[snip]

It is almost a month and a half later since their last mission. The Merrimack in that time was given some simple patrol missions near and around DS K-5, in addition to lending some extra man power on, in or around the Station. But as 2335 hours in the late night comes up. The bridge of the Merrimack for those on the night shift lights up with a pinging sound hail by DS K-5 Station Commander, Commodore Stone.

Captain Glen was sleeping soundly in his Quarters.

Max was sitting on the bridge being the acting captain for the night shift. He did this from time to time to hopefully learn more about command. He heard the hail and said to the current office at comms, “Ensign Schwartz, Please open the hailing request.” Once Ensign Schwartz nodded at Max, he said, “Lt Mullins, USS Merrimack, here, How can we help you Commodore Stone?” Max was very curious on why someone would be hailing the Merrimack at such a late hour. It was probably something very important. This was the first time Max had received a hail while being the acting captain on a night shift. He wanted to do the correct thing the first time it happened. He knew this would be part of the job and it had taken a few rotations on the Merrimack as the night captain before it occurred. He wanted to prove to everyone, mostly himself, he was worthy of one day being a Captain.

=/\= Good evening Lt Mullins, apologies for disrupting your shift. But a matter was passed onto me from Admiral Baker from Federation Colonial Outreach. As you may or not know the colonial outreach division of the Federation and Starfleet oversees and tracks independent colonies that settle outside the Federation borders and usually what little to no contact with the Federation there after. Still in their interest of safety and in the hope that at some point they may decide to reunite with us the division keeps its eyes and ears to the ground when stuff crops up. =/\= Stone explained.

Taking a sip of coffee or tea from a cup, Stone continued. =/\= About 82 years ago one such group went far beyond our then borders. Numbering nearly 15,000 some men women and children, all human they settled on a plant that they later called, Unity I. The system has since been labelled as Unity. Over the years they’ve only done the most bare minimal of trade. Family members at the time they left, or since, that refused to cut ties with the Federation and Starfleet were disowned, as were their descendants later on. Occasionally some of their own people leave the colony and either fall in with independent merchant groups or in much rare cases join the Federation and Starfleet. As a result these people sometimes are in contact with Unity. But over the past 6 months more and more reports have come in that these people have had no contact from Unity. As a result they finally reached out to Colonial Outreach to ask that a Starfleet ship be sent to check up on the colony and render assistance if needed, and if not then at least find out why they’ve gone silent for so long.=/\= He said, pausing again to sip his cup.

=/\= We’re sending you what we know of Unity over the past 10 years, any other older information we find unlikely to be of any real use. I’m also readying some spare cargo on the station here, for the use of medical and food and such resupply, just in case you need it or want to use it as a gift or peace offering etc. Please have some NE’s in your transporter rooms stand by for receiving in the next 20 or so minutes. Please wake Captain Glen and inform him of these events, I will be gathering some other information of the region we have for a full formal briefing with him and his staff by 0100 hours this morning, expect a further call then. Otherwise do you have any questions? =/\= He asked.

=/\=Understood Commodore. I will be contacting the captain very shortly. I will make sure and let him know that we need to have a briefing and that you will be contacting the Merrimack again. Mullins out=/\=. Max was awaiting the data and his the communicator on the captain’s chair =/\=Lt Mullins to Captain Glen. I am sorry to disrupt you but the Commodore has contacted the Merrimack about an issue with the Star-Fleet Federation Colonial Outreach program and the Unity. Normally, there is normal contact with Unity I but of late, the communication has dropped off and Star-fleet is worried about the colony. Star-fleet has asked us to travel to and reach out to the colony known as Unity I. We will be having another call from the Commodore at 0100 this morning so we will need to have a staff meeting before hand. I will be handing the comm over to Ensign Schwartz when I have to leave to go to this briefing. Would you like me to contact the rest of the senior staff to request the briefing? Mullins out. =/\= He waited for a response from the captain on how he wanted to proceed.

=/\= Thank you Lieutenant. I shall get up and dressed immediately. Please organise the staff meeting for 0015 hours and inform the senior staff about it and the briefing. Is Admiral Baker still in charge of the Federation Colonial Outreach programme? Which Commodore did you speak with? Did he say if they had other concerns beyond the break in communications? =/\=

Max then responded to the captain =/\=Yes, it is Admiral Bake and he is still in charge of the Federation Colonial outreach program. Here is all the data which was provided.=/\= He went on to provide all the information which the Admiral gave to him on the bridge to the captain. He also indicated about the data which was being sent over to the bridge. He said they would be able to look at it on the computer and during the staff meeting. After explaining to the captain, he hit the comm padd on the captain’s chair and said, “Lt Mullins to all senior staff. We have an emergency staff meeting at 0015. I am sorry to interrupt but the captain has requested we do this prior to a call from Admiral Baker about the Federation Colonial Outreach program. We will be in the captain’s ready room.=/\= He looked down to see what time it was and knew it was not long till the meeting would start as its 2300. He continued his duties as Duty Officer until it was closer to the time of the senior staff meeting.

Captain Glen reluctantly got changing back into his uniform. He’d had less than two hours sleep and would need coffee. He hoped there was enough.

• Glen, CO