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The briefing was scheduled for 0900, which gave Nyota time to check in with both the gamma shift communications officer as he went off-duty, and the alpha shift officer who would be covering for her during the briefing. It was nothing she hadn't anticipated; the system they were approaching was a red dwarf system near to a quasar, and the resulting interaction with local solar winds led to several standing ion storms in key places around the system that would interfere with just about every system on the ship, in one way or another. Most relevant to her job, it would make communications difficult both within the system and outside it.
There were things a skilled officer could do to compensate, of course, and they had the best equipment the Federation could produce to punch through the interference, but it was still an extra headache.
"Good morning!" Hikaru said cheerily as she entered the briefing room. "How are the communications systems faring?"
"We should be able to get critical messages through to Starfleet, but don't expect any personal mail until we're out of the system," Nyota said. "If the Federation ever wants to talk to anyone in this area of space, they're going to need to invest in heavy-duty relays a lot closer together than normal." One of her jobs, while they were in the system, would be to collate data and figure out what equipment would be needed for a long-term communications presence to and through this part of the sector. As of right now it was all theoretical; they didn't have any contacts out this far, nor any plans for colonies in the area, nor any pressing strategic needs … but any of those factors could change easily, depending on what they found in their survey.
"Wonderful," Pavel muttered. "We are cut off except for emergencies—and of course the solar winds will not increase dramatically at the worst possible moment and then cut us off completely."
"You're the one working with Mr. Spock on the deployment of the ion pods," Hikaru said. "How likely is that?"
"Mister Spock says the chances of a ten percent increase are one in six hundred thousand," Pavel said. "But considering how many one-in-a-million things happen to this ship, I am not optimistic."
"Hard to argue with that," Nyota said.
"That's just your Russian cynicism coming through," Hikaru said. "We've had a lot of perfectly boring survey missions that went precisely according to plan."
"This is my Russian realism," Pavel retorted. "Russians understand that anything which can go wrong, will. Murphy was a Russian."
"Yes, I can tell by the name," Nyota said, chuckling.
"It is true!" Pavel said. "His real name was Matvei Mironovich Federov, but of course Americans during the Cold War did not wish to give credit to a Russian, and so they shortened it to Murphy."
"Really," Hikaru said, exchanging a glance with Nyota.
"Matvei Mironovich understood the perversity of the universe," Pavel said. "And so do I. Which is why I know that our entire command staff will choose to explore planets by shuttle in this system where we cannot use transporters safely and hand-held communicators will be useless across anything more than short distances. And there will be a surge in ion waves at the critical moment and the shuttle will be damaged, and so will the ship, or some other emergency will arise, and we will not be able to rescue them or call for help."
"Come on, our luck isn't that bad," Hikaru said.
"Luck, Mr. Sulu, is not a phenomenon that exists," Mr. Spock said as he entered the briefing room. "The laws of physics and random chance affect this ship and her crew no differently than any other."
"Tell that to the time an ion storm made our transporter beam people into an evil alternate universe," Pavel muttered.
"Please don't jinx us, Spock," Doctor McCoy said, coming in hard on Spock's heels. He sat down in his normal chair and sighed. "I think it's a bad idea to send down a crew to inspect the planet's surface at all. If things are so bad we have to use a shuttle—"
"Why, Bones, you surprise me," said Captain Kirk, following him into the room and seating himself at the head of the table. "I would have thought you'd be relieved not to have to use the transporter."
"I may not like having my atoms scattered across the galaxy every other day," Doctor McCoy said, "but I like having a quick and easy way to bring patients to sickbay in a hurry if they need it."
"We'll do our best to avoid medical mishaps, then," Kirk said. "Mr. Spock, please start the briefing if you will."
Spock turned the screens on, and they were filled with a diagram Nyota had seen many times over the last week.
