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File #5

"Sensors confirm, it's definitely a Federation signal..."

The Warrior silently slipped into orbit of the third planet of the Eranus system, the blue clouds of frozen methane swirling beneath them, similar to Neptune within the Sol system and just as awe inspiring.

"Can you confirm if its authentic?" asked Commander Tempest, prudent as always. He never trusted anything that looked too good to be true and this certainly qualified.

A lost Starfleet ship? On the edge of Romulan space?

He remembered the old human expression, one he had learnt from his travels long before the Federation had even existed.

"Fool me once... shame on you..."

"Confirmed..." replied Nova, looking over the communication logs, his beak twitching slightly from the sense of trepidation of being this close to the border. "I've run the code through an alphanumeric sequencer, there is no way that this could be faked..."

"Still..." replied Tempest, turning to his commanding officer. "I wouldn't put it past the Romulans."

His relationship with Captain Alexander Greyfell had always been a positive one, better than the relationship he had with Greyfell's predecessor. Alexander was more willing to listen to him and they had developed a friendship which had only grown deeper and more expressive over time, both men trusted each other but were also aware of each other's faults, which only served to make them a better collaboration.

"I agree Shon..." replied Greyfell, noting the concern in the green eyes of his officer. Greyfell had always felt that Starfleet principles got in the way of forming a proper bond with his crew. At the academy, he was reminded to keep a professional detachment from his crew however this had been something he was almost incapable of when he had been promoted.

Although Starfleet Academy had preached those rules. He had looked through the examples of the greatest ships and commanding officers in Starfleet and found that the reality was very different. Over time, it was only natural that he would develop a feeling of family with his officers.

It was something that Commander Tempest had told him, Captain Frostmane had never done. He had been less willing to trust others then Greyfell was and that had led to his downfall.

Greyfell was determined that would not happen to him. He would not die the same way that Frostmane did, on the bridge of this ship.

Alone...

"Yusa..." called Greyfell, causing the young officer to raise his head. To be honest, Greyfell was unsure how old Yusa was. He had never encountered his species before, Yusa had joined the U.S.S. Republic under Captain Frostmane when the Republic had visited his world years ago. He had no formal academy training but had proven himself multiple times, prompting Captain Frostmane to assign him with a provisional rank and position which had transferred to the Warrior when Greyfell had assumed command of remnants of the Victorious's crew.

Yusa had told him once, that his species was thousands of years old. Although Greyfell could never tell if he was being sincere or not considering Yusa never spoke about his heritage or his people.

"What do we know about the Atlantis?" Greyfell asked, running his hands through once brilliant green, now slightly dulling and greying mane.

"Atlantis..." he responded, reading off the console in front of him. The full marvel of Federation engineering on full display as the computer could retrieve almost any piece of information from the database, no matter how obscure.

"NX-05, the fifth NX Class starship to be developed by Starfleet and launched in February, 2156. Commanded by Captain Richard Weiss. The Atlantis was deployed extensively during the Earth-Romulan War." he summerised the vast information contained within the computer. "Atlantis was believed to have been destroyed on June 20th, 2156, over Tau Ceti IV during a Romulan invasion of that sector, although no wreckage was ever found. Some of the crew managed to escape but fifteen crew members, including Captain Weiss were unaccounted for..."

"Tau Ceti?" replied Counselor Mewsin, sitting at the left side of Captain Greyfell. "That is a long way from here..."

Commander Tempest pondered this mystery somewhat before speaking. "Clearly... something has displaced the vessel..."

"Can you locate the Atlantis on sensors?" asked Captain Greyfell, eager to keep the speculation to a minimum until they discovered what they were dealing with.

"Negative..." replied Yusa, looking over the latest information from the sensors. "I can however triangulate the signal to within five thousands kilometers though..."

"Better than nothing..." remarked Captain Greyfell, looking to the viewscreen. "Put it on screen..."

A swirling mass of blue cloud filled the viewscreen as the entire bridge crew strained to see what exactly was immersed within it. Was it possible that the Atlantis was buried down deep within it? How could the ship survive more than two hundred years without being crushed?

It seemed almost impossible.

"The signal is coming from down there?" exclaimed Muraco, who had been listening to the conversation intently while directing the limited repair teams. He had not had time to complete the repairs to the Warrior following their last mission before the ship had been called out on this new assignment and had been kept very busy, trying to make sure the ship operated at some kind of efficiency level.

"Apparently..." replied Tempest. "Captain... perhaps a probe could make..."

"Captain!" interrupted Strato, who had remained silent since the exchange had started. "I'm picking up a localised subspace distortion!"

Both Captain Greyfell and Commander Tempest shot to their feet. "On screen..." commanded Tempest but he already knew what was coming. Putting your hand in the candy jar always came with the consequences of that.

The bridge was silent as a familiar green mass rippled into view, a vast avian design which although known to the Federation still inspired awe and dread today. Greyfell knew what was coming, he had accepted the risks of this mission and was now faced with an enemy that had almost defeated the great Captain Jean-Luc Picard on many occasions...

And he was no Picard...

His ship, was now standing toe-to-toe with a Romulan D'Deridex Warbird and they had violated the Neutral Zone again...

The Romulans had every opportunity to interpret this act as an act of war on behalf of the Federation. They had every right to attack and destroy the Warrior.

"Shit..."

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