USS Khitomer Encounters a Not-So-Abandoned Starship

[StarBase 118 Staff]

ALPHA ISLES — While exploring a vast, peculiarly empty expanse of the Alpha Isles, the USS Khitomer encountered the USS Eridani, thought to have been lost in the early 23rd Century.

When the crew of the Khitomer set out to explore a vast stretch of curiously empty space, they could not have known that they would be coming face to face with a roughly century-old mystery. Starfleet’s registry of starships was littered with records of starships that simply vanished with entire crews, and especially in times of war it is expected among Starfleet personnel that they are more likely to join the missing than to find them.

That is why, when the Khitomer discovered the Eridani adrift in the empty expanse, it was met with signs of hope from the crew. Said Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart, Khitomer’s XO, before leading a boarding party to the Eridani, “These people have been gone a long time, and their families deserve answers.”

But shortly after the boarding party reached the Constellation-class starship’s Engineering compartment, the Eridani began to behave as if it wasn’t so abandoned, after all. In rapid succession, it began to spin in place, and then led the Khitomer on a chase at high impulse, subjecting the boarding party to extreme forces in the absence of operational inertial dampeners. Before Khitomer could retrieve its away team, however, the Eridani raised shields, jammed communications, and opened fire.

Confronted by a ship believed to be unmanned, with no foreign signals in or out, Khitomer’s officers settled on a theory: what if the ship was alive? Or, rather, being manipulated by some intangible creature? The straightforward rescue operation became quickly contemplated by concerns for Federation principles.

“There was a creature, a crystalline entity, that had destroyed all life forms on a number of ships and Federation colonies,” recalled Ensign Lera Michaels, Khitomer’s Engineering Officer. “It was killed despite demonstrating sentience and a willingness to communicate.”

Thus began a series of efforts to appease and persuade the “Eridani” to cease hostilities, as the Khitomer backed off, communicated with sequences of flashing lights, and ultimately an ingenious effort to provide the creature with a remote power supply from Khitomer directly into Eridani’s power grid. Upon this final effort, the young Betazoid Ensign Amelia Semara was able to make a telepathic connection with the “Eridani.”

“It wants to play!” the Science Officer exclaimed.

Written by: Nolen Hobart

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