“Bridge to Captain Nitus,” came the voice of the gamma shift leader, her voice eased the sleeping Romulan awake.

This had been the first night in weeks where she didn’t have a nightmare about Lieutenant Zolath’s death the first time she slept the whole time without being interrupted. Well besides for the Lieutenant waking her just now. She groaned as she stretched, sitting up on the edge of her bed. “Nitus here,” she said, her voice groggy as she rubbed her eye, trying to brush away the sleep that was calling her back to bed.

“Captain we are retreating a hail from the Victoria,” she said as Nitus stood from her bed walking to the sink.

“Acknowledged Lieutenant. Has the senior staff arrived on the bridge?”

“No ma’am. I’ve only awakened Commander T’Soni and yourself.”

Nitus sucked her teeth. Much of the gamma shift officers were still new to life within Starfleet and most of them still had much to learn in. “Have Ensign Lovar and Lieutenant Jackson meet us on the bridge,” she said, yawning as sleep continuously called her name. It would seem today was going to be heavy with raktajino orders. As she stepped out of the head and went towards the door she picked up her uniform that had been thrown haphazardly across the floor. The second she had arrived in her quarters last night, she started to take off her clothes as she stepped into the sonic shower before crashing on the bed.

“Acknowledged. Bridge out.”

The silence let the gentle hum of the ship feel her quarters as she finished getting ready she stared at herself in the mirror as she straightened her combadge. She turned on her heels exiting her quarters and heading for the nearest turbolift. As she walked through the corridors she noticed that there was an increase in officers moving around then normal during gamma shift. Thinking about it she came to the conclusion that it must not be long before alpha shift was set to begin.

Nitus stepped into the turbolift lift as she thought about what could Commander Pressly be hailing for. She hopped it wasn’t that a Klingon border house hadn’t taken this opportunity to invade a neighbor. But she would know soon enough.

The doors parted as she crossed the threshold. “Is Victoria still on the hold?” she asked as she stepped around the tactical station and into the command pit.

“Affimative capatin,” Comamnder Tsoni responded. The Vulcan had been quicker than her captain in reaching the bridge. She was standing in her usual spot behind the ops console.

“Put them through,” Nitus ordered.

“Channel open,” Lovar responded.

A moment later the viewscreen shifted to show a Human commander sat on the center chair of the Victoria‘s bridge. Beside him was she presumed was his first officer and ship’s counselor.

“Commander Pressly, what is it?” she asked him her face covered in worry as she awaited his report.

Commander Pressly shifted in his seat. “Captain,” he said smoothly as if to steady himself more than call attention to her. “A trader has arrived in orbit claiming the presence of increased amount of gravimetric radiation from the Iconia System.”

“Is there anyway to confirm this report?”

“The trader has given over his sensors logs from the same time over the last week. He says they’ve never messed up before and records show as much,” he said as he inhaled. “The Tehitha government has backed his credibility.”

Nitus contemplated what to do next. The last time the Paramount has detected a spike in gravimetric radiation they were stuck in Underspace for a week but who knows maybe that could finally get them the answers they most certainly needed. She turned to look at the science station, “Lieutenant Jackson, is there anyway to know if theirs an Underspace aperture in the system?”

Before she could even respond, Pressly interjected. “Captain if I may,” he said steadily unsure of how the Romulan officer might react to being interrupted.

“Yes commander.”

“The Tehitha government has reported that last year an aperture was their in the system. That might have something to do with it,” he said recovered he was clearly holding something back.

“Thank you Will. I won’t you to remain in orbit while we go investigate the analomy.”

“Yes ma’am. Victoria out,” he said as he closed the channel.

Turning towards the front of the ship dispatched her orders. “Helm set a course for the Iconia System maximum warp. Jackson tasked a team to start combing through all the data relating to Underspace. Number One assemble the senior staff and down the fort while I grab something from my ready room.

‘Ayes’ and ‘yes ma’ams’ came from across the bridge as she crossed the threshold. Stepping inside she felt the ship surge forward at warp speed, going straight for her desk she rummaged through the hill of PADDs littered across it’s surface. As she searched for the one she was looking for, she spotted one with Lieutenant Zolath’s personnel record. She picked it up as she wondered how the afterlife was treating him then, a small voice in the back of her mind told her she would be joining him soon enough but she pushed the voice away as she focused on the mission at hand. She set down his personnel record and grabbed the PADDs with the lastest in data about the Blackout and the D’Deridex system. She glanced a Zolath’s face one last time before she headed out the door. Nitus knew his death wasn’t entirely her fault but it still hurt like hell and maybe just maybe this mission could help her get over her grief.