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“What is it, Uhura,” Captain Pike asked.
“We’re getting… radio signals, sir?”
“Are you not sure about the signals or whether I’m captain?” Pike asked with some amusement.
“You’re definitely the captain, sir. But these signals, if they are radio, would mean there’s a civilization at least at the level of late twentieth century earth.”
“Spock, can you help Lieutenant Uhura evaluate the signals?”
“Of course, Captain.”
At his nod, Uhura shared her data to his work station.
Approximately half an hour later, Spock said, “Lieutenant Uhura seems to be correct, Captain. May I suggest that we vary our route slightly to see if we can get close enough to decipher them?”
“How long would you need?”
Spock thought for a moment. “I believe two hours at warp 3 towards the coordinates I’ve just shared with you would let us be certain.”
“Two hours, I can grant you. If you don’t have something by then, we’ll take the cargo to Space Station Delta. If it seems promising, I’ll ask for permission for us to come back here and explore a bit.”
“That is eminently logical, Captain.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Uhura added. Spock slid his station closer to hers so that they could share observations immediately.
An hour or so later, Pike noticed that Spock and Uhura seemed excited by something. “Number One, you have the con. Spock, Uhura, and I will be in the conference room.”
“Thank you, sir. I have the con.” Number One moved quickly to the captain’s chair and reviewed the data coming from the bridge stations.
As soon as the doors to the conference room closed, Pike asked, “What has you two so afflutter?”
Spock raised an eyebrow at the characterization.
Uhura answered, “It is definitely radio communication, sir. But the ‘afflutter’ comes from the fact that the main language is English.”
“English?”
“From the late twenty-first century, primarily, Captain. There has been some drift, I believe, but between us Lieutenant Uhura and I have pinpointed three dialects of English, Russian, and what may be Singaporean Chinese.”
Uhura nodded at the assessment.
Pike said, “That would be pre-Efraim Cochrane.”
“Indeed, Captain.”
Pike turned to Uhura, “Are you absolutely certain?”
“Absolutely, Captain? Without a greater sample and passing closer to the planet this is emanating from, no, it’s not absolute. But I’m as sure as it’s possible to be at this distance, sir.”
He glanced at Spock who gave a bare nod. “An accurate assessment, Captain.”
“Uhura, do you have everything you need to send messages to Starfleet from here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mister Spock, can you route the diagnostics you’re using in here?”
“Of course, Captain.”
“I’m going to leave a buoy here. We need to get the cargo to Space Station Delta by tomorrow. I’ll put us up to warp five to make our deadline.”
He turned to Uhura. “Lieutenant, please contact Starfleet. Admiral April and the Chief of Communications only. Top Secret. Spock, you have my authorization code for that, I believe.”
“I do, Captain.”
“In that message, I want you to lay out your findings and request that Enterprise be allowed to explore further. If they approve, we will check-in with them daily at whatever time they set.”
“Yes, sir,” Uhura said.
Pike smiled. “This is why we’re here, Lieutenant. This is ‘boldly going where no one has gone before.’”
Uhura gave him one of her full grins and said, “I’ll start right away, Captain.”
Pike called Spock over to him. “I want you to prepare an assessment of the risks if we do find a group of English speakers to make contact with. Also, research pre-Cochrane space flight, to see if you can find a logical solution to this puzzle.”
“It will be done, Captain.”
“Thank you, Spock. And you, Uhura.” He left the room and they could just hear him inform their XO, “I have the conn, Number One.”
***
Their cargo was delivered on time. The commandant of the base was ecstatic that they weren’t going to run out of any essentials before their regularly scheduled delivery arrived.
A request from Admiral April was also waiting for him. A conference call was scheduled and the Admiral requested that Commander Chin-Riley and Lieutenants Spock and Uhura join the call.
All four of them were waiting in the conference room when the signal arrived and Lieutenant Uhura put the call through on a secured wavelength.
