The Ministry of Defence had been watching the threat since they crossed the border into Kolar territory. As soon as they entered the defence perimeter, General Dar and his staff had been closely tracking them. Acting quickly, he had ships try to silently follow under cloak and even pulled together a blockade to confront them when they got too close for comfort. All ships that intercepted or even came in range of their visitors had gone off the grid with no way of knowing if they were destroyed or disabled. They entered as a curiosity and already they’d been listed as a threat.

When it was clear they were heading for Sakaria he consulted with the Prime Minister to mobilise a task force to meet them on home ground. Led by his own ship, the flagship of all the MOD forces, the bulk of his task force consisted of the Black Order; combat specialists.

The Black Order were on constant alert. If they weren’t mobilised, they were training. Every hour of every day. While the White Order was an army with a diverse range of skill and purpose, the Black Order was there to kill and conquer. With most of their operations highly classified affairs, they were the Kolar’s best kept secret. They were known by rumour and speculation which often more effective in keeping peace than any other force the MOD had to hand. The Kolar would never admit it openly, but the Black Order often kept the peace through fear.

Before being chosen as the Chief of Staff for the MOD, Dar had worked within the Black Order for over two centuries. Like most of the soldiers in the force being dubbed ‘the elite’ had gone to his head. They all considered themselves a cut above the White Order, the Orr’sal, even the intelligence specialists the Blue Order. Most of them acted as if they were above the law. Dar was no different.

Under the uncomfortable political persona he’d been force to adopt in his role, at heart he was a shameless and highly trained killer. Dar had lost count of how many men he’d killed in hand to hand combat while he was a soldier and he couldn’t begin to imagine how many had died in interstellar combat, or even through orders he’d issued. He’d grown indifferent to it all. People lived. People died. Who cared? As long as Sakaria was still strong at the end of it all he’d kill the entire quadrant. It didn’t make a difference to him. In his mind it made him a patriot. Though more often than not there were far more selfish motivations.

When he saw twelve contacts flashing on the tactical screen there was no display of worry or concern. No panic that ships had fallen to them already and they were still coming. The crew felt at ease seeing their General acting so relaxed towards the threat. But as Dar strolled around the operations desk, his eyes darting to the officers around him, all he could think of was how easy it would be to pick them off one by one. Who would give him the most resistance. Who would submit the quickest. It seemed all too easy.

“The contacts have stopped at Sha Ka Ree’s perimeter.” The voice of the ships commander, Colonel Sha’yed, brought Dar back to the situation. “They’re scanning the city.”

Looking down at the panel, Dar nodded. “Don’t give them a chance. Open fire.” As Dar resumed his stroll, he listened to the Colonel relay the orders to tactical and the buzz of the room as everyone coordinated the attack. Giving suggestions, options, the best course of action, coordinating with the rest of his task force. It was boring. He wished he was on one of the Black Order ships. When they heard the order they’d fire with no hesitation. On ships like Sakaria One there was protocol and far too many people involved for his liking.

Pulling his Link out of it’s holster, Dar opened up a channel to the rest of the attack force. “Task Force One, this is Sakaria One primary. The unknown ships ahead have not responded to communication and have already taken down twenty-three ships on their way here. Eliminate the threat without hesitation.”

Closing the channel, he continued to listen to the staff as they opened fire. Orders were given to launch Kukri fighters for additional support. The tactical screens around him as well as the reactions of the staff surprised him. After several minutes of attack, firing all they had with some of the best strategic minds, weapons officers and pilots coordinating the effort there was nothing. No resistance. No retaliation. Worse than that, no impact.

As he heard the Colonel demand a report over the chatter of the Kukri pilots, Dar quickly realised his elite wasn’t good enough.

Reports flowed in. He offered various attack patterns, focused energy on what appeared to be the lead ship, began to create new strategies along with others on the open comms channel but no matter what they tried they weren’t making a dent. Two of the Black Order ships tried to ram the enemy with a collision course. It was the first sign of defensive strategy from the enemy as they launched a swarm of fighters on their own. Small ships, possibly big enough to carry one or two men but more powerful than he could have imagined.

