Captain’s log March 17th 005 SDE,

We passed the Krall Valorian border three days ago. So far we haven’t seen much activity, but we are on the far side of the Velosa Cluster and no where near the Valorian core worlds. Still long range sensors have been tracking a small Valorian fleet for the past two days. We haven’t been able to identify the classes since they are on the extreme edge of our range. They appear to have about two thousand ships in loose formation. Most likely a border patrol fleet. We could probably get more data on the fleet if we were willing to risk using active scanners. Unfortunately that would also reveal our position, something that I would rather not do.

Countryman had just finished his log, and was entering the bridge when he received a report from Greyman who was watching the bridge.

“Sir, the fleet we have been tracking has changed course,” reported Greyman.

“Have they spotted us?” asked Countryman more worried about the attention a battle would bring than the ships themselves.

“No, a second fleet appeared on scanners just a few minutes after we registered the course change. Readings indicate a mid size fleet emerged from hyperspace in a star system roughly twelve lightyears from our present position. According to our star charts the system is of no value. No habitable planets, no military bases, no civilian mining operations, no science stations, nothing of value in the system. It does have a decent number mineral deposits, but nothing exotic,” replied Greyman.

“That does sound interesting! I highly doubt the Valorians would be moving to intercept that fleet unless there was something of value in the system. Perhaps a black site?,” speculated Countryman before giving new orders.

“Alter course to investigate that system, Warp four point three,” ordered Countryman. At Warp four point three it would take the ship nearly twelve days to reach the system. By then the battle would likely be over, and the Enterprise can easily evade the sensors of most ships as long as they weren’t being actively scanned for. He doubted the Valorians would be actively scanning for his ship, and if they won he could easily dispatch a Valorian fleet of that size. Of course if he did attack that fleet, it would put the entire sector on alert. Which is one of the reasons he would like to see the Valorian fleet lose.

An hour later Countryman was standing next to the tactical display, watching the battle unfold as recorded by the long range sensors. Since the battle had started they were risking active scanning to get a better view of the battle. Which meant they weren’t just reading the active emissions of the ships in range of the sensors, but sending active pulses to identify objects in scanning range. He had the sensors sending low intensity pulses to minimize the risk of detection.

Both fleets were of roughly equal size, the Valorians had two thousand and fifty seven ships, while their opponent had more at two thousand one hundred and sixty nine. Which meant the battle would depend heavily on the technology and tactics of the two sides. As soon as the Valorians came out of warp, they split into three distinct groups. One large group and two smaller groups. The large group moved to attack the intruders in a frontal attack, while the smaller groups attempted to flanks the other fleet.

Two small groups broke off from the other fleet and intercepted the flanker groups. While a third small group of ships snuck off from the fleet. It didn’t take long for the battle to start going full swing. Countryman spent the next hour watching the blips on the screen. Every few minutes a dozen or so blips would vanish, with neither group seeming to have the advantage. However that was only how it appeared, as the unidentified fleet was slowly drawing the Valorians in. Suddenly the commander sprung their trap, and the ships they had placed in reserve suddenly appeared on the Valorian flank firing full force. At the same moment the other groups intensified their attacks and focused on command ships. While hidden satellites, that had been placed before hand opened fire. The Valorian fleet quickly broke into confusion, suddenly losing ships at nearly forty a minute. The confusion didn’t last long though, and the Valorian commander managed to reorganize the fleet and retreated.

“Well that was a little disappointing,” said Countryman as he switched off the console. At the same time the sensors were switched back to passive mode.

“Pathetic is more like it. I swear we were chased by more competent commanders than that one. They lost to one of the oldest ploys in the book. A first year cadet would have done better,” said Greyman.

“Well there is nothing really important in this sector, which might be why they got assigned to this backwater sector,” replied Countryman.

“Well there must be something important, in the system ahead or they wouldn’t have fought over it,” said Greyman.

“Yes, there must be. Keep in mind it isn’t in the public record either. Which means the Valorians couldn’t place too many ships or high value personnel in this sector. Not without drawing undue attention to this sector,” replied Countryman.

“I know that, but if it was important they should have placed a more competent captain in charge of the fleet,” said Greyman.

“Well no point arguing about it, now. We will find out what is so important about this system in a few days,” said Countryman.

