Chapter 3: Enter the Federation
The U.S.S. Jefferson was making a routine trip around a section of Federation space, specifically, the Milky Way galaxy. This was probably the most boring assignment in Starfleet, as everything had already been explored and throughly mapped. The only reasons ships like the Jefferson made this trip were to check all of the non-planetary movement to make sure there would be no catastrophic collision betweens large asteriods and planets, and to test out new crews. A recent policy, most experienced crews look on "orbit duty" as a joke.
"Captain Rycheck, I have an anomaly on long-range scan..."
"Really? What is it, Jim?"
Ensign James Cobalt studied the scans for a moment, "It appears to be...alive, sir."
Captain Johnathan Rycheck, recently promoted, was a bit shocked. If it WAS alive, and the scanners weren't lying, then it might signify an invasion by species 8274. "Onscreen."
The screen showed a small egg-shaped object, or at least a small part of an egg. It looked like the grand majority of the structure had been torn off, as some entrails were hanging off. "Ugh," Rycheck said, "You said it's still alive?"
"Yes sir, the damage appears to be deliberate."
"Odd, why would it do that?"
The science officer,a Vulcan by the name of Tan'ack, replied "It would seem that structure was designed to be a biological probe, so it would be most likely that the creature split to increase it's scanning capability, as it did not react to our presence."
"Sir," the ops ensign, Erin Manasas interjected, "it appears to be transmitting on sub-space frequencies."
"To us?" the captain asked.
"No sir, it appears to be broadcasting to something far away, it's not a large bandwave, but its very strong."
"Let's hear it, Ensign."
"Aye, sir"
A small metallic voice filled the bridge: have found humans outside of protoss protection... have completed objectives... more orders needed /\ have found humans outside of....
"It just keeps repeating, sir."
"Can we get it into one of the science labs?"
"Yes sir, begin transport?"
"Yes, but make sure a containment field is up, just in case. Remember, this could be our shot at real missions, so I don't want any slip-ups."
"Yes, sir!"
"Alright, sir!"
"Even I am interested in getting out of this mission."
The U.S.S. Jefferson was making a routine trip around a section of Federation space, specifically, the Milky Way galaxy. This was probably the most boring assignment in Starfleet, as everything had already been explored and throughly mapped. The only reasons ships like the Jefferson made this trip were to check all of the non-planetary movement to make sure there would be no catastrophic collision betweens large asteriods and planets, and to test out new crews. A recent policy, most experienced crews look on "orbit duty" as a joke.
"Captain Rycheck, I have an anomaly on long-range scan..."
"Really? What is it, Jim?"
Ensign James Cobalt studied the scans for a moment, "It appears to be...alive, sir."
Captain Johnathan Rycheck, recently promoted, was a bit shocked. If it WAS alive, and the scanners weren't lying, then it might signify an invasion by species 8274. "Onscreen."
The screen showed a small egg-shaped object, or at least a small part of an egg. It looked like the grand majority of the structure had been torn off, as some entrails were hanging off. "Ugh," Rycheck said, "You said it's still alive?"
"Yes sir, the damage appears to be deliberate."
"Odd, why would it do that?"
The science officer,a Vulcan by the name of Tan'ack, replied "It would seem that structure was designed to be a biological probe, so it would be most likely that the creature split to increase it's scanning capability, as it did not react to our presence."
"Sir," the ops ensign, Erin Manasas interjected, "it appears to be transmitting on sub-space frequencies."
"To us?" the captain asked.
"No sir, it appears to be broadcasting to something far away, it's not a large bandwave, but its very strong."
"Let's hear it, Ensign."
"Aye, sir"
A small metallic voice filled the bridge: have found humans outside of protoss protection... have completed objectives... more orders needed /\ have found humans outside of....
"It just keeps repeating, sir."
"Can we get it into one of the science labs?"
"Yes sir, begin transport?"
"Yes, but make sure a containment field is up, just in case. Remember, this could be our shot at real missions, so I don't want any slip-ups."
"Yes, sir!"
"Alright, sir!"
"Even I am interested in getting out of this mission."