Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 7: The Roundabout
Scene 1: Signal Traffic
7.1
Signal Traffic
“Signal traffic indicates a large space station used by at least five separate species, at least three of whom are indigenous to the star system that is home to the station.”
Cultural Systems Team Leader China Lane had taken over analysis of potential first contact situations following the death of Dr. Arthur Rush. Lane did not have the front line experience or the history of negotiating treaties with recently contacted species that Dr. Rush had. But she was considerably older and had written a number of textbooks on the subject, making her easily the person with the most expertise. She had never held a position with the United Federation of Planets until being asked to serve with the U.S.S. Beagle’s faculty.
“It’s not so much a federation, more of a series of trading agreements that benefits all of these groups,” Lane continued. “Two of the three indigenous species are very closely related, having speciated within the past million years. At least that is what the genetic evidence tells us.”
“I’m not even going to ask how we obtained samples of their genetics from a probe located 2 light years outside their home star system,” Commodore Yui Song intoned. “So what is the level of their technology?”
The Beagle Task Force was in orbit of a gas giant in a star system about 70 light years distant from the system they were studying. The leadership of the task force, including Captain Rhonda Carter and Commodore Yui Song, were gathered in the Beagle’s executive conference room. The minuscule ferengi businessman, Trader Pel, was also present.
“From our probe readings, it seems that their best warp engines can manage Warp 2.5 in stable flight and can go up to 3.5 at flank speed,” opined the masked luchadore, the U.S.S. Beagle’s first officer and chief engineer, Commander Dutch Holland. “The majority of vessels have an effective upper limit of Warp 2.5. The remainder of their technology seems to be a comparable level. Oddly, they seem to have remained at this level of technology for well over a hundred years.”
“I was captivated by some of their mass media,” said Sakura Nakamura Holland, the U.S.S. Beagle’s Dean of Ship. “They appear to have a fascination with one-on-one unarmed combat. And they don’t seem too concerned with how badly they get hurt. People don’t die in the ring often, but they do get horribly mangled. I’m not sure how effective their medical system is…”
Dr. Uto had taken to carrying a large thermos of sog and sipping it through a small opening, which at least slightly blunted the impact of the horrible smell of this drink and allowed him to have it with him at all times. Following the incident with the QLock, Dr. Uto found he missed the relative mental silence of the Betazoid Royal School of Medicine - which had been bizarrely represented in his memories of the events that had not actually happened.
He was reminded of all of these conundrums with every sip of sog… “None of these species exhibit any familiarity with telepathy. I can hear their minds from here like a distant roar of the ocean and the cry of ocean birds.” Uto sighed heavily. “Millions of these people die from conditions we long ago learned how to address… disease… accident…”
“You need to tread very carefully as you make contact with these people,” said Trader Pel. “The knowledge in the head of any single person in this room, in this entire task force, any single one of us is a potential economic tsunami to these people. Any one of us could cause their entire economy to collapse. When you set foot on that station, the premature deaths of millions of these people, possibly hundreds of millions, steps onto that station with you.”
"I should go first," Pel concluded.
7.1