"At 0346 hours ship time we entered the Gamma Huvrai System. Our primary goal is to study and map this system, which is complicated by the standing ion storms at approximately thirty-six point seven percent of the Lagrange points in this system. Our sensors are operating at reduced capacity which fluctuates depending on factors including but not limited to our location in the system, which direction our sensors are focused, and the strength of the prevailing solar winds at any given moment. This will complicate and extend our survey, because we will have to be much closer to every object in the system to form accurate readings. However, the unusually high amount of ionizing radiation in the system will give us an unprecedented opportunity to study ion storms. Mr. Chekov, please give us your analysis of the storm studies."
"Thank you, Mister Spock," Pavel said. "There are a handful of systems in Federation territory and its neighbors with the combination of solar winds and proximity to quasars which produce standing ion storms of this magnitude. You will remember the Halkan system with its standing waves of ion storms, yes?"
Nyota shuddered. "I'll never forget it." Their time spent trapped in the mirror universe had been some of the most harrowing days of her life, not knowing if they'd ever be able to figure out how to get back home.
Pavel nodded with the courtesy of someone who respected her trauma but did not share it. "For this reason, we will only be using the transporter for inanimate objects while in the system. However, Gamma Huvrai is unique in several ways. Most notably, the complexity of the stellar climate in the area is much greater than any known systems with storms of similar magnitude, and there are several nearby systems with similar standing storm systems. We have modified the ion pod to compensate for the increased subspace turbulence, and have attached a spare ion pod to the shuttlecraft Copernicus, and will be sending it out for short periods to take readings from multiple places at once—the bulk of the Enterprise may affect the flow of the solar wind. It will also allow us to map the system's stellar weather more quickly."
"We have two spare ion pods," Nyota asked. "Why only equip one shuttlecraft?" It would get them out of the system quicker.
Hikaru shrugged. "Besides the need to have a spare in case the main pod breaks, the pods have to be attached to shuttlecraft at the lateral sensor array—and I'm betting that it covers most of the hatch."
"It does," Pavel said. "I do not envy whoever has to climb into the shuttle while it has the ion pod attached."
"And we're still down two shuttles." Nyota nodded. The Einstein and Gallileo II had been destroyed a while ago, but they hadn't been near a starbase or supply depot that had replacements for them in the time since. And there were regulations about having a certain number of functional and unmodified shuttles for use in an emergency.
"The shuttles are not the only things having to be modified," Scotty said. "We've got extra radiation shielding around most of the exterior sensor emplacements, but there's a limit to how much you can add and have them still functional. And when they need repair or replacement, it'll be hazardous work to do it given the high levels of radiation in general in this system. And the subspace fluctuations will be wreaking havoc on my poor antimatter containment field." He fixed his eyes on Captain Kirk. "Which means, sir, that I can't be taking any bridge shifts. We'll be too busy down in Engineering."
"Duly noted, Mr. Scott," Captain Kirk said. "When the time comes to explore the Class-M planet, I'll leave Mr. Sulu to mind the store."
Pavel sent a meaningful glance to Nyota and Hikaru.
***
Nyota was happy to see the cafeteria had okra stew. It wasn't half as good as her father's mlenda, but it was the closest you were going to get this side of Gamma Ceti. It wasn't part of the regular rotation, which made it a bit of a treat for her when they had it.
"Why do we never have borsht?" Pavel grumbled from behind her. He got a sandwich and roasted vegetables.
"But then what would you have to complain about?" Nyota asked. The actual reason—which Pavel knew as well as Nyota did—was that for a dish to make it into the regular meal rotation of the ship, you had to have at least five crewmembers request it. They took their trays and headed over to an empty table.
"They wouldn't make it right, but at least it would be something."
"Don't tell me, he's complaining about borsht again," Hikaru said over her shoulder as he headed to the food slots himself.
"He is," Nyota confirmed.
Hikaru got his food, and joined them. "I have something else for you to complain about."
"Oh?" Pavel said.
"Stellar Cartography got their report on the planet to the Captain just before the shift ended," Hikaru said. "They'd like a preliminary ground survey on the planet. There's too much interference for the kind of detail they need."
"And I suppose the Captain will be leading the away team?" Pavel asked. "With Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy?"
Hikaru shrugged. "As Science Officer, Mister Spock is the most qualified person aboard for this sort of survey."