The enemy fighters swarmed the Black Order ships before they even got close, pecking at them with blasts of energy to tear them apart. For the first time in decades Dar was getting nervous. But he wouldn’t retreat.

As he offered further strategies, using every fragment of his imagination and experience to try and find a hole in the threat’s defences, he could hear the officers in the Hub shouting updates to their Colonel. The enemy had penetrated Sha Ka Ree, but they weren’t attacking. No shots were fired. The city’s security perimeter had fallen, waves of unknown energy were being targeted towards the most populated area’s but they couldn’t identify exactly what. Ship’s sensors were as baffled as the Hub’s staff.

The situation was no different on Sha Ka Ree. Chel’si was struggling to gain answers as she listened to the running commentary from Tenagra over his private comms network. He’d been able to relay the information he was able to gather from his lab and project it onto the displays within the Epicentre, but without main power or control Chel’si felt useless without it.

While locked out of the system, all she could do was relay orders to Tenagra while the Epicentre staff sat around watching the reports come through.

“Can you identify this energy beam?” She asked Tenagra as she watched Navarro sitting at the science station as he assembled a recon team to check command level area’s they had access to.

“It’s way beyond our tech, Commander.” Tenagra responded, his voice breaking up over the strained network.

“Two ships have fallen.” Horal pitched in. Tenagra had found his signal and brought it into the linked network as he joined the fight. “Task Force One is having no impact.”

Chel’si nodded as she turned to face the displays being logged by Kunis. Tenagra had been the star of the moment and made sure everyone knew it. They’d been able to access external sensors through Horal’s shuttle thanks to one of Tenagra’s patch jobs, which she feared would plague the city if they ever got out of this alive. “Any progress in docked ships separating from the city?”

“None.” Horal answered quickly as he followed direction on Sakaria One’s channel. “I’ll keep you informed.”

“Mr. Tenagra, is there anything you can do down there?” Chel asked, desperate for some form of protection.

“Working on it… I’ll get back to you.” He replied before his voice faded under the workload of his team.

Rubbing her head, Chel’si dashed from the command circle to the science station looming on the top level as she saw Navarro’s recon team disappear into the corridors, armed to the teeth with any weapons they could find. “I’ve assembled teams to search for anything suspicious, anything to explain what these energy beams do.” He informed the Commander as he saw her approaching.

“Good.” Che’si responded. “Tenagra’s working on blocking them, have you had any progress with the lockout?”

“Nothing.” He said instantly. A lie. “The lockout system has been almost completely rewritten and the access codes are far too complex to understand without access to a computer.”

“Can we at least figure out who implemented the lockdown?”

“I’m afraid not.” Another lie. “While we‘re locked out from the system we‘re lost, we should have Tenagra prioritise reactivation of the mainframe. With the city online we can establish a far more effective line of defence.”

Taking on board her security officer’s suggestion, Chel’si shook her head. “No.” She replied bluntly. “We have Black Order ships in the air and they’re not making a dent, if they can’t fight them off neither can we. Our best hope is blocking these energy waves.”

Navarro locked eyes on the Commander. “Say that works, unlikely as it is, if we block them what then? They’ll be forced to attack.”

“If they wanted to attack…” Chel’s gaze drifted to the displays at the front of the room as she paused for thought. “…surely we’d all be dead by now.”

Despite his brief tour of the city, there was too much to cover in a few hours. Since leaving CIU with Siaka, Lakotda had discovered a complicated intertwining network of service corridors hidden between structures in public area’s which formed streets, shopping malls, training complexes, gyms… and there was more he’d only gained a fleeting glimpse at.

