“Welcome aboard the USS Nova, Captain.” Commander Park stood from her ready room desk as Captain Wren Walton stepped in, a quiet smile on her face. Her friend was alive, and they were back together at Montana Station. The universe didn’t get any better.

The smile on Walton’s face broadened before she ran over and embraced her friend and former first officer, “Damn good to see you, Park.” The Nova CO returned the embrace, and they held each other for several minutes before pulling apart. Walton wiped away tears, “I thought the worst.” The sudden attack by the Vaadwaur had swept away ships and stations in a fiery invasion. Walton hadn’t known the fate of the Nova or the Franklin D. Roosevelt until they’d found each other in the underspace tunnels.

Park wiped away her tears. “I worried about you, Wren. I…I didn’t know if I’d ever see anyone again.” She walked over to the couch, and Walton joined her, sitting close. “I’m glad to see you again.”

Wren smiled reservedly at first. “You came back. I’ll take that over the nightmares that ran in my head.” They talked for a while, catching up on what they had seen during the invasion. Soon, they drank their tea. Walton sighed, “This wasn’t purely a social call.”

Park replied, “We’re in the middle of a war. There are no social calls.” She refilled her tea and replicated a few pastries. The sudden silence between them spoke volumes.. She asked, “We’re going back in, aren’t we?”

“You look at the sensor readings from the ride through the underspace?”

Park had. She walked over to her desk, grabbing the PADD she had been working on. “Our new science chief forwarded me the report this morning. There’s something big down there. Big enough to help keep the black curtains down all around us.” She eyed Walton, “What did you find?”

“Lieutenant Wallaker was able to get some images and scans.” She tapped at her own PADD and sent the images to the screen in Park’s ready room. Both stared at the scrolling photos. “We were able to get information from Fourth Fleet Command and other Fourth Fleet vessels – it’s a weapons platform about a kilometre in radius. Others have surmised that it’s a tachyon emitter, external to the platform.”

Park stood and moved closer to the screen. ” Given their size and capabilities, I’d estimate about a hundred or so Vaadwaur. Not light work.” She returned to the couch. “I hear Zephyr will be ready in a day or so.”

She felt another silence and looked from her tea to find Walton staring at her, looking uneasy. Park blinked several times. “They’re not going to use the Zephyr?”

Walton’s face scrunched a little, “Oh, they will. A plan is being assembled…but we need to get onboard this thing and get as much intel as possible before we either deactivate it or blow it the hell up.”

Park watched as her friend played with her hands. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“You’re one of the highest-ranking science specialists we have. They searched from the top of the list to the bottom – your name kept coming up.”

The Nova’s CO frowned, “Where are you in this mad little plan?”

A broad smile filled her friend’s lips, “I’m coming with you. They’re giving me command of a loaded Hazard Team and a heavy security detachment. You’ll have the various science chiefs on your team.”

It was Park’s turn to stare at Walton, “Who’s flying us in?”

“Your Lieutenant Prentice will take command of the Nova. When the squadron punches a hole in the shields of the transmitter, we’re all going to transport in. Our job is to defend you and help you work through the station to get as much science work done as possible.”

Park rolled her eyes for dramatic effect, “You’re putting a lot of faith in ‘science work’, Wren.”

Walton refilled her tea, “The Vaadwaur did the unthinkable – they’ve put everyone on their knees, cut off access, and limited our understanding of the problem. They’ve shown how easy it was to kick us to the ground and repeat the beatings. I can’t imagine our Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, or any other friends will be sitting back waiting for someone else to do this again. The sooner we know as much as we can about how they did this… the sooner we can prevent it from happening again.” She sipped at her cup, “I’m putting a lot of faith in ‘science work’ because it’s the only thing that’s going to save us.” Another sip. “No pressure.” Wren smiled warmly at her friend, and they shared a chuckle.

Park asked, “When?”

Walton grimaced visibly, “That’s the bad news. We’ve got four hours.”

Park snapped her head around. “You could have led with that!”

Walton shook her head.. Her voice dropped to a whisper, “I needed this time with you, Seoyeon. We nearly lost each other. We’re about to jump right back into the fires.” Her voice grew stronger as she worked to control her emotions, “I needed to spend a quiet moment with you…before everything gets loud again.”

Park took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her friend was right. “Then let’s finish our tea…and then we can get ready to punch the damned Vaadwaur in the mouth. Repeatedly.”

Walton grinned and help up her cup, clinking it with Park’s, “To punching the Vaadwaur in the mouth…repeatedly.”