Tanna woke up to the alarm blaring from the screen in the wall of her bunk. She sat up from her pillow, stood up, and stretched, blinking the sleep from her eyes. When a sudden realization dawned on her, her quarters were still pitch black as she turned and headed for the head—suddenly, she pulled her leg back, avoiding the sharp pain of stubbing her toe on the leg of the old armchair she had set up opposite her old TV. She stopped. How did I know that? she thought. Something felt oddly familiar, as if she had experienced it before. She shrugged it off, made it to the entrance of the small bathroom, and slapped the button to turn on the light. Stepping inside, she slid the door closed behind her and began her morning ablutions.

After a few minutes, she emerged from the bathroom and donned her uniform. She was about to tie her hair up in a neat ponytail when, as she gathered it, the feeling rose again. That strange sensation, like déjà vu, but different. She knew she did this every day, but this felt too familiar. Shaking off the sensation, she turned out the lights and headed for the mess hall for some breakfast before her shift started.

As she walked down the corridor toward the turbolift, a thought surfaced unbidden: Here comes Lieutenant Commander Lorra Niala. A few paces later, she saw Lorra round the corner, and she froze.

“Commander!” she called out. “Let me guess—you’re headed for the mess hall too?”

“Hey, Lieutenant, I am,” Lorra said, her voice laced with confusion. How did she know? she thought. She strode toward the turbolift, boots striking the deck in a steady rhythm. Maybe she felt off because she had spent the night unraveling a problem, but something about this moment didn’t sit right.

Tanna stopped suddenly, her whole body straightening up. “Wait, Niala, don’t go in there.” She reached out and grabbed the Chief Engineer’s arm, just above the elbow.

Niala turned, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied the Lieutenant. She recognized her—just barely. A face she’d passed in the corridors, seen across briefing rooms, another member of the crew whose name she hadn’t needed to remember until now. But as she held the woman’s gaze, something about her felt… off. Familiar in a way that didn’t make sense. Like she should know more than just her face.

“Excuse me, Lieutenant,” Niala said, her brow furrowing as she glanced at the turbolift, then back at the officer. “But why exactly shouldn’t I step into the turbolift?” She crossed her arms, a puzzled expression tugging at her features, as if the answer should have been obvious, but wasn’t.

“I can’t explain it,” Tanna started slowly, realizing how silly this was going to sound, “but I feel like we’ve done this before. We get into he turbolift, we have an argument about the issue you’re having with the main deflector, then the turbolift stops suddenly.” Tanna, noticing the Commanders raised eyebrows, continued “You are having problems with the main deflector aren’t you? Unstable resonance frequencies in the EPS grid? Quantum Stabilizers falling out of phase?”

“How did you kno—” Niala’s breath caught as she turned to the Lieutenant, eyes narrowing. A strange unease settled in her chest. The logical part of her mind insisted this was a first-time encounter, yet something deeper, more instinctual, whispered that it wasn’t. The familiarity clung to her like a fading dream—just out of reach, yet impossible to ignore.

She studied the Lieutenant for a long moment, searching for an answer in her expression. Then, with a slow nod, she murmured, “I believe you. We need to take this to the Captain.”

Straightening, she addressed the ship’s system. “Computer, locate Captain Saffiya Nassar.”

A moment later, the ship’s calm, automated voice replied, “Captain Saffiya Nassar is in the medical facility on Deck 7.”

Niala tapped her combadge. “Lorra to Captain Nassar—Captain there is something you should know!”

Only silence answered.

Her brow creased. She tapped the badge again, firmer this time. “Lorra to Bridge.”

Nothing.

“Well that’s foreboding.” Tanna said to Niala as the two stood outside the turbolift. “How do you suggest we get up to Deck 7?”

“Well,” she said, a smirk playing at her lips, “looks like we’re climbing into my natural habitat—the Jeffries Tubes.”

She shifted her weight, rolling her shoulders as if shaking off tension. Her eyes flicked toward Tanna with a teasing glint. “Hope you’re not claustrophobic.”