He was overwhelmed again as he found himself crossing through the middle of what appeared to be a long street reaching back into a public arboretum. Raised plates held private gardens with four level high apartment complexes looming over them while on the ground level, where he and the DCI were wandering, were surrounded by what seemed to be rivers and trees. There were children playing in parks, coffee shops and café’s filled with civilians chatting away, meeting area’s, everything that would be seen if they were on a real street on the surface of Sakaria.

His mind was overloading and that was before he noticed the artificial sky where he’d expect a lighted ceiling or the grass beneath his feet.

After being swarmed in Surak square, neither of them wanted to be seen by the public. They initially set off to search for anything that may seem suspicious or out of the ordinary. To him, everything he’d seen was out of the ordinary. A river on a starbase? It was bizarre.

As the snuck across a vacant park, heading towards another access point to more service corridors, Lakotda stopped in his tracks. As Siaka overtook the captain, he raised his rifle towards the arboretum, something catching his attention.
Noticing the captain wasn’t at her side, Siaka stopped but found herself being signalled to be silent. For a few moments she watched as Lakotda let his primal hunter instinct take over, listening to something out of her range.

“Do you hear that?” He asked as Siaka took a few steps closer. Before she could reply, the noise got louder. It as a faint hum at first. It had turned into a high pitched whine. An intermittent whine, shrieking in the distance for a few moments before falling silent then starting again.

As the noise got louder, Siaka raised her own weapon as her eyes searched for the source. “I heard that… what is it?”

“I have no idea…” Lakotda answered. “It’s getting closer. Nothing native to Sha Ka Ree I’m assuming?”

“Not that I’m aware of…” She replied.

The civilians mingling in the street began to notice as the shrieking became louder, drawing closer to them. Emerging from their hiding place within the park, Lakotda and Siaka kept their rifles fixed on the arboretum as families ushered their children inside. In the hours the city had been in lockdown the civilians had calmed themselves assuming the problem would be fixed soon, most of them had stopped panicking. Until now.

Ripples of fear spread through those in Lakotda’s visual range. The people who he’d seen calmly conversing and joking with friends were now scattered and running for cover. As the noise got louder, they knew something was coming.

A blindingly bright wave of energy ripped through the tree’s into the far end of the street, screeching into focus. There was no trace of damage or havoc left behind. It seemed to peacefully tear through the area, disappearing just short of the Astral café before it flashed into sight again. Customers rushed out screaming as it resumed, sweeping through the street from the centre of the café outwards.

The captain stared at the energy wave, watching the people running and screaming as he tried to figure out what it was. Peaceful? Enemy fire? Why was it here? Was it connected to Riesman?

He was too distracted by his own thoughts to realise what Siaka was doing. It was only when he caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye that he saw the blasts of phased energy being shot from her rifle. The noise was too deafening to hear the pulse of the weapon, no matter how close she was.

Carefully he reached out and signalled for her to cease her fire, lowering the tip of the rifle to the ground as she came to accept it was having no effect.

As Siaka gave him a nod, he turned back to the energy wave, taking a few steps forward as he noticed something he hadn‘t before. Something he’d missed. People. The wave passed through everything in sights, trees, structures, the river, artwork, everything and it damaged nothing. It was like shining a torch in a dark room, a flash of light hitting an object. Until it hit people.

The closer it got, the more he noticed. When people ran it spread itself out as if trying to grab them and when it got them, it didn’t pass through peacefully. It hurt. From what he could see, it looked like it hurt. He couldn’t tell but from reactions some looked as if they’d been stung by a wasp, others reacted as if they’d been electrocuted. Each person reacted differently. Some took it hard, some shrugged it off.

Suddenly Siaka and Lakotda turned to each other. Looking at each other for confirmation of what they’d just saw. As soon as their eyes darted back, they had their confirmation.

People were vanishing. He tried to do a quick count but with people running to hide and most now locked indoors, he could only guess a third were affected. A third were being taken. It was a transport beam, or something like it.

The run and hide technique wasn’t going to work. The wave was going everywhere whether people liked it or not. Lakotda knew there was nowhere to run to and as he glanced to Siaka he could see by her expression that she had the same thought.

