Gaius arrived with Aithusa, the dracon didn't seem at all upset and was looking around with interest before deciding that she wanted to sit by Morgana. She was looking at the screen at space but other than that did nothing, Morgana scratched behind her ears absentmindedly but otherwise concentrated on her job. The baby dracon seemed to have developed a liking for both Gaius and Morgana which the doctor put down to the faint trace of the genes in their makeup.

The next to arrive was Lieutenant Bavaaok. "Lieutenant Do you get any sense of any sort of presence out there? Only it seems Merlin decided to go with the shuttle and he seems to be in some sort of contact with something. I don't want you take the risk of trying to establish anything at the moment"

The Lieutenant looked at the Captain in surprise before staring ahead briefly. The Lieutenant was from a species who used mind communication more that verbal and most ships now carried at least on telepath on board. Over recent years as the federation had expanded they had proved their worth over and over. Accept for a more reddish tinge to their skin and being more robustly built they were very similar to the other humanoids on the ship.

"No Sir, nothing do you want me to try to establish contact? By going deeper I may get something" came the softly spoken reply. For such a chunky built person he had a surprisingly soft voice.

"Not at the moment" Arthur told him then speaking to the shuttle once more "Any reaction yet?"

"Nothing Sir, do you want us to continue or return?" Lance asked the Captain "We have quite a bit of information already"

"Come back but watch Merlin as you do so. I want to know the minute he reacts" Arthur promised himself he would tear a strip of the idiot when he got his hands on him. He didn't have to wait long before Gwaine spoke.

"Merlin's eyes are changing colour Sir" then Arthur heard noises and Gwaine came back on "He went limp I have him down on a chair now"

"Is he able to talk Gwaine?"

Gwaine was trying to rouse the limp boy but getting nowhere "No Sir, he has a good pulse and his colour is good but he seems to be sleeping"

Gaius butted in "His Pulse should be much higher than ours Gwaine his is normally about 110."

Gwaine went silent and then came back "Its 78"

"See if you can lie him down, and keep checking he may be going into shock" Gaius told the commander.

"Lance head back as quickly as you can Gaius will meet you in the shuttle bay" Arthur ordered "That bloody idiot why can't he do as he's told"

Morgana turned round "I suspect it's because he's had to be so self-reliant. He's clearly not used to having much help in his life, he did after all try to speak to you .. Sir" the Sir was clearly an afterthought.

Arthur did have the grace to look slightly guilty as he turned to Gaius "Take the dracon with you, Merlin seems to like her close. I will meet you in sickbay once he's there."

Arthur walked and stood next to Morgana and for her ears said "It's clear that you think I was wrong, but remember this is a fleet vessel and not a pleasure cruise. Maybe I should have listened to the boy but I had clearly told him the areas he wasn't permitted in."

Morgana looked up she was still clearly defiant "Yes Sir!" then she gave the captain a smile "But you know I'm right Sir"

"Don't get to fond of him Morgana as soon as I can he's being left behind on a base" he warned "This isn't the place for him" With that the Captain left the bridge to Leon and made his way to sick bay. Merlin had yet to arrive but Gwen and Mithian were getting ready for his arrival as soon as news came that the scuttle was docking Mithian left with the gurney to help bring Merlin for treatment. Arthur kept well back so not to get in the way.

Despite his words on the bridge he was very worried for Merlin and even admitted to himself if no one else that he had got very fond of Merlin and would love to keep him on board. He had already decided to make sure the boy was found a good home and accepted into Starfleet academy if that's what Merlin wanted. Or even the diplomatic core. But whatever Merlin wanted Arthur would keep in touch and fund his plans. He would even make sure that Aithusa was returned to his kind if she couldn't stay with Merlin.

Merlin was just waking as he was wheeled into sick bay but Gaius made sure he was fit to talk before he let the captain near him. But once he was happy he shooed everyone else out the room and left the two of them together. Arthur hadn't fooled Gaius he knew that Arthur wouldn't do anything to harm the boys welfare.

Arthur stood by the examination table his hands clasped behind his back, he glared down at Merlin and waited before speaking "What fool trick was that?"

"I tried to tell you and you threw me in jail!" Merlin said defiantly "I only wanted to help"

"So stowing away on the shuttle craft and causing their mission to be aborted was helping was it!" Arthur glared at Merlin "That makes a lot of sense"

"I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. I need to get out the ship…. And it worked!" Merlin said "I talked to them"

Arthur leaned forward now very interested "Who and what are they and what do they want?" he snapped

"They are … the remains of a galaxy that reached the end and was …. Fading" Merlin was clearly struggling to find the words he wanted. "They changed their form so they could travel, they were highly developed and here from many planets, they are looking for a new home"

Arthur leant forward "Why are they destroying solar systems? Did you find out?"

Merlin looked at Arthur a look of disgust on his face "They are doing the same as you do! Yet you condemn them. I told them they were destroying the balance. They said they need fuel and the suns where giving them what they needed. They said none of the planets had advanced life, just like you and the mines!"

That made Arthur step back and think. "But some of the planets had life they sent out distress signals!"

"They said they were…..lower forms… they had to have energy or they would die" Merlin was clearly distressed "They didn't listen to me! But they did say that a millennia ago they avoided a place that had my kind, they wouldn't kill them. But if others were…aggressive and a danger, they did if they had to. They said the dracon were good and caused no harm" Merlin's eyes started to droop "I asked them to stop, that people lived where they were going but they want to live and will die if they stop"

"Thank you Merlin, rest now and we'll talk later" Arthur watched as Merlin's eyes shut. He went to the intercom and called the senior officers to a meeting. As Gaius came out Arthur turned and said "I would like you and Gwen there will Merlin be alright with Mithian?"

Gaius looked at the readings above Merlin's head "He should be she can call us if needed"

Once everyone had arrived Arthur told them what Merlin had said "So it seems we are dealing with advanced life forms looking for a new home, and who are willing to destroy lesser people to travel."

Morgana was the first to speak "Yet Merlin said they had let some of his people live, from what we have seen and what are research shows is that although the dracon can travel through space they live at a fairly primitive level. So I wonder what their definition of lower forms is?"

"A good point, from what Merlin told me aggression was one of the criteria for destruction, which seems strange as they are clearly destructive" Arthur pointed out. "Once Merlin is awake I will ask him if he can contact them again"

After lowering his head to think and pinching the top of his nose, a gesture all the officers were familiar with the captain turned to the communications officer "in the meantime can you try to communicate with them using what we know of the dracon tongue? Even if it is just basic stuff"

"I can try Sir but we need to be careful the language is very complex and the written is different than the verbal. We haven't really got much of a handle on it. I wouldn't want to send out the wrong signals. Even with Science department help and using all of communications and linguistics we can only just about say hello with any degree of certainty. It might be safer to wait for Merlin, to make it harder Merlin speaks both of the two languages both humanoid and dracon but does it so naturally that it make it difficult for him to separate the two. What you have to remember is that accept for his mother who was not of the same race Merlin had only the dracons to speak to. He told me they helped him to keep the language alive, but I think it got muddled over the year "

Arthur rolled his eyes in frustration "So what your saying is we need Merlin"

"Yes unless you know some way to get Aithusa to speak to them" Freya smiled "But she is a child"