The Deneb sector, once a vibrant expanse of stars and celestial wonders, was now a haunting testament to the savagery of conflict on an astronomical scale. Even though the conflict between the Federation and its enemies had been significantly smaller in both length and scale than the Dominion War, the Deneb region had still been reduced to a bleak and desolate battlefield, marred by the wreckage of countless battles and the remnants of shattered civilisations.

But even in the wake of such devastation, there were still countless wonders to explore and scientific discoveries to be had. Natives, including those from worlds formally in dispute, were banding together to bring hope to the region after months of uncertainty. Rebuilding civilisations would take time, but as always Starfleet was there to support them in their endeavours. On the leading edge of the relief efforts, the Odyssey-class USS Discovery had been in orbit of Arriana Prime for several days, deploying relief teams consisting of members from almost every department on the ship, in order to aid with various issues that had arisen since the conflict with the Breen/Dominion alliance had ended.

From the bridge, the command center of all things, Discovery’s Denobulan mistress, Captain Zephra, was overseeing things on the ship whilst her Strategic Operations Officer, Commander Dalgleish oversaw developments on the surface. Thankfully, it was business as usual for now, allowing the Captain some time to kick back and relax in the comfort of her command chair. It had been a long few weeks since Discovery’s launch under the auspices of the Fourth Fleet’s Task Force 17, and until they had arrived at Arriana, the crew felt like they hadn’t even had time to breathe, let alone time to recover from the trau…

A shrill beeping from the nearby science console caused the Denobulan’s left brow to rise, a sense of curiosity casually filling her as she used her planted left leg to turn her chair to port. The beeping occurred a second time, causing her great consternation.

“Are you really going to make me ask, Lieutenant?” the Captain frowned, eyes boring a hole into the back of the poor Andorian’s head.

Flustered, having hoped the Captain had been distracted enough not to hear the beeping, Lieutenant th’Shiren’s shoulders dropped at the question from the Captain. “We appear to be receiving some intriguing sensor data Captain, but I’m struggling to make sense of it,” he revealed, eventually turning to make eye contact with the Denobulan.

Propelling herself to her feet, the Captain was mid-stride towards the science terminal when a second voice from starboard distracted her.

“I think I know why the Lieutenant is struggling,” a yellow-clad officer stated, his glance at the Captain suggesting she should divert course to his station instead.

Once the Denobulan reached the operations station, a quick scout over the display caused her to stand bolt-upright and fold her arms across her chest. “Intriguing indeed,” she smirked.

After some contemplation, she nodded slowly and tapped the top edge of the console. “Download it to the ship’s database,” she instructed as she began to stride towards the aft turbo lift. “Contact Romaes and let him know I’m on my way to speak with him…”

“–and the Gilroy rounds out our list of ships currently dispatched to the Delta Quadrant,” said Khim. She gave Romaes a moment more to study the holographic map floating on the table between them, and after a slight nod from him she cast it aside. It fizzled and disappeared, and a list of stats appeared in its place.

“As you can see, most of our fleet was far enough from the Jupiter signal on Frontier Day as to be unaffected, with several exceptions. The Reliant is fully operational again, the Blythe is finishing repairs at Earth Spacedock, and the Hathaway is completing repairs at Avalon.”

“We were lucky,” the Bajoran sighed as he retook his seat behind the desk in his new stateroom aboard Discovery. His deputies’ report had been detailed and thorough, and that made it easier for them to appreciate the break Task Force 17 had received. “Compared to some units in the fleet, we came out of the Deneb conflict and Frontier Day relatively unscathed,” rubbing his eyes, he tried his best to stifle a yawn and not come across as rude.

“Those are contagious, you know,” said Khim, and she punctuated her statement with a wide yawn behind her hand. She sighed, looked down at the PADD in her hands, and then cast it aside as she stood up and made a beeline to the replicator. “I think I could use something caffeinated. Would you like something as well?”

Before Romaes could answer, there was a chime at the door. Khim pulled a coffee from the replicator and took a long sip to keep from reflexively answering on his behalf.

“Raktajino,” Romaes nodded, then turned his attention to the door across the room. “Enter!” he beckoned.

With permission granted, the ship’s Denobulan commander strolled into the room and stopped just inches from Romaes’ desk. “Sorry to bother you both, but there’s something you should see,” she advised the two, then gestured to the wall screen behind his desk.

Romaes nodded, then spun in his chair to watch as Discovery’s captain started tapping on the wall monitor and pulled up a dozen or so different files, each showing similar information. Whilst a lot of the symbols were Starfleet in nature, some were familiar for other reasons, and drew the Bajoran task force commander to his feet. “The Dominion?” he asked.

“Sensor data from the Dominion, surrendered to us,” said Captain Zephra, not bothering to mask the smirk that appeared on her face.

Khim approached the screen and absently set the Fleet Captain’s raktajino on the desk as her eyes began scanning the data.

“Their ships picked up a number of intriguing readings when they were making their way here to the Deneb Sector,” Zephra continued. “Nothing they thought was worth their attention, but Starfleet Command thought it might be of great interest to us.”

A smile spread across Khim’s face as she scrolled through the seemingly-endless text. “Just at a glance, I see readings that could indicate cosmic string, thermobaric clouds, subspace eddies, and this…” She zoomed in on a set of coordinates. “This looks like it could be a primitive communications protocol, possibly from a pre-warp civilization.”

Taking ownership of the raktajino, Romaes sipped the beverage while listening to the update from the mistress of Discovery. As he watched the data on the screen scroll past he suddenly reached out to stop the feed in its tracks. “I’m no scientist, but I’m pretty sure that’s a graviton surge?” he posited, looking at the two women for confirmation.

Khim and Zephra leaned in closer to the screen, and nodded in unison.

“Very unusual concentration,” said Zephra.

“It could be so many things!” said Khim, her voice growing louder with excitement. “A natural phenomenon, or alien technology. We won’t know until someone gets out there to take a closer look!”

Romaes gave the data a final look over, then turned to his colleagues with a massive grin. It wasn’t every day that they got presented with several scientific and exploratory endeavours on a platter, but thanks to the Dominion, they had been presented with a unique opportunity.

“Okay Captain,” the TFCO looked at the Denobulan. “Hold our position but recall your people. I’ll put out a call and see if we can put together a little expeditionary force to check out these phenomena.” A swivel of his head later and he was looking at the TFXO. “Reach out to the task force, see if anyone’s free. Exploring this region might just give some of our people a welcome respite from the torture of recent weeks,” he requested.

“A chance to get back to what Starfleet does best,” Khim said in agreement. She was still smiling broadly as she nodded to Romaes and then nearly sprinted out of the room, coffee still in hand.

Watching as Captain Zephra followed her colleague out of his office, the Bajoran task force commander let out a wide, boyish grin. Some strange phenomena were on their doorstep, waiting to be explored, and they were about to do so aboard one of the finest ships in the fleet. What an exciting opportunity. He just hoped that some commanders from around the fleet would feel the same way.

“Computer,” he spun the screen of his terminal to face him as he leant on the desk with his fists, “identify all starships in the Deneb region awaiting assignments…”