[snip]

At the Starbase the comm from the Merrimack came in the Command Ops Center, an Ensign Michaels picked up and responded, took their request and it was a few minutes until Commodore Stone came on the comm.

|o|Stone here, Merrimack, what can we do for you?|o|

=/\= Lt. Kahuna here, Sir. a mission status report: I’m sending you video feeds from what we thought was a meteorite that fell into the ocean but turns out to be a unidentified spacecraft. The spacecraft contained only drones but was powering up weapons and scanning the shuttlecraft, so the shuttle left. Some of the crew thought it bore a resemblance to a craft that appeared out of subspace and attacked the Merrimack a few years ago, but the computer has insufficient evidence to confirm such a link. Captain Glen is still on the planet surface but it appears that villages and towns have been deserted, all about the same time as this craft arrived. That’s the same time that all the Comms went down. We rescued a belter who was left abandoned with his brother while they were out mining at that time. His brother died unfortunately, but he has heard nothing from anyone else since… Sir, our best analysis is that this is some kind of incursion by a first contact race. We think it is likely that the whole colony is now compromised, and that the Merrimack doesn’t have the manpower for conducting an armed conflict or even for breaking a siege. Captain Glen wants to try to locate a lone life-sign we have located in the hopes of learning more. =/\=

Stella’s long fingernails started to dance across the comms board. She placed her earpiece in her ear and her long multicolored acrylic
tipped finger flew. She found the latest video file and as the weapons officer was speaking, she located the source of the people they were speaking to and sent the video feeds. It was then she reported to Kahuna in a hushed voice. ” Files sent. and we have confirmation of receipt.” Stella then went to work locating old files and sorting them by importance. Cleaning up her system for better speed and efficiency. Her purple acrylic nails decorated with silver stars and planets seemed to go at light speed as she finished up and waited for Kahuna to give her something else to do.

While they waited for the advice from Commodore Stone, Kahuna said, “Lt. Gagnon, the lack of any Comms is something that makes little sense to me? Do you agree? An armed invasion requires communication. Even ancient armies had flags, radio and signal corps. Please continue to monitor subspace for unmodulated continuous waves or other signal sequences and patterns of an alien origin.”

“VLF sir.” Stella answered immediately. ” Or perhaps ELF waves. I would bet on the VLF though. When I was cleaning up old files I came across several odd sets of background noises. Two were very slow-moving waves of the type that are sometimes used for communication. Along with these I have several odd background noises that sounded a bit out of place. I have them all recorded individually and tagged. Who would you like me to send them to for study?” It was at this point as Stella was sounding very professional that a large growl came up from her stomach area to remind her how long it had been since she had last eaten. ” Oh my! ” She giggled. Sorry about that Mr. Kahuna sir!”

=^=Received and understood, Lieutenant. If Captain Glen believes it is safe to check out the last life sign, tell him by all means as long as he keeps it short. If there is any active signs of the alien invaders he is to abort. I will contact Starfleet Comnand and we’ll get proper team out there to deal with it.=^= The audio paused for a moment while Stone peered down at a data pad.

=^=We have a situation brewing over in the Hromi system. We are trying to clean up the distress call from them. Tell him to be ready to head over there. Stone and K5 out.=^=

=/\= Acknowledged Merrimack =/\= replied Glen. Then a little later, =/\= Merrimack. Five to beam up! =/\= Glen made to the Transporter Room.

“I’m no longer reading that life-sign,” Meow told Kahuna.

Kahuna was notified that the Landing Party had beamed up successfully. There was only the shuttlecraft to return and they could leave this planet and return back to Federation Space.

Glen arrived back on the Bridge a short time later. Kahuna offered the Captain’s Chair and Captain Glen sat, feeling good to back in the chair.

He made his Captain’s log and summarised the mission, and then he finished it with an unusually impassioned passage “…I never like unfinished missions or unsolved puzzles, but the Merrimack has been recalled to tackle some new and different situation instead. Those settlers had taken a big risk in coming out so far into the Milky Way without the security of a Federation membership, and it appears that they have now paid a high price for doing so. Freedom of expression; their the right to express themselves and share ideas without interference from government, and the absence of constraint, coercion, or necessity in action or choice. These are undoubtedly import things to have in a democratic society. But is freedom of expression really worth dying for? They believed it was very much worth that risk.”

• Glen, CO