact with subspace around it at all.

Corwin rubbed his eyes after looking at the readout, hoping that he’d just read the information wrong or that he’d been hallucinating… anything that might explain away the reading being right but the results being anything but what was expected by modern warp theory.

“None of this makes sense…” Corwin complained aloud, “I know I wasn’t asleep during warp field theory… How can everything be working right and we’re just sitting here?”

“I’m a command instructor, not an engineer,” the ECH retorted, “If I had been able to come to some miracle solution on my own, I wouldn’t have needed to call you back to the bridge in the first place.”

“Right…” Corwin sighed, “But according to every engineering model I’ve ever seen, there just isn’t a problem… Which is the biggest problem of all right now.”

“How astutely observed,” the hologram grumbled, “Sadly, knowing that doesn’t get us back on course, does it?”

“No…” Adler admitted, “But maybe the Engineer can help us!”

“I don’t see how, but… I suppose it’s better than just sitting here in an echo chamber,” the ECH griped, seeming none too enthusiastic about having to deal with his engineering counterpart.

“Computer, can you transfer the Engineering Hologram to the bridge, please?” the Ensign requested.

A chirp of acknowledgement followed the brief static that accompanied a hologram being constructed. Once the sound ceased, the EEH was standing in the space between the forward helm console and the Captain’s chair.

“Please state the nature of the engineering emergency,” the hologram intoned before taking notice of where he was, “Why am I here? What did you break?”

“That’s just it,” Corwin replied, “Nothing is actually broken, but we’re not moving… and we should be.”

“Let me see that,” the EEH hurried over to the console that Ens. Adler was sitting at, shooing the young man out of the chair before occupying it himself. Several hems and haws issued from the hologram, his brow drawing further and further down as he processed all the data that the ship had collected on their situation.

“Have you tried cycling the warp field?” the hologram asked.

The ECH rolled his eyes, “Don’t you think I’d have tried that already before calling the Captain up here for him to turn around and call you?”

“One can never tell with you,” the EEH groused as he shifted uncomfortably in the chair, “If that didn’t work, we may need to see if other methods of propulsion are equally impeded.”

“Oh… how about RCS thrusters? They don’t use the same power systems as the warp engines. Maybe we can start there?” Corwin suggested.

A half-smirk formed on the EEH’s lips, “It would seem that uniform you’re wearing isn’t just for show, young man, excellent troubleshooting.”

“Um… Mister ECH…” Adler started to ask.

“Say no more, Captain,” the hologram said, spinning about and taking a seat behind the CONN. A few taps on the console brought a noticeable but slow change in their position, which the ECH announced to the other two occupants of the room.

“Now we know we have some manner of propulsion, but RCS thrusters aren’t going to get us anywhere in a timeline that you’d manage to live to see the end of,” the engineer quipped.

“Let’s see if we can use the impulse engines next. They may be tied to the warp core, but impulse itself doesn’t use the same principles to generate motion,” Corwin said. This time, he didn’t need to ask the ECH to perform the task, his fingers were already moving as soon as the words left the young man’s mouth.

“It would appear that we have full use of impulse power all the way up to full, not registering any issues,” the ECH remarked after a few brief moments of silence.

“So we’re not stranded at least,” Corwin said, scraping together all the optimism he could manage, “But that still doesn’t explain what’s wrong with our warp engines…”

“No…” the EEH grumbled as he glared at the console.

“Have we received any communications from other ships in the area?” the Ensign asked after a few moments.

“Oddly enough, no… we haven’t,” the ECH said before calling up something on his console, “In fact we haven’t received any transmissions since just before the ship dropped out of warp.”

“Why is that so strange?” Corwin couldn’t help but be curious about the way the ECH had worded his last remark.

“Because we are constantly being fed information from the various information repositories around the Federation. Our database is continuously updated with the latest scientific and engineering finds, as well as updates on ship locations, mission updates, and all manner of other data that allows us to operate in such a vast interconnected galactic community. The lack of such updates is possibly more alarming than our inability to engage the warp drive,” the command hologram explained.

“Can we try to hail the nearest starbase, see if they can help us figure this out?” Corwin suggested.

The EEH brought up the communications protocols and the twin chimes that accompanied an attempted hail sounded through the compartment. If things were functioning the way they should have, a return signal would have been received long before Ensign Adler was able to notice any significant lag time. But things were already not behaving as they should, and the communications array proved to be no different.

“Much like the engines, it seems that communications are down,” the engineering hologram huffed in annoyance.

“Why would communications and warp travel be the only thing affected…” Corwin trailed off as he finally drew the comparison in his mind.

“Subspace!” both Adler and the EEH said at practically the same instant.

The ECH frowned at the two, “You two are rather oddly in sync… Care to explain for those of us in the room who don’t spend their time sniffing warp coolant?”

“Sure,” Adler smiled, “So you know how the warp field is a localized disturbance in the subspace around the ship, and that’s what propels us forward. Well, if something is impeding our ability to do that, the warp field can be more stable than any warp field in history, and it will do exactly what ours is doing right now… namely nothing. It would be different if communications were working just fine, then we’d probably still be scratching our heads trying to come up with the cause.”

“That’s an impressive bit of deduction, I admit… but how does that help us correct the problem?” the hologram asked.

“It doesn’t,” came the rather innocently delivered answer, “But at least now we know what it is.”

“Stupendous…” the ECH rolled his eyes.

“Now that we have a direction to look in, I believe I should return to Engineering and start working on a solution,” the EEH remarked, pushing himself out of the chair.

“I can come with you and try to help,” Corwin said with unbridled enthusiasm.

The EEH winced a bit, “Perhaps tomorrow… After all, it is nearly the end of the duty day for those of us with fleshy bodies… namely you.”

Corwin cocked his head to the side a bit, prompting the ECH to chime in with, “He’s correct. Out of all the crew here, you are the only one that needs to stick to a routine sleep pattern or risk it hampering your performance. Besides, didn’t you come aboard during the later portion of the day on the surface? I suspect that, should you give yourself even a moment’s pause, you’ll find that you are approaching the limit of exhaustion. We can’t have you passing out on your second day on duty, now can we?”

“Oh… yeah…” Adler nodded.

“Computer,” the EEH said as the Ensign started to sag a bit, “Transfer my program back to Main Engineering.”

The computer chimed and the figure of the engineer blurred momentarily before vanishing. Corwin turned to the remaining hologram who was still sitting at the forward console, “Are we still on course for the relay?”

“We are, indeed… though it will take roughly two weeks at full impulse to reach it,” the ECH remarked.

“That’s… a lot…” the Ensign’s face took on a pensive look.

“I’m sure the EEH will do everything he can to find a solution. His abilities are second to none, even if his personality leaves much to be desired…”

Corwin’s mouth flapped open as he thought to fire off a comment about how all of the holograms were basically identical, but he felt himself losing his nerve before it actually issued from his lips. He let out a frustrated sigh and shook the thought off, retreating to the quarters he still wasn’t sure he deserved to be in to get the sleep the two holograms seemed to believe he needed.