"And there is a reason for Captain to also be off the ship when communications are so poor?" Pavel shook his head and took a bite of his sandwich.
Hikaru shrugged. "It's not like this is new. And I can't complain—I've gotten more command hours than people with twice my seniority. It'll look good on my next promotion board."
"As if you need to worry about promotions," Nyota said. Promotions were mostly academic while you were on a long-haul mission like this one, with a stable command staff. Unless you wanted to transfer off the ship, the slots above you were filled. And they all had enough commendations to guarantee quick promotions and plum postings when their time on Enterprise was over.
"Idiot adrenaline-chaser," Pavel muttered to his sandwich in Russian. "If he wanted to go on away missions, he shouldn't have gotten himself promoted to Captain."
"You remember that I can speak Russian, Pavel Andreievich," Nyota said.
"So?" Pavel said. "I am not saying anything the Admiralty would not say as well if they were here."
Nyota snorted. He wasn't exactly wrong.
"Care to share with the class?" Hikaru said. "Or should I just assume it's more grumbling?"
***
Nyota was on duty the next morning as the shuttle left. Hikaru had the center seat, and Pavel was at the science station filling in for Mister Spock. They'd manned the bridge in this configuration before, and probably would again, when the Captain and first officer were on an away mission, but it kept throwing her off to see Hikaru's black hair out of the corner of her eye.
"Enterprise, this is Shuttle Leavitt," Lieutenant Clayton said in her ear. "We are clear of the hangar and headed for planetary orbit."
"Shuttle Leavitt, this is Enterprise," Nyota responded. "Confirm you are headed for orbit. Your signal is still coming in directly—please sync your transmissions with the communications buoy in orbit ahead of you."
"Right, copy that, Enterprise," Clayton said. "I see it, initiating contact now." There was a pause. "Enterprise, it's not connecting."
Nyota frowned; the buoy was communicating with Enterprise just fine, and every indicator was nominal. She brought up a diagnostic and flicked through it. Hopefully it was something quick and easy to fix; if they had to bring it back to the ship for repairs—or if the problem was in the shuttle and they had to swap it out—they'd put themselves behind schedule by at least six hours. There was no hard deadline, of course, but it would be annoying and embarrassing.
"Run a level four diagnostic on your comm system, please, Leavitt," she said, not finding anything on the first pass. Level four was the highest level of diagnostic they could do without taking the comm system offline for a few seconds.
"Copy that, Enterprise, running a level four diagnostic now."
She brought up the specs for the modifications to handle the high radiation levels and the maintenance records to see if she could spot any obvious mistakes. Nothing. A configuration check found the problem; after the modifications had been done, the software permissions had been improperly set. She fixed the error, noted who had made it, and went through the rest of the configurations to see if they'd missed anything else. "Try it now, Leavitt."
"Initiating contact with the communications buoy," Clayton said. "Looks good on our end, you should be reading us through the buoy now."
"Confirmed, Leavitt, we read you loud and clear. Communications is a go." The rest of the shuttle's departure proceeded without incident, and Enterprise pulled out of orbit to continue its survey of the system, while the Leavitt explored the planet.
***
Four hours later Nyota was frowning at her board, trying to isolate a signal. The computer kept insisting that there was only random noise, but she could swear there was something out there. Subspace was always affected by solar winds and ion storms, of course, though differently than sidereal space was. This was something different. But until she had something, some pattern in the data, she couldn't even aim the ship's communications' array in the right direction to try and isolate whatever it was.
She rubbed her forehead, trying to massage away the tension. Maybe she was focusing too hard on this. She had other work to do.
"Are the relays giving you more trouble than expected?" Pavel asked.
"Not more than expected," Nyota said. "But I think there's some sort of signal out there that's not like anything I've ever seen before. The computer insists it's just random noise, but I would swear I can hear something."
Pavel came over to her station. "Show me."
He wasn't a communications specialist, but he knew a lot more about ion storms than she did. She gave him an earbud and brought up the waveforms for him.
