Chief Science Officer’s Log, Stardate 79251.7,

With the scout ship Minerva using its planetary sensor dome to survey a class K planet with Almagest and Meridian, USS Constellation has been relegated to scout duty for the squadron. Now that we’ve won the extensive K’ritz star charts, Captain Taes has rightfully empowered me to choose between a Thorne–Zytkow object, a mineral-rich asteroid field, or a gamma-ray nebula as our next destination in the Delta Quadrant’s Nacene Reach.

But I’m in no mood to decide.

I’m having a bad morning, so I’m done. My day is ruined. Officially. The computer has lost any record of my breakfast dumpling replicator pattern. There was a lineup at the Planetarium’s coffee bar. And I forgot to put on my combadge. When I stole T’Kaal’s combadge, she issued the kind of exhale that Vulcans don’t think counts as judgement.

It does.

Stomping into the Acoustics Lab, Yuulik demanded, “Where were you this morning, huh?”

She hadn’t even crossed the threshold before she demanded answers. A few science officers around the perimeter jolted in surprise at the shouting. As chief science officer, Yuulik knew it was her duty to keep her crew on their toes. She waved a hand at one who stared at her too long, gesturing at him to keep his eyes on his station.

On softer steps, Yuulik approached the chief communications officer. Nova had her back to Yuulik, hunched over a freestanding console. She shook her dark tresses to one side and plucked the silver Feinberg receiver from her ear.

“Right here, Yuulik. I’m right here,” Nova said. Her shoulders dropped. Unable to see Nova’s expressive face, Yuulik couldn’t discern what emotion Nova intended to communicate. Her hearing wasn’t that strong. Mostly, Nova sounded tired. Yuulik could relate.

Accusingly, Yuulik asked, “Why didn’t you meet me for coffee? What was so important?”

Elbowing her way in, Yuulik bustled to Nova’s workstation and started sliding aside LCARS windows and layers, looking at whatever had stolen Nova’s attention away from her.

Nova swiped for Yuulik’s hand, but then she hesitated. She paused before making physical contact. After breathing out, Nova withdrew, dropping her hands to her sides, letting Yuulik be Yuulik.

Nova didn’t respond to the question right away. Yuulik appreciated that. It gave her time to examine the workstation. In fact, it startled her when she noticed Nova was staring at her.

“You didn’t invite me for coffee,” Nova said. Her vowels were clipped through a tightened jaw.

Deeply perplexed, Yuulik asked, “Why would I invite you?” Nova was always waiting at the Planetarium’s coffee bar whenever Yuulik arrived. Every morning.

“You’re right. I have no idea why,” Nova said, and it was clearly pointed. Yuulik was less clear about what she was pointing out. The way Nova narrowed her eyes at her, Yuulik leaned back.  She couldn’t understand the aggressive energy Nova was vibing at her.

“Okay, then,” Yuulik said.  Since this was going nowhere, she pivoted.  She stabbed an index finger at a waveform on Nova’s workstation. She hit the smooth black surface so hard that her fingertip throbbed in protest.

Expectantly, she added, “Were you planning to tell me the results of the subspace resonance scans?”

Nova sighed and broke eye contact. She placed the earpiece back in her ear, even on the same side Yuulik was standing on. Rude. Nova gestured at the waveform, which then projected over her panel as a three-dimensional hologram.

“We can’t corroborate the reports we received from Starfleet Command,” Nova said flatly. “As of the last opening of the Barzan Wormhole, the Alpha and Beta Quadrants have been afflicted with randomly placed zones of subspace Blackouts, taking out warp drive and long-range subspace transmissions. Here in the Delta Quadrant, our scans are detecting the full range of subspace frequencies with no disturbances or degra–”

Nova was interrupted by the distant sound of a percussive thump. Her mouth hung open when another thump came, and another thump came. Yuulik’s heart started pounding in her chest before she felt the deck begin to wobble. Yuulik was all too familiar with the sound of shield generators when the field distortion amplifier was dissipating an energy weapon attack.

Yuulik sprinted out into the corridor to reach the nearest viewport. Nova, surprisingly, ran to keep up with her, staying by her side.

Through the frame of the wide viewport, Yuulik took in the looming form of an angular and rugged raider, distressed rust in colour. Its dirigible-like hull was marred by battered and mismatched plating, suggesting scrappy survival through hundreds of fights. With its nasty snaggle-tooth at the fore, it attacked Constellation with reckless aggression.  The raider’s engines burned unstable blue-white as it wasted phaser blast after phaser blast on the shields.  Two more raiders followed.

“Kazon,” Yuulik breathed out. A Kazon-Relora carrier had bested Constellation in Underspace the past year. Yuulik had only devised how to save the ship by manipulating her science officers into re-creating a micro-Borg Collective, so soon after they’d recovered from Frontier Day. Taes had barely forgiven Yuulik.

“Not again,” Nova muttered, as if the universe owed her a break.