First contact?

[Seiben 0]

Damn it! Seiben thought as he sat at his helm station. He wasn't sure, but Seiben thinks that the inevitable had occured -- the Republic had been spotted. He didn't even see it at first, but OPS detected a satellite and a small space craft passing by them, whilst en route to some planets. Seiben hoped that the satellite or spacecraft didn't see them, but given the immense size of the Republic, that was about as likely as not seeing a Hummer behind a Volkswagen Beetle. Unfortunately, hiding spaces were minimal in this part of space, so Seiben had little choice. He swiftly hid the Republic behind an asteroid about 2/3 the size of the ship. However, he can see that some of the saucer section and the naccelles are still sticking out. He then moved the ship back abit, to make it look smaller.

 

But the satellite had to have seen the Republic, even though it or the small spacecraft did not double back. The satellite seemed to look quite sophisticated. Seiben prayed that that satellite carried the planet's sports channel, and was not a search satellite. Otherwise, the crew would be in a world of trouble. Seiben recalled the incident on Roswell, New Mexico on Earth in 1947, and subsequent UFO reports afterwards. This incident, despite the fact the US Government dismissing it was weather balloons gone astray, generated paranoia of extra-terrestrial beings conquering Earth, when it was probably just some Vulcans who ran out of gas and crash landed on Earth -- or something like that. Being an Earth history buff, Seiben is well aware of the alien ship, and bodies that may have been held in Area 51, near Groom Lake, Nevada, United States on Earth. Rumours had it, the US Government ran experiments on the aliens and based some of their secret technology on their UFOs. Seiben didn't want to be anyone's experiment, and in the wrong hands, the Republic can be a devestating weapons tipping the balance of world domination. Highly against the Temporal Prime Directive, that would be, as well as Cultural Contamination which the Republic might have already violated.

 

Seiben then transferrs tactical controls to the helm, to keep an eye on the planet. No fleet of ships charging towards them just yet, but this does not make him feel relieved. All Seiben can think about now is being strapped to some table in a lab, with masked people sticking him with probes. Shuddering at the thought, Seiben just wants to get out of here as quick as he can. Seiben curses the Ferengis who caused them to veer off course here. He'd love to grab them by the ears and watch them kick their little legs helplessly. But most likely, the damage from their ship caused a structural failure causing it to implode in on itself.

 

Unsure of what to do now, Seiben ponders the situation. Possible unintentional first contact with an unknown and most likely, primitive race causing panic on the planet's surface, and the worst case scenario encountering ships sent out to hunt and destroy them. Even though judging by that small spacecraft that passed by them, the Republic could probably just as easily blast them all away with just one photon toropedo. That's one of the advantages of being on a Galaxy-Class. For now, Seiben keeps the Republic in the shadows behind the asteroids keeping a sharp vigil for anything artificial heading towards them. Hopefully, nobody saw them and they can be on their merry little way. It's not bloody well likely, but a guy can wish, can't he?

Edited January 13, 2004 by Seiben