Pete sat at the head of the conference room table, looking over the data ticket by on the PADD in his hand as he awaited his senior staff to arrive. He’d already had his Boston Creme and made the necessary promises to his XO that he’d take an extra round of racquetball with Lieutenant Stravek to make up for it. 

He was still struggling trying to make it make sense to send a Sovereign-class from one side of the galaxy to another just for a communications array issue, but now he was starting to hear of other ships being reassigned from the Fourth Fleet to in or near the Deneb Sector, so something was definitely going on. He couldn’t escape the feeling that Priest was hiding something from him in that communication and that bothered him more than he cared to admit. Lack of intel was a very common cause of death. 

Perri and Dawan were the first to arrive talking quietly to each other as they came in and took their seats. Cash trudged in not long after her with Trapp hot on her heels. “I didn’t mean to piss in your cereal, kid. It’s just the facts,” he told her with a smile hidden in his tone.

“We’re not talking about this right now,” the young woman groused back. She dropped into a chair hard as Trapp took his seat and leaned back into it.

Stravek, who had been following right behind them in the corridor chimed in as he made his way around the table, “The doctor simply made an observation, Lieutenant,” He said, in his calm Vulcan tones, “Being angry about it is simply illogical.” 

“Who’s angry?” Abby asked as she walked in the door with Billy trailing close behind. 

Cash raised her hand, trying not to look sulky. “The doc is giving out free unwanted life advise. Hurry up and get in line.”

Before she could say more Wyatt was at the woman’s shoulder, leaning in to say something quietly that shut Cash up quick. 

“I will say no more,” the doctor drawled, lolling his head towards Abby with an impish grin. “Unless you want me to ma’am.”

Abby wanted him to. She definitely wanted him to, her love of spilt tea and scuttlebutt was almost too much to beat, but she erred on the side of shipboard unity and simply said, “I feel like that not the best idea.” She gave the doc a grin and took her place at the table. 

“Doc, please don’t anger the women. She will retaliate with the environmental controls, and you know it,” Pete quipped from his chair, “And that’s if they’re in a good mood.”

“I’m not that petty,” Cash had swapped out her scowl for generally disinterested air. “I’d alert his replicator output to replace sweetener with salt.”

Pete pointed at Cash, but looked at the doctor, “Do you see? Do you see the danger you’re putting yourself in?”

The doctor waved him off with a grin. “Nah, I know she loves me. She hasn’t vented my room yet. And who else would steer her to the top shelf booze at bars, huh? ¿Me amas muchacha?” 

Cash rolled her eyes. “I tolerate you,” she grumbled.

“Good enough for me,” latched Trapp. “Have a donut princess.” 

Perri cleared her throat as she stood next to her chair. “Ladies and gentleman, we need you serious, please.”

Pete grinned at his XO and nodded, “Thanks, XO,” He said, before turning his attention back to the department heads gathered at the table. “Something is weird here… we’ve got an assignment, and on the surface it looks simple, but the XO and I both feel like we’re missing something vital,” He explained. 

He tapped on the display in front of him and brought up a holographic display of Outpost 4871, “Recon outpost 4871 has gone comm silent, and we’re not sure why. Now, this particular outpost is near a pulsar that often causes issues with it’s communication array, but they’ve been quiet for longer than usual. Starfleet command wants us to go out there and make sure they’re okay, given that the Breen are making a stink in that region,” He explained.

“Why send a Sovvie from halfway across the galaxy when Five-One-Four has people there already?” Moore asked from his seat across the table. 

“Not sure,” Pete replied, honestly. “I was wondering that myself, but Commodore Priest seemed determined that it was going to be us,” He explained. 

“Are we… expecting trouble, Captain?” Aesha folded her hands before her as she spoke in that soft burr that rasped like the pull of a bow across strings.

“I think she means are we going in hot,” translated Trapp who stayed leaned back and comfortable. He looked one slim step away from putting his feet up.

“Quite the opposite,” Pete replied. “I want us to go in slow and cautious. Our sensors are going to be torqued out there with that pulsar, so it’s going to be hard to figure out what’s what. Hopefully it’s nothing,” He said with a shrug, “Hopefully the transponder is down and that’s it, but I’ve been in that center chair too long to not listen to my gut, and my gut says something is off,” He said. 

“You should all be prepared though. It could be nothing or we could arrive to a blank spot where the station was. Be alert, be on point, be compassionate with one another since we don’t know what’s coming,” Perri added on the heels of Pete’s words. 

“Artfully said,” Dawan said with a smile. “I will work with Doctor Trapp on readying for potential wounded.”

Trapp nodded his confirmation to her. “What she said.”

“I’ll see what I can do to harden us against the effects of the pulsar. It might not be much, but anything is better than nothing,” offered Cash.

“Good idea, work with Lieutenant Stravek on that,” Pete said, nodding to the Vulcan. 

Stravek just nodded earnestly. 

“Commander Wyatt, Lieutenant Stravek, Lt Commander Tamlin, Lieutenant Cash, and Doctor Trapp will be beaming over once we get in range to help with any casualties,” He explained. “The goal is just to get them back on their feet and operational again, then we can get back to our patrols in The Triangle.”

Reaching over to snag a donut, Cash piped up with a “Sounds good, sir.” 

“Alright then,” Pete replied. “If there are no other questions, let’s get ready. We’ll be at the station in three hours,” he said.