"Sensor contact," The young ensign announced. "Extreme range."
"Oh, good, just when life was getting boring," The very flippant Chief Ryant noted, taking her feet off the console and padding over to peer at the screen. "Never seen a signature like that before."
"Definitely not Kangas," Ensign Chen noted. "And not ours."
"Third species," Lieutenant Desultin, the watch officer, said. "If that isn't a blip you just made history."
"I'll run a check on all the sensors," Crewman Dmitri Ivanov said. "Make sure it's not a gremlin."
"Gremlin?" Desultin asked.
"Malfunction," Chen explained.
"The idea is that gremlins are responsible for all otherwise unexplained electronic malfunctions and foibles," Ryant said. "Dates back to, oh, twentieth century, I think. Ancient, anyway. Largely gone out of usage now. What is it, exactly?"
"Something small, metallic, scanning and transmitting... ah, yes, just passing the system heliopause now."
"Heading where?"
There was a pause while the numbers were crunched. "Straight for Avarin Three, sir," Chen said. "But it's small. Smaller than a Kanga planet-killer missile. Can't be more than a few tens of tonnes in weight or fifty metres long."
"Transmit a complete report and sensor recording to Miraq Base, Ensign," Lieutenant Desultin said after a moment. "And tell them to get the Admiral out of bed."
"Yes, sir." Chen typed in the commands on her board. After a moment, Ryant leaned over. "Let's just hope they're friendly. We've only just finished up one war. We don't need another."
"Amen to that," Ivanov agreed quietly. "Far too many people die in wars for my taste."