Tholian Arrival

Posted on Sun Feb 14, 2016 @ 2:55pm by

892 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: The Pangaea System
Timeline: MD 11 - 1500

[ON]

The Tholian ship dropped out of warp at the very edge of the Pangaea system. Its crew communicated the procedures governing the new flight configuration among themselves, using high-pitched squeals and clicks. Warp power to standby. Speed to one-half impulse. Course heading per mission profile. Full sensor scan along all axes. Comms at ready.

Their heading wasn’t for Deep Space Five. Their intent was to first conduct a survey of the system. Of particular interest was the first planet. Where the temperatures, like the inside of their ship and the surface of their planet, were ideal for life. 488 degrees Kelvin and swimming in radiation. The Tholians adjusted their heading that way.

"Tholian vessel, this is a Starfleet fighter craft approaching from your starboard at twelve-thousand kilometers. Acknowledge." The hail was translated into Tholian from the bizarre humanoid speech. This was no surprise. The Federation space station had known that they would be arriving, and had probably sent a fighter out here to wait for them. Just one, so as not to be too provocative. Despite the gradual improvement of diplomatic relations over the years some lingering tensions remained.

The Tholians did not acknowledge the hail. They didn't feel the need to open communications with the humanoids just yet. First they wanted to see this place, unencumbered by these repellent carbon-based lifeforms that seemed to infest every corner of the galaxy.

The Federation fighter closed the distance and fell into an escort position. Meanwhile the Tholians continued on course.

****

"What do you think? Busted comms?" Mitchell Graham asked as he observed the Tholian ship from the back seat. It was all sharp angles and facets, like a cut gem.

In the front seat Shoni Muuhi shook her head. "On a ship that complex? I doubt it. They're ignoring us."

"What should we do?"

"We'll stay and give them a friendly escort, as ordered. I'll hail them again in a minute."

“Alright. I’ll run some scans,” Crackers replied as he made the necessary sensor adjustments on his LCARS panel

****

The angular, wedge-shaped craft began decelerating as it neared the Y-class planet near Pangaea's sun. The Tholian crew was already at work, making their observations. Typical of their kind, they were interested in researching the dimension from which Pangaea had come. Possibly as a gateway they could exploit.

The Tholian vessel made a sudden, right-angle turn just inside the planet’s orbit. Not to be outdone, the fighter made the identical maneuver and stayed in formation. The structural integrity field protested via a chime on the instrument panel but did its job.

****
Shoni wasn’t about to let these guys lose her. Also, she was sick of this game. She keyed the subspace channel again. “Tholian vessel, this is the Starfleet fighter craft holding station on your port quarter. You will refrain from conducting maneuvers that are hazardous to navigation. Your vessel is now inside DS5’s controlled traffic zone. Please acknowledge this message so I know you’re reading me. Otherwise I will fire a warning shot across your bow. Fair warning.”

There was no reply.

“Hospitable bunch, aren’t they?” Crackers said.

In the front seat the Betelgeusian pilot sighed and put some separation between her craft and the Tholians. Wonderful. The post-flight debriefing was going to be extra-long as she was undoubtedly going to have to explain why she opened fire on the newly-arrived Tholian ambassador’s ship. Should have kept my mouth shut.

Suddenly a return hail came back. Audio only. The voice was ghostly and androgynous.

“My name is Ambassador Voskene. I speak for the Tholian Assembly to the space station called Deep Space Five. The Assembly asserts the right to free navigation as established by the Treaty of Merat VII. The Assembly further rejects any claim of custodianship over this planetary system.”

“I’m not a diplomat, Ambassador Voskene,” Shoni replied. “My orders are to escort your vessel safely to its berth. That’s all.”

”We do not require fighter escort.”

“Understood. Still, I will be escorting you until you dock at the station.”

A small object emerged from the Tholian ship’s pointed nose and accelerated towards the Pangaean sun, leaving a trail of light behind it.

“They just launched a probe at the sun,” Crackers informed his pilot.

”We intend to conduct scientific studies of this system. We will not dock until we have completed them.”

“How long do you anticipate that will take?” Shoni asked.

”By your timekeeping method we will complete our initial research in three hours, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-seven seconds. Assuming you do nothing further to delay us.” Tholians were renowned for their precise schedules.

“Very well. We’ll stay with you, Mister Ambassador.” Or is it Madam Ambassador? This is confusing.

Voskene didn't bother to clarify how he/she preferred to be addressed. ”Be advised. We will continue performing abrupt course-change procedures. This is necessary for our sensors to calibrate the precise decay of gravimetric shear along the interdimensional point of–“

“Fine. Acknowledged. Just remember there are other ships arriving and departing,” Shoni interrupted. The Tholians closed the channel. “Feel free to do some light reading, Crackers,” she said to her back-seater. “This will take a while.”

“I suppose now is a bad time to tell you I gotta go?” Crackers replied.

[OFF]

 

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