[snip]

“Lt. Dionysovich, take us into standard orbit, with an altitude of 80 km,” Glen said. “Calculate an orbital speed to match.”

“Lt. Malone, scan the surface for lifeforms, buildings and mining spoil,” Glen asked. “See if we can locate a township of some kind!”

“Lt. Gagnon, take over from M’Mera and continue trying to raise the colony,” Glen said. “Keep all channels open!”

At the captains’ behest Stella pulled up the main channels used by the federation civilian populations such as colonies and trade ships and such. She immediately began to transmit across these. She then recoded a message to the colony and started using the federation channels used by the fleet. Soon she had her recorded messages going out over all known civilian and military channels. She also set up her filters to catch up and record any background noises which were tampering transmissions.

Stella did not detect any communication from the planet toward space, though there was ground communication between what was probably short distance communication devices. She could also detect communication satellites orbiting the planets and what was probably communication stations on planet. The satellites emitted no signals though and appeared dead. Likewise no signals came from the communication centers below.

Upon achieving standard orbit the viewscreen click on to show the view of the planet below. Ardan V Planet view.

Scans of the planet showed many areas of abandoned colonies but a rather large one that was definitely inhabited. Scans show various life forms of a variety of Federation races. Also a plethora of flora and fauna was found. Colony view.

After several moments of very carefully listening to anything that could make sound Stella sighed and turned in her chair saying. ” Captain sir? This place is quiet as the tomb. Nothing anywhere.”

Cross had stepped on the bridge and saw that they had arrived at Ardan V .

“Thanks!” Glen replied. “Keep trying anyhow… as you see fit, every 30 minutes or so. I’m getting Deja Vu! This is exactly like the last planet we visited, and I said it was a very different problem! …and these planetary maps? Who added all these mysterious place names?”

‘’I think its a cool name Captain ‘’ she responded ‘’Anyway just checking, I assume it won’t be long before you call the team ?’’ .

“Before I send down the team, I need to establish first, where we are going,” Glen replied. “Which of the names is ‘cool’? ‘The Desert of Sculls’ or ‘The Black Swamp’?”

The CMO kept her gaze on the man she had known for years, realizing how much he had changed. Was there some underlying problem ? Cross had noticed how minimal and limited he mingled with the crew in his spare time. Where did the easy - going and laid -back Glen gone.

He was acting like a grumpy old man and she wondered why. Still this was not the time to speak to the Captain with the bridge full of crew ....maybe some other time.

Knowing they had arrived at their destination Cross was not about to waste time and headed back to sickbay.

Cross had done her appearing and disappearing routine again. Glen had a ship to run.

Since she didn’t reply, Glen instead did a records search to find out the location of the active colony, and also set a search to see how these places got most of their names. He found that the colony they were looking for was located in the Penmost Forest area of the Ardan V world map on the Hagmoor River, south west of The Desolation of Adnesh. Glen wasn’t sure that the names were “cool” in the sense that Cross had meant, but they were certainly “cool” in the sense of showing no friendliness towards a person, inhospitable, unwelcoming and unfriendly. Maybe there was a reason for that, like the “Beware of the Bull” signs farmers often put on gates to fields that only had a few cows.

While he waited for the computer to divulge how the places might have been named, he asked, “Can we scan the Penmost Forest area for a colony and get those co-ordinates please? That’s where we will be beaming down to meet Advisor Platus-Leader of the Mining Colony on Ardan V.”

Stella being a bit bored as well as having her rear fall asleep started moving back and forth in her chair and punch numerous buttons which caused quite the cacophony of computer noises. Then all this was finally stopped and spoke saying to Glenn. ” Captain I’ve made available for your perusing pleasure the last geological , topographical and biological surveys of the area which were sent by the colonists. Also, you now have the coordinates as recoded in fleet records for the colony.”

She turned to get Glen’s attention and smiled at him in a low voice. ” It’s okay sugar. You just need to remember to breath every once in a while. “

Glen was beginning to warm to the new Communications Officer. She was equal parts bold and spicy, as you might expect from a Louisiana Cajun, as well as being extremely efficient. And not only was she blisteringly hot but that was their mission, ‘to boldly go where no man or woman has gone before.’ Glen reviewed the geological , topographical and biological surveys of the area, but whether or not the Ardan V Colony responded to their hails, he was going to have to send a Landing Party down there anyway. He knew that Dr. Cross would have had something more to say about that, but this was their mission. Danger was never the barometer of an officer’s conduct.

“Thanks Stella! I’ll try! Send those co-ordinates to the Transporter Chief, and send a message for the Landing Party to assemble in the Transporter Room in 30 minutes,” the Captain told Stella. “That should give me time to read these new documents, and for one final attempt to raise the Colony before you get ready.”

The planet’s place names were a fascinating tapestry of history and culture. Each name carried a story of its past colonizers, and the translations into Federation Standard added another layer of intrigue. The contrast between the Klingon’s imposing names and the Romulan’s poetic ones tells a lot about their respective cultures and perspectives.

Desert of Skulls (choS Hoch in Klingon) certainly evoked an image of a harsh and unforgiving landscape, a fitting name given the Klingon penchant for dramatic and intimidating nomenclature.

Sea of Steel (nIH norgh in Klingon) hints at an expansive, perhaps metallic and unyielding body of water, reflecting the Klingon admiration for strength and resilience.

River (vortIbraS bIQtIq in Romulan) suggests a serene yet possibly majestic flow of water, indicative of Romulan elegance and complexity.

Desolation of Adnesh (T’rhasi Adnesh in Romulan) brings to mind an area of profound abandonment or ruin, resonating with the Romulan tendency towards poetic and grandiose expressions.

Lance heard the captain ask to scan the outpost, of course he was scanning for life forms he was also scanning for big sphere like ships that might blow up. He heard the communications officer give the captain some of the information that was on Lance’s list he was grateful for that as he was scanning for other things, spheres being one, he was also trying to use the sensors to pick up any local comms, radio stations, calls anything that might give them a heads up if something was going on. He’d used the same subroutines on the last colony and it seemed a shame to let a good sub routine go to waste.

“30 minutes Sir?” he asked “are you sure we shouldn’t give it a little longer…” he just hoped he would have some useable information from his scans by then.

“Now that we have landing co-ordinates, there isn’t any point to waiting longer,” Glen had decided. “We won’t discover any more with scans from orbit. We need to speak with Advisor Platus as instructed by Commodore Stone. They aren’t answering our hails, so only a face-to-face meeting is going to achieve that. Anyway, 30 minutes is a long time to scan this planet. If you cannot find anything in 30 minutes then my estimation of your skills will be lowered considerably!”

• Glen, CO