The last fifteen minutes had passed by rather quietly expect for the reports from Lieutenant Bowman. Several more communication relays had cut out; a worrying pattern was beginning to form. It was one thing for a relay to go offline, it was another for it to vanish from sensors.

“We are approaching the Isor system.” The view screen shifted from vidid blue streaks of light to the soft inkiness of open space. “Dropping out of warp and holding at 20,000 kilometers from system edge.” Talnot cocked his head. “Curious. Navigational sensors can’t plot a path any further than Isor III. Are you seeing the same thing Maria?”

Lieutenant Maria Bowman’s hands danced across the science console with an urgency no-one on the bridge had ever seen before. “It’s not just nav sensors; all sensors register nothing 3,000 kilometers past Isor III.”

“Nothing?” Broska said while glancing at Keacen, a look of worry already crossing his face. “There is no way two planets and star disappeared.”

Bowman shook her head. “No, it’s not that something is missing it’s that there is nothing.” She pulled up the sensor scans of the system on the view screen. “Look, no readings. It’s like space doesn’t exist past that line or there is a wall blocking on sensor scans.”

“I can see the systems sun; it shining right into our view screen.” Interjected K’Vevka. “The solar system is only .63 light years from one side to the other, give or take. I don’t have the math handy but that light can’t be more than a few hours old.”

“Just over nine and a half hours old, to be precise.” Bowman sighed. “I’m confident in saying the rest of the Isor system is there but I have no idea why we can’t see it on sensors.”

“Could there be a sensor malfunction?” Aakon knew it was unlikely but the question had to be asked.

K’Vevka shook her head. “Everything is showing in the green. It’d also be a hell of an odd malfunction.”

Aakon nodded. “I agree. Any out of the norm readings in the system?”

Bowman nodded, a look of puzzlement on her face. “The area around the wall, for lack of a better term, is pretty unremarkable. The wall itself? Different story. Lots of subspace distortions. I don’t think we could maintain a warp field if we wanted to break through it; impulse would be dicy as well. We can’t even fly under or over it, so to speak. This thing is pretty massive on all axises.”

“She’s right.” Chimed in K’Vevka. “No way we could form or maintain a warp field in that mess.”

“Resnik‘s sensors aren’t calibrated for detailed subspace readings so I can’t give you anything other than the basics but there is no way we are going to get through whatever that is. Nothing is. Sensor scans, communications, ships. None of it.”

Aakon leaned back in his chair. The pieces of the puzzle before them didn’t quite fit together; communication stations and relays going dark, ships dropping out of contact, this ‘wall’. It felt like they had the edges of the puzzle put together but the middle was missing.

A series of sharp trills emitting from multiple consoles shifted the energy on the bridge.

“Another subspace wall has formed.” Bowman frantically tapped at her console. “4,400 kilometers to port. Same composition as the one off our bow.”

Broska stood, making her way to the tactical console. “It just appeared? Without warning?”

“Aye, ma’am.” Bowman shook her head. “I don’t understand. There was no warning.”

Broska took up a position next to Rutledge at the tactical console. It had been her post before he had moved up to the executive officer role; it felt like home during a crisis. “Were there any signs of ships in the system before that happened?”

Rutledge shook his head; long brown hair falling in front of his vision before he pushed it away. “Nothing ma’am. There aren’t any ships in sensor range.”

Another series of angry trills sounded from multiple points on the bridge.

“We’ve got another subspace wall.” Bowman let out a soft sigh of relief as the readings came in. “This one is .3 lightyears off our starboard.” She told herself that wasn’t as bad the one that just appeared right next to them; she didn’t quite believe herself.

Isabella stared a look with Aakon. “Captain, we’re getting boxed in. This feels….”

“Like it’s on purpose.” He finished her sentence for her. “Red alert. Commander Shalnor, contact DS-17 and inform them of our findings. Move us away from the system Mr. Bernan.”

The lights shifted down as a flood of red shadows filled the bridge, klaxon wailing at just the right frequency to get under everyone’s skin.

“Aye, sir.” The Bajoran swung the ship to starboard, completing a 180 degree turn before pushing the engines to full impulse.

A soft beep sounded from the tactical console, a sound almost lost in the commotion of everything. “Sirs, I’ve lost our uplink to Starfleet Command.” Rutledge stared at the console, the little red light in the corner blinking.

“Confirmed.” Bowman saw the same little red light on her console.

Broska had sat back down in her chair; she turned to face Aakon. “Captain, this has to be deliberate. We’re being cut off, isolated.”

Aakson sighed, rubbing his forehead. “It’s easy jump to that conclusion Izzy and yes, it is suspicious but we don’t have the complete picture. For all we know the distortions are local to this sector; besides, how many random subspace mishaps have happened with no ill intent? It’s not uncommon. This far out loosing our uplink with Starfleet Command while subspace distortions are popping out left and right isn’t out of place. Space is weird, to put it simply.”

He had a point. She’d spend her entire career in security and tactical; she knew she jumped into that mindset too often. This felt different. Very different. “I hope you’re correct, sir.”

“I’m getting a response from DS-17. It’s priority one, text only.” K’Vevka announced.

“Put it through to my chair console.”

The Andorian nodded. “Yes sir.”

Aakon’s eyes scrolled through the wall of text, the color draining from his face.

….AUTOMATED RESPONSE……

PROTOCOL SIERRA – TANGO – 8831 IN EFFECT

CONTACT LOST WITH SOL SYSTEM

CONTACT LOST WITH FEDERATION CORE SYSTEMS

CONTACT LOST WITH LARGE SECTIONS OF ALPHA/BETA QUADRANTS

SITUATION CHANGING RAPIDLY – AVOID SUBSPACE DISTORTIONS

REMAIN IN LOCATION IF SUBSPACE DISTORTIONS BLOCK VESSEL IN – AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS

INDEPENDENT ACTION AUTHORIZED IF CONTACT LOST

IF ABLE, RETURN TO DEEP SPACE 17 OR NEAREST STARFLEET BASE – SPEED RESTRICTIONS LIFTED

GODSPEED

…..AUTOMATED MESSAGE ENDS…..

“Captain?”

Aakon raised his head and turned to face her; the expression his face saying everything. “We need to get back to DS17. Now. Send an alert to all crew, I’ll be addressing them shortly. Lieutenant Bernan, set course for DS17. Warp 9.7. Engage when plotted.”

The Bajoran turned to face the Captain. “We won’t be able to hold that speed for long; that’s bumping up on our emergency speed.”

“I’m aware. Do it.”

“Aye.” He turned back around, a quizzical look on his face. “As of right now we have a clear path back to DS17. Not sure if that’ll hold but we’ll arrive in 4 hours if we don’t have to reroute.” With a few simple commands the ships jumped to high warp, the viewscreen a chaotic picture filled with shades of blues.

Broska tapped out a few simple commands on her console to alert that crew to expect some sort of announcement from the Captain. She already felt the adrenaline slipping into her bloodstream. She was right, something bigger had happened.

This was different.