[snip]

Stone pulled up the information on Ardan V on his viewscreen. Ardan V was listed as a paradise planet in a conflict zone. The lush world was mostly ocean except for a couple of small continents and extensive island chains. The average climate was mild and the equatorial region was a tropical paradise marred intermittently by summer storms. It was an ideal colonization candidate, but every attempt to colonize was quickly abandoned and several lay in ruins at various locations across the planet. Every past attempt to set up shop on the planet - even scavengers looking for salvage - found themselves packing up and leaving. Nearby interstellar government in the area had given up on claiming it for a variety of reasons. The mining colony that had recently been set up was fairly new, only having been there for six months but there were a number of colonists from a variety of Federation races.

Ardan V was far from any major galactic power. The small interstellar governments in the area around Ardan V are in constant conflict. Pirates and other criminals tended to take advantage of the political instability to operate freely in the area and a fledgling colony on Ardan V would be a tempting target, the Commodore thought to himself. He noted on reading the summary that those aware of the colonies existence considered Ardan V to be “cursed” and “unlucky” or even a “haunted” place. He snorted to himself in derision as he reached over to his comms again.

=^=Commodore Stone to Captain Glen. If you could make your way to my office, Captain, we have finally cleared up the distress call and I would like to apprise you of the situation.=^=

=/\= Acknowledged Commodore! I’ll be right there. =/\=

Captain Glen left the Merrimack and took a crossover bridge to the station. He couldn’t remember actually visiting Commodore Stone’s office in person before, so this was quite a novel experience, and he had to find it’s location of the station map and take a lift up to the cone section. As we walked around the picture windows of the corridors of the cone, he had a fantastic view of the Merrimack from above, where he could see repairs and scars that possibly no one else would notice.

After the short walk, he arrived at the Office of Commodore Stone and pressed the door chime.

“Enter, Captain” The Commodore’s voice was deep and resonant and the doors whooshed open as he hit a switch on his desk. “Have a seat, John.” The Commodore said as the Captain entered.

He rose, coffee cup in hand and moved over to a side board in the port side of his office where a tray sat with a coffee urn, cups, and cream and sugar vessels. As he refilled his own cup he looked enquiringly at Captain Glen.

“Coffee?”

“Yes please!” John replied. “Are they freshly ground coffee beans? Smells like it!”

“No sugar or cream for me,” John added, otherwise he thought he’d soon be needing a corset like Captain Ward.

“My apologies regarding the Unity mission,” Glen said, “I don’t like leaving unfinished business but something very strange is going down there, but I’d like to be kept in the loop if and when you discover what that might be.”

• Glen, CO