Standing Watch

Posted on 07 Aug 2026 @ 12:49am by Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Quinn Mackie & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Kelly Khan & Lieutenant JG Aerie Mak & Lieutenant Daynah Ral
Edited on on 09 Aug 2026 @ 1:20pm

1,999 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Acceleration
Location: Black Hawk Bridge

As the bridge lost several of its senior officers, Harvey remained standing beside the center seat. His eyes remained fixed on the listing Saber-class vessel engulfed in the bright blue light from the nebula, wondering what exactly had happened over there. “Set sensors for maximum sensitivity,” he cautioned the remaining bridge crew. “Let’s see if anyone else was passing through this sector, or else, anything inside that nebula that seems out of the ordinary.”

Without skipping a beat, the Captain added, "Mister Aerie, are you able to ascertain the Tiburon's structural status? It may become necessary to pull them away from the nebula."

"Working on it, sir." Mak replied, scanning his ops console and studying the status of the Tiburon.

Daynah keyed in the commands. "Sensors to maximum confirmed sir."

The Captain nodded in the Science Chief's direction. "Thank you, Lieutenant. How long before you have an initial analysis?"

"About five minutes. I am working on it now." Daynah replied without looking up from the console. There was a fair amount of data and she did not have much time to parse through it.

Kelly remained at her station and waited for an order from the Captain to take the Black Hawk in closer or to hold station.

Joey remained at the Intelligence station, fingers gliding across the display with a precision that belied the knot in her stomach. Every instinct in her body told her she should be on the Tiburon right now — boots on the deck, shoulder‑to‑shoulder with the others, doing what she’d trained for. But this was her first full day back, and that meant easing back into things. Smaller and more controlled steps.

Harvey looked around the bridge, considering their next steps. The side of him that loved mysteries urged him to look closer and find the next clue. A new voice tugged at his sole, the absent voice of Commander Di Pasquale, urging caution. There was a reason he was out here in the Gamma Quadrant, why he was still in command of this ship. He knew how to handle the unusual and make it through.

His eyes floated back to the Saber-class Tiburon. This certainly was damned peculiar, and as much as he wanted to dig deeper, he had to do so with caution.

“Commander Geisler,” he finally said, “let’s see what the Admiral’s new assignment gets us. Request the Tiburon’s prefix codes from Gamma Command. Miss Khan, take us to two thousand kilometers from the Tiburon, but keep our nose pointed at her starboard side. Then I want you to do some math. How long will it take for us to get to Mellon at both our cruising speed and maximum warp. Mister Aerie, pump our deflector to full. I don’t want anything from that nebula messing with the ship while our shields are down. And, finally, Miss Tal, get a couple of probes ready. We’ll send those into the nebula to see if it contains anything we need to know about.”

“Yes, Captain,” Joey stated. Her hands were already moving across the display of her console, summoning the secure channels needed to contact Gamma Command. Layers of authorization prompts scrolled past as she keyed in her credentials and initiated the formal request for the Tiburon’s prefix codes.

A soft chirp confirmed the transmission had been sent. Now it was a matter of waiting. "Request is in progress,” she reported, glancing briefly toward him. “I’ll notify you the second Gamma Command transmits the codes.”

Kelly's hands moved on her console as her mind raced for the same details while taking the ship closer. "At cruising speed, it will take days at warp six to reach Mellon. At maximum warp, we will arrive in eleven hours."

Harvey nodded in the pilot's direction. "We weren't due to arrive at Mellon for a bit, so we'll stay for a while. Miss Khan, go ahead and call for a tow." Situations would normally call for the Captain to form a skeleton crew to man the nearly unmanned vessel and send it back to base, but Harvey had a feeling that that wasn't the proper course of action here. "Besides, I'm sure Commodore Holmes will love having to divert one of his ships to pick up the Tiburon

"Affirmative, Captain," Kelly said as she brought up the comms and sent the request through. She was just glad that she didn't have to command another ship like she had on the alternate universe, then scuttle it.

"Deflectors on full, aye," Mak spoke, keeping his eyes on the console and the screen. There is something about watch that interests him. Tiburon listing. Silent. Quiet.

His eyes scanned the hull again and the nebula.Something seemed wrong. Off.

Furrowing his brows, the Bajoran wondered. Silently. As he felt the vibrations from the ship. Deflectors were on. However, the vibrations were there. Subtle. Unclear. Muted.

Like a song left running, but no one listening.

Joey’s console chirped softly, the secure channel indicator shifting from amber to green. She glanced down, confirming the authentication header before speaking. “Captain,” she reported, fingers still moving to stabilize the incoming data stream, “Gamma Command is transmitting the Tiburon’s prefix codes now.”

A few more taps, and the encrypted packet began to unpack across her display.

“I’ll have them verified and ready for your use in just a moment, sir," she stated, but kept her eyes on the scrolling data, prepared to relay the codes the instant the system cleared them.

“Thank you,” Harvey replied to all who had responded so far. “Are those probes ready to launch?”

