“Welcome to the Shackleton Expanse, Captain,” Captain Amira Sayegh stated, her tone measured, carrying the weight of someone who was used to command.

“Thank you, Captain,” replied Captain D’Antonio, his own tone matched hers. He and Commander Pressly had only just arrived in the Expanse and had beamed to the station at Sayegh’s request. “What’s our mission?”

A faint lift of Captain Sayegh’s brow revealed her mild surprise. “Direct, are we?” she questioned. Testing his manners rather than his words. She was an explorer, venturing into the unknown countless times. D’Antonio, however, was a war veteran. Having served throughout the Borg conflicts as well as the Dominion War. Almost the exact opposite. “I like it,” she continued. “I want you to venture to a region we are calling the Vaora Reach. It’s not like the rest of the Expanse.”

“Valora is located within a nebula similar to the Briar Patch,” she explained, as she continued, “but far more volatile. It’s known as the Trialen Patch, and there’s only one accessible route that leads inside, the Trialen Corridor.”

Inc;ining his head to the side, he spoke, “Intriguing.” His mind raced with the endless possibilities on the horizon. This was what he’d joined Starfleet for. “What’s the situation inside Valora?” he asked, his voice brimming with measured excitement.

Sayegh sighed as she looked at him and Pressly. “We don’t know,” she stated simply.

The office went silent.

She pressed on, “We’ve stabilized the corridor, but beyond that, nothing else. We haven’t made first contact with anyone inside. However, long-range reading from Everrest confirms signs of warp-capable civilization.”

Captain D’Antonio’s enthusiasm dimmed as it was soon replaced by the growing weight of uncertainty. The knowledge that he was about to walk into a place unseen by any Federation eyes, nor Klingon or Romulan, was exciting, but they didn’t even know anything about what it was like inside the system was frightening to say the least. “At least there’s that,” he murmured. more to himself than to her.

“I know this isn’t what you want,” Sayegh said softly. Her expression shifted. a flicker of empathy beneath her harsh command features. “But someone has to go. And you’re the best we’ve got.”

Whether that meant best prepared or simply most expendable was unclear, and D’Antonio didn’t ask. He carried the silence with him as they returned to the Typhoon. When they materialized aboard, the transporter chief informed him that the senior staff was already waiting in the conference room. Whatever uncertainty he carried, it would have to wait.

The Expanse stretched onward. Vast, uncharted, and silent. A distant slice of the quadrant, a place that lay silent with the Valora Reach within, waiting.