SFV-1701 Enterprise
Raudona Saulé System
"Captain Kirk of the Enterprise, I am Commander Konzak of the SCSNS Tolimas Sūvis heavy cruiser. According to Foreign Contact Protocols, I am to escort you to a holding position to the nearest military installation and await the arrival of a Queen and her escorting fleet. Central Command has already been notified of your presence. Follow the heavy cruiser- the largest ship- and we will escort you to the given coordinates."Kirk listened to the aliens' response. It was a crab-like creature like something straight out of a Saturday morning kids' show. It was a strange experience but compared to the creatures communicating to them in English it was as normal as things could get. Aside from the insectoid appearance their behavior was, how to say... human? If he wouldn't have an overwhelming evidence against it Kirk would think he was just caught in a very expensive prank and Commander Konzak is merely a cheesy actor in a costume. Yet the situation was far from bright. They just accidentally broke into the borders of a foreign civilization and the Storm Carapaces are not so willing to let them go. They received coordinates leading to a distant dwarf planet within the system, far from any population centers. For the time being Kirk chose to follow their directions. They just made first contact with an alien race. It's better if they leave on a positive note. Besides if things get hot the Enterprise has all means to escape. So long this situation stands they have no reason to not humor them for the time being.
That was when the Enterprise's sensors went wild. They spotted a warp reaction speeding towards them. Warp drives were an early research for interstellar travel. While Mankind had limited success it eventually proved to have too many drawbacks to be practical. If weren't for the Enterprise's unique mission their sensors probably would never spot this. Finding a vessel using warp technology was strange, realizing it'd be soon on collision course with them was a nightmare.
"EMERGENCY MICRO FOLD EVASION, NOW!"Declared Kirk in a hurry. The energy levels of the Enterprise momentarily spiked to maximum, equaling that of a battleship. Following that the Fold Boosters that were subtly on standby had fired up, displacing the Enterprise by 3000km within less than a microsecond. Warp travel was inaccurate and unpredictable. As such they didn't take any chances. A few moments later the gigantic silhouette of the unknown warship had arrived, barely missing them.
"Status report.""Evasion successful, the unknown performed avoidance maneuvers in the last minute.""Good. Sensory crew, report on the new unknown.""Appears to be a gigantic warship utilizing plasma and warp technology. Preliminary scan determined it to be unrelated to the Storm Carapace designs."Reminder to Kirk that he must give a better name for this race before he gets a serious case of cliche-poisoning. Anyways, the new ship indeed looked different from the rest which coupled with the fact she's targeting the Storm Carapace gave a good idea for Kirk that they are unlikely to be in league with each other. Curiously enough the Enterprise was not among the ship's targets which combined with the fact their shields were already at maximum meant Kirk tried to avoid escalation and rather not announce battlestations. Not much latter the Enterprise received radio communications, apparently from the new vessel.
"This is Admiral Ginchiyo, currently in command of the battleship Tachibana. I humbly apologize for our intrusion into this area of space, we meant no disrespect. We are on an exploration mission in search of suitable colonization targets, and dropped out of warp here in order to refuel our reactors. We want nothing but peace with your peoples, and will not fire unless fired upon. Again, we apologize for the intrusion."Okay, this one didn't need much translation either. While broadcasting this message in multiple language Kirk picked up one strangely familiar among them.
"Dai-Nihongo?"Kirk was genuinely surprised. Thanks to his recent ex being from the Hoshi system he's quite acquainted with the languages of the so-called "East". Thus he swiftly picked up the Hoshi language, in particular an ancient dialect belonging to the once existing Japan. In the current times this language is only spoken by history nerds and those obsessed with old relics like the Japanese laser swords, rumored to have their containment fields folded a thousand times. It wasn't just one of the languages, though. Even the name of the Captain was in Dai-Nihongo. What was going on?
"Captain Kirk of the Enterprise, if you do not fire on the foreign vessel, then you will put distance between you and it and will not make contact. Repeat- you will not make contact with the vessel."That being said they already had their hands full and just now they received explicit directions to not communicate with the Tachibana. Not like Kirk would seriously care but that's one more reason to put this on hold. It's better to wait things out for now.
"Captain, I am detecting huge spatio-temporal distortions. This is...impossible!""What's going on, officer?""Hard to say for sure. I detect intra-universal particles slamming into normalspace. It seems something is...emerging!""Emergi-... ?"Kirk was cut off when suddenly a bright flash engulfed the viewing screen. Thanks to the sophisticated systems this is normally impossible yet the stream of exotic particles made countermeasures slow to act.
"EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"Shouted Kirk in order to avoid colliding with whatever was about to occupy the space near them. The impulse drives suddenly inverted, kicking the ship into reverse. Due to the exotic phenomena involved they were essentially flying blind. In the end they managed to put a good 300 kilometers between them and the unknown. The spatio-temporal reaction ceased and the Enterprise's sensors were working again. What they found was a huge derelict ship missing a considerable portion of its body while broadcasting a distress signal.
"Everyone is to stand down immediately or you will be declared enemies of the Storm Carapace System and then subject to systematic search and destruction of yourselves and your people. You will not have active sensors deployed and you will not have weapons at the ready, or you will be considered hostile and the weapon readiness as an act of war, so you will stand down immediately. Proper diplomats and authoritarian figures will be here shortly."Meanwhile the local commander was at his wits end. All these improbable surprise appearances obviously didn't do nice things to Konzak's nerves (theorizing he has them). Doing anything rash might be a recipe for the disaster. On the other hand...
On the other hand Kirk's science crew had notified him the amazing nature of what just happened. Mankind had proven the many-worlds interpretation for long centuries now. On the other hand aside from small scale experiments with mixed result they have made little to no progress. Sure, many of their technologies are partially based on the existence of parallel worlds and the minuscule interaction with them. But anything beyond that? None. As such observing an entire ship emerging from an alternate reality obviously put the scientists aboard the Enterprise in high spirits. It's unclear what happened but obviously it was something they must examine in detail. With just a tiny bit of luck they might discover the secret to a breakthrough in Federation's project for dimensional interaction. It would benefit Mankind a great deal but even more importantly would make the crew eternally rich for their discovery. Considering this the Enterprise's next course of action was obvious.
Kirk had no intention to anger Konzak or the Storm Carapaces. In this sense the extreme proximity of the derelict ship was extremely lucky. They quickly established a spatial corridor, a narrow isolated channel not allowing anything to pass from within it. Following that they used their Shortcasters to transport a small science group along with a herd of drones aboard the derelict. They had their personal shields modulated to block their signals thus effectively cover them from the neighboring ships scanning them. Their mission was simple, they must explore the derelict ship and search for ways of uncovering the secret behind this mysterious phenomenon. Meanwhile the Enterprise stood down and followed the Storm Carapaces' directions. Kirk's main job would be to establish positive relations with the aliens. Anything else is secondary.
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