Standing in wait, they looked ahead ready to accept their fate. They’d either be taken or they wouldn’t. There was no point in fighting it, no time to figure out how to evade it. His eyes aching from the light, Lakotda closed his eyes tightly hoping that when he opened them he’d still be here. In this weird, abnormal place with the sound of water flowing in the background and grass beneath his feet.

But as he heard the wave zooming towards him the voice of the Pryor was in his head. A reminder that his time in this world was limited. He could heard the drumbeat of his heart as he felt his impending doom.

The past century flashed before his eyes. His return to he Federation, gaining a command, the loves and losses, the wars, conflicts and treaties. All the good work he’d done. All the people he’d met. The crew he’d raised and nurtured. The young Michael Riesman who’d brought him to Sha Ka Ree.

It felt closer. He could hear the drumbeat, the never ending drumbeat, a sign in the old texts that death was coming.
He was ready.

As he felt the wave pass through him there was no pain. No suffering. Just calm. A blissful calm. Slowly he opened his eyes. The grass was still beneath his feet, the water rushing in the background. Everything was as it should be, but still not quite right.

Somehow the colours around him seemed off. Brighter. More vibrant. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to adjust to the light but nothing changed. Quickly looking around him, he noticed he was alone. No Siaka. No residents rushing around. No one in a state of panic or distress. No one anywhere. Not at first.

As he took a few steps forward he could see someone in the distance, a silhouette of a talk gentleman, someone who looked very out of place. As Lakotda got closer to the man ahead of him, strolling in the distance like he didn’t have a care in the world, he began to piece together his face. His clothes were from the old days, a mix of styles and generations, his face young but still with the wisdom of someone who’d lived and suffered through many centuries.

The Pryor.

“It’s been a long time, Kristan.” The man said as the captain approached him.

“Not to you.” Kristan replied. “What’s happening here?” He asked instantly. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew The Pryor. He didn’t always operate on the same plane of reality that everyone else did.

The Pryor sighed as he sat on one of the benches in the middle of the street. Signalling the captain to join him. “Have you forgotten my teachings, Kristan?” He asked back.

Giving a sigh of his own, Kristan thought back to the days he first met the Pryor. At some point in their lives, all Pridorn would study with the Pryor. Learn to enhance their natural abilities. For some the gifts were stronger than others, sometimes their skills varied but most had a unique perspective of the universe. They were linked to it. Intertwined in the fabric of time and space. Kristan never understood how or why. The Pryor did, but he’d never explain it. Not directly.

“I’ve never had the insight you have.” Kristan answered softly. “The path we all walk hasn’t been clear to me since the last we met.”

Understanding, the Pryor asked another question. “How about history? Do you know how your race came into being?”
“I know of our origins, yes.” Lakotda answered. “I don’t understand how a creation story relates to my question.”

“It’s all happened before.” The Pryor answered. “The origins of your civilisation reaches back to a time of intergalactic warfare. A being from an omnipotent race answered prayers from races being held as slaves in their own worlds. Sakaria, Heltyr, Ordanus and many more worlds have since been protected from retaliation.”

“Protected by who?” Lakotda asked.

“That doesn’t matter right now.” The Pryor replied. “Those who ruled this region of space were exiled. Until recently.”
Nodding, Lakotda thought back Rogan‘s message. “The infiltration?”

“Over a century ago I tried to meddle with the natural order of the universe.” The Pryor admitted. “There was a catastrophic event in space-time. I saw Romulus being destroyed which caused two things to happen. A war that would bring an end to the Federation and a divergent timeline running parallel to our own, created when a man travelled back to a pivotal point in Federation history and changed the natural progression of time.”

The teachings of the Pryor resurfaced in Lakotda’s mind. “Disturbing the natural progression of the universe can be dangerous… I remember.”

Turning his attention away from Lakotda, his eyes fixating on his surroundings, the Pryor continues. “With those events, the threads of the universe began to unravel. It was never meant to be. Time fell into a state of flux and the universe began to collapse in on itself. I began searching for an answer, a way to put everything right. Then I found you.”

