Preparations almost went to plan. Jim had gathered a respectable party, consisting of himself, Spock, Ariel Kouri, and Uhura's deputy Neyren, all dressed in coats and gloves. Two of the Zagen scientists had yet to arrive. Neyren, a Seytha, was also wearing a scarf around the expressive fins on their head. Jim had even managed to convince Spock to wear a hat. Not a particularly silly one, sadly, but it still looked cute on him. Sulu had returned to the ship to run more tests on the plant, so he wouldn't be coming with them, and Uhura was waiting with Tanyin for a response from the Zagen station.

Deciding it would be best not to appear threatening, they had forgone adding a security guard. The natives—if that's what they were—seemed friendly enough, and if they were here to help, Jim wanted it done as soon as possible. At least this wouldn't be a case of absolute first contact; if whoever was on the planet had received their message, they were at least experienced in interstellar communication. Neyren was an expert on the protocol for these situations, and they had already assisted in introducing three species to the Federation.

And then Serren and Leyna showed up in the transporter room, followed by an unwelcome guest. By the looks on the faces, they hadn't wanted Rellar to come, but they couldn't disobey their superior.

"Why was I not informed of this?" Rellar demanded. The other two scientists shrank back. Jim felt bad for them. He could imagine how awful it would be to represented by such a man.

"You know what…" Jim muttered, before deciding he wasn't going to take this. He didn't even bother to pull Rellar aside before saying, "If you're coming with us, you've got to stick to the rules. You will not talk to my people unless necessary, and you will refer to them properly." It was a good message for the other Zagen too, even though he was pretty sure they weren't a problem. "Are we clear?"

"This is ridiculous. You are a professional organization. Why are you allowing such fancy?"

"Because we are a professional organization! Now are you going to stay quiet, or are you going to stay here?"

Grudgingly, Rellar agreed. Not that Jim was going to put much weight on the promise. But if it held until this mess was over, that would be good enough. And then he would have a drink, because he shouldn't have to deal with this bullshit on top of everything else.

"Are we ready?" he called to Scotty, loud enough to cut off any further conversation.

"Aye, Captain. But you better watch out, cause if these fellows are living under enough shielding to jinx the surface scans, I can't say I'm gonna be able to beam you out from underground."

"When have I ever gotten into trouble?" he joked, earning him a look from Spock. Scotty hesitated.

"Er, d'ye really want me to answer that?"

"Just send us down."

~o~

A light snow was beginning to fall when they materialized on the planet's surface, and the tendrils on the trees were curling up to avoid the flakes.

"About time you got here," McCoy said. "Meet the Nifseln. These fellows are Prett, Kynan, and Dasin." He stood between the crowd of toxin victims and three new figures, who must have emerged from the port in the ground standing open behind them. Jim wondered how the surface scans had missed it, but there were other concerns at hand. Meeting new life—he'd done this so many times, but it was still amazing to see who else was out there. He stepped towards the three Nifseln. They were humanoid, with light fur in varying shades of grey, and fans like bat wings on their necks. They all wore green clothing, each cut differently and patterned with needlework. It seemed thin; apparently they weren't affected by the cold. The middle figure wore a matching hat on their head. The party would stick with that form of third-party address until they had the chance to discuss society and linguistics with the Nifseln. Jim glanced back at Spock and the team; nothing seemed to be out of place.

"Greetings," he began formally, staying a respectful distance away and trying to not appear threatening, "We did not intend to trespass on your planet. I am-"

"Can you save the introductions for later?" the doctor interrupted, "I've got people to help." He glared at Rellar, who had stepped up to one of the Nifseln and scanned them with one of his own data recorders. Dasin stepped away from the device with an unreadable look, but fortunately they didn't seem to be offended, or at least didn't comment, and Rellar put the scanner away and rejoined the group.

"Yes, of course. We shall attend to them. We know these sorts of injuries well," said the middle Nifseln, who Jim supposed was Kynan. There was an undercurrent of anger to those last words, he thought. "Come with us." They turned and led the others towards the port, Dasin glancing back curiously.

"You think this is a good idea?" Jim asked.

"I am inclined to believe their offer of assistance is genuine," Spock said. "If they did wish to harm us, they could have done so already, denied us aid, or simply ignored our presence."

"I'm not one for trusting folks who appear out of nowhere, but we've got to do something for these people," McCoy supplied.

"Let's go for it." They followed, McCoy keeping back to shepherd the crowd of patients.

Once they were inside, the tunnel turned out to be relatively well-lit, with glowing squares set into the walls and ceiling.

"Bioluminescent fungi and refractive glass panels," Spock concluded, after pausing a moment to scan one.

"I'll add them to the database," Kouri said, "A good place to start building an index. We don't have any information at all on subterranean organisms."

It wasn't only the scientists who were interested; Jim could see the excitement in his entire team. Neyren and Uhura would have a whole new language to catalogue, the cultural researchers would be buried in material for weeks from just a brief glimpse of the habitation, and if the Nifseln were willing to share their medical knowledge, McCoy's people might be able to cure some things they couldn't before. Including whatever toxin had so badly affected the unfortunate scientists. And most of them had deep interests in alien society as well as technology. Some would probably find getting to meet the Nifseln up close fair compensation for their injuries. And apparently they weren't the only ones intrigued by the meeting.

