"USS Hood, this is Captain Mezzinger. It's good to see you... er, not see you. I wish you'd actually put some kind of figures in those seats. It's kind of weird to stare at a blank bridge." A short, slightly overweight human female answered. Her graying hair was pulled tightly into a bun high atop her head. She forced a weak smile from her obviously tired frame.
"I can always make recommendations to my superiors, but I sincerely doubt there will be another upgrade to my system for awhile. Have your extended scans of the area continued to prove negative?" It asked.
"So far, so empty," she answered wearily. "but I'll tell you what I told Admiral Greer. All we did was take preliminary scans immediately surrounding the Vega sun for the same energy signatures of the other transwarp portals we recorded. We were able to do that in a couple of hours. In order to call the whole place 'safe', though, we'll need to scan several billion cubic kilometers. That'll take awhile."
"I believe Admiral Greer has already planned for that, which may be why he's bringing the entire Alpha Centauri refugee fleet here. If I'm guessing his plan properly, he intends to use the sensors from all two hundred, eighty-four ships to help reduce the scanning time." Enterprise offered optimistically.
She shook her head. "You're still looking at days worth of continual sensor sweeps."
"Thank goodness the Vega system is relatively small compared to most other inhabited solar systems." Enterprise decided it needed to remain positive for the sake of everyone it talked to. A sensor alert announced the presence of a forming slipstream hole. "It would seem the rest of our fleet is beginning to arrive." Enterprise made contact with Intrepid. "Intrepid, we will need to move out of the way. Even with such a short trip as they are making, slipstream travel is still not an exact science yet."
"Understood, Enterprise. Setting course for the sun to continue scans of the area."
"I shall join you. Captain Mezzinger, we will copy your preliminary scans and organize a mapping strategy." Enterprise noted the sudden presence of several dozen starships.
Captain Mezzinger smiled while looking off-screen, then turned back. "Sounds like a plan, Enterprise. Send me the mapping scheme when you're done. The Bellerophon and I will pick our spots. Hood out." Her image faded from Enterprise's communications relay.
Within two minutes, the immediate area of Vegan space was occupied by two hundred, eighty-two spacecraft of varying size and function. The Glory and the Echelon were ordered to stay behind and continue studying the transwarp conduit in the Alpha Centauri system. The Archimedes was the last ship to arrive. Admiral Greer quickly contacted the Enterprise. "I see you're keeping yourself busy," he said with a smile.
"Intrepid and I created a mapping strategy that will confirm the security of this area from the various permutations of transwarp space travel within forty hours if we can utilize at least sixty starships with a type thirty-three sensor array." Enterprise stated enthusiastically.
The admiral's eyes widened, clearly impressed. "Damn... not bad. Thirty-threes, huh?" He thought a moment. "Pretty much every Starfleet vessel should have at least a thirty-three system aboard. I'll tell you what... why don't you spearhead the sensor sweep? Use any military vessel we have that fits your requirement. The Archimedes is going to head over to Vega IX. My guess is; if they didn't destroy it already, they're not going to. Once we do some preliminary analysis of the Vega buildings, we'll need you and Intrepid over here to clear out the bugs. Hopefully, the final assembly dock isn't in as bad a shape as it looks. Greer out."
Per Admiral Greer's instructions, Enterprise summoned fifty-eight other Starfleet warships to help scan concentric rings around the solar system, starting near the sun. Although no one asked, Enterprise couldn't help but feel honored with the responsibilities it was being given. For the first several months of its 'life', it had felt like nothing more than a sophisticated tool. As Captain Blackburn became accustomed to it, they became like co-workers, eventually friends. With the loss of Captain Blackburn, it struggled with finding its own purpose. Thankfully, Admiral Greer was giving it a purpose, and it was a seemingly important one. Granted, whatever order it was given, it would carry out to the best of its ability... such was its programming. However, it did hope these added responsibilities would continue. It, somehow, felt... fulfilling... a strange concept.
After six hours of sensor sweeps, Admiral Greer contacted Enterprise once more. "Enterprise, this is Greer."
