-two hours earlier-

The briefing room of the Andorian warship Timshel was tiny, when compared to the much more spacious room aboard most Federation starships, but that was by design. Not only did Andorians tend to prefer spaces that were smaller, with less compartment space to let the heat escape, but it allowed for greater reinforcement of the bulkheads and other sections of the ship which were critical to keeping it operational during combat. The design might have been in use for hundreds of years, but the components that made it up were being constantly improved. Another improvement - the 'windows', such as they were, now were composed of viewscreen components. Actual outward-facing windows were a structural weakness, and a bit of a foreign concept to Andorians, who lived underground.

In the briefing room of the Timshel sat her senior command staff. The tactical officer, Chalas th'Marin, the science officer, Larin zh'Dan, and the operations officer, Tela Zhal, sat in quiet contemplation, none really saying anything to the other. There wasn't much to say - since the end of the Iconian War, the Andoria sector (no true Andorian would dare call it the 'Vulcan sector') had been quiet save for the usual distress signals - engine malfunctions, hull breaches, the rare marauding pirate ship or two. Today would be unremarkable, each had independently concluded. A routine training mission with the Federation's new friends, the Lukari, followed by a diplomatic reception.

The Lukari had proven interesting allies - unlike the Andorians with their more warrior-like philosophy, the Lukari had developed without much contact with other spacefaring species. This had made them prioritize scientific developments, and discovery, rather than the more tactically-sound disposition of Andorian forces. Several Andorian ships had worked with them in the last eight months since first contact, to help to harden their views and prepare them for the unpleasant yet inevitable problem of space defense.

The door opened, admitting the captain of the Timshel, Commander Telvin Shonem, a career officer in the Andorian Guard and a hero to his crew. He was followed in by a Starfleet officer in a black, teal and purple uniform. This, the three Andorian officers thought, must be the specialist they had just welcomed aboard. She was human, they noted, with eyes both dark in colour yet shining with confidence. Her dark brown hair contrasted with her light shade of skin, and under her arm was tucked a PADD.

The commander waited a moment, then turned and indicated the Starfleet officer. "Allow me to introduce Commander Bianca duBois, of Starfleet Intelligence. Commander, these are my first officer, Chalas th'Marin, my chief engineer, Tela Zhal, and my science officer, Dr. Larin zh'Dan."

First to offer a nod was th'Marin. "Nice to meet you, Commander. Welcome aboard ."

"Thank you. Please, call me Bianca." The Starfleet officer smiled, her eyes searching the room and greeting each face with a glance. "I'm aboard as Starfleet liaison for the upcoming mission. I'll just be a representative available for co-ordination and information - no need to salute me or anything like that."

Shonem indicated the room with a nod. "Commander - sorry, Bianca is here to answer any questions you might have about the Lukari before we begin our mission. She's worked with them since the Federation made first contact with them six months ago."

In fact, Bianca didn't mention, meeting the Lukari had been something of a mixed blessing for her - the first contact mission's success in re-igniting the Lukari sun had led to a subsequent mission in the Na'Kuhl system which had cost her the command of the starship Miranda, a Luna-class starship. At least, that was how it felt. Her recruitment as a temporal agent had been deliberately concealed - to anyone else, and in her record, she had been demoted and removed from command. But that was just the official story. She wasn't here to keep an eye on the Andorians at all - but the Lukari.

"What can you tell us about them?" zh'Dan was first to ask. "Other than what we see in the information, I mean. Your impressions, what they're like."

Bianca smiled before going into her well-rehearsed version of the story, which excluded a number of pertinent facts. "I was in command of the starship Miranda during the mission. What began as a routine system sweep quickly became a first-contact situation. We thought the Lukari homeworld was part of an uninhabited system before we got close enough to find out otherwise. Our sensors picked up on transmissions from a moon orbiting a gas giant."

"Just like home," zh'Dan said. "Andoria is much the same."

"Indeed. A few key differences, though - there are more planets in the Andor system than in the Lukari system, and... well, and your star wasn't dying. That was why we'd believed the system to be uninhabited - it seemed unlikely that such a star would be able to support life. But... there they were."

