A long conference table dominated the center of the meeting room, high backed chairs sitting all around it. Rear Admiral T’Reln occupied a chair at the head of the table, her Executive Officer sitting on her right. The seat to her left was occupied by Captain Gar’rath, who was the only other officer in the room who held the rank. The other members of the briefing were either Commanders or Lieutenant Commanders with one notable exception. Ensign Corwin Adler sat in the farthest occupied seat away from the Admiral’s position, looking out of place and extremely unsure of himself in a room full of seasoned veterans.

Captain Ivar Dasrek frowned disapprovingly in the Ensign’s direction, the circumstances that had transpired to create a scenario in which a young man not even a month out of the Academy was not only the Captain of a starship but its sole living crewmember boggled his mind. He’d even gone so far as to question the Ensign’s integrity with such a laughable story right up until the hologram that occupied the bridge with the boy had stepped in to substantiate the claims.

“Thank you for your prompt attendance,” Adm. T’Reln said to the assembled officers around the table, “Your efforts to repel the Vaadwaur advance on the Vulcan system allowed us to hold this system and deny the enemy a foothold. This did not come without significant cost, and I acknowledge the sacrifices of the officers who were lost in the endeavor.”

With the exception of the Zakdorn Captain, every other person at the table shifted at the mention of sacrifices. Even Ensign Adler looked extremely disheartened even though he hadn’t had a crew to lose in the first place. The awkward silence persisted for a moment before the Vulcan continued.

“While the defense of the system as a whole can be deemed a tactical success,” T’Reln continued, “The fact that an assault was perpetrated at all is concerning. Prior to this engagement, the Vaadwaur had not been reported within the Alpha Quadrant, nor had any Underspace corridors been detected this deep in Federation space. The timing of this ambush assault, however, seems to have been intricately calculated. Captain Dasrek, if you would.”

“Of course,” the Zakdorn nodded before turning to address the room, “As some of you may know or had begun to suspect, our communications with the rest of the Federation began to degrade a little under three weeks ago. At first, we only lost contact with distant stations and star systems, though there didn’t appear to be any real pattern to it. As the weeks progressed, communication had ceased to even worlds in the local star cluster.”

Dasrek tapped a few commands into the small panel in front of him, summoning three-dimensional representation of the 40 Eridani A system. A vague purple borderline surrounded the system, though most of the collected officers had no idea what it was meant to represent. Ensign Adler, however, seemed to understand the image as he straightened up visibly in his chair.

The shift in Adler caught Admiral T’Reln’s attention, “Ensign. You appear to know what this represents.”

Corwin blinked rapidly as he looked around the room as every eye moved to look at him. His mind raced as he struggled to find his voice and render a proper reply.

“I… I believe it has to do with… the anomaly my… I mean the Pulsar encountered before we arrived in the system,” Adler responded in a halting voice.

“Please, Ensign,” the Zakdorn emphasized the young man’s rank, “Do enlighten us.”

“Yes sir,” Corwin nodded sharply, “When the Pulsar departed the Alpha Centauri system, we were tasked with investigating a communications relay that had gone silent near the edge of the Vulcan system. While in route, we encountered a… a blob… of subspace interference that prevented communications, sensor scans, and warp travel inside of it. Because of how… serious the situation could be if it was allowed to move or expand… we… I… made the decision to set course for this system to report our findings… among other… issues…”

Several of the officers in the room began to give one another concerned looks as the young officer brought up warp travel and sensor issues on top of what they’d already heard about communications blackouts. Even the Admiral allowed her eyebrow to float upward as she listened to Adler awkwardly convey his findings.

“It inhibits warp travel, you say?” Dasrek said in a half-contemplative tone before turning to the Admiral, “This was not part of the report from our science division. It would seem our grasp of this phenomenon was incomplete. That changes a great deal of our strategic planning going forward…”

“Indeed it does,” the Vulcan nodded, turning her attention back to Ensign Adler, “Thank you for bringing this new information to our attention, Ensign.”

Corwin bobbed his head appreciatively before sinking back in his chair and trying to resume the minimalist presence he’d been attempting to exert before. Adler missed the looks of quiet respect that flashed across several of the faces of the older officers in the room, including Capt. Gar’rath’s.

“Prior to Ensign Adler’s revelation,” the Zakdorn continued, “We had assumed that the… blob, as he so ineloquently put it… was simply the range at which our communications and sensors currently reached, but had no other effects. Now it would appear that we are cut off from the rest of the Federation in every conceivable way. Our initial strategy had been to send a vessel to a neighboring system to report the attack and request reinforcements. It would appear that now, we must approach this situation under the assumption that no assistance shall be rendered.”

“Did your ship ever determine what was causing the anomaly, Ensign?” T’Reln asked a beat or two after her XO had finished speaking.

“No ma’am,” Adler shook his head, “We don’t have a… science officer… so everything we discovered was from our attempts to troubleshoot our engineering issues…”

“I take that to mean that you were not a science cadet at the Academy,” the Admiral followed up.

“Yes ma’am… I… I studied engineering…” Corwin replied nervously.

Again, the woman’s eyebrow floated up a bit, “And yet you still collected data that has proven to be of strategic importance. Commendable.”

Ensign Adler smiled sheepishly at the Vulcan praise, eyes sinking to the table in embarrassment. Capt. Dasrek looked from the Ensign back to the Admiral, gauging whether or not she would speak on the matter any further before redirecting the topic of discussion elsewhere.

“Our options have changed, as I said before, which now requires us to discuss our response to this incursion. Knowing that reinforcements are unlikely, we must look to what resources we do have in order to gauge what actions are executable with the limited resources we have,” the Zakdorn remarked with a frown.

“We have suffered extensive damage to our shipyard,” Adm. T’Reln admitted to the group, “Several of our smaller drydock facilities were destroyed, and those remaining will require extensive repairs before they are serviceable again. Our medium docks fared slightly better, none were damaged beyond repair, but all of them will need at least two to three weeks to return to full functionality. Our capital shipyards were the worst hit. Not only did we lose more than half of them, we’ve lost the ships they were housing as well.”

The assembled officers exchanged more looks, the gravity of the destruction starting to sink in. With so many facilities inoperative, getting what few ships they did have back to fighting strength seemed an almost impossible task.

“We will likely need to remove the vessels that are occupying working docks to accommodate your ships. Our priority right now is to get those that can be salvaged and pressed back to service as quickly as our limited manpower will allow,” Dasrek explained dryly, listing the ships that were in the running for the emergency repairs he mentioned. He then mentioned the ships that were too far gone in their estimate to be of immediate attention.

“We will reassign personnel from the ships we are not going to place in the yard for immediate repairs to augment those vessels who lost personnel. In the meantime, the Admiral and I will be going over what we believe to be the most prudent course of action and will call those involved for a mission brief in the coming days,” the Zakdorn summarized before turning to the Admiral for her closing remarks.

“Each of your crews have performed admirably in the face of this unprovoked assault. Please extend to them my appreciation as well as that of the people of Vulcan whom they helped to protect. Dismissed,” T’Reln said.

The assembled officers rose to their feet and began to depart before the Admiral’s voice interrupted the exodus, “Ensign Adler, please stay behind.”