“Lieutenant Prentice?”  Cadet Catrin Williams turned to face the interim XO, sitting uncomfortably in the center chair. “I’m unable to hail Montana Station.”

He stood and was suddenly thrown to the ground as alarms, klaxons, and shouts filled the bridge.  The deck dove in the opposite direction, and he careened across the floor, bracing his head as he bounced off the bottom of a console or two.  He opened his eyes, groaning, “Report!  Sound off!”  The various officers spoke up, some shakily.  Ensign Alexandre De La Fontaine was crawling back to his station.

“We have a warp field failure – damage and injury reports are just starting.  We’re at an angle – engaging maneuvering thrusters.”  Slowly, the bridge righted as the klaxons and alarms continued to ring.  He stood, able to get a full handle on his console.  The reports came in quickly: “Engineering is working to get damage reports.  Sickbay is dispatching their rapid response teams.”

Prentice pulled himself to the chair, wincing at the headache forming.  “Prentice to Captain Park – status?”  The silence was long.  He smiled with relief when her voice kicked on.

“I was in sickbay with Ad…Lieutenant Josephs.  I’m coming your way – I’m bringing a response team with me.”

He nodded his head; the pain was increasing.  Factoring in how he flew and fell – he’d probably hit a few things.  “Cadet Williams?”

She had pulled herself off the floor and clutched a bandage from a medical kit at her station.  “I’m stable, sir.  We didn’t just lose contact with Montana Station. I’m having trouble raising anyone.  Sensors are reading short range – nothing abnormal on the first pass.  I’m having trouble with long-range sensors.”

The turbo-lift door flew open, and a concerned Commander Park stalked onto the bridge. Then, a small sickbay team behind her spread out to triage the bridge crew.  She stood beside an unwell Prentice, “Don’t you dare move, Lieutenant.”  She motioned one of the team over, “Report.”  He shared what was known so far.  She nodded along, taking notes on her PADD.  “Lieutenant Edwards is working on that right now,” Park asked the nurse, who shook her head.  Prentice was coming with her.  He looked to protest, but the severe look of his CO melted away his resistance. “I need you in one piece, Prentice.”

She turned back to the bridge crew and said, “I’ll handle science. Cadet Williams, have you had any luck?”  The CO walked over to the science console and slid into the seat, her hands working on it.

“None, Captain.  I’m trying to reach the Franklin D. Roosevelt, but she’s not responding.  She was a day out from our position, so she couldn’t have gone far.  It doesn’t make sense.”

Park scowled at the science station.  There was a dim signal where the Ambassador class starship should have been.  “Boost the signal to maximum.  I’m seeing some kind of…interference between us and them.”  Williams did as she asked.  While the CO waited, her hands similarly coaxed the sensors.  “Where are you, Peter?”  She had been relieved when his ship had been partnered with her.  Having his experience readily available had granted her some feeling of confidence.

“Captain, I have a weak signal – Captain Crawford is responding.  Audio only.”

“Open the channel.”

“….Nova….is….Crawford….do you read?”

Park stood and walked across the bridge to the communications console. “Let me drive, cadet.”  She thought she caught a look of relief on the young officer’s face, but she focused on the present situation. “Crawford, we’re barely picking you up. What is your status?”  She worked to focus the signal, pushing the various receivers and transmitters into different positions and settings.

“….unable to….power….nacelles….quit….engineering….modify….”

The CO worked further on the communications system, adjusting the signal strength and frequency.  “Crawford, I’m recalibrating our communications array to a lower band signal and frequency.” She stabbed at the buttons, hoping it went through.  She waited a moment later, and Peter Crawford’s unmistakable voice filled the bridge.

 “You went old-school, Commander Park. Nice work.  Been a while since I had occasion to use old radio waves.  Your report is coming through now…it’ll take us a bit to translate it back.  Overall status?”

She filled him in on what she knew and was reading as she continued to rework the sensors to understand what had happened to them.  “We lost warp field integrity about the time we lost communications.  Sickbay reports only injuries, and any damage isn’t long-lasting – so far. You?”

“Same story here, commander.  We’re looking at a localized event and building a scenario from there.  It’ll take you a few more days, but I’d like to ask you to make best speed to us.  I’m hopeful we can get some semblance of warp engines available.”

“Aye, sir.  We’ll be underway immediately.  Updates as we get them.”

“Fly safe, commander.”

The channel closed.  She walked to her chair and sat cautiously.  Her mind was working on the problem from multiple angles.  Was it a localized issue?  When had this happened before?  “Helm – full impulse to the Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Let’s get on our way.”