The Shadows in Underspace

Prologue

Underspace. Underspace was a complex network of corridors and passageways, enabling those familiar with it to cover vast distances quickly. The data from the USS Voyager’s contact with it and the Turei confirms this. Mission logs from Voyager also state that the Vaadwaur claim to have mapped the corridors and committed every inch to memory.

Underspace

A single ship cruised effortlessly through the maze and hidden corridors of the Underspace. Its single purpose was to head for an outpost that was under construction in a portion of the Underspace close to a section of space in the Beta Quadrant, Archanis.

As the craft banked and rolled within the tunnel-like corridor that it was in, a massive structure loomed in the distance. The commanding officer of that craft turned his head to look at one of the craft’s crew. “Bring our speed down to one-quarter impulse as soon as we are within one thousand kilometers.” The pilot grunted and entered the required information into the system.

When the sleek craft entered at the desired distance, the warp bubble dropped, and the impulse drive took over. Moving slowly toward the looming central spire, a massive explosion of energy erupted from the top of the spire and radiated out in all directions, its purple hues waving as it dispersed. Nothing in subspace would function now that the Vaadwaur had begun to blanket the galaxy in a total blackout.

As soon as the craft came within a few hundred meters of the central spire, an umbilical started to creep away from it. It connected with the craft with a subtle metallic clank and began to pressurize the connections. Moments later, the hatches between the outpost and the craft hissed and raised, and crewmembers of the craft started to exit onto the promenade.

As crewmembers flowed onto the promenade from the craft, two figures stood out from the rest. Their uniforms are crisper and tidier than those of the rest of the crew, who have patchwork on various portions of their uniforms. The two figures walked away from the promenade; they headed for the closest lift that would take them up to the command center of the outpost. After all, they were ordered to take control of this portion of space as soon as possible.

Central Command Spire

A hiss echoed in the nearly empty main room of the command spire. Two pairs of eyes looked up from consoles that held no significant importance to the main purpose of the outpost. What that was was classified, and only the council and those deemed worthy knew the true purpose of this outpost and those like it.

The pair of eyes stood up and nodded to the two new Vaadwaur that had entered.
“Captain Thalos,” one of the personnel said as they looked over at the other person in the room.

“I believe there is a message from the War Council,” Thalos said as he indicated a blinking icon behind the two Vaadwaur station personnel. One of them turned their head and nodded. “It seems so.”

“Have you checked it?” Thalos asked as the other Vaadwaur officer, who was with him, walked past, heading for the blinking icon.

Dranik tapped the icon and read the heading. “It appears to be plans for our eyes only,” she stated as she looked back at Thalos.

As soon as the room door hissed shut and the sound of the elevator activated, Thalos tapped the icon. Two holo projectors activated: “Captain Thalos and Lieutenant Dranik.” The recording of an older Vaadwaur started.

After several minutes of listening to the recorded message and the projectors finally going silent, Thalos looked over the star charts of the indicated Beta Quadrant sector. They were near the Archanis Sector. He could see the tactical and strategic value that this sector held; it was also under the Blackout event currently, so any help that either the Federation or the Klingons sent would be of no use. But something didn’t sit right with him as he looked at the sector. Something gnawed at the back of his mind, trying to surface.

Turning his attention to his second in command, “What about this sector seems off?”

Dranik glanced down at the chart after she set down her cup. She focused on the data, her mind racing as she recalled everything she had studied about Archanis or read in passing. “The most recent event in this sector occurred on the planet Archanis IV, where a team comprised of Federation members and local militia fought against a rogue Klingon house,” she explained, tapping on the chart to highlight the planet in question. “According to the information, a Federation Captain successfully captured a Strike Force Captain from that house after his forces were defeated.”

Thalos looked at the planet and the information that was being displayed. “Who was the Klingon captain?”

“Atsak Runtoh,” she said as she tapped on a monitor and flicked her wrist, sending the information to the chart, which included a recent picture of the dishonored and disgraced Klingon.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Thalos’ mind, and a grin crossed his lips as the thought became more and more amusing. Dranik cocked her head to the side when she saw the grin on his face.

“What’s with the grin?” She asked her superior officer.

Thalos just kept grinning before he spoke, “We’re going to rescue that Klingon from the prison camp that he is being held in.”

Dranik’s forehead creased as she thought about his idea. “And just how do you expect to pull that off?” she asked.

“Simple, since it appears that all of the ships in this area depend on subspace to traverse the areas, and since we have activated the Blackout devices all over the galaxy and our ships are not reliant on just the subspace to move through space,” he hinted to the Underspace corridors, “we could effectively go to wherever this Klingon prisoner is and break him out.”

Dranik looked over Thalos’ idea and shook her head. “You do realize that unless the prison camp is understaffed because of the blackout, we could be heading into a situation that is more than our forces can handle.”

Thalos’ eyes narrowed at his subordinate. “Are you suggesting that we don’t risk this, Lieutenant?”

“No, Captain, I am suggesting that we make certain that the risk is an acceptable one that favors us.” Dranik’s voice was calm and neutral as she spoke to Thalos. She knew the captain’s temper and what he did to those who tried to challenge anything that he thought of.

“If you are scared, Vesh, then you can stay here while I take our forces and rescue a potential ally.” His voice held no room for judgment as he spoke to her.

“Of course,” Dranik replied as she took a small step back, a sign of respect for her superior officer. “I still think that you should consider my suggestions, sir,” she said as she turned for the elevator doors.

As soon as the doors closed and the Dranik had left, Thalos looked at what had been presented by his second. Her thoughts had merit, even though he knew that this kind of risk was more than acceptable in the eyes of the War Council. Still, he looked over her risk assessment and couldn’t deny it; they needed intel on the prison camp.

Dranik stood near the central spire’s cargo bay’s main hangar supervising several Vaadwaur that were loading up crates of supplies for the scout when she heard the telltale sound of the elevator hiss. She wasn’t expecting Thalos to come down to the cargo portion of the spire, so when he emerged from the elevator, it caught her off guard.

“Sir?”

Thalos nodded to her as he stood next to her, looking out over the workers. “You were right.” He admitted. “We do need more information on the prison camp; however, we need to be discreet about it so as to not alert anyone of our presence there.” He looked at her. “So I am giving you this mission.”

Dranik looked at Thalos. “You’re kidding me, sir.”

Thalos shook his head. “You have ten minutes to gather what gear you need and be ready to board the Relai.”

Dranik nodded her head and headed for the elevator. She knew exactly what she was going to need and began gathering it.