[dumbluck]

2400.7.1

Selam Votrom was an oddity. He came from a well bred family. He tested in the top 2% in his Primary Education Placement tests. It seemed that Destiny herself was leading him to be the Lead Researcher at on of the prestigious Bela Astor Research Centers. He chose a different path. He had joined the Military Straight out of Secondary. His family was appalled. The Pride of their proud family, lowering himself to Military Service! It was unheard of. They had refused to allow him to make this mistake. He had refused to back down. And so they had disowned him, cast him out of their house, out of their lives. He had not spoken to any of them in 16 long years. Now, with the Great Victory and subsequent dissolution of the Military, he was beginning to doubt his decision. He had no regrets, he was proud of the fact that he had helped end the greatest threat to Peace his race had known. But now that the Military's usefulness had come to an end, he and all his brothers-in-arms had been cast aside. When Arabna had found him two and a half years ago, he was little more than a beggar on the street, living off of governmental assistance and barely getting by. How the Hero of Me Lamit had fallen.

Now here he was, Helm Officer of the Scout, once again putting his life on the line for the Society. He was second in command under it's Captain, Arabna Jelocu. It had turned out to be anything but dull! He had been one of the first Bela to lay eyes on a new star system, and now they were on course to do it again. The pay was pathetic, the recognition non-existent. But at least he was off the streets, and he had time to think as they slowly traveled toward their destination. He had all the time in the world, it seemed, to sit and wonder whether he'd made the right choices. What would his life be like now if he had not rebelled against the path he seemed destined for. A nice house. The respect of his peers. Perhaps a lovely wife or two to keep him company, and perhaps even....

His respite was interrupted by a flashing yellow light on the Operations Station. He leaned over to get a better look, blanched, then took the two steps needed to stand before Ops. He pulled up the sensor readings to the large display to his right. There was no doubt, Warp Point #2 was active. That could only mean...

He rushed over to the bunks on the far right side of the Bridge. "Captain, wake up!"

Arabna Jelocu opened his eyes, squinting in the bright light of the Bridge. He felt like he'd only just fallen asleep. It can't yet be time for his shift. He glances at the clock, and it takes him a moment to realize that his shift isn't set to start for another 4 hours.

"Somethings coming through the Warp Point!" With that Selam ran back to his station at Helm Control. Arabna sat bolt upright, his cry of surprise cut short as he cracked his forehead against the bunk above him. Cursing under his breath, he swung his feet out of the bunk, pulled on his boots, and strode the three steps to the Operations station. The bridge was so small, he didn't even have a proper command chair, and had to run Ops while making command decisions.

"What do you mean, somethings coming out of the Warp Point? WHICH Warp Point?"

"Warp Point #2. And .... there it is."

Arabna glanced at his system charts, already knowing the answer. Scout's current mission was to transit Warp Point #2 and explore the system beyond. At current speeds, she would arrive at the Warp Point in one month's time. But now, there was something in the way. He pulled up the Visual sensor readings. The new array was already pointed toward their destination, so he didn't have to realign them. What he saw was a roughly cylindrical chunk of matter, with a rough bronze coloring. It had two large protrusions, on from each end of the cylinder. One of them looked roughly like the head of some creature.

"Captain," began Selam, "I'm picking up what I think are ... Transmissions. I think... I think it's trying to talk to us."

"Then it must be a ... daemons curse us!" A lump formed in the pit of Arabna's belly as he realized that a new threat to the fledgling Belanai peace had just emerged from deep space.