“Me?” The captain asked, confused by the revelation.

“When I told you to leave, I knew you’d join the Federation.” The Pryor explained, his eyes still searching in the distance. “You didn’t make much of a difference, not in the grand scheme of things. Not until the evacuation of Romulus.”

“When I went against orders and arranged an armada to aid them when their world was on the verge of death…”

“The population of Romulus was supposed to die out. A plan was formed to save the planet, but it was too late. The catastrophe led one man to insanity and his acts of vengeance began to domino effect. With your armada, his soul was saved and he’s living a peaceful life with his family on New Romulus.”

The captain became slightly amused at the thought. “I saved the universe?”

“In a sense, yes.” The Pryor states, killing Lakotda’s smile. “With your presence in the Federation I was able to craft an alliance with the Kolar to strengthen and advance the Federations core beliefs long before it was meant to happen. But I was arrogant. Presumptuous.” the Pryor paused, turning his attention back to the captain. “Trying to prevent the death of our future, I only served to offer it a new way to die.”

“How?” Lakotda asked, unconsciously moving closer to the Pryor.

“Those who were exiled.” The Pryor began. “I cheated, I found my loophole and that only inspired them to find their own way around the rules. They can’t re-take any protected worlds, but they can meddle with others.”
Drifting in thought as he could see all the pieces coming together in his mind, Lakotda nodded. “The Federation.”

“They’ve spread lies, rumour, suspicion. They’ve confused you all so much that you can’t see the real threat. They can’t harm the Kolar…”

“…but they can harm the Federation.” Lakotda said, finishing the Pryor’s sentence. The Pryor’s words confirmed his suspicions. Sha Ka Ree was only a small piece of the puzzle. While all eyes were on the city and protecting the new alliance, the core of the Federation was under attack. “How do I stop them?”

Getting to his feet, the Pryor smiled. “I can‘t answer that.” The man answered as he loomed over the captain. “Kristan, these enemies have the same grasp of time and space as I do. They can map out all the possibilities, but you, you’re an anomaly, a random element.” As he lifted the Captains rifles, he smiled, inspecting it. “They won’t be able to figure you out.”

Watching the Pryor holding the rifle, an odd sight considering he was a man who abhorred the use of such weapons, Kristan kept shaking his head, unable to understand. “Why am I such an unknown element?” He asked, trying to assimilate the information.

“No more questions, Captain…” The Pryor smilled. “It’s up to you now.”

Before he could react the Pryor swung the rifle against Lakotda’s head, knocking him cold on the bench.

When he opened his eyes everything had gone back to normal. The people were collecting their thoughts after the intrusion, some in tears, some searching for those who were lost. As he pushed himself into a sitting position, Siaka came into view as his eyes re-adjusted to the more bearable light.

“That beam knocked you cold…” Siaka said as she tossed a note pad towards him. “You’re heavier than you look, you owe me a beer or three for dragging your ass to somewhere comfortable.”

“You call this bench comfortable?” Lakotda tried a smile, but he couldn’t manage it. His thoughts were still on the Pryor’s words. If he told Siaka what he’d seen it would sound like a dream or the vision of a mad man. He knew better.

“Fifty three missing in this street alone, the people living here are checking other streets now…” Siaka reported as she saw the captain glance at her scribble notes. “Apparently the energy beams were coming from ships surrounding the city. Tenagra was able to set up a defence and they left.”

Rubbing his head, the captain got to his feet and stared at the DCI curiously. “How do you know that?”

“He also set up a communications network.” Siaka answered. “And it gets better, he‘s been able to tap into some ship being built in the East dockyards an can transport you to the Epicentre when ready.”

Lakotda smiled. A sense of good luck overwhelming him. “Any more messages, chief?”

Looking towards the people distressed by the event, still wandering the streets in shock, Siaka tried to hide her emotions from him. She didn’t like anyone seeing her vulnerable side. “Oh yes. We‘re surrounded..”