Pavel listened and watched for several minutes. At last he shook his head. "I cannot hear signal … but static patterns do not match what I have been seeing in the rest of the system."
"Could that be what I'm noticing?" Nyota asked doubtfully.
Pavel shrugged. "I do not know … but I am very curious about what is causing it in any case. I will keep an eye on it from the science station to see what we can find." He handed back the earbud and went back to his station.
"Have the away team made their hourly check-in yet?" Hikaru asked a few minutes later.
"Not yet, sir," Nyota said. "But they're not late yet—last check-in, they were early."
She ran the board through its paces, gathering every bit of information the communications arrays could, and sent the interesting bits over to Pavel, to add to the picture the sensors and ion pod were building.
"Enterprise, this is Copernicus."
Nyota accepted the hail. "Copernicus, this is Enterprise. Reading you loud and clear." Given the hazards of the system, both shuttles had communications officers aboard to run things. Lieutenant Alden was doing a fine job given that there was a standing ion storm between Copernicus and Enterprise.
"We've found something you're going to want to take a look at yourself. There's a signal out here that's got to be coming from a Klingon communications and navigation buoy."
"Are you sure about that? We're pretty far from Klingon space here," Nyota said. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hikaru twisting to look at her.
"Positive, Ma'am," Alden said. "Sending the raw data and my analysis now. We could check it out ourselves, but it's farther than our maximum separation distance." Nobody wanted to take the chance of a shuttle being too far to call for help in a system with this many dangers.
"I'll tell Mister Sulu," Nyota said. She noted the data transfer was complete and the automatic check found no missing data. "Confirming receipt of your data and analysis." She sent it on to the science station.
"Standing by for instructions," Alden said.
"Acknowledged, Copernicus," Nyota said. She turned her chair to face Hikaru directly. "Sir, Copernicus is reporting that they've found a signal from a Klingon communications and navigation buoy."
"We've had no intelligence of Klingons out this way," Hikaru said.
Nyota shrugged. "Lieutenant Alden is our Klingon expert. He knows their equipment better than anyone else on the ship."
"Send the coordinates to the helm, and let's check it out," Hikaru said. "Call the Leavitt—Captain Kirk needs to know this. And tell Copernicus to prepare to be scooped up—if there are Klingons, we don't want anybody left vulnerable."
"Aye, sir," Nyota said. She turned back to her board. "Copernicus, this is Enterprise. We'll go see if we can find your Klingon buoy, and we'll pick you up on our way there."
Alden acknowledged and signed off.
Nyota called the beacon in orbit around the planet and ordered it to relay to the shuttle. "Shuttle Leavitt, this is Enterprise, do you read?" She waited a few seconds, listening to the crackle of subspace in her earpiece. "Leavitt, this is Enterprise, come in, Leavitt."
After the third hail, she got Clayton to respond. "Enterprise, this is Leavitt." Static distorted his voice a little, over this distance. "Sorry we're a little late on our check-in, but everything's fine here."
"I need to speak with the Captain," Nyota said.
There was a pause. "I'll patch you through to his communicator, Lieutenant."
Nyota waited until she heard the chirp of the communicator connecting.
"Kirk here," he said.
"Captain, this is Enterprise," Nyota said. There was enough static on the line that she didn't want to put it over the bridge speakers. "Shuttle Copernicus has found indications of a Klingon communication and navigation buoy. Enterprise is moving to check it out."
There was a pause. "Klingons, here? That's … unexpected. Any indication of a current presence, or just the buoy?"
"Just the buoy," Nyota said. "Once we find it, we might be able to figure out how long it's been here and how long it's been since anything pinged it. It could be something left over from an earlier scouting run."
"Or it could be a sign of continued Klingon presence in the system," Kirk said. "Hiding under cloak, watching us. I'm cutting this survey short—the orbital scans and what we've already gathered will just have to do."
"Want us to pick you up before investigating the buoy?" Nyota asked. Shuttles weren't very fast, when compared to a starship, and they had minimal shields and no weapons. If a Klingon ship moved to intercept them, they'd be sitting ducks … and Enterprise moving to inspect the buoy could well trigger any watching Klingon ships to act.