A few days later the Enterprise came out of warp in the system. Her arrival went entirely unnoticed by the ships still in the system. Most of the alien fleet had left the system after the battle. Chasing after the Valorian commander to the local fleet base, which was little more than a light armed outpost and supply depot. Now it was and expanding cloud of dust, and the remains of the Valorian fleet were retreating to a neighboring sector. That battle had been a little more interesting to watch, but not by much. Between the two battles the Valorian commander had lost half their fleet and only sinking about one ship for every three ships they had lost.

There were only about two hundred alien ships in the system, including a dreadnought. The ship was far larger than any the Enterprise had previously encountered and bigger than some ships in an old science fiction that was later ruined by a company of fools. The dreadnought measured an impressive twenty one kilometers in length and was bristling with heavy weaponry. Her hull was heavily plated, and the ship was clearly designed to favor broadsides. Her armament was mounted in massive turrets and emplacements positioned to maximize her broadsides. Unlike human designs which favored placing hangars on either the top or the sides, the alien dreadnought had hers facing aft located between the primary thruster ports. The ship had massive thrusters the size of small starships, from experience Countryman knew that alien ship designers had their own tricks to protect against the vulnerability the engines created. Without an active scan he couldn’t determine what tricks were used here. The most common trick was to use secondary shield generators to provide extra shielding for vulnerable sections of the ship.

Given the size of some of the guns and how thick the armor seemed to be it was a menacing looking ship to say the least. One Countryman would prefer not to fight if possible. Based on the appearance of the ship, he guessed it to be a ship from the Toral Confederacy. He didn’t know much about them beyond what he had learned from the Krall, the Valorians and his brief encounter with one of their ships over a year and a half ago. Toral capital ships were among the best in the quadrant, according to every source he had listened to, only Krall capital ships were superior. Which wasn’t all that surprising given that the Krall are the most advanced race in the quadrant their ships being two to three generations ahead of their rivals in technology. What he did know of them was that they were a friendly enough people. Their last contact had been friendly enough, but that had been with a small trade convoy passing through the Lantaro sector.

The convoy had chosen to risk going through the Lantaro sector to avoid the tariffs and transit taxes of passing through Valorian space. They figured they wouldn’t have to much trouble since they had a decent escort that included twelve light cruisers. A force that most pirates wouldn’t risk engaging. The Enterprise had encountered them after they ran afoul of one of the better equipped pirate clans in the area. One that had little reason to fear risking going after larger prey like the Toral convoy. The Enterprise had been surveying a nearby system, when she had received their distress call. Needless to say the Enterprise had responded and made some new friends in the process. Although they hadn’t really kept in contact with the Toral.

“Looks like we found a Toral fleet,” said Greyman.

“Of the possible encounters, I think we got lucky. We already know the Toral and our relations with them are the best out of the three races at war with the Valorians. We should hail the flagship and see if we can’t learn what they find so interesting about this system,” said Countryman. Before Greyman could even make a response the tactical alert went off, alarm klaxons blaring as the alert lights went from blue to red. Countryman immediately barked for a report.

“A Toral destroyer opened fire on us. No effect on our hull plating,” reported Misaki.

“I have a weapons lock on the destroyer, bearing two seven nine mark six eight, distance thirty four thousand kilometers. Shall I return fire?” reported Kaori.

“Not just yet, hail the ship and ask them to patch us through to the flagship,” said Countryman.

The Toral captain watched as the violet bolts from his ships particle cannons impacted on the alien hull. The energy splashing harmlessly against the heavily armored hull. His tactical officer reported from her station almost instantly.

“Multiple direct hits, no effect,” said the tactical officer.

“Sir, we are picking up a spike in the ship's energy signature. We are being targeted!,” reported another officer from their station.

“Full power to shields! Evasive maneuvers pattern Hurval Nine,” ordered the captain.

“Sir, we are being hailed by the alien ship. They want us to establish a line between them and the flagship,” said his operations officer. The captain felt his muscle relax as most of the tension of the moment left him. He had not wanted to fight an unidentified alien capital ship.

“Put them through,” said the captain feeling like he just got a lucky break.

