Evading the Light
Posted on Sat Mar 28th, 2026 @ 3:58pm by Major (Aendeh) Toval & Lieutenant JG Jason Williams III & Sub-Commander (erei'Riov) Minatha ir'Ra'tleihfi i'Liorae-sihaer
1,447 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: PWB Vindex
Timeline: MD09, 0955 Hours
Minatha had returned to her 'relaxed' posture in her seat and appeared to be meditating. In reality she was listening, to the breath and tension in her crew, to the subtle hum and vibration of the Vindex itself, but most importantly she was listening to the consoles and stations across the bridge for any sign of an update. It had been some time since Aetan had left the bridge and slowly the crew had settled back into the routine but her mind broiled as she plotted not just the next step but also the next ten after that until the end of this singular day. Abruptly her voice broke the relative silence. "Give me an update; Especially on the Astreas positioning and sensor activity. It is about time that they should be making an attempt to locate us after our close call earlier. Lets pre-empt that and ensure that Starfleet's usual methods have limited chance of success."
Toval straightened, the ever-present crease between his brows betraying almost nothing of the storm in his mind. He spoke with flat precision.
"Uvael," he said, "adjust all sensor masking protocols. Begin preemptive sweep suppression. Monitor the Astrea's vectors. Report any anomaly."
The tactical officer acknowledged with a small nod, his fingers executing the relayed order from Minatha.
There was a pregnant pause across the bridge for several moments before the operations officer--Jopal--spoke.
"Subcommander," he said with slight alarm. "The Nidean freighter... readings indicate imminent detonation."
Toval's eyes narrows, calculating a dozen things at once. He crossed the bridge to Jopal's station and examined the readout.
"Confirmed," he said evenly, turning his head to Minatha. "Astrea has ceased sensor sweeps and is backing away. They have seen enough, or they choose caution."
Minatha nodded and turned to look at Jopal. "All the same, prepare an anti-tachyon sweep countermeasure in case they resume. That should counter the usual Starfleet trickery and keep us concealed." She stepped down the steps from her chair and moved toward the helm. "How close are we to the freighter?"
"Two hundred thousand kilometers," came the response from the Sublieutenant.
Uvael's console flashed. "Containment field collapse accelerating," he said. "Cascade failure imminent."
Minatha nodded and motioned to the viewscreen. She had every intention of seeing the evidence of their presence be destroyed; what little bit that there was.
Toval remained beside Jopal's station, one hand resting lightly on the edge of the console while the other moved across the surface carefully. The display shifted under his fingers as he replaced the diagnostics with telemetry which, in turn, spilled-over into narrow columns of encrypted data.
For several days, the Vindex had maintained a connection to the freighter. It was a subspace handshake that allowed them full control over Katreen's Hope--a sort of tractor beam of information. Part of Aetan's apparatus had required a large enough transceiver to further focus the weapon's power. From orbit, it had been near-impossible to target a single individual in only two square meters of space using only the Vindex's deflector array. According to the Preceptor, they had needed a second deflector in order to triangulate a target.
Nearly one week ago, they had intercepted the Nidean freighter. The crew's deaths were quick once they had sliced into the freighter's computer core, deactivating life support and setting internal atmosphere to negative. Most probably died within two minutes.
As a security measure, holographic emitters were placed throughout the vessel and sure enough, Astrea came meddling.
"Subcommander," he said, studying the readings. "The subspace control channel to Katreen's Hope has been terminated." His fingers tapped-out a command that was nothing more than a secondary check. "The harmonic lock we maintained for telemetry has collapsed perfectly. We are not at risk of any feedback."
On Jopal's screen, the last line of data stopped flashing.
"Excellent; and now the true difficulty remains. Monitor the situation." Minatha's face split in the shadow of a smile, though anybody not familiar with her would never catch it.
Centurion Vrihau sat at the communications station, a small earpiece plugged into her right ear. She was a broad-shouldered woman in early middle-age, her dark hair pulled into a tight topknot that was showing hints of grey. The topknot signified her lineage--a Romulan of the southern clans. They were a hardy folk who believed in service to the Empire and staunchly defended their archaic traditions--including topknots. Fine lines had gathered around her eyes from decades of service in the Tal Shiar.
"Subcommander," she said, her baritone voice carrying clearly across the bridge, "the Astrea is recalling its starfighter elements. Multiple vessels are reversing course and returning."
"Is our trojan still embedded in the Astrea systems, Centurion?" the tone of the question was grave and direct.
"Yes, Subcommander." She had snapped her head around to watch her superior's reaction. "There has been no hint of detection."
"Good. We should know any updates on the situation before they become a problem." Minatha settled back into her seat and let out a quiet breath of relief.
The Executive Officer breathed a little lighter now. The Subcommander appeared calmer and regardless of any sudden turns their plans had taken, they had still succeeded in disrupting the Unification Accords. Now it was a matter of tying up any loose ends.
Uvael leaned closer to his tactical display, fingers adjusting the magnification of the sensor grid.
"Additional activity," he reported. "Two shuttlecraft are departing the freighter. Vectoring back toward Astrea at maximum impulse."
Toval craned his neck to the tactical station but his expression remained impassive.
At the operations console, Jopal frowned. "And they have found a way around the transporter jammer," he added.
Standing next to Jopal, the Executive Officer glanced at the display. "Confirmed. Transport signatures detected--originating from the freighter's bridge. Destination consistent with Astrea."
Minatha's hand found the armrest of her chair in a swift gesture that she adjusted midway through to ensure it appeared intentional. "We will see what the Astrea managed to gather as far as information. We can't counter what we don't know."
Far out against the velvet of open space, Katreen's Hope had begun to glow in earnest. What had once been jagged seams of orange light along its hull was now opening and changing colour. White fire ripped through the vessel and then the reactor core gave in.
The freighter didn't so much explode as come apart. Light bursting outward from the center in a terrifying and soundless bloom--debris scattering outward and a minor shockwave rippling through the void.
On the bridge viewscreen, the wreck glowed like a star for the briefest of moments.
Then the brilliance faded, a drifting cloud of wreckage the only remnants it had ever existed.
Toval carefully made his way to the center of the bridge. "The freighter served its purpose," he said to Minatha without emotion.
Minatha nodded and similarly without emotion replied "Indeed; and now the Herring has been caught."
[Raptor Starfighter]
Jason and his wingman had cleared the area around the freighter after the entire away team had been transported off and he had received the warning of the crippled ship's imminent destruction.
Turning his back towards the explosion, he shifted the vision modes in his optical implants to reduce the glare of the flash. As he did so, he paused a moment when he thought he saw something on the lower theta bands of the ultraviolet wavelength. It almost appears to be the vague shape of a cloaked vessel, but, when the explosion passed, the image was gone. He checked his sensor logs and found that nothing was discovered.
Feeling the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, Jason brought his starfighter to a halt, pointing the bow towards where he thought he saw the shape. He scanned the area on full power, as he also slowly switched between visual settings again, looking for any sign of the disturbance.
Sub-Commander Minatha ir'Ra'tleihfi i'Liorae-sihaer
Commander Officer
PWB Vindex
Tal Shiar
(NPC of Alexandra Blackstone)
Major Toval
Executive Officer
PWB Vindex
Tal Shiar
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)
Lieutenant JG Jason Williams III
Squadron Leader
USS Astrea
(NPC of Maxun Spello)
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