A Sense of Wariness

[Cmdr Ba'alyo 0]

Ba'alyo lowered himself slowly into the center chair on the bridge. Maybe it was the memory of the plasma plague on Obi VI, but bringing an ailing member of another species made him wary. Unconsciously, he glanced toward the tactical console formerly occupied by Doug. He knew the medical protocols were thorough, but he still felt unease with an unknown situation he couldn't control.

 

He glanced around at the bridge crew - humans had been doing this kind of exploration for at least a century longer than the Efrosians. He looked at Savros, still hunched over the sensor scope. Vulcans had been exploring for at least a century longer than that. The starship Intrepid, crewed entirely by Vulcans, had made First Contact with his homeworld thirty years ago. Before then, Efros Delta had only limited contact with other species. It had begun a new era, ushering them into the galactic community.

 

He looked at the alien ship onscreen, listing gently from its slow atmospheric and plasma leaks. It seemed to carry only a rudimentary warp drive - it could even be their first experiment with a prototype. Was this a First Contact situation for that race? Would the name Challenger be taught to their future students the way Intrepid and its officers were known to him?

 

Or would they be associated with memories of a failed dream and tragic disaster?

 

There were forty life forms - no, thirty-nine, one had winked out, he recalled - over there in varying forms or unconsciousness or distress, according to the boarding party. What had caused it?

 

Reed was training her navigation sensors, looking for some indication of the arrival trajectory of the alien ship. She had ruled out a traditional warp trail, suggesting that a wormhole had been involved. She was combing through the astronomical database for indications of such phenomena. Personally, he didn't sense any imbalance in the surrounding subspace, but there was no telling if his species' sensitivities would even detect such a thing.

 

Savros turned. "Nitara, take over the scope." The Vulcan turned in his chair to face the center. "Commander, if you don't mind, I'd like to go off duty," he requested. "I seem to be experiencing some eye strain or... headache."

 

Ba'alyo frowned slightly. He knew the science officer had been through a fairly trying period of change, but he wasn't eager to lose him in the middle of this mystery. "Of course, Lieutenant," he answered anyway, knowing this was no time to push. "Head to sickbay, if you feel the need."

 

Savros stood, shaking his head. "Doctor Juno and his staff will be dealing with their new patients," he noted, "but perhaps I will rest first, then chose a less active time."

 

"As you see fit," the XO replied. He watched the Vulcan go, noting Nitara assuming the console. Poldara was over there, on the derelict, with the captain and his team.

 

Absently, he stroked the white whiskers of his beard, staring at the alien ship and the shuttle attached to it. He hoped the captain could learn something that would dismiss the sense of wariness building inside him.