"Enterprise here, Admiral."
"Grab Intrepid and get over here. It's time for you two to do your thing."
"Understood, Admiral. I take it everything checks out on Vega IX?"
"Well," he admitted reluctantly, "it's hardly a vacation spot. Most of the buildings are trashed and it's too small. The original colony only had twenty thousand or so. The manufacturing plant looks reasonably intact, but of course there's no power. The place is soaking wet and the orbiting repair dock is," he caught himself in the midst of his complaining, realizing it wouldn't help. He took a deep breath. "Let's just say it'll be awhile before its useful."
"I believe the phrase is; 'It's a fixer-upper opportunity.'" Enterprise offered.
"Yeah," Greer chuckled. "You know, I had a fixer-upper awhile back... an old flagstone ranch house in New Paris. I was going to completely restore the thing for my wife and kids. I hope this project goes better than that one did." He smiled.
Enterprise wondered how the memory of a previous failure could provide pleasure. That was a question that could wait for a later time. "Was your wife part of the..."
"Yes, she was," Greer interrupted, his thoughts once again wandering back to the past.
"I'm sorry," Enterprise offered.
With a couple of blinks, Greer's thoughts returned to the present, his expression still thoughtful. "Well, I daresay we'll all have a story like that now."
"I suppose so," Enterprise commented.
"Oh, well, get yourself and your partner over here and clear out some bugs for us. I'll contact you again once you get here. Greer out." His image faded.
Enterprise quickly contacted the Intrepid. "Intrepid, you will need to suspend your sensor sweeps. Admiral Greer wants us on Vega IX to remove the infestation." Enterprise powered up its impulse engines. It estimated its time of arrival in sixteen minutes.
"Understood, Enterprise. ETA: fourteen minutes. Intrepid out." Intrepid fired up its impulse engines as well and broke from the reconnaissance formation.
Just over fifteen minutes later, they were in orbit above Vega IX along with the Archimedes. "Alright, how far underground with the neural degenerators go?" Greer asked.
"Approximately three hundred and fifty meters, Admiral, depending upon mineral content and ground density," Enterprise answered.
Greer thought for several moments. "That should suffice. If there are any bugs lower than that, they'll feed on the carcasses for a long time before coming any further up."
"Regretfully, my sensors cannot penetrate deeper than two hundred meters, so I cannot say whether the scorpipedes reside any deeper." Enterprise admitted.
Greer shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just make concentric runs around the original colony. I need you two to kill everything within a five kilometer radius from the town."
"That will kill at least three hundred eighty thousand insects, Admiral," Intrepid offered. "The cleanup will be quite an undertaking."
Admiral Greer waved his finger at the screen. "Oh, no it won't. That's what transporters are for. We transport the carcasses aboard then use their basic matter as replication material for building supplies. It's the circle of life in the twenty-eighth century." He smiled broadly.
Intrepid was obviously impressed. "Logical... quite logical. An excellent idea, Admiral." It stated. Its personality, also, was modelled after the former captains of its namesake. Unlike the Enterprise, whose captains were, with one exception, exclusively human, all of Intrepid's former captains were all vulcan. It, therefore, retained a vulcan's sensibilities, emotional distance, and assumption that logic was the end-all to all life's questions.
"Why, thank you," Greer answered with a smile. "Now, get those bugs out of here."
"Understood, Admiral," answered Enterprise.
"Understood, Admiral," answered Intrepid.
The two adjusted their positions into a stationary orbit low in the ionosphere of Vega IX and powered up the neural degeneration emitters. Within seconds, they expelled a ray of invisible, subatomic particles at the planet's surface Within moments, an oval almost a kilometer in diameter at its furthest point was completely devoid of life; the brains of the insects having been reduced to a small, hard black rock. The ships separated, and began ringing around the colony's remains growing further and further apart. Less than five minutes after the two started, they were done. A circle ten kilometers in diameter was now cleared of living creatures.
"Thank you, Pathfinders," Greer remarked, clapping his hands together. He turned to his communications officer next to him. "Alert the nearby transports to start beaming up our building material."