Several Hours Earlier…

“All hands, this is the Commander…”

Stood at the heart of the Columbia bridge, hands on her hips and glaring at the ominous sight before them, Noli Auru pondered her next words carefully. Around her, the bridge crew and their able deputies beavered away, already working on her orders, but she still needed to inform the rest of the crew of their situation. Around the ship, officers and civilians alike stopped in their tracks to listen to the words of their acting commanding officer, the woman who would guide them through their trying times.

“Despite what we have been led to believe in recent months, sensors have located an active Underspace aperture,” she informed the rest of the crew, watching the anomaly on the main viewer. “It is my intention to investigate this aperture and see if we can determine its exit point. If we can find a way to any star system closer to home, it is my duty to get you there.”

While she was speaking, the Commander noticed something she hadn’t felt in a while – tears. As her eyes welled up, she pulled her sleeve to her face and wiped them away, smoothly and unseen by her busy colleagues. All except her best friend, who had instantly detected the slight quiver in the Blonde Bombshell’s tone.

A deep breath and some steadying words inward and she continued.

“We don’t know enough about his strange phenomenon that has left us without any form of long-range contact or travel to be able to find a workaround. Without warp drive, we’ll be out here for decades, maybe centuries. Who knows when we may come across another friendly face,” Noli’s voice was steely now, determined. “We have to take this risk or we may never see our homes, or our loved ones, ever again.”

That was enough. She reached down to the controls on the chair’s arm and terminated the comm channel. Looking up, she locked eyes momentarily with Prida, who gave her the trademark head bob of encouragement she was so known for.

“Okay people,” she called out, standing upright once more. “Updates.”

“Propulsion systems fully functioning Captain,” Flyboy told from the CONN. He knew that they were mostly useless for now as much as the Commander, but he was ready for anything and just as eager to get out of their predicament.

“We’ve scanned the aperture and, using what information we have in our database, we’ve tried finding out where the Underspace tunnel will lead,” Onsas told them, head bowed regretfully. “We’ve been unable to ascertain its endpoint.”

“Meaning it’s too risky,” Vash stood beside the science chief, arms folded as she looked towards the CO, offering her advice as the acting XO.

“To hell with risk,” Linn Mora leant on the tactical station and looked around the group. “We can’t just sit out here, for years, doing nothing. We have to try.”

Noli caught the Bolian’s gaze and could see the emotion he felt. Of course he felt it most. He had a family at home, small children he had to get back to.

“If I may,” the Vulcan spun. in his chair at Ops and looked around the crowd. All fell silent, listening to the wise, pointy-eared Ops chief as they always did. “To enter the aperture with no indication where it may end would be highly illogical,” T’Kir told, “but if we stay here, it is possible we will all die on this ship anyway.”

“T’Kir…” Vash looked gobsmacked. Of all the people on the crew that she expected to go along with this plan, T’Kir was the last on her list, the last that she expected to voice for chaos.

As a debate began to heat up between the senior staff and their deputies, Noli stood silent in the centre. Words began to fade until they were just background noise, her attention drawn to the swirling aperture on the main viewer once again.

“Fuck it. Let’s do this…”

Complete silence was instantaneous. Every eye in the room trained on the Bajoran at its core, her eyes glued to the screen, visibly oblivious of the world around her but very mindful of what she had heard.

“I am not going to be the person that strands you all out here and signs your death warrants,” Noli told them sternly, yet feeling clearer than she had in an age. “We’re not going to spend the next hundred years chugging along at full impulse. We’re leaving. Now,” she concluded, snapping her fingers and dismissing her staff without further conversation or doubt.

There were no protests, no celebrations. Columbia’s senior most staff simply went about their orders, preparing the ship for travel through the aperture. Those that had never done so before sought advice from those colleagues that had. Engineering worked with Ops to shore up all of the defensive systems and provide as safe and comfortable a journey as possible. Tactical has weapons on standby in the event they came across any obstacles that needed clearing. Science supported Flight with preparing the journey as best they could, and would be on hand to provide as detailed a course heading as possible once they entered the vortex.

“Alright Flyboy,” Noli smiled a short while later. “You’re in control. Anything you need, the rest of us will provide.”

A nod of appreciation accompanied a long, deep breath from Commander Mitchell. Rubbing his hands together, the human turned back to his station and slowly started inputting commands.

Under the careful control of her navigator, Columbia inched forward. It didn’t take long for the gravimetric distortions to grip the Galaxy’s forward hull, shaking the behemoth enough for the inertial stabilisers to be adjusted to steady her.

“Entering the aperture in 3… 2… 1…”

The starscape around the ship vanished, instantly replaced by the swirling creams and browns of the Underspace corridor. Henry piloted with surprising finesse, ensuring their journey was as smooth as it could possibly be. He fought through small debris fields, with slight impacts on the forward shields proving to be no match for the vessel’s momentum. Nothing was going to stop them with Henry at the CONN.

Almost ten minutes in, Onsas looked up from his station. “Sensors detecting three exit apertures in closing distance,” the hulking Xelliat barked. “Using what we know, I’ve been able to ascertain that the first leads to the Delta Quadrant. I believe the second leads to the Klingon frontier. The final one leads…”

He trailed off long enough for Noli to turn in her chair and glare at him.

“I believe it leads to the core systems,” he grinned as largely as he could. “Andoria, to be precise.”

“Verify that,” Noli ordered to anyone that could hear her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Onsas, and he understood that. This was a massive move and if, by some fortune, they would arrive as close to ‘home’ as they could hope for, she needed to be sure before pushing the proverbial emergency exit button.

Vash joined Onsas at the science station, along with Mitchell’s deputy, Lieutenant th’Zorati. Together, strategist and pilot worked with the science chief to try and confirm his findings.

“If we’re taking that aperture, I need confirmation sharpish or we will miss our stop,” Henry called back, his eyes laser focused on the helm.

“You have confirmation,” Vash replied seconds later. “We should be dumped out just a short distance from Starbase 7 itself.”

“Henry…”

“Already adjusting course, Captain,” the pilot grinned. As far as journey’s like this went, there’s was proving short and smooth, surprisingly uneventful.

But with the crew fully focused on where they were headed, no one had thought to check the sensor readings behind the ship. If they had, someone would have likely noticed a dozen or more small objects travelling the corridor themselves. Pointed, dark and nimble, the small craft blended in with the debris travelling the ancient network.

And they were in pursuit of a new, much larger target…