"No, inspecting the beacon takes priority," Captain Kirk said. "If there are Klingons out there watching, we don't want to give them time to destroy or collect the beacon before we can get a good look at it. We'll meet you out there. Keep your eyes peeled. Good hunting."
"Aye, sir," Nyota said. After the Captain signed off, she turned back to Hikaru, sitting in the command chair. "Captain Kirk is cutting the survey short and will head back towards us. We are directed to investigate the buoy."
Hikaru nodded. He turned back to Lieutenant DePaul, at the helm. "You heard the lady."
"Aye-aye, sir," DePaul said.
***
They still hadn't figured out whether the weird patterns Nyota had noticed were actually a signal, or if she was just hearing a change in the quality of the noise. She couldn't focus on it when there was so much else going on, but years of experience on an exploration voyage had taught her not to ignore something unexpected and unexplained. So, in between scanning for Klingon signals and maintaining contact with the two shuttles and the network of satellites they'd dropped in the system, she brought up that subspace band and listened.
It had changed. She ran several processing algorithms on it—mixed results. There was something there, but what it was, the computer couldn't identify. But there was enough, now, to tell that it was directed. It was more intense than it had been, and it was aimed at Enterprise.
"Pavel," she said, "that signal is definitely a signal." She sent him the data, and he bent over his viewer.
"It's very odd," he said, after a moment. "It does not resonate as subspace usually does."
"And yet it's propagating through subspace," Nyota said. "I've never seen anything like it. And I can't pinpoint a source for it. Let me know if you figure anything out."
***
"Coming up on the coordinates of the buoy," DePaul said.
"Put it on screen," Hikaru said. The screen changed to show a small buoy.
"Well, that's definitely a Klingon buoy," Hikaru said. "I was hoping Alden was wrong. If it had been out there for years, we'd see visible damage from micrometeorites and the like."
"If it had been out here for years, it would have been exposed to enough radiation to fry it and it would not be sending out signals," Pavel said. "Given its projected orbit, it has not passed through any of the standing or periodic ion storms, but the prevailing solar wind would be enough to damage it, given enough time."
"Well, we'll bring it aboard and see what we can figure out," Hikaru said. "Mister DePaul, I want to keep us here to see if the Klingons left anything behind in this part of the system … but make sure you have a least-time intercept course for the Leavitt ready to go immediately."
"Aye, sir," DePaul said, setting it up on his board.
Hikaru turned to Nyota. "Lieutenant Uhura, call Scotty down to the shuttle bay, along with a Klingon specialist. Unless you'd rather handle it yourself?"
Nyota shook her head. Given how hard she was having to work to maintain communications with the two shuttles, and the unknown signal, it was an easy decision. "I'll send down Lieutenant Alden."
***
Nyota jerked in her chair as an alarm dinged. The beacon in orbit around Gamma Huvrai 4 had fallen out of contact. It had done so several times over the last day—as had every beacon they'd deployed—but given the possibility of Klingons, she was on high alert.
Her fingers flew over the board, but contact could not be regained. She turned to the other beacons on that side of the system and boosted their gain, cross-referencing the signal to try and reach the shuttle.
The static and ionic interference was fierce, but she could punch through it. Pressing a finger to her earbud, she listened, then adjusted the equipment.
"Sir, Shuttle Leavitt is sending a distress call," Nyota said.
Hikaru swung around in his chair. "Put it on speaker, Lieutenant."
A burst of static came over the speakers. Pavel winced, but she couldn't get rid of the noise without losing too much of the signal. " … ay, we have … … -stile ship … … unknown … trac- …"
"That's all we have," Nyota said, voice flat.
"Mr. DePaul, take us to their last known coordinates, best possible speed," Hikaru said.
Enterprise jumped to warp.
***
They were too late.
Enterprise arrived at the planet to find the Leavitt clamped to the side of a large, spheroid ship with some very strong shields.
"Hail them," Hikaru said.