“First of all, Captain Pike, you and your crew have permission to return to your buoy and pursue the signals. If you find the planet of origin, I expect that you will contact us again for permission to engage with the inhabitants.”
“Of course, Admiral,” Pike said.
Admiral April relaxed and said, “I’m recording this to share with the senior ranks at Starfleet communications. If necessary, I’ll include them on further calls. Now, what have you and your crew found so far?”
Pike said, “Uhura.”
“Lieutenant j.g. Nyota Uhura, Admiral. I noticed that radio waves that seemed more coherent than regular background noise were reaching us. I informed the Captain who requested that Lieutenant Spock review my findings. Based on his analysis, the captain allowed us a two hour diversion in what seemed to be the direction of the signals. As we got closer, I began recognizing the main language as dialects of Earth English from approximately two hundred years ago. Later we also identified colloquial Russian from the same time frame and a dialect of Chinese that was difficult to decipher, but could be Singaporean.”
Admiral April nodded. “Would you like to add anything to that, Lieutenant Spock?”
“No, sir. Lieutenant Uhura has summed it up well. However, Captain Pike asked me to do further research into twentieth and twenty-first century space exploration to see if there had been any long term projects. I found only one. The list of ships had been redacted but the first one was called the Sanoshen. They expected to be a minimum of three generations in space. We are approximately six generations out from their launch.”
“Why is this information so sparse, Spock?” Pike asked.
“Unknown, captain.”
“Any guesses,” Admiral April asked.
“Commander Una Chin-Riley.”
Admiral April smiled and said, “How’ve you been, Una?”
“I’m well, sir. And you?”
“Quite well, indeed. Thank you for asking. Now, your guess?”
“The dates are a little fuzzy, but I think there are two reasons for it. The first is that this may have been a last ditch effort by humans during the Augment Wars. Khan Noonien-Singh was fighting some of his most vicious battles around the time this group of ships left the moon shipyards. The second is that the people who planned it, especially the botanists, used what was then cutting edge technology and added a third line to the DNA of all plant species and many of the herd embryos may have had the same bit of genetic engineering. That particular line of study has since been severely curtailed as it is less reliable than rapid hybridization for most space colonies.”
“Dear God,” Admiral April said. “Did they add it to the humans, too?”
Spock said, “All the indications are that they were trying to escape required augmentation. It is doubtful that they would have permitted any scientist to touch the human genome.”
“Well, we can be thankful for that.”
Pike said, “Yes, sir, we can.”
Admiral April said, “Of course that might not have been the only group sent out. So many records were lost in the Augment Wars.”
There was a general silence.
Admiral April said, “I’ll let you get started on your mission. We have a smaller ship, Farragut, who has stopped to get grain which we can provide to the colony should they need it. Again, please request permission before making contact, even just over the radio. But I think, unless there are severe contraindications, that you will be allowed to make… I guess it’s not first contact. You’ll be able to welcome them to a universe with a Federation of planets.”
“I look forward to it, sir,” Pike said.
The admiral looked off screen and the call was cut off.
“Number One, you have the conn. Please navigate us back to the buoy. Spock, Uhura, I’m giving you the day off, since you’ll be guiding us toward wherever the signal originates once we’re there.”
“Yes, sir,” they both said and left the conference room for whatever relaxation they planned to take.
“Number One, I’m going to the gym and then heading to my quarters for a nap. If I haven’t returned to the bridge in six hours, please wake me and then take your own break. We’ll need you when the time comes to make contact.”
“If it comes, Chris. Go rest, Captain.”
He smiled and headed out the door.
***
It took nearly a full week to find the solar system that originated the signals. The planet was simple to identify. It was slightly larger than Earth with no moon and no satellites. Pike sent off the message to Admiral April, and Uhura and a small team from Communications monitored every signal from the planet until the permission for first contact was granted.
They took half an hour to strategize about the best way to contact them and finally, Captain Pike said, “Uhura, find a frequency that seems to be monitored and patch me in.”
