DISCLAIMER: Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.

RETURN OF THE HADEANS

By Darrin A. Colbourne

"I thought gravity propulsion was just a theory," Miora Vin said.

"It is for us," Alenn said. "It's supposed to be the only way to achieve faster-than-light travel within the material universe."

"The idea is that since everything in the universe with mass generates gravity," Dian said, "gravity itself can be tapped as an energy source, one that would provide the motive power necessary to overcome the limits imposed on mass and velocity by the constraints of space-time. The problem is you need to be able to manipulate millions of tons of inert mass to generate the necessary amount of gravity just to test the theory. Artificial gravity isn't enough. We've never been able to experiment with the idea, and the discovery of subspace obviated the need."

"Yet," Alenn said, "someone outside our galaxy apparently both saw the need and had the means to test the theory, and the result is the remarkable vessel we're shadowing. While it is not going much faster than light-speed, it is indeed faster."

"But how does it maneuver?" Miora wondered aloud. "How does it make complicated course and speed corrections? For that matter, how do they even see where they're going?"

"All good questions," Dian said. She turned to look at the screen. The object - the alien ship - was still showing signs of reconfiguring, glowing red streaks shooting through its length. After a moment, she said absently, "We'll likely just have to ask them."

"How?" Alenn said. "I doubt that a ship as unconventional as this will operate a standard subspace radio."

"I'd be willing to try smoke signals if I had to. Still, we won't know if they have radios or not if we don't at least try and see, right?"

"Agreed."

With that settled, Dian turned to McCann and said, "Open hailing frequencies."

McCann touched some contacts on his console. "Hailing frequencies open."

Dian faced the screen and said clearly, "Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Dian Phua of the Federation Starship Sundown. Do you read?" She waited. No response. "Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Dian Phua of the Federation Starship Sundown requesting identification. Please respond." She waited. Still no response. She turned to McCann.

He shook his head. "We are transmitting, Captain, but I have no idea if they're receiving."

Dian frowned and turned back to the viewer. "Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Dian Phua of the Federation Starship Sundown. We represent a civilization called the United Federation of Planets and we are on a peaceful exploration mission. We mean you no harm. We request communication and the opening of diplomatic relations between our peoples." She turned to McCann. "Record that into a loop and send it continuously until we get a response...assuming we'll get a response."

"Aye, Captain." McCann got to work on setting that up.

Dian went back to Alenn's station. "And if we don't get a response, what other options do we have for communication?"

"If we could get smoke signals to work in space, Captain, I'd set that up for you," Alenn said, "but otherwise there is nothing else I can think of."

"What about gravity?" Miora blurted out. "If they use gravity for propulsion, maybe they also use it for communication."

"How?" Dian said.

"Like smoke signals, only instead of pulses of smoke, they use pulses of gravity…"

"That wouldn't help us, Ensign," Alenn said. "Even if we could employ the same method of communication…"

"Tractor beam! We can set it to push instead of pull and use it to create gravitic pulses! Of course, they won't be as powerful as that thing can generate, but maybe…"

Alenn held up a finger to stop her talking, then continued. "...we wouldn't know how to encode the pulses properly so that actual communication could take place. To them we would be speaking gibberish."

Dian, who'd been thinking since Miora spoke, said, "So we won't talk at all."

Miora blinked. "But, Captain, I thought you…"

"At least we won't try to talk with the tractor beam. Alenn's right. We'd have no idea what to say...but, we don't really need to say anything. Maybe it's enough that we demonstrate our intelligence and get them to contact us. Then maybe they'll teach us how to talk to them. Ensign, make the adjustments you suggested and set the tractor beam to emit a set of pulses...say five...at regular intervals toward the alien ship. Time the pulses to coincide with each repetition of the hailing message."

"Aye, Captain."

As Miora got to work, Alenn said quietly to Dian, "So...we're just going to keep knocking on their door and yelling friendly talk at them until we annoy them into talking to us?"

Dian nodded. "Essentially, yes."

Alenn chuckled. "That reminds me of an Earth cult Dr. Langkowski once told me about."

"An Earth cult?"

"Let's see...what was the name?" She grinned. "Ah...Jehovah's Witnesses!"

Dian just stared at her for a moment, then laughed as she went back to the command chair.

Sandra Langkowski cursed as she ripped the last strips of organic silk away from her corpsman. "Sorry, Doctor," he said weakly. "I thought I had the drop on her."

"Well, maybe next time you'll think twice before you aim phasssserss at helplessss women!" K'Chara hissed at him.

"Helpless!?" Sandra said. "You cocooned him!"

"Oh, he was fine!" K'Chara said. "I left nose holes so he could breathe."

Sandra ran a tricorder over him as she said, "That's not the only problem with doing it, K'Chara!"

"What? My sssilk is not poisonous! You yourself said you could use it to do your medicai work!"

"As bandages, not for mummification!"

Sandra finished her examination and helped the corpsman to his feet. "She's right, though," she said. "You're fine. Take a break. Go to the holodeck and program a walk in the park to loosen your muscles. Doctor's orders."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, then he shot one more wary look at K'Chara before leaving Engineering.

