The hum of the station filled the silence as Captain Harper stood at the center of the conference table, her crew seated around her — tired, bruised, but upright. Across from them sat the Chawla’s officers, listening intently as Harper began speaking.

“The Sausalito and the Chawla followed the Vaadwaur trail back to the edge of the Archanis Nebula,” she said, her voice steady though fatigue tugged at its edges. “Commander Trihi’s team traced residual warp decay that led us right into their hiding place. A forward outpost — small, hidden in the plasma storms.”

Captain Rigras stood from her seat, trying to hide the slight grimace and limp, as she approached Captain Harper. Pulling up the holo display showing the decaying warp trail entering the storms, “It was quickly decided, between the two of us, that the Chawla, would enter the storm  along a path designed to mirror the trail. After several tense hours we found the outpost nestled in a small eye within. I decided to keep the Chawla just within the edge of the storm, hopefully using the storm plasma eruptions to help hide the Chawla from the Vaudwaar scans as we conducted are own on the outpost and the storms surrounding it.”

Captain Harper nodded, stepping closer to the display as the storm’s swirling energy reflected across her face. “It was a bold move, Captain — and the right one,” she said, her tone steady and laced with respect. “Your ship’s positioning gave us the cover that we needed in order to get the Sausalito’s sensors tuned to the Vaadwaur frequency drift. Without that window, we’d never have confirmed the outpost’s location in time. The storm nearly tore both ships apart, but your call gave us the advantage we needed.”

Harper exhaled softly, recalling the chaos of the moment. “Once we had the coordinates locked, we didn’t have time for anything fancy,” she said. “We rode the edge of the storm, matched the outpost’s signal, and used a short-range transporter burst. The Chawla held position and drew their attention while we located Lieutenant Commander Tosh’s signature and then pulled her straight out through the interference. It was rough… but it worked.”

Aryanna glanced quickly at the ceiling for a brief moment let out a slow exhale. “Till it didn’t, unbeknownst to us the Vaad had hidden a ship of their own in the storm. Why? We don’t know. But if we had to guess it was either an escape plan or it was coming to pull the outpost staff and their captive as the Vaadwaur were pulling back due to Brave Fleets ongoing mission against them. It set on us as the we started to make their exit, the Sausalito in a trail position slightly behind us, as we had assumed that and threats would be coming toward the outpost not from it.”

Captain Harper gave a slight nod, her jaw tightening at the memory. “They came out of the storm hard and too fast for our sensors to catch. The Sausalito swung forward immediately, took the first volley, and bought just enough time for the Chawla to clear the debris field. Once we got our shields stabilized, we started to push back and attempted to drive them off. Lucky for us, they didn’t expect two ships ready to fight and we took them by surprise.”

Harper’s eyes lingered on the holo display for a long moment, the swirling echoes of the storm frozen in light. “When the Vaadwaur ship broke off, the Chawla and Sausalito were both running on fumes,” she said, her voice steady but low. “Shields were barely holding, and the storm wasn’t giving us any favors. But Lieutenant Commander Tosh was aboard, alive—and that was all the reason we needed to keep moving.”

She glanced briefly toward Rigras, then to her own crew across the table. “We fell in line behind the Chawla and rode the plasma currents out. Every console on the bridge was sparking, half the systems running on bypass, but somehow we stayed ahead of the collapse. When the storm finally broke and we saw open stars again…” She paused, exhaling slowly. “It was quiet. Just two battered ships limping home with one of our own safe again.”

Harper straightened, tapping a control to shut off the holo display. “We’ve faced worse and walked away, but this one reminded me of why we do what we do. No matter how bad it gets, we don’t leave anyone behind. Not ever.”

She gave a faint, tired smile toward Captain Rigras. “You and your crew flew like hell out there, Captain. It was an honor to serve beside you and I’d be honored to do it again.”

Then, with a final nod to both crews, she said simply, “Let’s take the win—and be ready for whatever comes next.”