New Orders - Part 1

Posted on Fri Jun 12th, 2026 @ 10:33am by Commander Elias Mercer
Edited on on Fri Jun 12th, 2026 @ 10:54am

1,132 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Silence at Ulysses
Location: C.O's Quaters
Timeline: Mission 1, Day 1, 0400

Flashes of sickly green light and soulless black played across his vision. The deafening hum of weapons fire filled the air and drowned out all other sounds, leaving a piercing whine in his ears.

Then he saw it.

A vast black cube emerged from the darkness, its surface a grotesque maze of conduits, plating, and twisted machinery. Light vanished against its hull; even the stars were swallowed by the darkness contained within it. There was no visible beginning or end to it, only an impossible wall of cold metal stretching beyond comprehension.

The thunderous sounds of weapons fire died. Alarms fell silent, screams died in throats, and everything fell silent. It was as if the universe had stopped at the sight of the cube.

All he could hear now was his own breathing, ragged and frantic inside the stillness.

A feeling of dread filled his body. His veins ran cold, as if ice water was being pumped through his body.

Then the voice came.

Not from a speaker. Not through a communicator. It seemed to materialise inside his mind; it filled every corner of his being. Stripped of emotion, stripped of life, stripped even of malice. It carried only certainty and a promise.

"We are the Borg. You will be annihilated..."

Elias's eyes opened, and he bolted upright in his bed, sweat dripping from his brow and running down the side of his face. Mercer's chest heaved, his breathing laboured and uneven. The darkness of his quarters seemed to fill him, not easing any of the dread.

Mercer waited for the voice to return, waited for his inevitable end. A moment passed, then two, then it turned to seconds. The end never came; Elias's heart slowed its pounding in his chest.

It was just a dream, Mercer thought as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he could start making out shapes in his quarters. Just a dream, they are gone. They can't come back again. Elias let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding; it came out slowly, almost as a sigh. The dreams were back again.

Glancing over to the chrono on his bedside table, Mercer saw that it was 0400 hours. It was almost the end of Delta shift, but not for another two hours. There's no point in going back to bed again Mercer thought, as he pushed himself off his bed and slowly plodded over to his bathroom.

Elias's quarters were small, some would say they were cramped, but he always liked to think of them as cosy. A Nova Class starship didn't have much space for luxurious quarters, but that never bothered Mercer as he preferred the smaller rooms anyway. They had less space to clean up after all.

Upon entering the small bathroom, the lights automatically came up to half brightness, and Mercer caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. He looked pale, his eyes were red and slightly puffy, and his face still had a sheen of sweat covering it. Not my best look, if I am honest Mercer thought ruefully.

Reaching forward, Elias turned on the tap, and cool water started flowing into the sink. Cupping his hands together and collecting some of the cool water, Mercer splashed it onto his face and rubbed it on his neck. The water felt good on his skin; it washed away the sweat and helped push the dream away from his mind.

Feeling refreshed and better about himself, Mercer grabbed a towel and dried himself off a little. He left the towel loosely draped on his shoulders and walked back into his quarters.

A flashing light on his desk caught Mercer's attention; he hadn't noticed it before. How long had it been flashing?

Walking up to the workspace, Elias tapped a few buttons on the control panel, and the holographic computer screen lit up. A few older messages waited on the screen: the latest intelligence updates from Starfleet, and a message from Elias's sister Amelia. The most recent caught Mercer's interest: a message from Rear Admiral T'Lara, the Commanding Officer of Starbase 74 and Mercer's superior officer.

Elias pulled out his desk chair, sat down and pressed the play button for the message. Admiral T'Lara's stern visage filled the holographic display in front of him.

"Greetings, Commander,

Time is short, so I will be brief.

We have lost contact with Ulysses Station; the last recorded check-in was two weeks ago.
Considering the importance and location of the station, we need to restore contact with the station as soon as possible.
While this is not something that would be assigned to the USS Ithaca, you are the closest vessel that we have available."

T'Lara paused, as if she were gathering her thoughts and preparing for the next part of her message.

As such, the USS Ithaca is hereby ordered to break from its current mission and immediately head to the Ulysses system. You are to investigate the current status of the station and re-establish communications.
A full mission brief has been attached to this message, which includes our latest intelligence on the station.
This mission is of high importance to sector security and maintaining Starfleet's presence in the area.

Good luck, Commander.
T'Lara out.

The Vulcan leaned forward slightly, reaching for an unseen control, and the message playback stopped.

Mercer sat back in his chair, resting his head against the soft fabric, taking a few moments to process the message from Admiral T'Lara. It was true that the Ithaca wasn't suited for a rescue mission; it was a science vessel that was designed for long-range surveys. This must be important Mercer thought to himself.

True to her word, T'Lara had attached a full mission brief to her message. Mercer opened the brief and began reading.
The situation looked more complicated than Admiral T'Lara had made out. Ulysses Station was more than just an outpost in the region; it was a key monitoring and surveillance station alongside the Tholian border.

It would be a challenging mission for the Ithaca, but Mercer had no doubts about his crew. This mission would be his first true test in the Vesper March: whether he was the officer they needed leading them into it was another matter.

Pushing that thought aside, Mercer turned off the holographic display, stood up from his desk and headed back to the bathroom to get cleaned up and ready for a new mission for the Ithaca

END

Mission Post By:
Commander Elias Mercer
C.O. - USS Ithaca

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