Capt. Eric Weston was sitting in his chair, simply staring at the approaching maelstrom, an expression of slight distaste decorating his features but nothing more. She looked at him and was instantly calmed by his relaxed form. She might not have been so calmed had she seen Weston’s bone-white knuckles or the bloodred holes he was drilling into his palms with his clenched fists, but she wasn’t supposed to see that and so she didn’t.

Weston focused all his considerable willpower on projecting a commanding presence to everyone on the bridge, but the transition effect took its toll on him as well.

In a markedly different system over twenty light-years away, the unique signature of the Odyssey reentering dimensional space unfolded. Section by section and deck by deck, the giant ship stepped down from the tachyon stream and rebuilt itself particle by particle.

Throughout the ship, its crew began the arduous steps to ensure that the ship had reintegrated the entire myriad of its systems successfully. On the flight deck, Stephanos ordered the first of the Archangel fighters into position on the ship’s catapults and had their backup take positions on the elevators that separated the vacuum of the flight deck from the hangar bay.

On the bridge, the scene was much the same as elsewhere, with the notable exception of a very pale and seemingly very cold young woman strapped into her seat.

“Get the sensors back online. I need a full scan of the system,” Weston snapped as crisply as his nauseated stomach would allow.

“Aye, sir. Full scan in three minutes, sir.”

Weston glanced back to Milla and motioned a young ensign over to check on her. As the young woman moved to respond to his order, Weston pulled another display forward and tapped in a command to echo the sensor displays.

Milla looked up, shivering, as a warming hand was laid on her shoulder.

The ensign looked at her with a gentle smile. “Are you okay, ma’am?”

Milla’s eyes bored into the young woman. “That was among the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen.”

The ensign smiled sheepishly. “Yes, ma’am, the transition drive is hard to take. Here, let me help you.” She unlocked the restraint straps that held Milla in place and slipped them back into their rollers.

Milla pitched forward, but the woman caught her easily. It took a few moments for the shivering and weakness to pass. Milla nodded slowly and then began to move of her own accord. She stood up and stretched. “Thank you…?”

“Ensign Lamont, ma’am. Susan Lamont.”

“Thank you, Susan. I am Milla.”

Ensign Lamont smiled. “I know. Most everybody on board knows your name by now, ma’am.”

“I should have guessed that. A ship’s gossip network is always the most efficient system on board, no?”

Susan shrugged. “Always has been as far as I know, ma’am.”

Milla turned her attention back to the activities on the bridge; the captain’s attention had been drawn to the incoming telemetry from the ship’s radar and lidar sensors. Milla took a step closer to examine the diagram that appeared on the main screen.