Countryman had to wait a couple of minutes for the Toral destroyer to patch him through to the flagship after they had stopped firing on his ship. Then the ugly image of the Toral appeared on his screen. The Toral were a rather hairy humanoid creature with four arms, and thick tusks on their face. Their facial features were rather rough, with a rather bony appearance. He also found the orange and green fur of theirs rather odd to look at.

“I’m captain Countryman of the Sol Refuge ship EFS Enterprise, who do I have the honor of speaking with?” said Countryman.

“I’m Vokal captain of the Kal’mek and commander of this task force. I apologize for my destroyer captains actions. May I ask why you are here? I didn’t expect to encounter your rather famous ship here in this system,” said Vokal.

“We were curious as to why you and the Valorians were fighting over this supposedly useless system,” said Countryman.

“For the most part it is useless. The third moon of the second planet however contains a classified research outpost. Quite a disappointing outpost as well, turns out they were developing a new generation plasma cannon. We found some notes indicating they were working with several other outposts in parallel, though. Honestly I’m more interested in the planet it is orbiting than their research,” said Vokal.

“New generation weapons sounds like quite the find. Why is the planet more interesting than the research?” asked Countryman.

“They were developing a forced pulse plasma cannon, that seems to have some basis in Cathamari design. Looks to be in the final prototype phases in fact, but honestly we have better guns than that cannon. Although it does have an odd modulation to it, that my engineers can’t figure out why they added it. It actually weakens the cannons effectiveness against shields,” said Vokal.

“Let me guess, it enhances the punch against armor, correct?” said Countryman.

“Yes, it does. However plasma weapons can melt through armor and hull having little need for armor penetration,” said Vokal.

“Against most armors, yes. Our armor and some types of Cathamari armor can withstand repeated bombardment from those pulse cannons the Valorians use. I’m guessing that cannon is their latest solution. Their last was a high yield plasma torpedo, quite the pain to deal with as well,” said Countryman remembering the torpedoes that were largely responsible for the damage the Coto and Umikaze had sustained before he sacrificed them at New Valoria.

“I have heard of your engagements with the Valorians. I believe they engaged you in multiple skirmishes over the last two years. I think you sunk or disabled a few thousand of their ships, at least until your skirmish with their third fleet. In which you almost sunk the entire fleet,” said Vokal.

“Actually I barely put a dent in the fleet. Managed to sink a fair chunk, but the plasma storm is what sunk the rest,” said Countryman.

“Maybe, but using the weather as a weapon is the mark of a great warrior. Don’t hide such an impressive achievement behind humility. Anyway, to navigate the Velosa cluster as effectively as you did you must have a good set of sensors. Would you mind helping me investigate this planet? I will make it worth your time, I’ll give you the Valorian weapon data, and two thousand Ephon crystals, for the data you collect,” said Vokal.

“Ephon crystals? Those are pretty valuable, this planet must be very interesting if you want to trade them for sensor data on the planet,” said Countryman.

“The planet is a Class IX world, but shows signs of once being a Class IIB world. Our scans have revealed planet wide ruins and dead vegetation. The planet still has a Class II atmosphere, but we have found no evidence of life anywhere on the planet. Not even microbes, the odd part is most dead worlds have an obvious reason for a lack of life. Yet all our scans indicate this planet should still have life. The outpost didn’t have any data on why this planet is like this, only a general warning to the scientists that the planet is off limits. With no mention as to why,” said Vokal.

“We don’t use your class system, but I think I got the gist of what you were telling me. That does sound interesting, did you scan the planet for signs of a pandemic level disease?” asked Countryman.

“No our sensors, are barely sensitive enough to pick up the life signatures of microbes, they can’t tell the difference between a harmless strain, and a deadly one. The only reason they are even sensitive enough to pick up microbes is you need that kind of sensitivity to locate ships at long range, or stealthed ships like yours,” said Vokal.

“Fortunately we do have sensors with the abilities needed to differentiate between microbes. I’ll rendezvous with you in an hour, as I find this planet interesting as well,” said Countryman.

“I look forward to meeting you in person, captain,” said Vokal as he closed the channel. Countryman than ordered a course for the planet. A couple minutes after the Enterprise changed course the destroyer that fired on her earlier took up an escort position. The flight to the second planet was nice and leisurely. An hour later the Enterprise took up orbit near the large dreadnought she had spotted earlier. That dreadnought was the flagship of this task force, and was even more impressive up close. Countryman wouldn’t have been surprised if those massive guns mounted on the hull could penetrate his ship’s armor. Which is why he was glad the Toral were friendly.