"Unknown ship, this is the Federation Starship Enterprise." No response. "Unknown ship, this is the Federation Starship Enterprise. Please respond." She cycled through all the subspace bands, and radio, too, just to be sure. There was no response on any of them.
"Mister Chekov, anything like them in our databanks?" Hikaru asked.
"No, sir, they are entirely unknown. I am having trouble getting reliable readings on the inside of it—the hull is very thick. Our people are still in the shuttle, and the shuttle has sustained no damage."
"Is it warp-capable? I don't see any nacelles."
"It has nacelles, but they are within the hull." Pavel frowned, and stared at something in his viewer. "I think it has a double hull."
"They must be from one of the neighboring systems," Hikaru said. "I bet that and their incredible shields act as protection from ion storms. What sort of weapons do they have?"
"It is difficult to say," Pavel said. "But they have blisters on their hull that are probably emitters for some sort of energy weapon."
"And they still haven't answered our hails?" Hikaru asked.
"Nothing," Nyota said. "They aren't emitting any signals that I can detect."
"What about that other signal you and Mister Chekov have been trying to isolate?" Hikaru asked. "Could that be from them?"
"It's strong enough that I would definitely be able to tell if it were coming directly from that ship," Nyota said. "But … I suppose it's possible that they're using some sort of communications relay or buoy, instead of signaling us directly. Or that they've got another ship out there that's trying to contact us. If it is an attempt at communication, they're using subspace very differently than any other species we've ever encountered."
"If they are truly native to this region, they would have to, yes?" Pavel said. "Given the size and number of the ion storms?"
Nyota nodded. "Usually, when it's just a system or two affected, we route communications around them, and station communications relays more closely to boost the signal through the disturbances. That would be very difficult in this sector, if other systems are affected as profoundly as this one."
"More than that!" Pavel exclaimed. "To them, the disruptions in subspace through this area would be normal. They would be the default picture of what subspace is like. Any technology that was designed to use it would be designed for these conditions, not normal ones."
"And they'd probably switch to subspace communications more quickly, once it was discovered," Nyota said, "given the fact that electromagnetic radiation—including radio waves—is more scrambled by ion storms than subspace is."
DePaul jerked. "They're powering—" Enterprise shook with the power of the phaser blast.
"Evasive pattern delta," Hikaru said, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to operate the controls himself.
Pavel glanced down at his board. "Another unknown vessel, same configuration, is emerging from behind the gas giant."
"Dammit!" Sulu said. "Well, two can play at that game—Mister DePaul, swing us around to use the ice moon as cover. Uhura, Chekov, get me some form of communications—smoke signals if you have to—given their size and shields I don't think we'll be able to get our people back by force."
Nyota pulled up the signal and listened to it. It pulsed in a way that didn't repeat, but which also didn't feel random.
"The sensors look at wider range of subspace than the communications board does," Pavel said. "I am seeing activity on bandwidths that are not usually used for communication."
"Evasive pattern beta, and take us to heading 241 mark 5," Hikaru said behind her. "Let's try and stay out of their weapons range if we can."
Nyota tuned that out as best she could—Hikaru could keep them alive; her job was communications. "Could they be multiplexing their signal across multiple subspace bands at a time?"
"Possibly," Pavel said. "As long as they kept to the same subspace dimension, the signal loss should not be too bad ... and there would probably be less data lost that way than by ionic disruptions to any particular subspace band."
"All right, then how do we de-multiplex it?" Nyota asked. "Can the science board integrate the signals from all the bandwidths?" The ship shook with a glancing blow to their shields, but she tuned out the fight and maneuvering the ship was doing to focus on her job.
"Yes," Chekov said. His fingers flew over the board. "Sending it to you now."
Nyota checked the integrated signal for polarization and phasing. "They're using a code-division multiplexing technique," she said. "But I still can't untangle it."
Pavel looked at the signal in his scope. "The ion storms in this sector produce unpredictable magnetic waves. Subspace has no magnetism, but could that affect the standing tetryon waves in local subspace dimensions?"
"I think so," Nyota said, "but if that's the problem, I don't think we have any way to measure the effect, much less figure out what they might be doing to compensate for it." The ship shuddered around them.