"You will tell us how you came here?" Dasin asked Jim.

"Just researching, really. We were sent to survey the planet."

"We have not had visitors before, and certainly none who look like you do." Dasin seemed vaguely confused by the party, unsurprising, what with the number of species. Yet none of the Nifseln were surprised by aliens, so clearly they'd had some out-planet contact.

"Is this a colony?" Spock asked of Prett.

"The finest example of Star Age terraforming to date," was the proud reply. "My great-grandparents were some of the architects."

"Terraforming! That explains the sudden climate shift," Kouri said.

"My ancestors worked their entire lives for this colony, and even died for it, when they met with the savage wilderness that tried to take it from them."

"They sound like amazing people," Neyren said.

The Nifseln led them down several more turns through the elaborate tunnel system—Jim could see branches heading off in all directions, but they obviously knew where they were going—and they came out into a large curve-shaped room. It was mostly empty, but there were a couple of Nifseln walking around the tables carved into the stone. The tables were draped in intricately-woven cloth, but apart from that there didn't seem to be anything special about the room.

"Those who need treatment can remain here. Our doctors will arrive soon," Kynan said.

"And your leaders and researchers will follow me," Prett finished.

Jim considered that. "You think is a good idea, Bones?"

"Go ahead. I can take care of myself better than you can."
"I'm not even going to reply to that."

Prett and Dasin led them through into another room, this one with beeping computers set into the walls and wires running across the ceiling to vanish into holes in the stone. A few Nifseln were working at desks fitted with what looked like telephone switchboards.

"Telecommunications Station Three," Prett said, answering the unspoken question, "where we received your message."

Dasin went to talk to one of the operators, and within a few minutes, they were led into yet another chamber. It looked like an office; there were elaborate tapestries hanging on the walls and a Nifseln wearing a formal-looking robe sat at a desk, listening to something from a headset. That, Jim realized, seemed to be the most advanced piece of technology they had seen yet, but as aliens and guests they couldn't assume the state of the Nifseln tech. It might be far more useful than it looked; they had reached this planet and terraformed a colony, after all. Were they trying to live simply, as some of the colonies sent from Earth had? But he didn't want to linger on that thought long, and he didn't want to judge before they'd even been properly introduced.

Their introductions went smoothly enough to begin with, even with so many species in attendance. And then Jim came to the Zagen scientists.

"If you will notice, Captain," Rellar interrupted, "we are not part of your Federation and will therefore make our own introductions. I will not have such an occasion lorded over in this way."

Jim bit back several less than diplomatic remarks. "Of course," he responded, and let Rellar speak, hoping he would not paint too bad a picture of them. After what Jim thought of as far too long a time—although he'd never had much patience for sitting back and letting someone else do the work— they were finished with the formalities.

Elson introduced themself not, as Jim had expected, as the leader of the colony, but as a sort of an organizer, and—apparently— a librarian of some description. The headset, it turned out, had been relaying information on known alien species from the colony's databanks. Elson played them a portion, but the Universal Translator struggled with the fast-paced series of tones and eventually stopped trying to convert them at all.

"Superdense audio transfer—amazing!" Neyren said, awed, and Jim made a mental note to ask for them to be allowed to study the device and language further.

Elson wasn't surprised they couldn't understand; according to them it took special training to be able to interpret the tones, and their ability was part of the reason for their position. Much like Dasin, they were curious about the newcomers and asked at least as many questions as they answered. Serren and Leyna had begun asking Dasin their own questions, but Rellar interrupted so often they eventually submitted to simply noting down the answers.

"This goes significantly beyond our mission parameters, Captain," Spock said quietly. "I suggest we supervise the care of our crewmembers and then contact Starfleet for further instruction. Surely they would be interested in the existence of a colony on a planet that was expected to be uninhabited."

"The only Starfleet stations we're in range of wouldn't know what to do with a First Contact if it bit them in the ass, and the nearest Federation-owned station is the new Tellurite outpost and they probably don't even have a full staff yet. I think we can manage this. Besides, I thought you wanted to study some of this stuff."

"I would be very interested to do so, but—"

"Look, we've got nothing to do until everyone's healed. The rest of the diplomatic shit can come later. You go do some science." And before Spock could protest his grammar, he started asking the Nifseln more questions.

With only a little prompting, Prett launched into a detailed story of the colony's origins: how their ancestors had froze the planet to make the ground suitable for the underground city, how the original colonists had overcome many challenges to build the colony, the plans for the current program of expansions. Again they referred to the savage wilderness and the lives it had taken. Jim was intensely glad he had found help. They had had no idea that the wildlife was dangerous enough to kill when they arrived here. And he was relieved they had done no more than touch the leaves, with Prett's angered stories of deaths when the miners met with the roots of these plants.

The rest of the team were similarly engaged with their hosts. Spock, Kouri, and Neyren were busy with Elson, trying to find what information the Nifseln had on the toxic plants. Rellar and the Zagen were still deep in conversation—or interrogation might be more accurate—with Dasin.

For a First Contact in the midst of a crisis, this was going remarkably well.