Sandra turned to K'Chara. "As for you, missy…!"

K'Chara turned away haughtily. "You cannot threaten me! I have a right to refuse medical treatment!"

"Actually, no you don't. Civilians have the right to refuse medical treatment. You are a Starfleet Officer, which means you have obligations to keep yourself healthy enough to perform your duties and obey your superiors, and since I am your closest source of healthcare and outrank you, you don't get to refuse jack! You read me, lieutenant?"

K'Chara wheeled on Sandra and hissed evilly while bearing her fangs and cheek mandibles.

Sandra just crossed her arms. "And if I live through whatever you do I will be testifying at your court martial."

K'Chara blinked, then immediately took on a more passive stance. "Of courssse, I take my responsibilities seriousssly…"

"Right. Just stand still." She ran her tricorder over K'Chara's form and checked the results. "It looks like the damage to your carapace is healing faster than I expected."

"Sssssee! I tried to tell you…!"

"Give me a break, K'Chara! You are literally the only person in this whole crew with her skeleton on the outside of her body. I have to be sure!"

K'Chara pouted. "Mussst I go all the way to Ssssick Bay?"

"If you promise not to go jumping around Engineering like a superball again before you're fully healed, you can stay."

"Thank you. I mussst stay here for the foreseeable future. The captain will be getting her answer soon." She smiled and turned to check the reactor.

Sandra just stared. "What was the question?"

1045 HOURS

Most people would find the situation boring. They'd spent more than an hour just repeating the friendship message and tapping the gravity ship's hull with the reversed tractor beam. The monotony of it would have driven off many other people.

Dian wasn't one of them. She could stick with an action for weeks if she was sure of getting a result at some point. She didn't know if it was simply an abundance of patience or the hint of an obsessive personality, but there it was. Right now though, she understood what the less patient were feeling. This was a dubious strategy in pursuit of an uncertain result. Even she was tempted to give up and try something else. She fought the instinct, though. What if she gave up a few seconds before something would have happened?

And just as she thought that: "Captain," McCann said, "I'm picking up something. There are electroplasma eruptions along the surface of the object."

"Confirmed," Alenn called out. "They're occurring along the fault lines that are being created as the object reconfigures."

"Do you think that's part of how it makes course corrections?" Dian asked.

"Unknown, but I don't think so. Adjustments in course seem to correspond with variations in its gravitic signature. This activity appears uncoordinated."

Dian focused on the image on the screen as she pondered this. What are you doing now?

"Captain," Alenn said, "the electroplasma eruptions are getting closer to us."

"The eruptions aren't random?"

"No. They are definitely getting closer. At the current rate an eruption will occur directly under us in approximately five minutes and twenty seconds."

"What can we expect?"

"The ejecta won't reach us as electroplasma. The material plasma will disperse and leave an EM arc that will impact the hull."

"Can we withstand the impact?"

"Easily, if we raise shields."

"And if we don't raise them?"

"We'll suffer damage to approximately 43% of the outer hull, plus peripheral damage to the main deflector, the lateral sensor arrays on the engineering section and the outer shuttle bay door."

"What if we just move out of the way?"

"Presumably nothing will happen...unless the eruption pattern follows us."

Dian took a moment to think about it. "Let's do the least aggressive thing first. Helm, reverse thrust. Retreat aft from our current position until we're over the tail end of the object."

"Retreat aft, aye," Lt. Chaifetz said. "Reversing thrust."

The rocky surface beneath them rushed forward on the screen, blurring for a few seconds before freezing again.

"We are now positioned over the object's aft end," Chaifetz said.

There was more waiting while Alenn monitored the course of the eruptions. A few minutes later: "Captain, the eruption pattern has changed. Their following us."

Dian huffed. "How long till they reach us?"

"We've bought some time. We now have eleven minutes and three seconds."

"Assessment: is this some sort of defense mechanism?"

"If it is, it's not a very effective one. We can evade it easily or defend against it easily."

"What if isn't a defense?"

"What else could it be?"

"Maybe it's an attempt to communicate?"

"With EM pulses?"

"We've been pounding them with gravitic pulses. Maybe they're trying to show their intelligence by using electroplasma."

"Responding in kind? Anything's possible, but how do we find out for sure?"

Dian turned in her chair to look at her friend.

Alenn felt her gaze and turned to look back. "No."

"Why not?"

"Captain…!"

"We'll raise the shields. You said that would be enough."

"And I could be wrong."

"I have faith in you."

"Appreciated, but what you're thinking requires more than faith."

"Alenn, it's going to happen whether we force the issue or wait until the eleven minutes are up."

The two officers had sort of a stare-down, with Dian trying to cajole with her eyes. Ultimately, Alenn sighed, silently cursed being best friends with an insane person and turned back to her console. "Helm, execute three degrees right yaw and prepare to increase delta vee ten percent on my mark." A pause, then: "Mark."