"No, but perhaps it corresponds to the fluctuations in ionic radiation and magnetism in sidereal space, which we can measure," Pavel pointed out.
"Right," Nyota said. She pulled that data from the sensors as well, and fed it into the demultiplexing algorithm along with the signal itself. "That's it!" Abruptly, the complexity of the signal began to resolve. She caught a series of pulses within it and used them as a spreading factor to identify when it was switching data rate and subspace frequency, and suddenly the signal turned from noise into a voice.
And it was speaking Klingon, if she wasn't mistaken. She pressed a finger to her earbud and toggled on the Universal Translator. Yes, it was speaking Klingon. That made it so much easier. "Mister Sulu, I've got their message."
"Play it, Uhura," Hikaru said.
"Invaders," a low voice intoned. "Leave our space, or be destroyed. We will kill shuttle soon if you do not leave."
"That's all it is," Nyota said. "It keeps repeating. It's in Klingon, but I'm fairly sure that's a mechanical translation on their end."
"Can you send a signal back?" Hikaru asked.
"Yes," Nyota said, fingers flying over the board. "Opening channel now."
"This is Hikaru Sulu, commanding the Federation Starship Enterprise," Hikaru said. "We did not know this space was claimed, and we'll be happy to leave—as soon as we get our crew back."
There was a pause. "Liar. Invader. Why did you come if not to steal and kill?"
"We are peaceful explorers," Hikaru said. "We are on a mission of scientific research and mapping. This sector has unusually high levels of ion storms, which interferes with our sensors."
"You are like the others. You talk like them. You took their device."
"If you mean the Klingons, we're not allied with them," Hikaru said. "You're transmitting in Klingon, so our translator is responding in the same language. But my own voice with my words in our own language should be carried in the signal as well, so you can hear what it is and learn from it."
Hikaru glanced at Nyota, and she nodded. This was standard procedure; the Universal Translator was usually very good ... but no translation system could ever be perfect, and sending the raw untranslated files meant both parties had a record of the original words.
There was another pause. "You took their device, and left similar devices of your own."
"Those are communications buoys," Hikaru said. "Most species use subspace differently than you do, and our communications are disrupted by ion storms like you have here. We use relay buoys to boost the signal. We took the Klingon buoy because we wanted to find out how long since they'd been here and what happened to them."
They had stopped shooting, which had to be a good sign.
"We happened to them." It was a different voice, slightly deeper this time. "They thought us weak. They invaded. They were destroyed. Now you will go back and tell them what happened so they will never come again."
"We've been at war with them ourselves," Hikaru said. "We'll pass along your message, but they probably won't listen to us."
"Leave now."
"Not without our people," Hikaru said. "Once we have them back, we'll be happy to leave."
"Once you have them back, you will attack." It was the first voice.
"I give you my word, we will not attack once we have them back," Hikaru said. "And anyway, I don't think we could get through your shields even if we wanted to. We're not much danger to you."
"This is true." It was the second voice again, filled with satisfaction.
"So you don't have to worry about us attacking," Hikaru said. "Give us our people and we'll go, just like you want."
There was a pause. "Stand by."
They closed the channel. "Channel is closed, sir," Nyota said.
Hikaru nodded. "That was amazing work, getting that figured out, Lieutenant Uhura, Ensign Chekov." He turned to Crewman Jones at the Engineering station. "Damage report?"
"Minimal, sir," Jones said. "Some minor damage to the shield generators—Mister Scott is working on it now."
"Good," Hikaru said. "Let's hope they're reasonable and release our people. While we wait, Uhura, can you put together a primer on normal subspace communications, and bundle it with the standard informational packet about the Federation? I don't think they're going to want us to stay long enough to open any sort of diplomatic negotiations, but I'd like to be able to have the option to talk to them in the future."
"Yes, sir," Nyota said.