"You said that in the past tense, though," zh'Dan continued. "Their home star 'was dying'."

"Well, yes. It no longer is."

"And how did that come to happen, exactly? Chromodynamic enhancement? Or some sort of spectral matrix infusion?"

Bianca straightened her uniform tunic. "I'm afraid that's classified."

Commander Shonem indicated his science officer, and smiled at Bianca. "You'll have to forgive Dr. zh'Dan - her doctorate, after all, was in astrometrics and stellar fusion."

"I have so many questions about what they were able to accomplish," zh'Dan said with a smile, her enthusiasm palpable. "And how they were able to do it."

The involvement of the Tox Uthat, the hand-sized quantum phase inhibitor, in the process had to remain a secret, as did its new location (in both time and space) so Bianca kept what she knew to herself. She gave a slight shrug. "All I can really say is that while Lukari interstellar transport technology is not strongly developed, their understanding of certain scientific and engineering properties, especially around the structure and applications of protomatter, is as advanced as anything in the Federation, if not more so."

Tela Zhal, the operations officer, leaned forwards and caught Bianca's eye. "So," she said, her face expressionless, "what's our role?"

"Right, let me get to it, then." Bianca took her padd and turned to an adjacent viewscreen, pulling up a star map. "The Lukari have a charting expedition that they'd like to undertake on behalf of the Alliance, in a region known to have strong ties to the mycelial realm."

"The what?" th'Marin asked.

Bianca had been anticipating this response. "The past few months since the end of the Iconian War have seen a return of a rogue Klingon faction, House Mo'Kai. Intelligence believes that they're utilizing and weaponizing the energies from a region of space known to be inhabited by an ecosystem built around interstellar mycelial growth."

Th'Marin scoffed. "I'm sorry, it's just... I have a very hard time understanding how such a place could possibly exist."

"Which is why you're in tactical," zh'Dan scoffed.

"To be fair," Bianca interrupted before th'Marin could reply, "the best minds in the Federation didn't seem to know it existed until House Mo'Kai returned in strength."

"Thank you," th'Marin said with a scolding glance at zh'Dan.

"And thank you," Commander Shonem declared. "Let's allow the commander to continue her briefing without any further bickering, hm?"

Bianca took a moment to give the commander a nod, then continued. "The Lukari have a particular interest in learning all they can about the mycelial realm, and they've isolated a pocket of space which may have properties well-suited to being able to scan and learn more about what lies beyond. The place they're headed is in Andorian space, the Weytahn system. Your jurisdiction, but Starfleet is also sending the starship Hofmann along as an observer."

"Captain sh'Marois, her commander, is an old friend," Commander Shonem added. "It'll be good to catch up with her afterwards."

Bianca nodded to Zhal, the operations officer, as she answered her initial question. "Your ship will be one of three Andorian vessels joining the Hofmann and the Reskava, which is the Lukari flagship. You'll provide defensive cover as well as rescue operations in case any of the shuttles get in trouble."

"...shuttles?" Zhal asked.

"The Lukari want to send shuttles in to get tighter readings where mycelial energy is detected in high concentrations. The interference can be considerable, so using remote sensing probes is not going to work - they need to be crewed directly. The shuttles will be able to narrow their sensor bands and get a better idea of what exactly this realm is, so we can learn about it."

Commander Shonem nodded. "Those shuttles can count on the Timshel," he said, his eyes drifting to each of the officers around the table. "Any questions?"

Zhal shook her head, as did th'Marin. For her part, zh'Dan merely smiled sweetly. "I obviously have questions, but I'll save them for the Lukari," she noted.

The ship's intercom sounded and a female voice spoke from overhead. "Commander Shonem, come in, please."

Shonem gave a sharp look at th'Marin as he pressed a button on the table. "Go ahead, Linar."

"Commander, multiple contacts have just appeared in-system."

Shonem's eyes shifted to Bianca. "The Lukari?"

"Negative. New contacts have warp signatures consistent with Klingon vessels. It's just..."

"Just what, Linar?"

Linar's voice quavered. "Confirmed. They're House Mo'Kai ships, sir. Looks like a raid."

"Sound battle stations," Shonem replied, rising from his chair. "We'll be right there."