Chaifetz made the ordered adjustments. "Course plotted and laid in."

"One minute, forty seconds to intercept," Alenn said. She watched the countdown silently until it reached forty-five seconds and said, "Captain, you should raise shields now…"

"Shields up," Dian said.

"Raising shields," McCann said.

The next forty-odd seconds seemed to crawl by to Dian, and she was worried it would transpire uneventfully.

She needn't have worried.

"We're right over an eruption," Alenn called out. "EM impact in four, three, two…"

At "one" the Sundown was slammed with what felt more like a meteor impact than an EM pulse. Everyone standing was thrown to the deck and those seated were rocked in their seats. Consoles exploded as EPS conduits overloaded. Chaifetz tried hard to recover and regain control of the ship.

"You said the shields would protect us!" Dian yelled at Alenn.

"I believe I also said 'I! Could! Be! WRONG!" Alenn yelled back as she picked herself up off the floor.

Then there was a scream. Everyone's attention turned to the Engineering station Miora Vin had set up. She was frozen in front of it, surrounded by a yellow-white glow. Alenn and Dian rushed over when the glow subsided and the trill collapsed. The shaking and rattling ended abruptly at that moment.

Miora lay unconscious on the deck. Dian knelt beside her and rested her head on her knees as Alenn tapped her commbadge. "Bridge to Doctor Langkowski! Medical emergency!"

"On my way!" Sandra's voice responded. "I asked you people not to give me extra work to do!"

"Scold us when you get here, Doctor!" Alenn snapped back.

Dian was trying to comfort Miora. "The Doctor's on her way," she said.

Suddenly Miora's eyes snapped open. They were glowing with the same yellow-white glow that had surrounded her before. The sight made Dian recoil, which gave Miora room to spring upright. Then she stood completely and returned to her console.

Dian and Alenn flanked her as she reconfigured the console. She was now accessing the LCARS Historical database. "Miora, are you all right?" Dian said. "What are you doing?"

"Answer the Captain, Ensign!" Alenn commanded when she continued to ignore them.

Two seconds later, the glow in Miora's eyes expanded into energy beams aimed at the console display. On impact, centuries of historical data began to flash by on the display at breakneck speed.

"What is she doing?" Dian asked.

"I'd say she was accessing the database with her mind," Alenn said, "if I weren't sure that was impossible."

Sandra emerged from the turbolft at that moment and rushed over. "What in the hell?" She exclaimed at seeing Miora.

"This surprised us as well, Doctor," Alenn said.

"Well, why are you just standing here?" Sandra shook her head and reached out to grab Miora's shoulder. The EM pulse that triggered threw Sandra back to the turbolift doors.

Alenn and Dian rushed to help her up. "That's why we were just standing there," Alenn said.

"Are you all right?" Dian said.

"Nothing feels broken or burned," Sandra said. "What is she doing?"

"Something unbelievable," Dian said.

"And we should just let her do it," Alenn said.

The entire bridge crew watched in stunned silence as Miora Vin seemed to download the contents of the database. It took nearly seven minutes, after which the beams from her eyes disappeared. She then turned and walked robot-like over to where Dian, Alenn and Sandra were standing, and in a distorted voice, she said:

"WE ARE HADEAN. WE ARE GOING HOME. DO NOT INTERFERE AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED."

There was a moment of silence, then the glow in her eyes disappeared and Miora collapsed to the deck again.

As Sandra tended to the Ensign, Alenn and Dian went over to the console to see what Miora accessed. "It looks like she went through everything here." Dian said.

"Are we thinking the same thing?" Alenn said. "That we just got a message from our friends out there?"

"K'Chara said you would," Sandra said, finally understanding. "That woman is scary."

"A message, yes," Dian said, "and also a probe. They used Miora to learn about us. I believe that EM pulse was more than just random energy."

Before Alenn could respond loud alarms sounded from the Science and Flight Control stations. "The object's visibly reconfiguring!" Chaifetz called out.

All eyes turned to the main viewer. The solid rock of the object seemed to braking up into thousands of pieces in orbit around a red hot molten core. It was elongating as it reformed.

Alenn rushed to get to her console. "Its gravity well is reforming. It's being refocused into a shrinking area toward the forward end of the object's structure...Captain, it's increasing speed as it reforms."

"Helm, match speed and bearing!" Dian ordered.

Alenn continued to monitor the object's gravitic signature as the rest of the bridge crew watched the object shapeshift from a giant chevron into a spear thousands of miles long, with most of its gravity focused in the relatively tiny pointy end.

"It looks like they've settled on a course," Alenn announced. "The object is in freefall toward the Halcion Star System. It's new equivalent warp speed is now 3.938."

"They said the were going home." Dian said. "Do you think that's their ultimate destination?"

"There's no telling, but if we follow them that will be at least one question answered."

"There's a scarier one that will be answered first. How does a spacecraft the size of a moon that uses gravity for propulsion stop?"

Both women turned to look at the giant rocky spear the ship was chasing and let that question sink in...

TBC...