It was a tense wait for the alien ships to make their decision. Getting together the information packet took very little time; Starfleet ships were used to sharing information with newly-contacted species, and pulling up the information from the library computer was simple. After that, there was nothing for Nyota to do but wait, although Pavel was still busy cramming as much data gathering as he could into what had abruptly become their last few hours in the system.
After about half an hour, the aliens opened a channel again. "We're being hailed," Nyota said.
"On screen," Hikaru said.
"It's audio-only," Nyota said, and put the transmission through the bridge speakers.
"We are releasing your shuttle and will escort you to the edge of our territory," said the first voice.
"Thank you," Hikaru said. "We appreciate it, and apologize for the misunderstanding."
Chekov was looking through his viewer. "The shuttle is unclamped from the alien ship, and all the crew are aboard it."
Hikaru smiled and nodded acknowledgement. "We will leave as soon as our shuttle docks with us and our crew are safely aboard."
"Very well."
"Could you send us a map with the boundaries of your territory, so that we won't accidentally end up in your space again?" Hikaru asked.
There was a pause. "We will consider it."
"Thank you," Hikaru said. "We've put together a packet of information, about how we usually use subspace communications, and about our Federation, in the hopes that it will help avoid further miscommunications in the future. May we send it to you?"
The pause was longer this time. "You may send it."
Hikaru nodded at Nyota, and she sent the packet. As soon as it was finished transmitting, the other ship closed the channel.
"They hung up on us, sir," Nyota said.
Hikaru sagged a little. "DePaul, how long until that shuttle is safely in our hangar bay?"
"About fifteen minutes," DePaul said.
"Make sure you have a least-time course out of the system ready to go the minute we have confirmation they're aboard," Hikaru said.
"Aye, sir," DePaul said.
The wait was easier this time around. The two alien ships did nothing, said nothing that Nyota could detect, while the shuttle made its way to Enterprise. When they got the go-ahead from the shuttle bay, DePaul got them underway. It wasn't a straight-line course, there were too many standing storms for that, but it was close to it.
Shortly thereafter, Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, and Doctor McCoy entered the bridge.
"Status report, Mister Sulu," the Captain said.
Hikaru stood up and let the Captain have his chair. "All personnel accounted for, and the ship took only minor damage. We are currently being escorted out of their territory."
"Don't suppose you got a name for them?" McCoy asked. "Did you even get them to talk?"
"They use subspace in a very unique fashion, but Lieutenant Uhura and Ensign Chekov were able to figure out how to talk to them," Hikaru said. "But they were very reticent, and didn't give us any information about themselves, not even a name. They've had contact with the Klingons—and were able to throw off an invasion. We sent them the standard packet on the Federation, along with a basic primer on standard subspace communications, and asked them for a map of their territory so we could avoid it. So far, they haven't sent it to us."
"I look forward to reading the reports on the engagement," Captain Kirk said, "but it sounds as if you handled it well. Thank you all for your skill and dedication in a difficult time."
***
Once Enterprise was out of Gamma Huvrai and alpha shift was over, Nyota, Hikaru, and Pavel went to the rec room for dinner and to unwind before bed.
"'Difficult time,'" Pavel said, shoveling mashed potatoes into his mouth. "It would have been a lot less difficult if the Captain and first officer hadn't both been off the ship at the same time."
"That wouldn't have solved the communications problems," Nyota pointed out.
"I'm just glad we got them all back safe and sound," Hikaru said. "For a few minutes there, I wasn't sure we'd be able to save them, and was panicking about what we'd tell Starfleet Command."
"They wouldn't have blamed you," Pavel pointed out. "A lieutenant in command of a starship during a first contact?" He shook his head.
"Well, they didn't die," Nyota said. "And we all did excellent work while they were gone, so why focus on bad things that didn't even happen?"
Pavel sighed. "I suppose you're right," he said. "But I do wish we'd had time to study the ion storms in that system. As Mister Spock would say, it was fascinating."
"Cheer up, Pavel," Hikaru said. "There'll be other systems to survey, and the data from this one should keep you and Spock and the science department busy for a while. And everyone is coming home safely. All's well that ends well."
"Hear, hear," Nyota said, raising her cup of tea in salute.