Ad Astra :: Star Trek Fanfiction Archive ^{Beam me up, Scotty.}

Chapter Text

The Star Beagle Adventures                                                
Episode 5: All Good People
Scene 14: Coexistence

5.14
Coexistence

“We have a small vessel decloaking 20 kilometers off the port bow,” reported Ensign Broras. The bolian was currently standing at the U.S.S. Mako’s tactical station. 

The Beagle task force had been in orbit of Serrat Prime for nearly two weeks, its probes having established stable orbits around various planets and moons. Outside of 8 identified abandoned or inactive planetary or lunar bases and on the surface of the massive abandoned space station in orbit of the red dwarf at the edge of the Serrat system, next to each identified primary entrance, a single dogfish had been sitting at attention, looking very much like a dog that had been told to sit.

Over the past several days, every member of the task force had the opportunity to spend at least three days camping ground side. Currently, nearly half of the population of the task force was planet side. Alpha shift had begun 5 minutes before the single, small alien craft appeared.

“Status of the new vessel?” asked Commodore Yui Song.

“No evidence of weaponry or major shielding beyond navigational screens.” Broras reported.

“Hail them.”

“Um, Commodore, I... I think they’re hailing us.”

“On screen.”

The alien that appeared on the screen of the U.S.S. Mako had no face. It appeared to be an amorphous, silver blob suspended in a vibrant, purple atmosphere. 

Commodore Yui stood up. “I am Commodore Yui, commanding officer for this task force from the United Federation of Planets.”

“We are aware of your designation and your unstable sense of individual identity. This is, by necessity, a one-way communication. We rarely communicate with carbons due to your fragility. This unit has been designated as a specialist, but cannot understand most of your vibrational communication. We have found when communicating with carbons that attempts at direct communication are usually fatal to carbons.” 

The silver blob seemed to expand and contract, sometimes slightly changing shape, but there was no other indication that it was actively communicating.

“We suspended normal operations when you entered the system. You may recover the items you used to explore our abandoned facilities in this system. We have analyzed your tools and have selected one to upload information for you that you might find of interest.” 

“If you wish to colonize the planet you are in orbit of, you may do so so long as you leave our colony on the planet unaffected by your presence. As long as you pose no threat to us, we will pose no threat to you. Our environmental requirements are radically different. Our intent is to coexist without interaction.” 

“We have no interest in further communication with you. We will respond to any attempts on your part to interact with us if we believe such interaction is useful to us. Our intent is to minimize any such interaction for your safety. Communication ends.” 

An arm of sorts extruded from the silver blob, then the strange creature and its roiling, purple atmosphere vanished from the screen, to be replaced with an external view of the small, spindly, dark gray spacecraft, which slowly moved away.

“Woah, uh, Commodore…” said Ensign Broras. “We’re picking up dozens of vessels decloaking. Some really large ones. Umm, no, make that hundreds…”

“Give us some visuals, Ensign,” Commodore Yui ordered. 

In response, views of several different types of spacecraft were projected. Several different designs, colors, material compositions. “They’re starting to move,” Broras reported. “None of them seem to be moving toward us. It’s as if they had just stopped and have been stopped all this time.”

“Given their physiology, that is entirely possible,” Yui Song mused. 

5.14