Stephen sat at his desk reading reports when an unexpected sound startled him.
<Incoming transmission.>
Regaining his composure, Stephen said, "From where?"
<Starfleet Command.>
"What?! That's impossible." He paused. "Open the com signal on the bridge view screen in five seconds."
Stephen got up quickly and ran to the bridge. "Jon, check this out," he said just before the view screen displayed the Federation logo and Vice Admiral Zultok.
[Hello, Captain Maruu. I'm afraid this form of communication will be one-way only. If you are getting this message as my sensors say you are, then you are alive and well but considerably out of range of subspace communication. In the past few weeks, Starfleet scientists have been able to develop technology which uses slipstream abilities to communicate as far out as you are and quite a bit further. Your systems are upgradable, and we have uploaded the specifics of the new technology to your systems. Have your engineers get on it as soon as possible. I look forward to having a discussion with you as soon as possible.
[On a more unhappy note, we are making a few changes to your crew. The crew which have been reassigned have been sent letters; they should report to you soon enough. You are to send them back using the same transwarp vessel in which Lt. Benton arrived to your ship. Once again, we hope to hear from you soon. Good luck, Captain.]
Stephen smiled. "I'm excited, Jon. You excited?"
"Euphoric, sir." Jon laughed. "I'll get Commander Loran the specs and have them get right on it."
"You read my mind." Stephen smiled again as he returned to the ready room to prepare his report to Starfleet.
"Chief, message for you in your office. It's a high priority one too." Ensign Jacobsen looked over his shoulder to Garek who had just entered Engineering.
"All right. Thanks, Marc." Garek made his way past the engineer and into his office. He then sat down on the stool and pressed a button that activated a view screen. The United Federation of Planets logo came up, followed by the ever-familiar Starfleet Logo. The images then vanished, being replaced with a text message. Garek began to look through the message, carefully nitpicking. Garek then pressed the button, deactivating the screen. He then placed his head in his hands and thought.
"Something wrong, Commander?" Jacob Celchu asked, poking his head into the Chief Engineer's office.
"Possibly..."
[To: Lieutenant Commander Garek Loran. From: Captain Gavin Jeffreys . You have been re-assigned to Starbase 901 pending authorization of Admiral Thomas Claymore. When authorization comes through, you are to report to Starbase 350 for transit to the base.]
Nearly to tears, Garek rested his head in his hands and sat in silence.