"Yes sir. The probes are in the launchers, on your command." Daynah replied with a slight smile.

“Fire as soon as they are ready,” the Captain instructed. His eyes turned back to the viewscreen. He really did hate moments like this, waiting for something to happen, and hoping that nothing would happen all at the same time.

One tap to the console and the probes were away. The probes went off on different trajectories and the telemetry began to stream back to the ship in droves. It took a lot for Daynah to parse it all. As soon as it was all clear she would give her report.

Joey’s console chimed again, the final authentication seal flashing across her display. She skimmed the verification header, fingers dancing over the controls to lock the codes into the Black Hawk’s secure command buffer. “Captain,” she announced, “prefix codes are verified and ready for use.”

Her hands remained poised over the console, prepared to execute whatever was needed next.

"Let's perform a soft test," Harvey suggested, turning to walk over to her station. "Open a channel to the Tiburon and input the codes. Let's see what systems are active and if we can remotely pilot her."

“Yes, Captain," Joey said as her fingers were already in motion, sweeping across the Intelligence console as she opened a channel to the Tiburon. The interface flickered for a moment before stabilizing, awaiting command input. She keyed in the verified prefix codes, watching each authorization layer fall away as the remote systems began to respond.

A soft confirmation tone chimed.

“Channel open and codes accepted,” she reported, eyes narrowing slightly as the Tiburon’s system architecture populated across her display. “Primary life support is online. Emergency power is stable. And—” she paused, tapping through the last diagnostic, “—their auxiliary flight‑control matrix is active. We can pilot her remotely from here.”

Harvey nodded, standing over her shoulder now to take a look at the telemetry that was coming in. "Any chance we can sync the Tiburon to our helm so Miss Khan can move us both slowly away from the nebula?"

"Establishing link, Captain," Kelly said as she entered the command codes to take control of the Tiburon's helm and sync it with the Black Hawk. "Contact established. Initiating authorization., Sync established. I recommend a tractor beam as well, Captain."

Harvey nodded, looking over to the Ops station. “Agreed. Mister Aeire, lock onto the Tiburon, but don’t move her. Miss Khan, as soon as the tractor is active, let’s move to a safer distance.”

"Yes, sir," Mak replied, prepping the systems lock. He scanned the area and activated the beam. The soft, blue glow locked onto the derelict, his ops console beeping.

"Locked in," he confirmed, keeping a sharp eye on the power readings.

"Engaging," Kelly said as she checked the reading on her console and began to move the ships.

Harvey paused for a moment, looking at the viewscreen and narrowing his eyes. His ears heard something unusual, like a faint but high-pitched squeal. It was a sound he hadn’t heard before. As he listened, he felt a ripple, a shiver that slowly creeped up his spine. The sensation was akin to goosebumps emerging from the skin. Yet there was no reason for any of this other than a sense of dread.

The Captain shook his head, pushing back the feeling for now. Turning his attention back to Joey and Daynah, Harvey asked, “Anything from the probes as of yet?”

Joey kept her eyes on the streaming telemetry, the probe data cascading in tight, dense packets across her display. She refined the filters, isolating the readings most relevant to the Black Hawk’s immediate safety. "The probes are beginning to return preliminary data from the nebula."

"Probe telemetry coming back now sir. The properties of this nebula are similar to a mutara class nebula. However, there is an energy signature emanating from deep within the nebula. The computer classifies the energy as unknown, with further study needed. I have cross referenced this data with LCARS and have learned that in 2387 this nebula was first detected by the USS Endurance, orders at the time prohibited exploration. The Tiberon was the first vessel sent to explore the nebula." Daynah gave her report as she looked at her screen. She continued to parse the data as it came in.

Harvey crossed his arms and then used his left hand to stroke the stubble growing on his chin. "So we've got a starship on the edge of space performing a follow up." It was a wise decision then pulling away from the nebula. "Let's get some extra space between us and the nebula, Miss Khan. Joey, are you able to download the Tiburon’s logs? We might also want to contact Gamma Command and get the Endurance's mission report.”

“Yes, Captain.” Joey said as her hands began moving, her console shifting seamlessly from the Tiburon’s systems manifest to its internal data architecture. The remote link pulsed once, then stabilized as she threaded the authorization through.

“I can download the Tiburon’s logs,” she confirmed, initiating the command sequence. “I’m starting to pull them now, routing the data through a secure buffer so we don’t contaminate anything. We should have the first blocks soon.”

Without looking up, she opened a second channel. “I’m also putting in the request to Gamma Command for the Endurance’s mission reports,” she added, fingers gliding across the interface. “Flagging it priority‑one under our current operational status. They’ll transmit as soon as the files are cleared for release. I’ll notify you the moment both data sets are fully available, Captain.”

Kelly began to move the Tiburon and the Black Hawk away from the nebula when a chill went up her spine and rattled around in her brain. She felt her fingers shake and a strong desire to run, but didn't know why or to where as she fought off the panic. 

“Thank you,” Harvey said to Joey. There wasn’t much else to do now but wait. 

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