She took a few minutes at her console and then nodded to her captain. “Done, sir,” she said quietly.
“Quiet on the bridge,” he said, then began. “Greetings to the colony. This is Captain Pike of the USS Enterprise. We are currently in orbit and would like to arrange a meeting, possibly in the large city we see at the confluence of two rivers, if that is acceptable. We will monitor this frequency for your response.” He made a slashing motion with his hand.
“My station is monitoring, sir, but the frequency isn’t currently open.”
“Thank you, Uhura. Now we just have to wait.”
***
It took six hours before Uhura said, “I have someone asking to speak with you, Captain.”
“Visual or just audio?”
“Let me ask if they have visual communications capability, sir.”
It didn’t take long before Uhura said, “They’re attempting visual transmission, sir. The speakers are Annie Jason Masmajean and Leonev Bellmaker Denness.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.”
An older couple who reminded Pike of growing up in Mojave appeared on the main screen. “This is Captain Pike. What is the correct title to call you by?”
The woman took the lead. “Our professions are our titles. We put them between our first and last names. I take it you use old-style, with title first?”
“That’s correct Jason Masmajean. Are you the leader of your colony?”
She laughed. “I barely manage to lead my team, much less a whole planet. We have a council at RightHere! and a mayor. The council, it could be argued, represents us all. The mayor just represents RightHere!”
Bellmaker Denness said, “You accessed a line that’s used by a particular profession. And you got it at the time of day that meant Annie’s team received it. It took us too damn long to convince others that we’d even gotten your message.”
“That’s about the size of it. I’ve been asked to pass along the Council’s frequency and, since you’ve let me use the screen, I’ll make a report as to how you look and how your technology looks.”
“I understand. Thank you, Jason Masmajean.”
“Just to satisfy my own curiosity,” she added, “When did you all leave earth?”
“Officially, the Enterprise was commissioned about six Earth-years ago. I’ve only been back on board for about a year. Most of the crew has rotated in and out over that time.”
“You got here in six years?” Denness asked incredulously.
“No, sir, we got here in about ten days and that’s because we were trying to find the source of the radio waves. We could get back to Earth in approximately six standard weeks at our average running speed. Faster if we absolutely had to.”
“We spent sixty three years in space. We’ve been here about fifty, Leo?”
He nodded. “Fifty two by Earth reckoning. Mirabile’s year is a little longer so only about forty seven by that reckoning.”
“You pass on whatever you need to, and let your Council know that I’ll call them in about an hour by our time.”
“Of course, Captain Pike.”
“Oh, just a minute. Do you think I should offer to send a shuttle down? You could meet some of our officers, if anyone wanted to see the ship, we could bring them up to see it.”
Jason Masmajean said, “Offer to come down and meet us properly, but be prepared for the Council to debate it for several days. I’d hesitate offering tours of your ship, not that we could copy your technology – at least not without a deal of study – but because it might sound like you wanted to kidnap us for some reason.”
“Thank you for your guidance, Jason Masmajean. I’ll call your Council on their frequency in about an hour. Pike out.”
Uhura ended the transmission.
Pike smiled at her. “Let’s start planning.”
***
Admiral April gave the go ahead for a full first contact.
The calls with the council established that the Mirabile colony were the descendants of the five ships which had departed during the Augment Wars.
The first contact team consisted of Uhura, M’Benga, three botanists, two zoologists, Pelia and Scotty from engineering who were going to see if they could interface with and update the indexing on the old ships computers, and Pike himself. He told Spock that he could come down with the second shuttle which they hoped would be allowed in a few days.
Number One was in command.
Pike looked at the planet below them, only one continent with an established range of colonies, and a wide range of life forms unlike anything on Earth – and that was just the Earth based life forms.
“Everyone ready?” he asked. After the affirmations, he began the checklist to leave the Enterprise.
This was why he’d joined Starfleet.