Staff were rushing around Sakaria One’s command hub, sharing idea’s and discussing strategy ad they watched the contacts creeping into position around the city. Everyone was in a state of disorganised panic, denying the obvious. Whoever these contacts were, they were in every way superior to the Kolar. Whatever happened, they were in charge and there was nothing they could do.

As Colonel Sha’yed consulted with his staff, General Dar remained calm, taking a sip from his coffee as his eyes remained locked on the tactical display. When he heard Sha’yed ask what his thoughts on the situation were, Dar just shrugged. “I’m not sure. If they wanted to destroy the city they would have already.” He stated clearly.

As Sha’yed watched with Dar, he began to notice a pattern in their movements. “Do you see that?” He asked to no response before turning his attention to his tactical officer. “Tactical, confirm.” With a few taps and clicks at his console, his ships weapons officer began to see what his Colonel saw. With a confirmation, Sha’yed opened a channel to the ships docked at Sha Ka Ree. “To all Starfleet vessels, this is Sakaria One primary. Enemy contacts approaching your position, take defensive action.”

“You‘ve seen what they‘re capable of, do you really think Starfleet can resist them?” Dar asked as Sha’yed closed the channel.

“Probably not.” The Colonel answered. “But would you just lay down arms and surrender?”

Dar smiled. “No. But unlike Starfleet, I know what I’m doing.”

In the moments that followed, Dar stood and watched the vessels fall under attack. No matter how many torpedoes or phasers they lasted towards the enemy. each one fell with one shot. From what Dar could tell they were firing more energy waves to knock out ship systems and leave them defenceless. From there they fell under enemy control.

It became more confusing to the crew of Sakaria One when the docking clamps that had trapped so many ships in dock were suddenly released and each ship was collected one by one by an unusual form of tractor beam.

Quickly each ship was dispatched to a giant in the background. A ship that had kept it’s distance all the way through the engagement. A vessel as long as the further points of Sha Ka Ree itself with a curved trunk-like forward hull which flowed into a collection of pods in it’s centre while it’s tail dragged off into a pentagonal rear holding a tubular star drive stop it. Structures and towers of different shapes and sized poked out from all angles of the hull with the two most prominent on it’s belly moving apart, giving way to the pods as Starfleet ships were delivered to it for storage.

It’s unmarked bronzed hull shimmered in the light of the nearby star as it accepted it’s new cargo, it’s own little fleet firing out it’s mysterious energy waves to any Kolar ships or fighters that tried to defend their allies.

Nothing made an impact. Dar watched, telling his crew to halt all action as he waited. He wasn’t one to give up without a fight, but as far as he was concerned as long as they weren’t taking his ships or putting his planet in the firing line this enemy could do whatever they wanted.

Starfleet’s presence in the region was making his job and the role of the MOD obsolete. He had no sympathy for them or their Federation arrogance. He hoped that this would make them run with their tails between their legs all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant.

His orders were to wait and watch. Study them. Take whatever they could learn from the readings. Hand all his intel to the science ministry so they could learn to protect themselves if they ever returned.

The pod hatches on he Giant closed shut as it’s smaller friends gathering around it. Before Dar could order a cloaked ship to follow them, they were gone.

“Have all our sensor readings sent to the Science Ministry and the Black Order then bring us in close to Sha Ka Ree’s industrial complex. Help them get back on their feet. ” Dar ordered as he stormed towards the door. “And send a message to Sha Ka Ree primary, I’m going aboard to meet with him. It’s your deck, colonel.”

“Aye sir.” Sha’yed responded as he and his XO began to issue orders to his subordinates.

As Lakotda materialised in the Epicentre he didn‘t even let a moment pass for pleasantries before making his demands. Heading straight towards the communications console, his eyes fixed on the tactical displays, he asked Chel‘si to report.

