Arondight was hanging in space nose-to-nose with the disabled drone freighter over the gold and bronze atmosphere of a gas giant. While his away team had only been over on the freighter for a few minutes, Captain Blake Bennett was already anxious for them to return. Even without the added complication of having a senior flag officer aboard, the situation had him on edge because of the vagueness of the distress call.

“Any luck establishing a link to the freighter’s computer?” Bennett asked, turning from his position right behind the main viewer to look at Lieutenant Sadir, who was filling in for Costa at tactical.

“No, sir. The away team will need to trigger a system restart before that is possible,” the Betazoid replied.

Bennett nodded and walked around the helm console to his seat in the center of the bridge. While starship command had been his dream for a long time, he found that there was a lot of time spent just waiting for something to happen. He had little to do in that moment other than pester his subordinates for updates. It was like watching paint dry.

“Admiral on the bridge!” an ensign at the rear announced.

Bennett stood up to see Vice Admiral Hayden entering the bridge. The admiral was wearing the standard duty uniform, comparatively dressed down without the gold embellishments she could opt to wear to indicate her status. As her former chief of staff, Bennett knew her well enough to know that it was her attempt to blend into the background, not that it would be possible on such a small ship.

“Don’t mind me. At ease,” Hayden said. “Captain, could I have a word in private?” she asked.

“Of course, Admiral. Sadir, take the conn,” Bennett said, following her to through the aft port door into his ready room. It was a sign of respect that she would come to him rather than summon him, as would be normal due to their difference in rank. “We should be back on course soon.”

“Thank you, but I’m not concerned about the delay,” Hayden replied, taking one of the seats in front of the desk. “I was curious about this freighter, so I pulled up its cargo manifest. How many officers did you send?”

“Costa took a team of eight, including himself. Why?” Bennett asked, not at all liking where that conversation was going.

Hayden nodded. “Good. Extra security is wise,” she said, looking off to the side.

“No, ma’am. He took our four new ensigns,” Bennett clarified.

Hayden nodded again. “It’s probably nothing,” she said, crossing one leg over the other. It was a tell that she was nervous. “But that freighter has a secure cargo container bound for Olympia. It is imperative that it remains intact and sealed.”

Bennett pulled up the manifest on his own computer and quickly scrolled down to an item that even he had insufficient clearance to access. He raised an eyebrow, as he already had level 11 clearance from his work with Hayden.

“I’d hate to guess what’s in there,” Bennett said, tapping his fingers on the desk. “I was in a rush to ascertain the situation and if I had consulted with you first, I’d have known to send a more specialized team over.”

Hayden waved that comment off. “You can’t ask Starfleet every time you need to make a decision. Had I not been aboard, you’d be in the same position,” she said. “I didn’t come here to criticize your decision. But it may be prudent to put your team on alert.”

Before Bennett could tap his combadge to consult with Costa on the freighter, his own badge chirped.

“Costa to Bennett.”

“Go ahead, commander.”

“Sir, there is substantial evidence here of tampering. The logs have been deleted and there is physical sabotage to the control systems. Shadi says it will take at least an hour to restore basic functions. I’d like to request a security team to make sure we can secure the whole freighter.”

A cold, dark pit began to form in Bennett’s stomach as he imagined the possible explanations for sabotage. While their scans weren’t showing any lifesigns aboard the freighter, that didn’t mean that there was no danger.

“We’ll get one over to you, Costa,” Bennett said. “There’s something else: the freighter is carrying a classified secure container. I don’t know what’s in it, but it’s a priority to keep that container secure.”

“Understood, sir. Hawthorne and Robinson are in the hold now confirming the manifest.”

“Keep me updated. Bennett out,” the captain said, before ending the call. He looked back to the admiral. “With your permission, I think I’m needed on the bridge.”

Hayden nodded and followed Bennett back out onto the bridge. A litany of thoughts were racing through the captain’s mind: the safety of his team, the contents of the crate, and completing his primary mission to ensure the admiral’s safety.

“Sadir, have two security teams beam over to the freighter to assist. There is a secure container that must remain secure, and we have evidence of sabotage,” Bennett ordered. “As soon as they’re over, I want our shields up and full active sensors.”

“Aye, sir,” Sadir confirmed, as he began to dispatch a team. Moments later, an alarm began to sound at the tactical station. “Sir, there has been an explosion aboard the freighter in the cargo section.”

Bennett’s first instinct was to bring the entire team back, but the cargo was evidently too important to abort the mission now. As he thought of his options, another transmission came in.

“Wren to Arondight. Requesting emergency transport for myself and Lieutenant Commander Hawthorne directly to sickbay,” Ensign Wren called.

“Do it,” Bennett ordered to Sadir. “Acknowledged. Stand by for transport,” he replied to Wren.

Sadir’s brow furrowed as he initiated the transport. “Something is generating a scattering field. I can’t get a solid lock on them,” the lieutenant said.

“Bennett to away team. A scattering field has just gone up. We can’t beam you back,” Bennett said.

Bennett turned to look at Hayden, but he could see her lightly shimmering as if a transporter beam were trying to lock onto her. The scattering field seemed to be impacting that beam as well, or at least making the cycle slower.

“Shields up!” Bennett ordered.

Immediately the beam around the admiral stopped. Moments later, the ship rocked as it was struck by weapons fire.

“Sir, there’s an Orion ship coming out of the rings,” Sadir explained.

On the viewscreen, the immediately identifiable shape of a winged Orion raider appeared.

“Red alert,” Bennett ordered. He tapped his badge again to resume his call to the away team. “An Orion ship has just emerged from the planetary rings. We’re under attack. Hold out as best as you can there.”