Captain Kirok Skyrunner woke up before the computer beeped. He turned his head to see his beautiful wife still asleep. He carefully slipped out of bed and walked into the living area of the quarters. He thought of making his wife her favorite breakfast to kinda celebrate what they accomplished. The aftermath of the Vaadwaur invasion, her coping with the loss of her first ship and crew. The general inquiry she had to go through from that.

He thought that he went through alot, from the death of his parents when he was at the Academy and the death of his first crush, but he realized that his wife actually has been through more. He stood there for a few minutes, just thinking of her, of her accomplishments, her trials. He felt so lucky to have her in his life. His life has been a trial, which he counts himself lucky to have gotten this far in life. He wonders sometimes where he would be if he did not meet Sophia in the Academy.

He went to the replicator and ordered the computer to give him the ingredients he needed to make her breakfast, and a large pot of black coffee for himself. The replicator shimmered for a few seconds and the food appeared. He grabbed the ingredients and put them on the counter, then went back for the pot of coffee. He grabbed two Starfleet issued mugs and filled one for himself. He took a sip of the strong black raktajino, savoring the bold flavor. He started working on making breakfast. As he started working, he heard a moan come from the bedroom. He looked up, towards the bedroom.

“That better be very good coffee I’m smelling or someone is going to the brig,” Sophia said loudly, half awake.

She stepped into the doorway, only a crippled bedsheet covering her shapely body.

“Good morning baby,” Kirok said to her warmly.

Sophia slowly walked towards him, in a seductively attractive way. Her eyes were locked on his. She sat at the table, the bedsheet wrapped around her just right to not show off too much but enough to be enticing. Kirok filled her mug full of raktajino and set it in front of her. Kirok leaned down and softly kissed his beautiful wife on the top of her head. She took a long sip, savoring the flavor and letting it wake her up. He went back to making breakfast for them.

“Baby, you sure know how to wake me up in the morning,” she said to him lovingly, eating a fresh strawberry from the fruit bowl on the table.

Kirok finished cooking the meal and served it up. He brought two plates over, setting them on the table. He sat next to her and they ate happily together and talked about what they were going to do today as they both returned to duty.

“We will need to officially inspect the new Sickbay module to see if it meets my specifications,” Kirok said, finishing his food.

“Good. I’m anxious to get back out into space,” Sophia said.

“Bridge to Captain Skyrunner,” the intercom blurted out.

Kirok stopped sipping his coffee, looked his beautiful wife in her eyes, and tapped his comm badge.

“Skyrunner here.”

“Sir, incoming communication from Starfleet Command, Priority 1.”

Kirok and Sophia looked into each other’s eyes.

“Send it through Lieutenant.”

Kirok and Sophia both stood up and walked to his desk. Kirok sat in the chair and Sophia stood behind him. The Starfleet Command emblem showed on the screen, then winked out and was replaced by an Admiral’s face. The Admiral gave a slight smile as he saw both captains on his screen.

“Captains Skyrunner and Rodriguez. Welcome back from Shore Leave. I heard you two had fun,” the Admiral stated.

Kirok and Sophia smiled back at the Admiral. Sophia put her hand on his shoulder and he reached up and put his hand on top of hers.

“Yes Admiral, we did. What brings you to call us,” Sophia said.

The Admiral’s face hardened, becoming serious.

“Starfleet Intelligence just informed us that a previously unreachable area, called the Shackleton Expanse, which is far beyond the Klingon Empire, has now become reachable and explorable. I’m sending you there on an exploratory mission.”

The Admiral pauses and looks at a PADD in his hand, tapping in commands. Kirok looks over his shoulder to Sophia, an unspoken question asked. Then the Admiral looks at the Captains again.

“Your orders are to leave Starbase 72 as soon as your ship is ready. Once you leave Starbase 72, immediately head for the Vadia system. Check in with the friendly Borg station there, at the mouth of the stable transwarp conduit and dock with Framheim Station to resupply and receive specific orders. Any questions Captains?”

Kirok looked up at Sophia, who asked the big question.

“Why there and what’s so special about this area?”

“The Shackleton Expanse, which is almost 100 light years across, was saturated with subspace disturbances that highly affected warp travel. Top speed was warp 2, which made interstellar travel to months or years. The collapse of the Blackout has somehow removed all those subspace disturbances and allowed free warp travel in that region. Starfleet Command has been eager to get back to its core values of peaceful exploration and meeting new life…and new civilizations. Captains Skyrunner and Rodriguez…this is your chance to boldly go where no human has gone before.”

Kirok and Sophia locked eyes and smiled. Kirok looked back to the Admiral.

“The USS Carlsbad is eager for this mission. We need to do a final inspection of the new Sickbay module and pick up new crew members,” Kirok was saying, then Sophia interrupted.

“Admiral, we are missing our Operations Officer and Chief Engineer. They were headed back to Starbase 72 from their Shore Leave on Earth.”

The Admiral tapped a few keys, then responded.

“I just received this message from Intelligence that one of their automated monitoring stations recorded a high energy signature, similar to that of a breached Federation warp core,” the Admiral said, tapping more buttons. “I just sent you the report and the coordinates. You can head there first and find your missing officers, then carry out your primary mission.”

Kirok nodded as Sophia tapped commands into the desk computer.

“Report and coordinates received Admiral. Carlsbad will be leaving within the hours. Skyrunner out.”

The screen went blank and dark. Kirok stood up and faced his First Officer. Sophia knew what he was gonna say, nodding to him. She tapped her comm badge.

“Rodriguez to Bridge, prepare to depart Starbase 72. Engineering, bring all systems online and to full readiness. All hands, departure stations.”

Kirok smiled at her.

“We work as a great team.”

Sophia took his hand in hers, leading him out of their quarters, a big grin on her face, as they stepped into a turbo lift.

“Bridge,” she said to the computer, then looked at Kirok, kissing his cheek, “yes we do. Now let’s go find Aramis and Catersha.”