The Commander quickly briefed him on the situation with the enemy contacts before explaining that Tenagra was currently linking the city’s primary systems with Sakaria One to allow them to operate, though Lakotda couldn’t understand the details as much as Chel’si. She didn’t even understand exactly what Tenagra was doing, she was just glad for the first time in their knowing each other that his unusual way of doing things was paying off.

With the conversation with the Pryor still fresh in his mind, Lakotda tied to stay focused as she explained it all to him. He was relieved that the threat had vanished without harming the city itself but he knew the invasion wasn‘t as harmless as she thought. People were missing. Taken from their homes and the Pryor hadn‘t given him enough to make sense of it all.

The updates continued. They shared what information they had but as soon as she updated him on the situation with the Starfleet ships, he stopped drifting in and out of the conversation and gave her his full attention. “We’re at the heart of the Kolar forces, why didn’t they respond?”

“They did.” Chel’si replied. “From what I saw on the tactical display they were severely outgunned. They lost two ships and made no impact.”

Trying to keep his cool, Lakotda stared up towards the flickering tactical display. “When the lockdown occurred, Starfleet ships were locked to all ports, correct?” Not giving her time to answer, the captain continued. “Then explain to me, Commander, how they were released and captured without our docking latches being blown apart?”

Pushing herself in front of the captain, Chel’si softened her voice so as not to be overheard, talking into the captains ear quietly. “I don’t know, sir.” She said, wishing she could give her new captain a firm answer as her eyes darted between the staff around them, working away to put the systems back together in the command centre. “But I’m assuming the re-written lockdown program was designed to release those ships when instructed by the enemy flagship, or…”

“…or someone here released them.” Lakotda added, finishing her thoughts. “Someone in the city had to initiate and reprogram the lockdown. They’d have access to the systems we were shut off from.”

Chel’si nodded. “I’d agree.”

“Our priority for the moment should be getting the city back online.” The Captain ordered, keeping his tone as quiet as his Operations Manager. “Let Mr. Tenagra work on that, I need you to do something else for me.”

“Sir?”

“The energy waves were acting like a selective transporter. I saw it take a handful of people and leave the rest. I need you to coordinate a census immediately. Find out who‘s still here and who was lost.”

“With internal sensors offline, that could take a while.”

“However long it takes, get it done.” He ordered. The young officer gave a nod and returned to her station. As he saw Chel’si heading away from him, he knew she was cursing him already. “Commander…” He added, stopping Chel’si in her tracks. “I realise it’s a little out of your job description, but I know I can rely on you.”

“How can you be so sure?” She asked.

He never answered. “How many people were on those ships?”

Shrugging, Chel tried to guess in her head. “Assuming at least half of all crews were on leave, I’d say close to nine hundred.”

“Nine hundred…” He repeated. “Let me know when you have a full tally for the city.” As Chel‘si got to work, the captains attention turned to the communications officer on hand. “Ensign,” He said, grabbing Kunis’ attention immediately. “Whats the situation with subspace and regional communications?”

“We’re locked out from our own system, but I can relay messages through Sakaria One.”

“Contact all Starfleet ships in the region and let them know what just happened.” As the captain gave Kunis the orders, he hauled out his Link and began making a list of any and every captain and senior officer he trusted that operated closer to Earth. “Contact these officers and alert Starfleet Command.” He said, passing her the information. “Tell them that Earth and the Federation is under threat and they must act immediately.”

“Earth, sir?” Kunis asked curiously.

“You heard me ensign.”

“Aye sir.” She replied, beginning to carry out the captains orders. As she tapped at her station, she paused to listen to a message coming through her headset. “Captain, I’ve just been informed that General Dar of Sakaria One has arrived on board. He wishes to speak to you.”

“Where is he now?”

“Hanger bay alpha one.” Seeing the captains blank expression, she clarified. “Command level docking bay, it’s where we keep the Ravens and executive transport.”

“Ah.” The captain smiled. “Have him escorted here.” With that the captain headed towards his office, adding “And tell him he took his damn time.”