Things aren't always what they seem..

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2026 @ 3:01am by Commander David Wallace

Mission: STELLAR NURSERY
Location: Docking Bay three
Timeline: Concurrent

On:

The waiting area inside the station next to docking bay three was filled with the massive hull of the USS VanZant. The two long docking umbilical's were attached too the upper main hull with a larger on attached too the secondary hull. The waiting area would have been typically filled with guests or loved ones who'd made the trip to catch up with them, but on this day at this moment the area was empty and there was only one occupant present.

As the door hissed open four people entered, the fifth stood there waiting.

"Commander Wallace?" the older man asked.

"Yes sir, Welcome too the station." David said taking a half step forward

Captain Alexander LeVay a man almost fifty smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet in person finally, this is one insane plan but isn't that the whole thing being in Starfleet?"

David smiled, "We're supposed to do the impossible to keep the galaxy safe."

Captain LeVay smiled back, "Let me make some introductions of your passengers," he started "This is Lieutenant Sara Clarke one of the field geologists." He said pointing too a red haired woman who was around David's age, "Lieutenant Connor Ajax another Geology specialist and Doctor Morgan Raymond from the North American Geological survey." pointing too two older gentlemen.

"How long will it take us too get to get there?" The Woman asked

"We'll need two more hours too load the remaining equipment, then it's a six hour hop at slipstream speed." David said with some authority.

"Slipstream speed?" Doctor Raymond asked

"New tech that Voyager brought back from the Delta quadrant, it took the engineers a few years to make it more practical," he paused smiling "We're just gonna go very fast is all you need to know."

"That will give us what three days extra from the anticipated eruption time?" Lieutenant Clarke said

"Three extra days will help deploying sensors and the seismic probes and if you want to get technical it'll give us a chance to deploy those atmospheric sensors as well." Lieutenant Ajax said speaking for the first time.

"Well then I'll let you four get underway and I'll go meet with the station commander." Captain LeVey said

As Captain LeVey walked away David turned to the three scientists, "We're one bay up if you'll follow me." he said starting to walk over too the turbolift.

"Commander!" Sara said as she took a few swift strides to catch up with David, "So What do I call you when we're aboard the ship?"

"Captain." David said wondering where this conversation was going.

As the quartet left Alex waited for a few seconds, he liked what he saw and he felt he was going to make the right choices on what was next. Alex walked away too the batch of lifts that were opposite of the other officers, he waited then entered a turbolift.

End