After taking up orbit near the flagship, he began a high intensity scan of the planet. It became painfully obvious how dead the planet was very quickly. Whatever had killed the planet, must have killed all life on the planet rather quickly as the readings indicated that there was not much deterioration of the organic material down there. It had even killed most of the microbes on the planet, his sensors did pick up a few strains of microbes down there, and they were responsible for what deterioration they did see.

The dead civilization on the surface appears to have been in the early atomic age (comparable to Earth around WWII) but there was no evidence of a nuclear war. The planets atmosphere and magnetic field were fully intact, so solar radiation had no play in this. Just like the Toral had said. This didn’t seem to be the result of an ordinary pandemic either. The scans indicated that something had turned the soil toxic, and there were massive levels of these toxins in the dead plants. These same toxins were also in the air and comprised near fourteen percent of the atmosphere. Ruri and his other scientist were baffled trying to figure out how an entire planet could be poisoned in this manner.

Of course after a few hours of continuous scanning it became obvious that they weren’t going to find the answers for that from up here. The ruins were also quite interesting. The aliens who built them were a race of avians, with an unusual fascination with building stone walls. Their fields and cities were surrounded by walls. Their cities were massive spires that reached well into the sky and surrounded by elaborate stone walls and towers that were capped with bronze spikes. The fields were all surrounded by smaller and less elaborate walls, also capped with bronze spikes. Along with metal capped wood spikes placed at the base of these walls. Given the fact that they were a race of avians, he doubted such walls were meant to protect against the armies of rival nations and more likely against some kind of predator. One vicious and deadly enough to warrant the expense of walling of their farms and cities. In fact the predator theory was the only one they came up with that made sense. Although it did raise a few questions about the predators that once roamed this world.

Since it was unlikely that they would find any real answers up here, Countryman had a survey team sent to the planet. The shuttle he sent them down in, had been loaded with contamination suits to protect the survey team from the toxic atmosphere. While it was also rigged for decontamination protocols and had a basic lab on board. The Enterprise only had four science shuttles on board, but they weren’t all that different from a cargoshuttle. In fact they were basically the same ship, but they cargo area had been replaced with a basic lab and a few extra systems had been installed. Making it the best choice for finding out was going on down there. The Enterprise hadn’t originally launched with any science shuttles, but she had the blueprints for them. During their time in the Lantaro sector, the need for a shuttle with a basic lab became apparent so he had four science shuttles commissioned for use in planetary surveys. Standard survey protocols required that they operate on full decon protocols until a planet had been proven harmless. Especially since there was no telling what kind of diseases they might find down there. Sure modern medicine had cured most of man's afflictions, such as the common cold and cancer, but it often took time to identify the cause of an ailment and even longer to cure it.

It took the science team nearly a week to isolate the cause of the planets lack of life. The cause turned out to be quite interesting, which led to Countryman inviting Vokal to the Enterprise to discuss the planet. After the shuttle was brought aboard and subjected to laser sweeps before and after landing. The crew put through an extensive decontamination procedure.

Countryman sat down at the head of the conference table and waited a few minutes for Vokal to be led to the room. Vokal came in alongside two of his officers.

“I must say you have a nice ship here. The only thing I have to complain about is the wait while your bay pressurized. If you had a containment shield, you could conduct operations more quickly without having to wait for pressurization,” said Vokal.

“It would be easier yes, right now open bay operations require the crews to wear space suits. Anyway we found the cause. It was a microbe, someone deliberately killed all life on that planet. The microbe is pretty harmless to people and animals, but plants is another story. The microbe was designed to attack plants at the cellular level, creating that toxin we found as a byproduct in massive quantities. Our analysis has revealed two strains of the microbe, the more common strain appears to have been the original, while the second strain is responsible for the toxins in the atmosphere,” said Countryman.

“What do you mean deliberate? Are you saying someone engineered it?” said Vokal.

