H'tiss Happens

[Dumbass 0]

It took a while to figure out how to decode the H'tiss subspace message we intercepted. The data file looked rather strange, not audio or video but something else. It looked, almost, like a hologram signal. During my debriefing in the Alpha quadrant about a year ago I remember hearing that Starfleet and USS Voyager had learned how to communicate in such a manner, but after Voyager's return the project was never developed after that. After all, how many times do Federation ships get stranded so far from home? Still, the method seemed as likely to provide a clue as any, so I downloaded the signal to Holodeck 3 and ran the program when time and resources allowed.

 

Once I was able to tinker with the holodeck protocols a bit I did succeed in pulling up a ghostly image - ghostly meaning you could see through the staticky image as well as the figure that was presented. The holomatrix presented an ancient-looking humanoid figure dressed in a dark hooded robe. A person of some importance by his demeanor. Clearly the signal was not intended to work with a hybrid of Federation and Klingon technology. Then again the message was not intended for us. After succeeding in displaying the image I called HoD Messner down to hear the message..

 

The universal translator did a decent job of decoding the message, given what we had to work with, but there were still key gaps left out. We heard something about a change in protocols, which could mean anything, but what we heard after that was truly disturbing. The message referenced a ship and crew of alien origin (from their point of view), captures and rescues, and our location. Unless there is another alien ship around it could only be us.

 

This was the latter part of the message, intercepted after we began jamming their signal, so there is no telling what part got through or even if our jam was successful. However, it is a good bet the H'tiss know someone is here. I've got a bad feeling about this.