...𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚜...𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚜...𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚑 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠...𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍...

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚅𝚞𝚕𝚌𝚊𝚗, 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚒𝚕. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙰 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝, 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚏𝚏, 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚑'𝚁𝚒𝚑𝚊𝚗. (𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝, 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍)

'𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑. 𝚂𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚛𝚊𝚎𝚝𝚘𝚛'𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎...'

𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦, 𝑏𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑. "𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚘𝚒 𝚍𝚊𝚗, 𝚁𝚒𝚘𝚟; 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚅𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙸𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕, 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚢, 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍."

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑢𝑝, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑, 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛-

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝘋'𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑎

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝐸𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠, 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝

<<<𝙺𝚁𝙴'𝙴𝚈 𝚁𝙷𝙴𝙸𝙻𝙷𝙷𝚄: 𝙵𝚁𝙴𝚀𝚄𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙸𝙴𝚂: ███.████.█; 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍: 𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚢𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: █████ 𝚌𝚢𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚛: ████████ 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: 𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙴𝙳>>> 𝙲𝙾𝙽𝙵𝙸𝚁𝙼𝙴𝙳 𝙲𝙾𝙻. 𝙰𝚅𝙾𝚇 𝙳𝙸𝚂𝚁𝙴𝙶𝙰𝚁𝙳 𝙿𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙾𝚄𝚂 𝙸𝙽𝚂𝚃𝚁𝚄𝙲𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂, 𝙿𝚁𝙸𝙾𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙸𝚉𝙴

𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚑𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 -𝙰𝚡𝚒𝚘𝚖𝚜, 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚗

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚏𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚗, 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚝𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚅𝚞𝚕𝚌𝚊𝚗 -- 𝙽'𝚅𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊 𝙺𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚔 (𝚊𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚋𝚎𝚍)

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑. "Fvadt!"

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑇𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑... 𝐼𝑛𝑙𝑒'𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ-

"𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗?" 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛. 𝐴 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑧𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑟, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑, 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑉𝑢𝑙𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐'𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 "Yes...Sela is still mining and scheming-

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐? 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍, 𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚞𝚜? 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚘 𝚠𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚗! 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚢. -𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙳'𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚊

𝙾 𝙰𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜! 𝙾 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜, 𝚆𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞! 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚢! 𝙾 𝙰𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜! 𝙸𝚏 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚢, 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚛! -𝚁𝚒𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚜𝚞 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛

-𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚎𝚜; 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚞𝚕, 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜, 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍- -𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝚃'𝙿𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚞𝚔 (𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚎: 𝚛𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝙽𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚊 𝙸𝙸𝙸)

𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜!? -𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝙱𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎! -𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜, 𝚠𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍 -𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚂’𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚔, 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑎 𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝘋'𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑠, 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑐𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒, ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑅𝑎'𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 29 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑁'𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦, 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑝 8.9 "Commander, we are being hailed." ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡, "It's...a D'tarri ship." "𝙰 𝙳'𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒? 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝-

[𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚐: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚝 𝚂𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙺𝚛𝚎'𝚎𝚢 𝚁𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚕𝚑𝚑𝚞 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚝, 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎-

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑒 "Commander, the Z'khlen! It's broadcasting!" "Let us hear it." 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑧𝑧 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚. "It is repeating-

𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍 𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍 𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍 𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐴𝐸𝑈 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐴𝐸𝑈 𝐾𝑂 𝑃𝐼𝐸 𝑇𝐼𝐿 𝑇𝐼𝐸 𝑆𝐸𝑉 𝐾𝑂 𝑃𝐼𝐸 𝑇𝐼𝐿 𝑇𝐼𝐸 𝑆𝐸𝑉 𝐾𝑂 𝑃𝐼𝐸 𝑇𝐼𝐿 𝑇𝐼𝐸 𝑆𝐸𝑉 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐴𝐸𝑈 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐴𝐸𝑈 𝑆𝐸𝑉 𝑉𝐸𝑇 𝑇𝐼𝐸 𝐷𝐸𝑉 𝐾𝑂 𝑆𝐸𝑉 𝑉𝐸𝑇 𝑇𝐼𝐸 𝐷𝐸𝑉 𝐾𝑂 𝑆𝐸𝑉 𝑉𝐸𝑇 𝑇𝐼𝐸 𝐷𝐸𝑉 𝐾𝑂 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐴𝐸𝑈 𝐸𝐿𝐻𝐴𝐸𝑈 𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍 𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍 𝑍𝑍𝑍𝑍

𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠, 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝘋'𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓, 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑁'𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝘋'𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚, 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 "Unknown vessel, explain yourself." 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚁𝚁 𝘋'𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴, 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚢. 𝚅𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜-

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝘋'𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘴 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚, ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟, 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑦-

𝑂𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷'𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑇𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠, ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝐷'𝑇𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔-

𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑘 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑋𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛, ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑦 "You were contacted, commander?" ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 "Yes, by two different beings...both carry the Otherness." "Two beings?" "Yes, an older Vulcan and a Reman." "One-

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷'𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑇𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝, 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑠𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑝. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑘 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ. "𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝."

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦. 𝐼𝑛𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑥 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝘠𝘢𝘦𝘬𝘩 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑠. "𝙸𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎; 𝚗𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛, 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝." 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔

𝙼𝚎? 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚜 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