“While our knowledge of genetic engineering is admittedly limited, the microbe is clearly of artificial design. The gene structure shows signs of extensive artificial modification to the point we can’t even identify the original microbe used as the base. Regardless, the microbe should be considered highly dangerous and this planet needs to be quarantined indefinitely. Unless you want to bombard the crust into molten slag, but it would be far cheaper to just block off the planet with some mines and automated defense satellites,” said Countryman.

“We did recently manage to crack some of the encrypted files at the research outpost. It seems the defense personnel had orders to shoot any ship that attempted to land on the planet. It looks like this outpost was not just a research base, but part of their quarantine. Although who poisoned this planet would be the next question. The Valorians don’t have the knowledge to engineer a bioweapon like this, and even if they did it violates not only their laws, but the Elder’s covenant as well,” said Vokal.

“Yes, that would be nice to know as well. Genocide is something we do not condone, but I’m afraid you’re on your own for finding them. We don’t have the resources to waste on a search for the creators of this bioweapon,” replied Countryman.

“I expected you to say that, we can’t stay here indefinitely so we will leave some defense sats to keep idiots from landing on the planet,” said Vokal.

“No mines?” asked Countryman.

“Why would we have mines? They’re rather situational in their usefulness in space. Not very many choke points in space afterall,” asked Vokal.

“Well we do carry mines, they do have their uses afterall. Not enough to mine an entire star system mind you, but more than enough to mine the entire orbit of a planet,” said Countryman.

“That’s good, because I don’t want to risk something happening that lets such a deadly microbe lose on the galaxy,” said Vokal.

“Sure we will, help. We are going to be in the area for a while as we cross to a sector that we have heard is promising, for a colony. Don’t want that bioweapon potentially spreading to our new home when we find it,” said Countryman.

“Thank you for your help, then. I’ll have the crystals and data I promised plus a little extra transfered over to you. If you are going deeper into the sector, do keep an eye out for other ships. We have a few other battlegroups and a couple large fleets in this sector and its neighbors. The Malora also have a couple of fleets in the area, most of the Valorian fleets in the area are already in retreat, and the Malorans the dishonorable rats they are have been attacking us because they want this space for themselves. I would recommend that you keep your distance from the Malora, their disruptor weapons are very good at breaking down ship armor and hulls,” said Vokal.

“I’ll keep that in mind than. Now I’ll show you to your shuttle and then we can get around to mining the planetary orbit,” said Countryman. A few days later the planet was surrounded with mines and defense satellites. The satellites were of both human and toral origin. As for the mines, most of their friend-foe recognition protocols had been disabled, they would recognize the satellites as friends, but not the Toral ships or the Enterprise. This had been something they had agreed upon while setting up the mines. After setting up the mines, the Enterprise left the system.

Four weeks later, the Enterprise had entered a sector with little apparent fighting. Over the last four weeks they had seen a number of battles between the Valorians and their enemies. Over half of those battles had been defeats for the Confederation, however he had also seen a few victories as well. Most of the defeats were due to the fact that they were simply outnumbered and spread to thin. They simply didn’t have enough ships to protect all their colonies and outposts. This sector had a great deal of activity in it. The Enterprise had dozens of Valorian convoys on her sensors carrying food, medicine and war supplies for various outposts and colonies. The nearest such convoy was composed of three Merchantman class super freighters and twenty four V-22 escorts. The Enterprise was on course to intercept that convoy. She had intercepted an encrypted Valorian comunique that indicated the convoy was carrying the salvaged components of a Voskar cloaking device. The council had decided that attacked the convoy was worth the risk of trying to obtain the device. Especially since the Voskar had the best stealth technology in the quadrant. Something that would be of invaluable use to the ship, in avoiding unwanted contacts.

Countryman wasn’t too worried about raiding the convoy. The Merchantman was huge, lumbering and slow. Her shielding was also terrible and she was protected by only a single bank of low yield pulse cannons. The V-22 as it had been designated by the humans was a small fast escort corvette. Its shields weren’t all that strong due to its size and it only carried a single bank of pulse cannons. However its speed and maneuverability made it quite the threat to most ships, especially in numbers. They were also cheap which made them an excellent choice for escorting the vulnerable freighters. There was a fleet base nearby, but he was sure he could take the convoy, get what they wanted and be out before any ships could respond to the distress call.